Friday, January 11, 2008

Getting Personal

I took the evening off last night from exercising and writing (partly because I was tired and partly because I was brain-dead) and instead immersed myself in a good book. I've been reading autobiographies of film stars lately - I finished one on Gene Tierney a few weeks ago and tonight I started Maureen O'Hara's. It's excellent and gives me a great view of the Golden Age of Hollywood.

I know that autobiographies may not be the most reliable of information - they're probably not very objective, after all - but I enjoy them immensely. And when they're well-written, that's just icing on the cake.

Do you read autobiographies, memoirs, or biographies? If so, which format do you prefer?

5 comments:

  1. I rarely read biographies and when I do, I usually never finish them. I get to about Chp 6 and start thinking, 'can we talk about something else now?'. Although, that being said, one of my favorite books was Carol Burnett's autobiography. I found myself nodding all the way through it, reading things about her that I recognized in myself. It was very uplifting.

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  2. Anonymous4:56 PM

    I don't read them, but do you read Tori Lennox's blog?

    ToriLennox.com/blog

    Hollywoodland.

    She's into Hollywood history and is always talking about great facts of old hollywood stars. Check her out!

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  3. I don't think I've ever read an autobiography (maybe a long time ago) and I haven't read too many biographies, although I prefer them to autobiographies. I am not a huge fan of memoir, but I have read a few and I seem to gravitate to the ones that are written by writers. If the prose doesn't capture me, I'm not that interested. I especially loved "This Boy's Life", by Tobias Wolff, I loved all of Augusten Burroughs' books and I really liked Joan Didion's, "The Year of Magical Thinking". These are all pretty contemporary, which is just a reflection of what I tend to like.

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  4. I'll read anything about anyone if I'm interested enough, apart from memoirs. What do you mean which format? I like books.

    I'm learning that we need to take some time off for ourselves - and on a regular basis too. All work and no play ...

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  5. Anonymous10:13 AM

    Hi Melissa...I'm back. I missed you girl.

    I love biographies, the biography channel is one of my favorites. It's nice to learn things about the obstacles others have overcome. Especially when the "others" are famous people. Or even reading about them through their viewpoints, love it.

    Hope everyone in your family is doing well. Will chat again young lady!

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