Comments on: catching lives

By: cynthia

cynthia — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:52:02 +0000

In reply to Lauren. Lauren, what a wonderful list! Thanks so much for taking the time to add it here. I was writing about Baldwin recently so that one intrigues me. And you and Emily both recommended a Virginia Woolf biography but two different ones: one by Quentin Bell and one by Hermione Lee. Hmmmm....so many lovely, lovely books.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:34:49 +0000

In reply to Emily. Emily, that's the first title I had on this post: "I love biographies!" Now I remember reading your post on Edith Wharton. Thanks for the other recommendations as well. I might start with the one on Virginia Woolf.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:33:38 +0000

Oh, yes. I enjoy well-researched, well-written bios. Some of my favorites:

Mencken: The American Iconoclast
Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell
James Baldwin: A Biography
Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons
Nothing Ever Happens to the Brave: The Adventurous Life of America’s Most Glamorous and Courageous War Correspondent (this is by Carl Rollyson; anything he writes is fantastic)
Gellhorn: A Twentieth-Century Life
Getrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations
Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America’s Most Scandalous President
Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Queen of Bohemia: The Life of Louise Bryant
Wodehouse (by Robert McCrum)
Virginia Wolf A Biography
Savage Beauty
LBJ: Architect of American Ambition
American Cassandra: The Life of Dorothy Thompson
Sinclair Lewis
Marie Antoinette
Mozart
and more, including a fabulous bio of Bram Stoker.

By: Emily

Emily — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:42:49 +0000

I love biographies! Recent highlights for me include Hermione Lee's Edith Wharton (I don't even love Wharton, but Lee is so patient and thorough in her evocation that I now feel I know her as a person), and Elliot Gorn's Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America, which was well-written and, of course, had an amazing subject. Lee's Virginia Woolf is also fantastic. Oh, and Chris Albertson's Bessie, on the blues singer Bessie Smith, is pretty great as well, primarily because he had access to Smith's neice Ruby Walker, who toured with Smith and whose stories really bring the book to life. I've heard great things about Gerald Clarke's Capote as well.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:09:15 +0000

In reply to Terresa Wellborn. Terresa, I recommend the one I just read--Jane Addams: Spirit in Action. You can get a little taste of it in today's post.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:08:10 +0000

In reply to Darrelyn Saloom. Wow, I need to take a look at that one. Thanks, Darrelyn.

By: Terresa Wellborn

Terresa Wellborn — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:39:24 +0000

Hmm, good question. I don’t read bios much. I read one about George Lucas years back, that might have been the last one. Probably time to revisit the genre.

By: Darrelyn Saloom

Darrelyn Saloom — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:36:06 +0000

The most recent biography I’ve read is Hawthorne, a life by Brenda Wineapple. It was beautifully written and captured the complexity of Hawthorne. I enjoyed the book from beginning to end. In fact, I now have a huge crush on Nathaniel Hawthorne and can understand why Herman Melville was a bit in love with him.