jazzys

I tend to buy my daughters books and she wants another autobiography.

She likes sports people and celebs, any recs?

She's just finished lance armstrongs, its not about the bike


Jazzys

The Bloke

I'd suggest taking her to Dymocks, Borders etc, and letting her loose in the autobiography section.

Your wallet and credit card are now !

jazzys

No chance mate, she's in England and i'm in Brisbane.

Just wanted to know if anyone know of any great ones rather than just picking a dud off the shelf

Jazzys

The Bloke

Ahh, that makes it harder, but to recommend something from someone who may think it great, it could be a dud for another. It really depends on what she likes so the field can be narrowed down abit.
Sorry, but just being practical.

jazzys

Your right but if i had a list of good ones i could pick and choose which of those i think she may like.

At the end of the day a great read is a great read, not too sure it even matters who its about

Jazzys

comet555

The Andre Agassi autobiography that's coming out shortly looks like it could be very interesting.
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/ten...ory?id=4603632

It is coming out next week so you can guarantee she wouldn't have it already.

JackTheLad

The one that reveals he might have taken speed before a tournament? I've always been an Andre fan and am quite surprised by the story.

An autobiography I would recommend is the Hilary Clinton one. Very interesting story of a woman who had worked very hard all her life. I found it inspiring.

Mrs JTL

comet555

Yes, that's the one.

My husband will most definitely not be reading it. Andre Agassi has always been his favourite tennis player so he really doesn't want to know all the details.

I haven't read that many autobiographies but I've always wanted to read the Michael J. Fox one, probably because I grew up watching him and he seems to be so positive about things (I know he wasn't always that way though).

Kooky.

In no particular order other than the order they appear on my bookshelves. Autobiographies are my favourite - I'm fascinated by people - and in Singapore I had way too much spare time so read a lot.

I made it a habit to pick up one for somebody I knew well, i.e., a celeb, and at the same time one by somebody I'd never heard of in the hope I might learn something. I won't review them as it's taken me long enough to scribble them onto my PDA but you can google them and see what you think.

Robbie Wiliiams - Feel (biog)
Katherine Hepburn - Me
Janet Street Porter - Baggage: My Childhood
Blake Morrison - And When Did You Last See Your Father
Vic Reeves - me:moir
John Peel - Margrave of the Marshes
Tom Sykes - What Did I Do Last Night
Zainab Salbi - Between Two Worlds
Alan Alda - Never have your Dog Stuffed
George Best - Blessed
Richard Branson - Losing my Virginity
Pamela Stephenson -Billy (Connolly, of course)
Zana Muhsen - Sold
Brooke Shields - Down came the Rain
Gordon Ramsey - Humble Pie
Roy Chubby Brown - Common as Muck (had to be done, I'm from Redcar)
Graham Norton - So Me
Virginia Ironside - Janey & Me
Sabine Dardenne - I Choose to Live
Anthony Kiedis - Scar Tissue
Anthony Bourdain - any of his books, he's very intelligent and an entertaining writer
Belle du Jour (she's done a few now and there's also a TV series)
Jean-Dominique Bauby - The Diving Bell & the Butterfly (the movie is fab too, what a tear-jerker)
Mo Mowlem - Momentum (another Redcar link - ballsy woman)
Carrie Fisher - Postcards from the Edge. Also Wishful Drinking.
Bryce Courtney - April Fool's Day (I read this before I moved to Sydney!)
Waris Dirie - Desert Flower. Also Desert Dawn (and she's done more I think)
Alison Lapper - My Life in My Hands
Maya Angelou's books

A couple I read because of the SE Asia connection so probably no interest to your daughter:
Phra Peter Pannapadipo - Phra Farang (story of an English monk in Thailand)
Martin Booth - Gweilo

A couple I've been bought but haven't yet read:
Dawn French - Dear Fatty
Piers Morgan - Don't you know who I am

I've lost a few along the way, let me think...Julian Clary - A Young Man's Passage. Boy George - Take it Like a Man. (What can I say, I like the seedier side of life )

I can't think of any I DIDN'T enjoy, although "enjoy" is a strange word for some of them. The Sabine Dardenne one, I finished thinking - really love, you're not over it, you think you are but your words say otherwise.

The only autobiography I haven't finished is Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom. I didn't like him, and I felt bad that I didn't like him.

edit: Oh I've read the Michael J Fox one. Lucky Man: A Memoir (thank you, Google) Top bloke.

jazzys

Thanks guys, especially seasider. Great post.

come on then, the obvious question is which ones ya favourite. Please don't say chubby brown!

My daughter lives in Spennymoor so she's well aware of who chubs is

Jazzys

Kooky.

Way too many favourites, for different reasons.

I think I'm still grieving for John Peel so his means a lot to me.

Kooky.

PS: If anybody in Sydney wants any of these - well I'll hold onto a few, but most of them and a load of other paperbacks are just gathering dust, so you're welcome to them.

The Bloke

I really admire the way in which he kept working, as an actor, with his illness for such a long time.
I was quite shocked when I found out that he was ill, though it never showed in his work.

scottishcelts

Blue Eyed Son by Nicky Campbell was a particularly moving book

Kooky.

I wanted to read that one, SC, but unless they were very well known or in reality TV, they were hard to get hold of in Singapore. Must put it on my list for the next trip back.