bio/autobio suggestions

Maus

I liked [I]Jack [/I] by George Sayer (464 pages though) It's on C S Lewis and it's pretty interesting if you're into him.

Otherwise I enjoyed [I]Dante: A Life in Works [/I] by Robert Hollander (222 pages). I think the hollander's translation of [I]The Divine Comedy [/I] is the best, most exhasutive to date. (but that's not a biography)

that's all I can think of right now.

[QUOTE=Maddetchke Malorkus]Maus[/QUOTE]
good call, it's a great book, art spiegelman, right? but it [I]is [/I] a graphic novel, so maybe make sure that's ok for the class. great book.

Morrissey's biography: [I]Saint Morrissey[/I] by Mark Simpson (223 pages)

Synopsis:
There is no other contemporary artist who is so famously difficult, so apparently enigmatic, and so passionately, religiously loved by his fans as Morrissey.

However, as Mark Simpson argues in his wickedly funny and deeply sacrilegious portrait, Morrissey isn't quite so enigmatic as he might at first appear. To understand this most private and sexually ambivalent of stars and his seemingly erratic behavior, one needs only to do one thing: Listen to him.

At once devil's advocate and -counsel for canonization, Mark Simpson offers the finest psychological profile to date of England's most intelligent, most misunderstood, most charming and most alarming pop star.

the ian curtis bio is good

I remember enjoying one of the few memoirs I ever read: "The Same River Twice." The guy has done everything from wash dishes at the Grand Canyon to travelling with a circus.

192 pages, according to Amazon.

[URL=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743229495/qid=1098754984/sr=8-6/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i6_xgl14/002-9370511-2868040?v=glance&s=books&n=507846]Same River Twice[/URL]

:confused: Shouldn't this be somewhere else? I dunno.
I suggestttt
El Sid St. Vicious by David Dalton - Punk rock history and its fucking HILARIOUS.

two of my favorite autobios...

Yeager - Chuck Yeager
Pryor Convictions - Richard Pryor

I woulda Klaus Kinski'ed it as well, bear in mind he made the bloody thing up though!

[QUOTE=Maddetchke Malorkus]Maus[/QUOTE]
I;ve read Maus and Maus 2, like in eighth grade. Great books, but not my thing i supose. thanks though...

alot of these sound really good...
damn it....

A Working Stiffs Manifesto - Iian Levison

really funny look at the working world. The author went and got an english degree and then drifted through 30+ crappy, part time jobs before deciding to write them all down. Its really short, and very humorous.

Indeed the Klaus Kinski „autobiography“ is pretty damn funny, albeit, as Vendetta states, pretty much a piece of fiction. The title you’d have to look for it now under is _Kinski Uncut_, as the original publication (US version, that is) was quickly pulled in fear of lawsuits (as KK claims to have shagged every woman he’s ever set eyes on, etc).

But isn’t there something in life that sparks a curiously in you?
Instead of treating this just as ‘another assignment’, maybe you could get something out of it too?
A bio on Einstein? Darwin? James Joyce? Newton? Jefferson? Andy Kaufmann?
Some pretty damn interesting people we’ve shared this cursed species with…

Good luck,
j(ay)

[QUOTE=jay]Indeed the Klaus Kinski „autobiography“ is pretty damn funny, albeit, as Vendetta states, pretty much a piece of fiction. The title you’d have to look for it now under is _Kinski Uncut_, as the original publication (US version, that is) was quickly pulled in fear of lawsuits (as KK claims to have shagged every woman he’s ever set eyes on, etc).

But isn’t there something in life that sparks a curiously in you?
Instead of treating this just as ‘another assignment’, maybe you could get something out of it too?
A bio on Einstein? Darwin? James Joyce? Newton? Jefferson? Andy Kaufmann?
Some pretty damn interesting people we’ve shared this cursed species with…

Good luck,
j(ay)[/QUOTE]
thats a very good point, but i never ever enjoy assigned reading. it makes me hate it, i've read a couple bio's on interesting people, but those were not assigned and i enjoyed them, but this however, is assigned, and i'd like to see what you all thought. I really dont have time to even think about who to do this bio on so i figured i'd ask people who clearly (clearly b/c you're part of the cult) have good taste. I'm still undecided, and i'll have a decision by thursday, b/c i must, for that is the day it is due, not the reading, the book. But yes, very good point, thank you. Made me think a bit.

[URL=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0486290735/qid=1098836075/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-9370511-2868040?v=glance&s=books&n=507846]Ben Franklin[/URL]

Another short one is Ben Franklin's Autobiography, which combines being funny with appearing academically serious. You also find out that all the stuff they told you in school to pump him up was bullshit, but that he did a whole bunch of other cool stuff they didn't tell you about.

Oh, and he did a lot of French chicks too.

[QUOTE=walkingcontradiction]thats a very good point, but i never ever enjoy assigned reading. it makes me hate it,[/quote]

Hmmm. Well, don’t get _too_ down on it. Aside from a few ‘politically correct’ things thrown into the “education” curriculum, and some near-useless subjects (organic chemistry!), a great deal of what shows up shows up because…well, it’s good.

[glancing at your profile]
I don’t see your age but, (certainly) no offense, you seem to be a fairly young reader. Your music preferences seem a bit more open and wide-ranged.
So, imagine that you were in a music course: if one of the assignments was to breakdown a Led Zeppelin song, or to pick apart a score from Duke Ellington, would you all of a sudden think of these bands as “assigned”?

Plus you have a great liberty to pick your own book. That’s far different than being force fed [insert mainstay biography book (i.e. Anne Frank, Malcolm X, etc)]…you’ve got a *world of choice* out there.
You love music? Go for a musician. History? Science? Porn stars? Etc.

Pretty much my point is, just because it’s assigned, doesn’t mean you have to feel resigned.

But good luck, and don’t put added pressure on yourself, life is complex and, well, shitty enough.
And let us know what you opted for.

Cheers,
j(ay)
And yeah, Rod, good call on Ben Franklin. That was what I nearly wrote instead of Jefferson, but I’ve been waiting for Christopher Hitchens forthcoming “TJ” bio for some time, so that popped into my head first.

I didn't know Hitchens was doing a Jefferson one, that's got to be good.

The Malcolm X autobiography is a god call too. I read that in 8th grade just for kicks. I seem to recall it was longish, so it may not fit into the confines of our threadstarter's criteria. Not as long as Cairo's LBJ series, though.

[QUOTE=Chixulub]I didn't know Hitchens was doing a Jefferson one, that's got to be good.[/quote]

It’s been his pet project for many years, the Orwell piece bumped it and then his lobotomy (aka “911”), which sadly affected his wit, thinking and judgment, seems to have also side-tracked it.

[QUOTE=Chixulub]The Malcolm X autobiography is a god call too.[/quote]

Well, I’m not religious but indeed, a ‘worth-a-read’ book.
My citing that and Ms Frank’s was in no way a means of slighting the work, just pointing out that they are (or were) heavily rotated through the schooling system.

[QUOTE=Chixulub] Not as long as Cairo's LBJ series, though.[/QUOTE]

Caro.
That’s 2 typos in 1 post…next beer is on you.
j(ay)

"My dark places", by James Ellroy

[QUOTE=franc tireur]"My dark places", by James Ellroy[/QUOTE]

Ditto. My Dark Places is about Ellroys attempt to find his mother's murderer. He is obsessed and leaves nothing out. Powerful stuff that really takes you inside this man's head.

At the same times he tells his own life story in an uncompromising way, and the biography of the ex-cop who helped him reopen the case, in the context of the OJ Simpson trial.

thank you to everybody who suggested!!!!!!! i love you all!

but i have come to a decision.... Andy Kaufman

...special thanks to J

cheers!

damn, i was going to mention david sedaris,
me talk pretty one day

I'm currently reading "Blow" by Bruce Porter. It's a biography about George Jung who played a big part in the cocaine explosion in America in the late 70's and early 80's. I like it, and it's quite a bit different from the movie adaptation. I would also recommend Heavier than Heaven by Charles R. Cross; written about Kurt Cobain, and The Lives of Lennon, written by Albert Goldman about John Lennon. Very good books. Also Brando by Marlon Brando is very good.

"speak, memory" by nabokov. that perfect writing, but applied to himself. reads like any other gloriously sublime nab. work but it fits your assignment, too.

i also read a terrific dali bio a while back, but damned if i recall the author. that said, he's the least dull life you could read about in bio form.

oh, and "coming through slaughter" by michael ondaajte is a loose interpretation of the life/death of buddy bolden, the jazz cornet player. there's one long stream of consciousness passage in there that left me - literally - breathless. one of my favorite books, ever.