Wonderful Wednesday

A weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Tiny Library,

"spotlighting and recommending some of our most loved books, even if we haven't read them recently.  Each week will have a different theme or genre of book to focus on."

This week's theme is Biographies.

First, I'd like to address this week's topic before delving into a particular biography of choice.  I love reading memoirs and autobiographies, because they give a first-hand account of someone's life experiences, and I think hearing it straight "from the horse's mouth" allows you to learn & be critical of perspective.  It doesn't necessarily mean that the truth is being told or that events aren't hyperolized or downright fabricated, but is still fascinating.  From a secondhand perspective, separating the genre of biography from memoir/autobiography, the truth can be further or equally convoluted, or can be even more truthful as the author has less to lose than the subject in analyzing events of the person's life.

I must admit that I read memoirs/autobiographies more than biographies.  I reach for the "horse's mouth" version before the third-person viewpoint.  And most of these are by performers (usually actors), because I am a huge movie buff and love learning about the brevity of their careers and the actors, directors & films that shape them.  But I don't reach for any Hollywood star's book (*ahem* Snookie *ahem*) without measuring my amount of respect and admiration for this person.  The same goes for any subject of biography, which I really need to expand on & explore more deeply in areas of history, science & literature.

Here's a short alphabetical list of memoirs/autobiographies I've read & reviewed on the blog:

Audacity of Hope- Pres. (then Sen.) Barack Obama

Cloris: My Autobiography- Cloris Leachman

Don't Tell Dad- Peter Fonda

Girl, Interrupted- Susanna Kaysen

Last Words- George Carlin

Lessons in Becoming Myself- Ellen Burstyn

Me- Katharine Hepburn

My Autobiography- Charles Chaplin

My Life as a Ten-Year-Old Boy- Nancy Cartwright (voice of Bart Simpson)

My Life So Far- Jane Fonda

Never Have Your Dog Stuffed and Other Things I've Learned- Alan Alda

Speedbumps- Teri Garr

This Time Together- Carol Burnett

What's It All About?- Michael Caine

What Falls Away- Mia Farrow

Wishful Drinking- Carrie Fisher

I developed a keen interest in African-American history after doing a school project on apartheid in junior high.  It seems serendipitous, because topics were chosen by lottery and I drew a high number, leaving very few topics.  I had never heard the word "apartheid" before and my teacher suggested that I look into it.  Much of my research surrounded the South African political prisoner and later President Nelson Mandela.  Later, around the time of my junior high school graduation, my parents gave me his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom as a gift.  It was the biggest book I had ever read and I spent most of Grade 9 and 10 finishing it, an auspicious task for someone who knew very little about politics (let alone foreign relations) but who simply had a passion for learning about people overcoming differences and prejudices to rise to greatness and serve people who continue to fight against the same trials.  It was a fantastic literary journey and though at times I became frustrated with not understanding certain vocabulary or relating to South African culture, and steaming with anger at the ignorance of segregation laws, it was a highly satisfying learning experience that I continue to treasure and consider the most important book I've ever read.