Autobiographies (1 Viewer)

[Denny Oubidoux]

recommendations? havent read a good one for ages...

i recommend bertrand russells above all others. i think its called "Autobiography". Anyone whos still doing interesting things in their 90's (starting civil disobediance movements and getting sent to jail with the missus) has to be worth a read.

also, "Straight Life" by art pepper is a great read. Ive never heard a note of his music, i imagine its quite bland soft jazz, but the book is good, very grim.

so there.

 

[Catwoman]

recommendations? havent read a good one for ages...

i recommend bertrand russells above all others. i think its called "Autobiography". Anyone whos still doing interesting things in their 90's (starting civil disobediance movements and getting sent to jail with the missus) has to be worth a read.

also, "Straight Life" by art pepper is a great read. Ive never heard a note of his music, i imagine its quite bland soft jazz, but the book is good, very grim.

so there.

Nigel Slater - Toast
Oliver Reed - Reed All About Me

Um, that's all I can think of on the autobiog side. Peter Cook's biog by Harry Thompson is also very good.

 

[Corey]

Nigel Slater - Toast
Oliver Reed - Reed All About Me

Um, that's all I can think of on the autobiog side. Peter Cook's biog by Harry Thompson is also very good.

Two I have'nt read but am told by lefty and wheels i should, Neil young biog Shakey, and Crazy from The Heat, by the one and only Diamond-Dave Lee Roth.

 

[RSJ]

Lee roth one's good. Reading Walter Yetnikoff's one at the minute. Good and juicy. Wonderland avenue is incredible, as is the dirt (or anything by neil strauss). Get in the van is ok, i can send you the MP3s if you want, much better. The andy kaufmann one is class (can't find a link).

 

[P. Littbarski]

get yourself a copy of Martin Luther King's autobiography...the man was a legend.

 

[dudley]

i rather ignorantly only ever read rock biographies, so can only recommend them.

best ever - Little Richard
pretty amazing - motley crue, motorhead, the fall, shakey, i'm with the band, hammer of the gods
interesting - lords of chaos, buddy holly, james brown
awful - freddie and me. someone still needs to write the awesome queen book.


i realise some of these aren't quite auto, but meh.

the best fake biography ever is "Boy Wonder" by James Robert Baker. Best book ever

 

[Goodbye]

I've read books that are autobiographical but mostly i read biographys...

copolla, burroughs, bukowski, allen etc...

best autobiography i've read is Lady Sings the Blues by Billie Holiday
gives her voice a more profound meaning after reading that

Would diarys be autobiographys?
if so, Notes by Ealenor Copolla is great

 

[therealjohnny]

Heres a few

David Nivens' The Moons a Balloon- basically reinvented the genre they say- a great read

Chopper- Mark Chopper Read, what the film was based on- not the smartest tool in the box but enjoyable

The Beast- Iron Maidens Paul Di'Anno- dumber than Chopper but good fun

Mein Kampf- By The Jesuits! (according to Jack Chick)

No news at Throat Lake- highly enjoyable book by one of Lollyd Coles Commotions, Lawrence Donegan , moves to Donegal.. very funny

A Riot Of Our Own- Johnny Green documents the early days of The Clash- good insight into the band and the rock scene at the time with great illustrations by Ray Lowry

Is That It- Bob Geldof- well worth a read

45- (KLFs) Bill Drummond- very good, if you love music and big rambling ideas

.....available in a charity shop near you

 

[Buckrake]

My Wicked, Wicked Ways - Errol Flynn.

 

[shidheat]

'Miles' by Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe is the best autobiography I've read. A real eye-opener.

 

[hugh]

AUTObiographies folks!!

Anthony Burgess one is great.

And yes the Miles one. Though he does comes across as an utter wanker which is pretty impressive in an autobiograhpy as usually you'd try and hide that.

The Dylan one is supposed to be pretty good too but havent read it yet.

 

[shidheat]

And yes the Miles one. Though he does comes across as an utter wanker which is pretty impressive in an autobiograhpy as usually you'd try and hide that.

I thought he came off as a bad motherfucker (to use his own terminology); up until the point where he was talking about what he was doing at the time of dictating (to Quincy Troupe) anyway. That point in the late 70s where he spent about 3 years holed up in his NY apartment off his face on coke was pretty insane. But the whole thing reads like a tabloid expose of every jazz musician in the business. It's a mental book.

 

[SONYMEGADRIVE]

'my life in tights' by burt ward is amusing

 

[THRILLHO]

If Chins Could Kill - Bruce Campbell

 

[therealjohnny]

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby is well worth a look too- dictated by the author using only his left eye to signal each letter and each sentence after becomg paralysed.

Worth it just so you feel like a non-acheiving no hoper veal calf of a person

 

[roxy]

.best autobiography i've read is Lady Sings the Blues by Billie Holiday
gives her voice a more profound meaning after reading that

It's pretty great. And funny. Her turn of phrase is briliant - It's nearly like you're sitting listening to a tape of her speaking.

Iano, did you ever remember coming across a bit in Woody Allen's prose (can't remember which book or which section) where he takes the piss completely out of what would seem to be that very same book? He has a mock diary thing going on which parodies it in the deadliest way.

At least I figured it was directly taking the mickey out of miss holiday - though maybe there was a run on autobiographies of that style at some stage.

I'll try to transcribe some of it if I can find it. So good.

 

[Anthony]

The Crue is amazing
Dave Lee Roth's one is not bad
Gene Simmons' one is shit, such an arsehole.

 

[RSJ]

The Crue is amazing
Dave Lee Roth's one is not bad
Gene Simmons' one is shit, such an arsehole.

With you on the simmons one. I kept expecting something to happen, but it's all so badly told and petty.

 

[Rachel666]

Will There Really Be A Morning- Frances Farmer

My ma was a fan and got the book back in the early eighties. It's a pretty scary read.

 

[pete]

I may be predictable, but 'Have A Nice Day! - A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks' by Mick Foley is a great read.

Frankly, this literary critic didn't expect Mick Foley's memoir of his life as Mankind (and his other wrestling personas, Cactus Jack and Dude Love) to hit No. 1 on Amazon.com's hardcover nonfiction bestseller list in its first literary bout. The cover is cluttered and confusing, and do we really need 500-plus pages of Foley's boasts? Yes. Foley gives his all for his calling, and he burns to tell his adventures. Take the famous tale of how he lost most of his ear (the bloody result is depicted in the 16-page color-photo section). It was in his 1994 bouts with Vader (Leon White): after getting a broken nose, a dislocated jaw, and 21 stitches in the first match, Foley did his "hangman" routine, wherein he catches his neck between the second and third ropes and spins them into a twist. "The end result is the illusion of a man being hanged by his neck while his body kicks and writhes in an attempt to get out... the man actually is hanging by his neck and the body really does kick and writhe in an attempt to get out." Unfortunately, in the prior match, Too Cold Scorpio had had the officials tighten the ropes, so Foley tore off his ear to avoid death by strangulation, like "a fox that chews off its paw to escape a trap." Foley also wrestles on 10,000-thumbtack mats with barbwire ropes and C-4 explosives, and earns the ultimate compliment: "The fans really like the way you bleed." Many fans also like the way his gory story reads. --Tim Appelo