Author Biographies You MUST Read

My husband does not read fiction. The ever-changing library stacks on our bedside tables would not be super good friends because my Enola Holmes mysteries (great historical middle grade by Nancy Springer) and Kate Messner books (you've got to read the Marty McGuire books) and Junie B. Jones books (Barbara Park is a GENIUS) wouldn't be able to relate well his copy of The New Evolution Diet: What Our Paleolithic Ancestors Can Teach Us about Weight Loss, Fitness, and Aging (to be fair, this one was actually super interesting) and The Body Ecology Diet and his issues of Golf Digest.

Every once in awhile, he'll throw a biography or autobiography into the mix and I'll steal it to learn more about a historical leader or sports figure. I have to admit it, even if the legendary golfer Ben Hogan wasn't on my radar before I met my husband, I'm glad I know about the man now. People are truly fascinating (which I suppose explains Twitter...why else would people feverishly follow Justin Bieber through his day to see what he was up to~ "Oooo!! He got a hair cut!" "Oh no! Now he got a paper cut!").

ANYWAY, if you're like me and have a constant stack of fiction on your bedside table, why not throw in a few nonfiction gems that are a pleasant bridge between writing craft books and pure fiction. That's right~ I'm talking about author biographies and autobiographies. 

Here are a few that have caught my eye (okay, so they're not necessarily MUST read, as advertised in this blog post's title, but they sounded interesting to me):

BIOGRAPHIES

Theodor SEUSS Geisel (Lives and Legacies) by Donald E. Pease

*The beloved Dr. Seuss. Enough said :)

J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter

*There are tons of biographies out there about Tolkien. Take your pick of them, but DO choose one to read!

J. K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter by Marc Shapiro

*Again, there are tons of biographies out there on Rowling.

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES:

Boy: Tales of Childhood 

*This is a short memoir of Roald Dahl's childhood. I read this for a report in elementary school and still love it!

Autobiography of Mark Twain (100th Anniversary Newly Edited and Commented Edition)

*Samuel Clemens planned for this to be published a century after his death and it was kept in archives as promised until 2010. This one was listed at $2.99 for a Kindle version.

A Year in Provence By Peter Mayle

*A Year in Provence begins a charming three-book series about author Peter Mayle's life in France. Those who love travel memoirs with funny/poignant cultural and personal revelations about life, etc. will sink into these.

 
*Encore Provence and Toujours Provence
are the other books




That's all from me~ do you have any recommendations or author biographies and/or autobiographies?