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The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily by Nancy Goldstone
and The Tigress of Forl: Renaissance Italy's Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de' Medici by Elizabeth Lev
Great biographies of two fascinating women who lived in the 14th and 16th centuries respectively, a time when even aristocratic and educated women were expected to be little more than breeding partners. These women ruled their lands independently (albeit with the assistance of various husbands), raised their families, were financially successfuly and saw off their enemies (mostly). I believe Caterina even managed to outlive her most implacable rival, Cesare Borgia.
My favorite so far is an autobiography by Harpo Marx, titled, "Harpo Speaks." It was a fascinating book about Harpo (given name was Adolph) and his brothers, born in the late 1800s and raised in a dirt-poor family in NYC. Their father was an inept tailor who couldn't make enough money to feed the family, so the 5 sons had to scrap and steal their way through childhood. Behind them all was a devoted mother who was determined from the start to push her boys to learn music and acting so that they could one day be rich and famous. The journey of this family is fascinating, and Harpo's writing style is captivating. Great sense of humor, of course, but it is also poignant and sensitive.
Even if you're not a big Marx Brothers fan, as I am, I highly recommend this fascinating autobiography.
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I LOVE that book!
I'm a HUGE Marx Brothers fan and Harpo has been my favorite since I discovered their films in high school.
He had a fascinating life. But, more important, he writes with such warmth and love for his wife, family and friends. He must have been a wonderful man.
"Fatal Passage" the story of John Rae, one of the greatest Arctic Explorers of all time and completely forgotten because of being vilified in the press by Charles Dickens and the Widow of Franklin. Utterly fascinating life he had and he was the first white person to find the fate of the ill fated Franklin expedition. He found out that some members of the expedition had resorted to cannibalism and was crucified for exposing this fact to the world. A real travesty of Justice.
The man was a real force of Nature and went "Native" realising Native people had wisdom and knowledge which could not be ignored in such an unforgiving environment.
It's not really a biography but "The letters of Gustave Flaubert, vol 1 + 2". I read them in the library when I as a kid, what he had to say about his craft just really fascinated me.
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder tells the story of Dr. Paul Farmer and his struggles to establish local TB Clinics in Haiti then Peru and Russia. I love Kidder's writing and Farmer makes a larger than life impact on profoundly underserved areas of the world.
Good Old Boy: A Delta Boyhood by Willie Morris. It's written for young readers, and I read it when I was in grade school ... but it's still one of the most entertaining books I've ever read.
The most interesting was American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
The person I actually liked whose biography I most enjoyed reading was: Damn Yankee: The Billy Martin Story
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