|summary=Today, William Makepeace Thackeray is remembered almost exclusively as the writer of 'Vanity Fair', considered as among the greatest novels of its time. Yet he was a prolific writer, also responsible for 'Pendennis' and 'The Newcomes', as well as several sketches, essays and much poetry. However most of his work is largely forgotten today, while as a person he remains little known, and he has been somewhat overshadowed by his better-known contemporary, old friend and rival Charles Dickens, born one year later. This biography does an excellent job in rescuing him from such semi-obscurity.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099563258</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Lindsey Fraser
|title=J K Rowling: the Mystery of Fiction
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Easily one of the most renowned authors of the 21st century, J.K. Rowling's incredibly successful Harry Potter series shook the core of the literary world. It provoked a reaction, the likes of which have never been seen before, and likely never will. A unique set of factors combined in order for the Harry Potter books to reach the level of success they enjoyed, and these factors are explored in this biography of Rowling. It is difficult not to be fascinated by the person who is responsible for the phenomenon that is Harry Potter, and although writing is a profession that doesn't have a typical path by which it can be reached, Rowling's story is anything but orthodox, and her personal 'rags to riches' story only enhances the Harry Potter legacy.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906134693</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Charlotte Frost
|title=Sir William Knighton: The Strange Career of a Regency Physician
|rating=3
|genre=Biography
|summary=Sir William Knighton came from humble beginnings: in later life the memories of his mother selling butter and eggs from a market stall would frequently be brought up and it was never to illustrate just how well he'd done. The fact that he became a physician would normally be quite an achievement, but his baronetcy and fame didn't come from his work as a physician but from his less well-publicised work for George IV. Although his work at court would span just over a decade it was far from being what he wanted to do – and for the most part it would not bring him a great deal of happiness. At the end of his career as a physician he simply wanted to retire to his cottage in the country - but found himself unable to desert a king who had become dependent on him.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755213017</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Rodney Bolt
|title=As Good as God, as Clever as the Devil: The Impossible Life of Mary Benson
|rating=5
|genre=Biography
|summary=Since I hadn't previously heard of Archbishop Benson, let alone his wife, I must commend the title, cover and advertising of this book. All of the above provided an accurate and irresistible glimpse of the biography within, and I wasn't one whit disappointed in my choice.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843548615</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Barbara Sinatra
|title=Lady Blue Eyes: My Life With Frank Sinatra
|rating=4.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Barbara Blakeley, born in 1926, was married firstly to Robert Oliver, an executive, with whom she had a son, and secondly to Zeppo Marx. But it was the already thrice-married and thrice-divorced Francis Albert Sinatra, whom she had idolized as a singer for a long time, with whom she would make her most enduring marriage, and vice versa. They tied the knot in 1976, and stayed together until his death in 1998.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091937248</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Manning Marable
|title=Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
|rating=5
|genre=Biography
|summary=People's preconceptions about Malcolm X are vast. This is no surprise given his dramatic life, untimely death, and subsequent increased fame through the likes of {{amazonurl|title=Spike Lee's 1992 film|isbn=B00005A7TO}}. {{amazonurl|title=His autobiography|isbn=0141185430}} is a must-read for anyone interested in his life, or the tumultuous race struggle in the US in the 1960s, but it must be viewed in context. It was completed after Malcolm X's death, by co-author Alex Haley, and many aspects were highlighted or played down, to suit Malcolm X's ends. Manning Marable's biography, years in the making, looks at his life with a new perspective.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0713998954</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Duncan Hamilton
|title=The Unreliable Life of Harry the Valet: The Great Victorian Jewel Thief
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=The story of Harry the Valet may not be particularly familiar to modern readers, but he was something of a celebrity in the Victorian age. He achieved notoriety by stealing thousands of pounds worth of jewels from the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland - much to the delight of many people who disliked the lady, which appears to have been pretty much everyone who ever met her. Having pulled off this audacious theft, Harry seemed to be invincible - but he was brought down by his love for a Gaiety Girl, and ended up facing a trial which the papers fell over themselves to report on.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846058139</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|title=The Fetish Room
|author=Redmond O'Hanlon and Rudi Rotthier
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=An ongoing debate in our family has centred on the value of biographies, particularly of writers. I've always loved the touchstone of the places people lived and wrote, the banality of their lives, the detail, the insight, and the fact that it can tell you everything or nothing at all about the work. My Dad held that the work was what mattered; the rest is just social history. He said that almost disparagingly, which is odd, because if you presented it as social history rather than biography, he'd lap it up. I guess I just don't make the distinction.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684145</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|title=House of Exile: War, Love and Literature, from Berlin to Los Angeles
|author=Evelyn Juers
|rating=5
|genre=Biography
|summary=Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kröger-Mann were in a constant state of hazardous exile after the rise of fascism in Germany in 1933. He became like Zola, his favourite author, a socially committed novelist and political activist and fierce critic of militarism. He was convivial, having a wide circle of friends that contained many creative artists, playwrights, socialists. He seemed drawn to the bohemians and the demi-monde. This elegant and sometimes formal gentleman came from the Hanseatic town of Lubeck where his father belonged to a renowned grain merchant family. These might be described as the haute-bourgeoisie. There was an unusual degree of sibling rivalry between him and his less robust brother, the famous author of ''The Magic Mountain'', Thomas Mann. Hendrick possessed a sensual nature and fell passionately and easily in love with a number of women. Of these his relationship with Nelly, a fascinating woman, a seamstress and nightclub hostess, as full of contradictions as himself, was the most successful and long lasting. She followed him on the long painful journey into exile at first in Nice and later to the United States.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846144612</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Simon Stephenson
|title=Let Not The Waves of the Sea
|rating=4
|genre=Biography
|summary=The book opens after the catastrophic event and the narrator/author Simon is in the local area of Phi Phi. He describes it in glowing terms (which may sound a little strange) as he aims, on a rather arduous climb, to be rewarded with a stunning view. And immediately I'm struck with Stephenson's lilting style of writing. For example, ' ... an elderly lady carrying bags of rice over each shoulder as if they were no more than foam guesthouse pillows.' How lovely and evocative is that, I'm thinking to myself.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848545584</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Philip Norman
|title=John Lennon: The Life
|rating=5
|genre=Entertainment
|summary=For part of my formative years, John Lennon was one of the four most famous people in the world. All that we have learnt about him in the thirty years or so since his death has kept his name firmly in the public eye, if not always for the best of reasons. At over 800 pages, this is one of the lengthiest biographies written about the extraordinary life and times of the former Beatle. It's also surely one of the most impartial.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000719742X</amazonuk>
}}
