Biographies Can Be Eye-Opening

As an avid reader, I love nothing more than getting sucked into a good book. Although I often write about a range of fiction genres, I hardly mention another favourite of mine – biographies.

Non-fiction books are just as popular these days and I especially love books written by famous people about their own lives.

It can be a real eye-opener to get inside a celebrity’s head and learn about the way that they became who they ended up being.

Biographies I Have Loved

Going back to when I was young, I remember enjoying the quirky but honest recollections of Roald Dahl. He wrote ‘BOY – Tales of Childhood’ and then ‘Going Solo’ all about being a young adult.

Similarly, I loved finding out about Julie Andrews and how she became an actress. She had quite a challenging upbringing with a horrible step dad. Her book ‘Home’ was followed by ‘Homework’ which took the reader through the Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music period, when she had moved to America.

Having read about various people, I am still enjoying the funny recollections of Miriam Margoyles. Called, ‘This Much Is True,’ this autobiography is full of anecdotes about childhood in Oxford and fascinating facts about historical figures she came across.

Final Thoughts

I love getting to know what celebrities have experienced. It somehow makes them feel more real and gives interesting insights into their journeys to fame.

On my shelf is a biography about Demi Moore which I am really looking forward to. Look out for ‘Inside Out’ and I will post a review when I get into it.

How many biographies have you read?

Which is your favourite famous person’s biography?

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Biography of a Legend – Book Review

Recently I have written about some of the popular fiction that has kept me busy reading throughout the past year. However, I haven’t spoken much about some of the incredible biographies that I have had the good fortune to read. It makes sense to start with one that had really stuck in my memory and made me admire the writer even more.

The book that I am talking about is called ‘Home: A Memoir of my Early Years’ and it is written by Hollywood legend Julie Andrews. It outlines her early life growing up in Walton-on-Thames in London and experiencing life on the road with her performing parents.

Julie writes about growing up as a singer and touring with her family.

Julie grew up with split parents and soon discovered that she had a really high range when she sang. Her step dad was a singer and incorporated her into his routine as well as arranging for some formal music lessons. After a while her involvement grew and she was taking part in summer seasons at places like Blackpool as well as on the radio.

She had the opportunity to sing ‘God Save the Queen’ to the Queen Mother at the Royal Variety Show and was soon invited to be in a star-studded panto at the London Palladium. After years of being on the road and dealing with a troublesome step dad, she eventually was offered a lead role in a new theatre production of the musical ‘The Boyfriend’. The fame that resulted meant that she was able to carry on with this play on Broadway and she has never looked back.

Her career went on to see her star in the amazing ‘Mary Poppins’ movie and ‘The Sound of Music’ but those experiences were actually left to be covered in her follow up biography, which I will mention another time.

Star of stage and radio, she soon took Hollywood by storm.

Everyone knows I am a massive Sound of Music fan and have visited Salzburg to tour all of the locations of the film. Therefore it is no surprise that I am fascinated by Julie Andrews’ career.

Trying not to be biased, her writing style is great, her recollections are insightful and this book is ‘practically perfect in every way’ (nod to Mary Poppins).

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