Perhaps better known for her screenwriting (Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally, Heartburn), Ephron’s brand of smart theatrical humour is on best display in her essays. Confiding and self-deprecating, she has a way of always managing to sound like your best friend – even when writing about her apartment on New York’s Upper West Side. This wildly enjoyable collection includes her droll observations about ageing, vanity – and a scorching appraisal of Bill Clinton. Read the review
99
Broken Glass
by Alain Mabanckou (2005), translated by Helen Stevenson (2009)
The Congolese writer says he was “trying to break the French language” with Broken Glass – a black comedy told by a disgraced teacher without much in the way of full stops or paragraph breaks. As Mabanckou’s unreliable narrator munches his “bicycle chicken” and drinks his red wine, it becomes clear he has the history of Congo-Brazzaville and the whole of French literature in his sights. Read the review
98
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Radical journalist Mikael Blomkvist forms an unlikely alliance with troubled young hacker Lisbeth Salander as they follow a trail of murder and malfeasance connected with one of Sweden’s most powerful families in the first novel of the bestselling Millennium trilogy. The high-level intrigue beguiled millions of readers, brought “Scandi noir” to prominence and inspired innumerable copycats. Read the review
97
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
by JK Rowling (2000)
A generation grew up on Rowling’s all-conquering magical fantasies, but countless adults have also been enthralled by her immersive world. Book four, the first of the doorstoppers, marks the point where the series really takes off. The Triwizard Tournament provides pace and tension, and Rowling makes her boy wizard look death in the eye for the first time. Read the review
96
A Little Lif
This article is a compilation of 20 best biographies of all time. These books have captivated readers with their compelling stories of real-life experiences, and many have been turned into successful movies. Moreover, all of these titles have sold over 1 million copies, making them some of the most popular and widely read books in history.
Biographies and autobiographies have long fascinated readers. They offer a glimpse into the lives of remarkable individuals, giving us insight into their personal experiences, struggles and triumphs. A biography is a written account of someone’s life, typically written by another person. It covers the individual’s life story, achievements, experiences and significant events. An autobiography, on the other hand, is a written account of a person’s own life, narrated by themselves. It provides insights into their personal experiences, thoughts and reflections.
Read on to learn about 10 best autobiographies and 10 best biographies of all time.
10 best autobiographies of all time
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1791) by Benjamin Franklin
The earliest title on the list of the best biographies of all time is The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. It was written by Benjamin Franklin and published posthumously in 1791. The Autobiography provides a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of America’s founding fathers. Franklin recounts his journey from humble beginnings to becoming a prominent figure in American history. The autobiography is celebrated for its candid narrative. Moreover, it offers valuable insights into Franklin’s intellectual pursuits, entrepreneurial endeavours and civic contributions.
Franklin’s account is a personal memoir and a reflection on virtues and self-improvement, showcasing his commitment to moral and ethical development. His emphasis on industry, frugality and public service has left an enduring impact on American cultural values.
The Diary of Samuel Pepys (19th c.)
Fierce Attachments
“I remember only the women,” Vivian Gornick writes near the start of her memoir of growing up in the Bronx tenements in the 1940s, surrounded by the blunt, brawling, yearning women of the neighborhood, chief among them her indomitable mother. “I absorbed them as I would chloroform on a cloth laid against my face. It has taken me 30 years to understand how much of them I understood.”
When Gornick’s father died suddenly, she looked in the coffin for so long that she had to be pulled away. That fearlessness suffuses this book; she stares unflinchingly at all that is hidden, difficult, strange, unresolvable in herself and others — at loneliness, sexual malice and the devouring, claustral closeness of mothers and daughters. The book is propelled by Gornick’s attempts to extricate herself from the stifling sorrow of her home — first through sex and marriage, but later, and more reliably, through the life of the mind, the “glamorous company” of ideas. It’s a portrait of the artist as she finds a language — original, allergic to euphemism and therapeutic banalities — worthy of the women that raised her. — Parul Sehgal
I love this book — even during those moments when I want to scream at Gornick, which are the times when she becomes the hypercritical, constantly disappointed woman that her mother, through her words and example, taught the author to be. There’s a clarity to this memoir that’s so brilliant it's unsettling; Gornick finds a measure of freedom in her writing and her feminist activism, but even then, she and her mother can never let each other go. — Jennifer Szalai
Gornick’s language is so fresh and so blunt; it’s a quintessentially American voice, and a beautiful one. The confidence of her tone in “Fierce Attachments” reminds me of the Saul Bellow who wrote, in the opening lines of “The Adventures of Augie March,” “I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way.” — Dwight Garne
The second decade of the 21st century was at least as eventful as the first, if not more. Not surprisingly then, many of these events had a bearing on the memoirs, biographies and autobiographies that came to be published over the past nine years.
But it isn’t just globally consequential events that contributed to the steady trickle of first person accounts in various forms this decade. A wide variety of truly engaging biographies and memoirs were published as well, an assorted selection of which is shared here. This selection includes titles that captured the zeitgeist effectively as well as those which are unique personal stories in their own way.
1. Permanent Record by Edward Snowden (2019)
HuffPost India
This memoir by the world’s best known dissident-in-exile tells such an important story that it is hard to overstate its importance. “I used to work for the government, but now I work for the public. It took me nearly three decades to recognize that there was a distinction, and when I did, it got me into a bit of trouble at the office.” This is the deceptively simple manner in which the young dissident and former spy distills his experience of working for the Central Intelligence Agency and National Intelligence Agency–the world’s two most powerful intelligence agencies. Snowden is a coherent and effective communicator, and his brilliance in communicating his story in a very accessible manner is on full display in this book.
2. Gauri Lankesh And The Age Of Unreason by Chidanand Rajghatta (2018)
HuffPost India
It is not very often that the murder of a journalist comes to symbolise the extreme dangers of resisiting an ideological project that seeks to redefine a nation-state’s identity. Gauri Lankesh’s murder is that rare instance. She resisted Hindutva in a bold and relentless manner and paid the price for it. This book by a veteran journalist and Gauri’s former husband is not only about their personal relationship and the mar