I want to read a biography or non-fiction?

Question

I've had a sudden urge to read a biography. The last time I read one I was in elementary school and I had to for a school project. And lately I've been wanting to read one again. Do you have any suggestions? I don't want anything boring. I would like to read about someone whose had an eventful life.

Some of my interests are: reading, watching movies, playing the piano, and traveling. Favorite subjects: I really liked all of them, but Biology was very fun, and I love EngIish. I also love Anciet Egyptian culture. I don't know if that could help with anything or not.

I was thinking maybe something about Amelia Earhart, because I want to learn how to fly when I'm old enough, but I'm open to suggestions about anyone or anything.

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

Devil in the White City as mentioned above is awesome, completely fascinating.

I am a huge junkie for non-fiction and biography/memoirs.  Most of them aren't about high profile people like Amelia Earhart, but are about ordinary people who have experienced a life that is very different than ours here in America.  Some of my favorites:

Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane; it's about a boy growing up an aparthied (legalized segregation) South Africa.  It is unbelievable the things that this guy went through.

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah; I just finished this.  It's the story of a boy soldier in Sierra Leone.  He fled the way, lost his family and wound up fighting in battle at age 13.

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip; it's the story of a young girl who lived in Vietnam during the war.  She was caught in kind of a tug of war between the north and the south.  Incredible, amazing story.

First they Killed My Father by Loung Ung; about a girl living in Cambodia during the genocide there.  Very sad story at times, but an amazing story of survival.  If you enjoyed Night, you will enjoy this as well.  I strongly recommend this one.  (Also has a sequel, Lucky Child)

The Curse of the Narrows by Laura M. MacDonald; it is about a collision of two ships in the "narrows" up near Halifax, Nova Scotia during WWI.  One of the ships was full of explosives, the collision caused an explosion which created a massive tidal wave that destroyed much of the two cities, and was followed by a blizzard the next evening.  

Answer 2

If you want a funny teen non-fiction book, then I highly recommend:

Bats, Brats, and Stats - George Brennan, Jr.

Answer 3

I can't help on Amelia Earhart, but if you like travel and biology, you might enjoy The River of Doubt, by Candice Millard. It's about Theodore Roosevelt's Amazon journey and I thought it was exceptionally well-written and very gripping. http://www.amazon.com/River-Doubt-Theodo...

Another good person to check out might be Bill Bryson. He writes hilarious travel memoirs - I especially like A Walk in the Woods and In a Sunburned Country - and also does some popular science writing, including A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Another science writer I've enjoyed recently is Tim Flannery, author of The Eternal Frontier and The Weather Makers. Slightly less scientific, but equally excellent, is Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and The Omniovore's Dilemma, and Barbara Kingsolver's agrarian manifesto Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

I don't real a lot of Egyptian nonfiction, but there's a great historical mystery series set among 19th century Egyptian archaeologists called the Amelia Peabody series, by Elizabeth Peters.

Some more biographies and autobiographies that I've especially enjoyed:

The Six Wives of Henry VIII (almost anything by Alison Weir, actually)

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Nicholas and Alexandra

Homage to Catalonia

Savage Beauty

Man-eaters of Kumaon

Answer 4

"I Have Lived A Thousand Years" is an amazing book.  its bout the holocaust.  im not a big person for world war 2 but this book was amazing!  its written by livia bitton-jackson.

Answer 5

"The Devil In the White City" by Erik Larson.

It's the true story of two men: Daniel Burnham and H. H. Holmes. Burnham, the chief architect and mastermind of the Chicago World's Fair (also known as the White City) inadvertently created a perfect setting for Holmes, one of America's first serial killers.

"Tender at the Bone" by Ruth Reichl.

This is an auto biography of New York Times restaurant critic Ruth Reichl. She shares lessons learned at the hands (and kitchen counters) of family members and friends throughout her life, from growing up with her taste-blind mother to the comfort of cream puffs while away at boarding school on "Mars" (Montreal seemed just as far away) to her most memorable meal, taken on a mountainside in Greece.

"The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" by Terri Ryan.

In the 1950s, the Ryan family struggled to make ends meet. Ten kids and a father who spent most of his paycheck on booze drained the family's meager finances. But mom Evelyn Ryan, a former journalist, found an ingenious way to bring in extra income: entering contests on the backs of cereal boxes and the like. The author, Evelyn's daughter, tells the entertaining story of her childhood and her mother's contest career.

Answer 6

Read george eliot's "The mill on the floss" Or Charles dicken's "the great expectations"

Answer 7

read night by elie wiesel. it's a book about the holocaust and concentration camps. personally, i luvd it. i think it's part of a trilogy or sumthing.