I saw the BBC's 'Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit' a semi-autobiographical account of Winterson's childhood. This book's title is equally memorable and unique and we learn that it's a line Mrs Winterson said to the young Jeanette.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224093452</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Angie Beasley
|title=The Frog Princess
|rating=3
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=I expected a tabloid expose of the beauty queen industry, or a spirited defence against feminist ethical attacks of the past few years from one of its successful 'victims'. Best of all, I enjoy an ordinary person telling an authentic emotional tale, whatever their circumstances or personal history. Sadly I'm afraid that this book fell rather short on these attractions. At first I felt that Angie Beasley deserved a lot more editorial help in developing her manuscript. Then I realised that the story was ghost written, which explains the lack of authentic voice fairly neatly.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718158318</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Art Spiegelman
|title=MetaMAUS
|rating=5
|genre=Graphic Novels
|summary=Before the Holocaust was turned into [[The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne|a child-like near-fable for all]], and before it was the focus of superb history books such as [[Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder|this]], it became a family saga of a father relating his experiences to a son, who then drew it all - featuring animals not humans - [[Maus by Art Spiegelman|Maus]]. To celebrate the twenty-five years since then, we have this brilliant look back at the creation of an equally brilliant volume.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670916838</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=John Bull
|title=The Smile on the Face of the Pig: Confessions of the Last Cub Reporter
|rating=3.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=John Bull was born in the mid thirties – old enough to be able to say that he was bombed in his cradle but young enough not to be directly involved. He was one of the last cub reporters – after that they changed the name – and 'The Smile on the Face of the Pig' is the story of his time as a reporter, a National Serviceman, a husband and father in the nineteen fifties. It's a gentle, nostalgic look back at a decade when life was different. There might have been more hardships – but it's difficult to say that it was ''harder'' and this book is a reminder for those of us who were around at the time of what it was really like.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956559549</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ian Mathie
|title=Supper With The President
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=It's such a pleasure to read an Ian Mathie book, so I really looked forward to 'Supper with the President'. No surprises, then, to find this book every bit as delightful, intriguing and informative as his others. Ian Mathie knows exactly how to stitch up a good story; the occasional photographs - proving the stories are not fiction – come almost as a surprise. The books are helpfully illustrated with simple maps placing the stories in geographical context. To me, Ian Mathie is simply the best of the relatively unknown writers I have come across as a reviewer. Interestingly, the two men in my household grab and devour Ian Mathie's books, and I imagine anyone interested in development issues and/or Africa would welcome one or two of his titles for Christmas.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906852103</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Samuel Beckett, Martha Dow Fehsenfeld, Lois More Overbeck, George Craig and Dan Gunn
|title=The Letters of Samuel Beckett: Volume 2, 1941-1956
|rating=4
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Despite the title, Volume 2 really begins in 1945. During the war, Beckett was working with the French Resistance, and had to go into hiding. In order to keep the picture reasonably complete, there is a chronology of the war years, and the introduction includes a lettercard sent to James Joyce in February 1941, a pre-printed postcard presenting prefabricated phrases which the sender could strike out as appropriate. During the war only the mildest of family news could be sent through the mail, and even this was subject to censorship. Joyce never received the card, as he died the day after it was written.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0521867940</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Elizabeth Chatwin and Nicholas Shakespeare (ed)
|title=Under the Sun. The Letters of Bruce Chatwin
|rating=4
|genre=Travel
|summary=Bruce Chatwin was best known as a travel writer – this collection both confirms his 'wanderlust' but also clearly establishes that his writing was far more of a creative process than the usual journalistic approach to travel writing. Nicholas Shakespeare’s selection and passages of narration makes this a mix of the biographical and the autobiographical, a fascinating insight into a restless spirit, but also into the experimentation and literary reflection that made him outstanding amongst his peers.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224089897</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Roy Tomkinson
|title=Of Boys, Men and Mountains - Life in the Rhondda Valley
|rating=3
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Roy Tomkinson comes over as pretty sentimental about aspects of his childhood. He was born into a family of boys, and surrounded by an extended family spread along the valley. He was a child in the nineteen fifties, when post-War austerity was still a feature of life in Wales. Nevertheless, discipline, love and understanding were meted out by his parents in equal measures to provide a strong platform for his childhood adventures. Roy and his gang grew up free-ranging the valley, teaching their dogs and ferrets to catch rats, trespassing on industrial land, learning about girls, and entirely missing the growing affluence of central Britain. For them, it was idyllic, and the author makes it clear, many times, how lucky he feels to have enjoyed such a stable childhood environment.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0862438683</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Michael Booth
|title=Eat, Pray, Eat
|rating=4
|genre=Travel
|summary=I really enjoyed ''Eat, Pray, Love'' by Elizabeth Gilbert. Initially I thought I'd picked up a ''Me too'' variant with ''Eat, Pray Eat'' and must admit to my heart sinking. But no, here is a different personality with another story and writing style and after a few, doubting pages, I was away. This is a story of a family adventure to India, a hard-fought encounter with yoga, and some culinary interest thrown in. But like Elizabeth Gilbert, like most other visitors, India moved his life-view dramatically and for the better.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224089633</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Candia McWilliam
|title=What to Look for in Winter: A Memoir in Blindness
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=When you know that a biography tackles alcoholism, a mother's early death, feelings of loneliness and worthlessness, culminating in going blind, you expect that this is going to be one of two types of book – the misery memoir, or the positive 'all ends well' tale. 'What to Look for in Winter: A Memoir in Blindness' is neither. It is a book which is as complex as the life it relates, and as deep.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099539535</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ian Mathie
|title=Man in a Mud Hut
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Ian Mathie deserves a wider audience. I can't understand why he hasn't been leapt upon by Radio 4 , Saga Magazine, the Sunday papers, the Daily Mail, Uncle Tom Cobley and all since the publication of ''Bride Price'' in January. Here is a fine new Voice who is completely his own man. His writing is spare, uncomplicated and unassuming. Now Ian Mathie has taken a dusty-dry civil servant and turned him into a hero. Desmond's first visit to Africa is the theme of the dramatic ''Man in a Mud Hut'' story. Set in the 1970's, the intrigue and suspense sort of reminded me of [[The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre|The Spy who came in from the Cold]] - and it all happened.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>190685209X</amazonuk>
}}
