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Newest Biography Reviews (view source)
Revision as of 09:26, 22 September 2025
, 09:26, 22 September 2025no edit summary
[[Category:Biography|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Biography]]__NOTOC__<!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
{{Frontpage
|author=Maxim Gorky and Bryan Karetnyk (translator)
|title=Reminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreyev
|rating=3.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=Biographies are often seen as the form of life-writing which offers less colour; it can be seen as more objective and less personal. I think that Gorky completely rejects this perspective, and offers a vibrant, subjective yet informed portrait of three of his literary contemporaries. In the first section of this book, Tolstoy complains to his friend Gorky that: ''you write not of real life as it is, but of what you yourself imagine it to be. Whom would it help to know how I see this tower, that sea, or that Tartar - why should it interest anyone? Of what use is it?''. Well, Maxim Gorky shows exactly what can be gained from a subjective account, giving us access to how he saw Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreyev in such privileged detail that one almost feels unworthy of it.
|isbn=1804271977
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Ian Penman
|title=Erik Satie Three Piece Suite
|rating=3.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=This unconventional biography somewhat mirrors Satie's admittedly effusive personality: whimsical, experimental and creative. It is divided into three sections: the first, an essay, the second, an A-Z encyclopedia on Satie and the third, a 'Satie Diary', documenting Ian Penman's thoughts surrounding Satie, his muse.
|isbn=1804271535
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Jacqueline Feldman
|title=Precarious Lease
|rating=3.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=The title of this novel refers to a French legal term (''bail précaire'') associated with squatters in France, affording them temporary suspension from eviction charges and processes, but few scant property rights. Among mentions of other squats dotted around Paris like Le Carrosse and La Miroiterie, Feldman takes particular interest in one squat of massive proportions which adopted an almost mythical status for its inhabitants, admirers and detractors alike: Le Bloc. Something like a haven for artists and marginal members of society (as one character, Le Général, repeats throughout, ''I live on the margins of the margins of the margins''), Le Bloc was subject to the continual threat of eviction and the pressures from above which oppressed its inhabitants' lives. We follow Le Bloc from its opening in 2012 until its eventual dissolution, framed as a tragedy in this book.
|isbn=1804271403
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Jacqueline Rose
|title=Women in Dark Times
|rating=4
|genre=Biography
|summary=''The world of the unconscious is not the antagonist of political life, but its steadfast companion, the hidden place or backdrop where any true revolution must begin…''
Women in Dark Times is Jacqueline Rose's homage to courageous women throughout history, particularly women of the 21st, 20th and 19th centuries. Her historical and political backdrop is, thus, expansive, yet she navigates it with intelligence and an acknowledgment that feminism's lengthy mission is a testament to its successes, and not its failures: ''the ongoing force of feminism''.
|isbn=1804271713
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Claire Dederer
|title=Monsters: What Do We Do with Great Art by Bad People?
|rating=3
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=Dederer sets out to unveil what she calls a ''biography of the audience'' in a deconstructed, thoroughly nitpicked, exploration of the old aphorism of separating the art from the artist in the context of contemporary ''cancel culture''. Dederer's work is original and expressive. The reader gets the impression that the thoughts simply sprang and leapt from her brilliant mind and onto the page. In particular, the prologue packs a punch: she simultaneously condemns and exalts the director Roman Polanski, an artist she personally admires for his art, and yet despises for his actions. This model of ''monstrous men'' as she calls them, is consistent for the first few chapters, interrogating the likes of Woody Allen, Michael Jackson and Pablo Picasso. Her critical voice is acutely present throughout, never slipping into anonymity and maintaining her own subjectivity, as she holds it so dearly, and a personal, rather than collective voice.
|isbn=1399715070
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1788360702
|title=Charles, The Alternative Prince: An Unauthorised Biography
|author=Edzard Ernst
|rating=4
|genre=Biography
|summary=For over forty years, Prince Charles has been an ardent supporter of alternative medicine and complementary therapies. ''Charles, The Alternative Prince'' critically assesses the Prince's opinions, beliefs and aims against the background of the scientific evidence. There are few instances of his beliefs being vindicated and his relentless promotion of treatments which have no scientific support has done considerable damage to the reputation of a man who is proud of his refusal to apply evidence-based, logical reasoning to his ambitions.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1739805100
|genre=Biography
|summary=Mostly we choose what books to read because there is so little time and so many books… I can understand the approach, but I also think we sell ourselves short by it, and we sell the myriad lesser-known authors short as well. So while, like most other people I have my favourite genres, and favoured authors, and while, like most other people I read the reviews and follow up on what appeals, I also have a third-string to my reading bow: randomness.
}}
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