Fun biographies to read
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Best Biographies of All Time: Top 20 Most Interesting Reads
Have you ever read a biography that was gripping enough to keep you turning pages long after you should’ve been asleep? If not, then maybe you’re not reading the right books.
We culled the best of the best from over a half dozen sources, and still can’t capture all the great biographies worth reading.
Here, in no particular order, are the best biographies that read as good as, if not better than, fiction.
The List
1. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
At once devastating and uplifting, Unbroken is the story of Louis Zamperini, from his incorrigible boyhood actions to the sport that turned him around and led him to the Olympics.
But then WWII came calling, changing Louis and testing his endurance and ingenuity. The story comes full circle when, decades later, Zamperini returns to Japan, not as a POW, but as an honored guest at the Olympics.
2. The Imm 
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The 50 Best Biographies of All Time
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Crown The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, by Tom Reiss
The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo</em>, by Tom Reiss" src="?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=*" width="" height="">You’re probably familiar with The Count of Monte Cristo, the revenge novel by Alexandre Dumas. But did you know it was based on the life of Dumas’s father, the mixed-race General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, son of a French nobleman and a Haitian slave? Thanks to Reiss’s masterful pacing and plotting, this rip-roaring biography of Thomas-Alexandre reads more like an adventure novel than a work of nonfiction. The Black Count won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in , and it’s only a matter of time before a filmmaker turns it into a big-screen blockbuster.
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Farrar, Straus and Giroux Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, by Craig Brown
Ninety-Nine Glimpses •
11 Funny Memoirs That Will Make You Laugh Out Loud
David Sedaris is a beloved humor essayist, and Me Talk Pretty One Day, his second collection of essays, makes for an uproarious read. Divided into two parts, the first section of Sedaris’s memoir-in-essays chronicles the author’s childhood in North Carolina, where he grew up surrounded bygd his offbeat family members, including his hilarious sister Amy Sedaris. In the second section, Sedaris recounts his adult life living in Normandy with his partner, Hugh. “Go Carolina” opens the collection and relates the time Sedaris was sent to a speech therapist in elementary school for his lisp. Instead of “fixing” the way he spoke, he simply decided to stop using the letter “s,” much to the consternation of his instructor. Sedaris is known the world over for his acerbic wit and dry observations on the absurdities of everyday life. He’s also an excellent live reader and performer. If you want a taste of his comedic presence, listen to his bri
The 50 Best Biographies of All Time
50
Crown The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, by Tom Reiss
You’re probably familiar with The Count of Monte Cristo, the revenge novel by Alexandre Dumas. But did you know it was based on the life of Dumas’s father, the mixed-race General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, son of a French nobleman and a Haitian slave? Thanks to Reiss’s masterful pacing and plotting, this rip-roaring biography of Thomas-Alexandre reads more like an adventure novel than a work of nonfiction. The Black Count won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in , and it’s only a matter of time before a filmmaker turns it into a big-screen blockbuster.
49
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, by Craig Brown
•
11 Funny Memoirs That Will Make You Laugh Out Loud
David Sedaris is a beloved humor essayist, and Me Talk Pretty One Day, his second collection of essays, makes for an uproarious read. Divided into two parts, the first section of Sedaris’s memoir-in-essays chronicles the author’s childhood in North Carolina, where he grew up surrounded bygd his offbeat family members, including his hilarious sister Amy Sedaris. In the second section, Sedaris recounts his adult life living in Normandy with his partner, Hugh. “Go Carolina” opens the collection and relates the time Sedaris was sent to a speech therapist in elementary school for his lisp. Instead of “fixing” the way he spoke, he simply decided to stop using the letter “s,” much to the consternation of his instructor. Sedaris is known the world over for his acerbic wit and dry observations on the absurdities of everyday life. He’s also an excellent live reader and performer. If you want a taste of his comedic presence, listen to his bri