Biographies

I only watch Saturday Night Live occasionally, and I rarely watch stand-up comedy on TV.  (Yes, I do have a sense of humor in spite of this.)  However, I cannot stop listening to the audiobook of Tina Fey’s new Bossypants.  I listen to it as I’m driving, and more than once I’ve had to turn it off so I could stop laughing long enough to be a responsible driver.  I recommend the audiobook over the book so you can hear Tina Fey herself deliver the lines as only she can do.

My reading tastes run almost exclusively to fiction.  But, every now and again, I get a desire to immerse myself in biographies or memoirs.  When I was in the third grade, I read our entire classroom collection of biographies of famous Americans.  Perhaps it serves as a more grounded version of my fiction bibliotherapy -- taking a vacation from my life and experiencing someone else's thoughts and world.  I've got my hands on a particularly good crop of biographies and memoirs right now, some of which you might also enjoy:

First Ladies of the United States are often more interesting than their powerful husbands.  Read a little about Dolly Madison or Mary Todd Lincoln, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  For a really interesting read, try Presidential Wives by

• Biographies
• first ladies
• Nonfiction
• presidents

Ever heard of Larry Page or Sergey Brin?

Biographies are not my first (second, third or fourth!) choice of reading material. It’s not that I have no interest in the lives interesting (often infamous) people have led throughout history. I simply don’t enjoy wading through the depth and breadth of information provided by most biographers.