Friday, December 30, 2011

Best Biographies and Memoirs of 2011: Eleven Lists

Another year and another list of best books. In fact, many lists of best books, for many book reviews, online bookstores, and book blogs seem to issue them at this time of year. I've gotten into the act, too. I have gone through some of the major lists and identified the biographies and memoirs therein. The result is my fourth annual best biographies and memoirs master list.

I have been pretty liberal with my definition of biography. You might say I chose anything biographical. Some readers might quibble that a few are really histories with biographical elements. It seems to me that a book that has a person's name in the title is biographical enough for the list and certain to interest a biography reader.

As always, the lists agree and disagree. Every list has titles that all the other lists have overlooked or excluded. The biography Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable is included in eight of the eleven lists. Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie is in seven lists, and In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson appears in six lists. The most recognized memoirs are Blue Nights by Joan Didion and Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III, both making six lists.

Some review sources thought there were many notable biographies and only a few worthy memoirs, while some others were more taken with the year's memoirs. The result is there should be something here for everyone.

Compiling this master list has become a little more difficult as some of the review sources have generated their lists in pieces. If you see a mistake, please let me know and I will correct the master list.

As always, I hope this help you in your book selecting this winter. Enjoy. Happy New Year.


Amazon Best Books of 2011

Biography

(I did not stick to Amazon's categorizations. Some of these titles were in its history list instead of the biography list.)

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson


Memoirs

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer

My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store by Ben Ryder Howe

Then Again by Diane Keaton

Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III




Audiofile's Best Audiobooks of 2011

Biography

Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

Malcolm X by Manning Marable

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand


Memoirs

Chapters from My Autobiography by Mark Twain

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

No Biking in the House without a Helmet by Melissa Fay Greene




Barnes & Noble Best Books 2011

Biography

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Richard Rhodes

In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

Machiavelli: A Biography by Miles J. Unger

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter by Mark Seal

Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz

Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein by Julie Salamon


Memoirs

Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

Reading My Father: A Memoir by Alexandra Styrom

Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III

What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes

Wilder Life : My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie



Booklist Editors' Choices 2011 

(Some titles were in categories other than biography)

Biography 

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

The Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock by David Margolick

Huston: Courage and Art by Jeffrey Meyers

The Mirage Man: Bruce Ivins, the Anthrax Attacks, and America's Rush to War by David Willman

Obama on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President by Justin A. Frank

The Paper Garden: An Artist (Begins Her Life's Work) at 72 by Molly Peacock

Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark by Brian Kellow

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean

Verdi's Shakespeare: Men of the Theater by Garry Wills


Memoirs

Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon by Alfredo QuiƱones-Hinojosa and Mim Eichler Rivas.

The Map of My Dead Pilots: The Dangerous Game of Flying in Alaska by Colleen Mondor



Goodreads Choice Awards

Biography

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

Dressmaker of Khair Khana : Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - From America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness by Frank Brady

In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever by Bill O'Reilly

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter by Mark Seal

A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother by Janny Scott

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson



Memoirs

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yunavitch

The End of Boys by Peter Brown Hoffmeister

Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself by Rachel Lloyd

Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life by Michael Moore

Life Itself by Roger Ebert

The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok

My Lucky Life in and out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels - A Love Story by Ree Drummond

The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma

Seal Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper by Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin

A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe

Then They Came for Me : A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival by Maziar Bahari

This Is Gonna Hurt : Music, Photography, and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx by Nikki Sixx

Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch

Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III

Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Matthew Logelin

Wilder Life : My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie



Kirkus Book Reviews Best Nonfiction of 2011

Biography

Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin

Courage Beyond the Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story by Jim Dent

Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports by Mark Ribowsky

Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman by Patricia Bosworth

Lennon: The Man, the Myth, the Music - the Definitive Life by Tim Riley

Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution by Mary Gabriel

Mightier Than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America by David S. Reynolds

Tolstoy: A Russian Life by Rosamund Bartlett

Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein by Julie Salamon


Memoirs

Bento's Sketchbook by John Berger

Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok

Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso

Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III

An Unquenchable Thirst: Following Mother Teresa in Search of Love, Service, and an Authentic Life by Mary Johnson

Witness to an Extreme Century: A Memoir by Robert Jay Lifton

Your Voice in My Head: A Memoir by Emma Forrest



Library Journal Best Books 2011 Top-Ten

Biography

Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz



Library Journal Best Books 2011 More of the Best

Biography

Becoming Dickens: The Invention of a Novelist by Douglas Fairhurst

Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson by Kevin Avery

Nica’s Dream: The Life and Legend of the Jazz Baroness by David Kastin


Memoirs

Bossypants by Tina Fey



Library Journal Best Books 2011 Memoirs

Cabin: Two Brothers, a Dream, and Five Acres in Maine by Lou Ureneck

Fiction Ruined My Family by Jeanne Darst

The Girl's Guide to Homelessness by Brianna Karp

I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl: A Memoir by Kelle Groom

Love at First Bark: How Saving a Dog Can Sometimes Help You Save Yourself by Julie Klam

The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok

My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner: A Family Memoir by Meir Shalev

Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso

Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III



Library Journal Librarians’ Best Books of 2011

Memoirs

The Long Goodbye by Meghan O'Rourke

The Orchard: A Memoir by Theresa Weir



New Yorker's Reviewers' Favorites of 2011

Biography

The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe by Peter Godwin

George F. Kennan: An American Life by John Lewis Gaddis

Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India by Joseph Lelyveld

The Inner Life of Empires: An Eighteenth-Century History by Emma Rothschild (about the Johnston family)

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Mightier Than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America by David S. Reynolds

Modigliani: A Life by Meryle Secrest

Molotov's Magic Lantern: Travels in Russian History by Rachel Polonsky

Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark by Brian Kellow


Memoirs

What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes



New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2011

Biography

And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life by Charles J. Shields

Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane by Andrew Graham-Dixon

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned by John A. Farrell

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

George F. Kennan: An American Life by John Lewis Gaddis

Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India by Joseph Lelyveld

In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

The Keats Brothers: The Life of John and George by Denise Gigante

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark by Brian Kellow

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orleans

Van Gogh: The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith



Memoirs

Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

The Boy in the Moon: A Father's Journey to Understand His Extraordinary Son by Ian Brown

The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt

My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonmte

One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir by Binyavanga Wainaina

[sic]: A Memoir by Joshua Cody

To a Mountain in Tibet by Colin Thubron



Publishers Weekly Best Books 2011

Biography

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin

Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961 by Paul Hendrickson

In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution by Mary Gabriel

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orleans



Memoirs

Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Life Itself by Roger Ebert

The Long Goodbye: A Memoir by Meghan O’Rourke

One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir by Binyavanga Wainaina

Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso

Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III




Washington Post Best Books of 2011

Biography

And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life by Charles J. Shields

Branch Rickey by Jimmy Breslin

Caravaggio by Andrew Graham-Dixon

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin

Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra F. Vogel

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - From America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness by Frank Brady

Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961 by Paul Hendrickson

The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens, and the Search for the Good Life by Bettany Hugh

In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution by Mary Gabriel

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden

A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother by Janny Scott

Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War by Hal Vaughan

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

The Story of Charlotte's Web: E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic by Michael Sims

The Triple Agent: The al-Qaeda Mole Who Infiltrated the CIA by Joby Warrick

Van Gogh: The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith

Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage



Memoirs

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

The Foremost Good Fortune: A Memoir by Susan Conley

The Last Resort: Taking the Mississippi Cure by Norma Watkins

Life Itself: A Memoir by Roger Ebert

The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok

Small Memories: A Memoir by Jose Saramago

Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this list, Rick!

Are you going to PLA?

Sarah MN Librarian

ricklibrarian said...

I hope you like the list. I will be at PLA. See you there?

Anonymous said...

Yes, I will be there! At all of the book programs . . .

Sarah MN Librarian