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<BR> doesn't anyone read biographies any more? I'll start off with "Carrington" and anything about the Bloomsbury group.

The last good bio that I read was THE SOONG DYNASTY. This was the story of the family of Madame Chiang K'ai-Chek.(Otherwise known as, Mrs. Cash My Check.) It is really an eye-opener as to how she and her husband, the General, squeezed every last nickel they could steal from China. If you like gossip, backstabbing, and intrigue, you will LOVE this bio.

JohnG, you are so right, she made Imelda (The Shoe Empress)Marcos look like a piker & an amateur! <BR> <BR>Anyway, reading "Marie Antoinette" by Antonia Fraser. According to Fraser, while possibly not one of the great intellectual minds of her age, Marie was a lot smarter than people ever credited her. Quel domage! <BR>BC

all the memoirs of MFK Fisher, Janet Flanner, Cocteau, Anais nin, Henry Miller, Violet Le Duc, Kiki, Colette, and I, too, bookworm, like all the works of the Bloomsbury group.

Utopia Highway-life and art of Joseph Cornell. <BR> <BR>Julian Levy-Portrait of an art Gallery <BR> <BR>John Richardson-The sorcerers apprentice.

"The Ghost Light" by Frank Rich, former theatre critic of the NYT. Although not a biography, this memoir of a sad boy's infatuation with the theater will haunt you.

One book I enjoyed was the autobiography of Richard Branson "Losing my Virginity". He is one wild guy but I enjoyed hearing about Virgin air and the fights with British Air. Also, learned a lot about Tibet and the Dali Lama in "Exile from the Land of snows." Right now I am reading "The Proving ground". It is about the big sailboat race from Sydney to Hobart in 98, when a big storm kicked up and caused destruction and death.

For the Hwmingway era and before,let me recommend, some may be out of print. <BR> <BR>This must be the place, memoirs of Montparnesse by Jimmie, the bartender <BR> <BR>Everybody was so young about Gerals and Sara Murphy by Veill <BR> <BR>Monsieur Proust by Celesre Albaret <BR> <BR>Paris was a women by Weiss <BR> <BR>Jazz Cleopatra about Josephine Bake <BR> <BR>Exiles, by Michel Arlen <BR> <BR>The very rich hours of Adrienne Monnier by McDougal <BR> <BR>H.D.(poet Hilda Doolittle Robinson.

If I may add The Hemmingway Women written by B.Kent, Being Geniuses Together by McAlmon, That summer in Paris by Callaghan, Becoming modern, life of Mina Loy written by C. Burke, Bloomsbury and France, by Caws and Wright, Ford Maddox Ford, Provence, Running in Place, by Delbanco And finally Marcel Pagnol's Memories of Childhood and his Time Secrets and Time of Love.

OMG, I forgot about GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE. She was an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the leader of fashion and politics of her day. She helped get Charles James Fox elected to Parliament, and took part in the battles of Billy Pitt and Fox.

I'm currently reading "Eleanor of Aquitaine" by Alison Weir. She is a very good writer, it's interesting to read, and I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in French and/or English Medieval history. Also, it's out in paperback so isn't that expensive.

Thanks for the tip about the Dutchess. <BR><BR>I'm sure my name is coincidental, but the reference is new to me!<BR><BR>Thanks again.

Great thread! I'm saving it to Word since we've had mysterious disappearances lately.

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Just bought John Adams - looking forward to reading it after I finish Clancy's Red Rabbit - loving this book.