Tuesday, January 03, 2006

 

Top works of personal non-fiction

Here's my latest book list. My top 10(ish) works of what I call personal non-fiction. Some are autobiography, some memoir, some diaries, som less easy to categorise. All of them taught me a lot about the person writing it and about something else. They are also all among the most engrossing books I have ever read, giving rise to huge emotions. Dirt made me really really want to be a rock star, Into Thin Air had my mouth gaping and my knuckles white (it still haunts me), My War Gone By I Miss It So left me feeling as if I'd been doing drugs, and Country of My Skull made me cry constantly. I say you should read these all.

Again, no particular order:

  1. My War Gone By, I Miss It So by Anthony Loyd
  2. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
  3. My Traitor's Heart by Rian Malan
  4. Dirt by Motley Crue
  5. Down and Out in Paris and London/The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
  6. The Liars' Club by Mary Karr
  7. Spike Milligan's War Memoirs (all of them)
  8. If This Is a Man & The Truce/The Periodic Table by Primo Levi
  9. The Bang-Bang Club by Greg Marinovich & Joao Silva (here are some photos)
  10. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
  11. The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
  12. Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
  13. Country of my Skull by Antjie Krog

Comments:
Smart man, Milligan - I can't quite get over the image of being "knee-deep in ears". Great find.
 
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