Biography books from France
Recommended biography books (17)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you are into biography here are some biography books from France for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge.
11.
Life with Picasso by Françoise Gilot, Carlton Lake EN
Description:
Francoise Gilot met Picasso during the German occupation of Paris, she was twenty-one, he was sixty-two. For nearly a decade, Gilot shared her life with this giant of the art world, giving birth to two of his children, working as his model, and sharing his world. This uniquely candid and vivid memoir takes readers behind the Piccasso legend to meet the man.
12.
Metodo per diventare un altro by Édouard Louis IT
Description:
“Una domanda si è imposta al centro della mia vita, ha catalizzato ogni mia riflessione, occupato ogni momento di solitudine: come avrei potuto prendermi quella rivincita sul mio passato, con quali mezzi? Le ho provate tutte.” É. L. Quasi un decennio dopo Farla finita con Eddy Bellegueule, il suo esordio divenuto un caso editoriale internazionale, Édouard Louis torna a parlare della sua storia e lo fa con un romanzo malinconico, lucido e affascinante. Una storia di apprendimento, di lotta e di metamorfosi per sfuggire alla povertà, alla violenza e all’esclusione. Il racconto del percorso lungo... continue
13.
Norah's Secrets by Samia Shariff EN
Description:
The many vicissitudes in Norah’s story possess an empowering impudence which leads to believe that, despite the prevailing fundamentalism in some countries, the new generation of Muslim women will not be silently crushed and humiliated as were its predecessors. Norah’s undaunted strength and hope for a brighter future are characteristics which somehow prevail in those whose destinies are held captive by perpetrators who use religion and sacred scriptures as an excuse to torment their victims at will. This book recalls some events found in Samia Shariff’s notorious Veil of Fear, published in 20... continue
14.
Papillon by Henri Charriere, Patrick O EN
Description:
Condemned for a murder he had not committed, Henri Charriere (nicknamed Papillon) was sent to the penal colony of French Guiana. Forty-two days after his arrival he made his first break, travelling a thousand gruelling miles in an open boat. Recaptured, he suffered a solitary confinement and was sent eventually to Devil's Island, a hell-hole of disease and brutality. No one had ever escaped from this notorious prison - no one until Papillon took to the shark infested sea supported only by a makeshift coconut-sack raft. In thirteen years he made nine daring escapes, living through many fantasti... continue
15.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly : A Memoir of Life in Death by Jean-Dominique Bauby EN
Description:
A triumphant memoir by the former editor-in-chief of French Elle that reveals an indomitable spirit and celebrates the liberating power of consciousness. In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French Elle, the father of two young children, a 44-year-old man known and loved for his wit, his style, and his impassioned approach to life. By the end of the year he was also the victim of a rare kind of stroke to the brainstem. After 20 days in a coma, Bauby awoke into a body which had all but stopped working: only his left eye functioned, allowing him to see and, by blinking it, to... continue
16.
Description:
WINNER OF THE 2022 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE Shortlisted for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize Considered by many to be the iconic French memoirist's defining work and a breakout bestseller when published in France in 2008 The Years is a personal narrative of the period 1941 to 2006 told through the lens of memory, impressions past and present—even projections into the future—photos, books, songs, radio, television and decades of advertising, headlines, contrasted with intimate conflicts and writing notes from 6 decades of diaries. Local dialect, words of the times, slogans, brands and n... continue
17.
Who Killed My Father by Édouard Louis EN
Description:
Who Killed My Father is the story of a tough guy - the story of the little boy I never was. The story of my father. 'What a beautiful book' MAX PORTER In Who Killed My Father, douard Louis explores key moments in his father's life, and the tenderness and disconnects in their relationship. Told with the fire of a writer determined on social justice, and with the compassion of a loving son, the book urgently and brilliantly engages with issues surrounding masculinity, class, homophobia, shame and social poverty. It unflinchingly takes aim at systems that disadvantage those they seek to exclude -... continue