Biographies for winter readings

By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
This season has been unbelievably busy for you.

Between work obligations, family events, and trying to keep things together at home, you feel as though you don’t have five minutes to yourself. There’s a lot of winter left, though, you know, so how about taking time to read about somebody else’s life….

Anybody who knows who Stan Lee is shouldn’t be surprised that his biography, “I Am Stan: A Graphic Biography of the Legendary Stan Lee” by Tom Scioli (Ten Speed Graphic, $28.99) is written as a graphic novel, like a comic book. Lee, for the unenlightened, was a driving force at Marvel Comics back in the day, and this book takes readers from Lee’s early years to his later works, his many triumphs, and his death at age 95. It’s a book fans will love.

Here’s another one for rabid fans (and you know who you are!): “A.K.A. Lucy: The Dynamic and Determined Life of Lucille Ball” by Sarah Royal, foreword by Amy Poehler (Running Press, $29.00). You’ll love this: it’s more than just a biography. You’ll read about Lucille Ball’s shows, her work, her marriage and children. Royal includes a good timeline, a list of Ball’s movies, quotations from people who knew her, a short list of favorite TV episodes, and a longer list of awards Ball received. This All Things Lucy book is exactly what every red-headed-loving TV-watcher wants.

For those who crave a little lot of romance in their life, “Bogie & Bacall: The Surprising True Story of Hollywood’s Greatest Love Affair” by William J. Mann (Harper, $40.00) is a good thick book that tells all, but not in a tabloidish way. No, it’s about Bogie’s dogged determination in wooing the much, much younger Lauren Bacall, about their courtship, their marriage, their kids, fights, make-ups, and heartbreaks. Mann dives deep into each of them, so readers may feel as if they know the stars personally. He then takes things past Bogie’s death, to Bacall’s years afterward. If you love old movies, old-fashioned love stories, and old Hollywood, you know what you have to do. Put your two lips together… and get this book.

And finally, here’s an ordinary biography about an ordinary kid whose early life was a science project. “Data Baby: My Life in a Psychological Experiment” by Susannah Breslin (LegacyLit, $29.00) is the story of how Breslin’s parents enrolled her in a preschool at the University of California, Berkley, when she was very small. She, of course, didn’t know it then, but she and her classmates were part of a three-decade study on the development of human personality. Years later, Breslin wondered if being part of an experiment on personality left lasting effects on hers. Oh-so-intriguing, you’ll want to know, too.

So let’s say you race through one or all four of these books, and you need more.

Then be sure to ask your favorite librarian or bookseller for ideas. They’ll know exactly what to put in your hands. For you, they’re never too busy.

Season’s readings!

— Terri Schlichenmeyer lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 15,000 books.