Any autobiographical works that inspire you to dream?

[gruntingslime]

Does anyone know any autobiographical books, they can be strict biographies or just stories with real source material... I feel like I need to be getting realistic, so maybe tearing my mind away from fiction for a bit, getting some good advice from a book... maybe something with a role model type character, something mildly philosophical and inspiration, something that will get me dreaming... hopefully more realistic dreams.

Anyone know anything like this?

[keilj]

Ben Franklin's comes to mind

[Kyriakos]

Whatever you do stay away from Kafka :)

[gruntingslime]

heheh, i read Kafka's diaries, they were inspiration but definitely did not help me break free of my mind.

[keilj]

JFK's Profiles in Courage might be worth considering

[LuggageFan]

The Book of Job?

[Patrick_Bateman]

Given the title of the thread I can't resist proffering Martin Luther King Jnr's autobiography :)


JFK's Profiles in Courage might be worth considering

Yes yes yes yes yes


Whatever you do stay away from Kafka :)

and Mandela
one word

interminable

[EndSarcasm]

and Mandela
one word

interminable

Stop insulting my country's hero :p

[Patrick_Bateman]

Stop insulting my country's hero :p

I'm not insulting HIM just the particular biography I have.
It is so so boring for large sections


and it's a beast of a book so those large sections last a while.

[EndSarcasm]

I'm not insulting HIM just the particular biography I have.
It is so so boring for large sections


and it's a beast of a book so those large sections last a while.

Oh no, I completely agree. I was joking.

On topic; Lester Bangs' biography is interesting, though not sure how inspiring it would be for you :s

[grace86]

Jacqueline Novogratz's "The Blue Sweater"
Helped me to realize that no matter what field I go into, there's always a way to help other people with what I've learned.

Paul Farmer's works, not necessarily autobiographical - just the books he's published, and the one Tracy Kidder wrote about him, "Mountains Beyond Mountains" are some books that really inspire me.

[Silas Thorne]

The autobiography of Giacomo Casanova. I'm not sure if he should be a role model overall, but he is still a very interesting man who was in touch with a lot of the most famous people of his time.

'Liar' by Stephen Fry is also worth reading. It will certainly start you dreaming. It may be, partly, semi-autobiographical. ;) He wrote something a lot more autobiographical in 'Moab is my Washpot'.

'A portrait of the artist as a young man' by James Joyce, and 'Confessions of an English Opium Eater' by Thomas de Quincey are also well worth reading, and the second actually attempts to describe the realistic opium dreams of the author.

Can never forget the novel 'Grass Soup' by Zhang Xianliang. In this book, the author secretly kept a diary of his experiences in a Chinese labour camp. Shocking depiction of a time of extreme starvation, and what it does to people.

[The Comedian]

Walden by Henry Thoreau could get you where you need to be.

[Desolation]

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, and Ask the Dust by John Fante are the big ones for me.

[oshima]

Of Human Bondage by Maugham is compelling, though I find it difficult to articulate why. Go tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin is also quite good, but you might want a casual familiarity with Christian scripture before reading it.

[gruntingslime]

I like some of your examples, Comedian, I've already read Walden from the first time you recommended it. I found myself creeping up in the forests of Sweden, I will definitely have to revisit it again.

I love Gandhi as a figure, he accomplished so much and with a lot of goodness that you can learn from, even if you take everything with a pinch of salt, as a cynic like me might do.

Does anybody know any books by spiritual figures, possibly monks writing... I like the idea of journeys and quests right now too...

On the road is good, it's close, I have it and I've read it. Tropic of Cancer I was considering, possibly that or if I can really put my finger on something I was thinking about here. I like the concept of Marco Polo, it might be a little dry though, I'm not sure if it's the journey I need to go on right now. Even if there was a really epic handbook kind of thing, small and could be kept in the pocket... But I think right now I'd prefer an enlightening adventure. If it is true it increases the epicness, because sometimes it can be even more sombre in its moments, and sometimes those are the moments of truth.

[Delta40]

Whatever you do stay away from Kafka :)

in my writing for the stage unit - Kafka was highly recommended. Any reason for your comment before I step into a quagmire?

[Delta40]

Don't read Michel Foucault's biography.....I'm scarred for life

[gruntingslime]

Really? that sounds kind of epic... Although I'm already scarred for life by a million papercuts.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is another good example... I do find a lot of depth in that book, Hunter S Thompson gives me a melancholy feeling. I don't think he reached his full potential in much more than this book. It would have been nice to see him write another work of fiction in his later years...

But something that can seem more wise and applicable to life would be good too. Sometimes I just dream of books that may or may not exist... I guess I somehow have to transform myself and live these lives and write these books... So many dreams...

[LuggageFan]

They aren't really biographies or autobiographies per se, but in the years following WWII, Waverly Root was, I believe, an AP European correspondent who later in life wrote two well-researched volumes about The Food of France and The Food of Italy, both of which were republished as trade paperbacks in the early 90's. Exhaustive and written with great attention to detail and local history as it pertained to the development of things like Parmesan cheese or Choucroute Garni (and much of his information he collected directly from villagers and connoisseurs firsthand), both of these books inspired me to visit parts of Europe I would never have otherwise visited - that time really was the high point of my younger days. :) I originally purchased both volumes because the cover engravings were lovely (and of course the topic of food is one that I am passionate about), but once I started reading them, I couldn't put them down. :)

[Kyriakos]

in my writing for the stage unit - Kafka was highly recommended. Any reason for your comment before I step into a quagmire?

Kafka shouldnt be influencing people looking for a change, because he self-destructed and was an abyss of unsolved mental problems.
He is good for grown-ups, who can see him as an oddity, or something sad. His writing style is great in my view, and he was clearly intelligent. But he is no role model ;)