• Walter ABISH: Double Vision (B+) -- self-portrait
  
  
• Chinua ACHEBE:
  • Conversations with Chinua Achebe, edited by Bernth Lindfors (B)
  • Home and Exile (B) -- autobiographical
  
  
• Anna AKHMATOVA: The Guest from the Future (B) -- György Dalos' study
  
  
• ALEXANDER the Great: Sikandar Nama, e bara (A-) -- Nizami's brilliant verse biography
  
  
• Henri ALLEG: The Question (B+) -- torture memoir
  
  
• Idi AMIN: Talk of the Devil (B+) -- Riccardo Orizio's encounter
  
  
• Martin AMIS:
  • Experience (B+) -- memoir, of sorts
  • Koba the Dread (B-) -- Stalin plus autobiographical bits
  
  
• Aharon APPELFELD:
  • The Story of a Life (A-) -- memoir
  • A Table for One (B) -- Under the Light of Jerusalem
  
  
• Ayi Kwei ARMAH:
  • Ayi Kwei Armah, Radical Iconoclast (B-) -- Oge Odege's study
  • The Novels of Ayi Kwei Armah (B) -- Robert Fraser's monograph
  
  
• Diana ATHILL: Stet (B+) -- an editor's life
  
  
• Naim ATTALLAH: Ghosting (A-) -- Jennie Erdal's memoir
  
  
• Alan AYCKBOURN: Conversations with Ayckbourn (B+) -- with Ian Watson
  
  
• Zahiruddin Muhammad BABUR: Baburnama (B+) -- autobiography
  
  
• John Stewart BELL: Quantum Reflections (--), (ed. J. Ellis and D. Amati) -- essays inspired by Bell's work
  
  
• Alan BENNETT: The Lady in the Van (B+) -- autobiographical
  
  
• Isaiah BERLIN: The Guest from the Future (B) -- György Dalos' study of his meeting with Anna Akhmatova
  
  
• John BERGER: Ways of Telling (B) -- Geoff Dyer's study
  
  
• Thomas BERNHARD: Thomas Bernhard (B+) -- Gitta Honegger's study
  
  
• BIBISH: The Dancer from Khiva (B-) -- One Muslim Woman's Quest for Freedom
  
  
• Léon BLOY: Léon Bloy (B) -- Rayner Heppenstall's study
  
  
• Jean-Bedel BOKASSA: Talk of the Devil (B+) -- Riccardo Orizio's encounter
  
  
• Jorge Luis BORGES:
  • [Borges - diary notes of Adolfo Bioy Casares]
  • Borges: A Life (B+) - biography by Edwin Williamson
  • Borges: A Life (also:The Man in the Mirror of the Book) (B+) - biography by James Woodall
  • Jorge Luis Borges: Conversations, edited by Richard Burgin (B-)
  • With Borges (B+) -- Alberto Manguel's account
  • With Borges on an Ordinary Evening in Buenos Aires (B+) -- Willis Barnstone's memoir
  
  
• Matthew BOULTON: The Lunar Men (B+) -- Jenny Uglow's study
  
  
• Tycho BRAHE: On Tycho's Island (B) -- J.R.Christianson's biography
  
  
• Hermann BROCH: Dear Mrs. Strigl/Liebe Frau Strigl (B) -- memoir by his son
  
  
• Edward BULWER LYTTON:
  • Bulwer Lytton (B+) -- Leslie Mitchell's biography
  • Edward Bulwer (B) -- T.H.S.Escott's biography
  
  
• William S. BURROUGHS: The Job (B) -- interviews with Daniel Odier
  
  
• George W. BUSH: The President of Good and Evil (B+) -- Peter Singer looks at The Ethics of George W. Bush
  
  
• Elias CANETTI: Party im Blitz (B+) -- memoir of his English years
  
  
• Peter CAREY: Wrong About Japan (B) - A Father's Journey with his Son
  
  
• Massimo CARLOTTO: The Fugitive (B) - his years on the run
  
  
• Willa CATHER: Willa Cather and the Politics of Criticism (B+) -- by Joan Acocella
  
  
• Jean François CHAMPOLLION: The Keys of Egypt (B) -- Lesley and Roy Adkins' biographical work
  
  
• CHAUCER: Chaucer (B-) -- Peter Ackroyd's mini-biography
  
  
• E.M.CIORAN: An Infamous Past (A-) -- Marta Petreu's study of E.M.Cioran and the Rise of Fascism in Romania
  
  
• Bill CLINTON: An Affair of State (A-) -- Richard A. Posner analyzes the Clinton-Lewinsky debacle
  
  
• Arthur H. CLOUGH: The Voice of Victorian Sex (B+) -- Rupert Christiansen's biographical essay
  
  
• Julian COPE:
  • Head-On (B+) -- memoirs 1976-82
  • Repossessed (B) -- memoirs 1983-89
  
  
• Erasmus DARWIN:
  • The Life of Erasmus Darwin (B) -- Charles Darwin's brief biography
  • The Lunar Men (B+) -- Jenny Uglow's study
  
  
• John DEWEY: The Metaphysical Club (A-) -- Louis Menand's broad survey
  
  
• Philip K. DICK: I am Alive and You are Dead (B) -- Emmanuel Carrère's biography
  
  
• Tahar DJAOUT: Silence is Death (B+) -- Julija Šukys on The Life and Work of Tahar Djaout
  
  
• Bill DRUMMOND:
  • 17 (B+) -- autobiographical
  • 45 (B+) -- autobiographical
  • Annual Report (A-) -- autobiographical bits
  
  
• Baby Doc DUVALIER: Talk of the Devil (B+) -- Riccardo Orizio's encounter
  
  
• Shirin EBADI: Iran Awakening (B+) -- A Memoir of Revolution and Hope
  
  
• Adolf EICHMANN: Criminal Case 40/61, the Trial of Adolf Eichmann (B+) -- Harry Mulisch's eyewtiness account
  
  
• Albert EINSTEIN:
  • Driving Mr. Albert (B) -- Michael Paterniti on the road with Al's brain
  • A World Without Time (B+) -- Palle Yourgrau on The Forgotten Legacy Of Gödel And Einstein
  
  
• T.S.ELIOT: Words Alone (B+) -- Denis Donoghue's study
  
  
• James ELLROY: My Dark Places (B+) -- memoir
  
  
• Jason EPSTEIN: Book Business (B+) -- publishing memoir
  
  
• Jennie ERDAL: Ghosting (A-) -- memoir
  
  
• Annie ERNAUX:
  • L'ecriture comme un couteau (B) -- interview
  • A Frozen Woman (A-) -- about mother
  • Happening (B+) -- memoir of abortion
  • "I Remain in Darkness" (B-) -- about mother
  • A Man's Place (A-) -- about father
  • Se perdre (B) -- passionate journal
  • Shame (B+) -- memoir
  • Simple Passion (A-) -- memoir
  • See also the complete review's Annie Ernaux page
  
  
• Sergei ESENIN: A Novel Without Lies (B+) -- Anatoly Mariengof's memoir
  
  
• ESTERHÁZY Péter: Utazás a tizenhatos mélyére (B+) -- autobiographical musings
  
  
• Paul FEYERABEND:
  • Briefwechsel (B) -- correspondence with Hans Albert
  • For and Against Method (B+) -- includes correspondence with Imre Lakatos
  • Killing Time (B+) -- autobiography
  • Feyerabend (B-) -- John Preston's study of his philosophy
  • The Worst Enemy of Science ? (B+) -- Essays in memory of Paul Feyerabend
  
  
• Gustave FLAUBERT, :
  • The Perpetual Orgy (A-) - Mario Vargas Llosa on Flaubert and Madame Bovary
  • Searching for Emma (B) - Dacia Maraini on Gustave Flaubert and Madame Bovary
  • Something to Declare (B+) -- Julian Barnes' essays
  
  
• Jonathan FRANZEN: The Discomfort Zone (A-) -- A Personal History
  
  
• George MacDonald FRASER: Quartered Safe Out Here (B+) -- recollection of the war in Burma
  
  
• Stephen FRY: Fat Chance (A-) -- Simon Gray's account of the Cell Mates fiasco
  
  
• Ruben GALLEGO: White on Black (B+) -- memoir of being disabled in the USSR
  
  
• Gabriel GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ: Living to Tell the Tale (A) -- memoir
  
  
• William H. GASS: Conversations With William H. Gass (B), ed. T.G. Ammon
  
  
• Edward GIBBON: Memoirs of my own Life (B+) -- autobiography
  
  
• Natalia GINZBURG: It's Hard to Talk About Yourself (B) -- radio interviews
  
  
• Witold GOMBROWICZ:
  • A Kind of Testament (B)
  • Polish Memories (B+)
  
  
• Kurt GÖDEL, :
  • Gödel (B+) -- by John L. Casti and Werner DePauli
  • Reflections on Kurt Gödel (B) -- by Hao Wang
  • A World Without Time (B+) -- Palle Yourgrau on The Forgotten Legacy Of Gödel And Einstein
  
  
• Juan GOYTISOLO:
  • Forbidden Territory (A-) -- Memoirs 1931-1957
  • Realms of Strife (B+) -- Memoirs 1957-1982
  
  
• [Günter GRASS: Peeling the Onion - memoir]
  
  
• Alasdair GRAY:
  • Alasdair Gray (A-) -- Critical Appreciations and a Bibliography
  • Alasdair Gray (B) -- Stephen Bernstein's study
  
  
• Simon GRAY:
  • An Unnatural Pursuit (B) -- theatre-diary
  • Fat Chance (A-) -- theatre-diary
  • How's That for Telling 'em, Fat Lady ? (B) -- theatre-diary
  • The Smoking Diaries (A-)
  • The Year of the Jouncer (A-)
  
  
• Graham GREENE: Greene on Capri (B) -- Shirley Hazzard's memoir
  
  
• Durs GRÜNBEIN: Das erste Jahr (B+) -- Berlin notes, for the year 2000
  
  
• Hugo HAMILTON: The Speckled People (B) - memoir
  
  
• HAN Sorya: Han Sorya and North Korean Literature (B) -- The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK by Brian Myers
  
  
• David HARE: Acting Up (B-) -- a diary of his acting experience
  
  
• Oliver Wendell HOLMES, Jr.: The Metaphysical Club (A-) -- Louis Menand's broad survey
  
  
• Robert HOOKE: The Curious Life of Robert Hooke -- Lisa Jardine's biography
  
  
• Victor HUGO: The Temptation of the Impossible (B+) -- Mario Vargas Llosa's study of Victor Hugo and Les Misérables
  
  
• John IRVING: My Movie Business (B+) -- memoir
  
  
• Edmond JABÈS: Lavish Absence (B+) - Recalling and Rereading Edmond Jabès by Rosmarie Waldrop
  
  
• William JAMES: The Metaphysical Club (A-) -- Louis Menand's broad survey
  
  
• Wojciech JARUZELSKI: Talk of the Devil (B+) -- Riccardo Orizio's encounter
  
  
• B.S.JOHNSON: Like a Fiery Elephant (A) -- Jonathan Coe's biography
  
  
• Samuel JOHNSON: Dr.Johnson's Dictionary (US title: Defining the World) (B+) -- Henry Hitchings' account
  
  
• Denys JOHNSON-DAVIES: Memories in Translation (B) -- A Life Between the Lines Of Arabic Literature
  
  
• Immanuel KANT: Kant (B+) -- Manfred Kuehn's biography
  
  
• Lord KELVIN: Degrees Kelvin (B) -- David Lindley's biography
  
  
• Wolfgang von KEMPELEN: The Mechanical Turk (B+) -- Tom Standage
  
  
• KERTÉSZ Imre: K. dosszié (A-) -- his unusual memoir
  
  
• Michael KORDA: Another Life (B+) -- publishing memoir
  
  
• D.H. LAWRENCE: Out of Sheer Rage (A-) -- offbeat study by Geoff Dyer
  
  
• Stanislaw LEM: A Stanislaw Lem Reader (B-) -- introduction to Lem and his work, ed. by Peter Swirski
  
  
• Vladimir I. LENIN: Lenin's Embalmers (B-) -- Ilya Zbarsky
  
  
• John LENNON: The Mourning of John Lennon (B) -- Anthony Elliott
  
  
• King LEOPOLD II, of Belgium: King Leopold's Ghost (A-) -- biography by Adam Hochschild
  
  
• Patrice LUMUMBA: The Assassination of Lumumba (-) -- account by Ludo De Witte
  
  
• Johann MAELZEL: The Mechanical Turk (B+) -- Tom Standage
  
  
• Naguib MAHFOUZ:
  • Echoes of an Autobiography (B) -- faint echoes
  • Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber (B) -- Reflections of a Nobel Laureate 1994-2001
  
  
• Dean MAHOMED:
  • The First Indian Author in English (B+) -- Michael H. Fisher's introduction to man and work
  • The Travels of Dean Mahomet (B) -- another variation on the work
  
  
• Bodil MALMSTEN: The Price of Water in Finistère (B) -- sort of a memoir of living in France
  
  
• MANGUEL, Alberto: A Reading Diary (B)
  
  
• MÁRAI Sándor: Napló 1984-1989 (A-) -- diary
  
  
• James MARCUS: Amazonia (A-) -- Five Years at the Epicenter of the Dot.Com Juggernaut
  
  
• Javier MARÍAS: Dark Back of Time (A-) -- biographical fiction
  
  
• MARIE-ANTOINETTE:
  • Marie Antoinette (B) -- Evelyne Lever's biography
  • The Wicked Queen (B+) -- Chantal Thomas' unusual study
  
  
• Ann MARLOWE:
  • The Book of Trouble (B) -- A Romance
  • How to Stop Time: Heroin from A to Z (B) -- junkie culture in NY
  
  
• Harry MATHEWS:
  • My Life In CIA (B+) -- A Chronicle Of 1973
  • The Way Home (A-) -- with autobigraphical piece
  
  
• Robert McCRUM: My Year Off (B-) -- autobiographical, about recovering from a stroke
  
  
• MENGISTU Haile-Mariam: Talk of the Devil (B+) -- Riccardo Orizio's encounter
  
  
• MIR: Zikr-i Mir (B-) -- memoir by the Urdu poet
  
  
• MOBUTU Sese Seko: In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz (B+) -- Michela Wrong's biography
  
  
• Wladyslaw MOES: The Real Tadzio (B+) -- Gilbert Adair's essay on the inpiration for Thomas Mann's Death in Venice
  
  
• Nicholas MOSLEY: Time at War (B) -- WWII memoir
  
  
• Thomas MUNCH-PETERSEN: Fatal Error (B+) -- Confessions of an Accidental Killer
  
  
• MURAKAMI Haruki:
  • Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words (B) -- study by Jay Rubin
  • What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (B) -- A Memoir
  
  
• MURASAKI Shikibu: The Diary of Lady Murasaki (B+) -- diary
  
  
• Iris MURDOCH: Elegy for Iris (also: Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch) (B+) -- memoir by John Bayley
  
  
• Vladimir NABOKOV: Nabokov's Butterflies (B+) -- includes autobiographical material
  
  
• Azar NAFISI: Reading Lolita in Tehran (B+) -- memoir
  
  
• V.S. NAIPAUL:
  • Between Father and Son (B-) -- family letters
  • Literary Occasions (A-) -- essays
  • Reading & Writing (A-) -- a personal account by Naipaul
  • Sir Vidia's Shadow (A) -- story of a friendship, by Paul Theroux
  • Stet (B+) - Diana Athill's memoir, with a chapter on VSN
  
  
• Joseph NEEDHAM:
  • The Man Who Loved China (UK title: Bomb, Book and Compass) (B) -- The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom by Simon Winchester
  • My Unwritten Books (A-) -- by George Steiner, one of which was on Joseph Needham
  
  
• Irène NÉMIROVSKY: Irène Némirovsky (B) -- Her Life and Works by Jonathan Weiss
  
  
• Pablo NERUDA:
  • Memoirs (B+)
  • Passions and Impressions (B) -- various prose
  
  
• Isaac NEWTON:
  • Isaac Newton (B+) -- James Gleick's biography
  • Newton (B+) -- Patricia Fara's study
  • The Newtonian Moment (B+) - Isaac Newton and the Making of Modern Culture by Mordechai Feingold
  
  
• Amélie NOTHOMB: Amélie Nothomb de A à Z (B) -- Michel Zumkir's Portrait d'un monstre littéraire
  
  
• David Ernst OPPENHEIM: Pushing Time Away (B+) -- Peter Singer's biography of his grandfather
  
  
• Sonia ORWELL: The Girl from the Fiction Department (B) -- Hilary Spurling's portrait
  
  
• Yambo OUOLOGUEM: Yambo Ouologuem: Postcolonial Writer, Islamic Militant (B-) -- essays, edited by Christopher Wise
  
  
• Oxford English Dictionary: The Professor and the Madman (also: The Surgeon of Crowthorne) (B+) -- study of the men behind it, by Simon Winchester
  
  
• Amos OZ: A Tale of Love and Darkness (A) -- memoir
  
  
• Orhan PAMUK: Istanbul (B) -- Memories and the City
  
  
• Charles S. PEIRCE: The Metaphysical Club (A-) -- Louis Menand's broad survey
  
  
• Georges PEREC:
  • Georges Perec (A) -- David Bellos' biography
  • Je me souviens (B) -- Perec remembers
  • Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (A-) -- by Perec, includes autobiographical pieces
  • The Way Home (A-) -- includes remembrances by Harry Mathews
  
  
• POL POT: Pol Pot (A-) -- Philip Short's biography
  
  
• Karl POPPER:
  • Karl Popper: The Formative Years 1902-1945 (A-) -- Malachi Haim Hacohen's biography
  • Wittgenstein's Poker (B+) -- David Edmonds and John Eidinow about Popper
  
  
• Dennis POTTER:
  • Dennis Potter (B) -- Humphrey Carpenter's biography
  • The Passion of Dennis Potter (B) -- international essays
  • Potter on Potter (B+) -- interviews with Graham Fuller
  
  
• Joseph PRIESTLEY: The Lunar Men (B+) -- Jenny Uglow's study
  
  
• Marcel PROUST: How Proust can change your Life (A-) -- Proustian how-to from Alain de Botton
  
  
• Alexander PUSHKIN: Pushkin's Button (B-) -- study of his death, by Serena Vitale
  
  
• Gregory RABASSA: If This Be Treason (B) -- memoir
  
  
• Wilhelm REICH:
  • Het seksuele bolwerk (A) -- study by Harry Mulisch
  • Wilhelm Reich in Hell (B-) -- Robert Anton Wilson's dramatic take on him
  
  
• Yasmina REZA: Hammerklavier (B) -- autobiographical vignettes
  
  
• Rainer Maria RILKE: Reading Rilke (B+) -- William H. Gass focusses on the Duino Elegies
  
  
• Raymond ROUSSEL:
  • Death and the Labyrinth (B+) - Michel Foucault's study
  • Raymond Roussel and the Republic of Dreams (A-) -- Mark Ford's study
  
  
• D.A.F. de SADE: An Erotic Beyond: Sade (A-) -- brief study by Octavio Paz
  
  
• Nicolas SARKOZY: Dawn, Dusk or Night (B) -- A Year with Nicolas Sarkozy by Yasmina Reza
  
  
• Marjane SATRAPI:
  • Persepolis (B) -- an Iranian childhood
  • Persepolis (vol. 3) (B) -- adolescence in Austria
  
  
• André SCHIFFRIN: The Business of Books (B+) -- publishing memoir
  
  
• Arno SCHMIDT: Framing a Novelist (--) -- Robert Weninger's study
  
  
• Arthur SCHOPENHAUER: Schopenhauers Kampf um sein Werk (B+) -- Alfred Estermann on Schopenhauer and his publishers
  
  
• W.G.SEBALD: The Emergence of Memory (B+) -- Lynne Sharon Schwartz edits a collection of Conversations with W.G.Sebald
  
  
• Queen of SHEBA: Sheba (B) -- Nicholas Clapp goes in search of
  
  
• Iain SINCLAIR: The Verbals (B) -- in conversation with Kevin Jackson
  
  
• Francis SPUFFORD: The Child That Books Built (B) -- reading memoir
  
  
• STALIN:
  • Koba the Dread (B-) -- Martin Amis' account of
  • Stalin (A-) -- Simon Sebag Montefiore on The Court of the Red Tsar
  
  
• Gertrude STEIN:
  • Writings 1903-1932 (B+) -- including aurobiographical works
  • The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (B+) -- autobiography
  • Everybody's Autobiography (B+) -- autobiography
  
  
• George STEINER:
  • Errata (C+) -- autobiographical
  • My Unwritten Books (A-)
  
  
• Tom STOPPARD:
  • The Cambridge Companion to Tom Stoppard (-), ed. Katherine E. Kelly
  • Conversations with Stoppard (B-) -- with Mel Gussow
  • Double Act: A Life of Tom Stoppard (B+) -- Ira Nadel's biography
  • Stoppard's Theatre (B) -- John Fleming's study
  
  
• Bruna SURFISTINHA: The Scorpion's Sweet Venom (C-) -- The Diary of a Brazilian Call Girl
  
  
• Paul THEROUX:
  • Dark Star Safari (A-) -- travel
  • Sir Vidia's Shadow (A) -- memoir
  
  
• Alice B. TOKLAS: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (B+) -- (auto)biography by Gertrude Stein
  
  
• Mario VARGAS LLOSA: A Fish in the Water (A-) -- memoir
  
  
• Aleksander WAT: My Century (B) -- The Odyssey of a Polish Intellectual
  
  
• James WATT: The Lunar Men (B+) -- Jenny Uglow's study
  
  
• Josiah WEDGWOOD: The Lunar Men (B+) -- Jenny Uglow's study
  
  
• Otto WEININGER: Otto Weininger (B+) -- Chandak Sengoopta's critical study
  
  
• Peter WEISS: Briefe (B) -- letters
  
  
• Fay WELDON:
  • Auto da Fay (B+) -- memoir
  • Mantrapped (A-) -- memoir/novel
  
  
• Edwin N. WILMSEN: Journeys with Flies (B) -- autobiographical
  
  
• Ludwig WITTGENSTEIN
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Terry Eagleton Script (B+) -- Terry Eagleton
  • Wittgenstein: The Derek Jarman Film (B+) -- Derek Jarman
  • Wittgenstein in Ireland (B) -- Richard Wall's account
  • Wittgenstein's Poker (B+), -- David Edmonds and John Eidinow about an infamous incident
  
  
• [Christa WOLF One Day a Year: 1960-2000 ]
  
  
• Adam ZAGAJEWSKI: Another Beauty (B+) -- memoir
  
  
• Béla ZSOLT: Nine Suitcases (A) - memoir

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© 2008 the complete review

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