Generally I find memoirs more engaging but more biased. I’m glad you found the post interesting and hope you like any of the books you check out 🙂

Thanks for an interesting discussion and comparison/contrast between the two. Also: Thanks for some new-to-me titles. 🙂

Yes, not to mention that some biographers tend to insert themselves into a story and there are paragraphs and paragraphs about how they are connected to the person they are writing about and how they get to know about them first etc. Recently, I do find this problematic especially in other non-fiction books when you just want to get to the crux of the matter heh.

Thank you, glad you liked my blog post. That’s a good point – the flaws can be interesting in a memoir, it depends whether you’re looking for information primarily (for example, researching the person) or if you want more of an emotional journey. I find that memoirs tend to have a more compelling writing style. I have to choose biographies carefully because the style is often not engaging enough for me.

Thank you! 🙂 I haven’t read either of these books but would like to.

Thank you! Glad you liked it. Yes, memoirs are more intimate and help you have more of a connection to the author. I suppose a biography could be like that, if written by someone who was personally close to the subject.

I totally agree Laurence – although some biographers may try to be objective, it’s not really possible (much like the BBC!) and maybe you’d have to read multiple books by different writers if you wanted a rounded perspective. Gore Vidal’s book sounds a great read – I don’t mind gossip and lies so long as it’s entertaining 😉 Thanks for stopping by.