The English Governess at the Siamese Court: The True Story Behind 'The King and I'


Anna Harriette Leonowens - 1999
    First published in 1870, Leonowens' memoir is the true story of a proper English governess who is hired by the King of Siam to tutor his many children. A delightful portrait of an unlikely friendship between two headstrong personalities, it is also a revealing peak at two very different cultures.

Ernest Hemingway: A Writer's Life


Catherine Reef - 2009
    Hemingway is considered one of the greatest writers in modern history, and his novels and stories are read, studied, and imitated around the world. His concise prose style earned him both a Pulitzer and a Nobel Prize. But Hemingway also had a temper and a fondness for drinking and carousing that caused his work to suffer. He was a complex man, a hotheaded starter of arguments and a romantic who married four times. He, perhaps more than any other American writer, truly lived what he wrote. All this makes for a fascinating read. Author Catherine Reef has crafted a compelling biography that is not only a highly enjoyable account of an extraordinary life, but an accessible and tempting introduction to the work of one of our most revered--and sometimes reviled--American icons.

John Lennon: A Life from Beginning to End (Biographies of Musicians)


Hourly History - 2021
    Lennon did indeed have his struggles in life. He was raised by an austere and controlling aunt and barely knew his own mother and father. As a result, he grew up with a serious need for love, affection, and attention. It was this desire for recognition that would drive Lennon to reach for the stars. Come along as we explore the life and legend of John Lennon, from his troubled childhood in Liverpool to his superstardom with the Beatles and eventual assassination in 1980.

Plain Tales from the Hills


Rudyard Kipling - 1888
    Most of the stories it includes had already appeared in the Civil and Military Gazette they were written before he reached the age of 22; and they show a remarkably precocious literary talent. His vignettes of life in Brittish India a hundred years ago give vivid insight into Anglo-India at work and play, into a barrack-room life, and into the character of Indians themselves.

Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald


F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1985
    Now, for the first time, the story of the love of these two glamorous and hugely talented writers can be given in their own letters. Introduced by an extensive narrative of the Fitzgeralds' marriage, the 333 letters - three-quarters of them previously unpublished or out of print - have been edited by noted Fitzgerald scholars, Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks. They are illustrated throughout with a generous selection of familiar and unpublished photographs.