If someone were to write your biography, what would it reveal about you? Would it be accurate? Could it be accurate? How would you write your own life story?

As I’ve worked with authors of memoirs and biographies about famous actors, I’ve been struck by the difference between the cultivated image and the person behind the image. In most cases, the persons featured in these books are no longer alive. The authors’ narratives are candid, intimate, revealing, moving … and sometimes shocking. I am left wondering how the people who are written about would feel to know their foibles and flaws were revealed to the world. Did they view themselves the way they are portrayed in these books? Even as I hungrily absorbed every detail of these accounts, I occasionally felt the discomfort of intruding in the most personal way into the lives of people who no longer could respond.

Biographies, autobiographies and memoirs are different genres. A biography is an account of someone’s life written by someone else; it should be complete and should be supported in the narrative or index by reliable, named sources. An autobiography is an account of a person’s life written by that person; it should be complete and supported in the narrative by reliable, named sources. A memoir is a collection of memories that an individual writes about moments or events that took place in the author’s life; it can cover specific periods of time and does not have to provide supportive resources.

I’ve become very selective about the biographies, autobiographies and memoirs I read these days. The best of them are entertaining and enlightening. Some are uplifting and inspiring. And if they do their job, they are memorable.

Here are some highly recommended life stories that may get you thinking about writing your own autobiography or memoir:

Autobiography
My Autobiography – Charles Chaplin
Sunday Nights at Seven – Jack Benny
Knock Wood – Candace Bergen
The Ragman’s Son – Kirk Douglas

Biography
Louise Brooks: A Biography – Barry Paris
Ann Dvorak: Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel — Christina Rice
Bogart – Ann M. Sperber
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption – Laura Hillenbrand

Hybrid Memoir/Biography
Searching for My Father, Tyrone Power – Romina Power
The Baron of Mulholland – Rory Flynn