On the Shelf: Penguin Lives

Submitted by Barbara V on Tue, 09/01/2009 - 4:30pm

Biographies are not my first (second, third or fourth!) choice of reading material. It’s not that I have no interest in the lives interesting (often infamous) people have led throughout history. I simply don’t enjoy wading through the depth and breadth of information provided by most biographers.

 
Enter the Penguin Lives series of biographies averaging less than 200 pages and written by the likes of Larry McMurtry – Crazy Horse; Edna O’Brien – James Joyce; Bobbie Mason – Elvis Presley; and Carol Shields – Jane Austen.
 
Concise and well-written, the Penguin Lives series makes biographies interesting as well as accessible. Tempting, too! I’ve check out the Kingwood Library’s copy of Jane Austen by Carol Shields. Seems I’ll be reading at least one biography in the days ahead, after all!