Booking Through Thursday: Autobiography vs. Biography #Meme

This meme is hosted by Booking Through Thursday Blog. This week’s question is:

Which do you prefer? Biographies written about someone? Or Autobiographies written by the actual person (and/or ghost-writer)?

As a child, I really enjoyed reading biographies – but the sort of biographies that was geared towards the interest and reading style of children so it wasn’t overly dull. I read a lot of biographies in elementary school on people such as Sandra Day O’Conner, Helen Keller, Richard Nixon, Laura Ingles Wilder, and Abraham Lincoln to name a few. But as I grew older the amount of biographies I read decreased to virtually zilch as they often became stale and boring.

Now, though, I much prefer biographies (if I have to choose between the two) because to me it says, “I find this person so special that I would like to tell you all about them!”. With autobiographies (self-written) I sometimes look at it in the “I am so special and let me tell you why!” obnoxious category. I don’t know why autobiographies bug me, but they do – and I didn’t even notice it until this very second while writing this blog entry. But, even so – not all autobiographies annoy – as in high school I read a memoir/autobiography called My Sergei, which I absolutely loved. It was about the romance between two Russian ice skaters, and her journey through grieving when he randomly and suddenly dies on the ice. I think it depends on the context of why the person is writing an autobiography – if it’s for publicity/fame/fortune then I have no interest. However, if it’s to act as a voice for others who may be going through the same thing and are unable to speak up,then I’m willing to look at it in a whole new light.

As for ghost-written autobiographies .. What on EARTH is the point of that? Though on that note, I do find myself interested when authors are “pretending” to be historical figures and writing about their lives – like King Henry VIII. We know it’s fiction, but it’s written as if he was writing it himself, and I find that rather interesting. (So – I really do not have a consistent opinion on the matter, do I?) I guess it varies, like anything. My opinions change on the quality of the book – if it’s written well, then I’ll most likely enjoy it.