I like to read. I like to read a lot. I also like to both own books and to give them away. Over the years I’ve shifted from having a strong preference for fiction and the escapism that imaginary stories hold, to non fiction and then now am somewhere at a mid point between the two. What I have never enjoyed particularly are auto/biographies. I have bought or borrowed many where I have read only the first chapter or, embarrassingly, often not even opened. I find I want to know more about the lives of these people but not actually do the work of reading them.
Recently however I borrowed a copy of Kamala Harris’s autobiography The Truths We Hold, curious to know more about her at this point in history. In full disclosure, I still haven’t finished it but I am about ¾ way through and think my chances are good. Or at least better than usual. I have been curious to reflect on why I don’t usually like biographies when so many people I know do, and why I should maybe read more of them. I’m sharing them here, also with a curiosity to hear from others what genres they don’t like and why and what they might learn from them.
(Sidenote: I’m aware that the reasons say much more about me than they do about the people who write them or the genre itself!)
Questions that I am now asking myself as I read biographies firstly about the story and then about myself?
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- What is inspiring in this biography? Where did I feel triggered or defensive? What might I do differently based on their story?
- What might have been left out of their story and why? Was that intentional? Where are they vulnerable in what is shared? Where are they carefully curating their public persona? What do I leave out of my own biography a) when I am telling it to myself and b) when I am telling it to others?
- What motivates the individual to share their story? Are they sharing lessons learned? Looking to inspire? Legacy? Positioning for something? Wanting to make sure their side of the stories get told? When I share my stories what is my own motivation?
- How many different ways could I tell the story of my life – as a comedy, tragedy, epic adventure…? How does shifting the tone of how I tell the story, shift how I see current events?
