After glancing at the Holiday Books Section, it seems readers are fascinated with reading about famous (and some not so famous) people. Biographies seem to dominate the list: out of the 45 titles reviewed, 19 are biographies, autobiographies or memoirs. The varied subjects are all masters of their trade and the list is impressive. Included are: Bob Hope, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin, Gordie Howe (a Hall of Famer hockey player), Ralph Peer (a music entrepreneur), a collection on photographers Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston and several others), photographer Sam Wagstaff, singer/actress Peggy Lee, writer and poet Oscar Wilde, television writer/ producer Norman Lear, singer/ songwriter Bob Dylan, Dorothy & Otis Shepard (married advertising artists), Monty Python’s John Cleese, Herbie Hancock, George Benson (both musicians), Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, artist Bruce Nauman, Josephine Bonaparte, and comedic actress Amy Poehler. A few of these names I did not recognize, and had to research them. But I decided to include their area of expertise to save you the trouble, in case any were unfamiliar. How many can you recognize?
