When I became interested in books and could read novels, I thought that the kind of biographies were for adults and scholars. But later I wanted to know about the biography of writers when I read their novels. My grandmother showed us how to find about them in the Encyclopedias. I admitted that I became more interested in writers and admired them by reading about their biographies. The biography told the history of their era.
So, for book lover, reading alone the novel was not enough. I came to realize that their biography influenced on their novels. Then I could grasp their writing style too. When I was interested in poems, I also loved to read about the poets. When I read books, I searched about the author too. It was fun and interesting for me.
Soliloquy in the Book Shop
When I was at the book shop, I stood before the corner of biographies and gazed what books were there. I rarely see the biographies of writers and poets. But I saw some biographies of famous people and political leaders. I was thinking that these were exciting books as novels? I had no reason to read about them. (I thought how boring the biographies of political leaders! I did not like politicians. They only cared for their ambition. So, I did not want to read about them.)
But I was thinking about the book ‘Desiree’ that I had read a month ago. I told myself that it was also included the part of the biography of Napoleon, isn’t it? After reading ‘Desiree’, I knew a little about the French history, French Revolution, etc. Although I did not like Napoleon, I was interested in reading about the character of Napoleon. I remembered that I never felt boring during my reading. So, it meant that I could read the true biography of Napoleon? I could also read about Hitler? I could understand Mao although I was not interested in it? Now I found the biography of Steve Jobs, is this book interesting too?
Beyond Biographies
Not alone in the biographies of the writers, we also can get interesting information from the biographies of the famous people or political leaders. It told us message of our history. Moreover we came to realize their deed and their movement in history. The biography gave us knowledge. If we loved to read the novel, we would surely appreciate the biography too. As the saying ‘Truth is stranger than fiction’, the biography of famous people or political leaders had amazing episodes.
I had the same feeling as when I read about writers as when I read about political leaders, dictators or famous people around the world. I came to realize that they were the people like us, felt like us, struggled like us. They had no supernatural power and they were like everybody else. But they have ambition, goal and aim. They were head-strong, stubborn and determined. It was different from other people. Although they were dictators and they had bad names in history, their deeds and their decisions were very meaningful. Although we hate them, we had to admire their deed and their action. If we admired the person, we had to read about the biography of him or her to know about their ambition, their struggle, their honesty or their sincerity. We can take lessons from the biography too.