I am very into the biographies about great tortured or tormented souls. I have read The unabridged journals of sylvia plath and Girl interrupted and unholy ghost. I am really look for some great reads on troubled individuals. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

I would love to read the Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath.
I highly recommend her novel 'The Bell Jar.' It's one of my favourites.

Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel also falls into this category.
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey is well written, but you should know that he fabricated some details of the book. Still, I found it to be amazing. It explores not just his addiction but all of the complex issues which lie beneath the surface and may lead people to become adddicts in the first place.

I was just on the phone with my sister discussing Elizabeth Wurtzel. She recommended that I read Bitch by the author. It is about the strong women in both Christian and Jewish traditions.

I liked Bitch. Elizabeth Wurtzel is a very talented writer, very witty at times, and Bitch is a bit of a feminist book where she attacks passive women who allow themselves to be defined and silenced by their men and praises women who do the opposite.
She talks about Amy Fisher, Nicole Brown Simpson, Hilary Clinton and others.

It was published in the late 90s though and so you might find it a little outdated. I noticed this especially where she discussed Hilary Clinton. Wurtzel talked about her being passive and being a smart woman who gave it all up for Bill to be president. She also said something along the lines of that Hilary would never try to become president because it's not in her nature. We all know now that she misread her. I noticed a lot of the book was rambling and very biased but at the same time very entertaining. More of a guilty pleasure than a serious academic text. I found out from reading her subsequent book 'More, Now, Again' that she was high while she was writing this book for the most part.
Still, it's worth a read I say

bohemian_girl wrote:I found out from reading her subsequent book 'More, Now, Again' that she was high while she was writing this book for the most part.

OMG, that explains so much! I found that book to be very rambling and unorganized as well, though I really enjoyed some of the vignettes in it. I didn't find it to be based mostly on Christian/Jewish women though and though I might need to re-read it since it's been a very long time since I read it.

Since I'm here...

Hrmm, tortured souls, tortured souls....can't say that I read a lot of tortured souls stuff. Would Marquis de Sade count as tortured? A lot of his works are laced with philosophical arguments that always seemed frustrated with the purpose (or lack thereof) of life. He spent a lot of time in jail and did a lot of writing while he was there. This biography looks like it might be interesting, and there are links to some collections of his work on that page as well that include nonfiction as well as fiction works.

LOL I know. It was like 'Bitch' all fell into place when I read 'More, Now, Again.' Turns out that Wurtzel developed an addiction to ritalin because she couldn't concentrate while she was writing 'Bitch.' She was perscribed it to improve her concentration levels but she ended up snorting it 40 times a day and got seriously into the cocaine again while. And they were trying to get her off the drugs into rehab but she wanted to finish the book first and she needed the drugs to finish the book.

More, Now, Again (a memoir of addiction) by Wurtzel is good as well. I can't help but adore the way that she writes. I can find her so frustrating but she always draws me in.

As for tortured souls- Down Came the Rain by Brooke Shields is a revealing, scary and heartbreaking look at post natal depression.

The Best Little Girl in the World by Steven Levenkron.
A great book about the story of teen girl with anorexia. This book is wrote by the Psychologist that was treating Karen Carpenter.

I have one of the Marquis de Sade's books and fournd it really really distrubing. In fact so much that I had to stop reading it. Although reading his biography might be interesting, I am a little weary of it. But willing to try it on. I also have the book Alice. It is the biography of the wild child daughter of Theodore Roosevelt. Might be interesting to share.

here are some ideas:

Drinking a love story by Caroline Knapp
Jackson Pollack by Smith and Naifeh
Fortunate Son by Lewis Puller
Personal History by Katharine Graham
LBJ PAth to Power and Means to Accent by Caro
Power Broker by Caro

I am a huge fan of narrative non fiction novels. Having just finished reading Tuesday's With Morrie by Mitch Albom, I am anxiously awaiting his new book, Have A Little Faith. I came across this YouTube video where he reads the first few pages, and his spiritual insights are truly inspiring- I thought I'd share it with you guys below. I believe the book is coming out sometime in September. If any one can suggest another similar type of non-fiction work that I can begin reading soon, it woud be really appreciated! If you are interested this is the link:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddYV_Y53xvc