@davidpaul Yes, lots, if not most fiction, is autobiographical or semi-autobiographical, but written in a tone that is different. The most near-literal are like the 'auto-fiction' of Knausgaard's
Min Kimp, which I read the first three of. He's very good, and I recommend Vol. II especially, but didn't care to finish it (it's not quite as up there with the whole Proust, and I think he knows that--I took 2 months in 2000 to read all of
Recherches in English, then read
La Cote des Guermantes, which was my favourite one, in French--my French is not good enough to read fast enough, so I reread favourite parts, as I've also done with some of Robbe-Grillet's novels.) I just read most of Michel Houellebecq's novels, which range from uneven to masterpieces (at least twice) and he often has a 'Michel' or even a 'Michel Houellebecq' in his fiction. Proust had 'Marcel' and Knausgaard was exactly as in real life, the others not quite so literal.
It goes the other way too. Joan Didion's
The White Album essays are so overcast in dark atmosphere, it almost seems as though the real places she talks about are pure fiction--and they're not, because I went to one of her readings, and at the Q & A, asked some questions about the addresses and she told me what had happened to them since she'd written them (one was supposed to be demolished, but has in fact been renovated and the neighborhood upgraded. She also told me the address of this house, it was 7406 Franklin Ave., Hollywood, and I went to see it the following Dec., 2001.) So, had to do with her often-depressed mood at the time. Quite a gal in her day, now old and very frail.
But real non-fiction like Ted Koeppel's book on the dangers of cyberwarfare to the electrical grids I had to get my hands on immediately, and that's become an even more important subject since the book's publication almost 2 years ago. Had loved Lawrence Wright's book
The Looming Tower (about Al Qaeda and 9/11) and his 2012 book about Scientology is fabulous.
@teresita Love it that you read Hollywood bios, I've read a few, not as many as you, I think. I read one about Lana Turner and one about Ann-Margret 20 and 30 years ago. One about Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee by their son (this one was very good, called
Dream Lovers. Dee was still alive at the time, about 1995.) Also have read fine things by Aileen Bowzer, formerly of Museum of Modern Art, about silent director D.W. Griffith, those are excellent. She lives right around the corner from me, and still gets around.
The Nature of the Beast, about the director Fritz Lang, who did
Metropolis and the Dr. Mabuse silents before coming to Hollywood, is excellent too, and he truly was a monster.
