10 Scandalous Biographies that are Perfect Beach Reads
Updated: Oct. 04, 2018
When it comes to beach reads, nothing beats a juicy tell-all biography. We asked the experts at Chapters Indigo to dish on the 10 most scandalous biographies worth packing in your beach bag.
1. Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
Hollywood tell-alls always make for great beach reads, and the late Carrie Fisher dished out the goss unabashedly in her 2016 biography, Wishful Drinking. No topic was off-limits, from her relationship with Paul Simon, battles with mental illness and drug abuse, and becoming a cultural icon thanks to a little movie called Star Wars. Get ready to view Princess Leia in a whole new light…
2. Steve Jobs: A Biography by Walter Isaacson
Based on more than 40 interviews with Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson’s story of the creative genius is as brutally candid and in-depth as a biography can get. This novel paints a detailed portrait of a complicated man whose passion for perfection revolutionized the way we live-and earned the hatred and jealousy of many former allies and colleagues along the way.
3. High on Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips
Thanks to her father, John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas, Mackenzie Phillips grew up in a kingdom built on drugs and rock and roll. But living the high life always comes at a cost, and in High on Arrival, Phillips opens up about her terrifying history with her father, her career and her lifelong battle with personal demons.
4. Bunny Tales by Izabella St. James
When Izabella St. James caught the eye of Hugh Hefner at an L.A. nightclub, her life changed forever. Bunny Tales reveals that life under the roof of the Playboy Mansion is more than just an endless string of parties. If anything, it’s less than that, as St. James relates her experience of being highly controlled-and highly bored in the bedroom. As scandalous a bio as you’d expect from a former Playboy bunny.
5. I’m With the Band by Pamela Des Barres
What do Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Frank Zappa and Jim Morrison have in common? A high school graduate named Pamela Des Barres who headed for the Sunset Strip and immersed herself in the drugs and dangers of the era. I’m With the Band is a sexy and sweet chronicle of one groupie’s adventures with your favourite rock stars.
6. Drinking and Tweeting by Brandi Glanville
No matter how you feel about Brandi Glanville from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, you have to admit that she’s brutally honest. Drinking and Tweeting spills the secrets about her messy divorce, DUI charge and plastic surgery in this no-holds-barred memoir. Clear your schedule and pack this #1 New York Times bestseller in your beach bag.
7. Drunk Mom by Jowita Bydlowska
Raising a child is hard enough, but raising a child while relapsing into alcoholism? That’s another story altogether. Writer Jowita Bydlowska chronicles the ins-and-outs of being a new mother on the verge of a breakdown. Drunk Mom is an unsparing portrait of a woman who has lived through binges and blackouts to tell the tale.
8. Every Little Step by Bobby Brown
For the first time, Bobby Brown tells his life story his way. Notorious for both his successful R&B career and tumultuous relationship with Whitney Houston, Every Little Step is a raw and powerful book about a man who has found the ability to look back at his successful highs and horrifying lows.
9. Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century by Sam Kashner
For almost 25 years, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were Hollywood royalty. In Furious Love, Sam Kashner and biographer Nancy Schoenberger tell the complete story of this larger-than-life couple-the love, the sex, the scandals, the fights, the booze, the separations and the glamour.
10. Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
From the acclaimed creator, producer and star of HBO’s Girls comes a hilarious memoir about that complicated thing called “growing up.” Filled with stories of bad sex, travel, success and failure, Not That Kind of Girl is essential reading for any confused Millennial.
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