Books like Samuel Pepys by Claire Tomalin

Roald Dahl’s humorous memoir of his early years, from birth through his time at an English boarding school and his first job at Royal Dutch Shell.

Samuel Pepys (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an administrator of the navy of England and Member of Parliament. The detailed private diary that Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669 is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War, and the Great Fire of London. Pepys recorded his daily life for almost ten years. Pepys has been called the greatest diarist of all time due to his frankness in writing concerning his own weaknesses and the accuracy with which he records events of daily British life and major events in the 17th century. Pepys wrote about the contemporary court and theater, his household, and major political and social occurrences. Historians have been using his diary to gain greater insight and understanding of life in London in the 17th century. Pepys wrote consistently on subjects such as personal finances, the time he got up in the morning, the weather, and what he ate. He talked at length about his new watch which he was very proud of (and which had an alarm, a new thing at the time), a country visitor who did not enjoy his time in London because he felt that it was too crowded, and his cat waking him up at one in the morning. Pepys's diary is one of the only known sources which provides such length in details of everyday life of an upper-middle-class man during the seventeenth century. His diary reveals his jealousies, insecurities, trivial concerns, and his fractious relationship with his wife. It has been an important account of London in the 1660s. Aside from day-to-day activities, Pepys also commented on the significant and turbulent events of his nation. England was in disarray when he began writing his diary. Oliver Cromwell had died just a few years before, creating a period of civil unrest and a large power vacuum to be filled. Pepys had been a strong supporter of Cromwell, but he converted to the Royalist cause upon the Protector’s death. He was on the ship that brought Charles II home to England. He gave a firsthand account of events, such as the coronation of King Charles II and the Restoration of the British Monarchy to the throne, the Anglo-Dutch war, the Great Plague, and the Great Fire of London.

"Witty, courageous and unconventional, Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the most controversial figures of her day. She published 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman'; travelled to revolutionary France and lived through the Terror and the destruction of the incipient French feminist movement; produced an illegitimate daughter; and married William Godwin before dying in childbed at the age of thirty-eight. Often embattled and bitterly disappointed, she never gave up her radical ideas or her belief that courage and honesty would triumph over convention."--Back cover.

"John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was a brilliant writer who continues to leave his imaginative imprint on the mind and hearts of readers. He was once called the "creative equivalent of a people," and for more than sixty years his Middle-earth tales have captivated and delighted readers of all ages from all over the world. The Hobbit has long been recognized as a children's fantasy classic, and the heroic romance the Lord of the Rings has been called the most influential story of all time. These stories have sold over 150 million copies worldwide and have been translated into over forty languages, and they, along with works such as the Silmarillion and the History of Middle-Earth, have convinced scores of readers and critics that Tolkien is the master writer of fantasy. Whether you've been a fan for years or you've just recently been hooked by the blockbuster Lord of the Rings movies, "I Am in Fact a Hobbit" is an excellent starting point into the life and work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Book jacket."--Jacket.

Alan Jacobs presents a carefully researched biography of C.S. Lewis, tracing his transition from a medieval literature scholar and Oxford don to the creator of the beloved Chronicles of Narnia. The book explores his early Irish childhood, wartime experiences, friendship with Tolkien, and late‑life marriage to Joy Davidman.

John Evelyn’s detailed diary records a profound, platonic friendship with sixteen‑year‑old maid of honour Margaret Godolphin, set against the court of Charles II and the era’s grand gardens.

Fanny Burney’s journals and letters chronicle her life from London society through court service to exile in France, offering candid portraits of figures like George III, Samuel Johnson, and Napoleon.