>
Article snippet: Dear Match Book, I enjoy a good mystery as much as the next reader, but my favorite reading consists of biographies, as well as the letters and diaries, of artists and writers. The books I’ve most enjoyed recently include Megan Marshall’s biography “Elizabeth Bishop: A Miracle for Breakfast.” Marshall’s book “The Peabody Sisters” is one of my all-time favorites. I also enjoyed “At the Existentialist Café,” by Sarah Bakewell, for its portrait of the group of writers and philosophers connected in various ways to existentialist thought. Robert D. Richardson Jr.’s books on Emerson, Thoreau and William James provided brilliant insights into the history of transcendentalism. Other recent reads include “The Art of Rivalry,” by Sebastian Smee, and “You Must Change Your Life,” by Rachel Corbett. All such amazing and wonderful books! I’m looking for something equally absorbing to carry me through the summer months. KAREN RACZSHELBURNE, MASS. Dear Karen, Literary stars: They’re not just like us! Ernest Hemingway shot sharks with a machine gun. Emily and Anne Brontë plotted adventures in an imaginary realm they named Gondal. Emily Dickinson spoke to visitors through half-closed doors. The unconventional lives of artists and writers have given biographers plenty to write about. Lost and Found Two absorbing books subvert the typical conventions of biography and tell the stories of celebrated writers’ lives through their possessions. In the extravagantly evocative “Hemingway’s ... Link to the full article to read more