From "meditations on grief" to "awkward coming-of-age" tales, the best memoirs and biographies "tell someone else's story but ring true to our own life experiences", said The Independent . Covering a vast range of material, these "intimate and compelling" books can shine a light on "anonymous but fascinating people" or reveal the innermost thoughts of the planet's biggest celebrities. Here are some of our top picks to add to your reading list.

The Colonialist

Today, Cecil Rhodes is best known for the "scholarship that bears his name" – and the campaign to have his statue removed from Oriel College, Oxford, said Hannah Rose Woods in The Observer . To his contemporaries, however, he was "a colossus". Born in 1853 in modest circumstances – his father was a Hertfordshire vicar – he rose

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