I've got a project I want to start working on that is, in many ways, a biography of a character in a fantasy setting. I'm going to style the novel like an actual novel, not like a biography, but I may use quotes from the main character's imaginary biography as chapter-heading gnomic utterances. Before I start, though, I'd like to do some research on how biographies are actually written.
Can anyone recommend a good biography, preferably for someone powerful, influential, and controversial, that a non-biography reader (that's me) will still be able to get through?
And yes, I know that this means I should probably read The Name of the Wind and its sequel. They're on my list.