Try Konrad Kuester's "Beethoven", publ.  by Stuttgarter Verlags-Anstalt, if
I recall correctly.  It's a straightforward, no-nonsense biography.  I'm
not sure if it's still available, but it's fairly recent, so it may be.

Thayer-Forbes is still quite serviceable, although out-of-date.

A very short one and very good: "The Life of Beethoven", by David Wyn
Jones, from the series "Cambridge Lives of Composers" (or something close),
Cambridge UP.  But it's really just a short introduction.

Solomon is definitely not recommended, for reasons already mentioned:
psychobabble.

-Margaret Mikulska
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