Tag: Biography
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James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
Review: Noted SFF author James Tiptree Jr. was a woman. Alright, thank you for reading this review and remember to check back often as new material is added…. er, well there is a bit more. James Tiptree appeared on the science fiction scene in the late 1960s, writing about rocket ships, aliens, intergalactic bureaucracy, exploring… Read more
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Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man
Review: Clarence Birdseye was a real person, who knew? Not me for sure. I had heard of Birdseye Frozen Peas from crosswords but that was it. So I read this book and I learned all about Mr. Clarence “Bob” Birdseye and his curious life. I use the word curious in every sense of the word.… Read more
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Chasing Bright Medusas
Review: Being a Willa Cather enthusiast and a member of the National Willa Cather Center every new biography is pretty much required reading. So I pre-ordered this volume and eagerly awaited it. Well, I got it and I read it, and I’m very disappointed. First of all this slim volume is, a slim volume. 154… Read more
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Have Tux, Will Travel
Review: This one, out of all the Bob Hope Bios that I have read, ranks in the top. I can’t say “The Best” because each book has unique merits. This is an autobiography, written in mid-1950s (1954 I believe) when Hope was still at the top of his game. Top billing, top dollars, top of… Read more
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The Enormous Room
Review: Powerful and deeply personal narrative of the author’s experience in a prison in France during the Great War. So many of the things, feelings and experiences I know intimately from my own jailhouse experience. The prose was so exquisite in places that I grabbed my highlighter to preserve them. Really great reading, I’m sad… Read more
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Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time
Review: Finally got through this after an abortive fist attempt in 2020 (made it 50 pages). The prose is purple, just gushing descriptions of each song, each chord, each performance. Musicological language throughout with no purpose except to confuse and lose the non-musicologist reader. 2/3 of the way through he finally gets down to where… Read more
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Riders on the Storm
Review: I ordered this book with zero pre-conceptions and zero knowledge of The Doors. Okay, fractional knowledge. Like I had heard of them, and I had heard the main singles, and I knew Jim Morrison was their singer and that he died. Other than that, not much. This was written by the drummer, and is… Read more
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Schubert’s Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession
Review: An excellent exposition of Schubert’s legendary 24 song cycle: Winterreise (A Winter’s Journey). Written by a singer who has performed the song cycle over 100 times, we get a unique behind-the-scenes look at the most challenging and renowned of all the lieder cycles performed today. The poetry by Müller is explained and interpreted wonderfully,… Read more
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So, Anyway
Review: A brilliant and thorough autobiography. Kept my interest right from the beginning and never lost it. Like most talented and funny people, the on-stage character is very much removed from the real-life human that plays that character. Funny in parts that needed to be, and serious in those parts that needed to be. Just… Read more
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Johnny Carson
Review: A fast and penetrating look inside the world of the King of Late Night. I had no idea that Carson was that wealthy. Like most celebrities I have read about, the man behind the makeup is nothing like the face you see on the screen. Like his predecessor Bob Hope, Carson spent his life… Read more