Tag: Biography
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The Rat Pack: Neon Nights with the Kings of Cool
Review: An excellent non-whitewashed history of the legendary Rat Pack. These men are all terrible human beings. Malevolence, greed, political machinations, philandering, drinking, drinking, drugs, drinking, backstabbing, and possibly murder. I can see how they appeared to be the epitome of cool. When Joe Six-pack punches out from the steel mill he dreamed, as he… Read more
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The Last Christmas Show
Review: This was a difficult one for me to read at an emotional level. It was a page turner for sure, couldn’t put it down sometimes, but the one liners and sexy girls could never quite cover the tragic loss of so many lives, both military and civilian. The flag waving and anti-Commie one liners… Read more
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The Road Well Traveled
Review: Now that was a proper biography! Factual, incisive, not sparing the negative aspects of an extraordinary life, but not dwelling or even really digging into the lurid details. Bob Hope continues to fascinate me, and I knew from before I started my reading and collecting that there is always a skull beneath the skin,… Read more
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Confessions of an English Opium Eater
Review: Well worth reading, a unique glimpse into 19th century life and drug use. Starts out well, gets rapidly pretentious, and then rambles on quite oddly for the last bit. Reminded me of ESVM and her copious amounts of drugs consumed. The story is told with personal conviction, but never descends into vulgarity, and is… Read more
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Hope: Entertainer of the Century
Review: A great read. An excellent journalist researched and wrote an excellent biography. You see the skull beneath the skin. The brand that Bob Hope developed became the man himself. It was a wild ride in a century-long career. A fascinating glimpse into early vaudeville all the way through to the modern age of Hollywood… Read more
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Savage Beauty
Review: It took the author 30 years to write this. It’s less biography and more muckraking and airing of dirty laundry. It’s disappointing. All the bad, dirty details from personal letters inserted for no good reason. Like, I get you want to show the grit, the bad with the good, like Boswell avowedly did. But… Read more
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Life of Johnson
Review: 1402 pages of sycophantic twaddle. Johnson was an asshole. It is however an important document on 18th century life, views, prejudices, and attitudes. Also, the most undisputed deep dive into biography ever. Let’s call it a rite of passage, the three plate deadlift of literature. Overall rating: How I discovered or acquired this book:… Read more