2 comments about Antonin Kratochvil: Incognito.

1. I own this book. Very good, maybe a bit too commercial but his pictures are terrific. Try also other titles under Kratochvil's name you will not be disappointed.



2. Incognito is the second book of photos presented by an artist renowned for his portrayal of catastrophe in Eastern Europe. In this collection he departs from this side to reveal the spectrum of entertainment in Europe today, with black and white photos mostly taken on assignment for four publications. His celebrity portraits have never appeared in book form before, making this accomplishment especially notable.

5 comments about If Only.

1. I bought this book after seeing a spice girls documentary. Even though I wasn't a big fan of the Spice Girls I always found Geri likable and decided to read her book.
   The book is awesome. She takes you from her childhood up until she left the band. She and her friends reminded me of my friends and I. The book is very frank, down to earth and fun. I highly recommend reading this one and then following it up with her second book, Just for the Record. The second one starts right where this ones leaves off.
   A great fun interesting read. This Girls is great!



2. If Only by Geri Halliwell is her account on life as a ex-Spice Girl and so much more. Halliwell actually has some talent as a writer, this book was hard to put down. Geri talks about her issues with food, her rise and exit from being Ginger Spice, and the death of her father. Geri doesn't leave anything out, she is open, frank, and quite hilarious as she goes deep into her past. I highly recommend checking this great book out. It was a pleasure to read it. Enjoy!



3. Geri Halliwell shocked many of her fans when she left the Spice Girls in 1998 after a 2 year mega successful time. The Spice Girls were the biggest girl band in music history.... and Ginger Spice (her moniker back then) was the most exciting personality. Like her childhood idol Madonna, Geri Halliwell grew up in a working class suburb and had a dream to be famous since she was 12. She got it and yet she found that fame had an interesting impact on her life. This book answers a few questions as to why her sudden departure happened at the height of the Spice Girls fame ... and it reveals more of Geri underneath all the Ginger.



4. This book reads like a very tedious conversation with Ms. Halliwell over a long lunch that you can't get away from until she finishes her dessert.She writes about her early impoverished childhood and how she craved the attention of an audience and wanted everybody's approval which sadly most people of any maturity know that this is something you will never get. Ms. Halliwell's "definition" of her "Personal Growth" is when she tries on an outfit which is too small so she asks for a bigger size.The last time I saw Ms. Halliwell in a photo she was being carried away to her limo by a big bodyguard after suffering from "Champagne Fatigue". The only good thing about this book are the revealing photos that were taken during her days as a "Glamour Model". It is no wonder that this woman likes living in Los Angeles.Her greatest accomlishment in life was to stop singing in a Pop Group and start singing solo. Big Deal.



5. I really enjoyed this book. It was awesome to see into the depth of Geri's life. I had no idea that she actually had eating disorders while she was a spice girl. It really helped me to understand more about her and that she really worked hard for her career. I would love to meet Geri although I don't know that that will ever happen. Her book makes me want to meet her even more if only to say that she did a great job and I understand some of the things she went through. I've been there. I highly recommend this book.

5 comments about Them: A Memoir of Parents.

1. I reluctantly read this as part of an adult ed. class on memoirs. I didn't think I would enjoy it. After all, I told myself, what do I care for the world of sophisticated New York fashion and art? Not much. But I found myself reading it compulsively because it depicted a world so different from my own. Ms. Gray skillfully records the complex history of a family made up of a wide variety of gifted people. She is not least among them. I found the sections on pre-WW2 Russia and Paris engrossing. Many inhabitants of that world, including Ms. Gray's mother and stepfather, came to America and enriched our culture. There are lots of familiar names in the last section of the book, making this an almost guilty pleasure to read.



2. One aspect of the book demonstrated how powerful a mother's aspirations for a child are. It appears Tatiana's grandmother and mother instilled a belief you had to be successful or renowned in whatever way you can. It is curious that Tatiana did not try to correspond with her mother in Russia after she moved to USA. Tatiana's daughter Francine got the same message and used her resources and great literary talent to be successful. Francine choose to succeed in literature an arena her mother "Tatiana" could not possibly compete in or understand due to her illiteracy in the English language.
   Alexander Liberman fulfilled his mother desires to be renowned and an artist. He seems to have the same proclivities of the Duke of Windsor but clearly was not a weak man.



3. 
   
   Her parents were indeed revolting.. and it is perhaps instructive to be assured again that all families were not invented by Norman Rockwell. But did she need to do her own revolting racist screed against gypsies to excuse her grandmother's behavior? Not the parents opinion, but her. Quite nasty.



4. I was enchanted by Ms. Gray's beautifully written memoir. She has lived through some dramatic world events with vivid front-line experiences and yet was able to share them in such a personal and loving way. History, accurately recalled, yet presented so naturally, makes for very compelling reading. I loved this book!



5. Thank you, Mme. du Plessix Gray for this evocative, brilliant memoir. This was the last book my Mother read before she died in August 2006. She was 10 years older than you, and had the same history, a Russian girl who came to New York, and even dated the same man as you did. She knew all the names in the book and lived the young Russian emigree's life in New York City. Your beautiful writing made me think about the role of my life in that of my parents' lives -- it was just such a great book for me to read in this mourning year. I know this is a highly personal reaction but I am hoping you will read this review. Your book unleashed a dreamlike state for me to probe into the colorful lives of my mother, father, grandparents, aunts, uncles -- from whom I am descended. The dead have informed our lives and are always with us. It is a gift.

5 comments about Balancing Act: The Authorized Biography Of Angela Lansbury: The Authorized Biography of Angela Lansbury.

1. Hello Ms. Lansbury:
   
   I just wanted to tell you how much enjoyment your performances have given my wife and I, over the years. Oh, and your decision to move to Ireland after your house in Malibu burned down: Brilliant! I grew up in Santa Monica, where there was too much money and too many drugs... So many kids my age (I was born in 1954, and graduated from Santa Monica High in 1972) had their lives destroyed by drugs. Los Angeles and Hollywood are terrible places to raise kids! You are so very lucky, to have raised a beautiful son and daughter, and to have had a husband who loved you, for so many decades. I only hope that my wife and I can enjoy over 50 years of marriage, as you and your spouse successfully did! Best wishes to you and your family. [...]



2. If you are an Angela Lansbury fan like I am, you will love this book. It tells of her family, her marriage, children, her days at MGM, her talks and encounters with movie stars, her movie career, Murder She Wrote and after. It is a well-written book not trashy like the Kitty Kelly biographies or sugar coated. I enjoyed reading this book. A GREAT READ.



3. This authorized biography of Angela Lansbury is interesting and well-written...but she was a part of the project, had final say over what was and wasn't included, and left SO MUCH out! Her personal life is covered much better in the other two unauthorized biographies of Angela Lansbury. But what really floored me in this one was her descriptions of "fan psychology" and the way she talks about teenagers who looked up to the character she portrayed in shows like "Mame." She describes the kids' adulation of her in terms of being "a tragedy." While one fan clearly became out of control in terms of following her around and pestering her, the rest of us - legions of us - didn't. Hello! What's so tragic about children looking up to, and being inspired by, a responsible celebrity?



4. With angela Lansbury's cooperation, the author was able to construct the life of the star and her dreams without being intrusive into episodes of her life. He truly respected the subject and the star rewarded him with candor. it is too often that authors choose biographies to sensationalize a life. In this case, the author told it straight but with humanity and dignity and affection for a woman of icnredible talent and character.



5. This is one of the finest celebrity biographies that I have ever read. Actress Angela Lansbury is profiled with candor and wit in Martin Gottfried's "Balancing Act". Gottfried conducted countless interviews with the star herself of whom he says, "No biographical subject could have been more cooperative.", and many, many of those who knew her and worked with her. The book details her early life in London, her arrival in America during WWII, and her first film, at MGM, where they promptly decided to change her name to "Angela Marlow". The book writes with candor about her first failed marriage and her Hollywood years into the late forties, when she married Peter Shaw (and the marriage is still going strong). In the early fifties, she gave birth to her son Anthony and daughter Deidre Shaw, and in the late sixties, with her Hollywood career in a slump, she bounced back on Broadway in her Tony-Award winning title role in the musical "Mame". The book is at its most exciting when detailing her Broadway career, and not just with "Mame", but with her three other Tony-Award winning roles in "Dear World", "Gypsy", and "Sweeney Todd". And after Broadway, Lansbury conquered television with her ever-popular "Murder, She Wrote" series. Since then, Lansbury has enjoyed steady acting and puttering in her rose garden. Many humorous anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories told by Lansbury concern stars like Ingrid Bergman, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Bea Arthur among them. She is a rueful raconteur and thrilled with her extraordinary professional and personal life. With the color and gusto of "Balancing Act", Angela Lansbury is profiled up close and personal and, as always, absolutely great!

5 comments about The Most Beautiful Woman in the World: Obsessions, Passions, and Courage of Elizabeth Taylor, The.

1. This bio is mostly interesting and included some things I didn't know before. However, I found a glaring mistake that makes me dubious about the rest of the book. The author says Earl Holliman played one of the sons in the movie Giant. This is not so. Earl Holliman played the eldest Benedict girl's husband. This irritates me no end and makes me wonder if the book is well-enough researched.



2. I found the book very enchanting and interesting. I was unable to put it down. I have always been a huge fan of Elizabeth Taylor, she was mesmerizingly beautiful in her prime of life. I would not quote that she is the World's most beautiful woman because that title also belongs to:
   
   1. Model Beau-Latasha (being the most beautiful of all time)
   2. Model Cindy Crawford
   3. Actress Raquel Welch
   4. Actress Aishwarya Rai
   5. Actress Sophia Loren
   6. Sportcaster Jayne Kennedy
   7. Singer Lena Horne
   8. Singer Vanity
   9. Model Gia Carangi
   10. Actress Angelina Jolie



3. One sentence came to mind as I closed Ellis Amburn's biography of Elizabeth Taylor: "Why didn't Liz sue?" Amburn puts new meaning into "bad taste" with his biography, which revels unashamedly in gory details, sex secrets and every diva moment that Taylor ever had. It's embarrassing just to read.
   
   Taylor's childhood is treated with more or less indifference -- it's her teen years that begin to spark Amburn's interest. She studies the relationships she had with men from adolescence onward, particularly the asexual ones that she had with attractive heterosexual men, and the "a-loving" ones that she had with gay ones.
   
   That tendency, Amburn argues, took her through several unhappy marriages and plenty of explosive relationships, including ones that shattered assorted marriages. In the midst of all this, she also weathered health crises and worldwide censure with plenty of guts, becoming a sort of grande dame of the filmmaking business.
   
   Love her or hate her, Elizabeth Taylor is a larger-than-life figure, and there's plenty in her life to fuel a biography. Many biographers have managed to describe her lifetime with grace and taste, despite her sailor's mouth and tumultuous love life. She doesn't have to be portrayed as squeaky clean, just human.
   
   Unfortunately, Amburn usually chooses to focus on the more grotesque aspects of Taylor's life. She delves into the sex lives (complete with sometimes disgusting details) of everyone who had been involved with Taylor, especially the gay men. Which, by the way, make up a lot of the book -- Amburn attaches the "gay" tag to quite a few men, the only way that she manages to pay any attention to them. That particular preoccupation hangs over the entire book like a stormcloud. Don't the heterosexual men in Taylor's life deserve equal scrutiny?
   
   Taste is nowhere to be found here -- Amburn has an almost obsessive interest in Taylor's breasts, and the sexual and penile details of her husbands, lovers and pals. What these things add to the history, she doesn't bother to say. The sledgehammer writing is that of a tabloid reporter, but without the restraints of an editor, Amburn appears to have gone wild.
   
   Taylor herself comes across as a blowsy diva, without a single redeeming characteristic except her acting skills. Amburn, don't bother writing a biography if you don't have any liking or respect for your subject. Not that she's alone; her husbands are all portrayed as walking disasters of alcoholism, gambling and physical abuse, and her kids are nonentities. The only person Amburn seems to have any liking for is Taylor's costar and friend Montgomery Clift, who is shown as a suffering saint.
   
   Ellis Amburn's "Elizabeth Taylor" is practically a how-to guide on how NOT to write a biography. Don't even bother, except for a laugh.



4. This book is the tabloid version of an Elizabeth Taylor biography, reading like stiched-together daily exposes in such a newspaper. It displays in endless detail the sexual orientation of virtually everyone she ever spent time with, any arguments she ever had where someone else was present, and any unladylike things she may have said or done. Her movie work is discussed in terms of how it related to her marital relationships and financial problems. Occasionally, the book also criticizes her for having a healthy sexual appetite.

   Normally, biographers either like the person they write about or want to create a more accurate account of the person. Mr. Amburn did not seem to fall into either of these categories. His objective seems to be to portray some of the other people in Ms. Taylor's life more sympathetically.

   The book's main thesis is that Ms. Taylor has had loving relationships in her adult life with people who are gay or bisexual and unloving ones with everyone else. This connection is also made to Ms. Taylor's relationship with her father, despite the fact that she did not have a good relationship with him. But the book doesn't get beyond that into much of the motivation. Many men were attracted to Ms. Taylor like moths to the flame, and this attraction did nothing to bring out their better qualities. She seems to have lived in a world where her physical attractiveness made her a target for fans, men, and exploiters of all sorts. Little is made of the potential to see her as victim of peoples' perceptions of someone who is physically attractive. She also doesn't seem to get enough credit for generally being an open-minded person, which may explain her lack of sexual-orientation prejudice.

   According to press reports and this book, Ms. Taylor has had more than her share of illness, injury, and physical and emotional pain. Yet she has led a generally productive artistic life, and has played an increasingly important role in bringing sympathy and support to the cause of overcoming AIDS. It would have been natural to have focused on these positive reflections of her underlying character, and the difficulties involved in overcoming ceaseless, searing pain addiction. No one is going to be perfect under such circumstances. Yet the book wallows in her use of drugs and drinking to soften the pain, in endless tales that add little to the biography.

   Naturally, Ms. Taylor is famous in part for her marital difficulties. Those should have been in the book, but they became too much of the book to be rewarding to the reader.

   As someone who was a working actress for most of her life, another aspect of the book you might expect would be extended dicussions of her work. You will find relatively little of that. It is as though the author thinks that her work is of virtually no importance. I certainly was moved by her performances in National Velvet, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Giant, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I liked her performances in many other movies. I would have liked to have read much more about her work in these roles where she was more successful.

   The best part of this book is the beautiful color photograph of Ms. Taylor on the cover.

   If you are wondering why I did not give the book a one star review, it is because the photographs are good and the writing style is perfectly adequate. The three star downgrade is for misfocus, exploitation, and a hidden agenda.

   After you finish looking at Ms. Taylor's cover photograph, consider what you would like to know more about public figures. Then when you are thinking about reading a biography about that person, check to see if the biography focuses on the areas you care about before reading them. That will save you a lot of time.

   Also, ask yourself how we should consider someone's life. To what extent should we consider good deeds? Bad deeds? Repentance? Motives? Physical appearance? Obstacles to progress? Ms. Taylor's life raises these issues rather nicely.

   By the way, if you find a biography of Ms. Taylor that you like, please do write to me. I'd like to read it.




5. As another reviewer said, I have read most ot the biographies written about Elizabeth Taylor, and I am usually disappointed! They seem to never capture the woman; the authors tend to rehash old news clippings, or scandal sheet gossip.In doing this, the authors never do this woman justice. Not only is Elizabeth an icon of our time, but she has become one of countries greatest AIDS activists.This in itself took tremendous courage! There is more to this woman than celluloid, and ex-husbands. Face it, she's one great dame! I wish to some day read a biography of her that truly celebrates the woman that is Elizabeth Taylor!

5 comments about Just Jackie: Her Private Years.

1. Far too many obvious howlers: did "the author of this book," as he frequently quaintly refers to himself do any background research at all during the "long months [sic] of researching and writing" he mentions, before launching into reporting his unsourced gossip? No wonder he doesn't provide footnotes, only a general section of vague allusions to where this or that detail allegedly came from. "Lady Pamela Churchill" was a guest on the Christina indeed. And a few pages later, a reference to Mrs Churchill's first husband Randolph Churchill -- no "sir," he, and even if he had been she'd have been Lady Randolph. That's only one of the howlers, because it happens to be the one that springs immediately to mind. Utter trash; it belongs on the remainder bin but only till it goes into the garbage bin.



2. As a avid devotee to the Jackie O myth, I have read a few untruths in my time. While Barbara Leaming's "Mrs. Kennedy" is the most factual portrait of Jackie in the White House, I believe that this book is the best that comes close to the truth about her life after. She is written about as a woman, not as a myth...and also as a good person. She is finally shown as as she truly is. A mythmaker, a style mavin....a person. I love this book. I don't think anyone should miss this book, for it not only tells the story of a legendary woman, but of us all. She was amazing. And she was real. That is what this story tells us. Thank goodness someone cared enough to get behind the mask.



3. Edward Klein spoke to Ham Brown, executive director of the Association of Former Secret Service Agents, and former U.S.S.S. agents Larry Newman, Paul Landis, Bill Livingood,and Frank Yeager, as have I. That said, much of Klein's work, in this book and others, has a tabloid journalism feel. Still, there are nuggets of value...just read with a skeptical eye, here and there.
   
   vince palamara



4. I don't mind it when people shatter a facade. Only as long as it's true. This book holds no credibility. When Klein claims he was an acquaintence with Jackie, I think that means he picked up something she dropped once. Another thing that seems suspicious is that Klein keeps writing books about the Kennedys. How many times can you write about the same subject? Get a life, Klein.



5. New information awaits those who read this best selling book. I read this book within three days. Highly recommended!!!!! FOR QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSIONS ON JACKIE ONASSIS, PLEASE E-MAIL ME AT MellissaLD@aol.com. HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

No comments about No Idle Rich: The Wealthy in Canterbury and Otago 1840-1914.

5 comments about Fayed: The Unauthorized Biography.

1. You have applied several times to get the British nationality, and at all times you have been rejected.
   You lost your son in a tragic 'accident'!!!
   Yet, you are still living in the UK, cursing the Queen of England, her husband (in specific) and her son Prince Charles....
   
   Why don't you go back home? To Egypt...
   
   You can read, I suppose, between the lines.
   Sooner or later, you, and all those who had been given British Nationality will find out they are being cornered to emigrate.
   
   Right???



2. Tom Bower is a relatively able writer who has written biographies of Tony Rowland, Richard Branson, Robert Maxwell and various others who figured prominently in the British news during the 80's/90's.
   
   His subjects all have something in common - they are outsiders, often of foreign birth or extraction, who bought or created iconic institutions and were cordially loathed by the Establishment which they outwitted. Their careers also threw a glaring light on the hypocrisy, greed and bumbling inefficiency of that Establishment, revealing just how ill-equipped it was to deal with such predators.
   
   The subject-matter ought to be fascinating, but in this case, Bower seems to have found disappointingly little dirt about the reclusive, strange man who is Mohamed Al Fayed.
   
   That Fayed lied about his origins (he was the son of a school inspector, born in a "smelly street," according to Bower) is reiterated dozens of times throughout the book. But that is hardly a capital crime - except within the British Establishment, where family pedigrees are still considered a measure of a person's worth (explaining in part how ruthlessly able interlopers like Maxwell and Fayed were able to knock their aristocratic victims down like ninepins.)
   
   Subjects of far greater interest, such as how Fayed obtained his initial millions from Papa Doc, the Sultan of Brunei and other dictators, are apparently beyond Bower's scope, and he does not have the sources to tell us how it was done.
   
   Essentially, the book centres on Fayed's struggle with Rowland for the House of Frazer (including the jewel in the crown, Harrods), but there is nothing in Bower's portrait that we hadn't already gleaned from the media. Fayed the man is just not there.
   
   The mainspring of Fayed's imagination seems to be an intense nostalgia for the golden age of the 1950's. He threw all his energies into acquiring the Ritz in Paris and Harrods in London, and he continues to run both institutions profitably and comme il faut. He burnished the memory of the late Duke of Windsor by restoring his house in Paris and presenting it to the French government. He has bought castles in Scotland and houses in Park Lane. He has managed to get himself close to the British Royal Family. He is the original dinosaur hunter.
   
   The gods have punished the wretched man for this hubris by taking his beloved son, along with that other waif, the Princess of Wales. He is left blundering in blind pain and incomprehension, convinced that the Establishment finally struck back at him.
   
   The real story of Mohamed Al Fayed, I am certain, is far more interesting and terrible than anything Bower has been able to imagine. We will have to wait for a better and more understanding biographer to come along.



3. This was a really comprehensive biography of the life of Fayed. The book takes you through his lowly Egyptian origin-- his poor family, and first job selling Coca-Cola on the street--through his first successes, and his first marriage. Then the book shows the reader how he completely "remade" his public image, his family, and ancestors!

   Most of the book is slower reading because it details all of his business dealings extensively. But that is really what Fayed's life is all about-BUSINESS. I did not enjoy this book as much as Bower's other books, such as the one he did on Princess Diana, but that is because of the type of life Fayed led, not because Bower's writing is not as good. I just want readers to know that this book is NOT read easily, or quickly. But it will answer ALL questions about Fayed, who he is, his life, his brothers, his business associates-friends and enemies--his business dealings, personal dealings, AND what caused all the hoopla about the British Secret Service assassinating Dodi and Diana. Part of it was the "Arab psyche," and part of it was Fayed's effort to take any focus off the driver's inebriated condition.

   This book answered ALL of my questions about Fayed, and I am glad I purchased the book. If you are interested in Fayed, by all means, buy this book.




4. Unfortunately not a business biography but more of a London gossip column. Though the first part of the book regarding Mr. Fayed's entrepreneurial life is very interesting, after the first 100 pages it becomes very superficial, leaves out all details and provides no explanation at all on how Mr. Fayed has builded his business interests. Instead it focuses solely on his private life, repeats annoyingly the same issue (the true value and the obscure origin of Mr. Fayed's fortune without providing any insights).



5. I would like to say that this is one of the best books I have read for a long time. Full of factual information and well written. It kept me enthralled and interested from begining to end.

5 comments about Elvis In Texas: The Undiscovered King 1954-1958.

1. This is a really neat book for anyone who is crazy about Elvis and wants to know his roots. Also, for anyone living in East Texas where these events took place.



2. This a very nice book. There are some great pictures in here. I own a lot of Elvis books and there are some pictures in here I haven't seen before. The text is a bit gossipy but okay. It's not an in depth study of the King but good coffee table fodder. According to this, he really did sow his wild oats in Texas - I wonder how many little Elvi are going about?

   It's interesting to see Elvis the boy at the beginning, looking full of life and looking to the future and then look at pictures of him toward the end. Was all the success worth it? Perhaps not.




3. I bought this book because I'm writing Faron Young's biography and needed information on dates Faron and Elvis worked together. Lori Torrance lost my respect in the very first paragraph of the book, with her statement, "Country music twanged on the radio, Hank Williams crying in his cornflakes again." A few pages later, she says, "At that time, easy listening and my-dog-has-fleas country music monopolized the mass music market." The research was useful but the flippant writing was a turn-off.



4. Scotty Moore, Elvis' original guitar player and manager, recently said he thought he had seen every photo from that era until he saw this book. That's why I bought it. The photos, mostly performance snapshots, are great. Unfortunately the text is not. At best the writing gets in the way, and at worst it is just plain wrong (which Scotty warned me about). Still, this rare glimpse of one of the greatest American bands merits its recommendation.



5. Scotty Moore, Elvis' original guitar player and manager, told me he thought he had already seen every photo from that era until he saw this book. That's why I bought it. The snapshots in this book are great, but the writing is so full of itself, it's frustrating to read. I find the photos helpful as a visual reference when reading other books on Elvis' early years.

No comments about Renee Zellweger: From Samll Town Girl to Superstar (Star Biographies).