• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Bios of the stars

RaVeN

RaVeN

New Member
Has any one else read bios of stars and almost too ashamed to admit it?

I've read books on Groucho Marx, John Wayne & Vincent Price. I have one on Ellen Degeneres that's waiting to be read & there's a new one out on Maureen O'Hara ('Tis Herself, written with John Nicoletti) that I'm planning on buying.

I can't be the only one on here this strange....or am I? :eek:

RaVeN
 
My mom loves these, actually. I've read a few.

The way the Enquirer sells, it can't be too rare. ;)
 
I've read the Michael J Fox one. Not really ashamed to admit it. He's been one of my favourite actors for years now. Really funny guy. And then he developed Parkinsons, and I felt really gutted. So I read the book, and I'm glad I did. It was a bit of an eye opener, never realised he was an alcoholic, and now when I see him in things that I know were made after he started getting ill I can spot all the little things he does to cover it up.

And I read John Diamond's book, C, too. Probably nobody's heard of him outside of Britain. He was a columnist in The Times and then in the late 90's he was diagnosed as having cancer. And he carried on writing in the paper about it, he hid very little and he owned up to being a complete coward about the whole thing. It was very refreshing to read about someone being scared rather than putting on a brave face. Anyhoo, the book followed on from the time he was diagnosed right up till his death. It's a very sad book actually, but given that one in three people are going to get cancer, I think it should be put on the essential read list. He was the husband of Nigella Lawson, if that helps make him a bit more famous. He had to have most of his tongue removed and it always got to me that there he was, married to one of the best tv chefs in the country and he couldn't taste any of it. I always found that a little cruel.
 
Never heard of her. :confused:

I suppose my choices could sound a bit morbid, but I don't like it when people write their autobiographies when they're still in their 20's. If you're going to write one then it should at least be after you've lived most of your life and you've actually got something to share. So the books I read are generally of people that are already on their way out, so to speak.
 
Litany said:
Never heard of her. :confused:
Click to expand...

Gilda was a comedic genius. She was an original member of Saturday Night Live and later the wife of Gene Wilder. Her talent never crossed over to movies but she was my generation's Lucille Ball in the States.


RaVeN
 
RaVeN said:
Gilda was a comedic genius. She was an original member of Saturday Night Live and later the wife of Gene Wilder.
Click to expand...
Oh, I think I know who you mean now. She was in some of his films with him wasn't she? His wench in Haunted Honeymoon I think.
 
Yepper, that was her. I can see how any one would be put off just seeing her movies but on TV there was no one that could compare.
Her book (It's Always Something) told of her brave fight against cancer.

RaVeN
 
RaVeN said:
Yepper, that was her. I can see how any one would be put off just seeing her movies but on TV there was no one that could compare.
Her book (It's Always Something) told of her brave fight against cancer.

RaVeN
Click to expand...

I read that one, actually. It was v. good, she was amazingly funny and honest about chemotherapy, which is difficult indeed.
 
Litany said:
I suppose my choices could sound a bit morbid, but I don't like it when people write their autobiographies when they're still in their 20's. If you're going to write one then it should at least be after you've lived most of your life and you've actually got something to share. So the books I read are generally of people that are already on their way out, so to speak.
Click to expand...

I don't read these types of books, but I agree with you that someone ought to have lived most of their life before writing one. I mean, writing one in their 20's and then having something major happen in their 30's either means an update on the original work or a completely new book. I think someone having a several-volume autobiography might seem a bit vain.

Its kind of like the new trend for music stars to put out a greatest hits album just after they've released two albums...they don't have enough songs out yet for a greatest hits.
 
Many years ago I read the one on Charlie Chaplin. "Limelight" I think it was called. Other than that, I can't remember that I have read any.

In Denmark there has been a tendency, which I am sure you know from your own country as well, that famous footballers - (soccer players, to the americans), write their autobiography at the age of 30! Usually they are written by ghost writers.

I have never read any of them, and I am not inclined to. I agree with Litany. A life has to be lived, before you write your memoirs.

Hobitten :)
 
I read Barbara Bush's memoirs, which were great fun. She has this sly way of backhanded compliment that is just beautiful. Every other page or so, she'd say something like, "Bob has now conquered his alcohol problems, and we're proud to count him as one of our dear friends."
 
bios of the stars, not read many but i've read bios on Quentin tarantino, simon and garfukel, jim morrison and mark chapman (the guy who shot lennon), george macdonald frazier

all quite interesting

kskyhappy
 
May to November between posts, talk about bringing something back from the dead. :)

I don't know whether he's a "star" , but read a good portion of Clinton's autobiography.
 
The one I found funny was written by George Burns about he and his wife, Gracie Allen (I cannot think of the same of the book). She was a real character.
 
Bird54 said:
The one I found funny was written by George Burns about he and his wife, Gracie Allen (I cannot think of the same of the book). She was a real character.
Click to expand...
Its called 'Gracie, A Love Story. Have it but haven't read it yet.
My question is why would anyone be ashamed to admit to reading biographies? Ive read:
Living it Up- George Burns
Its Always Something-Gilda Radner
This and That-Bette Davis
Tracey and Hepburn-Garson Kanin
My Story-Marilyn Monroe
The Beatles-Helen Spence
Strawberry Fields Forever: John Lennon Remembered :(
Grateful Dead-The Music Never Stopped-Blair Jackson
No One Here Gets Out Alive-JerryHopkins & Danny Sugarman
The Seuss, the Whole Seuss and Nothing but the Seuss-Charles D. Cohen

I also have two each on Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn I haven't read.
I have my small but growing bio collection on a shelf in the living room. I never thought of it as something to be ashamed of. I wonder now what people think when they look around here, lol! Horror, Sci-fi, Fantasy, Mystery, Humor, Biographies, Reference, Comics-what does my collection say about me? I have no clue, hopefully something like 'strange and unusual'-that'd fit! :D :D :D :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top