The Marvel Encyclopedia

Book Description

Marvel Comics' character roster boasts some of the best known and most popular characters ever conceived-heroes that are international household names, both as comic book stars and movie stars, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk and Wolverine. This unique, one-volume encyclopedia contains more than 1000 of Marvel's greatest, with full details of their powers and their thrill-packed careers. The encyclopedia's range of spectacular art features eye-popping work by Marvel's finest artists, while the authoritative text is supplied by a team of top Marvel comic book writers. In addition, double-page features, illustrated with classic covers, trace the fascinating story of Marvel Comics through the decades. The Marvel Comics Encyclopedia is an essential book both for new fans and for those who grew up loving the excitement, heroism and humor of the Marvel Universe. Includes a foreword by Stan Lee.

Customer Reviews:

limited in its bio's.......2007-09-19

Though the book is imformative, the bios are very limited. There are no scales to properly determine strength and intelligence. Also there are a lot of typos, leading me to believe that they didn't care much when they created this. If you want a short overview on marvel characters then this book is for you, otherwise don't bother.

Tons of good information!.......2007-08-06

Great book for anyone. Being an avid marvel fan I thought I knew most everything, but I have learned a lot from this book. It is a good buy.

The Marvel Encyclopedia.......2007-06-11

The book is well illustrated and has exhaustive description of each character of Marvel Comic Books.

so many errors!.......2007-06-07

Like any Marvel fan I was very excited about getting my hands on this encyclopedia, only to be sorely disappointed by the amount of errors found within it's pages. Error examples include: page 46, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, an image of Nightcrawler is found under a listing for Black Tom Cassidy. Page 212 , an image of the Shiar imperial guardsman Nightside is shown under the character listing for Nightshade. Page 171 An image of the Asgardian character Lorelei is shown under the character listing for the Savage Land mutate of the same name. These are few example of the many errors throughout the book.

It's not an encyclopedia.......2007-06-06

There isn't enough information on individual characters. (There are a lot of them, and there are pictures, but the pictures take up some much space that there's none left for details.)

Average customer rating:

Light, Fluffy, And Entirely Unmemorable
Sloppy Firsts
Chuckle, Chuckle, Ha Ha, Hee Hee, Tear
Welcome Back
Not a great read!!! (unless you're 13 or younger)

Sloppy Firsts: A Novel
Megan McCafferty
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Popular Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Book Clubs | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Second Helpings: A Novel
Charmed Thirds
What My Mother Doesn't Know
The Truth About Forever
Just Listen

Accessories:

Conair Pro Color Accents Temporary Hair Color Kit
Conair MDF2R Facial Sauna With Timer

ASIN: 0609807900
Release Date: 2001-08-28

Book Description

“My parents suck ass. Banning me from the phone and restricting my computer privileges are the most tyrannical parental gestures I can think of. Don’t they realize that Hope’s the only one who keeps me sane? . . . I don’t see how things could get any worse.”

When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate has gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy- and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad’s obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany’s lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?

A fresh, funny, utterly compelling fiction debut by first-time novelist Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts is an insightful, true-to-life look at Jessica’s predicament as she embarks on another year of teenage torment--from the dark days of Hope’s departure through her months as a type-A personality turned insomniac to her completely mixed-up feelings about Marcus Flutie, the intelligent and mysterious “Dreg” who works his way into her heart. Like a John Hughes for the twenty-first century, Megan McCafferty taps into the inherent humor and drama of the teen experience. This poignant, hilarious novel is sure to appeal to readers who are still going through it, as well as those who are grateful that they don’t have to go back and grow up all over again.

Download Description

When her best friend, Hope, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, 16-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. Jessica is a fish out of water at school, a stranger at home, and now -- with the only person with whom she could really communicate gone -- more lost than ever. How is she supposed to deal with the boy-and-shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad's obsession with her track meets, and her nonexistent love life? Sloppy Firsts is an insightful, true-to-life look at Jessica's predicament, from the dark days following Hope's departure to her hopelessly mixed-up feelings about the intelligent and mysterious bad-boy who works his way into her life. Sloppy Firsts is right in line with some of the great teen crossover works of popular culture, like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and is sure to appeal to readers of all ages who appreciate the inherent humor of high school angst.

Customer Reviews:

Light, Fluffy, And Entirely Unmemorable.......2007-09-06

After reading all the praise this book has gotten from the legions of readers who seem to find it absorbing, humorous, and realistic, I was disappointed to find both the plot and the characters extremely clichéd and formulaic.

I'm not saying that I found the book horrible. It was very quick and light, written in a straightforward journal format, making it a fluffy, effortless read. If you're looking for a lightly humorous chick lit novel, this book will fill those requirements.

However, if you're looking for a smart, unique novel that you're going to remember in years to come, I wouldn't recommend this. Most of the characters are either stereotypical or one-dimensional, with the exception of Marcus, who was quite unusual. Jessica was the traditional "smart, misunderstood runner girl". You can find her type in all sorts of teenaged novels. She irritated me. She was incredibly intelligent, a gifted runner, and great at writing, and yet her attitude toward life was generally pretty negative.

With all of her talent, you'd think Jessica would be confident, not pessimistic, which is why she struck me as fake. As for her friends, they were like characters from a soap opera. The plot was monotonous and unsurprising, with no truly exciting twists, right up to the end, which was neither final enough to provide closure nor enough of a cliffhanger to have you eagerly awaiting the sequel.

Instead of this novel, read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen, or Just Listen, also by Sarah Dessen. I found all these novels to be much more realistic depictions of high school.

Sloppy Firsts.......2007-08-27

I read this book a few years ago when I saw it in the book store. I'm a rather picky reader and thought this might be fun to pass some time. I was attached to the character Jessica Darling by the end of this book and even more thrilled to find out that there was a second out at the time. Even more so I bought the third one just as it had been released and the same thing now with the Fourth Comings. Megan has created a character that simply comes to life in the reading. I would suggest to most who like coming of age stories to read this. Its quiet heart warming.

Chuckle, Chuckle, Ha Ha, Hee Hee, Tear.......2007-08-16

The first time I read this book, I was in 8th grade and I still love it to this day! I have read it at least 15 times and have never grown tired of it. Jessica Darling is me in a nutshell...if I were a female track star. Everything else is me...yes, I graduated salutatorian of my class and am currently going to Columbia University. I LOVE this series and you should too...especially if you are an angst-filled teenager.

Welcome Back.......2007-08-10

As Charles Dickens once very aptly obsevered: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Of course Dickens wasn't referring to high school, but the French Revolution. But today, in our current American society his words can be no closer to the truth when discussing the legally mandated ritual called high school.

Everyone has his or her story. From the glory days full of football games, after-hour parties, and social ruling to the lesser exuberant memories our being an outsider, not understanding anything going on around you, and the unfortunately bullyness. Yet despite the pangs of High School and the sometimes harsh memories that come along with it, it is a time in our lives that years removed somehow becomes glorified as "the best time of your life," wither that statement is true or not.

McCafferty has constructed an unlikely heroine who reminds us exactly why we hated high school so much... and exactly why we will probably always look back on it with fond memories of times pass. Jessica Darling is you. Jessica Darling is me. Jessica Darling is everyone. Whither you can relate to everything she says, or just a few of the experiences she goes through during these novels, there is a little bit of everything within our heroine.

Unlike the heroines of classic literature that defeat the sociality structures (Dicken's "A Tale of Two Cities"), learn the true meaning of love (a la Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"), Jessica Darling's one true clam to fame is not only surviving high school, but figuring it out before she leaves the hallowed halls. Most people figure it out sooner or later, but usually when they are removed from the experience.

What McCafferty is trying to say to the audience at large is that life matters. Everything that has happened to you, is happing to you, and will happen you have an effect that you can never dream off. The point of life isn't just sitting back and waiting for the next step. But it is embracing the here and now.

McCafferty is able to do these through a narrative that reads more like a self-aware John Hughes script, rather than 95% of book one would find in their local "young adult fiction" section. And the true genius and charm of the book doesn't from Jessica's stories of high school. But through your own memories, that while reading this book you are able to relive again vicariously through the eyes of Jessica. This book was not written for the tween set as a way to drool over what those "magical four years" will be like (a la "Dawson's Creek"), but as a way for people past that experience to look back and realize just how much their high school years truly means.

I cannot recommend this book enough, especially to fans of the budding new genre of self-aware coming-of-age stories such as "Prep," "Boy meets Boy," and the "Rules of Attraction." In all honestly I must request that everyone in their post high-school years, but still young enough to remember the impact John Hughes has on society to order a copy of this book. You will not be disappointed in the least!

Not a great read!!! (unless you're 13 or younger).......2007-08-02

This book is a confusing mess of poor grammar and teen angst. It is the story of a (VERY) cynical girl's home and school life. Her troubles are meaningless and this book clearly lacks substance.

Average customer rating:

Second Helpings? Yes Please.
Loved it!!
Great Read!
Fabulous
Second Helpings

Second Helpings: A Novel
Megan Mccafferty
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Sloppy Firsts: A Novel
Charmed Thirds
Fourth Comings: A Novel
What My Mother Doesn't Know
Keeping the Moon (reissue)

ASIN: 0609807919
Release Date: 2003-04-22

Book Description

“Knowing that I’ve just done something that will take decades off my parents’ lives with worry, you’ll excuse me for not getting into the fa-la-la-la-la Yuletide spirit this year. . . . The only difference between Christmas 2001 and Christmas 2000 is that I don’t have a visit from Hope to look forward to. And Bethany has already packed on some major fetal flab. Oh, and now Gladdie doesn’t need to ask a bizillion questions about my boyfriend, because she’s already gotten the dirt from you know who.”

Jessica Darling is up in arms again in this much-anticipated, hilarious sequel to Sloppy Firsts. This time, the hyperobservant, angst-ridden teenager is going through the social and emotional ordeal of her senior year at Pineville High. Not only does the mysterious and oh-so-compelling Marcus Flutie continue to distract Jessica, but her best friend, Hope, still lives in another state, and she can’t seem to escape the clutches of the Clueless Crew, her annoying so-called friends. To top it off, Jessica’s parents won’t get off her butt about choosing a college, and her sister Bethany’s pregnancy is causing a big stir in the Darling household.

With keen intelligence, sardonic wit, and ingenious comedic timing, Megan McCafferty again re-creates the tumultuous world of today’s fast-moving and sophisticated teens. Fans of Sloppy Firsts will be reunited with their favorite characters and also introduced to the fresh new faces that have entered Jess’s life, including the hot creative writing teacher at her summer college prep program and her feisty, tell-it-like-it-is grandmother Gladdie. But most of all, readers will finally have the answers to all of their burgeoning questions, and then some: Will Jessica crack under the pressure of senioritis? Will her unresolved feelings for Marcus wreak havoc on her love life? Will Hope ever come back to Pineville? Fall in love with saucy, irreverent Jessica all over again in this wonderful sequel to a book that critics and readers alike hailed as the best high school novel in years.

Customer Reviews:

Second Helpings? Yes Please. .......2007-07-29

After a cliff hanger of an ending that we experienced with "Sloppy Firsts", "Second Helpings" is a welcomed read.

Jessica and Marcus's relationship is much different in this novel, than in the previous. Mostly due to the fact that Marcus had confessed he originally was interested in Jessica as a sexual conquest. I, once again, was thoroughly entertained by the character of Marcus Flutie. He has this inane ability to understand people and their motivations. And by people, I mostly mean Jessica.

Compared to "Sloppy Firsts", I think that "Second Helpings" has improved. We now are quite familiar with all of the characters, and yet McCafferty continues to surprise us with revelations about everyone.

While "Sloppy Firsts" ended in heartbreak, "Second Helpings" ends in a very different manner. I think that readers will be entertained to learn how Jessica deals with the changes in her life, and the discovery of different aspects of the lives of her friends. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a quick, and entertaining read.

Loved it!!.......2007-06-05

I do not know if I liked "Second Helpings" better than "Sloppy Firsts" but I know I am awaiting to read the third (which I just ordered).
"Second Helpings," was LOL funny and very interesting. The protagonist has an awesome outlook and personality that keeps you glued to the book. This book is good for young adults, as well as adults (I am 22).
One of my favorite books!

Great Read!.......2007-01-09

I bought this book for my younger sister. She loved it so much she had me read it, although I am out of my teen years this book was entertaining in reminding you how "dramatic" teen life was. I recommend this book to anyone that loves a good laugh.

Fabulous.......2006-10-28

I absolutely adore the Jessica Darling books. I love that these books are amusing yet not totally trivial. Pick it up, and you won't be able to put it down. I rated the book 4/5 stars because, let's face it, nobody actually talks like Jessica and her friends.

Second Helpings.......2006-07-06

The book came in with in 2 days and in perfect condition as the seller had promised

Average customer rating:

from Tarah of LoveReads! ([...])
Read the whole series in four days!
Not horrible, but not what I hoped for
Fourth Comings
Another amazing book by Megan McCafferty

Fourth Comings: A Novel
Megan Mccafferty
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Charmed Thirds
Second Helpings: A Novel
Sloppy Firsts: A Novel
Queen of Babble in the Big City
Love Is a Many Trousered Thing (Confessions of Georgia Nicolson)

ASIN: 0307346501
Release Date: 2007-08-07

Book Description

At first it seems that she’s living the elusive New York City dream. She’s subletting an apartment with her best friend, Hope, working for a magazine that actually utilizes her psychology degree, and still deeply in love with Marcus Flutie, the charismatic addict-turned-Buddhist who first captivated her at sixteen.

Of course, reality is more complicated than dreamy clichés. She and Hope share bunk beds in the “Cupcake”—the girlie pastel bedroom normally occupied by twelve-year-old twins. Their Brooklyn neighborhood is better suited to “breeders,” and she and Hope split the rent with their promiscuous high school pal, Manda, and her “genderqueer boifriend.” Freelancing for an obscure journal can’t put a dent in Jessica’s student loans, so she’s eking out a living by babysitting her young niece and lamenting that she, unlike most of her friends, can’t postpone adulthood by going back to school.

Yet it’s the ever-changing relationship with Marcus that leaves her most unsettled. At the ripe age of twenty-three, he’s just starting his freshman year at Princeton University. Is she ready to give up her imperfect yet invigorating post-college life just because her on-again/off-again soul mate asks her to... marry him?

Jessica has one week to respond to Marcus’s perplexing marriage proposal. During this time, she gains surprising wisdom from unexpected sources, including a popular talk show shrink, a drag queen named Royalle G. Biv, and yes, even her parents. But the most shocking confession concerns two people she thought had nothing to hide: Hope and Marcus.

Will this knowledge inspire Jessica to give up a world of late-night literary soirees, art openings, and downtown drunken karaoke to move back to New Jersey and be with the one man who’s gripped her heart for years? Jessica ponders this and other life choices with her signature snark and hyper-intense insight, making it the most tumultuous and memorable week of her twenty-something life.

Customer Reviews:

from Tarah of LoveReads! ([...]).......2007-09-27

When I got my hands on the fourth installment of the famous Jessica Darling series I was VERY excited, and I am happy to say that Megan has delivered another brilliant story!

When we last left Jess she was heading off on a roadtrip with her best friend Hope, still reeling after being handed a ton of notebooks by the on again of again Marcus Flutie. Unfortunatly, the roadtrip sadly ended as quickly as it began thanks to a couple of klepto college students and a crowbar. (probably went to my school actually since the place Hope and Jess stopped to eat is 5 min up the road from me!)

The story itself is meant to be a journaling of her life during a week after Marcus asked her to marry him. So once again Jessica is thrown a curveball wondering if shes the kind of woman that could handle a man like Marcus for life.

As I said before this is the summer after jess has graduated from Columbia and now she lives in an apartment that's named Sammy (I kid you not) with Hope and her sharing a room and the promiscious Manda and her girlfriend Shea sharing another. She is still looking for a job but is kept afloat finacially by her sister who pays her for watching neice Marin and she also has a quasi-editor job for a magazine called Think!.

The timeline of this book is only a week but contrary to what your probably thinking a lot happens. For those of us who have made the transition out of college into real life or are about to this is a great book. It is also a great book if you had those experiences either. I don't know why I like these books so much, maybe it's Jess's Dawsons Creek speech or something else. All I can say is I cant wait and I hope there is a next one!

Read the whole series in four days!.......2007-09-04

This book is amazing. All her books are. I highly recommend them if you are looking for a quick, but great read.

Not horrible, but not what I hoped for.......2007-09-01

Like most reviewers, I am a passionate fan of the Jessica Darling books. I loved the first book and adored the second book even more. I was unhappy with Charmed Thirds, and I went into this book expecting to be disappointed and unhappy with the ending. Maybe that's why in the beginning of the book I was annoyed with the actual writing style. I eventually got over that and did find some parts to enjoy. I liked that Jessica spent time with her parents and had a nice talk with her father. Learning about her parents' early relationship gave some insight into why her mother is the way she is. The part where Jessica describes her sister and her sister's friends' lives as MILFs who want OTB (only the best) for their children was good. But I found myself wishing something would actually happen with or to Jessica. Since the whole book covers only one week's time, I suppose that was an unrealistic hope. Only when Jessica learned the secret about her best friend Hope and Marcus's hidden past did I feel a little bit of the old magic coming back.
Maybe I'm shallow, but a big part of what I loved about the first two books was Marcus, and the latest two books don't include him much. Jessica thinks about him constantly and addresses him in her letter/journal, but he's not there to answer back. We aren't treated to the banter between the two of them that was so great in the beginning. Not that he's talked much lately anyway. He's turned into this practically mute, non-Buddhist, preachy type who I would probably find annoying to be around.
My favorite parts of this book were where Jessica referenced something from the high school years, and that's not a good thing. I could just re-read the first two books if that's what I wanted. I haven't found much to love in the latest two books. I do still admire the writing and I think McCafferty has been consistent in the way she writes Jessica. But for me, it just doesn't work without Marcus. I suppose it is Megan McCafferty's vision to tell Jessica's story and not a sappy romance novel. Like real life, maybe Jessica doesn't live happily ever after with her high school boyfriend. But we're led to believe that Jessica and Marcus have a one-in-a-million kind of connection, and I think that could and should last forever. I hear McCafferty's writing a fifth and final installment in the series. I just hope she gives the fans what they long for, a happily-ever-after ending for the couple we love.

Fourth Comings.......2007-08-28

I am a huge fan of all three previous novels in the Jessica Darling series. And to be honest, this obviously wasn't as good as those before it.

This whole book is written over a span of one week... 300 pages, 7 days. Jessica is writing to Marcus about his marriage proposal... and it just seems that this was sort of pointless. I understand that this is a really important week in Jessica's life, and that if Megan McCafferty were to write less about this one week and add more about what happened before or after, we would have had a different sort of novel. It wouldn't have the same urgency as this had, which is why I think it was a good choice for her to write a novel like this.

However, there were obviously problems. One of the things that I loved so much about the first three books was the impossible situations that Jessica gets herself into... and the way that she is overly sarcastic about everything. It's part of her charm... but in this book it was almost like she had one emotion... she was constantly thinking, and always about the same thing. There was no time for her to be happy, or to relax, or even to spend time with Marcus. He's obviously one of my favorite characters, and I'm surprised at how a book that is almost entirely about him and Jessica's relationship could be so lacking. Marcus only shows up in an actual scene in the beginning... when he proposes. After that he is nothing more than an afterthought.

I wish Jessica didn't think so much, and just let things work themselves out. But then again, I'm not saying this was a bad book. I just think it could have been portrayed differently.

Another amazing book by Megan McCafferty .......2007-08-28

Fourth Comings, the latest addition to an already wonderful series, is an excellent book that, unfortunately, has not recieved the amount of praise it deserves. The novel starts off as snarkily as ever, with Jessica's scathing observations of her surroundings. And it only gets better from there: I can't count the number of times I've laughed out loud while reading this book. Some complain that Fourth Comings lacks "substance," but you can't deny that it is hilarious.

I feel that the characters have really grown and matured (if you can call it that) throughout the course of this series. I really enjoyed reading this book, as you can really see, sympathise with, and understand Jessica's dilemmas and the thought process behind her actions. I'm also very proud of her for her ultimate decision at the end. Which, by the way, I loved.

One of the unique things about this book is that it only covers the time span of a week, as opposed to the usual length of a year or more. It took some time to get used to, but I don't feel that it detracted from the book in any way. The plot didn't seem too forced or dragged out at all. It's a testimony to Megan McCafferty's skill as a writer that she can adapt her books to any period of time without ruining the quality of said book.

There are just so many little things that I loved about this novel that I can't possibly begin to list them all. Characters, plot, snarky statements...It was all perfect. I just have to say that buying this book has been worth every single penny. Since I got it a week or two ago, I'm currently rereading it for the fourth time. And I can tell that I'll definitely be reading and rereading the Jessica Darling series for a long time. <3

But Darling, I'm Your Auntie Mame!: The Amazing History of the World's Favorite Madcap Aunt

Average customer rating:

But Darling, I'm Your Auntie Mame
The Best People at their Worst
Terrific Book
Mame fan finds it disappointing
Great REVISED edition more photos/gossip (Cher/Barbra/Bette)

But Darling, I'm Your Auntie Mame!: The Amazing History of the World's Favorite Madcap Aunt
Richard Tyler Jordan
Manufacturer: Kensington
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

United States | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Adaptations | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Around the World With Auntie Mame
Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade
Uncle Mame: The Life of Patrick Dennis
Little Me : The Intimate Memoirs of that Great Star of Stage, Screen and Television, Belle Poitrine (as told to Patrick Dennis)
Auntie Mame

ASIN: 0758204825

Customer Reviews:

But Darling, I'm Your Auntie Mame.......2007-09-17

This is a well written and interesting book that gives the reader an "insider's" view of the history of all of the varied productions, stage and screen, of both Auntie Mame and Mame. It's interesting to see the personalities and egos of the playwrights, the actors, producers, directors and choreographers interplay with the characteristics of the character herself. Auntie Mame always wins. She embraces those who are in tune with her and easily dispatches those who are not. Mame remains invincible.

The Best People at their Worst.......2007-08-23

I enjoyed this compendium of backstage lore, but other reviewers are correct in saying that Jordan provides little context for the phenomenon of AUNTIE MAME. But who cares about that really when you have all these wonderful stories of difficult people and the tantrums they throw to get their own way?

Sumner Locke Elliott, the playwright and novelist originally hired to adapt Patrick Dennis' 1955 novel to the stage, gives a chiseled portrait of the late Rosalind Russell, depicting her as a sort of sacred monster who made sure everything went her way. Russell was never a great star but she knew how to adapt her act for changing times, and turned from comedy to drama to musical to farce to suspense to religion, whatever paid the rent. Her efforts at drama were pretty feeble, she was no Nazimova that's for sure, but in the annals of high comedy she will always have a shining place due to the sheer intensity of her performances in HIS GIRL FRIDAY, THE WOMEN, and of course AUNTIE MAME.

Jordan shows us how Hollywood got it wrong, casting Lucy as Mame when the cognoscenti wanted Lansbury in the musical version of Dennis' play. After reading this book I felt sorry for Lucy for the first time in my life, for reading the savage reviews attacking her physical appearance is actually painful, as though all the critics in the world had turned into John Simon for this one occasion. Lucy was 61, is that really 15 or 20 years too old to play Auntie Mame? Why? Not that Lucy was any good, I'm not standing up for her, but no one deserves the venom she got for playing in that one movie, shooting herself in both feet for her arrogance and pride and vanity.

Jerry Herman wrote the foreword to this book, but could he really have read it? He comes off like a spoiled princess, scuttling plans for a TV remake of MAME with Bette Midler for no good reason, then lacing into a great screenwriter for daring to pen an adaptation of MAME with the temerity to cut two horrible Herman numbers (Saint Bridgette and That's How Young I Feel) which are, apparently, sacrosanct. Jerry Herman always seems so good natured and sweet, but now after reading this book I know he's a Teri-Hatcher style diva.

Terrific Book.......2006-06-25

I don't know what edition of this wonderful book some of the reviewers had read, but in the current one I just purchased from Amazon, there are none of the grammer errors or typos mentioned in other reviews.

For anone who loves Auntie Mame in any of her creations, play, musical or R. Russel film, this is a must have book. (I won't mention the disaster film with Lucille Ball although it is also covered in the book).

I was lucky enough to have seen Miss Russell on stage and Angela Lansbury twice on stage. They were so different yet so right as this wonderful lady. That is the clue to Mame, she is not a funny woman, she is an excentric LADY. Her humor comes from being elegant, beautiful and excentric. (The only real failure I saw was Bea Lilli in London.)

This book is filled with terrific backstage stories, confirming some already told and stating new ones. It is a book impossible to put down once you pick it up.

For a really fun and enjoyabloe read, a Mame fan could not do better.

Mame fan finds it disappointing.......2004-04-21

I looked forward to reading this book, having discovered the novel Auntie Mame as a child and then finding Around the World with A,M. years later.
As a few other reviewers have remarked, there is a disconnect in the book between the novel and the movies/plays, There is a small effort to explain the differences among performers but it is perfunctory.
I found this book rather shallow and superficial. There is little substance or depth to it. It would have been nice to read some analysis of how so many actresses could portray the same role in the musical play and whether that enhances the play's value or detracts from it,
It is occasionally enjoyable and certainly a quick read but the style is that of a
gushing fan with very little discrimination and a very elementary view of the
phenomenon of Auntie Mame. The book is almost too tactful and respectful sometimes, e.g., not naming individuals who behaved badly or summarizing Uncle Mame, the biography of Tanner but leaving out major facts.

Great REVISED edition more photos/gossip (Cher/Barbra/Bette).......2004-03-25

I'm so thankful that Kensington has republished this wonderful, long out-of-print treasure and went several steps beyond by having the author UPDATE the book. We now have a fuller picture of the recent battles to bring AUNTIE MAME to the big and small screen with Richard Jordan detailing all the initial interest, demands for script changes, and collapse of various projects when scripts were written (and REWRITTEN) for actresses like Angela Lansbury, Goldie Hawn, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler and Cher. Jordan not only read many of the scripts--which range from misguided (Goldie Hawn's script would have been set in the 60s and present day) to the glorious. BUT DARLING... is filled with great B&W photos and whether you're a fan of the Rosalind Russell AUNTIE MAME or even the Lucille Ball musical MAME (did you know Madeline Kahn was fired from that film by Lucy?), there's plenty of gossip and deep affection for the creators (not only Patrick Dennis but Jerome Lawrence, Robert E. Lee and Jerry Herman). A fascinating, enlightening tale of the evolution of this eternal gay icon who told us to "Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquette and most poor suckers are starving to death!" The perfect gift for movie and theatre buffs.

Average customer rating:

BEAUTIFUL GUIDE TO ONE OF MY FAVORITE MARVEL CHARACTERS

Ghost Rider: The Visual Guide
Andrew Darling
Manufacturer: DK ADULT
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

History & Price Guides | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Genre Films | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Marvel Encyclopedia
Ghost Rider: The Road To Damnation (Marvel Graphic Novel)
Ghost Rider Volume 1: Vicious Cycle TPB (Ghost Rider)
Essential Ghost Rider, Vol. 2 (Marvel Essentials)
Essential Ghost Rider, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials)

ASIN: 0756621488

Book Description

Ghost Rider, one of Marvel's most extreme and popular characters, roars onto the big screen in February 2007, and this is the book that takes readers behind the scenes and into the dark and desperate world of a fearsome crusader for justice.

Customer Reviews:

BEAUTIFUL GUIDE TO ONE OF MY FAVORITE MARVEL CHARACTERS.......2006-12-19

The Ghost Rider movie hits theaters in February 2007 and in preparation of that event DK Books has released the Ghost Rider: The Visual Guide, another in their outstanding visual guide series. The book does have coverage of the impending film but the guide takes a look at the long, and sometimes convoluted history of this hero who made his first appearance in Marvel Spotlight in 1972 (and I still have my copy!).

The Ghost Rider's origins have been toyed with and revamped, seemingly by every writer who inherited the reins of this unique character. The DK guide does a good job of presenting these various origins that stretch back to the shadowy ancient past when demons walked the Earth, long before recorded history. The history of the demons Mephisto and Zarathos have ever been tied to the Ghost Rider heritage although we will see that the Original, Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider, was the vessel of the defeated Zarathos, while the later Dan Ketch was the true Spirit of Vengeance. Like I said, convoluted, but very interesting to read, especially since it's all in one place.

The Guide follows Blaze through his binding with Zarathos through his time spent as a member of the short-lived super team The Champions. Get up close and personal with all of his powers including his notorious Hellfire. Despite the fact that the original Ghost Rider had a weak cadre of villains such as The Orb, the title still ran for an impressive ten years.

Ghost Rider would take a turn for the darker with the 1990's incarnation as the new Ghost Rider would battle various demonic types such as Blackout, Vengeance, Lilith, and Skinner. But the Dan Ketch Ghost Rider would have powerful allies in the Midnight Sons which included Morbius the Living Vampire, Blade, Dr. Strange, and Johnny Blaze himself. Of course, all of this is presented with gorgeous full color art-work direct from Marvel Comics.

There is a wonderful section that takes readers on a decade-by-decade tour of Ghost Rider's career, giving due credit to the talent which worked on the titles such as writers Gary Friedrich, J.M. DeMatteis, and Howard Mackie, Bret Blevins, Larry Hama, and artists Mike Ploog, Don Perlin, Javier Saltares, Mark Texeira, Adam Kubert, and Clayton Crain. The book is thoroughly complete not only covering the two main, long-running series but also the Marvel Knights limited runs, Ghost Rider 2099,and finally, the brand new series introduced in 2006. And yes, film fans, the book does provide a short peek at the upcoming film with some fantastic insider photos.

DK has scored another hit with this latest Visual guide...now hopefully the film will be just as good!

Reviewed By Tim Janson

Average customer rating:

two parts fascinating Liberian political drama, three parts unengaging navel-gazing
Interesting Read
Challenging...
A Good Story and Good Literature
Best audiobook I listened to all year

The Darling: A Novel
Russell Banks
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Cloudsplitter: A Novel
Sweet Hereafter: A Novel
Continental Drift (P.S.)
Rule of the Bone: Novel, A
The Angel on the Roof: The Stories of Russell Banks

ASIN: 0060957352
Release Date: 2005-10-11

Amazon.com

Russell Banks brings to life in The Darling another political-historical narrative of great scope and range. As in Continental Drift and Rule of the Bone, racial issues are explored; as in Cloudsplitter, idealism runs off the rails. Banks always makes it work because he keeps it real.

The "darling" of the story is Dawn Carrington, neé Hannah Musgrave, a political radical and member of the Weather Underground forced to flee America to avoid arrest. At the time of the novel, she is 59, living on her working farm in upstate New York with four younger women, recalling her life in Liberia and her recent return to that country to look for her sons. "Mainly, we return to a place in order to learn why we left," she says. For Hannah, the decision was harrowing. She abandoned her sons during a bloody civil war, after the death of her husband, Woodrow Sundiata, a black African Cabinet Minister in President Samuel Doe's government, who is beheaded in front of her and her three boys. Banks explores mercilessly the corruption, greed, sloth, cynicism, and violence running through the Liberian leaders from Tolbert to Doe to Charles Taylor, weaving the real story of the horrors of West Africa with the fictional narrative of Hannah and Woodrow. He can take history off the page, bringing to life the times, people and events he recounts.

Hannah was born a child of privilege and chafed against it from her youth: "...it was an old impulse ... this desire to separate myself in the dance of life from the people who had brought me and become one instead with the people excluded from the dance..." Her father is a famous pediatrician, her mother a shadow figure maintaining a predictably correct suburban household. Both parents are liberal, but Hannah outstrips their political stance early on. They are estranged for many years because of her flight, but the separation is really much deeper than distance or politics.

She becomes a wife and mother, and is bored and unfulfilled by the role. She turns to creating a sanctuary for chimpanzees and finds her real purpose. "An old pattern. It's how since childhood I have made my daily life worth living, by turning tedium and despair into a cause." She names each chimp, calls them her "dreamers," and cares for them while others care for her children. Self-knowledge is not high on a list of her personal attributes. Although she characterizes herself as "a darling," there is little evidence to support her claim: distant father, cold mother, controlling husband. She finally sees herself in a true light: "Here it all was again: the names and dates, the tired facts of my biography up to then, the description of my few skills and talents. It was the CV of a small-time, would-be domestic terrorist. Sad. Pathetic." Hannah Musgrave is a visitor in her own life, never really connecting with anyone; more a dreamer than a darling.

Russell Banks has, once again in The Darling, shown himself to be one of the finest novelists writing today. He has written very convincingly, in a woman's voice, a story of youthful idealism destroyed by the real world, of a woman who connected more completely with chimps than with humans, and who says, "once it was clear to me that I would have to abandon my husband and children and return alone to the United States, once I saw that I would be alone, safe from prosecution--I realized, gradually at first and then in a rush, that it was exactly what I had wanted all along… I was once again seizing an opportunity to abandon one life for another." Another reinvention for Hannah. --Valerie Ryan

Book Description

Set in Liberia and the United States from 1975 through 1991, The Darling is the story of Hannah Musgrave, a political radical and member of the Weather Underground.

Hannah flees America for West Africa, where she and her Liberian husband become friends of the notorious warlord and ex-president, Charles Taylor. Hannah's encounter with Taylor ultimately triggers a series of events whose momentum catches Hannah's family in its grip and forces her to make a heartrending choice.

Customer Reviews:

two parts fascinating Liberian political drama, three parts unengaging navel-gazing.......2007-08-07

Hannah Musgrave is a former revolutionary (bombing targets in the U.S. in protest of the Vietnam War, that sort of thing) who gets intimately wrapped up in the Liberian civil war with Samuel Doe, Prince Johnson, and - of course - Charles Taylor. Through a series of events best left to unfold on their own, she ends up working with chimpanzees in Liberia and earns a fictional role in the real-world drama of Liberia's political disintegration. (The book was published before Liberia's recent election of a competent, democratic president and the hope that has ensued.)

Banks, to his credit, lets Africans and African politics become significant characters and elements of the story rather than leaving Africa as the backdrop to which it is relegated by many Western writers. The unfolding of the Liberian political disaster is the most compelling, exciting part of the story.

Hannah's personal story is not so interesting. Whether that is more because she is an unsympathetic protagonist - emotionally cold and more in love with her chimpanzees than her children or her husband - or because her frequent musings about her wonderful chimpanzees and ideology are simply not that interesting, I'm not sure.

I'm not sorry I read this book: It portrayed true elements of the Liberian civil conflict in an engaging and memorable way. But the book never really drew me in: Too much of it was wrapped up in Hannah's navel-gazing, and her navel just wasn't that interesting to look at. If I could go back in time, I'd probably look for another book with more parts Liberian drama and fewer parts washed-up revolutionary. (A book with the right proportions - but for the Dominican Republic - is Mario Vargas Llosa's The Feast of the Goat.) Although I'm not sure which book that is for Liberia, let me recommend an excellent, excellent [yes, TWO excellents] novel about Nigeria's civil war of the 1960s: Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun.

The professional reviewers were mixed: Metacritic, a website which collects professional published reviews, lists 5 outstanding reviews, 7 favorable, 5 mixed, and 3 unfavorable.*

Note on content: There is a fair amount of strong language, several descriptive sex scenes, and some brutal torture. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Mary Beth Hurt; she delivers a solid reading.

* For example, the Washington Post found it outstanding, one New York Times review was favorable (the other was mixed), the Economist was mixed, and Entertainment Weekly was unfavorable.

Interesting Read.......2007-08-03

I read this book in three days while on vacation and found it fascinating. I was telling a friend of mine that I had just read "A Long Way Gone" and she pulled this book off her shelf for me to borrow (totally different, but also about African civil war, this one in Liberia).

Hannah, the main character, is a really an unlikeable character. Completely self-absorbed, her children, parents, lover, etc. all have to suffer the consequences. Maybe I never got past my junior high school-themed books, but it always bugs me a little when I don't like the supposed protagonist.

The fact that I didn't like her, however, doesn't mean that I didn't like the book. It contained enough history to keep me interested, but was fast moving and interesting. This was the first Banks' book I've read, but I'm looking forward to the others. I recommend it!

Challenging..........2007-07-23

... challenging, not because of Banks' writing style, which is top-notch, but challenging because of how unlikeable the novel's main character, Hannah Musgrave, is. In order to bond with a book, a reader must either be allowed to identify with or empathize with the protaganist. But it is difficult to like Hannah, either as a young, idealistic radical, or as a seasoned, more mature, farm owner. It is a credit to Banks' writing style and well-paced narrative that readers not only stick with Hannah throughout her journey, but actually enjoy the ride.
Banks sets up many compare/contrast scenarios within this book: the love of chimpanzees vs. the love of one's own family members; the political aims of America vs. the political aims of an African nation, Liberia; idealism vs. reality; the goals of different generations within America, and the imprisonment of souls within systems and within structures. Given the subject matter of The Darling and his previous novel, Cloudsplitter, Banks is fascinated by the fringe radical elements within society. It is the treatment of these segments that the humanity of a nation can, perhaps, best be measured.

A Good Story and Good Literature.......2007-06-19

Because Banks is a terrific story-teller, you will like his latest novel. As usual, he tells the story in the first person, though the twist is that the protagonist is female. For the most part, the voice is quite authentic. This is no mean feat, and the only other writer I can think of who carried it off this well is Alberto Moravia. I do think there are a couple of sexual escapades that don't quite ring true -- one menage-a-trois and, at the end of a book, a brief episode about an unconsummated sexual advance that is a real clunker. Still, the voice on the whole is authentic and the story beautifully told.

I suppose the one question is the ultimate literary merit of the book. I'm partial to Banks and think he should be taken very seriously. The book does a wonderful job of exploring sexual, cultural, and racial tensions. It tells the story of a 60s radical who after going underground moves to Liberia and raises a family in the midst of political turmoil that ultimately devours her family.

Most interesting is Banks' exploration of politics as vanity and dysfunction. People become wrapped up in politics for good reason, but, in the end, politics is itself neurotic and an outlet for ones own flaws. The politically committed invariably lose their way. The story reminds me of Dostoyevsky's "The Devils" in this regard, only Banks does not have the religious solution that Dostoyevsky had in mind. Indeed, it's not clear what Banks' answer is. I tend to think on the basis of "Cloudsplitter" and this book that Banks' answer is not faith, like Dostoyevsky's, but Voltaire's sense that small tasks and good works in one's immediate life make for a worthwhile, meaningful, and happy life.

At the end, the protagonist writes herself off as nothing but an "American Darling," and she comes back to the country on September 10, 2001. I don't quite share the view that September 11th changed everything or made previous thinking irrelevant. But it will be interesting to see how writers like Banks deal with September 11th and put those events into proper context.

I highly recommend this book and everything else Banks has written.

Best audiobook I listened to all year.......2007-05-18

The Darling is one of the best audiobooks I've listened to this year. A historical-thriller, The Darling centers around Hannah Musgrave, a sixties activist who flees the U.S. under auspicious circumstances and begins a new life in Liberia. Hannah becomes involved in the rehabilitation of chimpanzees used as laboratory animals, marries a Liberian government official, and eventually loses family, home, and her apes to Liberia's vicious civil war.

The book is read by Mary Beth Hurt, who does one of the finest jobs narrating an audiobook that I have ever heard. She does not merely portray the main character well, she is the main character. What is so wonderful about The Darling is that Banks creates a believable and complex woman whose personal life fleshes out the politics of gender, race, and geopolitical oppression. There are no patronizing themes of redemtion, or one dimensional characters in this book, which you don't want to ever turn off listening to. Every character in the book, like the country of Liberia itself, goes through periods of rebellion, compromise, complacency, and betrayal of self. The reader is left not only with a thorough history of the country of Liberia, but with the haunting sense that the potential for evil exists within all of us.

Average customer rating:

Two and a half doesn't make Yoai
Thought-provoking, with a side of cute guys kissing
Quite the Mixed Bag of Short Stories
Appealing and distinct stories with elements of surprise!

Don't Say Anymore Darling (Yaoi)
Fumi Yoshinaga
Manufacturer: Digital Manga Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Manga | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Not Enough Time (Yaoi) (Yaoi)
Ichigenme...The First Class Is Civil Law Volume 2 (Yaoi) (Ichigenme... the First Class Is Civil Law)
My Paranoid Next Door Neighbor (Yaoi)
Lover's Flat (Yaoi)
The Moon And Sandals Volume 2 (Yaoi)

ASIN: 1569707995

Customer Reviews:

Two and a half doesn't make Yoai.......2007-09-10

There are five stories in this collection. The title story is the best of these it's about a doctor and his childhood friend who is a lyrics
and their relationship.
Two of the other stories are sort of a sci-fi with androids totaly weird. One of the other is a hetro middle age couple the story is from the man view sad and bizzare. The last story is about a pianist and his fall into depression.
Overall the collection of stories is different from what I expected in a yaoi and I don't recommend this book at all

Thought-provoking, with a side of cute guys kissing.......2007-08-29

The more I read Fumi Yoshinaga the more I adore her work.

Because she writes human stories, not just "gay" ones. (With the bonus of lovely artwork.) This collection has quite the variety (far more ably described by R. Parklane's review) of stories. Not all happy. Not all easy to read. Mainly they make you think - about relationships and about people and how similar they are underneath no matter what culture they come from. And these tales raise a few questions about expectations and perceptions - of class, age, societal pressures - both in life and in fiction.

I consider this a very worthy addition to my collection of manga. And no, America, as this volume proves, not every manga-ka writes about high school crushes or ninja battles or monsters that fit in your pocket.

Quite the Mixed Bag of Short Stories.......2007-08-18

The first, and title, story in this collection is wonderful! It focuses on the touching, and sometimes amusing, relationship between a successful doctor, whose parents want him to get married and move out already, and his high school friend, who is trying to make a living as a lyricist/poet. I could have wished it had been longer and more fleshed out, but it's lovely as it is.

However, two of the later stories seem to be Fumi Yoshinaga's misguided attempt at writing sci-fi/horror/mystery. One of them features "sexaroids," multiple violent deaths, a male harem, and incestuous overtones. The other is a bizarre, almost moralistic, tale in which virtually the entire population of Tokyo (and possibly the world) simply vanishes.

One of the other stories almost seems like it could be a footnote to Fumi Yoshinaga's Ichigenme series. It chronicles the unsuccessful attempts of a law professor to find love after his wife dies. It's sad, it's not yaoi, and it feels rather unfinished.

The last story is actually interesting and compelling, if sad. It follows the life of a pianist whose promising start never actually panned out. It is yaoi, sort of, but that's not really the point of the story.

All in all, this volume is quite the mixed bag. There are good stories here, but there are also some off-putting ones.

Appealing and distinct stories with elements of surprise!.......2007-08-18

I enjoy all 5 stories here. They are not your usual Yaoi love story. Each one is distinct with unexpected ending and theme, most of them pretty sad.

My favorite is the first story of the same title, about 2 close friends since school days. One is an acknowledged gay while the other seems straight. Theirs is one engaging, humorous yet effective love story. The dialogue is engrossing and exceptional and her guys' expressions here are so vivid. Love those eyes! This is the only one with an ending which pleases sappy me but it is not the reason for it being my favorite. The 2 guys are very appealing characters, contrasting each other nicely.

"My Eternal Sweetheart" is a sci-fi Yaoi on 2 brothers. This one has a twisted plot with lots of sex including threesomes. I find this quite unique and poignant.

"Fairyland" with a twilight zone flavor may be the shortest but does strike a chord.

"One May Day" is about a hetero middle aged couple. I do not go for hetero manga but Fumi Yoshinaga has done a marvelous job here on social class distinction. She could easily have been over sentimental with this one. But she did not and as a result the story is more impactful.

The last story, "Pianist", about a failed gay musician is melancholic and bleak. It is easy to sympathize with the flawed character here as he plunges into hopelessness and despair. At least there is a glimmer of light towards the end.

Overall a great collection to have from this talented mangaka, even if not the usual Yaoi romance with the exception of the first story. Her story telling skill is remarkable and her stories very unique. Last but not least I love her artwork which is a class by itself. You just have to love all the details in the background and the vivid expressions.

Average customer rating:

Little Darling (Yaoi)
Matsuri Kouzuki , and Naduki Koujima
Manufacturer: Digital Manga Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Manga | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Invisible Love (Yaoi)
From Up Above (Yaoi)
Passion Volume 4 (Yaoi)
Vanilla Volume 1 (Yaoi)
Prince Charming Volume 1 (Yaoi)

ASIN: 1569707693

Book Description

Miyori finds himself stuck with the job of finding all the angels' children who have become lost in the human world. When Miyori stumbles on a child named Daishichi, he realizes that the child is actually the heir to the throne of the heavens. But as soon as they meet, Daishichi proposes to him! Miyori wishes to someday become a real human man and has no intention of becoming someone's bride! But when he sees the stunningly handsome adult form that Daishichi takes when the sun goes down, Miyori's heart begins to quiver...

Average customer rating:

Uneventful
Threw It Away
A great example of McMurtry's diversity

Somebody's Darling : A Novel
Larry McMurtry
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Moving On: A Novel
All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers : A Novel
The Desert Rose : A Novel
The Evening Star: A Novel
Some Can Whistle

ASIN: 0684853892

Book Description

Pulitzer Prize-winning Larry McMurtry writes like no one else about the American frontier. In Somebody's Darling, the frontier lies farther west, in Hollywood, where his subject is the strange world of the movies -- those who make them and those who play in them.

Somebody's Darling is the story of the fortunes of Jill Peel. Jill is brilliant, talented, and disciplined, and one of the best female directors in Tinseltown, or anywhere else. She's got it all together, except where the men in her life are concerned: Joe Percy and Owen Oarson. Joe is a womanizing, aging screenwriter, cheerfully cynical about life, love, and art and the pursuit of all three. But he'd rather be left alone with the young, oversexed wives of studio moguls. Owen is an ex-Texas football player and tractor salesman turned studio climber and sexual athlete. He'll climb from bed to bed in pursuit of his starry goal: to be a movie producer. Between the two of them and a cast of Hollywood's most unforgettable eccentrics, Jill Peel tries to create some movie magic.

Full of all the grit and warmth of his best work, Somebody's Darling is Larry McMurtry's deft and raunchy romp behind the scenes of America's own unique Babel: Hollywood.

Customer Reviews:

Uneventful.......2006-12-08

The concept of the book(s) itself was good. I enjoyed reading into more than one character's life during the same period in time. However, I found the whole book, uneventful, and boring. I feel the author did not fulfill the female character's 'realness' in her narration. It's a male author's version of a females thoughts, feelings, and conversations. And with that, the female character's chapter is not compelling, insightful, nor does it have a bit of true emotion. I was very disappointed in the end.

Threw It Away.......2006-11-05

After "Duane's Depressed," a really good book, I read "Leaving Cheyenne," a pretty good book but then I bought this one. The characters are so unsympathetic that I cared not a hoot what happened to any of them. I didn't even finish this book.

A great example of McMurtry's diversity.......2000-12-12

In a novel about one of Larry McMurtry's most lovable female characters, McMurtry shows the literary diversity that has caused some critics to claim that he has the best male insight into the female world of any modern American novelist. The novel develops the stories of memorable but minor characters from All My Friends and Moving On into an insightful look at late 1970s Hollywood, and McMurtry's creative literary strategy shows that he is a master of characterization.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books