The Harry Bosch Novels: The Black Echo, The Black Ice, The Concrete Blonde

Book Description

Michael Connellys most famous character, Detective Harry Bosch, has been thrilling readers for a decade. Now available in one omnibus edition are the three books that brought him to life. First introduced in The Black Echo, Bosch hunts the brutal murderer of a Vietnam buddy. Then, in The Black Ice, a narcotics officers disappearance sends Bosch on a trail of murders leading from Hollywood Boulevard to Mexicos dusty back alleys. In The Concrete Blonde, Bosch must hunt down the Dollmaker, a macabre serial killer, before he strikes again. Together, these three novels are the perfect way to discover, or rediscover, one of our most fascinating and well-loved sleuths. A Darkness More Than Night, also featuring Harry Bosch, is a New York Times bestseller and a national bestseller. Connellys sales continue to rise. Since its January 2001 publication, A Darkness More Than Night has shipped more than 235,000 copies. The Black Echo won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Connelly has also won a Nero Wolfe prize, a Macavity Award, and an Anthony Award.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful writer.......2007-05-14

Michael Connelly is an incredible mystery writer. The plots are well-done, the characters believable. I would highly recommend any of the Harry Bosch mystery novels.

Great stories.......2007-05-12

Another hit by Michael Connelly. I love his Harry Bosch books, the depth of character, attention to detail and beautifully tailored plots make for a completely enjoyable read. This one is great because you get three complete Bosch books for the price of one. Of course, if you like to lie in bed and read the 3 in 1 format makes it really heavy to hold up, but it's worth the effort.

I'm a writer myself so I know how hard it is to turn out such consistently great tales. If you'd like to check out my book click on The Towers Of Greed and if you buy it please buy it from seller Whitebear54 since that's me, the author.

Connelly.......2007-02-12

As a Connelly addict I have to say this is the place to begin...the beginning. One read and you too will be hooked.

Gift.......2007-01-12

I have no idea what this book is like, I ordered it for my niece for Christmas, he is her favorite author :)

Amazon is a class act.......2007-01-04

We have purchased hundreds of products from Amazon, any questions or problems, have always been handled in a very prompt and professional manner. I can't imagine shopping without Amazon. Grandparents from Seattle

Blonde Ambition: An A-List Novel (A-List #3)

Average customer rating:

Super third novel!
Parents BEWARE! Lots of sexual content.
A-List #3: Blonde Ambition
THE A-LIST DOES IT AGAIN!
I Loved it!

Blonde Ambition: An A-List Novel (A-List #3)
Zoey Dean
Manufacturer: Poppy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0316734748

Customer Reviews:

Super third novel!.......2007-07-19

Zoey Dean is at it again, with her third book in the A- List Series. In this book Anna gets an internship with Clark Sheppard, Cammie's dad, after Margaret gets angry at her. Things are going great in the set, and Anna may be falling in love with another guy. Ben goes back to Princeton, worried that Anna will fall in love with another guy. Cammie, on the other hand, tries to destroy Anna's intership. Information is leaked to Hollywood tonight about the show, Hermosa Beach, and everyone believes it is Anna. Clark fires Anna for this and Mia, Cammie's new stepsister has had enough with Cammie and tells her stepfather, Clark, that it was Cammie, for which he takes away her credit cards and car. Clark offers Anna the job back, but does not apologize, so Anna turns him down, so she an work on her film with Sam.

Parents BEWARE! Lots of sexual content........2006-07-10

These books are touted as "teen" books, but are highly sexual and completely inappropriate for young people. I read one just to keep up with what my 13-year-old stepdaughter is reading and could not believe that her mother allows her to read this trash. Passages where teens are kissing, then "moaning", then "moving on top of her" are common. This is adult material, not suitable for teens.

A-List #3: Blonde Ambition.......2006-06-28

Once again, I am addicted to the A-List novels. I started reading it, then got bored, then picked it up again a few days later and read it all the way through. I loved it. This one had more action in it.
Okay, so Ben and Anna are together, and then Anna gets an interneship with Clark Sheppard, which is Cammie's dad. Cammie is really mad, and she tries to get revenge. She's also mad at Sam and Dee because they seem to be hanging out with Anna more, so she starts trying to get Adam from Sam but then when she kisses him she thinks there's something more.
Anna and Ben have problems too, when Ben doesn't go back to Princeton. Then, when he does she and Danny are together.
I wish Anna wouldn't do this. I mean, maybe Ben isn't best for her but she is being such a player.
Either way, I loved this book

THE A-LIST DOES IT AGAIN!.......2006-06-27

The a-List yet again does not cease to amaze me! This book was a wonderful read and I thoought it was as good as the others! Anna and Ben are finally back togther,but what is up with ben's jealousy problem? Ben obviously can't stand to see Anna with another guy, and thats why he's put Princeton aside. Sam continues to be a good friend to Anna. But really, what is going on with the Cammie and Adam thing? Adam is such a great guy and Cammie is amazingly catty, can their relationship work? Or is it doomed to fail like all other hollywood relationships? Is Ben going beck to Princeton?ever? Is Anna going to grow tired of Ben and his jealous ways? Or will she stay by his side in the name of love? Read the book to find out!!!!

I Loved it!.......2006-06-19

This was a great book! Ben really started annoying me because he was becoming so protective. I finshed this book in 2 days and i'm on " A-List" withdrawl right know. I l,oved all the new chartcters that evolved.

Average customer rating:

just ok
One heck of a trashy novel
Oh, please, you missed the point! LOVED it!
TERRIBLE!!!!!
No depth

Bergdorf Blondes : A Novel
Plum Sykes
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: B000ETQQ28

Book Description

Plum Sykes burst on to the literary scene in 2004 with her beguiling debut novelintroducing readers to the glamorous world of PAPs (Park Avenue Princesses)and her loveable heroine, Moi, a 'champagne bubble of a girl' who became an instant hit with readers from coast to coast. 'Missing the gals from Sex and the City? Bergdorf Blondes is the next best thing.'-USA Today

Customer Reviews:

just ok.......2007-10-04

It was very funny in parts, but after about the first 100 pages the jokes start to stale cause they're all about the same things. It is possible to be empty headed and shallow and still be likeable, and I thought that was where the author was going with the character of "Moi" - but that really didn't go anywhere, and towards the end she is just annoying. There is absolutely no character development - between Zach and Eduardo and Charlie and god knows who else,it was hard to tell who was who. The "love story" between Charlie and Moi is laughable, her bumping into him everywhere is a little too much coincidence and I had to laugh out loud at the end when he said "you were made for me". That was cheesy to the extreme. I skimmed throught the last three chapters just to get it over with. The descriptions of the hotels and private planes and the park avenue princesses were pretty funny though.

One heck of a trashy novel.......2007-09-15

I loved this book. I am the farthest thing on Earth from a "Bergdorf Blonde", but I laughed through the entire novel. It was a terrific and much-needed break. Plum Sykes is hilarious. It has nothing whatsoever to do with life as most of us know it. Not going to win any esteemed literary prizes, but does provide total escapism. The first fiction I've read in years.

Oh, please, you missed the point! LOVED it!.......2007-09-13

First of all anyone who did not understand that Bergdorf Blondes is a SATIRE, hello, totally missed the point! Look at Syke's credentials, for heaven sake. She's Oxford educated!

And it shows! It's well written. It's HILARIOUS! And it's a SPOOF! Plum Sykes knows her characters are "shallow". That's her point! I don't want to spoil the end for anyone who has not yet read this, but she's made it very clear through the character's dialogue, that some growth occurred. And, yes, there must be women who are living lives very similar to what Sykes is describing and Sykes is obviously well versed in that lifestyle. She's a contributing editor at Vogue, which would undoubtedly open some pretty nifty doors for her, wouldn't one imagine? Plus she lives on both sides of the pond, so she obviously writes with (vast) personal experience, and thank you, Plum, for the peek into the minds of women (and men) we will probably never actually have great access to. So that's a treat in and of itself. But if you don't see the intelligent plotting and absolutely riotous poking FUN she's indulging in, well, I am sorry for you. Try again! This was a joy from start to finish!
Thanks, Plum!

TERRIBLE!!!!!.......2007-08-20

This book was very dumb. I started reading and the book was okay. I kept reading thinking it would get better, and then it was insulting. The main character attempts suicide and it is laughed off as something that she would do on anyday. It wasnt even interesting chick lit. Terrible, do not waste your time or money.

No depth.......2007-08-20

It is very funny in several parts but the fact that the narator never changed, kept falling for the same guys and got the great guy in the end disinterested me. She didn't deserve him, she didn't make you be on her side. The book was missing something deeper, we didn't get to get to know the character's true feeling. Was really superficial but i guess that was the point.

Average customer rating:

Potentially Oates's Best, But Too Tawdry, and Too Graphic
Tour de force
Sad but addictive reading
A cautionary tale based on the life of a silver screen goddess
SO MONROE

Blonde: A Novel
Joyce Carol Oates
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 006093493X
Release Date: 2001-04-10

Amazon.com

Penzler Pick, April 2000: It is surprising and shocking to realize that Joyce Carol Oates, one of the great writers living today, has never made The New York Times bestseller list (at least not in recent memory). Far less talented (and less famous) authors have made it while she, in all likelihood not caring much, has been shut out. That could easily change with her new novel, Blonde, which may be the masterpiece of a staggeringly distinguished career.

This 700-plus-page tome is based on the life of (you guessed it) Marilyn Monroe. In fictional form, with names changed (husband Joe DiMaggio is referred to as "The Ex-Athlete," Arthur Miller as "The Playwright," John F. Kennedy as "The President," for example), this may be the most accurate and compelling portrait of this beautiful and complex woman that one is ever likely to read.

But why discuss it on the mystery page, you might well be asking yourself. It was the author's intent to structure the book as a mystery, and of course she succeeds, as she seems to succeed at everything she attempts in the world of letters. And there is a murder, apparently arranged by a secret government bureau (FBI? CIA?), although that could be the victim's hallucination. Of course, it could also be both real and hallucinated (remember, even paranoids have enemies).

If you like biographies, you'll like Blonde. If you like novels, you'll like Blonde. If you like mysteries, you'll like Blonde. And if you fear that more than 700 pages by one of the greatest of living literary lions might be tough slogging, here's a little excerpt from the chapter titled "The President's Pimp:"

Sure he was a pimp.
But not just any pimp. Not him!
He was a pimp par excellence. A pimp nonpareil. A pimp sui generis. A pimp with a wardrobe, and a pimp with style. A pimp with a classy Brit accent. Posterity would honor him as the President's Pimp.
A man of pride and stature: the President's Pimp.
At Rancho Mirage in Palm Springs in March 1962 there was the President poking him in the ribs with a low whistle. "That blonde. That's Marilyn Monroe?"
He told the President yes it was. Monroe, a friend of his. Luscious, eh? But a little crazy.
Thoughtfully, the President asked, "Have I dated her yet?"

Nothing inaccessible about Joyce Carol Oates, especially in this most readable and relentlessly fascinating study of the lovely woman with whom the whole country was at least a little in love. --Otto Penzler

Book Description

In her most ambitious work to date, Joyce Carol Oates boldly reimagines the inner, poetic, and spiritual life of Norma Jeane Baker -- the child, the woman, the fated celebrity and idolized blonde the world came to know as Marilyn Monroe. In a voice startlingly intimate and rich, Norma Jeane tells her own story of an emblematic American artist -- intensely conflicted and driven -- who had lost her way. A powerful portrait of Hollywood's myth and an extraordinary woman's heartbreaking reality, Blonde is a sweeping epic that pays tribute to the elusive magic and devastation behind the creation of the great twentieth-century American star.

Customer Reviews:

Potentially Oates's Best, But Too Tawdry, and Too Graphic.......2007-09-04

This novel by Oates includes many of Oates's strengths as a writer; and, who is not interested in Marilyn Monroe? All in all, it is one of Oates's most interesting novels from a research viewpoint and she tries to get into Marilyn's head and fill in the details - albeit fictional. I thought that she failed to do so. She spent a lot of time on the small sexual details. Do we really want to know "how" the head of a studio had sex with her, and what position they were in, etc., etc.... and you can fill in the details yourself or read the book for much graphic detail. And, remember it is part fictional so it is part guess work by Oates. Less is sometimes better in literature. In short, it is a bit over the top.

Joyce Carol Oates was born in 1938 in upstate New York State and is a distinguished Professor of Humanities at Princeton. She gained fame with her first novel With Shuddering Fall in 1964. Now four decades later, she is the author of scores of novels, many short stories, essays, plays, and poetry. The present novel from is somewhere near the end of the chronological order of her body of work and we see the polished prose of an experienced writer.

I have read a number of her works from different time periods in her career and set up a Guide to Joyce Carol Oates Listmania list. Compared to her early novels, this is a straight-forward and almost a "light" read. It contains some drama but there are a few intense scenes, but less than in some other works. The novel has a good story structure and easy prose, and the reader is spared the "too much prose" found in some early works such as The Assassins. The read is mostly compelling.

Oates is known for her emotional and dramatic stories, often with women or even poor women such as students or teachers caught up in stressful situations, and often set in her native upstate New York (Niagara River - Syracuse - Erie,PA. triangle). Actually, some of her best work is found in her 10 to 20 page short stories, which are often dramatic, sometimes very intense, and many involve off-beat characters, and they include rapes, murders, and people with serious mental health issues, etc. People who have not read her collections of short stories should take a look at those.

The present novel is a departure in location but not in spirit. Marilyn Monroe was a stressed young woman with a mentally ill mother. She had to make many sacrifices to follow her acting career. Oates gives a good step by step view of her teenage years, her first days as a model, and the career that followed, along with her marriages.

This is a relatively compelling read, but very graphic, and some will be turned off by the details of Marilyn's sex life. Again, as in other works, she mixes in the tawdry a little too much. Overall I did not like it. I still prefer You Must Remember This and We Were The Mulvaneys. Both are better works.

Neutral recommendations: 4 stars.

Tour de force.......2007-08-18

Don't believe the hype! Although widely panned, this book is superb. Less a meditation on Monroe herself, the book's real success is as a feminist critique of Hollywood. By focusing on the idea of Monroe the legend, it calls into question the entire Western project of deification and celebrity. It also works as a kalidescopic ride in and out of a multitude of literary styles and narrative voices, often operating as a brilliant piece of metafiction.

Sad but addictive reading.......2007-07-31

I enjoyed the book even though it was pretty bleak and mostly depressing but how could it be otherwise? Monroe's life wasn't exactly the happily ever fantasy what with her rough beginning, the abuse, the sex and the drugs. I thought Oates did an enviable job of recreating Monroe's voice, her motivation and getting to the heart of the woman behind the myth. It begins with Monroe as a young child and portrays the abuse she suffers at the hands of an unstable mother and sets the ground work for Marilyn's unsuccessful search for a normal life which clashes time and time again with her overwhelming drive to become a successful and important actress.

A cautionary tale based on the life of a silver screen goddess.......2007-07-03

I am a huge Marilyn Monroe fan; and I mean huge. My interest in her goes further than her ethereal image and numerous movie characters. I am constantly in search of any new information about her and continuously interested in her life. Needless to say, I was skeptical of Joyce Carol Oates' novel. However, Oates immediately informs the reader that this novel is not a true account of Marilyn Monroe's facinating and short life. This is a work of fiction that is based on facts, myths, and fodder that cling to the legend of Marilyn Monroe like cat hair clings to a sweater. This is an enthralling read and Oates' writing style is both poetic and beautifully post-modern. A warning to devoted Marilyn Monroe fans: This novel should be approached with an open-mind. Try to refrain from passing judgement on Oates. Try to realize that her creation may seem at times a little harsh, but she respects Marilyn Monroe and has created an absorbing piece of literature.

SO MONROE.......2007-06-27

THIS BOOK IS FABULOUS FOR A MARILYN FAN - PICK IT UP AND CHECK IT OUT!!

Average customer rating:

Enigmatic...incomplete
More Misses than Hits
Slap in the face
meow
Four Very Similar Stories

Summer Blonde
Adrian Tomine
Manufacturer: Drawn and Quarterly
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1896597572

Book Description

Adrian Tomine’s cult comix series Optic Nerve is finally collected into one sharp-looking hardcover volume. Described as the Raymond Carver of comix, Tomine constructs tales of emotional disconnection with an ear for painfully real dialogue. Combined with his deft black and white depictions of urbane lifestyles, Tomine’s fans have often accused him of eavesdropping in on their most intimate moments and, with forensic skill, laying their lives bare. The conflicts between emotional gratification, narcissistic neediness and moral discernment mark the title story in which a socially crippled man nurses an obsessive crush on a young woman. He watches close up, paralyzed by his guilt, as her beauty catches the eye of his neighbor: a hip, selfish young man with a short attention span. One of Optic Nerve’s most popular stories, `Hawaiian Getaway,` features Hilary, telephone service rep who is having the worst week of her life. She lost her job, her apartment, and her grandmother. Close to the edge, she is losing her grip. Reaching out to random strangers on the phone, Hilary is looking for someone to help her. In "Alter Ego" a successful young author has writer`s block. He can`t, or won`t, decide between another ghostwriting gig and finishing his second ‘real’ novel. He stalls on committing to his novel and his girlfriend when a chance postcard leads him to flirt with fantasies of changing the past. Finally, "Bomb Scare" documents the early unease of his generation by setting this coming-of-age story during the tense months of the Gulf War, the event that ushered in the 1990s.

Customer Reviews:

Enigmatic...incomplete.......2006-09-03

This was a toughie for your beleagured wiseguys of "Le Reviewe de' Rotten" - an anthology of four stories dealing with alienation, self-loathing and loneliness in different measures. Not so much stories, they look (and read) more like snapshots - still images of various lives. Instead of a story arc, Tomine's stories look more like a trajectory of descent just short of a crash. (taking that metaphor another step, Tomine leaves out the final impact, leaving it to the reader to determine what the outcome is; typically, I'd skip that last page by accident, then have to go back a few pages to inform the cryptic events of the last few panels. Tomine seems to leave enough for the reader to choose either a happy or unhappy ending.)

In "Alter Ego", Martin is a failed novelist - he has transformed a painfully unmemorable youth into a slightly memorable first novel. Having mined all of his unfulfilled life into an arguably failed career as a writer, Martin has yet to publish a follow-up book, and now writes magazines articles and ghostwrites semi-fictitious bios for celebrities. Though he has a girlfriend when the story starts out, Martin nursed an unrequited passion for a classmate in HS - a girl who may have sent a flattering postcard bearing no return address or last name. Despite his ongoing healthy relationship, Martin takes off for his HS dream and instead finds her younger sister and the wreck of the family the older girl left behind.

In "Bomb Scare" a young boy and girl are thrown together by the wicked dynamics of high-school. He (ostracized because of his only friend's overt-yet-ambiguous sexual orientation) and she (cast out when her rep as a plaything for jocks culminates in a moment of scatological humiliation at a party) don't even like each other. Can a relationship form based on being on the outs with rest of the world?

In "Hawaiian Getaway", Hilary is the older and less-adjusted of two daughters of an Asian family. While her younger sister is on her way to med school, Hilary can barely keep her job as a phone operator for a catalog. She is painfully unable to even begin small talk, let alone maintain a career or a relationship. Is it Hilary that's messed up, or the world? She, may learn the answer when - having taken up phone-pranking - she hooks up a possible boy friend.

The best of the stories is "Summer Blonde", in which Neil - who manages the lay-out for porn classifieds at a small, local news-rag - must contend with Carlo, a sexually insatiable poser with a guitar who has just moved in. Neil, who is sex-starved himself, can barely tolerate Carlo before the new neighbor sets his sights on Neil's dream girl, the "Summer Blonde" herself. The story surpasses the others in its more complex character dynamics. Neil's more pathetic than creepy, but our sympathy has its limits. He should be happy, but why there's something selfish about desires that fixate on young summer blondes (it's a point made by his therapist - Neil has a right to be happy, but he discriminates against women who aren't young or otherwise nubile). The subject of Neil's unwanted attentions is aware of Neil, but he's not even no. 2 on her pecking order - instead, she really does think he's a creep, and from her vantage point it's easy to see why.

Unfortunately, "Summer Blonde" feels more incomplete than enigmatic. A graphic novel, "Blonde" lacks any impressive graphics. There isn't a single memorable image in any of the four stories, robbing the narrative of emotional power or any dramatic substance.

More Misses than Hits.......2004-04-12

I did not get interested in graphic novels until recently, when I ran across David B.'s amazing "Epileptic." I then read Daniel Clowes' "Ghost World," which was also very good. My next step was to purchase this book by Adrian Tomine, which is in very much the same vein as "Ghost World."

After two readings,though, I have to admit that I'm a bit disappointed with it. The stories are interesting, in their own way, and they do have substance, but the first two in particular are plagued by inadequate main characters. Tomine goes too far in making them ugly and unlikeable, to the point where they're not even realistic. It's impossible to care about these vain, petty, whiney young men. They don't even have a sense of humor. I can tolerate art that is dark and pessimistic, but only if there is enough substance to make it worthwhile. These first two stories do not overcome the extreme amount of self-loathing exhibited by the main characters.

Things improve with the third story, which is actually a collection of related vignettes about a young Asian-American woman. Although she is depressed, she at least shows some glimmers of a sense of humor, and I got the impression that if I met her, I would probably like her. The fourth story brings us back to high school, where a no-name loser-type character forms an odd but somehow functional relationship with the school's most notorious slut.

The artwork throughout this book is solid though not spectacular. It fits the mood of the stories, although there are a few lapses, such as the high school "jocks" in the last story who look like college kids from the 1950s.

I appreciate artists like Adrian Tomine who are using this medium to tell real stories about real people. I just think that these four stories miss the mark more often than they hit it. Maybe now I will look into some of his earlier material, which many people say is better than this.

Slap in the face.......2004-02-03

Just like his other two books of collections, this one is another SLAP in your FACE, when it comes to your emotions. As I read the stories I get drawn into the charcaters' simple events, yet complex emotions surrounding those events and feel hit when the end comes. I love how all of Tomines stories are dreary, having and/or not having closure at the same time, depending on how you look at it. I also enjoy the fact that his stories get progressively longer (from the first book on) and so this books is full of 4 long stories. The graphics are good and do an amazing job at expressing emotions and reactions of the characters. Also, I love how all his comics are based on a miserable real world and are told truthfully.

meow.......2003-12-12

This book is...okay, it's not something thats grand or something that should be considered a cult comic. I mean there are stories in this comic that do absorb you and you feel for the chracter, but most of his stories are pretty much along the same lines, and after a while it gets sort of repeptive, if you're someone who is a hopeless romantic and starting to get into comics, then these comics that are for you, but if you're a teenager or a college student or whatever that is hateful and angsty, then, no, maybe you should read Daniel Clowes, or Nate Powell.

Four Very Similar Stories.......2003-05-21

I really liked Tomine's first collection (32 Stories), and loved his last one (Sleepwalk and Other Stories), so shelled out for the hardcover edition of his latest. The four stories are beautifully drawn in Tomine's instantly recognizable precise style, but the storytelling is rather disappointing. His stuff has always been somewhat similar, focusing on loss and loneliness, but here here four protagonists (three male, one female) are little more than subtle variations of each other. Each is a kind of lonerish social outcast type who has deep problems relating to others and whose imagination is fertile territory for spawning sad obsessions. So you get a hipsterish writer who never got over high school and thus neglects his beautiful girlfriend due to his fascination with the younger sister of "the hot chick" from high school. Then you have the pimply-faced production designer at the alternative paper who seethes at his neighbor's casual sexual prowess and turns quasi-stalker in a surge of misguided imagination. There's the stoic Asian woman who simply cannot manage even a normal conversation. The last story is a totally banal high-school loser story which veers into a loser version of a John Hughes movie with a totally ridiculous ending. I still dig how Tomine just jumps into his character's lives, and manages to convey their whole life with a minimum of exposition, and then stops the story right when they're at a kind of emotional fork. The problem here is that the four stories are simply far too similar, almost as if he's stuck and has nothing else to say but further riffs on the same material he's been doing for ten years. I sure hope this isn't the case and that his next book will show a new maturation of his storytelling, 'cause he is a talented artist.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes -and- But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady

Average customer rating:

Improves one's mind
Utterly entertaining
Wry, funny and timeless
What a star
Classic humor!

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes -and- But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady
Anita Loos
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0141180692

Customer Reviews:

Improves one's mind.......2004-08-26

"Kissing your hand may make you feel very good but a diamond bracelet lasts forever." So says Lorelei Lee in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes." With the emergence of Lorelei, Anita Loos invented the chick-lit genre as we know it, with witty looks at love, jewelry, and gold-digging in the sparkling 1920s.

"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" is the diary of Lorelei Lee, a pretty young flapper originally from Little Rock. Since she has managed to get engaged to a married man, and might be hit with a scandal, Lorelei goes overseas. She cuts a gold-digging swathe through Europe, dazzling wealthy men, seeing the "Eyefull" Tower, and recording thoughts both witty and vapid.

Loos followed up her hit novel with "But Gentlemen Prefer Brunettes." The sequel is the story of Lorelei's travelling buddy Dorothy, as told by Lorelei. Dorothy has led a more colorful life -- she started off in the circus before heading to NYC. There, she became a Ziegfield Follies Girl, and then a "companion" to wealthy men.

Anita Loos's "Gentlemen" books first started when Loos encountered a starlet who had men tripping over themselves to help her with her things. Loos was as pretty, as young, and much smarter, but nobody helped her. What was different? Loos was a brunette, and the starlet was a blonde. You do the math.

Loos had a fun, deft sense of humor. She skewered flappers and/or gold-diggers, wealthy men, and the social mores of the 1920s. She also deliberately litters her books with misspellings and run-on sentences, adding to the feeling of overal ditziness. At the same time, her books are such good light fun that they can be read without taking note of the satire.

"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" gives a wink-nudge look at the flapper era, while giving us the origins of the present-day lite chick-lit genre. Fun, fluffy and amusing.

Utterly entertaining.......2004-06-22

This is a great little book (actually, two books in one). I laughed put loud throughout it and hoped that it would never end. "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" is rightly considered a classic, its sharp and bitingly witty insight is something one never seems to see in a book today (indeed, humour in a book today seems to be rare - sometimes it seems that all new fiction books are depressing and morbid; and if you feel this way too then you should read Loos' clever and refreshing novels). This is a classuc that you will want to read over and over.

Wry, funny and timeless.......2003-09-12

If you appreciate wry humor and satire, wonderfully written, this is the book for you. A quick read that never disappoints. Every gentleman should read this by the time he turns 25.

What a star.......2002-07-03

Which came first, Damon Runyon or Anita Loos? Whatever, this is a brilliant book that gets funnier as Loos hits her stride. By the time she gets to Dorothy's adventures she's well away. It's not just the language and the gags but the concrete observation - Dorothy isn't just discovered sitting in the doorway of Pearl Lo Vino's tent, she's found sitting there watching Pearl crochet a boudoir cap. Writers, take note!

Classic humor!.......2001-06-13

I adored this book! I purchased it because I'd seen both of the movies, but the book is so much wittier! I'd recommend it to anyone with an extremely sophisticated sense of humor, otherwise it would be hard to understand - not for lightweights!

I'm No Angel: The Blonde in Fiction and Film (Cultural Frames, Framing Culture)

Average customer rating:

Thoughtful analysis

I'm No Angel: The Blonde in Fiction and Film (Cultural Frames, Framing Culture)
Ellen Tremper
Manufacturer: University Press of Virginia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Blonde Like Me: The Roots of the Blonde Myth in Our Culture
On Blondes

ASIN: 0813925207

Book Description

In I'm No Angel: The Blonde in Fiction and Film, Ellen Tremper shows how, at its roots, the image of the blonde was remodeled by women writers in the nineteenth century and actors in the twentieth to keep pace with the changes in real women's lives. As she demonstrates, through these novels and performances, fair hair and its traditional attributes-patience, pliancy, endurance, and innocence-suffered a deliberate alienation, which both reflected and enhanced women's personal and social freedoms essential to the evolution of modernity. From fiction to film, the active, desiring, and sometimes difficult women who disobeyed, manipulated, and thwarted their fellow characters mimicked and furthered women's growing power in the world. The author concludes with an overview of the various roles of the blonde in film from the 1960s to the present and speculates about the possible end of blond dominance.

Customer Reviews:

Thoughtful analysis.......2007-01-08

In this book, Ellen Tremper calls into question the archetype of the blonde in both literature and the big screen. Tremper, a Victorian specialist who also has exntensive knowledge of Woolf, uses characters such as Georgiania from Jane Eyre and Maggie Tulliver from The Mill on the Floss to exemplify the motiff of the blonde. Her prose is scholary yet accessible (my HS Senior AP class was able to read a chapter).

I highly recommend this book for any literary scholar.

Average customer rating:

I've been to cuba! (sort of)
Must reading for anyone interested in Cuba
An appealing eye opener of 21st century Cuba!
Interesting story, but the writing is awful.
Excellent Read!

Dirty Blonde and Half-Cuban: A Novel
Lisa Wixon
Manufacturer: HarperCollins/Rayo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Dirty Havana Trilogy: A Novel in Stories
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ASIN: 006072174X
Release Date: 2005-05-03

Book Description

Based on the wildly popular, semi-autobiographical Havana Honey series published by Salon.com, "Dirty Blonde and Half-Cuban" is a gritty portrait of one woman's determination to infiltrate modern Cuba and find the father she has never known.

While on her search, privileged American Alysia Briggs ends up broke and alone in Havana. She's then forced to adopt the life of the "jineteras" -- educated Cuban women who supplement a desperate income by accommodating sex tourists.

With an eye for detail and a razor wit, Lisa Wixon relates Alysia's journey and creates a love-song to Cuba, a heartfelt tribute to a resilient people facing soul-numbing poverty in a land where MDs and Ph.D.s earn $18 a month, and a pair jeans cost twice as much.

Winner: The Mariposa Award 2005 for "Best First Book" (Latino Literacy Now)

Customer Reviews:

I've been to cuba! (sort of).......2006-08-07

I LIKE COMIC BOOKS! BUT THIS WAS NO COMIC BOOK. THIS WAS MUCH BETTER BECAUSE I COULD SEE THE PICTURES CLEARLY AS DESCRIBED BY MS. WIXON. I HAVE OFTEN HAD PROBLEMS WITH WRITERS THAT DONT COMMUNICATE LOCATIONS AND MOODS VERY WELL BUT THIS BOOK CORRECTED THAT PROBLEM TEN FOLD. I READ THE BOOK OVER THE COURSE OF 2 WEEKS BUT BY CHOICE. I SAVORED EACH CHAPTER AND SITUATION THAT OUR TROUBLED PROTAGONIST "AlYSIA" KEPT FINDING HERSELF IN. I WALKED THE STREETS OF CUBA AND I COULD FEEL IT'S OLDNESS AND ITS PRIDE AS I TURNED EACH EXCITING PAGE. I WALKED ALONG THE MALECON AND I FELT THE SPRAY OF THE OCEAN MIST AGAINST MY SKIN (SORT OF). AT ONE TIME DURING THAT TWO WEEK PERIOD I WAS AROUND SOME NOISY PEOPLE. I TOLD MYSELF "IM GOING TO CUBA" SO I OPENED "DIRTY BLONDE AND HALF CUBAN" AND THERE I WAS IN HAVANA. WOULD I RECCOMEND THIS BOOK? HELL YEAH DOGZ! I HAD ONE LITTLE PROBLEM AND THAT WAS THAT SOMETIMES IT GOT DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW SOME OF THE PERIFEREL CHARACTERS. (RAFAEL,REINALDO,RICHARD-TERENCE,JESUS,JOSE ANTONIO,LIMON AND NICK WETHERSBY) I SWEAR, IT SEEMED LIKE SOME OF THESE CHARACTERS CAME OUT OF NOWHERE. THAT BEING SAID, I WOULDNT WANT THAT TO DISCOURAGE ANYONE. SOME OF THESE CHARACTERS OFFER GOOD SUPPORT FOR THIS LITTLE JOURNEY. I READ ANOTHER REVIEW AND THE PERSON DEMONSTRATED SOME INCONSISTANCIES IN MS. WIXONS WRITING. I'LL ADMIT SHE IS NOT A PERFECT WRITER BUT SHE IS A VERY GOOD WRITER AND FOR HER FIRST TIME OUT SHE'S,IN MY OPINION, EXCEPTIONAL. I'VE FOUND INCONSISTANCIES IN THE BIBLE BUT IT'S STILL THE GREATEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN. LISA WIXON IS NO SAINT BUT THE AUTHOR IS A NEW FORCE IN THE FICTION WORLD AND I LOOK FORWARD TO HER NEXT ENDEAVER. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT READ.

Must reading for anyone interested in Cuba.......2006-06-25

Half Blonde, Half Cuban works on several different levels in an extraordinary way for a first novel from an obviously very talented writer.

Like Cuba, the character of Alysia is a constant enigma, that you are trying to figure out until the last page.

If you are thinking of visiting Cuba, or are just interested in the mystery of that Island nation, this book is must reading. One of the key things of a visit to Cuba is a foreigner's inability to read all the signs, no matter how world-wise the traveller is or how well you speak Spanish. You'll have a better time and understand that complex people, that despite incredible hardships manage to be full of vitality.

I found the sensitive exploration of the plight of Cuban women that are forced to become "Jineteras" to feed themselves and their families the only one I have ever read that gets to the truth. Despite the harsh realities, they remain dignified and in control of themselves rather than succumbing to the humiliation of the sex tourism that has been foisted on the Island's population.

Much better still is that an American girl that had it all ends up having to sell herself, in that special Cuban way, to stop the starvation that is a real problem for anyone living there. No Cuban writer - and I have read plenty - conveys things in such a meaningful way to the reader because Alysia sees it from our point of view - Westerners with enough to eat and freedom - as if we too joined the Cuban people's plight.

But the book is much, much more than some of the hot sex scenes and some not-so-hot scenes that you make you squirm for the plight of that people. Wixon takes you around Havana and its characters as she searches for her father, an odyssey that rivals anything I have read on that special relationship, (the special nature of the father-daughter union) in a fun way, just as if she were a Cuban showing you around.

Orisha's, undercover Government agents,Turistas of all shapes, sizes and inclinations, and the woman of that Island are all portrayed in real tones, so real you get attached to the entire family of characters.

From El Floridita ( one the many Hemingway haunts in Havana) to the road to Moron you are constantly visiting that Island and seeing the diversity and beauty that is Cuba, that decades of oppression have failed to dimish.

There is something in here also about searching for more than your father but your country, your sense of place, and in conveying this the book really makes it.

I eagerly await Ms. Wixon's next book and strongly recommend this one.

An appealing eye opener of 21st century Cuba! .......2006-06-01

I really enjoyed this book! For some unexplained reason I have always had an interest in Cuba and will probably visit there within the next year. Through such books as CUBA by Stephen Coontz and SUSPICIAN OF RAGE by Barbara Parker, I have grasped a pretty good feel of life in 21st Century Cuba. DIRTY BLOND AND HALF CUBAN has given me an additional point of view. It has also opened my mind to be less judgmental of what one does to survive. Imagine an educated, trained female surgeon that saves lives every day, making only approximately $100 a month. To live, she has boyfriends that are foreign tourists and send her money and gifts year round. They appreciate her companionship, her wit, her intelligence, her looks and...yes, there is sex; but is it prostitution as we know?? The author really shows insight and understanding of the wealthy, ego driven, successful man. The book's protagonist is US bred and educated and is searching for her father, without money, trapped in Cuba and befriended by the surgeon. She survives in ways she never imagined. However, it is a celebration of a society that is one big family, helping each other to survive, with a warm spirit and comradery. This book captured me and made me think, It was hard to put down and had a story that kept me involved. I highly recommend it and wonder what this author will come up with next!!

Interesting story, but the writing is awful........2006-04-12

Did this woman really earn a degree in communication? Well, I'm not sure what sort of communication it was, but as a fiction writer, she needs help. There are more blatant amateurish errors here than in any book I have ever seen published, anywhere.

Just a few examples:

Page 113: "she... wraps a cloth around my head, obscuring my sight. Limon raises a wan eyebrow." (This is a viewpoint violation which would be recognized as such by any beginning writer of fiction; in a first-person story, you can't describe something you can't have seen.)

Page 9: "retorted my father, who walked in with the doctor." Page 10: (same scene, 6 paragraphs later) "Hello, John Briggs, said the doctor, shaking my father's hand." This sentence contains two errors. First, why would the doctor need to greet the man he walked in the door with? It's also highly unlikely that he would address him by both his first and last name; if he knows him well, he might call him by his first name, and if not, he'd call him Mr. Briggs.

Page 26: "At June's ranch in Mississippi, after... the house was sold to new owners, I ..." Page 27, 8 paragraphs later, next scene: "I considered returning to my aunt's Mississippi ranch to look more closely through the piles of June's papers..." (These sentences contain both a redundancy -- Why would you say a house was sold "to new owners"? When it's sold, they are always new owners -- and a logic error: You can't generally go back to a place you have sold and look through the effects of the person who used to own it, because when you sell a house, you generally don't leave personal crap there, do you?

Page 6 and page 48: both contain a definition of "jinetera" -- a redundancy -- but the definitions do not quite match. page six says it means "a jockey" and page 48 says "a female jockey."

and these are only the ones that have jumped out at me so far; I am only up to page 118. if it was my job to look for them, I'd bet my last orgasm that I'd find dozens more. I would probably want to avoid Harper Collins if I was an author.

I think you could make the case that the editors at Harper Collins really are the ones to blame, and of course, they are ultimately; if this was edited, it was not by anyone who was awake. But those who call this "well written" are pretty deluded; the writer made these errors and while some of the inconsistencies were probably created in changing the storyline during rewrites, it's still pretty lousy writing, and it creates a reasonable doubt as to the intelligence of the author --- and hence the reliability of the observations in the story.

Excellent Read!.......2006-02-23

This book is soooo good! She describes the life in Cuba so realistically. It's hard for many to imagine if they don't know what really has become of Cuba...or rather what Castro has done to Cuba. I highly recommend the book.

Average customer rating:

Weak
Disturbing story of Hollywood and good intentions gone bad
The Touch Of His Hand
Good book with plenty of tension
breezy Hollywood amateur sleuth tale

Blonde Lightning: A Novel
Terrill Lee Lankford
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Earthquake Weather
Echo Park (Harry Bosch)
The Night Gardener
The King of Lies
The Ruins

ASIN: 0345467809
Release Date: 2006-07-25

Book Description

In Earthquake Weather, Terrill Lee Lankford mined his own experiences as a player in the glamorous, ruthless movie business to create a West Coast noir hailed by T. Jefferson Parker as “part Raymond Chandler and part Nathanael West.” Now get ready for another thrill ride down the Boulevard of Broken Dreams–where a wrong turn can lead to a very dead end.

Out of work in The Industry, Mark Hayes decides he’s desperate enough to hitch his wagon to the dubious star of Clyde McCoy, a hard-drinking veteran screenwriter known only too well for being difficult. Clyde has secured the backing to produce his latest script, a noir homage called Blonde Lightning. With a popular action star and a sexy up-and-comer on board in the lead roles, he’s cleaning up his act, dusting off his director’s chair, and is determined to make the picture happen.

For investing the last of his savings into the production, Mark gets the title of associate producer. However, his real job is on-set troubleshooter–his duties ranging from keeping a randy old character actor on a short leash to caring for and feeding some very high-maintenance investors. But the real trouble starts when a crewmember is nearly electrocuted. Clyde suspects sabotage, compliments of Mace Thornburg, an industry bottom-feeder with a grudge against nearly everyone in Hollywood, including Clyde’s martial-arts-actress girlfriend. After she’s almost killed in another suspicious accident, Clyde and Mark resort to drastic measures to exact revenge. But when the payback plot takes an unscripted turn, the deadly drama is suddenly no longer in front of the cameras.

Now, trapped like a pawn in a classic double-cross scenario, Mark realizes the only way out is for him and Clyde to wade deeper into a violent nightmare of treachery, lies, and murder as black and inescapable as the La Brea tar pits. It’s a trip Clyde seems more than willing to take . . . and that Mark discovers is part of the high price for finally getting his name on the silver screen.

From the Hardcover edition.

Download Description

Praise for Earthquake Weather

“Gripping . . . sharp and subtle . . . Earthquake Weather begins explosively.”
–Chicago Tribune

“A zippy noir . . . Lankford’s take on L.A. is dead-on.”
–Entertainment Weekly

“The best Hollywood novel since Michael Tolkin’s The Player–and a fine crime story besides.”
–Chicago Sun-Times

“One of the best novels I’ve read about the dark heart of Hollywood.”
–MICHAEL CONNELLY

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Weak.......2006-10-24

Maybe my expectations were too high, having read that this book was compared with "Get Shorty". Lankford is no Leonard - not even close.

This story contained an uninteresting plot, unsympathetic characters, and weak prose. For example, the protaganist mentions that the process of developing a movie is boring and tedious, then proceeds to spend 50 pages narrating every detail of the process.

I finished the book - it was good enough for that - but I wish I hadn't spent the time buying it.

Disturbing story of Hollywood and good intentions gone bad.......2006-03-15

Out of a job and virtually unemployable in Hollywood, Mark Hayes decides to take the risk of linking up with a low-budget film. His neighbor, screenwriter and director Clyde McCoy, has decided to do one more film, and has lined up a star, partial financing, and a crew. He offers to take Mark on to help with the babysitting that movie-making always entails. Although Mark has been in the industry, even that didn't prepare him for the escalating problems.

Clyde's girlfriend, a kung fu star, has been harassed by a movie critic--who escalates his attacks to an insane level, finally sabotaging Clyde's brakes to the point where they fail spectacularly. When even that doesn't satisfy him, Clyde decides he needs to resolve the issue--and talks Mark into going to Las Vegas with him to hire a connected mobster to threaten the movie critic into backing off. If a deranged movie critic is a problem, though, an angry mobster hitman is an even bigger problem--and the Mark is dragged along as the dangers escalate.

Author Terrill Lee Lankford does an excellent job describing the under-seam of Hollywood. Far from the lethargic shoots of big-name stars and high-ego directors lies the B-film industry--still churning out movies in weeks rather than months or years, at budgets that wouldn't pay the hair stylists in some of the big film budgets. The business can be a trap for the creative, and a moral swamp as well.

BLONDE LIGHTNING is a disturbing story. Every step Mark makes puts him deeper in trouble until every choice seems closed to him. There are no happy endings here, no goodguys beating off the forces of evil. Instead, it's a matter of shades of gray. Still, Lankford's writing is strong and his characters feel very real.

The Touch Of His Hand.......2005-10-23

If you are one of those mystery readers, like me, who hates to read the sequel of a book you haven't read, I'm here to tell you that BLONDE LIGHTNING is much more of a stand alone book than you might have guessed. I haven't read EARTHQUAKE WEATHER so I came wary to BLONDE LIGHTNING knowing that it takes place five days after the events of the previous book. But I plunged right in and soon found myself delighted to know I didn't need to know much more than Tankford sees fit to tell us.

He is a natural born entertainer and a Hollywood insider, who seems born to know his way around alcohol, women and B movies, and the people who make them. Mark Hayes, his down on his luck hero, has a partner called Clyde McCoy, and both of them are on fire to get a certain script made called BLONDE LIGHTNING, hence the title. It's the weird Los Angeles season when O J Simpson made a run for it on national TV (summer, 1994). Hayes and McCoy enter into a dubious partnership with a "civilian" producer as it were, a Christian millionaire who has reservations on the script, which has too many swear words in it. Nevertheless he says go ahead, providing the boys can find room on the set for his son and daughter to be interns or associate producers or some vagye credit.

Even with Tremayne Harris' financial imput, the movie is still one of those no-budget wonders, the kind that Karen Black has been reduced to acting in. (Miss Black has a wicked cameo in chapter twenty, proving again, she's not only a talented actress, but she's a good sport as well.) "Goodbyes were said all around, and the Harris xlan left happy. No one ever mentioned the fact that Karen had been wearing a straitjacket the entire time. I guess they figured she was a big enough star that she could dress however she wished."

Beyond being an amusing satirist and a first-rate plot spinner, Lankford also knows how to create sensitively drawn characters. Is it heresy to say that in this regard he's better than Raymond Chandler? Chandler's women always seem to me to have been created by a man who went to an English public school or married a woman thirty years his senior--oh wait, he did both things. In any case, Lankford has a gallery of interesting female characters, chief among them Tracy, the beautiful yet sad actress whose mastectomy has made her loath to love again. Lankford has a beautiful scene between her and Mark Hayes. "I touched her hand. A fireball suddenly filled the sky in the far northwest of the Valley." All in all a book to take to heart.

Good book with plenty of tension.......2005-08-05

After the death of his girlfriend and the murder of his last boss, Mark Hayes finds himself on the outs in the movie making industry, where rumor, innuendo and even a hint of a bad luck can make or break anyone. He's certain that if he lays low for a while his bad luck will become yesterday's news and once again he'll be working on a big budget movie. But until then he takes a gamble on his boisterous, hard drinking neighbor Clyde McCoy's script and agrees to work on his next independent low budget film

A well known once very popular action star is using his name and money to get the backing for movie, and when a new and upcoming leading lady also signs up, Mark has a glimmer of hope that the film, now also directed by Clyde, just might be something good and might make a profit. He decides to let Clyde have a few thousand of his meager savings and buys into the movie.

When he sees how dedicated the low paid crew is and how hard Clyde is working, Mark takes his title of associate producer seriously. He's actually getting a little excited about the Industry again, he's working all hours, doing the small jobs that need to be done. He's even taken time from seeing his newest lady friend to do his job well.

But behind the scenes, trouble starts to take over. Clyde's girlfriend has an enemy in Hollywood, a wanna be star-maker who is broadcasting that she owes him money. After publicly calling him out and embarrassing him, Clyde is now also on the guy's most hated list. When small annoyances on the set start occurring that grow into almost deadly accidents, Clyde knows who is responsible and decides that something has to be done to make it stop. He calls on muscle from Vegas to handle it, and things start to go bad real fast.

BLONDE LIGHTNING by Terrill Lee Lankford is a fast paced book. The first part takes you behind the scenes in the movie business in a realistic and fascinating way. There is just enough information on the business aspect of movie making, spiced with some well-crafted characters that will keep you glued to the book. But the second section brings in plenty of tension, little by little building it until the readers will also feel fear-sweat form on their upper lips.

Though it would make a fine modern film noir itself, BLONDE LIGHTNING is also a great read.

breezy Hollywood amateur sleuth tale.......2005-07-27

Hollywood studio executive Mark Hayes is angry with his neighbor screenwriter Clyde McCoy for ignoring his grief at the death of his last conquest. However, Clyde apologizes insisting he does not do death well even as his girlfriend black belt Emily Woolrich blames Mark for Clyde drinking.

Clyde tells Mark he has a great script that has backing. Mark is interested because he read Blonde Lightning and thought this had good possibilities. As they begin production on the film, accidents occur that Mark thinks is deliberate; Emily believes it is her former "agent" Mace Thornburg a nasty person feeling she jobbed him out of a fee. Not willing to sit idly by as his movie is being ruined; Mark investigates the incidents that have escalated into murder and sent Clyde into hiding.

Terrill Lee Lankford cleverly uses the opening reels to set the stage for the key players in such a manner that the audience knows how they tick and understands the relationships between them; this comes in handy later in the tale. Once the movie starts shooting, the action takes over and goes non stop as Mark tries to save his film from ruin. Fans of Hollywood amateur sleuth tales will want to read the breezy BLONDE LIGHTNING.

Harriet Klausner

Anita Loos Rediscovered: Film Treatments and Fiction by Anita Loos, Creator of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"

Average customer rating:

Very Interesting But Ultimately Unsuccessful Book

Anita Loos Rediscovered: Film Treatments and Fiction by Anita Loos, Creator of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"
Anita Loos
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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No Mother to Guide Her (Prion Humor Classics)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes -and- But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady
Anita Loos
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ASIN: 0520228944

Book Description

Anita Loos (1888-1981) was one of Hollywood's most respected and prolific screenwriters, as well as an acclaimed novelist and playwright. This unique collection of previously unpublished film treatments, short stories, and one-act plays spans fifty years of her creative writing and showcases the breadth and depth of her talent. Beginning in 1912 with the stories she submitted from her San Diego home (some made into films by D. W. Griffith), through her collaboration with Colette on the play Gigi, Anita Loos wrote almost every day for the screen, stage, books, or magazines. Film scripts include San Francisco, The Women, and Red-Headed Woman. The list of stars for whom she created unforgettable roles includes Mary Pickford, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Audrey Hepburn, and Carol Channing.
This collection has been selected by Anita's niece and close friend, the best-selling author Mary Anita Loos, together with the acclaimed film historian Cari Beauchamp. Their essays are laced throughout the volume, introducing each section and giving previously untold insights and behind-the-scenes stories about Anita--her life, her friendships, and her times.

Customer Reviews:

Very Interesting But Ultimately Unsuccessful Book .......2006-12-20

This book is like three books in one but instead of getting three books, you kind of get a third of three different books. It combines Cari Beauchamp's biographical chapters on Anita Loos' life and career, Loos' niece Mary Anita Loo's first-person remninicences of her famous aunt, and finally short stories or excerpts of Anita's screenplays or books, all mixed together throughout the book. It may have seemed like a novel idea but it's a bad format and not a pleasurable read.

The highlights are Ms. Beauchamp's chapters but her work does not reach the greatness of her superb biography of another lady screenwriter, Frances Marion, WITHOUT LYING DOWN. Part of the problem here may be she's not writing a "full" biography and may not have researched Loos as extensively as she did Marion, she's also a little too soft on Loos personally who like Louella Parsons never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Loos is pictured throughout as a sweet, long-suffering lady (this is somewhat of an "offical" biography given her niece's participation) but Loos' own Hollywood histories and even occasionally her novels reveal a more caustic woman not afraid to get a few digs in at those she apparently didn't like (Beauchamp herself mentions off-hand at one point that Loos disliked sweet Mary Pickford!!). The somewhat famous story of how Loos bad-mouthed Lillian Gish repeatedly to H. L. Menken and George Jean Nathan (both of whom were eager to meet her) is usually told in comic tones, as if she were playing with them, but to me it suggests a aggressive woman who did not want another female as competition for the attention of the two literary giants.

Mary Anita Loos' memories of her beloved aunt are quite charming if sugar-coated although she spares Anita's eccentric, neurotic husband John Emerson nothing. He must have had something to keep Anita at his beck and call for so long besides "duty". Mary Anita Loos passed away not long after the book's publication, like her famous aunt she made it into her 90's. Mary Anita had a modest career as a screenwriter herself and later in the 1960's wrote a number of best-selling potboiler novels, she had a good life story of her own and it would have been nice to read more about it.

And finally there's Anita. This outrageously funny and clever gal, part Mae West and part Dorothy Parker, wrote a number of superb screenplays and entertaining if at times dubious Hollywood histories. I'm less impressed with her novels but they are usually fun and entertaining (though at times irritating as well). Hacking up Anita's work into "greatest hits" here doesn't quite work however, especially when some of the essential great hits of her career are not featured. I do wish that instead of this one book we had gotten three different volumes, a straight-out biography from Beauchamp, a full memoir from Mary Anita, and finally a collection of Anita's writing. Anita Loos was one of the most creative women Hollywood ever knew and she was trail-blazing enough to have deserve the three full treatments.

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