Wednesday, March 19, 2014

VERY DELAYED Book Reviews!! Whoooooops!


I've been meaning to review a couple of books for some time now and I've just been putting it on the back burner for so long but now I'm ready to tell you all about it. I'm just going to give a shortened version of what the books were about and what I thought about it. I really hate reading reviews on books or movies that are so long that before you know you lose interest in it, so that's why I've decided a shortened version is best. 




A looooooooong while ago I was given the chance to read and review a book titled Sinatra and Me: The Very Good Years written by Tony Consiglio and Franz Douskey. Tony Consiglio was one of Sinatra's boyhood friends and later on became his chauffeur, his butler, and basically he did everything for Sinatra. It was definitely interesting to hear about Frank from someone who knew seemed to know him the best but I found that repetitive storytelling was a little tiring. I understand that you want the reader to get an insider's look into Frank's life but sometimes telling the story once is good enough. I just loved hearing about how Sinatra continued to support his first wife even after they divorced. Even before Ava passed away, he was always there for her. He would always send flowers to her and call her up. It was very sweet!  There were a lot of interesting anecdotes I didn't know and I found it fascinating to read about.  I like that you are able to see both sides of Frank's personality. You don't hear just the good things he did but also the crummy things as well. He was by no means a perfect man but most definitely an interesting one. Even after reading it I still love and admire Frank Sinatra. I know he wasn't a god of some sort but he was a human being just like all of us are. We all make mistakes. 

Rating: 6/10




The other book that I was given was titled Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox written by Lois Banner. The book is about Marilyn's life. Hundreds of books have been written about Marilyn's life and this was just awful. I just felt that the writer put every single rumor that she heard about Monroe and put it into the book. Within the first few chapters, Banner wrote about a supposed love affair that Monroe had with both Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford. I felt like she was looking for the most scandalous rumors about her and throwing them in. I just couldn't finish it because of how badly it all was. It felt unresearched and based on opinions of others. I wanted more evidence that these things happened instead of hearing silly gossip. It was definitely disappointing to read. 

Rating: 2/10


I will be posting a litttttle bit more on here. I will be going to the TCM Film Festival in April so for that week I won't be posting. Ta-ta for now! 

2 comments:

Movies said...

I love vintage movies im watching old movies on youtube in my spare time because old is gold...

Anonymous said...

Hi. Have you seen "A Letter To Three Wives"? Jeffrey Lynn is one of the stars. It also has Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Paul Douglas and Kirk Douglas. Oh and Thelma Ritter who I love watching. I almost forgot Florence Bates. She's interesting to watch as well. I love the ending of the movie. :0) vintagemovielover@yahoo.com