Editorial Review

In 1975, four teenagers from Mount Temple School in Dublin gathered in a crowded kitchen to discuss forming a band. The drum kit just about fit into the room, the lead guitarist was playing a homemade guitar, the bassist could barely play at all and nobody wanted to sing. Over thirty years later, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. are still together, bound by intense loyalty, passionate idealism and a relentless belief in the power of rock and roll to change the world.

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Reviews (10)

U2 from the Band Members.
I can't express enough how GLAD I am to own this book. The photographs are exceptional and personal, and the band members open and up front about their (very) humble beginnings, all the way to stardom... which doesn't impress them much. It is the perfect Time for this book. The Band's willingness to put together this volume is a gift to the millions of us who have been touched by the greatest rock band in all the history of rock 'n' roll.

A gift to the world!
I would like to thank U2 for giving us this book. It really made me feel part of their history together. I've been a U2 fan for more than half of my life and looking at those amazing pictures, reading their own words is priceless. If you like U2 is the perfect thing for you to have; if you don't, after reading this book you will.
The Beatles Anthology Book Done U2 Style
If anyone here owns the Beatles Anthology companion book to the TV series/CD's, this isn't much different. The story is "written" by the band, quotes culled from over 150 hours of interviews done for Neil McCormick. Every phase of the band's career, from it's earliest days straight through to "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" is told solely through quotes from each band member, making this is as definitive, brutally honest, unflinching and uncompromising a book on the band as we'll ever see. These aren't moments plagiarized from magazine articles or other books, but personal recollections.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Composers & Musicians - Rock    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    7. Ireland    8. Personal Memoirs    9. Rock Music    10. Rock groups    11. U2 (Musical group)    12. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts   

Editorial Review

Jeannette Walls's father always called her "Mountain Goat" and there's perhaps no more apt nickname for a girl who navigated a sheer and towering cliff of childhood both daily and stoically. In Read more

Reviews (353)

Transparency
I read this book several months ago, and I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed.So it wasn't until I was laying in bed this evening that this thought finally connected in my mind.
unique
reminded me of Angela's ashes.Painful, yet humourous and very enjoyable to read.She keeps it matter-of-fact and it tugs on your heart without being sentimental.

Reminds me of growing up with my dear old Mom
Somehow childern in abusive situations seem to maintain their sense of humor, despite what is happening around them and to them.
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Subjects:  1. Alcohol Abuse    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Case studies    7. Childhood Memoir    8. Children of alcoholics    9. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Television Personalities    10. Family Development    11. Literary    12. Personal Memoirs    13. Problem families    14. United States    15. Welch    16. West Virginia    17. Women    18. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs   

Editorial Review

There is a passage early in Augusten Burroughs's harrowing and highly entertaining memoir, Read more

Reviews (539)

Mental Illness Is Not Funny
I picked this book up after I had read that the author had been declared by some media outlet as one of the "fifteen funniest people in America."
Yes...some of it really is funny...
...But!! Not enough to grab me by the collar!I agree with others here who said they liked some of the aspects of this "memoir", save for the disturbing sex scenes. I do believe it's hard to take in when a 13 year old is having a very adult relationship with a 32 year old. I found nothing tasteful about this. Nor did I see much humor in this. However, to be fair, there are very funny moments here. Love the scenes with the shrink's family. But by page 125 or so--the writing gets a bit sloppy and the story begins to lose its muster.
This book is an act of self gratification
I bought this on a whim because a few people had told me it was "hysterical" and it was a best-seller, so I figured it must be pretty good.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. American Essays    3. American novelists    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Burroughs, Augusten    9. Childhood Memoir    10. Childhood and youth    11. General    12. Literary    13. Novelists, American    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (21)

He doesn't deserve that Nobel.... It was a political decision!
He doesn't deserve that Nobel.... It was a political decision!

Roller Coaster Ride

A river through time
Pamuk spans the distances of time and memory in this novel as he searches for the meaning of the melancholy, or huzun as he calls it, of the city of Instanbul.Born into a wealthy Turkish family, Pamuk slowly watches his family's fortune dissolve in the hands of his father.He recounts his memories as his family moves from one quarter to another, interspersing personal accounts with various literary observations.Through it all we experience the uneasy balance between Islamic and Western forces that have shaped the city over the centuries.He explores through the writings of Europeans, how foreigners perceive the city, and how Turkish writers have attempted to respond to these views.Pamuk has such an elegant way of writing, with many undercurrents, like the Bosphorus which he so much loves.I particularly liked his literary chapters, like that of the four melancholy writers of Istanbul, and their attempts to forge an identity for the city.These attempts may have fallen short of their grand expectations, but the books became treasures, and helped to define modern Turkish writing.There are also his amusing observations on Flaubert, Nerval and other French writers and painters, who became absorbed in the city and to whom he felt modern Turkish writing owes a substantial debt.While Pamuk tries to escape this melancholy in his painting, ultimately finding a muse on which to hang all his hopes, he can never fully escape it, as he too becomes absorbed in this great city, which proves to be his literary release. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Description And Travel    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. Europe - Baltic States    6. Literary    7. Middle East - Turkey    8. Travel - General    9. Turkish (Language) Contemporary Fiction    10. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs   

Reviews (6)

I was literally sent downstairs for laughing too loud.
Seriously.I was up past bedtime, and I was reading Bryson's description of lame 1950's toys.I won't give it away, but imagine what he can do with the topic of "electric football".After a particularly vigorous episode of chortling, my wife trudged out of bed to decree that, if I insisted on continuing to read, I'd have to take it downstairs.
The FUNNIEST book I have read in years!!!
This is a wonderful, funny, and ultimately very human book, which reminds us all, no matter who we are or where we live (I'm Australian) of the total joys of a happy childhood.
A pure joy.
So far as I can tell, there are only 2 problems with Bill Bryson.First, he writes about his life, which means he has to go live it for a while before he can write another book.So he can't write constantly, which is about the only pace likely to keep up with my appetite for his work.Second, he doesn't live near me, so I can't visit him to catch up between books.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Bryson, Bill    6. Childhood Memoir    7. General    8. Humor    9. Iowa - Local History    10. Literary    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Regional Subjects - Midwest    13. Travel writers    14. United States    15. Voyages And Travels    16. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs   

Reviews (10)

Perfect book for Newhart fans
Seeing on Amazon that there is an audio CD of this book makes me wish I had listened to that instead. If only to hear the amazingly funny stories that Bob tells so well. This book is like a breath of fresh air for all those who enjoy Bob Newhart's subtle and yet hysterical brand of comedy. Reading this book makes me wish his fantastic TV shows were still on in syndication somewhere. He tells his life story with the same dry wit that he tells all of his jokes.This book is a must for anyone who is a Newhart fan.

ENJOYABLE, BUT SLIGHT.
I've recently rediscovered THE BOB NEWHART SHOW on DVD and it more than stands up to my memory of it being one of the funniest TV comedies of the '70s.I was also a fan of NEWHART in the '80s and Bob's deadpan performance at this year's Emmys made me laugh out loud.So the release of Newhart's autobiography dovetailed nicely with my renewed interest in Mr. Newhart and I was especially curious to read his recollections of his years on television.
Good For Getting Your Mind Off Other Things
"I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This" is Bob Newhart's biography, with whimsical insights into his early life, tentative beginnings in comedy, and then on to "The Bob Newhart" show and stardom.As one would expect, the book is both laidback and interesting; even better it helps fill your mind with more relaxing thoughts after being broadsided with countless stories about Rep. Foley, North Korea's "bomb" (?), Iraq, Iran's pursuit of nuclear (?), Woodward's latest book, falling house prices, the stock market bubble (part II), and Barbra Streisland's latest outburst.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Comedians    7. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Actors & Actresses    8. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Television actors and actresses    11. United States    12. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts    13. Biography: general    14. Humour   

Reviews (3)

I LOVE THIS STUFF!
Springsteen fans have been very lucky as of late as he has been putting out more and more product.While non-fans may wonder what all the fuss is about, let's face it, if there is one rock ledged who is sorely lacking in the way of specialty releases, it's the Boss.How nice then to finally see things like the '75 London concert DVD and CD released last year, a revamped Seeger Sessions disc with songs that popped up on the tour and during rehearsals we otherwise would not have had on the actual release and items like this book and the coinciding "Greetings from E-Street..."
good job

Fantastic Tribute to a Great Artist.
I am a life long Bruce Springsteen fan, and so, I have become more objective with my opinions of this spectacularly gifted musician. In Dave Marsh's 'Bruce Springsteen on Tour 1968 -2005, the reader is taken deep into the movement that the Boss has set out, transforming American rock n roll, and in many ways putting a kick back into the American music industry.What is most fascinating in this biography is the wonderful and mostly unseen photographs of Springsteen and crew on tour. There are nearly 350 pictures or so, and nearly each of them tells a unique story of the movement that is Bruce Springsteen.
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Concert tours    5. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    6. Genres & Styles - Rock    7. History & Criticism - General    8. Music/Songbooks    9. Rock musicians    10. United States    11. Music / Rock   

Editorial Review

Bill Buford's funny and engaging book Read more

Reviews (71)

Erratic, boring and without passion
This book reads like a term paper written by an overly diligent student who's not really interested in his subject. The author erratically jumps from one topic to another to demonstrate that he has really done lots and lots of research.
Same story, different book.
I love to read narrative books on food.I also love to read cookbooks.But to me, this book is too similar to the more entertaining "Kitchen Confidential."I have no problem with the actual writing of the book, Buford is a great an enthusiastic guide to the inner workings of a kitchen.But I am tired of reading about how hellish and stressful it is to work in a restaurant kitchen, and glorifying the macho boys club of the professional culinary world.Yes, we get it, it's not really all that glamorous to work in a restaurant day in and day out. If you have never read a book like this and are infatuated with Mario Batali, I say go ahead and read it, but if you have read "Kitchen Confidential," there's not much new here.

Armchair Sous Chef
Having spent hours watching the Food Channel:Iron Chef America, Throwdown and even Rachael Ray, one always thinks that it doesn't look so hard...that is until you try to accomplish medium dice of anything with a consistent size.Somehow anything I chop looks as even as if I had done it in a food processor.So why don't I use one you ask??Because they don't on Iron Chef America, they slice and dice with ease.
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Subjects:  1. Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Cookery    7. Cookery, Italian    8. Cooking    9. Food    10. Italy    11. Literary    12. Methods - Professional    13. Personal Memoirs    14. Tuscan style    15. Tuscany    16. Cooking / General   

Reviews (322)

Excellent book!
Joan Didion is able to capture for the reader what a terrible ordeal losing any loved one is, let alone two within a very short time. She deals with the fast death of her husband and the longer, slow death of her daughter. The writing is excellent, the sadness you feel is unbelievably real. What's true is that in all of our lives, what is one way one minute can change ever so quickly the next.Ms. Didion captures this feeling to a tee.

A beautiful book, but it's not really intended for other people
I'm trying to think of how to delicately recommend against reading Joan Didion's latest (for which she won a National Book Award). Some disjointed notes:
Two types of Research
More than anything else, I think Didion's latest book shows her truest colorsas a reporter.Though ostensibly a memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking is at its center an in-depth investigative report on the effects of grief, from its onset and onward a year.Didion blends research in the "field" -- hospitals, all the venues of her own experience -- and research with doctors and through print media to give us not only a moving record of her own experiences, but also a critical study into the personal, psychological, physiological toll grief can take on a person.Like her earliest works, thisbook seems effortless, almost spoken, in very measured and easy prose, which seeps into the reader and makes you even more moved by her accounts.An excellent book, both from the stand point of memoir and reportage, and an exceedingly excellent book from the stand point of being both blended into one. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Didion, Joan    7. Didion, Joan - Prose & Criticism    8. Dunne, John Gregory - Prose & Criticism    9. Dunne, John Gregory,    10. Family relationships    11. Journalists    12. Literary    13. Novelists, American    14. Personal Memoirs    15. United States    16. Women    17. Biography & Autobiography / Literary   

Reviews (6)

Brief, lovely read
This memoir managed to be both incredibly sad and yet positive and life-affirming at the same time.Abigail Thomas describes the journey she must take in the years after her husband's accident and how she manages to progress from inner turmoil (and at times, the inability to function at all), to a place where she is at peace with her life.Though her husband must remain at a hospital for brain-injured patients, she is able to bring him home for visits and spends time with him at the center. The comments and thoughts from his head are so fascinating...I found myself eagerly waiting to see what he would say the next time.Just wondering about the brain and all that we don't know about it is truly amazing to me.Sometimes he makes pronouncements that appear so profound, and other times he seems in total confusion, and while it's incredibly heartbreaking, it's also mesmerizing to read their conversations together.
A voice to be heard
I discovered A Three Dog Life through an article in the New York Times this summer. An excerpt from Abigail Thomas's book appeared in the column, Modern Love. She titled it: "My Husband Survived, the Man I Married Didn't." That is the crux of her book. And with this title, she got me. I, too, have a husband who survived a traumatic brain injury (stroke), and the man I married did not fully survive either.
Rave Review for A Three Dog Life
*****
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Animals    3. Authors, American    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography And Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Dogs - General    9. Healing - General    10. Inspiration & Personal Growth    11. Literary    12. Pets    13. Thomas,Abigail    14. Pets / Dogs / General   

Reviews (6)

Now I understand the private Hepburn
I could never understand why Kate Hepburn would be so in love with a weak, drunk like Tracy. I never thought he could act.He just played his bully self again and again. It never made sense what was his deep guilt that made him drink.Now we know he drank because he was gay and could not cope.Very detailed when and with whom by the author.Explains how their relationship fit both their needs.At least 100 pages of footnotes, names, names.
A great, enjoyable read and a must have for Kate collections!
The first thing I look for in any book is a great storytelling style; one that makes me want to turn the pages and leaves me happy that I bought the book. William Mann's story of Katherine Hepburn is certainly that kind of read. Enjoyable, witty and well researched. Never stiff or boring, he asks the questions that other bios have seemed to tip-toe around. What exactly were Ms Heburn's relationships like and with whom? There are tidbits of Kate's childhood that I found fascinating as well as tales of that old-guard Hollywood machine we know as the "Golden Age".
The Private Affairs and Staunchly Maintained Public Persona of Kate the Great
That Katharine Hepburn was consciously defining and redefining her feisty, self-reliant persona for the purposes of public endearment and career longevity would seem to be an understatement, according to film historian William J. Mann's new biography of the legendary actress. The contrast between this specifically deliberate image and her private self, in particular, her love life, is the focus of the book. However, instead of the expected gossipy, posthumous dismantling of Hepburn, the author takes a more sobering look at what motivated her to maintain this dichotomy throughout her life.
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Subjects:  1. 1907-2003    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Actors & Actresses    7. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    8. Hepburn, Katharine,    9. Motion picture actors and actresses    10. United States    11. Women    12. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (24)

Excellent content but a very unwieldy format
I have now watched 2001, Clockwork Orange, and the Shining with this on my coffee table.Inevitably, I find myself looking thumbing through the book instead of paying attention to the movie.The content is great, with the perfect balance between tech-nerd info, lit-nerd info, and art-nerd info.I have particularly enjoyed the magazine interviews with Kubrick, since his attempts to explain himself were few and far between.That and, of course, the 2001 print, which I cherish like a relic.
amzing
this is the perfect way to get to know perfectly Kubrick's ideas of his films. With fotos and texts real kubrick's fans are going to be amazed by this book that was done very carefully.

Worth the weight (and price)
While Kubrick has been gone for years, his films remain a testatment to how good and how diverse the work of a single director can be.
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Subjects:  1. Cinema/Film: Book    2. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    3. Film & Video - General    4. Individual Director    5. Performing Arts    6. Performing Arts/Dance    7. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    8. Individual film directors, film-makers    9. Postwar period, 1945 to c 2000    10. USA   

Reviews (5)

An incredible collection and celebration of timeless interior design concepts
In The Pink: Dorothy Draper, America's Most Fabulous Decorator by Carleton Varney is an incredible collection and celebration of timeless interior design concepts by the renowned interior designer and decorator Dorothy Draper, a woman far ahead of her age. Deftly compiling an profusely illustrated compendium of Draper's remarkable work, In The Pink holds the reader's total attention from first page to last with an informative text enhanced with photography showcasing memorable designs created by the sharp eye and even sharper imagination of Draper throughout her world acclaimed career. A "must" addition to professional and academic library Interior Design reference collections, In The Pink is to be given high praise and recommendation for non-specialist general readers with an interest in interior design.
This Book Is A "Must Have"
For all design professionals, modernism addicts, and even the layperson.The book is filled with wonderful images culled from a lifetime of decorating.Dorothy Draper's style was always fancyful, playful and above all else comfortable~she was not a devotee of the Eames pared down sterile and functional school of design.If you are done with Danish, numb over Knoll, and way past Panton~~~check out "In the Pink:Dorothy Draper:America's Most Fabulous Decorator"she will have you going for Baroque!

Breathtaking Book
What a beautiful book. A look at the history of a spectacular designer. Art Deco Beauty. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Artists, Architects, Photographers    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Design - Textile & Costume    6. Interior design    7. USA   

Reviews (83)

Witty
Whatever possessed a girl to openly admit she had a lot of one night stands, never mind write a book about it, is beyond me. Although it's witty, it's clever, it's eye-opening, it's just a bit about stuff you don't wanna know? It's all a bit too much information. But the first chapter is really shocking, Chelsea Handler says that the reason she never got into a serious relationship was because she was dared $5 by her older sister to take a photo of their mum & dad. Together. Ewwwwwwwww!!! It probably scarred her for life!
She's my best girlfriend!
I received this book as a birthday present and forgot about it at first. A month or so later I read the first page and was hooked. It was as if I was sitting in a bar drinking straight vodka, so I wouldn'tgain weight, of course, while Handler, my best girlfriend, told me about her latest romp in the bedroom.
Fall down on the ground grabbing your stomach funny!
This is a Perfect "pick me Up and Make Me laugh" book!If youve broken up with your boyfriend, or just need a Quick laugh out Loud Book, this is It!Now if You find sexual Humor Offensive, you will NOT Like it... But If Your Like the rest Of us Girls... This stuff is Hysterical!I was feeling kinda Blue, and I Had purchased this Book a While Back.I Picked it up , and thought what the hell.. Let Me Read for a While get My Mind Off My Troubles.Boy did it ever. I Couldnt put it down.It goes from One embarrassing sexual encounter to the next, and each One extremely Funny! I forgot my troubles and next thing I Know I been reading for over an hour and laughing myself silly... It is a FUN book! I was Hoping she had More Books On Here to order.. But I Didnt see any.Come On Chelsea, do It again.... ROFLMAO!!!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Actors & Actresses    5. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Comedians    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    7. Man-woman relationships    8. Sex    9. Sexuality    10. Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts   

Reviews (3)

The NYTimes is Right
Sadly, the New York Times review of 10/20/06 is right on target. This is a self-indulgent, muddled book that should have been revised and better edited. I loved his "Explaining Hitler"---Rosenbaum is a wonderful writer, but this book is deeply disappointing.

In love with Shakespeare
This is a volume of gustatory delights -- a book you pick up on impulse and end up devouring with your meals (my copy is spotted with olive oil and specks of latte foam). Rosenbaum has written an autobiography of his obsession with Shakespeare, triggered by a conversion experience when he saw a 1970 Peter Brooks production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. One hears a bit too often about his precious handful of epiphanies, and Rosenbaum (like Harold Bloom, whom he castigates) can easily be faulted for his enthusiasm, but there's no doubt that he brings a host of seemingly desiccated academic controversies to life. Until last week I had no idea there were two versions of Lear or three versions of Hamlet, or that I could be made to care about Shakespeare's original spelling enough to order every play I could find edited by John Andrews.
If Shakespeare be the food of love, read on
Shakespeare is the secular god of many of those who live in Literature. Harold Bloom is one, and Ron Rosenbaum is another. In this personal exploration of the world of Shakespearean scholarship and performance Rosenbaum shows an indefatigable