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Which Beatle book are you reading right now?
McLennon:
Which Beatle book or related book are you reading at the momment?
I am reading 10 years that shook the world and am about half way through! I still have lots more reading to do yet! I have about 10 other Beatle books I havn't read yet! including the anthology! I have already read two books doing the whole day by day thing! so that took time! and I finished a Bob Dylan book not long back before I came back to the 10 years that shook the world!
so how bout you?
raxo:
I'm not a big fan of books about them ... lots of mistakes and all that (probably the last re-reading was Peter Brown's The Love You Make)
--- Quote from: 544 ---[...]I have about 10 other Beatle books I havn't read yet! including the anthology! [...]
--- End quote ---
My advice: don't waste time and read The Anthology! ;)
http://wingspan.ru/books.html
harihead:
None at the moment, but I have on order:
* While My Guitar Gently Weeps : The Music of George Harrison by Simon Leng - really looking forward to this.
* Harrison by Editors of the Rolling Stone - Hmm, not so sure about this one. But it has pictures. :)
Recently read:
* Here, there, and everywhere : my life recording the music of the Beatles / Geoff Emerick and Howard Massey. - excellent. Highly recommended for a technician's vs. gossippy look at the Beatles working.
* The Beatles anthology. - Great. Massive and massively wonderful. Like the video series but more adult and in depth.
* Magical mystery tours : my life with the Beatles / Tony Bramwell with Rosemary Kingsland. - after a strong start in Liverpool, got boring. Same old biography stuff you find in any Beatles bio.
* The Beatles : the biography / Bob Spitz. - another one that started really strong, and petered out into recycled gossip. Too bad.
* The Beatles : ten years that shook the world / editor-in-chief, Paul Trynka - Um, I don't really remember it. I think it was pretty good.
* Once there was a way-- : photographs of the Beatles / by Harry Benson. - the photographer is an exploitist pig, IMHO. Okay to look through, but I would never buy it and support him. :D
* The Beatles : every little thing : a compendium of witty, weird and ever-surprising facts about the fab four / Maxwell MacKenzie. - Trivia completely randomly organized. Recommended if you want to flip pages pointlessly, like bedtime reading.
* The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band / Allan F. Moore. - social and musical critique.
* The Beatles : the music was never the same / Marvin Martin. - another one I'm having a tough time remembering. I think it was okay.
* A day in the life : the music and artistry of the Beatles / by Mark Hertsgaard. - I have no memory of this whatsoever. That's what I get for reading 20 books in 2 months. I think the Beatles were in this book. :B
* I, me, mine / by George Harrison. - pretty interesting, if only for his omissions. It's a random skip through his life, so if you don't already know his story you'll be hopelessly lost (for example, he never explains who Patti is or how he met her). A quick read, unique, some really interesting notes related to his songs. Published before John's death.
* Behind Sad Eyes: The Life of George Harrison by Marc Shapiro - yuck! Exploitive crap, just recycled stories plagarized from various sources.
* The Beatles : the fabulous story of John, Paul, George and Ringo - published before John's death; interesting snapshot of their history.
* Warman's Beatles Field Guide: Values And Identification by Tim Neely - I think this is the one that is so worth picking up just for the 3 articles at the back. I can't remember the guy's name, some DJ whose last name starts with P. Something like Charles Prolosky (but that's not it). He gives fascinating statistics about their songs and was lobbying for the Beatles to win more Grammys (which they did in 1996).
raxo:
^So you've already read all the good and bad things said about them, I guess! ;)
I haven't read half of your list, more or less, but I'm curious about some of them ... after reading your comments!!!
harihead:
Heh! This doesn't even include the "first" batch I read back in 1996 or whenever I caught the Anthology bug. I read Shout, The Love You Make, the Playboy Interviews, lots of Lennon bios, one on Paul-- pretty much anything that was around. Then I went off in a different direction for a few years, on to other obsessions. Earlier this year, I started getting more interested in George, and went on another information rampage. ;D
Basically I just go to the library and check out whatever's there. If I feel I really must own something, then I buy it. There are some books that the library doesn't carry, so these I buy, like the Simon Leng book that sounds really interesting. But usually I browse and return.
But you're quite correct, fan opinion does influence me tremendously. If I read on a message board or Amazon that a book is crap, or the person is basically trying to make a buck off the Beatles without offering anything new, then I do indeed avoid that book (unless I can get it out of the library for free, in which case I permit myself to toss it aside if it's as nasty as rumor reports). I really don't like the gossipy stuff, but I very much enjoy learning about the Beatles' personal philosophies, and as much as I can about their creative process. Also, how well they handled fame (or not). Just an amazing group of people to read about. Cheers!
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