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[Normandie]

Goldman's The Lives of John Lennon just arrived. Yikes, what a tome! 714 pages. Between that, my 1,463-page unabridged version of Les Misérables (I think I already mentioned on here that I devoured this book back in the 90s and then, to my dismay, discovered it was an abridged version [ ] ), and the 443-page (in 9-point type) On A Sea of Glass: The Life and Loss of the RMS Titanic, I think I am all set for the entire North Dakota winter regardless of how many storms we have.    And I still haven't started Graeme Thomson's Behind the Locked Door.

Come at me, blizzards!

[Moogmodule]

Interested in your views on the Goldman book. I’ve made some comments on it previously under a dedicated thread under John. But from the sounds of things we might be waiting for a while unless North Dakota gets snowed in very quickly. 

[Normandie]

Interested in your views on the Goldman book. I’ve made some comments on it previously under a dedicated thread under John. But from the sounds of things we might be waiting for a while unless North Dakota gets snowed in very quickly. 

Well, you never know.    Back in 2019 we got slammed very early in the season: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/us/north-dakota-weather-blizzard.html

[Normandie]

Goldman's The Lives of John Lennon just arrived.

I'm nearly done with this. It's taken me awhile because I've been interleaving it with other, less weighty (literally and figuratively) books, but I wanted to flag that Goldman's depiction of the debacle in Manila took me by surprise. I had no idea that situation was that bad. I mean, I knew the band offended Imelda Marcos and were then hounded by police force/security agents, and that does sound unnerving, but Goldman's account really made me nervous, especially his description of them at the airport. What a scary experience! (I assume Goldman wasn't exaggerating.)

The other thing that jumped out at me was Goldman's assertion that John had dissociative identity disorder, aka multiple personality disorder. I didn't find his "evidence" for this convincing at all, and as a Beatles fan I was offended that he'd mention this and then fail to supply a convincing case for it. I couldn't help but compare it—here comes an ocean liner reference, so you might want to stop reading here—with Dan Butler's argument in The Other Side of the Night that Stanley Lord, captain of the Californian, met the criteria for sociopathy, which I thought was compelling and well thought out.

[Moogmodule]

The other thing that jumped out at me was Goldman's assertion that John had dissociative identity disorder, aka multiple personality disorder. I didn't find his "evidence" for this convincing at all, and as a Beatles fan I was offended that he'd mention this and then fail to supply a convincing case for it.

It sounds a bit typical of Goldman to throw something out like that and then not back it up. He was looking for the headline I suppose.

John Lennon suffered from split personality! (says a biographer with no psych qualifications)

[Normandie]

It sounds a bit typical of Goldman to throw something out like that and then not back it up. He was looking for the headline I suppose.

Yes, that seems to be the case. As a matter of fact, the whole book seems to be aimed toward shock value. I skimmed his book on Elvis and got the same impression.

[Normandie]

I was planning on reading Fred Seaman's book next but decided I needed a bit of a Beatles reading break. However, I just read online a comment that Seaman's book "makes Goldman's look tame," and that piqued my interest enough that I'll be cracking it open tonight. 

[nimrod]

I was planning on reading Fred Seaman's book next but decided I needed a bit of a Beatles reading break. However, I just read online a comment that Seaman's book "makes Goldman's look tame," and that piqued my interest enough that I'll be cracking it open tonight. 

Its an interesting read, he hates Yoko 

[blmeanie]

My daughter got me "Love me do" by Michael Braun.

Supposed to have good "fly on the wall" stories from the early days I believe

I will start it this week sometime

[Normandie]

My daughter got me "Love me do" by Michael Braun.

Supposed to have good "fly on the wall" stories from the early days I believe

I just read that a few months ago; I thought it was really good.

My younger daughter got me Hunter Davies' book, and I'm looking forward to that.

Its an interesting read, he hates Yoko 

Wow, he sure does! He doesn't seem terribly fond of John, either. I almost feel guilty for reading this book.

[Normandie]

My daughter got me "Love me do" by Michael Braun.

I have to say, the subtitle of that book bugs me because it just leaves the reader hanging: "The Beatles' Progress." The Beatles' Progress. . . what? Their progress in the early 60s? Their progress as Beatlemania took off?

[Beatlemaniac64]

I just read My Ticket to Ride by Janice Mitchell, which was amazing. And for Christmas I got The Lyrics by Paul McCartney! What an awesome collectible item and beautifully packaged. So I've been flipping through that lately. It weighs about a thousand pounds. I'm so afraid of something happening to the books too! Don't want any coffee spills or nicks and creases on the edges! Haha

[Normandie]

 I just finished Fred Seaman's book and enjoyed it a lot.

There is definitely no love lost between Fred and Yoko. 

Seaman offered so many personal details about John that I felt a bit unclean after reading the book, like I needed a long, hot, soapy shower afterward. But I'd recommend it to fellow Beatles fans.

[Euan Buchan]

Starting to re read John Lennon 1980 The Last Days In The Life

[Moogmodule]

After the Get Back series I decided to read The Roof: The Beatles Final Concert, a short book by Ken Mansfield. Mansfield was head of Apple in the US and also a capitol exec. It's not really the story of the roof concert. More a memoir of being in and around Apple around the time. Although Mansfield was on the roof for the show he rather inexplicably hands the detailed description of the show to another writer. There's some nice anecdotes of the Beatles  anda bit more on Alan Parsons and Kevin Harrington then you usually get in Beatle biographies. He also jumps ahead to give a sad description of Mal Evan's death. Mansfield was who Mal called just before being shot by police.

Overall though he tries for too much faux literary flourishes in his writing. The rather laboured metaphors and attempts at humour get a bit much. I wished he'd written lots of it in a more straightforward fashion.  All in all didnt add a lot to my knowledge of the Get Back project.

[Normandie]

Overall though he tries for too much faux literary flourishes in his writing. The rather laboured metaphors and attempts at humour get a bit much. I wished he'd written lots of it in a more straightforward fashion. 

Sounds like an interesting book, but I'm glad you added that last part. I'll steer clear of it because I am not a fan of that style of writing. I'm reading a book on the death of JFK Jr. and the author has a similar style. I'm struggling to get through it.

[Normandie]

I thought I had already posted about this, but I can't seem to find it. Anyway, apologies if I'm repeating myself.

I'm wrapping up The Day John Met Paul: An Hour-by-Hour Account of How the Beatles Began, by Jim O'Donnell. I'd started it months ago but put it aside in favor of a different book.

I'd been so looking forward to this, but it's been a frustrating read. The sentences are short and choppy, almost like an elementary school primer. (The Baltimore Catechism comes to mind.) Nearly every sentence is either a simile or a metaphor; they're definitely overused. Also, the author clearly likes alliteration and overuses that device as well, which I found irritating.

I hate to criticize, because O'Donnell is clearly an enthusiastic fan, and it's not like I've ever written a Beatles book—or any book, for that matter. That said, although I can't say I learned anything new about this day, I appreciate his efforts to impart details that try to place one in the time and place. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this; not at full price, anyway.



 

[zipp]

My daughter got me "Love me do" by Michael Braun.

Supposed to have good "fly on the wall" stories from the early days I believe

I will start it this week sometime

Have you read it yet?

What did you think?

I have never read it myself so this is a genuine question.

[Euan Buchan]

I’m now reading All We Are Saying The Last Major Interview with John Lennon & Yoko Ono by David Sheff.

[Normandie]

This just popped up on my news feed, and because I respect Ken Womack as an author and historian, have pre-ordered it from Amazon. Some fans tend to bypass these accounts—that is, of people who were tangential (for lack of a better word) to the Beatles—but I find them (well, most of them) interesting:


https://www.amazon.com/Living-Beatles-Legend-Untold-Story/dp/0063248522/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1LKVATF0PNP30&keywords=mal+evans+book&qid=1673925244&sprefix=%2Caps%2C132&sr=8-2

When ordering it, I also noticed this one, from 2015: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Life-Mal-Evans-Novel/dp/0996512713/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1673925277&sr=8-1

But, because I did not recognize any of the reviewers' names—which doesn't necessarily mean it's not a good book—decided to pass for now. If anyone has read it, I'd love to hear your opinion.