Entertainment Books

Lisa Carver's journey to self-discovery and realization isn't fueled by her daddy's money or a trust fund that supports a jet-set lifestyle. Carver writes from the perspective of a real person, a screwed-up person who became an influential voice in the alternative music and 'zine world of the early 1990's.

Although it's only a small portion of the book, Carver writes eloquently about wanting to make sure that her own child gets what he needs so that he doesn't need to seek out the basics of love, nurturing and affection from strangers, as she once did. As Gen-Xers, we are a transitory generation, most of us children of divorce, latchkey kids and caretakers of our own parents, while we were still children ourselves, and Carver's voice is a strong one, telling her own personal story in a way that touched a nerve with me. There's an entire generation of screwed-up Gen Xe'rs having babies, and only time will tell if the parentless generation will do a better job of raising their own children.

Drugs are Nice is a dizzying and shocking autobiography that reads like a piece of fantasy. The life of Lisa Crystal Carver--once girlfriend of GG Allin, Jean-Louis Costes, and Boyd Rice and acquaintance of Anton Levy--seems unbelievable at times. However she is an inspiration for anyone who aspires to live their life on the edge of society.
The gem of this autobiography is the way that the focus of Carver's life narrows from a dreamlike shock culture full of sex and violence in Europe--to the glistening reality of becoming a mother of a child with a chromosomal deletion and having a lover who beats her. Over time, Carver learns what it is like to grow up without ever loosing a sense of who she is. Her thoughts and theories throughout the novel are enlightening and the book needs to be read a second time in order to fully understand all of Carver's musings.
The only problem with this book is that sometimes Carver doesn't explain exactly how she got to be wherever she is. This gives the book a dream-like quality. Her sudden journey to Europe at the age of nineteen, her days of prostitution, her success on stage--all seems too simple. This is because Carver spends much of the book reflecting on world culture in the early 90's, when she leads the post-punk movement of a generation that is now forgotten.
This book is highly recommended for anyone who wishes to fight conformity, break the rules, and live their life the way THEY decide. Carver is an inspiration for artist and visionaries. Her story will move you. You will never look at art and words the same way again.

I recommend this book to anyone with an open mind. I cant say its for everyone, but as a fan of Roller Derby (her zine) from my college days (I have been out of college for 12 years) and reading her articles in major magazines now and then, I love Lisa and her crew. its a good glimpse into the life of someone who has made her own niche in the world, who is talented and interesting. The title may be off putting for some, but I still recommend this read

Read it. Now. Really, stop reading this review and go read the book. Go! Go! Go!

1)At least Carver writes good sentences.

2)Her choice of subjects, always so lame.

These are two points that I raise when I think of Carver. Oh, and one more thing.

3) Her old work "Dancing Queen" was rather forgettable.

(I do not know why she wrote it except that she needed the money. As it turned out in this book "Drugs are Nice," she wrote "Dancing" for money.)

I had to groan to read the same lame themes of hers resurface in this autobio. I felt like pointing them out and criticize what was wrong with her decisions in life, which would be same as to suggest any cleverer narrative/editorial decisions. I do not know if it is ethical to see people's lives that way and usually do not like to judge especially women by who they date and mate with. But I cannot help saying her choice of men so lame. Her letting the men dictate her life believing 'this is the shock art' even more lame. The real issue here is that she perpetuated all the problems in the name of her trying to be the borderline artisit, her life is the art performance itself. She seems actually a regular type and passes as quite fine in a psychiatric evaluation. The only pathology that I found was her bad taste in men, which obviously was rooted in her Electra complex. But it could be an incredible damage if she perpetuated it whether she thought of it as an experiment, or another element that made her look different. In the book, though, she absolutely failed the iconocalst persona and appeared more of a soccer mom to me, which was fine. But I could not help focusing on supposedly the minor pahology, that made her life sicker than necessary even if she wanted it that way. The question that I had initially was what really made her want it that way; can people afford to make ones' lives more difficult just for fun? Can an artist just live and call it her work? Is Brit S now a shock artist? When Carver had to flee, there was no art to sacrifice herself for and that was the occasion where she and we readers have to examine what it really means to create and live at the same time. Or how to draw a ilne between art and a phenomenon.

I wonder if the author was lucid about her Electra complex and how much it dictated her life. She seems to be conscious of it but not enough to take control of her life. Why were her life events this lame and meaningless? Why did she always choose not only useless but harmful men? The book showed some reflection and insights about these agendas, but the real struggle was how much she could put the self knowledge into practice and would take advantage of it. To come to the point, She had to break up with an on again off again man who she had a child with, after getting beaten up badly and threw him into jail for it. It was disheartening. By this point, readers naturally question if Carver was playing with fire believing she was experimenting for art sake believing she took control over the relationship or she was really clueless when trying to protect herself from an abusive environment.

Here it comes the subject of 'shock' in her life. I believe she got involved with all those useless men to schock people and most of all, to shock her own father. If I play some indie shrink here, I'd summarize that all she attempted was to outshock her father, who had fatally beaten her to it in the beginning of her life. She was compulsively compelled to get people's attention by something shocking. This just went back to her initial shock caused by her drug dealer father, who had murdered people and served in prison. By the time they finally reunited, she was already a teeneger. In her psyche, to get attention from and validated by this 'powerful figure' in her life, she had to compete and outshock him. It might be the only way for her to compensate what was eternally lost in her early life as well.

All the attempt that followed was to shock and to be shocked. Getting involved with someone that would shock her more than her father ever did became her lifework. Her system was completely synthesized by this value of shock, which was defined by her father earlier. This value ultimately became something that represented power to her. She was, as she admitted herself, rather a mentally thorough, functioning and mediocre woman who was struggling to be different.

But the irony was all she did was more of a bad taste, lame or boring than anything shocking. The only interesting thing that she managed to extract from the series of attemps was her sex appeal, as she was mindful about it, and writing. She writes well as she put as 'the only way to take control and put some order in caos': she focused on it as the only security she seemed to be able to count on. That is the essence of what this book was all about. If she reached this realization, all those she went through including getting beaten up by the man (Boyd? who is he?) who was not really worth would be worth... Well, would it? I do not know.

This book came in handy as a source of US underground rock history as well to document how small the whole scene was and how late everything was compared to other parts of the world: what carver was at was a decade backward, or simply late.

The title of my review, "Laurel and Hardy Beyond Double Talk" makes as much sense as Mr. Louvish's title. With that stated, I must declare that for the most part, I found his book quite educational and enjoyable. Some other reviewers issued complaints about it being too ponderous, or hard to follow. I found no basis for such criticism. In fact, I found the book challenging from the standpoint that its thoroughness kept me motivated in wanting to keep absorbing more and more information and details about these two comic masters.

It was sad to learn that there was so much unhappiness in their domestic lives. I had heard that rumor before, but Mr. Louvish documents the apparently awful experiences in their numerous respective marriages. Still, I was more interested in what was said about the two men as artists. For example, it fascinated me to learn that both Laurel and especially Hardy had made dozens and dozens of films years before they even met. It was also revealing to learn what a perfectionist Stan Laurel was in creating gags, and striving to improve his art while appearing seemingly non-artistic in the process. With the great Chaplin, for example, one is laughing at his fine comedy, but constantly aware that he is showing you art!

I think the narrated details in Stanley Jefferson, aka Laurel's years as a stage comic in England was difficult to track at times in this book. In defense of the author, it was probably hard to reconstruct much of that portion of the man's career. Having not read any of the other previous biographes of L & H, I cannot say whether or not this is comparatively a greater biography or not. I only know that I walked away knowing more about the team after completing my reading of the book.

Yes, I recommend this "Stan and Ollie" the book to anyone today wanting to learn more about this comedy team. Laurel and Hardy have stood the test of time and in my opinion, are simply the greatest comedy on film. I say this knowing that I also love the Marx Brothers, Three Stooges,Abbott and Costello and Hope and Crosby. Comedy purists keep in mind I am not counting Laurel and Hardy's movies after after "Saps at Sea!"

This book spurs a clear interest in their work. Unfortunately, many of their films are simply not available to see. Why this is the case is beyond me. We have umpteen zillion copies of "Friends," Adam Sandler, and Jack Black staring back at us on the DVD shelves, but not many Laurel and Hardy films. I hope Mr. Louvish's book will help stir up more interest in the team, so that pressure increases from fans demanding the retailing of more L & H films on DVD. Everyone is so divided on this side, or that side today, that it would be refreshing for all of us to see comic films that appeal to humanity in general. Laurel and Hardy literally made the world laugh.

By the time I was old enough to appreciate adult comedies shown on TV, i.e. in the late 50's, Oliver "Babe" Hardy was already dead (1957) and Stan Laurel was on the final downslope of his life. Yet, it was Laurel & Hardy, along with Abbott & Costello, that tickled my embryonic sense of humor before "graduating" to Red Skelton, Bob Hope, and Jackie Gleason.

Here, in STAN AND OLLIE: THE ROOTS OF COMEDY, author Simon Louvish draws from even more compulsively detailed books on the duo to yield a satisfyingly comprehensive overview of The Boys' professional lives, both solo and paired. I never thought of Stan and Ollie as being anything other than a team. Yet, the first eighteen chapters of this 40-chapter volume reveal that each had a successful career before being eternally cemented together in the 1927 silent movie, "Duck Soup". Each began life separated by the Atlantic, Stan being born in the north of England in 1890, and Oliver in Georgia of the American South in 1892. Before their fateful pairing by Hal Roach in Hollywood in 1927, Laurel worked his way up through the ranks of U.K. and U.S. vaudeville and U.S. film, while Hardy appeared in 200+ silents on his own beginning with "Outwitting Dad" (1914), a release coming from the then-booming Florida film industry. For both, it was a long and tortuous road to Tinseltown and destiny.

I need to stress that STAN AND OLLIE focuses on their professional lives. If you're looking for a detailed inside peek at their personal existences, look elsewhere. OK, sure, the reader learns, as narrative asides, that Ollie bet on the horses and Stan had a weakness for Yorkshire pudding, chocolate candies, and ocean sport fishing. Both enjoyed golf. And, moreover, both had rocky domestic lives with multiple, mostly failed marriages - Hardy totaling three wives in as many marriages, and Laurel amassing four wives in five marriages, plus one common-law relationship. But, I finished the narrative not really having a feel for the men behind their famous on-screen personae. This skewed exposition is exemplified by the choice of photos included in the text; there are virtually none of Stan and/or Ollie outside of stills from their screen roles. Weren't there pesky paparazzi in those days? There was one photo taken of Hardy towards the end of his life that I particularly wanted to see out of morbid curiosity. As Louvish describes it:

"In 1956 ... (Ollie) reduced his weight by 150 lbs ... The last photograph of Stan and Babe together, in 1956, shows a recognizable smiling Stan, but beside him stands a stranger, relatively trim, with flabby flesh replacing his double chins, thin silvery hair and a rictus of a smile."

My distinct impression was that, throughout the composition of STAN AND OLLIE, the author worked overtime to protect the image and memory of his heroes. That's fine, but it results in a somewhat one-dimensional piece, albeit otherwise excellent as far as it goes.

One rarely sees any of the old Laurel and Hardy movies on TV anymore. Maybe it's just because I don't stay up into the wee hours. STAN AND OLLIE compels me to re-visit their screen appearances on DVD rentals to remind myself of the laughter of childhood memory.

...whoosh, the style of this book is turgid and overstuffed with mixed metaphors (on the order of "They were the conduit for blossoms of comedy which were to explode in fiery mirth."), and there's far too much "Babe had terrible trouble, which will be explained in due course." I did like the subject, but the book was really irritating to read because of the style.

VERBOSITY, n. the employment of a superabundance of words; the use of more words than are necessary

This probably describes all this author's works. I had a terrible time wading through his bio on W.C. Fields and had to skip over most of it. I disposed of that book as soon as I was finished with it. When I got this book out of the library I had fogotten all about the author. But when I started reading "Stan and Ollie" I quickly looked at the cover and cried, "oh, no!." I made it through almost three chapters before giving up.

Yet, I am a person who loves to read how an author weaves words together. That is part of the pleasure of a book. But this author doesn't weave, he just pours! This book could be a third of its length and do its subjects far better justice

How does one do justice to two of the greatest comedy legends to have ever have graced the screen? A daunting task, but one that Simon Louvish (biographer of W.C. Fields and the Marx Brothers) accomplishes with great aplomb and thoroughness. "Stan and Ollie" covers all bases as it explores the individual lives of the duo and the eventual pairing of two great screen comedians.

Louvish begins by examining the respective early life of Stanley Jefferson and Oliver Norvell Hardy. Born and raised in England, Stanley Jefferson was the son of a theatre owner and performer, whose children were destined for the stage. But his namesake would take his father's love of acting much farther than the stage and onto screen, a journey that took him half-way around the world to California at the dawn of the movie era. Meanwhile, in small town Georgia, Oliver Norvell Hardy was born, months after his father's death, raised by a mother who ran boarding houses, her perpetually chubby son a constant watcher of the guests. His love of movies hit its stride when he ran projections for the local movie house and decided to test his fortunes on the screen.

Each comic tried to make it on his own - Louvish devotes the first half of his biography to their early lives and the movies they made before they became a popular duo. Stanley's rise was perhaps a bit more difficult due to his theatre training (and his being pegged to impersonate his former roommate, Charlie Chaplin). "Babe" Hardy took easily to the ways of the screen, despite his bulk that haunted him his entire life, which was counteracted by a grace and ease that seemd contradictory to his size. These two very separate beginnings were inevitably paired up in Hollywood at the Hal Roach studio, where these vaudevillan trained actors somewhat reluctantly became Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, a disparate image of perfectly paired clowns.

Louvish traces the years and the films that Laurel and Hardy made together with Roach, intermingling the myriad marriage and divorce affairs that plagued each man, weaving in history of supporting players and screen moments as their story unfolds. He debunks some of the stories that have floated about these two, all the while recognizing that memory is not the strongest recorder of events years after the fact. The subtitle "The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy" refers not to any lurid details, but to the men behind the faces on the screen. Laurel and Hardy were screen personas, not the men who lived and breathed off-screen; while their real lives were sometimes mirrored by what they chose to enact, clowns cannot be funny all the time. Louvish does an admirable job of weaving the good with the bad, the tremendous success while at the pinnacle of their careers, and the sad, dwindling end that included forgettable movies and studio disputes.

"Stan and Ollie", while long and a sometimes wandering read, is a wonderful portrait of two men who were friends until the very end. It is amazing to consider their output of film, and to lament what has forever been lost of their early days and solo work. Louvish truly loves Laurel and Hardy but is able to paint them in an unbiased light, moles and all, revealing the minds behind two comedic geniuses who made it big for not being the brightest bulbs in the story. This book will make fans fall in love with Laurel and Hardy all over again.

This is not a book to be judged by its cover. Although No Way Home by Carlos Junior Acosta is his story about becoming a world-class ballet dancer, it is that story about the becoming that has pulled me from page to page as a Cuban boy, born into poverty, defied place, people and time to reach the heights, literally and professionally, he has achieved. So little is known by so many of us about the real struggles of people who live on the islands of the Caribbean. Little is known by so many of us about the racism in Cuba, about what life is really like when people struggle against so much. This is not an anti-Castro book either--and I am thankful for that because I live in Miami Beach and have heard more than enough about the evils of Fidel. Instead the reader is carried along as a young boy fights against his black father--a father of many children by many women. Junior wants to be the next Pele, the greatest soccer player. But his father insists otherwise: his son will become a ballet dancer. I loved how accepting the Cubans appeared to be of a boy taking ballet, something we do not experience in this country. Mr. Acosta has sprinkled in wonderful dialog, rich descriptions of his white mother, of his two half-sisters, of the places where Junior had to endure life. The book is divided into three sections: the boy and adolescent, the maturing young man, and the powerful ballet professional as an adult. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the real life in Cuba as well as the humanness of a man who could so easily have written awful things about his father but chose instead to rise to a high level of grace.

...this book will fascinate you. This is ultimately a tale about finding one's place in the world; a place that seemingly evades and, at times, can appear as unattainable as a mirage. Carlos Acosta's descriptions of his familial and economic hardships are honest and direct without being either exploitive or self-deprecating. He states things as they are, but the lyrical quality of his writing lends his ultra humble origins an unmistakable air of dignity and pride. Even as he conquered the highbrow world of ballet, the boy who grew up in poverty in the Havana suburb of Los Pinos, never left his side. "Yuli" as his family called him, is ever present. The restless and truant boy who loathed ballet and dreamt of soccer and break-dancing is very much entrenched in the man who is considered the greatest classical male dancer of his generation. From playing "eating mud" to being the first ever black principal dancer of London's Royal Ballet, we come to know an individual who has struggled his entire life to stay close to people and places that his art necessarily pushed further away from him. Again, if you couldn't care less about ballet, you'll find a little bit of yourself within its pages, as this book will undoubtedly speak to everyone. At its core, it's a humanistic a tale as they come. Funny, moving, haunting and honest, No Way Home: A Dancer's Journey from the Streets of Havana to the Stages of the World is a deeply rewarding experience that reminds us of the price we must pay for the choices we make.

I'm not interested in dancing or Cuba. To speak plainly, I didn't expect to enjoy this book. But enjoy it I did.

From the cover, the book appears to be about the life of a fabulously talented dancer who begins his life is dank poverty in Cuba, and fight his way out of all that. Sounds like a well worn idea, right?

But it's far more interesting than that. Carlos Acosta actually didn't want to be a ballet dancer, and tried to stop being a dancer several times. He almost succeeded.

The book isn't really about dancing. You don't need to know anything about dancing to appreciate the soul of this man. Acosta could have had the same life and travels and written the same basic book even had he been a swimming star, a soccer star, film star, baseball star, a great break dancer or singer. The core question of the book would still have been the same: What use is ambition and earthly success if you lose your family and your sense of belonging in the world? Does having talent give you a responsibility to fulfill your potential?

Acosta comes off as a very likeable guy, even as he describes himself doing rather unlikeable things, at times. He is poor but does not hate poverty. He has troubles in his family but still feels that he belongs with them. He has troubles with his country but wants to stay. He acknowledges that he's in the minority-- that lots of his countrymen want to escape. He paints no rosy picture of life in Cuba. He sees the problems, he just doesn't mind them.

His family, teachers, and friends relentlessly push him to fulfill a destiny that they insist is his. At times he also becomes ambitious to dance well, but his thoughts always return to his family and the beloved dirty, terrible, dangerous neighborhood of his childhood. He travels far, but always finds a way to go back home. Perhaps the title should have been No Way to Stay Home.

I like Acosta because he doesn't buy into the philosophy of ambition for ambition's sake. Yet to please the people he loves he must leave the people he loves and appear to love something else. How he comes to terms with this makes for a book I felt compelled to read in one sitting.

I am not a balletomane or even a big fan of memoirs, but I loved this book! The writing, the style, and the story pull the reader in to Acosta's world. This is a universal story, told brilliantly and with great attention to language and pace. A great story for all ages!

I bought "No Way Home" because I heard Julie Kavanagh (she wrote the recent Nureyev biography) call Acosta the most charismatic figure in contemporary ballet. I am glad I bought it. It's an eminently readable and moving memoir. I am a big memoir guy, but hardly a ballet aficionado. The themes in this book transcend ballet. Acosta addresses universal human issues in relating his personal history (race, the idea of home, familial relationships, ...) and he probes these issues honestly and with a keen eye for detail.

Jessica is wonderful! This book is encouraging and inspiring to anyone like myself who has been struggling with their weight for a long time. She encourages us to be healthy, but her definition of healthy includes accepting and loving your body and rejecting the media messages about what healthy should look like. Reading this book was like a refreshing talk with a close friend.

This is a helpful book that is broken up into small chapters that are easy to read.It made me laugh,and get a better understanding of people who are never satisfied with their weight.

I can't begin to describe my difficulties of growing into the body I am going to have as a woman, but I don't have to because Jessica did it for it for me. There are very few ways to describe how it feels to read "Do I look fat in this?" except to say it's freeing. As I turned the pages I would eat up every word & little by little i could breathe easier.
Jessica is the start of something amazing that i want to be a part of!!

"She wins who calls herself beautiful and challenges the world to change tp truely see her" - Naomi Wolf

I loved Jessica Weiner's books A Very Hungry Girl and Do I Look Fat In This. Therefore, when I saw she had a "new" book out, I immediately ordered it from Amazon without paying attention to details. Please be aware that if you already own Do I Look Fat In This, you do not need to order Life Doesn't Begin 5 Pounds From Now; this is the same book with a different title and a new forward. So now I own two copies of this book with different covers, but I don't mind so much because it is filled with wonderful information for not-slim women like me. Guess I must have needed to re-read it, huh?

If you're tired of dieting, this may be the book for you. Jess's book is a breakthrough experience for anyone who has struggled with self-appearance and self-esteem....and isn't that most of us. She believes that by focusing on what others tell you are your shortcomings-- you miss opportunities to feel connected, sexy and powerful. Whether you're a size 2 , 12 or 22 or beyond-- you can benefit from Jess's words of wisdom. The motivational speaker, author and self-described "actionist" versus Activist...writes in plain English and tosses in some great motivational quotes from famous people and some fun facts about self approval and more. Twelve chapters plus an afterword are included..and the chapters are fun to read-- get this even if you don't have the time to read it-- just scan it and you'll benefit -- I promise...ANyway the chapters range from Decoding the Language of Fat...to the Famous or should I say infamous question most women ask daily "Do I look Fat in This? to "I Feel Fat" to If I were Thinner, He'd Love me" to Thunder Thighs Run in my Family to Ch 6-- I'd be so happy if I looked like a Celebrity to 7) Once I lose some weight..... to 8) All of my Friends are not and I'm not...9) But I'm jsut trying to be healthy to 11) [...] 12) Sorry I don't speak that language. Quizes, roleplaying experiences and fun quizes are interspersed with TAKE ACTION steps...Probably the most important thought though is that YOU CAN"T FEEL FAT -- because fat is not a feeling-- and if you read that section alone (I don't want to steal her thunder with her response to this) ...you'll benefit greatly...AN amazing lady and a fun, easy-to-read book that's great for girls above 12, teens, college chicks and women of any age...great to get this before the holiday parties start! Fun birthday gift...

Note that Enter the Sandman is not on this CD or book, as is described on the Amazon product description. Otherwise the book is typical Hal Leonard quality, which is pretty doggone good, note for note transcription.
Instead they have sub'd in 'When you were young' by The Killers.

Comes with Amazing Slow Downer for OSX and Windows, at least a version tied to the CD... worth buying the full up ASD for $39, since the slow down is of higher audio quality and you can open any MP3s from the hard disk.
For $10 this book is a great value.

Stephen Fry recounts his childhood and teenage years with honesty and candor. Whenever I read an autobiography I'm prepared for some bias and self-absorption, but Fry's book seems to be a sincere attempt to be candid and reflect upon his past. The autobiography feels relatively uncensored as he writes about mischief at boarding school, unrequited love, making use of a stolen credit card, and a suicide attempt during his teenage years. It's all presented with humor and little, if any, self-aggrandizement. I finished the book feeling as though I had read his carefully thought-out musings and insights on life and certain topics in general, rather than simply a retelling of the events that had occurred his own life.

I have been a fan of the polymath approaching genius that is Stephen Fry for many years and had enjoyed his acting, columns, and novels before getting my hands on "Moab is My Washpot", the story of a young, pre-fame Stephen Fry.

This volume is, as all of his writings are, a wonderful display of how beautiful language can be. Fry manages to effortlessly and effulgently blend his incredibly sharp wit, his thorough understanding of the English language, and a nice flowing story with the real life problems and challenges of being a thieving, lieing, homosexual, at times suicidal, youth who has all the blessings a boy can have and still become a bastard. It is honest, it is real -if that makes any sense- it is poetic, and it is fun.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Moab is My Washpot". It is gripping and warming and delightful. It makes you think, that "I can overcome this" or at least give you a sense of slight elation. It is not a "look at my how good and clever and fine and intelligent I am" biography. Not at all. It is simply a very good story told very well.

Highly recommendable.

We all know Stephen Fry as the witty, urbane, polymath of entertainment that he has become. However it is interesting and, in certain ways, reassuring, to see that entertainers such as himself go through the same growing pains as the rest of us.

His autobiography 'Moab is my Washpot', charts his growth from a young schoolboy, through various adolescent crises, on to his successful graduation from school and his eventual path through to Cambridge. His early school years have an almost Enid Blyton feel to them, evoking the beauties of an old fashioned English countryside upbringing, but without any overdone sentimentality.

The book also deals heavily with Fry's homosexuality and how this effected his youth. There doesn't seem to have ever been any real internal struggle for him, but the book still gives a fascinating and often very humourous account of his formative years as a homosexual student in an all male boarding school.

Fry's rapier wit is what often makes this book such a treat. All of the petty squabbles of his youth are brought under the blade of his humour with fantastically amusing consequences. Anyone who has enjoyed the acting or comedic pursuits of Mr. Fry will no doubt find this autobiography an engrossing and hilarious read.

I think Stephen Fry is wonderfully talented-- as an actor and a writer. I very much enjoyed The Liar and Making History, two of his fictional forays. MOAB seemed disjointed, haphazzard... I believe that SF must have a very interesting life & life history, but this book did not express it. Was this written to fufill a contractual obligation? His heart just did not seem to be in it. Quite a shame.

Fry is a Wodehouse-worshipper, and his elegant prose shows it. This discursive, digressive, sometimes profane and endlessly entertaining bio covers Fry's youth (with much reminiscing about Public School days in the manner of Wodehouse's Psmith) and the development of his areligious (anti-religious?) and homosexual tendencies... well, they're more than tendencies, really, as you'll see.

I found this to be greatly amusing-- I'm glad I picked it up.

I work at a Production company and a lot of contracts we hand to outside lawyers, but this is a good tool for me because it goes into details and discusses each point in a contract. This is something I'd love to have had many years ago, when I just got started in the business, and now that I have it, I am learning a lot of new things. There isn't any other book out there- quite like this.

Best book I ever bought dealing with the industry, bar none! I can't believe it's under $20!

Good but I liked the lingo section in the book Twelve Step Plan To Becoming an actor in LA but it was definetly helpfulGood Read

Josh Simon CAlifornia

This is a great resource for dealmaking, but most actors and writers that I know aren't negotiating their own deals. The trick is to get your agent to work harder at creating opportunities, so that they actually have deals to make. Yes, your agent should read this book ... but for myself, as an actor/writer the book HOW TO AGENT YOUR AGENT...is my bible. It helps me kick my agents in the butt ( without them knowing)and I get results...they're working harder and I'm getting work. Also I liked that book with all the casting directors pictures...just in case you see them in Starbucks and want to say hello.

THIS IS THE MOST USEFUL BOOK I HAVE SEEN ON THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY. BEST DEAL-MAKING BOOK ON THE MARKET. 5 STARS!

Celebrating one of the most famous Broadway musicals, "Rent: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical" is the script and songbook for the show that has been running on the famed musical theater street for well over a decade. The play, which focuses on young artists making their way in the world as the AIDS epidemic begins to hit, has gained its popularity for a reason - its no-holds-barred take on contemporary issues is speaks openly to theater goers of all backgrounds. "Rent" is sure to please fans of the play who want a souvenir to cherish as its Broadway run comes to an end.

Great book for seeing how video games are made!

This is a good book. It suffers from having multiple authors in that it lacks the consistent tone that most writng books have, but all the writng is still good.

It is focused on the interface betwen the writer, the game, and the team, and is long on cautionary points. It will be of value to anyone who is writing, producing, or leading all or part of a game team, particularly if they lack practical experience.

If you are only interested in a book about writing for games, Lee Sheldon's 'Character Development and Storytelling for Games' is probably a better choice, but if you are intending or actually writing game, or working with a game writer, this is a good read and a potentially vital resource.

Computer games are becoming more like Hollywood productions, requiring good plots and valued story lines which use good narrative styles. In Chris Bateman, Editor's Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames are practical articles on how to do so, written by members of the International Game Developer's Association and covering all kinds of game writing, from comedy to plots. A 'must' for any video or computer game writer.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

The days of the super simple games like Pac-Man are long gone. Today's games must entertain with all the finesse and skill of a Hollywood movie. This is not to say that a game must be all narrative, neither is a movie.

This book is the first complete guide to writing stories for games. They are not stories alone, that would just be a book. But nor are they just action games. They are games with a story.

The book is edited by Chris Bateman, an expert in market oriented game design and narrative. He has gotten an even dozen of game developers to contribute in various aspects. They range from game developers to writers, to educators, to journalists. Each is able to bring his/her own insight to the book and to the writing profession.

As computers, software, game engines (and always more memory) develop, games can grow more powerful, more lifelike, more movie like.

I was actually looking for the autobiography of Bill W. but stumbled upon this in the search. I am pleasantly surprised. It gives a thorough chronological sequence that shaped Bill W.into the man he became and his never ending battle with the bottle. Ms. Cheever also gives good detail to the emotional struggles of those touched by alcolholism. It truly gave me an even deeper appreciation for all that Bill W. went through and accomplished. At times, the characters got a little confusing (so many of them) that I had to go back and reread a bit, but I think that you will find it well with your while.

how this squirrel made it to the top god only knows, the miracle is aa works for a few of us, too bad the rest of you drunks are screwedStarbucks Assortment

I just finished reading this biography. I am so grateful for Bill and Bob and for me - they are a constant reminder that there is a Higher Power looking out for us.

So what if Bill was less than perfect? Yeah, I was a little surprised at some of the content of the book - but again I ask so what? Bill always said that Dr. Bob was the more "spiritual" of the two of them. He never claimed to be the saint that so many people in program seem to need to make him in order to ?????

Bill was an ordinary man with ordinary human issues - and he did his best with what he had. I believe that Bill would be amazed at the sainthood that seems to have been given to him since his death.

Personally, it makes me feel safe to know that throughout all of Bill's experiences he managed to keep sober AND to share this so important message. This book clearly tells us that while Bill was at times struggling with his demons, he cared about other people (drunks) anyway.

So, he had affairs? Who am I to judge? Step 4 - asks me to make a fearless inventory of MY affairs - not of other people's -

Reading this well researched and written book only makes me appreciate Bill and Bob MORE - wow! they were actual ordinary guys who gave the world the most magical of gifts and for that I am grateful.

I read this book and I was disappointed beyond words. If you really want a great book about Bill W. I Suggest the book by Rober Thomsen, who
knew Bill Wilson personally (The title is Bill W.)

While Susan Cheever makes a valiant effort to use imagery and some carefully styled first person musings of Emily and Bill Wilson, her efforts fall somewaht flat. On the balance, this is essentially a retelling of "Pass It On." There are a few details at the end regarding Bill W.'s sexual compulsions that are common AA lore, and have appeared elsewhere.

For those interested in the history of AA, this won't offer much in the way of insight into the early days of AA and how the program worked. Entertaining at points, but difficult to read attenteively if you have already read other accounts of Bill Wilson's life.

Cheever's artistic touches didn't do much for me. I would rather she had put additional effort into her research, and brought a fresh telling with some new facts or insights.

A completist must have. For the rest...optional.