New Books Just In for the Holidays

Books about famous people, particularly those in the entertainment industry, often seem to turn up in time for Christmas, with the idea that eager fans will put them on their wish list for Santa, I suppose. These ones are fresh from the library processing team:

Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You by Lucinda Williams is a memoir by the three times Grammy winning country singer. It tells of Lucinda’s childhood moving from place to place around the Deep South with her poet/salesman father and a mother who suffered ongoing mental illness. You get her determination and burgeoning career, the inspiration for her song writing, from doomed love affairs to the gothic Southern landscapes of her youth.

Making It So by Patrick Stewart will be the autobiography many have been waiting for. An iconic and much-loved star of the Star Trek and X-Men franchises, Stewart takes us back to his humble beginnings in Yorkshire and through his early acting career and theatre work to stardom in Hollywood. He’s a natural and exuberant storyteller – both as an actor and here as a raconteur.

In Berserker! comedy legend Adrian Edmondson traces his roots from a childhood in a strict Methodist household to his time in repressive boarding schools and on to making his way on the 1980s comedy circuit and a career on stage and screen. Where did his particular brand of anarchic humour come from? Could it be linked to his possibly Norse heritage? The book is filled with anecdotes that relive the show-biz stars he rubbed shoulders with alongside the pop hits of the time.

George Harrison: the Reluctant Beatle by Philip Norman is a look at the musician who was often overshadowed by his bandmates, but was considered one of the greatest guitarists of his era. The book explores his life as a Beatle and afterwards, including his tricky relationships particularly with Eric Clapton and wife Pattie Boyd, whom both men loved. There's also his rescue of the movie Monty Python’s Life of Brian which many thought too sacrilegious to ever reach the cinemas. A man of many interests and talents, he may have been a ‘reluctant’ Beatle, but he was certainly an interesting man, so this is sure to be a diverting read.

A more serious look at what goes on when the camera stops rolling is The History of Hollywood by Kieran Connolly. Subtitled ‘a century of greed, corruption and scandal behind the movies’ the book reveals the darker side of Tinseltown. Such excesses – the money, the adulation, the extortion and the egos and along with all that with the cruelty and exploitation. An interesting read that reveals stories at least as fascinating as those on the silver screen.

Posted by JAM

30 November 2023

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