Next to reading true crime, I like biographies best. I prefer them to be about people in the entertainment field: actors writers, lyricists, composers, movie stars. Often I will read a biography of someone I don't particularly like and come away with a new affection and respect. Other times I will read a bio of someone I like a lot and come away less than a fan. I have found that actors who led sane lives are boring, like Ronald Coleman. And that most tell-alls don't tell all at all. The most gossipy and honest bio I ever read was Change Lobsters and Dance by Lilli Palmer. I say honest, because she was as hard on herself as everyone else in the book, including cowardly husband Rex Harrison. One of the most dishonest bios I have read was Shelley Winters Shelley, also know as Shirley. I say dishonest because she had anecdotes which were very hard to believe happened and more often than not glorified her. At one point she stated as unequivocal fact that she and Marilyn Monroe were the two reigning sex symbols of their time. A great actress. Not a realistic one. Actually I am now reading a book which tops Shelley's for sheer bullshit: Christopher Plummer's In Spite of Myself. I admit it is a very well-written book, but I find 50% of it impossible to believe; and the parts I do believe make me dislike him intensely since he is an egoist, a name dropper, a drunk, and a bit of a sadist considering how amusing he finds situations that make fools of innocent victims. One of his more tantalizing anecdotes is when he relates having sex fully dressed at a party while talking to the cuckolded and unaware husband of the woman sitting intimately on Plummer's lap. Totally unbelievable. He never does explain why the husband isn't bothered by his wife sitting on another man's lap. I'm sure it's a total fabrication. And if it were true, it makes him even more detestable than he already is. I'll get through the book because it occurs in a time and in places that I find fascinating, but I will find Plummer an irritating companion. Actually I'm only reading this because I can't find any good murders that I haven't already read. Drat.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Books I keep reading in spite of myself.
Next to reading true crime, I like biographies best. I prefer them to be about people in the entertainment field: actors writers, lyricists, composers, movie stars. Often I will read a biography of someone I don't particularly like and come away with a new affection and respect. Other times I will read a bio of someone I like a lot and come away less than a fan. I have found that actors who led sane lives are boring, like Ronald Coleman. And that most tell-alls don't tell all at all. The most gossipy and honest bio I ever read was Change Lobsters and Dance by Lilli Palmer. I say honest, because she was as hard on herself as everyone else in the book, including cowardly husband Rex Harrison. One of the most dishonest bios I have read was Shelley Winters Shelley, also know as Shirley. I say dishonest because she had anecdotes which were very hard to believe happened and more often than not glorified her. At one point she stated as unequivocal fact that she and Marilyn Monroe were the two reigning sex symbols of their time. A great actress. Not a realistic one. Actually I am now reading a book which tops Shelley's for sheer bullshit: Christopher Plummer's In Spite of Myself. I admit it is a very well-written book, but I find 50% of it impossible to believe; and the parts I do believe make me dislike him intensely since he is an egoist, a name dropper, a drunk, and a bit of a sadist considering how amusing he finds situations that make fools of innocent victims. One of his more tantalizing anecdotes is when he relates having sex fully dressed at a party while talking to the cuckolded and unaware husband of the woman sitting intimately on Plummer's lap. Totally unbelievable. He never does explain why the husband isn't bothered by his wife sitting on another man's lap. I'm sure it's a total fabrication. And if it were true, it makes him even more detestable than he already is. I'll get through the book because it occurs in a time and in places that I find fascinating, but I will find Plummer an irritating companion. Actually I'm only reading this because I can't find any good murders that I haven't already read. Drat.
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