Greg Aase

A good, higher level, autobiography. If you have read any of the other Band member biographies (cough, cough....Levon Helm....cough, cough), the facts are shifted, perhaps a little (a lot) more towards Mr. Robertson. Having said that, I have a tendency to believe his version of events. There is a lot more regret in all this than I thought I would see. The author has led an amazing life, and this is only the first half. I'm waiting for the second volume.

Interesting story of Casablanca Records viewed through one of the founders. It's detailed. VERY detailed. But not always in the right way. Lots of names and people that come and go in the proceedings. Surprisingly, not much about some of the label's stars. The author essentially discovered KISS, so there is a bunch of information regarding that band, which is pretty humorous at times. But it does go on a bit much.

Only for music business hardcore fans.

A quick read....because I've already it read it before. Post 1960, much of what is in this book has come from other books...Emerick's autobiography, Martin's autobiography, Lewisohn's epic first volume of the Beatles.....I've read them all so the road was very familiar. The early years was interesting. In the Beatles canon of books, this one is not essential, which is disappointing because I was looking forward to it. Hopefully volume 2 is better.

It's a return to form by King. Got the audio book. Highly recommended. Steven Morse did a great job reading the book. Have some patience on the first half for the book. It's sentimental (in a King way) and some may think it's drags the books down. I thought it just set everything up for the second half, which drives straight into familiar territory. I even liked the ending....which is a rare thing for this author. In the upper tier of the King libary.

It was well researched and well written, but I felt a little duped. The book had an extensive and very detailed lead up to the start of the war, but the book ends abruptly with the beginning of the war. I was looking for more discussion on how the Vatican handled itself during the war, but it appears the documentation the author needed for that aspect of the book and the relationship between the fascist leaders and the Vatican must still be sealed.

Recommended only for historians (European on religious).

Went into this book with minor expectations but come out impressed. Mr. Hilburn, for the most part, sticks to the facts, and it works well for him. The tone is not gossipy, but there aren't many stones left unturned. It's clear that the author obtained the trust of the Cash family and received access not normally granted. I knew the broad strokes of Cash's life, but most of what I knew was part of the legend and not the facts. It's a very readable, enjoyable, informative book that is also very well written. One of the best books I read in 2014. Highly recommended.

It would be King's best book, hands down, if it wasn't for that ending. I felt completely betrayed by the ending of the book. I know it's King's weak point (go read the reviews for the Watchtower series - there are a lot of crabby readers who felt that he had wasted years of their lives on how he ended that one), but this one really felt like “well, I've got all my characters to this point, I've really built this plot up, now what?” At least there weren't any giant spiders......

Surprisingly good. Mr. Friedkin is an excellent storyteller, and he focuses on his movies, not the gossip surrounding his life. He discusses nearly all of his movies (interestingly, there is no discussion of the stinker Deal of the Century, which was weird because he discusses several other clunkers he directed). As it should be, there is a lot of discussion on The French Connection and The Exorcist, his two best known works, and a fair amount of discussion on one of his underrated sleepers - To Live and Die In LA. Well worth the time,

I know a lot of people don't like this book, but I love it. It's a great story (I know, possessed car), the pacing is solid, and it actually has an ending.

This should be on your short list on essential King novels. A really well crafted book with a good ending.

A breezy read with plenty of good information. It's about the best the Billy Joel fan is going to get unless Billy changes his mind and writes his autobiography. It anything, it's a bit of a cautionary tale about the music industry and how the predators are everywhere, including in your bed. Worth the time

I had no idea.....

Really....I had no clue that Dave Stewart has essentially been everywhere in popular music over the last 30 years. His list of friends are incredible.

My though of Dave was that he was tagging along with Annie Lennox in Eurthymics. I was wrong. According to this, it was a true partnership.

Others have commented that Stewart is a bit of a loon. This book doesn't dissuade you from that observation. But he is a creative loon, and an entertaining loon. And the book reflects all that.

I went into this with zero expectations. I was pleasantly surprised. It does run out of steam at the end, and there is a WHOLE LOT of name dropping. But it's a fun read. Worth picking up. Frankly, get the Audible version.....Dave does the narration and it's a hoot.

What you think of this book is going to be based somewhat on what side of the aisle you are on politically. A hard core “traditional” Republican is going to think the book is a hatchet job. The pro-Bush, pro-Cheney are going to think that certain individuals in the book (Rumsfeld, Powell) look far shinier than they should be. I did get the feeling that the author leaned pretty heavily on Rumsfeld's memoir for information. My takeaway from the book is that W. wasn't particularly serious about much of anything growing up, found faith and fitness to take the place of partying and booze (and good for him on that), but relied on his faith too much as a guide point to engage in foreign affairs. His dependency on his instincts and his faith-based beliefs regarding the Iraq war, even if 1/3 of this book is actually true, is disturbing for the most powerful man in the world. It is also telling that when the financial system started melting down, the “Decider” became completely dependent on outside sources (Treasury and the Fed) to make decisions.

If the author's goal was to present a man who at is his core is a good person but was a lousy president, they succeeded. A good, clear read.

I've read them all. This one rolls along. There isn't a lot of drama, there isn't a big whodunit, and the characters are all now fitting like a comfortable, worn, familiar shoe. I miss the days of the Minnesota observations and the higher stakes of the earlier books, but things change and characters have to evolve. This is a perfectly decent book that's an enjoyable read. It didn't feel like a contractual objection (some of the later books have had that feel), but it isn't the driving, top notch book like several of the early books were.

Good book and the basis of the Fosse/Verdon miniseries. I would have like much more on the back part of his brief life. Solidly researched and well written.

Did the audiobook, which was read by the author.

This isn't Grapes of Wraith, but it is an entertaining memoir. There is the typical childhood/teenage years chapters, and then it's straight into the music business. That's where the book gets entertaining. It's obvious, given all the work that Lukather has done, that he's a very, very talented musician. It also serves as a cautionary tale that should make any potential musician pause - if someone who has been as successful as Lukather still has to work as hard as he does to make things swing, what is the upside in the stripped down music world?

Lukather is known for being a grade A party guy from the 80's. There are plenty of sex and drugs stories to provide the point, but not so many that it gets excessive. There are also a lot of women, but again, not so much that gets to be repetitive.

There are some great in-depth discussions about how some of Toto's biggest hits were made, and there are a lot of discussions of the music business. Today's tip - the record company is usually the bad guy.

Worth your time if you are a fan of Toto, 80's music, or stories from funny loose cannons.

Osborne is a good, occasionally great writer. His books are full of specific details. It's very easy to get a sense of place. Only To Sleep would be a good travelouge of the Mexico of the late 80's. Unfortunately, this is a Phillip Marlowe novel. There are expectations of plot, pace, and mood in hard boiled crime fiction. This has none of it. The mystery and the process of reaching the core of the case is secondary to the ruminations by the author of aging, or being of a different time, and of being the outsider in a different land. I was bored repeatedly, and it was a chore to finish the book. Which is unfortunate, since Osborne is a good writer.

If you want to keep your Archer intake low and only want to read a few of his books, put this one on your list. His writing is sharp, the characters as well drawn as they can be in this genre, and the mystery (and its resolution) are as reasonable and thought out as one can be in this genre. It's one of the few books were Archer actually feels like a real person. This book is an example of one of the best mystery/hard boiled crime/modern noir authors at the top of his game.

I'm late to the Robicheaux series, so I thought I would read them in order. Heaven's Prisoners is better than the first book in the series. The plot moves along at a faster pace. But I'm still struggling with the Robicheaux character and his motivations, especially in the first half of the book. He does things that I just don't think make much sense, and then later on he pulls off some kind of solid, subtle detective work or type of solid planning that one would come to expect from this type of character. I appreciate that Robicheaux isn't some type of superhuman (paging Jack Reacher) but it's hard to get a handle on the sense of perspective. Maybe this series picks up. I hope so.

Good, but controlled, oral history of the Bond series. There are a lot of good stories, but there some major players (the Broccoli family, Connery) that are missing or severely lacking. The more current the movies get, the less juicy the stories get, as well as the criticism. A hardcore Bond fan will know a lot of the stories, but there is enough new material to make it worth the time. Other oral histories (ESPN, SNL) do it better.

Enjoyable oral history. Lots of great stories. As with many oral histories, it alternates from tiny details about productions that few have heard about from not have any insights from the one person that probably knew more about Nichols than anybody else (Elaine May). Great stories about The Graduate, Catch-22 and his later years. Totally worth the time, but go into it with your eyes open.

I'm a completely biased reviewer - Mr Rushin graduated from a southern suburban school in Minnesota the same year I graduated from a school about 30 miles south of his. So I know of all the Bloomington landmarks (the Met, the Southtown theater, the Holiday Inn) he discusses in the book, but I was at most of them around the same time he was.

Having said that, I don't think you had to have grown up in a Minneapolis suburb in the 70's to appreciate the book. It's smartly written, it's honest and it's heartfelt. I think it's relatively universal story, but I think it helps if you grew up in the 70's.

Highly recommended.

Well researched and well written book. Compelling narrative, with great insight on the titans of Detroit in the early 60's. I visited Detroit for the first time in 2019, and the discussion of how great and powerful the city was jarring given what I saw last year. Maraniss is a good writer and it was great to go along for the ride.

Oral histories can be a tricky thing. For every book that does it right (SNL, ESPN, MTV (I Want My MTV...the best oral history ever), there are several (there is a oral history of CAA that is brutal) that can turn into a mess. Put this one in the former category. Super informative. Detailed, but not bogged down in minutiae. Some of the big players in the AFL don't appear in the book (Al Davis...but not for lack of trying), but a lot of them do, and they have stories. Lots of stories, with a lot of characters. Even wonder why the Bengals seem have to the same colors as the Browns? How the Kansas City team got it's name? That there would be no Oakland Raiders if the original owners of the Minnesota Vikings hadn't defected to the NFL? It's hard to imagine today's teams playing in the conditions that some of these teams started with. Well written book Highly recommended for football historians or those in former AFL towns.

I'm really torn on this book -

1) It could have used a better editor. I can hear Woody's voice all the way through, but it jumps pretty abruptly in time and topic. It can be a slog.

2) He downplays all his good work, which is unfortunate. Annie Hall is a truly great movie, and he spends most of his time dismissing it. Sleeper (probably his best “funny” movie) is mentioned in passing. We get more discussion on September (which he admits isn't good) than we do on Hannah and Her Sisters.

3) The back half of the book is about the situation with Mia and Dylan. He builds a factual case. But he spends a lot, a lot of pages on it. So, if the purpose of the book was to muddy the waters around the situation even more, he succeeded. I read Ronan's book also, and that has a whole different story attached to it. BTW- Ronan doesn't get a pass in this. This book thrashes Ronan pretty hard, even go so far to questioning who Ronan's father is. I honestly don't know what to think anymore.

4) I personally struggle with the relationship with Stacey Nelkin and Soon Yi. Woody's approach to both - that dating significantly younger women (who were both of legal age...which he points out several times) is normal, just doesn't sit right in my head. He's not the first well known man to date/marry much younger, and he won't be the last. The casualness of it all just didn't sit right.

In all - maybe steer clear of this. I chuckled in a few spots - he can still turn a phrase - but it raised more questions than it probably should have or wanted to.