No comments about Las Vegas Babylon, Revised Edition: The True Tales of Glitter, Glamour, and Greed.

1 comments about The Showman of the Pacific - 50 Years of Radio and Rock Stars.

1. I grew up in Honolulu during the early sixties and Tom's book brings back so many memories. The British Invasion shows at the HIC, Led Zepplin at the old Civic, the crater concerts, the Golden Hibiscus Contest, the Poi Boys, each is a gem. My father worked for the competition at KORL and KULA. What a hoot ! Thanks Tom for all the great entertainment over the years. This book is a must buy for all music fans in the Aloha "state of mind.

5 comments about America's Queen.

1. It was fantastic to be able to grasp a better understanding of the stoic, graceful beauty that was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It was great to see the different facets of her personality from political darling to yacht hopping party girl. Her desire to control and veneer everything that happened in her life was inspiring. Couldn't put it down, was consistantly interesting throughout.



2. My comments concern the narrator of the audio cd who felt that she had to change her voice inflection when she read quotes of various people. She talked in a soft wispery tone when quoting Jackie, however, she continued to use that same voice for any of the females quoted. She then attempted a deeper tone for the male voices. Due to all the voice shifting it was disruptive and the reading did not flow. Since it was a narrative and not a play it would have been more pleasing to the ear if the narrator did the entire reading in her natural voice.



3. Jackie Kennedy was the closest thing that America ever got to home-grown royalty. Her birth and upbringing in New York City, refinement, etiquette, and Olympian cool ... Jackie radiated a deep mystery that remains. She was iconic in her need for privacy and protectiveness of it. A woman of another era who remains enigmatic and unique in her persona ... an American icon who seems both American yet not typical of the United States. A sophisticate, debutant of the year, equestrienne, well-manner, posh Park Avenue social doyenne who intrigued the world until she died in 1994. Fluent in several language, a writer of poetry, political wife, patron of the arts, native New Yorker, and poised like any Queen in Europe. She wasn't perfect but she was Jackie. America may never see another quite like her.



4. Sarah Bradford has written a very complete story from Jackie's childhood to her death. There is lots of details about Jackie, as well as her husbands, JFK and Onassis. The book also focuses on JFK's affairs, and how much it hurt Jackie.
   
   Even before Jack died, Jackie was determined to be free from the Kennedy family. To separate from the Kennedy family, Jackie used wit and charm and focused on her children and her own interests, like art.
   
   One of the highlights of the book for me was how Jackie restored the White House. She asked for free donations, like a valuable portrait of Ben Franklin. She enlists the help of experts.Everyone seems willing to help her, because of her charisma and her position as first lady.
   
   I have no way to know how accurate this book is, but the author cites a lot of other books for research. Jackie was a very intelligent and determined lady. It is a shame that she died at only 64 years old.I enjoyed reading it.



5. This was a great book - it was packed with information. Sometimes it had a little bit too much detail in certain sections and it got a little bit boring. Overall, it was really interesting and I was glad that it was so well written as opposed to a quick read that leaves you with more questions. Highly recommended.

2 comments about Dr. Pharte--the E is silent: Confessions of a Hopeless Prankster.

1. I almost fell out of my bed laughing so hard! That's why I had to write a review. The book was recommended by a friend who insisted I read it for a fast, great, upbeat read. I got the book in an independant bookstore in Aspen. What a character Dr. Pharte is! Pass it along!



2. I'm stayed up until 2:00am reading this book, because I couldn't put it down. Each anecdote was funnier than the one before. You catch yourself laughing about the author's hilarious antics throughout the entire day. I can't believe how funny his life is. It should be a lesson to all of us on how not to take life so seriously. This guy sure knows how to enjoy it!!!! I can't wait until Leno gets wind of Dr. Pharte! I would have given the book 10 stars if Amazon would have let me!

No comments about Sex Lives of the Famous Gays (Sex Lives).

5 comments about Sex and Shopping: The Confessions of a Nice Jewish Girl: An Autobiography.

1. Anyone who ever read one of Judith Krantz's novels and wondered exactly where she finds her fascinating ideas will have that mystery resolved by SEX AND SHOPPING. Trite though it may be to say, Mrs. Krantz has led a life more amazing than most fiction.

   Maybe it just has been luck, or maybe she really was born under a lucky star, but her life has been filled with magic. She was born to two successful European Jewish immigrants to New York who gave her every advantage educationally and materially--except perhaps mother love. Barbara Walters set her up with her husband, even provided the dress she would wear when they met. (Admittedly, they had not yet grown up to be Great Dames; they still just were a couple of eager girls.) Her brother married Shari Lewis. She and her husband sold their co-op on Central Park West to David and Helen Gurley Brown. By her own report, the entire ride's gone that way.

   Immediately following World War II, right after Judy had graduated from college (Seven Sisters, it goes without saying), her father placed her for a year with an impoverished aristocrat in Paris. At the time, Judy barely understood French. By the end of the year, she spoke a perfect, fluent, Parisian-accented version, in which she can converse to this day. Anybody who read SCRUPLES, her first blockbuster, will remember that this is a history that her heroine shared. Oh, yes, and Judy also finally lost her virginity in the City of Love.

   She writes bluntly about the sexual conventions of her generation, strange by contemporary standards. In those pre-birth control days, she ended up needing an abortion. And she had the abortion the day before she had her first date with her husband. Yet the date must have gone well, since they are married over forty years, with children and grandchildren.

   This is a woman who would have had a lovely and interesting life, even if she never had written a word. The most serious problems she admits to having encountered were the polite anti-Semitism of post-war Paris and some overt anti-Semitism when she was on a book tour in Germany in the 1970's.

   Professionally, Judith Krantz has specialized in writing the kind of popular novel which often is referred to by a more vulgar phrase than "sex," always combined with shopping. She certainly did not invent this genre, but she formalized it and designed the format which has had to have been followed by any author emulating SCRUPLES.

   With sex and shopping to keep her busy along the way, Judith Krantz has led a fascinating life.




2. When I checked out this book, I was not quite sure what to expect. However, after reading the first few pages, I knew this was going to be a very good read. Judith Krantz is a wonderful storyteller (there is not one dry or boring moment) and she has led a fascinating life! (Many of her experiences you will recognize from her 10 books.) I definitely recommend that any fan read this book; I was sorry to finish it!



3. I wasn't going to write this review, but this book was so bad I just had to.

   I couldn't wait to get this book home and dig into it -- I love adventurous women! But what a disappointment -- it was horrible; I couldn't even finish the last third of it.

   Let me sum up Ms. Krantz's opinion of herself in three words: "I am AMAZING." She takes narcisissm to an all-time high. Yes, it is an autobiography, but her constant sounding off about how great she is at everything she does made me nauseous. By the way, she actually had that "amazing" quote above in the book, as an excerpt from her journal (actually, her word was SUBLIME, all caps, but you get the picture). Her books set all kinds of records, she landscapes better than professionals, she handles herself wonderfully on television, she's run just about every department at Good Housekeeping magazine, and she's a damn fine friend. Oh yeah -- did I mention she was so wonderful at gymnastics, including the trapeze, that her instructor told her to take it easy when new students attended class because she was so good the instructor didn't want the new students "discouraged"? Yep, it's all there in the book.

   I won't even go into her popularity with men -- of course every man she dated asked her to marry him. That's because she's so cute. I know because she told me. In the book.

   She also fails to realize what an American princess she is. Her lamenting of having to go out to the deli on a dark, stormy night to get chicken soup for her sick husband because it was the housekeeper's night off will really make your heart bleed. To this day, she is still traumatized by that night (yes, she actually said this). And once she had to endure being on her feet for THREE HOURS without food or a bathroom break at a book-signing party. Can you believe the suffering she had to endure?

   She has always had servants in the form of housekeepers, laundresses, nannies for her children, etc. She has lived a privileged life from the very beginning, which isn't bad in itself, but somehow I think she's never realized it. She thinks her problems are, well, real problems.

   The paper-thin depth of character exhibited by this woman is truly astonishing.

   And oh yes -- the book certainly needs editing. Krantz tells about a long-time friend of hers who becomes ill. Out of the blue, she says, "The CIA took over his illness." Now what the hell does that *mean*?? Turns out her friend had been an operative for the CIA all along, but I'm not sure how an organization can "take over" a person's illness. Does this mean the CIA made him even sicker? Actually, I *think* what she meant was the CIA paid for his medical expenses -- but I'm still not sure.

   The book is replete with sentences in this vein -- it really got annoying to try to figure out what she meant.

   Don't buy it -- it's a waste of money and time.




4. I've loved Judith's work over the years. Her last two novels haven't been the greatest and one wonders what's she's doing now. Because I was mildy disappointed in her last two novels, The Jewels of Tessa Kent and Models (?...really the worst one, but much better than any other fiction I try to read), I wasn't as hopeful. But, it really was Judith at her best! I couldn't put it down and I had to read it until 5 a.m. (Just like the old days:-) I hope we have more coming.

   ... I didn't find Judith being self-serving. If you write about yourself, which must be very difficult for anyone; what are you going to say? Hopefully you will try to be objective and say some positives and negatives. I found that she dicussed both the good and not-so-good in this book.




5. Heard the taped version of SEX AND SHOPPING: CONFESSIONS
   OF A NICE JEWISH GIRL by Judith Krantz . . . I must admit to
   having never read any of her novels, though I did see SCRUPLES
   when it was on TV . . . so I did not know too much about her, but I now feel that she is almost a friend after listening to this interesting autobiography . . . from what I've since discovered, many of the tales contained herein have since appeared in her various novels . . . if you're a Krantz fan or interested in the life of a novelist, then get hold of this book . . . an added "plus" for me was the fact that she also served as the narrator.

No comments about Almost Normal.

1 comments about Ann Landers in Her Own Words: Personal Letters to Her Daughter.

1. I loved this book. Given to me as a present, I had no idea what to expect and began reading it with a sense of uncertainty. But within a dozen pages I was completely held and involved. It is poignant, funny, wise and deeply engrossing, and full of practical advice on love, marriage, divorce, motherhood, and growing older. At times I got the guilty (but delicious) feeling that I was reading a good friend's private correspondence - it is that intimate and that honest. Some say that letter writing is a dead art, a form of communication that was killed off by the telephone and, more recently, the brutal abruptness of e-mail. But here it is resurrected in all its former glory. Full of good gossip and insights about famous names in show business, politics, the media and literature. there were moments when I laughed out loud and, occasionally, wanted to weep. I was honestly sad when I reached the end - so I started all over again. Happily, as one does in all good letters, I still found new things to surprise me. Margo Howard tells us that "letters were my mother's art form," and this book confirms that gloriously. Ms. Howard is no slouch at letter writing either, answering her mother's missives with equal wit, insights, and humanity. Those for whom this will be their first taste of the wit and wisdom of Ann Landers - or Margo Howard, who has followed in her mother's footsteps as an agony aunt - have a treat in store.

5 comments about Into the Void... with Ace Frehley.

1. It was good, if your an Ace Frehley fan.
   
   Wendy Moore on the other hand seemed like a complete air head and too easily influenced and that is why she went from Cocaine to Heroin. Ace is a pig and revolting but that shouldnt surprise anyone, Wendy is revolting too.
   
   The comments made about Paul Stanley I do wonder about and dont trust because Wendy made a comment such as.." The things I was told about Paul I would never write about,as its too personal." Something of that nature perhaps not the correct wording I dont have the book in front of me right now.
   
   However, I did wonder if she didnt write about that because its too personal then why write about Ace Frehley as all of that was personal.
   
   I did believe the comments about Gene Simmons though, its only obvious with him as he portrays him self that way in public.
   
   Good book, if you like reading about rock stars who are angry, womanizers, drug addicted and the dumb women who want to be around them.



2. This book is so awfully prejudiced that it ultimately provides nil insight into Ace's personality, from someone who claims to have known him well. Rather it is a spiteful backstab which, given the obvious character assassination attempt, badly misfires to make Wendy Moore look two faced, backstabbing, self serving, sexist, ignorant, using and very very desperate. [...]



3. I read this book in one day. I have always been an Ace fan myself. Nothing in the book is really surprising. Obviously Moore wrote this book to cash in on the experience. The sad thing I got from this is that all characters, Gene, Paul, Wendy, everybody involved was doing these things for financial gain. There is no human element of friendship, loyalty, or anything like that between any of the KISS people, wives, girlfriends- None of these people like each other at all. SAD.Otherwise, Moore's prejudices (she doesn't like short haired, short people) etc seem a little shallow and annoying, and she has no repect for any of them.



4. I grew up loving KISS. Were it not for that band, I would have never had gotten the idea to play guitar, and start performing in bands. They changed my life, and Ace was my hero. So I couldn't pass up this book, as I wanted to know what the more "recent" Ace was like.
   
   The timeline in this book takes place as Ace is preparing for for the original reunion tour in the late '90's. The author finnagles her way into his life and becomes his personal assitant/girlfriend. She spins tales of massive drug abuse, by her and Ace, as well as shares stories of general Ace wackiness. None of her stories surprised me, as I know what band life, and band guys, can be like. And when you add the massive scale of the KISS machine, and it's finances behind it all, it gets even more crazy. Ace claims to be sober these days, and I hope it's true. I hope he's around for a LONG time.
   
   This is a great book for serious KISS fans who want to know all there is to know about the band. It's certainly not a "how to" on being in a band per se, but it is full of great stories, and a lot of crazy laughs.
   
   I highly recommend this book to hardcore KISS fans looking for all there is to know about them, and the internal workings of the band, and of Ace.



5. If you like to read about rock stars and and the people they hang with this is a book for you. The author did a good job of describing what it was like to work, eat, sleep, and do drugs & drink with Ace of KISS. Do I think that she was placed into the Void by ACE? No. What a person chooses or not chooses it solely up to the individual. Over all it was a good read.

No comments about Confesiones de un chef/ Kitchen Confidential.