California Golden

California Golden by Melanie Benjamin 352pages

 

I’m not much of an outdoorsy person. In fact, I rather loathe it.  Bu that doesn’t stop me from reading about the great outdoors.  I would like to hang ten and try surfing, but like I just said…and without my glasses/contacts I couldn’t even see the darn wave.

 

Most of the time, when I hear “great outdoors,” I think woods and insects. The critters I can handle, but not those pesky insects. However, in Melanie Benjamin’s newest novel, the great outdoors refers to the surfs and sand of California and Hawaii. Benjamin’s description of the waves, the sun, and the freedom one feels in the water is unparalleled. I felt as if I was there.

 

Carol Donnelly is one of the first female competitive surfers in the sport. She is a marvel to behold on board. But Carol is trapped in 1950s- ‘60s societal expectations of marriage and motherhood, and she resents her children for it.  Her daughters, Mindy and Ginger drop out of school to partake in the surf culture and, sadly, to gain their mother’s attention.

 

Carol teaches her daughters to surf. Mindy is a natural while Ginger can barely hang onto the board. When Mindy wins a competition in California, Carol seethes with resentment. And to top it off, Minday gets work as an extra in the surfing movies that were so back then. Mindy first gains notoriety as the Girl with the Curl. The 1960s come alive when Mindy goes to Whiskey A-Go-Go and is seen at all the LA hotspots.

 

She finds love with a Hawaiian surfer. But with Vietnam escalating, the pair breaks it off. It is only when Mindy is on a USO tour in ‘Nam, does love return in a rather unexpected way.

 

Meanwhile, Ginger falls in love with an abusive surf bum. Author Benjamin creates the life of authentic beach bums, unlike the glamorous life portrayed in the movies. Unwashed and malnourished and high isn’t the life Ginger had dreamed of as a little girl, but she loves Tom with every fiber of her body and mind.

 

Readers don’t know much about Carol after she loses the competition. She had an accident which forced her retirement from surfing and eventually was the root cause of her Parkinson’s Disease (I’m not sure how a head injury could cause Parkinson’s, but what do I know.).

 

Reader’s journey through the two very different lifestyles of each sister. However, an unexpected pregnancy causes major strife and happiness with the family.

 

California Golden is different than most of Benajmin’s wonderful books. While most of her novels are character driven, this didn’t have a strong plot. California Golden receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

It Happened One Fight

 

It Happened One Fight by Maureen Lee Lenker  384 pp.

Joan Davis and Dash Howard have made a series of movies together, but can't seem to get along.  Joan has to contend with a jealous Hollywood gossip columnist who found out something Joan herself doesn't know--Joan and Dash are married!  It seems Dash (as a joke) sent Joan the marriage license from their movie (that was performed by a real minister) and Joan's assistant sent it off to city hall not knowing what it was.  Now both Dash and Joan are off to Reno so they can get a quickie divorce while filming their latest film (written by Joan's assistant) and Joan can marry the man she's engaged to.  

With elements of old Hollywood movies (including "It Happened One Night", "It Happened One Fight" is a cute romance.  Anyone who is a Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, or Montgomery Clift/Rock Hudson fan will find the book thoroughly entertaining.

Devil's Candy

The Devil's Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood by Julie Salamon, 423 pages

"The Devil's candy" is how producer Peter Gruber described the actress needed to play the character of Maria in The Bonfire of the Vanities, lust for whom drives Sherman McCoy to disregard morality and prudence, "She's gotta be the Devil's candy."  For journalist Julie Salamon, who was granted open access to the cast and crew of Bonfire throughout its production, the term can just as accurately describe the entire project of attempting to adapt Tom Wolfe's bestseller into a major motion picture, and to the allure of big-budget filmmaking in general.  This is only reinforced as the pursuit of this particular bit of candy unfolds just as disastrously as McCoy's.

Although Salamon spends plenty of time with the stars of the movie - Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, Bruce Willis, Kim Cattrall - her book really shines when dealing with the crew - the cinematographer, second unit director, set designers, foley artists, editors, even the gaffers and grips.  The candor of many of her sources is almost incredible - director Brian De Palma most of all, as the book gives a remarkably personal, intimate look into the mind and heart of a director known to have little room for sentimentality in either his life or his art.  Best of all, Salamon is able to trace the development of the film step by step, making clear the reasoning behind seemingly baffling creative decisions and providing a remarkable window into the process of Hollywood filmmaking.

Hairpins and Dead Ends: The Perilous Journeys of 25 Actress Through Early Hollywood

 Hairpins and Dead Ends: The Perilous Journeys of 25 Actress Through Early Hollywood by Michael G. Ankerich  488 pages

 When the “movies” first evolved in the 1910s and 1920s, they were silent; words appeared on the screen from time to time as dialogue, but audiences of those days had to follow the acting in order to understand the action. There was musical accompaniment that could help set the atmosphere of each scene. And like, today, there were hundreds of wanna-be actresses to descended on Hollywoodland, with only less than ten percent reaching star-status. Some of those women's names are still recognized more than 100 years later: Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Mabel Normand, Marie Dressler, Gloria Swanson and Marion Davies to name just a few.

The stories in this book are not their stories. These are the stories of those forgotten women who died young and/or tragically. The young women who, when they didn’t “make” it or their star shone too, too briefly, became involved in drug addiction, alcoholism, suicide attempts, prostitution and much worse. And this is the story of those who did survive, only to wind up “in wrenching poverty, living in the derelict remnants of their once-glorious mansions.”

There is one name that stood out for me: Margaret “Gibby” Gibson. When I was kid, I saw a movie whose title I don’t remember, about the Feb. 1, 1922, murder of director William Desmond Taylor that is still unsolved to this day. In fact, there is a Facebook Group dedicated to WDT. Two then-well-known actresses (Mabel Norman and Mary Miles Minter) were suspected, but the charges were never proved. Their lives and careers were ruined thanks to the scandal. Gibby was never mentioned as a suspect. I don’t recall ever having heard her mentioned before, but according to Ankerich’s book, Gibby made a 1964 deathbed confession, saying that she was the one who pulled the trigger. I was disappointed that the book didn’t delve into the confession more, but I realize that that wasn’t the purpose of this book.

This book isn’t one that should be read in a few sittings; the tales are too depressing. And like most of the women in this book, readers will soon forget their names…again. I found it fascinating to take a peek behind the red curtain into a time that we often think of as innocent and pure. Ha!  Therefore, Hairpins and Dead Ends: The Perilous Journeys of 25 Actress Through Early Hollywood receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

The Queen of Tuesday: A Lucille Ball Story

The Queen of Tuesday: A Lucille Ball Story by Darin Strauss   336 pages

 With the tagline of “A Lucille Ball Story,” I was under the impression that this novel would be a factual/fictional account of the Lucy and Desi’s rocky marriage, their triumph of making television history, and what it was like to co-own a television production company in a male-dominated industry. I’ll admit that while I’m not the hugest fan of Lucy’s comedy, but I have always admired her shrewd business acumen.

But upon getting my hands on this novel, I quickly learned that it, really, has nothing to do Lucy’s real life. It is a smash-up of memoir and fantasy based on a “what if” scenario. Granted that is what writing fiction is based on, but author Strauss takes such liberties with timelines (Desi Jr’s birth year is wrong) and events that the whole concept is outlandish.

The novel is based on a Strauss family myth that the author’s grandfather had a torrid affair with Miss Ball. The writing is convoluted, with multiple plot lines showing up in almost every paragraph. I was looking for some shred of evidence that Strauss’ ancestor’s story was true, but found none. 

Avoid this novel at all costs. “The Queen of Tuesday” receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

A Star is Bored

A Star is Bored by Byron Lane 342 pages (galley)

When Charlie gets the chance to become the personal assistant of a famous Hollywood actor, he's over the moon. After all, she was Priestess Talara in one of the most important movies in history! And, while she has a reputation for being eccentric, Charlie thinks she can't be all that bad, right? He thinks he's in for the experience of a lifetime and then discovers it's so much more than just a job.

Based on the author's real-life experiences working for Carrie Fisher, this is a funny novel about working for someone who is larger than life. If you have ever read anything about Carrie Fisher, or read any of her books about her own life, you'll recognize her in this book. While there are a lot of crazy moments, there are also some heartwarming parts to this story.

Good for readers who like Hollywood stories (especially if they are fans of Carrie Fisher and want to see if they can tell what may be real or not in this story).

I finished this book pretty quickly because it's a fast read. Admittedly, I wasn't a huge fan of the book, though. The humor sometimes felt forced and I found I became impatient with some of the over-the-top behavior of both Charlie and his employer. I have read one of Carrie Fisher's own books, and actually spent more time wondering what details in the book were based on reality more than I spent time really caring about the characters.

The Girl in the White Gloves

The Girl in the White Gloves by Kerri Maher  384 pages

 

Most of us know Hollywood icon and Her Serene Highness, Princess Grace of Monaco, from her movies. However, she was also known for Broadway roles and early, live  television roles. I’m not sure how I thought Grace landed the coveted roles in “Rear Window,”  “Dial M for Murder,” “To Catch a Thief “ and “High Society,” but she always had the allure of never having to struggle.

 

This novel, author Kerri Maher’s second, takes Kelly’s on-screen persona and smashes it to pieces. Maher takes readers on Grace’s a journey from an ordinary young woman trying to find her way in the world into what it must have been like to become one of the most admired, and sought after, women in the world. This is a human story; a real-life story.

 

The plot is non-linear; the story jumping around in time. If readers pay close attention, they can spot the patterns the time-frame creates. The transitions from year to year happen seamlessly; a feat for any writer. Personally, I felt that the time shifts gave readers a break from the normalcy and the exotic. Readers get to know plain Grace Kelly and her rather humble beginnings in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to her move to New York, to her adventures in Hollywood, and to abandoning stardom for a real-life role as Princess .

 

I was heartbroken to read of her unhappiness with her Prince and how she felt that she had abandoned herself to serve the citizens of Monaco. The fairy tale courtship doesn’t seem that magical now.

 

I was surprised to learn that Grace’s life has been well-documented; I always saw her cool, calm and collected. That is one of the reasons I found her sexual encounters uncomfortable. I didn’t see her as a human being—and all that goes with it---before. Therefore, “The Girl in the White Gloves” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Just the Funny Parts…

Just the Funny Parts…And a Few Hard Truths About Sneaking Into the Hollywood Boy’s Club by Nell Scovell       Audio Book: 8 hours, 36 minutes     Hardback Book:  336 pages     

Nell Scovell is both funny and a great writer.    She spells it out and names names on her experiences trying to break into writing for television and film.    Even in this day and age, the field is often closed to women, most t.v. writers are men and they are a very closed network.   Being a women and breaking through the glass ceiling of Hollywood writers is almost but not quite impossible.   Nell was able to do it, to hold her own to earn respect from her bosses and co-workers but in doing so she often had to become one of the guys.   If she worked with there being another woman on the writing team it never lasted.   They gave her hell, often ignoring her ideas or taking credit for them instead of giving it to her, even being belligerent and shouting in her face she was only there because they were giving the impression they were a diverse team.   Nell talks about the old boy network alive and rampant in all of the Hollywood studios.  If you do manage to break in don’t be surprised if you are harassed, sometimes verbally sometimes sexually.  It takes a tough skin to survive and she has learned to give and take with the men in the room by tolerating some of their crude remarks even giving them verbal jabs now and then, and she goes into detail  about the treatment she received from some of the top names in show business.   It is a very good book with a lot of insight into what to do and what not to do, what to expect and what not to expect.    She tells it all with aplumb and so much humor you will be laughing out loud at times.   This book is so open and informative a real taste for wanna be writers – a serious if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen type of advice.    She is like a mentor giving the ins and outs.    She said as a woman and as a white woman she still seemed to have an advantage as in her decades long career she has never seen a black woman writer and so very few minorities working as writers on t.v. shows that it could be a room out of the 1950s and would still look pretty much the same.    An eye-opening look into Hollywood bias.   I would recommend this book.  

Imposter

Imposter by Antony John, 307 pages

Seth is thrilled when he is offered a job as the star of a new movie.  He likes his new costar, Annaleigh, and he even gets to meet high-profile established movie stars, especially Sabrina Layton, who dropped out of the picture but is back in with a smaller role.  Seth is excited about the exposure and the money but something seems off about the picture.  Scandalous stories about Sabrina and her former co-star and ex-boyfriend, Kris Ellis, begin surfacing.  Someone appears to be stalking either Sabrina or Seth.  Seth has been receiving odd, vaguely threatening texts on a phone the studio gave him, a phone that only a select few have the number.  Seth can't shake the feeling that there is something wrong with the whole set-up.  I really liked this story.  This might be my new favorite novel by John.  I didn't find it quite as scary as I expect a thriller to be but the story was so good I didn't care about that part.  I would definitely recommend this to teens who like realistic fiction.

The Big Bamboo

The Big Bamboo by Tim Dorsey, 322 pages

Serge has decided it is time to resurrect his obsession with movies especially those featuring his home state. Mostly though he just wants to know why more films aren't shot there and why "Florida" scenes are filmed in California? When his grandfather leaves him a cryptic message that he needs to go to L.A. to uncover a family secret, Serge views it as fate and him and his companion fly across the country to straighten things out once and for all. Of course Serge's mission is hopelessly sidetracked with detours and other intrigue such as the kidnapping of the female lead of what is becoming the most expensive and behind schedule flop in Hollywood history, celebrity murder investigations, and the Japanese and Alabama mafias.

This eight Serge Storms novel easily continues Dorsey's over the top series with plenty of interesting characters and a plot that will leave the reader guessing until the very end.

A Touch of Stardust

A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott
296 Pages

 (Get up on Soapbox, unfurls Pet Peeve)  To all writers of historical fiction, it is fine to invent characters and move some unimportant events around slightly to advance the plot but can we please get the main events of history correct? Especially when getting them wrong serves no purpose whatsoever.  (Gets off soapbox)


This novel revolves around Julie Crawford who has come to Hollywood to become a screenwriter and her efforts in this vein.  As she works her way into the system she gets a job as the personal assistant to Carole Lombard at a time when Lombard is in a relationship with Clark Gable who is filming Gone With The Wind.  At the same time Julie is also finding herself and learning about her love interest whose family is back in Europe as World War II is getting off the ground. 

Alcott does a very good job of bringing the character of Carole Lombard to life as well as the personalities surrounding Gone with the Wind.  The book could have easily been about Lombard since she outshines Julie hands down.  My pet peeve was irked when Julie love interest said he was trying to get his brother out of Vichy France and not succeeding.  The problem was the year is 1939 in the book and Vichy France did not exist until June 1940.  This blatant error took away from the reading experience for me especially since the brother was never mentioned again in the book.
Other than that the book was good, 3 out of 5 stars.

West of Sunset

West of Sunset by Stewart O'Nan
289 Pages

"In 1937, F. Scott Fitzgerald was a troubled, uncertain man whose literary success was long over. In poor health, with his wife consigned to a mental asylum and his finances in ruins, he struggled to make a new start as a screenwriter in Hollywood. By December 1940, he would be dead of a heart attack. With flashbacks to key moments from Fitzgerald's past, the story follows him as he arrives on the MGM lot, falls in love with brassy gossip columnist Sheilah Graham, begins work on The Last Tycoon , and tries to maintain a semblance of family life with the absent Zelda and daughter, Scottie."

 While the historical content is interesting, especially the portrayal of Hollywood, the characters felt one-dimensional and the book read much like a Wikipedia entry.   I would definitely recommend giving this book a miss.

Disaster Artist

The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell, 268 pages

Some years ago, legendary film critic Ken Begg opined that the only way a truly great bad movie can be produced in an era of homogenization, market studies and test audiences is as a vanity project.  The Room is certainly delightfully terrible in every aspect - from set design to music, but especially the script and acting - and every aspect was under the control of one remarkable man, writer-director-producer-star Tommy Wiseau.  But who is Tommy Wiseau?

Since no one seems better qualified to answer that question than best friend and co-star Greg Sestero, it's a bit of a disappointment that he doesn't seem to have a complete answer.  Even in private, Wiseau has been reluctant to discuss his life and deliberately mysterious.  Even the source of The Room's six million dollar budget is unclear.  Yet perhaps Sestero gives the only answer possible - Tommy Wiseau is The Room, and The Room is Tommy Wiseau.

Well-written and consistently entertaining, The Disaster Artist is not only a good description of a slow-motion catastrophe, but also an interesting portrait of struggling actors in LA.

I Don't Know What You Know Me From

I Don't Know What You Know Me From: Confessions of a Co-Star by Judy Greer, 235 pages

Even if you don't know it, you've probably seen Judy Greer in a movie or TV show. She's Hollywood's go-to best friend, assistant, secretary, sidekick...basically anybody but the leading lady. In this collection of essays, she reflects on her personal life, elements of her career, and her musings on things as random as making it in Hollywood to feeding stepchildren.

I hoped, from the title, that this would focus on Greer's career, but I felt that she didn't spend nearly enough time on it. Or at least not in the way I'd hoped. Anecdotes abound about peeing in the stall next to J.Lo and the awkwardness of accidentally ending up in the seat-filler bar at the Oscars. But the actual experiences of making Arrested Development, or Archer, or any of the gajillion romantic comedies listed on her IMDb page? Not so much.

Basically, this book lacked substance, and honestly, after reading/listening to it, I kind of like her less as an actress. Maybe it's just because I read two other much better memoirs during the time I was listening to this one, but Greer comes across as needy, whiny, immature, and vapid. Pass this one over for a better Hollywood autobiography, like Tina Fey's Bossypants, or Rachel Dratch's Girl Walks Into a Bar..., or Neil Patrick Harris' Choose Your Own Autobiography, or Rob Lowe's Stories I Only Tell My Friends. Basically, this was the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the Hollywood memoirs I've read.

P.S. This is my last blog post for the SLPL book challenge blog, and I really wish it was about a better book. If you really want to know what I'm reading in the future, check out the University City Public Library book challenge blog. I know I'll keep checking back here! It's been swell!

Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography

Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris, as shredded and pasted back together by David Javerbaum, 294 pages

Written in the classic YA style of choose-your-own-adventure books, this quirky autobiography offers insight into the various elements of NPH's life, from his work as a child actor (hello, Doogie!) to his career on Broadway (hello, Hedwig!), from his lifelong hobby as an amateur magician to understanding himself as a gay man. And don't forget about all those fun bits concerning Harold and Kumar, and Dr. Horrible, and How I Met Your Mother, and hosting every awards show imaginable.

The book, as is the tradition in choose-your-own-adventure books, is written in second person, with you, the reader, playing the role of the main character (in this case, Neil Patrick Harris) and making choices throughout (for example, to explore your career in made-for-TV movies, turn to page 49; if you'd rather return to the stage, go to page 137). And like any good choose-your-own-adventure book, there are options where you end up dead, or in traction for the rest of your life, or working at the Schlotzsky's counter and living a life of obscurity.

This book was both incredibly fun and incredibly frustrating. On the one hand, it was hilarious, unexpected (who knew you could end up at a crossword puzzle or a cocktail recipe?), and, considering all of the diverse elements of NPH's life, a decent format for his memoir, especially if you only really care about his TV career or his personal life. But if, like me, you want to know about ALL those elements, prepare to read this through a good five or six times. I'll admit that it got to the point, after several read-throughs, where I was simply skimming through, looking for anecdotes I hadn't read yet. I'm also really curious how this translates into an audiobook, which does exist. If you listen to it, please let me know!

Good for fans of Neil Patrick Harris, books with goofy structure, and those who love a good laugh. Not for those who want something straightforward and straight-laced.

Girl Walks Into a Bar...

Girl Walks Into a Bar... by Rachel Dratch, 248 pages

You'd probably recognize Rachel Dratch. She was on Saturday Night Live for 12 years (her best-known character was Debbie Downer), and she's appeared as mannish lesbians and goofy old ladies in various movies and TV shows since she left the show in 2011. For the last several years, however, she's been pretty much off the map. In Girl Walks Into a Bar..., Dratch discusses those SNL years and the improv years leading up to them, as well as the few years since.

At the beginning of the book, Dratch explains that this isn't meant as a showbiz memoir and, while she certainly does talk about showbiz for a while at the beginning, she largely sticks to that promise. Instead, this memoir offers insights into Dratch's personal life, with stories about her miserable dating life (including one guy she refers to as The Cannibal) and her unexpected pregnancy at the age of 43.

Dratch does a great job of presenting these everyday stories with a heaping dose of self-effacing humor, while making the reader aware of how, yeah, things are the same for those people on TV (well, as close to "the same" as you can get when a spontaneous trip across the country is nothing to bat an eye at, financially speaking). I listened to the audiobook of this, and I highly recommend it in that format; in fact, I don't know that I'd want to read the actual book, as it doesn't come with Dratch's voice and comedic delivery. Those made the book for me.

Read this if you liked Tina Fey's Bossypants, or if you just can't wait for Amy Poehler's Yes, Please to come out this fall.

Lucky Us

Lucky Us by Amy Bloom
240 Pages


 Half-sisters Iris and Eva bond and survive during the 1940's in Bloom's latest work.    Throw in a reprobate father, a couple of lesbians, a blues singer, a gay hispanic makeup artist and a jewish orphan and you begin to get the cast of characters in the book.


However, I should have known that if the critics were gushing I wouldn't care for the book.  The characters are unsympathetic and fall flat to me.  I could write more on this but I don't have anything nice to say about it. 

Haunted Hollywood: Tinseltown Terrors, Filmdom Phantoms, and Movieland Mayhem

Haunted Hollywood: Tinseltown Terrors, Filmdom Phantoms, and Movieland Mayhem retold by  

Tom Ogden    273 pages

 I love ghost stories and Old Hollywood. Throw the two of them together, and I am so there. I could hardly contain my excitement when I discovered a copy of Haunted Hollywood: Tinseltown Terrors, Filmdom Phantoms, and Movieland Mayhem in the Library’s catalog.

The narrative is divided into three sections, as indicated by the title. Odgen repeats stories that he’s heard/researched from the silent film stars like Mary Pickford; Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.; and Thelma Todd through modern day where some the studios and actors’ hangouts are reportedly haunted.

There is nothing creepy or interesting about these stories. My first clue should have been “retold by Tom Odgen.” They aren’t even well enough written to provide a narrative arc.

BUT I did learn a lot of Old Hollywood history, which is why I give it 2 out of 5 stars.

Stories I Only Tell My Friends

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe, 308 pages

Rob Lowe has been acting for more than 30 years, since he was a teenager. In this memoir, Lowe discusses his life from those early years starting out to becoming one of the original members of the Brat Pack to the fame and excess of the 1980s to his trip to rehab and into sobriety. Through it all, he offers up some interesting insights on the machinations of Hollywood, as well some stories about the making of movies (and the meeting of actors) we've all seen.

Some of the stories can feel a bit name-droppy, especially when he spools out the entire yarn before giving us the name of the person he's interacting with in the story, in a "gotcha" way. (For example, "and 20 years later, at the Golden Globes, I was happy to see Sarah Jessica Parker receive an award for her role on Sex and the City. She did say she wanted to do this forever.") Lowe is able to break away from this grating habit in some of his tales, and when he does, the writing and stories become infinitely more interesting. I particularly liked his lengthy discussion of the audition process for and filming of The Outsiders, in which he played Sodapop Curtis (and, unbeknownst to him until he saw the finished film, had most of his scenes cut). In this story, we're introduced to Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise, Ralph Macchio, and Francis Ford Coppola, and even though the temptation to drop names like breadcrumbs must have been tempting, but Lowe somehow refrains, and the story is all the better for it. Similarly, his discussion of his more recent career (starting in the 1990s with his hosting of Saturday Night Live and ending, for the book's purposes, with The West Wing) is engaging and filled with fun tidbits.

Does Lowe skate around the issues, glossing over his career scandals and awkward situations? Absolutely. This is a personal memoir after all, not an investigative biography written by a vindictive third party. Does that make it less enjoyable? Not a bit. This was a good, light read. Those with an interest in Hollywood and celebrity would probably like this.

A side note: I listened to the audiobook of this, which is read by Lowe. Generally speaking, I really enjoyed Lowe's narration, though his penchant for doing the voices of the people in his stories can be annoying. That said, the man nails Bill Clinton's voice.

High Society

High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly by Donald Spoto, 303 pages

As an actress and a princess, Grace Kelly was the picture of poise, beauty, and, fittingly, grace. In this life-spanning biography, Spoto uses his close relationship with the late princess to give a more intimate look at her childhood, career, and life as princess of Monaco. In doing so, he offers up some wonderful stories about the working relationship between Grace and Alfred Hitchcock, with whom she made three movies and nearly made a fourth (Marnie, which would have marked her first film role after leaving Hollywood to marry Prince Rainier; the role went to Tippi Hedren instead). My favorite story in this biography, however, involves a running joke between Grace and Sir Alec Guinness; like many of the others, it shows off the magnificent sense of humor in an actress who was often seen as aloof.

I'll admit that I didn't know a lot about Grace Kelly before reading this book (basically that she was an actress and then a princess who died in a car crash) and I think I've only seen one of her movies (the fantastic Rear Window), but that didn't matter. Spoto created an approachable and insightful book that serves as a good introduction without patronizing novices like me. If anything, his obvious love of Grace Kelly comes through a bit too much, smoothing over troublesome situations a bit more than someone more objective might have. All in all though, this was a good book. Recommended for those with a love of old Hollywood and/or European royalty.