True Crime novels are one of those tricky types of books that are hard to do well. Most of the time the writer manages to do a dry retelling of events that, while factual, fails to ignite my interest. I’m afraid this one falls into that category. While Mann adds little details like what the weather was like in order to bring the story to life, in the end the book is a pretty dry accounting of the events. To be honest, I suspect that […]
Stars Without a Cause
I can’t remember if this was a choice for the July book club, but I know I bought it at the same time. It was either an option that I wanted to read, or a “people who bought this book also liked…” option. Those things reel me in every time. It’s an interesting read, though I suspect people who know more about classic (1900-1950’s) Hollywood are going to find it a fairly dull re-tread. For the most part Petersen simply retells some of the scandals […]
When you didn’t hate the book, but can’t think of the title: a meh-ish review.
This was the last book of the book club I started in my local area. Aaaaand I read it over a month ago, so my memory is fuzzy, so this review isn’t going to be one for the record books. The book was recommended to me by a few folks, plus it was set it Italy, where I had just returned from a trip, so it seemed like a no brainer to tackle it next. All in all, I found it serviceable, but I just […]
Scandalous!
I don’t remember how I discovered Anne Helen Petersen’s Scandals of Classic Hollywood series over on the Hairpin. But I do remember devouring the latest entries during downtime at my job as a secretary. Petersen let contemporary fans like myself experience the restrictive glamour of stars under the old studio system. She did it with a clever, confidential voice that benefitted from hindsight, and I found the results fascinating. Her blog was a weekly read. The book is more of the same, which feels familiar […]