Books 4 & 5 - 2013
Book 4: Britney: Inside the Dream by Steve Dennis - 400 pages
Description from bookdepository.co.uk:
Britney Spears -- the Princess of Pop -- is making a comeback, and there isn't a person out there who hasn't heard about it. In this, a fully up-to-date and authoritative biography, Steve Dennis reveals all there is to know about the much-loved star. Hitting our radios for the first time in 1998 with '!Baby One More Time', Britney Spears quickly became a pop idol. Now, at just 27 years of age, she has racked up five number one albums, seven top-ten singles and seven sell-out world tours, as well having performed on stage with both Madonna and Michael Jackson. Just a decade after breaking onto to scene, she has become nothing short of a pop legend. Her private life, however, has not been so easy. In 2004 Britney famously married a childhood friend at The Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas; since then her personal life has seemingly been thrown into turmoil. In the last five years she has had numerous failed relationships and endured a very public divorce and custody battle - all in the full glare of the international media. Drawing on exclusive interviews with those closest to the superstar, Britney: Inside the Dream is a engrossing portrait of fascinating star. A frank biography, with no detail spared, it reveals the real Britney Spears, like you've never known her before.
Thoughts:
I grew up with Britney. I bought her first album when I was probably about sixteen (she’s only a few years older than me). She was a pretty brunette on the cover, and she sang pretty harmless pop music. Like the rest of the world, I watched as her life disintegrated over the next few years. This book exposes her pretty crappy childhood and the pretty hellish time record companies put their stars through. Whilst it seems that Britney lacks the intellect or imagination to fight her situation (unlike someone like Pink for example), I can’t help feeling that the people around her really use her. The media too need to take a lot of blame - it doesn’t say much about humanity when people will stand around and watch a person’s whole life explode and simply take photos. This book finishes sometime shortly after her Dad took up conservatorship so it’s good to see that ‘so far, so good’. Now if someone could just sort out Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Bynes!
4 / 50 books. 8% done!
1620 / 15000 pages. 11% done!
Book 5: This Charming Man by Marian Keyes - 885 pages
Description from bookdepository.co.uk:
Lola has just found out that her boyfriend - charismatic politician Paddy de Courcy - is getting married. To someone else. Heartbroken, Lola flees the city for a cottage by the sea. But will Lola's retreat prove as idyllic as she hopes? Journalist Grace wants the inside story on Paddy de Courcy's engagement and thinks Lola holds the key to it. Grace knew Paddy a long time ago. But why can't she forget him? Grace's sister, Marnie, might have the answer but she also has issues with the past. Her loving loving husband and beautiful daughters are wonderful, but they can't take away memories of her first love: a certain Paddy de Courcy. What will it take for Marnie to be able to move on? Alicia Thornton is Paddy's wife-to-be. Determined to be the perfect wife, Alicia would do anything for her fiance. But does she know the real Paddy? Four very different women. One awfully charming man. And the dark secret that binds them all.
Thoughts:
This book was not at all what I was expecting (I very rarely research a book before I pick it up) but oh my it was amazing! It’s a long read, over 800 pages, so I saved it for my 7 day cruise, figuring I’d get plenty of time to read lying on a pool deck getting a tan (tick!). The first 100 or so pages are told from Lola’s perspective, and frankly it was hard to work out what Paddy had to do with everything except for the fact that he was Lola’s boyfriend who was all of a sudden marrying someone else. Having said that, Lola’s life and manner of imparting the story was so engaging, I couldn’t help falling in love with her. Eventually, the perspective moves on, to Grace, her sister Marnie and then briefly to Alicia. The book changes perspective on and off throughout, jumping time as necessary, and unraveling Paddy’s story through the lives of these four women, as well as Paddy’s boss, the female leader of a new political party (she was a good character - I really liked her!). I won’t give away what it is about Paddy that drives the story, but I cannot express enough how well the story is put together. Of all the characters, Marnie annoyed me the most. She had serious problems and I understood that, but watching her come up with excuse after excuse and lose everything important to her really frustrated me. She reminded me too much of friends I have that just can’t get out of their own way for one reason or another. Alicia was probably almost as annoying but very little of the story is told from her perspective so it didn’t really matter. Lola and Grace really drive the story and I loved them both. A really great, very well put together story. Could have benefited from a little more background to Paddy and why he was the way he is, but overall, un-put-downable!
5 / 50 books. 10% done!
2505 / 15000 pages. 17% done!
Currently reading:
- The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory - 437 pages
- Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore by Bettany Hughes - 412 pages
- Everlost by Neal Shusterman - 377 pages
And coming up:
- The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Volume 3: White Gold Wielder by Stephen Donaldson - 500 pages
- The Odyssey by Homer - 324 pages
- One for the Money by Janet Evanovich - 290 pages
Description from bookdepository.co.uk:
Britney Spears -- the Princess of Pop -- is making a comeback, and there isn't a person out there who hasn't heard about it. In this, a fully up-to-date and authoritative biography, Steve Dennis reveals all there is to know about the much-loved star. Hitting our radios for the first time in 1998 with '!Baby One More Time', Britney Spears quickly became a pop idol. Now, at just 27 years of age, she has racked up five number one albums, seven top-ten singles and seven sell-out world tours, as well having performed on stage with both Madonna and Michael Jackson. Just a decade after breaking onto to scene, she has become nothing short of a pop legend. Her private life, however, has not been so easy. In 2004 Britney famously married a childhood friend at The Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas; since then her personal life has seemingly been thrown into turmoil. In the last five years she has had numerous failed relationships and endured a very public divorce and custody battle - all in the full glare of the international media. Drawing on exclusive interviews with those closest to the superstar, Britney: Inside the Dream is a engrossing portrait of fascinating star. A frank biography, with no detail spared, it reveals the real Britney Spears, like you've never known her before.
Thoughts:
I grew up with Britney. I bought her first album when I was probably about sixteen (she’s only a few years older than me). She was a pretty brunette on the cover, and she sang pretty harmless pop music. Like the rest of the world, I watched as her life disintegrated over the next few years. This book exposes her pretty crappy childhood and the pretty hellish time record companies put their stars through. Whilst it seems that Britney lacks the intellect or imagination to fight her situation (unlike someone like Pink for example), I can’t help feeling that the people around her really use her. The media too need to take a lot of blame - it doesn’t say much about humanity when people will stand around and watch a person’s whole life explode and simply take photos. This book finishes sometime shortly after her Dad took up conservatorship so it’s good to see that ‘so far, so good’. Now if someone could just sort out Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Bynes!
4 / 50 books. 8% done!
1620 / 15000 pages. 11% done!
Book 5: This Charming Man by Marian Keyes - 885 pages
Description from bookdepository.co.uk:
Lola has just found out that her boyfriend - charismatic politician Paddy de Courcy - is getting married. To someone else. Heartbroken, Lola flees the city for a cottage by the sea. But will Lola's retreat prove as idyllic as she hopes? Journalist Grace wants the inside story on Paddy de Courcy's engagement and thinks Lola holds the key to it. Grace knew Paddy a long time ago. But why can't she forget him? Grace's sister, Marnie, might have the answer but she also has issues with the past. Her loving loving husband and beautiful daughters are wonderful, but they can't take away memories of her first love: a certain Paddy de Courcy. What will it take for Marnie to be able to move on? Alicia Thornton is Paddy's wife-to-be. Determined to be the perfect wife, Alicia would do anything for her fiance. But does she know the real Paddy? Four very different women. One awfully charming man. And the dark secret that binds them all.
Thoughts:
This book was not at all what I was expecting (I very rarely research a book before I pick it up) but oh my it was amazing! It’s a long read, over 800 pages, so I saved it for my 7 day cruise, figuring I’d get plenty of time to read lying on a pool deck getting a tan (tick!). The first 100 or so pages are told from Lola’s perspective, and frankly it was hard to work out what Paddy had to do with everything except for the fact that he was Lola’s boyfriend who was all of a sudden marrying someone else. Having said that, Lola’s life and manner of imparting the story was so engaging, I couldn’t help falling in love with her. Eventually, the perspective moves on, to Grace, her sister Marnie and then briefly to Alicia. The book changes perspective on and off throughout, jumping time as necessary, and unraveling Paddy’s story through the lives of these four women, as well as Paddy’s boss, the female leader of a new political party (she was a good character - I really liked her!). I won’t give away what it is about Paddy that drives the story, but I cannot express enough how well the story is put together. Of all the characters, Marnie annoyed me the most. She had serious problems and I understood that, but watching her come up with excuse after excuse and lose everything important to her really frustrated me. She reminded me too much of friends I have that just can’t get out of their own way for one reason or another. Alicia was probably almost as annoying but very little of the story is told from her perspective so it didn’t really matter. Lola and Grace really drive the story and I loved them both. A really great, very well put together story. Could have benefited from a little more background to Paddy and why he was the way he is, but overall, un-put-downable!
5 / 50 books. 10% done!
2505 / 15000 pages. 17% done!
Currently reading:
- The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory - 437 pages
- Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore by Bettany Hughes - 412 pages
- Everlost by Neal Shusterman - 377 pages
And coming up:
- The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Volume 3: White Gold Wielder by Stephen Donaldson - 500 pages
- The Odyssey by Homer - 324 pages
- One for the Money by Janet Evanovich - 290 pages