Rate the last Book you read

Tools    







Even though theres the reading tab I decided to carry on with this thread-i like the idea of rating them as in the movie thread or my own little collection of thoughts.
But Feel free to join in of course





__________________
Britney is my favorite





Kelsey Grammer- So far


Ive always had a bit of a fascination with Kelsey after I read about the tradgedies in his life. His father was shot,his stepbrother died in a shark attack,his sister was kidnapped,gangraped and murdered,his other stepbrother got shot,and he himself has battled both drugs & alcohol and an abusive marriage .So i was very interested when i found out he had written a autobiography. Fair enough the cover looks horrid but i decided to give it ago nonetheless.
The book is an easy read-but just his way of talking/writing can be incredibly annoying and comes across as very condescending.It gets harder to hold on to the sympathy i had for him the further i go into the book,he didnt know his father and brothers,he does talk about his sister a bit but paints a fairly poor picture of her.In his book he`s the marvelous,talented,hero of the town and everyone else is a mess. But even when read his version of things where hes trying to make himself out as the good guy-you still sit there and think that he wasnt. This is the only autobiography were i leave it liking the person less
and not because hes brutally honest and hard on himself,but because eventhough he tries to come across as this amazing humanbeing,he still comes across as a major douche with no empathy for others.He`s treatment of his suicidal girlfriend was the last straw for me,not only how he treated her then but how cold he writes about her now.

this is a one read for me.







I think you know-Jon Gandal

I think you know is the real story about an 8 year old boy who was beaten to death by his stepfather. I think you know/ I think you can figure it out on your own is the reply his assistant at school got when she asked him about his bruises.
This is a beyond horrible story,thats broken up with facts about the school system,social services and abuse statics. The book tries to be as neutral as possible and to shed some light on how this happened.In this case the assistant got alot of the blame eventhough she did what she was supposed to do and had no power or authority beyond on that.Shes also the one who seems to still be struggeling with what happened,as she no longer managed to work whilst the childs mother had another baby with her sons murderer.







Sharon Tate/family-Restless souls
This is the book i was mentioning in the topsypop thread in regards to a sharon tate movie being made-
This is a book put together by Sharon Tates niece,and it holds the story of sharons sister-Patti,her mother-Doris and her dad-P.J,all of whom had written down what would be their autobiography or story of what happened to Sharon but all passed away before they were able to release it.The book shares several stories about Sharon-including her meeting Roman Polanski and what her family really thought/thinks of him,it details them finding out about her murder and the aftermath of that-including the investigation,the tabloids, the trial(s) and her mothers work for victims.I was genuinely shocked to see how much a victims family has to go through,its horrifying.. Theres several story cameos by celebrities such as mama cass and gunsNroses-and not all come out looking too good. This one of my favourite books.









Cheryl Cole-My Story

Cheryl was part of one of the most successfull english bands ever,Girls Aloud and is one of the most successfull female artists in England-
she was married to (at the time) chelsea footballer Ashley Cole,worked as a judge on X factor and was a tabloid darling.Yet it all came crashing down when several girls sold lewd stories to the press about her husband,she was fired by her friend Simon Cowell on Xfactor for being too fat and she got bitten by a mosquito on holiday which gave her malaria and sent her into a life/death situation. The book also covers her poverty stricken childhood,growing up in Newcastle surrounded by drugs. Interesting read even though you might not be a fan of her music




Kimberley Walsh-A Whole lot of History

Kimberley starred alongside Cheryl as part of the girlgroup Girls Aloud.
Her book brings up her childhood troubles because of her parents arguing.
It describes her love of theater and her time in Girls Aloud-Kimberley takes it one step further than Cheryl and goes on to single out a certain members of the group who shes not very favourable towards.
It does feel like she is grasping at straws,trying to find something interesting to write about-Kimberely is gorgeous,and seems like a genuinly nice person but in the entertainment industry that also makes you kind of boring,which quite frankly she is on her own without the rest of the girls. This is a book for fans only









Jason Priestly-A memoir

Jason Priestly is an american actor best known for his part as Brandon Walsh on Beverly Hills 90210,which is also what the book mostly talks about. During his time one the show he struggled to rid himself of the goodie twoshoe reputation he got from that role. It also talks about his step over into the directors chair which was supported by Aaron Spelling who let him direct a few episodes of BH. Its an easy read,doesnt really reveal too much,but is enjoyable yet forgettable.





Jennie Garth-Deep thoughts from a Hollywood blonde

Que the second Beverly Hills actor on my read-list-Jennie Garth who played Kelly Taylor,she also starred alongside Amanda Bynes on another sitcom called "Something I like about You" and several 90s tv movies,one in which she met her now exhusband-twilights Peter Facinelli.She writes about her days on set of BH 90210 aswell-she talks alot more though about the relationship between the castmembers,especially the girls`which wasnt always so good.Though she talks about Tori and Shannon Dorothy-who shes now friends with-she fails to mention both Vanessa Mercil,who publicly said she was bullied by the girls,and Tiffani Amber Thiessen-who Jennie was very close with for many years (close enough to be bridesmaid and have her there during the birth of her first child) but had a big falling out with. She talks about her upbrining and family,how she got into the buisness,dealing with fame and later dealing with the break up of her marriage. Again an easy read and enjoyable-but you definitly could sense her leaving important parts out.
I absolutely hate the cover and title




Jennifer Lopez-True Love

Jennifer Lopez talks about her journey to self acceptence and not being reliant on other peoples love. Apparantly this book started out as a tour book for fans but "evolved" into something more as she worked on it-this is evident by the long,way too detailed describtions of her performances on her last tour,completely out of place. She talks about her previous relationships aswell as the breakdown of her marriage to Marc Anthony.
This book is a messy mish-mash of different things,being pulled in all different directions and therefor ends up nowhere.
This is a book solely for a die hard J.LO fans,which i am not and quite frankly i felt reading the book was a major waste of time.





Leah Remini-TROUBLE MAKER: surviving Hollywood and Scientology

On to J.Los bestfriend,King of Queens actress Leah Remini.
Leah can be quite loud and to some a bit obnoxious,which is why i love her-she has a great sense of humour and is shamelessly honest! She gained alot of attention when she publicly left the cult known as Scientology and her book about it was eagerly awaited-and she delivered.She talks about her ubringing within the cult,the courses and classes you had to take,why she left-and she lays into Tom Cruise like no one before,both how the cult bends to his wishes and his prima donna behaviour.She also talks about her time one set of King of Queens.




Marilyn Monroe-My Story
This is actually the first one that caught me a bit off guard.
I`ve always been interessted in Marilyn,yet didnt know about this book till a few years ago-i assumed that was because it wasnt all that good or interesting. Also because of the times I expected it to be too formal and thus not reveal anything of interest.
I was wrong.Marilyn writes quite honestly about her horrible childhood which she mostly spent in fostercare with people who didnt care for her,abuse,her mothers mental illness,her insecurities,the nudephotos and how people tried to fool her around qnd her marriage to Joe Demaggio,who she was married to at the time.She does come across as a bit aloof at times,but i guess thats a bit down to the times.




Sharon Tate-Recollection
This is not an autobiography,but a picture book with people who met,worked with and knew her-aswell as short sum-ups of the years by her sister Debra Tate.
The book is very beautiful and has alot of nice pictures- but the stories and quotes by people are so oddly picked. Most are qutoes about how she looked,and how good of a body she had which seem to be odd choice,and some of the stories are so out of place and dont go anywhere-alot basically just say they dont know her that much. its not very well put together.






Jaycee Dugard-A stole Life
Alot of you will probably remember this story of a girl who was rescued after being kidnapped as a child and held as a sexslave.
Jaycee writes from the day she was kidnapped up until writing the book. She writes about what she to endure at the hands of her kidnapper and his wife,the birth of her children,how she got help and trying to deal with freedom afterwards. Not only freedom but being reunited with a family she no longer knows and trying to deal with the everpresent media who took a major interest in her case and hounded her and her children like celebrities.






THE COMPANY SHE KEEPS-GEORGIA DURANTE
This is the real story of model Georgia Durantes life.After making it as a model she marries into the mafia and learn their way of life the hard way.Her husbands loving ways soon disappear and she has to endure years of abuse until she tries to get a way.
This book basically has it all love,hate,betrayal,murder,corrupt cops,the mafia,fame and alot of name dropping.
I thought the book was a bit difficult to get into,she was obviously very beautiful but reading her constantly describing herself that way (and she was completely oblivious to it of course) is a bit tiresome.Shes incredibly vain and also makes some of the dumbest decisions-which are difficult to justify. I do think this would make an excellent movie though.
for those who remember the kodiak girl-her claim to fame:






Survivor 5s #2 Bitch

Had to read this for uni, and I appreciate that although it was written before standardisation, and was one of the first English language novels, it was such a bore. Lord, all the woman talks about is money and linen. For about 250 pages. Then she just talks about stealing candles and accidentally marrying her brother amongst her other many, many marriages that are repetitive and dull. Yeah, it was too archaic for me, and I didn't enjoy it at all.




Survivor 5s #2 Bitch
unfortunatly women still spend too much time talking about money and linen
she married her brother?accidentally?
Bare with me on this one

So when she was a baby, her mother was shipped off to Virginia instead of being executed because she was pregnant with Moll when she was on trail. Many years later, she marries this sailor who owns a plantation in, shock, Virginia, and agrees to live there with him. She meets his mother, and when she starts talking about escaping execution for being pregnant back in Moll's home city when she was a baby, the penny drops!

That was certainly the juiciest part of the whole thing. She's a bit of a bike, Moll, but she never talks about any of her conquests because she sees that as beneath her, so she talks about money and linen instead




THROUGH THE STORM-LYNNE SPEARS

So this got a lot of attention when it was released and alot of papers published fake drafts from the book.
I didnt read the book at first because it was made out as a tell all book cashing in on her childrens fame and misfortunes.This book does detail the life of Britney and Jamie Lynne but mostly things we already knew,like their childhoods and when they started getting famous-she tells of how she tried to cope when her husband became an alcoholic and all the embarrassment she had to deal with because of it. The interesting part is also obviously what she went through as a mother when Jamie Lynne at 16 became pregnant-and public ridicule.She also writes about Britneys very public breakdown and what went on when she had to hospitalized.Theres a reason why shes still under a conservatorship and his name Sam Lufti (hes still trying to take her to court to cash in on their time together) He constantly drugged her food and told her lies,did things to mess with her-like take her dog and hide it,saying it was dead,then when she broke down went and got it.He also fed her lies about her parents,which ment she eventually cut them out and they were at first refused to see her. she tells of the games they had to play with him just to see her.He also kept the paparazzi close for a paycheck which is why she could never go anywhere. Theres also alot from her childhood,her sisters battle with cancer and her own career. Theres also aloot of religious talk which for someone who is not religious is incredibly annoying.







GO ASK ALICE

Go Ask Alice is my all time favourite book.I used to hate reading when I was younger but stumbled up on this in the school library-Ive been reading it every once and awhile ever since.This is definitly the book that got me into reading-
This is the diary of a young girl who struggles with drug addiction,the unfortunate events that led to it,and the horrible consequences of it.
it draws you in and keeps your attention till the very ending.





GIRL ON THE TRAIN-PAULA HAWKINS

This is incredibly well written,its engaging and interesting from the get go.
I heard about this because of the movie coming out and decided to read it before I saw it.
It follows a young alcoholic woman who tries to solve a crime shes not sure she knows something about or not.
It has the right amount of twists and turns without it seeming forced or tiring.

The only minus for this is that I had read so many great reviews of it
WARNING: spoilers below
that the ending and reveals were shocking,so i was a little disappointed when i discovered the killer was the first and only person i suspected.I was expecting some amazing twist at the end that didnt happen and that was a major let down.


The characters are all interesting and relatable,some more flawed than others. If you`re looking for a crime book i suggest you give this a try!





Maestra- L.S Hilton

Described as thriller of the year on the cover-Im guessing its going to be a series.
The book is about a late 20s girl,who grew up with nothing and has finally got a foot within the glamorous art world she wanted.Some suspicious things are starting to happen and Judith is hell bent on uncovering whatever is going on,and maybe climb the social latter a bit whilst shes at it.

This has actually got a reaally good plot going,there are so many twist and turns and constantely something going on,its very sexually charged-so not for the faint hearted.It doesnt really get going until well into the second half of the book,which is shame...it was a bit of struggle to get there tbh-but im really glad i stuck with it because the last part was really good.The first half however really drags it down-The main character is completely unlikeable,so up herself and completely deluded about herself.Its also an incredibly vain character/book,80% the first half is probably overdone descriptions of clothes and furniture,im scimmed through most of it but that only takes away the joy of reading.Now,i read the NOR version so i have no idea about the original,but the sex scenes are so awkwardly described,its seems to try to be edgy but it just doesnt.work.

two start for the second half.