Struggled to finish this one. The first half was pretty good but in the second it just became a big why me, I'm such a good person how could this happStruggled to finish this one. The first half was pretty good but in the second it just became a big why me, I'm such a good person how could this happen to ME? Got tired of the constant self absorbed complaining. And a whole chapter on Jeopardy, how the game show works and why nobody better talk when its on. Anyways she survives getting run over by a truck, and its a long shitty recovery. The epilogue was at least uplifting... after she drags her family to the location of the accident for some more reflection. Author narrates on Audible, does a good job....more
Damn little book about a cat made me cry. Yeah this was good, just something about it, something about Dewey. But I also loved reading about the smallDamn little book about a cat made me cry. Yeah this was good, just something about it, something about Dewey. But I also loved reading about the small town in Iowa where he lived and the life of its people especially Vicki, Dewey's Mum. I feel like I know her now. Also enjoyed the pictures scattered throughout. Just a nice read, except for the crying at 3am when I finished part. Damn cat....more
Wild was a very frustrating reading experience and I’m having a hard time understanding how this book received such high praise? Based on all those raWild was a very frustrating reading experience and I’m having a hard time understanding how this book received such high praise? Based on all those rave reviews I’d been expecting a “soul-enhancing, inspiring story” not an infuriating exercise on what not to do. I mean what kind of idiot decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail alone with zero backpacking experience and almost no money set aside for emergencies?
This is the kind of person that first-responders (i.e search & rescue) hate. Unprepared, inexperienced, naïve, a danger to themselves and just plain stupid. Getting into situations that require those first responders to risk their own lives in rescuing them because they didn’t do a little research and preparation. Granted Cheryl Strayed didn’t actually need rescuing but that was just dumb luck on her part.
I also almost lost my mind with the overuse of the word PCT. I get it you’re hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, I don’t need to see the acronym in every sentence, an average of 4-6 times a page, every page for the entire book. She also plugs “her bible” The Pacific Crest Trail volume 1 (and 2) writing the complete name of the book every couple of pages in case we forget what got her where she is.
“Was I on the PCT? All the while, I’d been searching for the small diamond-shaped PCT markers that were occasionally tacked to trees, but I hadn’t seen any. This wasn’t necessarily reason for alarm. I’d learned that the PCT markers weren’t to be relied upon. An hour later I saw a metal diamond that said PACIFIC CREST TRAIL tacked to a snowbound tree, and my body flooded with relief. I still didn’t know precisely where I was, but at least I knew I was on the PCT.”
Ultimately I had zero sympathy for this girl, in fact all she did was make me angry with her stupid decisions and (in the beginning chapters) depress me with the death of her mother, scattering of family members and dissolution of her marriage because she was sleeping around. Don’t even get me started on her lackadaisical, I’ve never tried it before decision to do heroin. I mean what could possibly go wrong there?
So after an abortion and with a fresh track mark on her leg from her last little experiment with H she decides to spend 3 months hiking from the Mojave Desert in California to Oregon in Washington State by herself.
This is still a hell of an adventure and I do have to give her full credit for finishing what she started and persevering through extreme conditions. I will also admit to actually enjoying the last 50 pages or so as Cheryl neared the end of her time on the PCT and seemed to come to terms with herself and find a sort of peace. The writing also improves in these chapters, becoming less repetitive or maybe I just got so used to seeing the word PCT I just didn’t see it anymore. PCT.
I’ll be honest (based on the blurb) this wasn’t quite what I was expecting; yes there’s punk rock, herOpening Line: “I am torturing my father, Colin.”
I’ll be honest (based on the blurb) this wasn’t quite what I was expecting; yes there’s punk rock, heroin abuse and dysfunctional parents. But there’s also you Adam Sharp, and your life story is so much more than that.
Daddy Was a Punk Rocker is an inspiring, funny, horrific, surprisingly relatable and often sad memoir that at the core is a story about the child-parent relationship. This is little boy lost while he waits for his parents to get their shit together.
Adam takes us back to the very beginning with a mother who didn’t want him, refused to touch him or show him any form of kindness. His father Colin was a junkie, but more than that he was a disappointment, swearing that he wouldn’t abandon him yet continually doing just that. Subsequently raised by his grandfather and “Andrew” in Manchester England Adam grows up trying to be the bravest, smartest boy in the whole world so that his father will return and his mother Martine will visit more often and maybe not hit him as much. He tries not to cry, to lift the most weight in gym class, to never let a soccer ball into his net. Adam continually tries to prove himself while growing up. Eventually he comes to a sort of placidity about who his parents are and then it becomes all about escaping Manchester and who he is.
“His house smelled of cigarette smoke and violence.”
Throughout this Adam is always trying to escape; geographically from Manchester but mostly from himself. He relocates a lot; in Sydney, Melbourne, The Channel Islands, Spain, he recreates himself becoming funny and charming and successful and confident. It was kind of heartbreaking actually watching Adam try so hard to be someone else because he felt who he was wasn’t good enough.
I liked that this book followed Adam out of his childhood, I liked watching him attend college for a law degree he doesn’t want, meet girls, travel the world, be a stilt walker. I liked seeing him immigrate to Australia and live in a shed with spiders, be a “sexual experimenter” and then meet his wife Lee. I suffered with you while you bartended and served sandwiches in a casino. And attempted suicide. I watched you eventually find a relationship with your father and allow punk rock into your life. And the epilogue… the epilogue had me choking back tears. Oh No!
My only criticism would be that the beginning felt sort of repetitive, by putting us into the story in short form and then starting all over again with more detail. On the flip side there were certain sections of dialogue that were hilarious (like the nonsensical banter between Adam and his mates or when he first meets Lee at the wedding) I can only hope to read something along these lines in the future.
Thank you Adam Sharp for allowing me this intimate look into your life, what a brilliantly entertaining memoir you’ve put out there into the world.~4.5~
** A copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review. 366jb45...more
About a quarter of this bio is a really good, super interesting read. Unfortunately once Bill Tarmey’s life catches up to when he takes the role of JaAbout a quarter of this bio is a really good, super interesting read. Unfortunately once Bill Tarmey’s life catches up to when he takes the role of Jack Duckworth on Coronation Street it becomes Jack’s biography and hardly includes anything else from the rest of Bill’s life.
Instead we get a complete breakdown of Jack’s adventures and follies on The Street. How many episodes he was in per year based on appearance charts, which cast members, left the show or died or were added. How he and Vera’s volatile on screen marriage was holding out. Basically it’s a rundown of Coronation Street for the past 31 years. I will admit that these behind the scenes moments and story synopsis became way more interesting once it got to the point that I started watching the show and knew the characters and storylines. But still, I wanted to read more about Bill Tarmey not the character Jack. I guess I should have surmised from the title “JACK DUCKWORTH and me (the “and me” is written in tiny letters) that this was going to be a bio about a fictional character. Shouldn’t I? Anyways.
Born in 1941 in a rented terrace house in Manchester England, Bill’s early life was one of poverty, food rationing, tragedy and a close knit family that all lived a stone’s throw from each other. His biological father was killed in 1944 while serving as an ambulance driver in the Second World War and Bill has no memories of him. What I found interesting here is that despite the adversity of his childhood, he only has happy memories of the time. Everyone was in the same boat. Young widowed mothers, air raid sirens and playing in bombed out buildings were the norm. You were often hungry and there was no time to be idle, everyone worked at what they could which often included factories. He admits to being hopeless in the classroom but gifted when it came to music. This entire early section really took me into postwar England and the struggles the country faced.
“There was never a turkey for Christmas lunch. It would be a chicken and most of the breast would go to my dad because he was a working man and needed to keep up his strength. For me, whose only experience of meat was corned beef or Prem (a cheap version of Spam) a chicken wing was a real treat.”
Bill met Alice, the woman he would spend the rest of his life with at the age of 14 and married her at 18. At the time of their marriage in 1962 he was working as an asphalter and had .37p in his pocket. There is very little insight into his marriage or personal life, except for his children being born, but it seems to me like theirs is a real love story.
Bill talks a lot about his singing career which started in the church, and continued into the pubs and club scene. It’s my opinion that this is the career path he would have preferred and his true passion. His real life eerily mirrored that of his alter ego he played on screen, with lurches into fortune and fame and just plain luck. “I feared that some new producer would recognise my failings and wonder what Bill Tarmey was doing pretending to be an actor. I could never relax because I always thought the bubble was going to burst at any moment. I’ve had a wonderful time playing him it’s just that for a long time I felt a bit of a fraud.”
Sadly The Cobbles lost Bill Tarmey (Nov 10/12) and with his passing Coronation Street loses a true legend. I will miss Jack Duckworth; his last Corrie episode still brings tears to my eyes, as he dances with his Vera. Cheers Jack! 374jb3. ...more
Opening Line: "Damn, I think I’m dying, dying for sure."
Or what you'll read when you're bored and trapped at a fishing cabin without power
Okay first Opening Line: "Damn, I think I’m dying, dying for sure."
Or what you'll read when you're bored and trapped at a fishing cabin without power
Okay first off this is not my usual reading fare (the cartoon skull at the beginning and end of each chapter should have clued me in) I’m not a Wrestling fan, I only knew who Stone Cold Steve Austin was because he was everywhere in the late 90’s and I have two younger brothers. In going over this book for my review I realized it was going to be very hard not to rip it to pieces what with all the skulls and awesome little quotes like this one:
“DTA, you stupid piece of trash. Don’t ever trust anybody. You ain’t gonna be my partner…never! ‘Cause you are a longhair freak, and you suck! -Austin to Mankind, after giving him the ‘stone cold stunner’ -which I now know how to do should I ever feel the need.
Why did I read this you ask? Well you see I was trapped at a secluded fishing cabin for a week without power, in the rain and I ran out of stuff to read. This just happened to be lying around (I guess its good fishing material?) Anyways due to the short chapters, cold weather, absence of television and amount of cool pictures involved here, before I knew it I was done. So I’m going to try to review this impartially, from the point of a 12 year old boy and wrestling fan. Which is I’m sure who it was aimed at, not a forty year old romance reader. Oh in case you were wondering the fishing was great.
We begin with Stone Cold preparing for his final fight in WrestleMania against The Rock (yum!) Steve’s having a bit of an episode from the amount of energy drinks and coffee he’s been ingesting and may just be having a heart attack. (FYI Chapter one is 8 pages long and contains 2 skulls, 3 almost full page photographs and a POV from his mentor Jim Ross) Then for Chapter two (which is 4 pages long) we go way back to the beginning, briefly following Austin’s childhood, growing up in Texas. He talks about his family, his brothers and love of sports; football and tennis in particular. Repeating often how important it is to respect and listen to your parents and stay in school. About 30 pages in Steve drops out of college and goes to Wrestling school and the rest as they say is history.
Well sort of. We also get tidbits from his early career when he was on the road and didn’t have any money, surviving on potatoes. Theres lots of stories about promoters and other wrestlers he met along the way into the WWF. He talks a bit about drugs and friends lost, feuds in the business and what really went down. We meet his first wife, second wife and third. We learn the story behind the “What?” gimmick, “Hell yeah”, the middle finger salute and why its more fun to be heel then a baby face (even though you’ll sell less merchandise) He also discusses his numerous injuries and what he would change about the wrestling business.
In the end I think one of my biggest problems with this book was that it was just assumed that you knew all the background behind any of the stories he was telling, so he only ever told half the story. As a wrestling fan I’m sure the half you get is awesome but as someone reading it just for the biography aspect it was a little confusing. Can anyone tell me what he was on probation for? I also never felt like I got to know the real Steve Austin as there wasn’t any insight given into his personal life. As I said theres a ton of freaking photos, like every page, as well as wrestling quotes, letters and documents all interspersed with commentary from his mother, father and good friend Jim "J.R” Ross. oh and all the skulls.
And that’s the bottom line cause Stone Cold said so. Cheers...more
Opening line: “Life is short. Break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that makes you smile.”
ReOpening line: “Life is short. Break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that makes you smile.”
Reading about rock stars and their insane lives of excess is one of my guilty pleasures. I find the rise to success intriguing and then there are always the drugs, the girls, the inevitable rehab, more rehab and the stories behind the story. You know, how a song originated, what the lyrics really mean, why he fell off the stage. Then there’s also the feuds with band mates, personal relationships and dirty little secrets of other stars they party with.
Steven Tyler's bio is no different, all the goods are here, and he doesn’t hold anything back (understatement) the only thing is in order to get to “the goods” you have to wade through utter randomness to find them. Yes Steve the noise is your head does bother me because most of the time I can’t keep up with what you’re talking about.
This is written exactly how Tyler talks (and sings) with a what-will-he-say next, conversationally feel to it. And while its fun it’s also bizarre, crazy and at times difficult to follow. Jumping all over the place without a logical timeline and obscure song lyrics and poems thrown in whenever he feels like it. He wants to sniff J.Lo, he’s doing lines on tour, he’s driving around in a yellow convertible with some hot babe, suddenly he’s back in school, he’s married, he’s in rehab, it’s all Joe Perry’s fault, this is what black tastes like, I like to walk naked in my garden and talk to the fairies.
Page 90-“I sat down at the drums and wrote the drum line for Walk This Way. You want the story now or when we get to Toys in the Attic? Hey, I never said this was gonna be a completely linear read. How could it be? (Ha!) But we’re on DRUMS so… what the f---”
Anyways maybe if I were a true Aerosmith fan I would have appreciated this more, I don’t know? As it was though once I was able to turn the noise down there was a lot of interesting stuff here because at 63 and with 40 years in the business Steve has seen and done it all with everyone.
As expected theres a ton of drug use here which actually gets kind of boring after a while I will admit though at being surprised when after 12 years of sobriety, a slew of health problems (Hepatitis C, false brain tumour diagnosis, torn ACL, broken blood vessel in throat and all the problems with his twisted feet) sent him spinning out of control with an addiction to post surgery pain meds and back for an 8th stint in rehab in 2009.
He goes into great detail about his wardrobe and scarves which I’m sure will interest some and although his “brother” Joe Perry’s name is mentioned throughout we learn little about their ongoing love/hate relationship. We also hear about his wives (3 and counting), his children (4 and counting) and how Aerosmith always came before his family. I personally found the sections on song writing super interesting; the process, what the lyrics mean or in his case don’t because sometimes he just likes how the words feel on his tongue.
With 32 pages of great photos fans will lick this up however I could only give it 3 stars because it took me ages to finish and at times drove me mad. ...more
Opening Line: “This is the one thing that stays the same: my husband got hurt. Everything else changes.”
Stephen King is quoted (on the cover) of this Opening Line: “This is the one thing that stays the same: my husband got hurt. Everything else changes.”
Stephen King is quoted (on the cover) of this book as saying “The best memoir I have ever read.” Well I wouldn’t go that far but this was pretty good; honest, moving, funny heartbreaking and literary –the author is a writing teacher, so yeah. Oh and then there are the three dogs and her observations on them, (which are brilliant) and the main reason I decided to read this.
Abigail Thomas lives with her husband Richard in a cosy house with pretty furniture. She has children and grandchildren, and her telephone rings often. She likes to knit and is useless at gardening. Richard takes care of that. Richard also takes the dog for its evening walk. One night the dog comes home and Richard doesn’t. The doorman phones from the lobby, your dog is in the elevator, you better come and get him. Where is my husband? Richard has been hit by a car, his skull shattered; his brain severely damaged, their dreams of old age on the front porch with the comfort of each other taken from them in an instant.
Abigail’s memoir is about the following 5 years after the accident as she slowly puts her life back together, collects a couple more dogs and learns to deal with the twists and turns it has thrown at her. Richard is now in a nursing facility, he won’t be getting any better, he lives in the eternal present with no future, no past no 5 minutes ago, subject to rages, terrors and hallucinations this is the only constant in Abigail’s life as she moves forward.
“Richard and I don’t have the normal ups and downs of marriage. I don’t get impatient. He doesn’t have to figure out what to do with his retirement. I don’t watch him go through holidays with the sorrow of missing his absent children. Last week we were walking down the hall to his room, it was November, we had spent the afternoon together. “If I wasn’t with you and we weren’t getting food, the dark would envelope my soul.” he said cheerfully. He never knows I’m leaving until I go.”
This memoir is both sad and laugh-out-loud funny which is an incredible combination to achieve. I also found myself constantly highlighting meaningful quotes or reading parts out loud to whomever would listen which often included my dogs :) Cheers
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