Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
An engrossing tale full to the brim with the most engaging and entertaining characters the Wild West ever produced, this book was excellent!5/5 stars.
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton.
An Australian Classic that held me spellbound, it was a delight to pick it up and read. The characters and their setting reflect without doubt the time the book is set in, the descriptions of places and things are expansive and the characters as they are unravelled before your eyes are classics of an Australia now vanished, won't quickly leave you.5/5 stars.
Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, JR.
One of two books based on the life of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark who despite owning magnificent properties all over the US chose to live out her life in a hospital room if you were unwell but perfectly healthy? An unusual character to say the least, Huguette came across as some what cold and remote, not one for happy marriages and family gatherings, well travelled and educated she was certainly privacy obsessed and while she gave generously too both friends(a small circle)and her nurses and helpers, her somewhat remote family went all out after her death to get their hands on her wealth.
I didn't find Huguette enthralling or engaging in the least and I felt this book was a bit to cobbled together, it didn't flow, the bottom line is that for all her gifts and wealth she was dull and boring and so was her life. I have the 2nd book on Huguette here and at some stage I intend to read it just in the hope that nobody that rich could be so colourless.3/5 stars.
Elvis and Ginger by Ginger Alden.
Ginger was Elvis's last girlfriend and had the dubious honour of finding the King dead. She has also had the honour of being one of very few people too not cash in on her connection. It has not been until now that Ginger has felt the time was right to put pen to paper and a very fine job she has done. There is nothing crass or hokey, she comes across as completely sincere, honest and hardworking without any sense of entitlement, the book is easy to read and once picked up, not easy to put down. It is an interesting read fair and balanced, an insiders look at the private life of the greatest entertainer most of us will never see. Elvis sure was an interesting person, not easy.5/5+
The Hiltons by J. Randy Tarraborelli.
A huge doorstop of a book that takes us from the hard earned beginnings of the Hilton dynasty/fortune right up until today's very hardworking Nicky and Paris Hilton. Tarraborelli is the master of this type of book...simply brilliant, There isn't a weird or wacky story or character missing, every base is covered, the research done and the tale told is well worth the sore arms from trying to hold the book. Like his previous books this one is excellent.5/5.
Dick and Pat by Will Swift.
I have an absolute fascination with American Presidents, their wives, families and hangerons, there is likely not a book on any of them I haven't read or don't own, I've been to the Nixon Library and loved it to death! This was a well researched and empathetic portrait of a couple who didn't always come across well. Easy to read,fair and balanced it painted a portrait of a marriage that didn't always resonate with Americans. Both were interesting characters with strengths and weakness, communication being a biggie. They gave their all to their calling and suffered greatly for it but nevertheless they ended their lives in secure domesticity and with the much shamed Nixon returned as elder statement.5/5 I already have my next presidential read, a new biography called Hissing Cousins, the relationship between Alice Roosevelt Longworth and her cousin Eleanor Roosevelt .
An engrossing tale full to the brim with the most engaging and entertaining characters the Wild West ever produced, this book was excellent!5/5 stars.
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton.
An Australian Classic that held me spellbound, it was a delight to pick it up and read. The characters and their setting reflect without doubt the time the book is set in, the descriptions of places and things are expansive and the characters as they are unravelled before your eyes are classics of an Australia now vanished, won't quickly leave you.5/5 stars.
Empty Mansions by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, JR.
One of two books based on the life of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark who despite owning magnificent properties all over the US chose to live out her life in a hospital room if you were unwell but perfectly healthy? An unusual character to say the least, Huguette came across as some what cold and remote, not one for happy marriages and family gatherings, well travelled and educated she was certainly privacy obsessed and while she gave generously too both friends(a small circle)and her nurses and helpers, her somewhat remote family went all out after her death to get their hands on her wealth.
I didn't find Huguette enthralling or engaging in the least and I felt this book was a bit to cobbled together, it didn't flow, the bottom line is that for all her gifts and wealth she was dull and boring and so was her life. I have the 2nd book on Huguette here and at some stage I intend to read it just in the hope that nobody that rich could be so colourless.3/5 stars.
Elvis and Ginger by Ginger Alden.
Ginger was Elvis's last girlfriend and had the dubious honour of finding the King dead. She has also had the honour of being one of very few people too not cash in on her connection. It has not been until now that Ginger has felt the time was right to put pen to paper and a very fine job she has done. There is nothing crass or hokey, she comes across as completely sincere, honest and hardworking without any sense of entitlement, the book is easy to read and once picked up, not easy to put down. It is an interesting read fair and balanced, an insiders look at the private life of the greatest entertainer most of us will never see. Elvis sure was an interesting person, not easy.5/5+
The Hiltons by J. Randy Tarraborelli.
A huge doorstop of a book that takes us from the hard earned beginnings of the Hilton dynasty/fortune right up until today's very hardworking Nicky and Paris Hilton. Tarraborelli is the master of this type of book...simply brilliant, There isn't a weird or wacky story or character missing, every base is covered, the research done and the tale told is well worth the sore arms from trying to hold the book. Like his previous books this one is excellent.5/5.
Dick and Pat by Will Swift.
I have an absolute fascination with American Presidents, their wives, families and hangerons, there is likely not a book on any of them I haven't read or don't own, I've been to the Nixon Library and loved it to death! This was a well researched and empathetic portrait of a couple who didn't always come across well. Easy to read,fair and balanced it painted a portrait of a marriage that didn't always resonate with Americans. Both were interesting characters with strengths and weakness, communication being a biggie. They gave their all to their calling and suffered greatly for it but nevertheless they ended their lives in secure domesticity and with the much shamed Nixon returned as elder statement.5/5 I already have my next presidential read, a new biography called Hissing Cousins, the relationship between Alice Roosevelt Longworth and her cousin Eleanor Roosevelt .
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