Recycled Plots & Famous Rich People
919202
OK, first the good:  This is Kingsbury's best book in awhile.  I'd almost given up after having my money stolen for "The Bridge," the oddly boring-and-then-depressing "Coming Home," and the horrible Bailey Flanigan series.  With "The Chance," Karen returns to the types of characters and stories that made her popular.

But the recycled plot line is getting ridiculous:  Young couple is brutally separated by cruel parents who keep their letters and otherwise thwart their desperate attempts to get back in touch.  Let's see:  "Even Now," "A Moment of Weakness," and her even her most recent book, "The Bridge"!  Oh, and there's always the adorable, perfect, beautiful child who came out of the wreckage. Same story over and over and over.

Now the famous rich people:  We've had NFL stars and coaches (Ryan Taylor, Jim Flanigan, etc.) and now the NBA version of Tim Tebow.  We have movie stars and Broadway performers, and I take it the next book is about an American Idol-type winner.  Karen's early books were about teachers and lawyers and firemen and pilots.  Real people, not rich people always in the limelight.  What's up with that, anyway?  (But I really like baseball. Can we have one about a baseball player?)

It's gotten old and tired and kind of silly.  Karen is running on fumes.  It's too bad.
3298831
The author has reinvented himself several times in the course of a remarkable, roller coaster career, from singer-songwriter of the Velvets-like Cleveland punk-rock band Human Switchboard to a successful A&R exec at Epic, where he helped resurrect recent Hall of Fame inductee Alice Cooper's career, and finally, as President of Hollywood Records, where he was, for a brief shining moment, Disney boss Michael Eisner's chosen one. The fall was swift, though, and Pfeifer ended up serving time for his involvement in the notorious Anthony Pellicano wire-tapping scandal, and is now in the midst of yet another chapter in his remarkable story.

Bob would rather put the past behind him, so if you want to know what he went through, you'll have to comb the pages of this novel, inspired by the fabulist tales of the late Chilean poet/author Robert Bolano, who emerges as a major character in the book, to find out. All that paranoia, fear, loathing and Kafkaesque sense of injustice goes into this seriocomic, sometimes absurdist story of a worldwide conspiracy, allegedly launched by Bolano himself in a series of letters to the titular Strangers, a gaggle of celebrities and near-celebrities ranging from rock critic types like, well, yours truly (quoted by Barry Manilow, no less), to the unlikely celebrity triumvirate of Woody Allen, Lars Von Trier and The Kills/Dead Weather punk singer Alison Mosshart, as the fellow conspirators unwittingly converge on the town of Perugia, Italy, where the real-life trial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of 21-year-old U.K. student Meredith Kercher is taking place.

It's obvious Pfeifer relates that miscarriage of justice to his own, as he proceeds to skewer the current TMZ fascination with celebrity culture and follows it to its ultimate overkill cul-de-sac. A pair of hapless victims, Branko P and his sidekick Juan, form a Hunter S. Thompson-esque pair who are thrown into jail on a trumped-up rape charge, and somehow find themselves in the middle of the Strangers' attempt to throw a wrench into the system to bring it to a grinding halt. Pfeifer uses the fragmentary narrative of the post-modern Internet like an information editor to connect the disparate dots, with tongue firmly in cheek, though his frustrated anger at getting caught up in something clearly out of his control comes across loud and clear. Also coming across loud and clear is an accompanying five-song download, a collaboration between Pfeifer and No Wave icon, the Bush Tetras' Cynthia Sley which brings him back full circle to being a punk-rock auteur.

It's been a long, strange trip for Pfeifer, but University of Strangers represents his expiation of what's come before, a clearing of the deck which now allows him to move ahead. Who says there are no third chapters in American lives... aside from F. Scott Fitzgerald? Not Bob Pfeifer, that's for sure. He's survived to tell a story that may be short on logic, but is long on credibility. - Roy Trakin

Roy Trakin is Senior Editor of HITS magazine and author of the weekly music biz column "Trakin Care of Business."
3145612
Yeah, Bingo and Handsome again, on the road from Brooklyn to Hollywood,
notes of historical interest provided by Handsome's perfect photographic memory,
pass through a town called Thursday, in Iowa.
They buy a turkey farm and 500 turkeys,
that will be worth $10.00 each in three to four weeks,
because the poor farmer's mother is very ill in Illinois
and he can't stick around to make that profit,
so will let it all go for $2000.00.
Hmmmmm, there seems to be a pattern here;
"buying the Brooklyn Bridge" but somehow profiting from it anyway
by solving a crime, aided by Handsome's perfect photographic memory,
with the usual looney and shady characters, and in this case,
a low down character, a little too real, that seems out of her style.
(My dust jacket does not suggest this. *Oh, I have a used hardcover edition.)

Their adventure started in New York City with "The Sunday Pidgeon Murders",
which I know of but haven't read,
with "The April Robin Murders" finishing the trilogy.
32287
Stuart Woods is getting lazy. Glad he is over his 50 shades of grey period but recycling gets old.
3435882
I think Tom Tierney does a wonderful job with these books of movie star paper dolls. They're beautifully rendered with attention to detail. But the great potential in this book depicting stars of movies from the '70s is wasted on less than inspired choices of film costumes and actresses.

To be fair, the dolls and costumes representing Liza Minnelli, Diane Keaton, Faye Dunaway, Goldie Hawn and Sally Field are excellent and show off important costumes from their films. (Although I would suggest other costumes for Sally; the short robe from "Hooper is particularly dull.) But some creative choices might have improved the book's overall quality.

I'd suggest moving Ann-Margret to Mr. Tierney's book featuring actresses from the '60s, a period of which she's a better representative. Susan Sarandon and Meryl Streep are both likelier candidates for inclusion in the edition focusing on the '80s. In their places, I'd recommend Mia Farrow (with excellent costumes from "The Great Gatsby", "Death On The Nile", "A Wedding" and "Hurricane"), Diana Ross (great choices from "Lady Sings The Blues", "Mahogany" and "The Wiz") and Jacqueline Bisset ("The Mephisto Waltz", "Murder On The Orient Express" and "The Greek Tycoon").

These would be a better representation of glamour in '70s Hollywood.
3684328
Hollywood scandal makes for juicy reading. However, this book is short on real scandal. Even those stories covering actual career-breaking scandals (Fatty Arbuckle, Wallace Reid, Clara Bow, etc.) offer nothing in the way of new information or novel theories. Most of the chapters focus on mild themes of "marriage roulette" (Gable & Lombard, Bogie & Bacall, etc.) or stars with mold-breaking images (Brando, James Dean, Mae West, etc.), but mostly leave out any rumors that could have provided actual career scandals. For example, the chapter on Dean makes little mention of the rumors of his sexual proclivities; the chapter on Brando makes no mention of rumors of his devoted "friendship" with former roommate Wally Cox. Seek out other books if Hollywood scandal is what you're looking for.
2402424
A bunch of rich snobs complain about how boring life is while putting down or bullying poorer people. Wow, great literature. I read about 30 pages, skimmed ahead, still didn't see anything of value, and gave up. Life is too short too waste on overrated crap.
1001061
The book summary says:

"Having had much of his own time and money wasted by motivational speakers and "series authors" out to get rich off selling books, seminars and DVD's, Costello gets his revenge by showing his audience how to achieve their dreams without spending so much as a dollar on the "wealth industry"" ...

And yet, ironically, it would seem to me that in fact, Mr. Costello is doing quite the opposite. He is showing the reader how to achieve their dreams by first spending dollars on his book... and in so doing he is electing to join the very same "wealth industry" to which he purports to object.

Interesting...
556299
The stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things is wonderful. No Kudos for them either. They don't do what they do for fame or money - maybe we could all learn from that.
743656
Thought it appropriate to paraphrase a pop culture classic with actual interesting fictional rich people in it (Clueless). The exotic locales, private jets, and exclusive parties within the pages of Crazy Rich Asians are described in such a way that the reader wants to be there ... without the snoozy characters who litter the picturesque backdrop with their boring words and self-generated problems. Potted plants could come up with snappier dialogue than these alleged "crazies," and said foliage certainly wouldn't need a bunch of footnotes (which I started skipping over after the first few chapters) to clarify what's been not-so-crazily said. Each surprise twist and alleged mystery ends with a whimper that I wasn't invested enough to see coming from a mile away. In the end, I was left feeling as I do whenever I eat Chinese food for dinner: hungry for something else!
1411064
The French author Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) wrote nearly a hundred books over the course of his relatively short life.  Most are considered part of his incomplete opus titled La Comedie Humaine (the Human Comedy), with reoccurring characters and overlapping themes.  The goal of this oeuvre was to create a panoramic view of French society, staring from the Revolution and continuing to the current (mid nineteenth century) age, exploring the aspects of country, city and military life.  Balzac believed that just as the differences of heredity and environment produce various species of animals, so did the varying pressures of society produce differentiations among human beings.  In the Human Comedy, Balzac attempted to describe and classify these human "species."
_Pere Goriot_ is arguably the most famous and artistically successful entry of the opus, a masterful study of a father who sacrifices his wealth and health to assure his two daughters into the hotbed of Parisian high-society.  Through the eyes of Rastignac, an impoverished youth eager to gain social success, we see Goriot's maniacal obsession to his "babies," constantly succumbing to their lavish demands and paying off their debts, all the while prevented from being seen in public with them or even visiting their houses.  Goriot is deemed unfit company and a threat to the illusion of success, the latter of which being Balzacs central theme for this particular novel:
In the whirl of Parisian high-life, it is not so much the individual talent or intelligence or virtue one has that gives him or her a respected standing; instead, the trappings of wealth and the way in which one displays it is the standard and the rule: conspicuous consumerism for the bygone era.  And let us gaze upon the technocratic twenty-first-century pyramid of Hollywood and its ilk-with actresses famous solely for the size of their breasts, and psychos killing just to appear on television, and a whole media subculture slavishly devoted to the whims and waste and trials of the celebrity identity, it is easy to see that the game never ends, the rules never really change; in this cyclical social circus, those with the finest illusion garner the highest raves, the chance at longevity, the narcotic of fame.  Proof of that ancient adage: how much times change, how much they stay the same
This is an amazing book.  Highly recommended to the student of life.
4421333
Among the many excesses that New York City can claim is one of the most rediculous real estate systems in the world. The sub-title of this book says a lot, there is a passion in the real estate business in Manhattan. In a space of only a few square miles the rich (sometimes famous, sometimes not) have created a strange sub-culture that exists just like others around the city.

The difference here is that these people are the people you would expect to be secure in their lives, not filled with petty gossip and rivalries. But that's not the case. A good bit of the book is about the co-op board who has the right to accept or reject a new prospective purchaser. For instance no attractive divorced women need apply, the wives of the existing tennants don't want their husbands riding in the elevators with them. Likewise, no single men, we, after all, don't want gays in our building. I was surprised to read a lot of this. I would have thought that the civil rights legislation would have prevented such actions. But perhaps that was only to be applied in the South.

Very interesing side of the housing market.
2727003
Picture this.  You are on a private jet destined for a mansioned villa aabove the hills of Rome.  Before you is a bottle of Dom Perignon and lots of Russian caviar.
Or you may decide instead to visit the palace overlooking the principality of Monaco.  No matter because your arrival will be met with champagne, caviar and lots of servants.  That envelope on the table is from Princess Grace with an invitation to a special celebrity studded event celebrating someone or something.
You may have decided to put Paris on your agenda where an estate overlooking the glamour of the city awaits you.
Atop the hills of Acapulco sits a wondrosity that dwarfs other surrounding palaces with a view of life and lights below a king might well appreciate.
And then there are always the hills above Beverly-Beverly Hills- with acres of abodery and views of world class restaurants.
There are no landlord issues anywhere because you own them all!  By any definition living was supreme and it  was palpably reflected in the fondness and affection that  prevailed between Grace and Harold.
Buy nothing is forever.  Harold feels pressure to sustain his weriting standards and turns to addictive for relief.  Eventually he will compromise both personal and professional discipline resulting in a dissolution of marriage and numerous life changes.  It will ultimately transform a life of supremacy into on of dependency.
Iconic celebrities tend to have a lifelong sidecar attachment of temptations, insecurities, challenges and intensities that may remain to the end.
Grace Robbins ccredibly presents some of these issues as the related ot experiences.
2294948
I was astonished to find that Arcadian Adventures of the Idle Rich seems to be only available new as various reprints of the same unedited public-domain scans.  The quality is readable, and all the pages are present. However, they are replete with dark marks at the edges and notes scrawled by previous readers.  It's a pity no publisher has reissued this book in a newly typeset format with a custom-designed cover, not a generic one the reprint publisher uses for numerous other books.  Or at least a clean copy could have been scanned.

However, the *content* is superb. Stephen Leacock satirizes the social events, marriages, educations, morals, politics, and especially the business practices of the 1910s New England or New York nouveau riche. (It's not clear exactly where the action is located.) This world is reminiscent of that of P.G. Wodehouse. As a writer, Leacock is more understated and more intellectual than Wodehouse. (Leacock was a university professor of political economy.) In some ways Leacock is kinder--a number of appealing, morally pure, though unintelligent innocents are caught in the toils of this society and must somehow escape it or make peace with it. Then, as is common in books of this era, every young unmarried woman is chivalrously depicted as innocent and beautiful.

Plotwise, Arcadian Adventures is a series of interconnected short stories with overlapping characters. A broke British duke tries to borrow money from Americans who instead want him to invest in their businesses. A hick becomes a multimillionaire when gold is discovered on his family farm. He plays the stock market in an attempt to rid himself of the burden of wealth--something the president of the local university is only too happy to help him do. Two ex-prisoners con a group of empty-headed, idle society matrons. (Leacock fails to point out that this is the kind of woman all those innocent, beautiful girls will presumably become.) A sweet but stupid young-man-about-town falls in love with every unmarried woman he meets. The rector of a Presbyterian church celebrated for hellfire sermons competes with an Anglican vicar known for his attendance at tango teas. A philosophy professor has a stroke because a student asks an intelligent question. In the last chapter, all the tycoons band together to "clean up" city politics.

Leacock's irony is unflagging, and his prose is delightful.  Don't deprive yourself of this treat just because most editions of this book are badly produced.
4765803
Shame on the people inside this book whose scandalous lives provide such fun reading! By reducing (or is it "elevating") to graphic recreations the misadventures of these celebrities and other assorted famous people who got caught in the act, the authors and artists here provide us with some wickedly delightful re-tellings  of the juiciest scandals of the recent past. They're all here!
4929123
As noted elsewhere Rogue's Gallery, by Michael Gross, is a history of New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The book covers the entire history of the Metropolitan and is dividing into sections that highlight the dominant drivers during each era. It probably isn't a true history of the institution per se but more of a social history of the major individuals (Directors, Presidents and benefactors) who dominated. It is fair to say that most are discussed in a very gossipy manner and the reader may well enjoy discovering how their "betters" behave. A number of important issues, such as removing artifacts from developing countries and handling art previously looted by the Nazis, are covered clearly but the emphasis remains on individuals behaving questionably in those regards.

Michael Gross is a very competent author and brings the characters vividly to life. The book reads well and the material is well organized. Given the wide time frame covered it can also be said that the book doesn't "bog" down along the way.

The negative to the book is that there are no heroes or even morally decent individuals with whom readers can relate. Most of the major characters are portrayed as highly flawed. Where the author says anything good about a character he almost inevitably balances it by saying something bad about them. I don't deny that reading all of this negative gossip isn't compelling. Its just that at the end you're left slightly depressed and in need of a bath!
1631153
These people are just too rich...however I did enjoy the book and it keeps the story line going.