Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
I was given an advanced copy of "In Their Lives: Great Writers on Great Beatles Songs." by Netgalley and Blue Rider Press in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thank you!
I was interested in reading this book as I myself am a huge Beatles fan. I have many books about The Beatles and all their records, and was interested to know what other Beatle fans thought of the Fab Four. I have to admit that all but one (David Duchovny) of the writers in this book were unknown to me. The essays themselves are of different interest to me. Some writers deconstruct their chosen song, chord by chord, and give their opinion on what this means to them, others tell of their lives at the time of hearing their chosen song for the first time. And others tell of their memories of the time the song was released. The stories themselves are interesting to read, but some were less interesting to read than others, also mistaken facts about the Beatles pop up every so often which I was surprised weren't caught. Overall its an interesting read. But it needed more identifiable people to be involved.
I was interested in reading this book as I myself am a huge Beatles fan. I have many books about The Beatles and all their records, and was interested to know what other Beatle fans thought of the Fab Four. I have to admit that all but one (David Duchovny) of the writers in this book were unknown to me. The essays themselves are of different interest to me. Some writers deconstruct their chosen song, chord by chord, and give their opinion on what this means to them, others tell of their lives at the time of hearing their chosen song for the first time. And others tell of their memories of the time the song was released. The stories themselves are interesting to read, but some were less interesting to read than others, also mistaken facts about the Beatles pop up every so often which I was surprised weren't caught. Overall its an interesting read. But it needed more identifiable people to be involved.
Some of the stories were good, but mostly they were more analysis and less personal stories, like I expected.
And though the book was rather dull
I didn't hate it all
There's a few good paragraphs
I don't recommend reading this entire collection--too many quotidian observations from too many talented writers whose work seems out of place here. For the all-killer, no-filler version, read:
Chuck Klosterman on "Helter Skelter"
Amy Bloom on "Norwegian Wood"
Rick Moody on "The End"
Rebecca Mead on "Eleanor Rigby"
Ben Zimmer on "I Am the Walrus"
I didn't hate it all
There's a few good paragraphs
I don't recommend reading this entire collection--too many quotidian observations from too many talented writers whose work seems out of place here. For the all-killer, no-filler version, read:
Chuck Klosterman on "Helter Skelter"
Amy Bloom on "Norwegian Wood"
Rick Moody on "The End"
Rebecca Mead on "Eleanor Rigby"
Ben Zimmer on "I Am the Walrus"
Consisting of an interesting if slightly confusing collection of essays from fans of the Beatles, I felt a bit like this book suffers from a lack of direction. Some essays are serious musical theory studies into what makes the songs great while others are personal recollections on what a song meant to the author at a certain time. Both are perfectly acceptable directions to take when discussing the Beatles, but not necessarily when doing both at once.
Like most edited essay books, the essays here range from reviews of the actual Beatles songs to short stories that mention a Beatles song almost in passing. I would have referred analyses of the songs, what makes them great, or why it touches one of the writers. Some of the writing is brilliant; a few, though, barely pass muster. I wish I had been asked to write for it. :)
A smart idea with the odd dud and plenty of great memoir which serves to remind the reader that The Beatles will live on much as Mozart does today: good melodies, great war stories and fine characters. No wonder McCartney gave his blessing to the project with 'a note' at the top.
While reading these personal essays, I was reminded of [b:The Peanuts Papers: Charlie Brown, Snoopy & the Gang, and the Meaning of Life|44300078|The Peanuts Papers Charlie Brown, Snoopy & the Gang, and the Meaning of Life|Andrew Blauner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568403393l/44300078._SX50_.jpg|68829678], which I thoroughly enjoyed. The most interesting pieces (here, there, and everywhere—sorry) are the accounts that end up speaking to wider sociocultural issues, as the best essays do, or the ones where a change or shift has happened in the writer’s perspective.
The editor states in his introduction that the book is presented chronologically, “according to the date of the song’s release.” That’s not consistently true, especially in the middle of the book, which bothers my obsessive-compulsive sense of proportion. My other quibble is the (very) few factual errors in a few of the authors’ stories, which may have been mistakes not corrected in the editing process, things like which song was a Paul or a John song, plus it's a fact that Ringo had his new last name before he joined the Beatles. But these are minor issues, taking away nothing from the writers’ insights about the songs and their place in our culture.
It was fun to read an essay or two at bedtime and if the book has missed that final star from me, it’s likely because, unlike with the Peanuts essays, I know “too much” about the Beatles. (Maybe I should heed George’s words: All the world is birthday cake/ So take a piece but not too much—and now I’ve mentioned all four of them.) Funnily enough, as I just went to check on my review of the The Peanuts Papers, I see it has the same editor.
The editor states in his introduction that the book is presented chronologically, “according to the date of the song’s release.” That’s not consistently true, especially in the middle of the book, which bothers my obsessive-compulsive sense of proportion. My other quibble is the (very) few factual errors in a few of the authors’ stories, which may have been mistakes not corrected in the editing process, things like which song was a Paul or a John song, plus it's a fact that Ringo had his new last name before he joined the Beatles. But these are minor issues, taking away nothing from the writers’ insights about the songs and their place in our culture.
It was fun to read an essay or two at bedtime and if the book has missed that final star from me, it’s likely because, unlike with the Peanuts essays, I know “too much” about the Beatles. (Maybe I should heed George’s words: All the world is birthday cake/ So take a piece but not too much—and now I’ve mentioned all four of them.) Funnily enough, as I just went to check on my review of the The Peanuts Papers, I see it has the same editor.
You need good music, but you also need good writers to talk about it, Luckily, this book pretty much has both.
Ho-Hum. With very few exceptions, most of these chapters are talking about the writers' youth and when they first got into the Beatles. What did I expect?