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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
If you’re going to state in the introduction that you’re not sure whether a dead man would want his diaries published; do not publish them.
Hard to review someone's diaries. Don't think Mr. Rickman wrote them with the thought of a stranger reading them. I will say this though: through his writing I get the sense that he was a man of intelligence and had a good sense of humor.
Note for readers: If you only know of a select few of Mr. Rickman's acting gigs, keep Google on stand-by. The footnotes in the diary help, but can only be so long/detailed. A quick Google gives better context to the entries and makes the reading experience more enjoyable.
Note for readers: If you only know of a select few of Mr. Rickman's acting gigs, keep Google on stand-by. The footnotes in the diary help, but can only be so long/detailed. A quick Google gives better context to the entries and makes the reading experience more enjoyable.
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
relaxing
I loved getting a look inside AR’s mind, so I did enjoy reading this. However… I’m not sure they needed to be published? Or maybe they should have just picked certain excerpts to do a smaller book. Either way, none of this reads as if it was ever meant to be a book. The passages are often very short. This is no hate to Alan Rickman or his wife at all. If she wanted it done then by all means I’m glad she did, I was just surprised how it read I suppose.
He was always one of my favorites & I’ll always miss him ❤️
He was always one of my favorites & I’ll always miss him ❤️
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
It truly is a diary of Alan Rickman’s daily schedule with some more personal touches sprinkled in. I might have rated it lower if I didn’t absolutely love Alan Rickman. Also, the progression through the years and KNOWING he’s no longer here pulled at my heart strings.
informative
slow-paced
How this book ended up on my TBR: My friend Deanna highly recommended it. We both enjoyed HP and Rickman's performance in particular.
One of my favorite films is Dogma, and one of the reasons I love it is because of Rickman's performance as the Metatron. I much liked him in Sweeny Todd, and I loved him in the HP films. I was so saddened by his passing, and I do love a good biography. This is not a biography, and while I won't say it's "not good", I will say that the 1.5 stars reflects my level of enjoyment listening to it. I usually listen to books on 1.5x speed, but I could not handle it and pushed this to 2.0x, and likely would have sped it up further when granted the opportunity.
I am just not the audience for this book, if that's what we're calling it (certainly a journal or diary can be a book, but it's for an audience of one), and I'm not entirely sure who is. I had great difficulty in the first two hours of the book, and I messaged my friend to ensure that she did indeed love the book enough for me to continue. As a fan of some of his work, I expected that I would find more enjoyment when he got around to discussing the aforementioned works. It's probably by setting that expectation that I felt almost the opposite. This is not to say that the book is disingenuous in any way; over 95% of this book is Rickman's diary entries, and he even mentions that they are more detailed than they have been in previous years. They identify where he's traveling to, which project he's working on, and who he sees. As the years move along, he is more frequently mentioning the passing of friends, colleagues, and mentors. The commentary about the acting profession is fleeting. There is some sharp criticism of directors who can't seem to get their stuff together, thus throwing actors and production into tizzies. I suppose one thing that some folks like about this book is that it humanizes Rickman and shows that he's a nicer fellow than he comes across. Sure, but not for nearly 20 hours.
Another reviewer mentioned that there is an editor for this book (Taylor; narrated by Alfred Enoch, though I'm not sure why we needed a separate narrator, and he did well enough), but no explanation of what work went into editing the book. There are certainly some notes by the editor to clarify names, events, or productions, but otherwise you get the impression that not a lot of editing happened. More's the pity. Emma Thompson's foreword is nice (read by Bonnie Wright; well done). Steven Crossly narrates the vast majority of the book. I think as a narrator he's great and clearly put the work in, but due to no fault of his, he just didn't sound/feel like Rickman to me. Rima Horton, Rickman's wife, reads her own afterword and does a lovely job, both with the concise writing and performance. I much enjoyed the interview with Rickman at the end, short though it was. There are some final entries from Rickman's earlier diaries that I honestly enjoyed more than the later ones.
One of my favorite films is Dogma, and one of the reasons I love it is because of Rickman's performance as the Metatron. I much liked him in Sweeny Todd, and I loved him in the HP films. I was so saddened by his passing, and I do love a good biography. This is not a biography, and while I won't say it's "not good", I will say that the 1.5 stars reflects my level of enjoyment listening to it. I usually listen to books on 1.5x speed, but I could not handle it and pushed this to 2.0x, and likely would have sped it up further when granted the opportunity.
I am just not the audience for this book, if that's what we're calling it (certainly a journal or diary can be a book, but it's for an audience of one), and I'm not entirely sure who is. I had great difficulty in the first two hours of the book, and I messaged my friend to ensure that she did indeed love the book enough for me to continue. As a fan of some of his work, I expected that I would find more enjoyment when he got around to discussing the aforementioned works. It's probably by setting that expectation that I felt almost the opposite. This is not to say that the book is disingenuous in any way; over 95% of this book is Rickman's diary entries, and he even mentions that they are more detailed than they have been in previous years. They identify where he's traveling to, which project he's working on, and who he sees. As the years move along, he is more frequently mentioning the passing of friends, colleagues, and mentors. The commentary about the acting profession is fleeting. There is some sharp criticism of directors who can't seem to get their stuff together, thus throwing actors and production into tizzies. I suppose one thing that some folks like about this book is that it humanizes Rickman and shows that he's a nicer fellow than he comes across. Sure, but not for nearly 20 hours.
Another reviewer mentioned that there is an editor for this book (Taylor; narrated by Alfred Enoch, though I'm not sure why we needed a separate narrator, and he did well enough), but no explanation of what work went into editing the book. There are certainly some notes by the editor to clarify names, events, or productions, but otherwise you get the impression that not a lot of editing happened. More's the pity. Emma Thompson's foreword is nice (read by Bonnie Wright; well done). Steven Crossly narrates the vast majority of the book. I think as a narrator he's great and clearly put the work in, but due to no fault of his, he just didn't sound/feel like Rickman to me. Rima Horton, Rickman's wife, reads her own afterword and does a lovely job, both with the concise writing and performance. I much enjoyed the interview with Rickman at the end, short though it was. There are some final entries from Rickman's earlier diaries that I honestly enjoyed more than the later ones.
emotional
informative
slow-paced
reflective
sad
slow-paced
His diary- it felt invasive to read. It wasn't that interesting and was slow. Lots of entries about appointments and such. Not as much as I hoped on Harry Potter.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Finally, a complete collection of all of his flight schedules and dinner reservations.