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Dragonholder: The Life and Dreams (So Far) of Anne McCaffrey by Todd McCaffrey, Anne McCaffrey
mal_eficent's review
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
Anne McCaffrey has been a large part of my life for a very long time but, being a child for most of my obsession with Pern and in the UK, I've never known really known a lot about her life or how authors at the time really got their start. This filled in this gaps for me quite a lot, and it clarified the way her life influenced her work. It was really interesting to read about her impact in the Convention space, organisations that required membership, and just the way magazines used to be much more important to the sci-fi/fantasy genre than they are now. I'm glad Todd included a lot of small details about publication costs and random tangents that might have been missed in a more conventional biography.
Of course, it is a biography written by a son about his mother. There's a lot of random family moments and mythology that makes its way in here that made me roll my eyes a little bit (I don't think I'd have gotten on with McCaffrey, for all I love her writing) but it cut to the heart of who McCaffrey was at the time in a heartwarming way.
I'd recommend this to any McCaffrey fans out there!
Of course, it is a biography written by a son about his mother. There's a lot of random family moments and mythology that makes its way in here that made me roll my eyes a little bit (I don't think I'd have gotten on with McCaffrey, for all I love her writing) but it cut to the heart of who McCaffrey was at the time in a heartwarming way.
I'd recommend this to any McCaffrey fans out there!
jeni_dean's review against another edition
5.0
I enjoyed this even more than I thought I would. It felt very warm and personal and I couldn’t stop the tears at the end.
A short but sweet look into the incredible life of an incredible woman.
“Who wills,
Can.
Who tries,
Does.
Who loves,
Lives.”
A short but sweet look into the incredible life of an incredible woman.
“Who wills,
Can.
Who tries,
Does.
Who loves,
Lives.”
divadiane's review
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
3.0
Not a complete biography and actually more about Todd's experiences of Anne's life than hers. Not enough pictures or images of mementos, if you ask me.
felinity's review
4.0
I was a little dismayed when I saw how short this was, but the introduction explained why: written in 1999, it's more like a scrapbook of family stories, and ends in 1988 shortly after The White Dragon was first published.
In it we learn about Anne's childhood, what - and who - brought her to Ireland, and how elements of life influenced everything from her characters' emotional distress to those little touches of reality like bubbly pies and overly-intelligent animals as well as events which became plotlines. I was surprised by her interaction with the SF community and other now-big names (Isaac Asimov, Harry Harrison, James Blish and more) and there were some nice reminiscences there.
There are good times and bad times, happy memories and angry or sad ones, and definitely some hard times (other aspiring novelists should pay attention to these), but overall this is indeed explaining some of the stories behind the stories.
In all, a nice little book, good for McCaffrey fans. I wish that with this 2014 re-release it had been updated to include more of her life; I feel that it stopped just when her writing career had taken off, and I'd love to have read the same sort of stories which inspired her later works.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
In it we learn about Anne's childhood, what - and who - brought her to Ireland, and how elements of life influenced everything from her characters' emotional distress to those little touches of reality like bubbly pies and overly-intelligent animals as well as events which became plotlines. I was surprised by her interaction with the SF community and other now-big names (Isaac Asimov, Harry Harrison, James Blish and more) and there were some nice reminiscences there.
There are good times and bad times, happy memories and angry or sad ones, and definitely some hard times (other aspiring novelists should pay attention to these), but overall this is indeed explaining some of the stories behind the stories.
In all, a nice little book, good for McCaffrey fans. I wish that with this 2014 re-release it had been updated to include more of her life; I feel that it stopped just when her writing career had taken off, and I'd love to have read the same sort of stories which inspired her later works.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
invisibleninjacat's review
3.0
As others have mentioned, this reads like a scrapbook, which is interesting in its way but doesn't provide a very straightforward timeline of events, or even in some instances generations. However, there are a lot of fun stories in there.
bookwyrm_lark's review
2.0
Review originally published at The Bookwyrm's Hoard.
Don’t go into Todd McCaffrey’s Dragonholder expecting a thorough and insightful portrait of Anne McCaffrey. Instead, the book is a self-described “scrapbook” of memories, stories, and background information about Todd’s famous mother. Like most scrapbooks, it’s somewhat superficial and not at all critical; it’s also choppy, jumping back and forth in time in ways that are usually but not always clear.
The book was written back in the late 1980s, with Anne McCaffrey’s full blessing and cooperation, and was re-released in December 2014 by Open Road Media with a new cover and a new foreword by Todd. The writing style of the original text is conversational, and I have to say that Todd’s writing has improved in the years since he wrote Dragonholder; the prose here is a bit pedestrian and lacks polish.
Open Road graciously gave me an ARC of their edition, and it was only on reading it that I realized I had actually read the book before, back in the 1990s or early 2000s. My impression then was similar. The book is worth reading if (like me) you are a die-hard McCaffrey fan, because you do get a sense of her background and where various story ideas came from, but it’s not a deeply engrossing biography. On the other hand, it is a very fast read, so if you can put up with the temporal quirks and lack of depth, you’ll be rewarded with some interesting facts about McCaffrey’s life and work.
2.5 stars
Don’t go into Todd McCaffrey’s Dragonholder expecting a thorough and insightful portrait of Anne McCaffrey. Instead, the book is a self-described “scrapbook” of memories, stories, and background information about Todd’s famous mother. Like most scrapbooks, it’s somewhat superficial and not at all critical; it’s also choppy, jumping back and forth in time in ways that are usually but not always clear.
The book was written back in the late 1980s, with Anne McCaffrey’s full blessing and cooperation, and was re-released in December 2014 by Open Road Media with a new cover and a new foreword by Todd. The writing style of the original text is conversational, and I have to say that Todd’s writing has improved in the years since he wrote Dragonholder; the prose here is a bit pedestrian and lacks polish.
Open Road graciously gave me an ARC of their edition, and it was only on reading it that I realized I had actually read the book before, back in the 1990s or early 2000s. My impression then was similar. The book is worth reading if (like me) you are a die-hard McCaffrey fan, because you do get a sense of her background and where various story ideas came from, but it’s not a deeply engrossing biography. On the other hand, it is a very fast read, so if you can put up with the temporal quirks and lack of depth, you’ll be rewarded with some interesting facts about McCaffrey’s life and work.
2.5 stars
jodimiller37's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
5.0
Dragon books. The tower series
Thank you for taking me to these places💕💕💕
Thank you for taking me to these places💕💕💕
bookcrazylady45's review
3.0
I adore the Pern universe. The story behind the story creation. First review in 2002. Book was shorter than I remembered and it saddened me to realize there were so many more books and she is gone. This book covered the years before success and just at the very beginning when she could live on her writing.
jacattack13's review
4.0
My Life as a Bookworm
You can see the full review on my blog listed above.
Dragonsong was my first book of Anne and to get the chance to find out more about her was great! I received the book from Netgalley for an honest review.
You can see the full review on my blog listed above.
Dragonsong was my first book of Anne and to get the chance to find out more about her was great! I received the book from Netgalley for an honest review.
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