Category Archives: Beatles books

October 21, 2011 · 1:40 pm

Book Review: The Baffled Beatlemaniac Caper by Sally Carpenter

What a delight this book was to read! I had seen this book mentioned on BeatlesNews.com and decided to find the author and ask for a review copy. Ms. Carpenter said she’d contact her publisher about getting a copy to me, but after several weeks my mailbox was still empty, so I just bought my own. I prefer buying my own copies to review anyway so I don’t feel obligated to the authors/bands/producers.

Though not really a Beatle book, this fictitious murder mystery takes place in 1993 at a Beatles convention in southern Indiana. When a member of the local Beatles tribute band is murdered, Sandy Fairfax becomes suspect #1 in the eyes of the local police. Sandy is a childhood TV star turned popstar in the 70’s. Pulling from his four years on TV as Buddy Brave, Boy Sleuth, Sandy sets out to clear his name and find the real killer.

This is author Sally Carpenter’s first book in her ‘Sandy Fairfax Teen Idol Mystery Series’ and I think she’s done a great job depicting the nuances of a Beatles fan convention. Throughout the book, we Beatles fans will find many similarities to the well-known Fest for Beatles Fans that take place every year in NY and Chicago. In fact, Ms. Carpenter even mentions Mr. Lapidos’ conventions in her book. Another nice touch is the chapters are named for Beatles songs and Beatles lyrics are hidden within the text of the book.

I find this book to be a great little easy and leisurely read. I only wish Ms. Carpenter were going to write more stories with the Beatles as a theme.

By the time I was halfway through this book, my review copy showed up in the mail! So, I’d like to share this copy with my readers. Anyone posting a comment in the comments section of this post will be entered to win a copy of ‘The Baffled Beatlemaniac Caper’! Contest entries will only be accepted until 11:59 pm on Saturday, October 29, 2011. I will use the random number generator at Random.org to pick the winner and post it on Sunday, October 30th. Good Luck!

You can read another review of this book and an interview with the author here.

This book is available on Amazon.com.

I rate this book: 3 out of 4 Beetles

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Filed under Beatles books, Fan Fiction, Uncategorized

Tagged as Beatlemaniac, beatles, beatles convention, beatles fest, fiction, Sally Carpenter, Sandy

September 23, 2011 · 6:44 pm

Book Review: Paul is Undead by Alan Goldsher

Paul is Undead A couple of weeks ago, my husband I happened to be in the mall on the last day that our local Borders book store was in business. All books were 90% off that day and my husband happened to stumble upon this one. So, I coughed up $1.50 to have something a little off the wall, yet completely on topic to review for my readers.

Let me start by saying that I am not a fan of either fan fiction or zombie genre books or movies. But the back cover of Paul is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion made me laugh:

Learn the tale behind a spiritual journey that resulted in the dismemberment of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Marvel at the seemingly indestructible quartet’s survival of a fierce attach by Eighth Level Ninja Lord Yoko Ono. And find out how the boys escaped eternal death at the hands of England’s greatest zombie hunter, Mick Jagger.

I was pleasantly surprised at how often I laughed out loud while reading this book. The writer seemed to have a real knack at making the boys come to life (or undead) as zombies (though, only 3 of the 4 Beatles are zombies…the 4th is a Ninja). AND, it would seem that Mr. Goldsher is as big a Beatles freak as the rest of us upon discovery that his story includes all the Quarrymen, Allan Williams, George Martin, Elvis, Geoff Emerick and many other well-known people in the Beatles entourage. But one can’t help but notice several important people missing, such as Sid Bernstein and Linda McCartney.

Also lacking in this book, written in the style of interviews, is the dynamic of a true Liverpudlian accent. In fact, the author seems to start out pretty well in the beginning of the book, but the accents seem to go by the wayside at the halfway point. (Note to Mr. Goldsher – please check out the writings of Jude Southerland Kessler on how to write Beatles dialogue) Not only does the dialogue take a downward spiral…but the entire story begins to spiral out of control as each chapter (written in years) seems to get shorter and shorter as the stories get more bizarre, off topic and filled with more profanity. I got the impression about midway through the book that Mr. Goldsher got desperate to increase his page count and just added senseless, humorless filler.

As I said, this book started out great and almost changed my mind about fan fiction…but alas, it ended up putting me to sleep on many occasions. I’m not sure what type of audience the author was hoping to attract or this book would appeal to since some of the details and profanity are too much for the teens that really dig the Eclipse series…and I think true Beatles freaks and baby boomers will find it an insult to their intelligence.

And in the end…you just can’t wait for this book to be done!

I rate this book: 1 out of 4 Beetles

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Filed under Beatles books, Beatles-freak, Fan Fiction, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, reviews, Ringo Starr

Tagged as beatles, beatles books., beatles reviews, books, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, reviews, Ringo Starr, yoko ono

August 12, 2011 · 10:14 am

Book Review: A Date With A Beatle by Judith Kristen

A Date With A Beatle by Judith Kristen

This was my second attempt at reading A Date With A Beatle. I had bought the book at the Fest for Beatles Fans in NJ in 2010. The first time through, I managed to get to page 61 of this 171 page book about a young girl’s attempt to meet George Harrison. I’ll give my first impression report and in the end…I’ll give my overall impression after actually finishing this book.

I picked up this book after meetin Judith Kristen and her husband at The Fest. Knowing that the first editions of Jude Southerland Kessler‘s self-published novel on John Lennon now sell for up to $1000, I figured I’d pick up a 1st edition copy of ‘A Date With A Beatle‘ as an investment. After reading the first 19 very short chapters of this book, I just cringed. Something just didn’t sit right with me about how a woman could remember such detail after 45 years. It was then I saw in the front of the book, “This book is partially fictionalized”. Then it made sense to me that I wasn’t quite sure how much was made up and I felt duped! I put the book down for over a year.

Last week, I decided to pick this book up again and finally review it, knowing full well that this could turn out really bad for any future dealings with Ms. Kristen or her husband since we’ve been known to be seen in the came circles.

Once again…I struggled. After only 1o chapters, I felt like this was work, but I championed on…determined to finish and review it. I tried to anaylize why I was struggling with the way the story was being presented and then it hit me that Judith Kristen is also a children’s book author and I believe that in her own way…she dumbed down this book a bit much. Or maybe it’s the attempt to write it in her voice as it was when she was 16. Or maybe it was the over-the-top conversations between her and her friends and police officers. Finally, I can say I finished it.

I can honestly say that by the her last attempt to meet George Harrison in the story in this book, she had me hooked. The ending is whitty and will make you smile. I am glad I read it…and the latest edition has a beautiful new cover from Beatles artist Eric Cash. I’ve also read that Ms. Kristen has been invited to Beatles Week in Liverpool later this month and then will start a book tour of German where her book has now been published in German. Best of luck to her!

You can buy her book on Amazon.

I can believe I’m about to say this….but…

I rate this book: 3 out of 4 Beetles

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Filed under Beatles books, Beatles-freak, George Harrison, music, reviews

Tagged as Beatle concerts, beatles, beatles books., Beatles Fan, beatles reviews, books, Ed Sullivan, George Harrison, Judith Kristen

July 27, 2011 · 7:21 pm

Book Review: We’re Going to See the Beatles! by Garry Berman

Once again, I’ve fallen behind on my reading. This book has been on my shelf for over 2 years now and it was published in 2008. Hopefully, I’ll eventually catch up with all the Beatles books in my collection.

I’m not sure why I waited so long to read this book. We’re Going to See the Beatles! by Garry Berman was a very enjoyable read and is written in a format that makes it easy to pick up, read a couple pages and put it back down until you have another moment or two (I’m refraining to from calling it a bathroom book, but truth be known, it’s perfect for the ‘library’ in the throne room!).

As someone who was born in the summer of ’64, I missed Beatlemania. I admit to not really giving them the time of day until I was in my late teens. Yeah, we sang the songs in elementrary school…and yeah, ‘Live and Let Die’ was my first Bond movie…but becoming a hardcore fan didn’t happen until I was in my senior year of high school. But that’s another story for another day.

It was delightful to read what happened during Beatlemania from the fans perspective. Reading about being crazed by the sight of the Beatles in concert or on the Ed Sullivan show, along with the feelings of anticipation of all their albums is something that I’ve never witnessed in my lifetime. And believe me…I attended a Jonas Brothers concert 2 years ago at a stadium in Utah and they are NO Beatles!

This book is a must read for anyone like myself who missed the sixties due to being born too late or any Beatles fan that had parents that forbade them to listen to ‘that noise’ or attend their concerts. We’re Going to See the Beatles! will bring the story to you in a way that no other book or documentary can. It will take you inside the minds of fellow Beatles-freaks who were actually there.

You can read a great interview with Garry about the writing of this book at: Forgotten Hits.

We’re Going to See the Beatles! is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I rate this book: 4 out of 4 Beetles

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Book Review: Paul McCartney’s Solo Music Career by John Cherry

Unfortunately, I can’t remember when I was offered the opportunity to review this book…it was either late last year or early this year. Anyway, my apologies to the author and publisher for the delay.

Getting straight to the point, I believe the author of this book set the tone for me of the entire book in the book’s Foreword when he proceeds to spend too much time criticising the critics of his first book and then refers to McCartney’s movie “Give My Regards to Broad Street” as shallow and self-centered. I personally loved the movie.

John Cherry (the author) seems incredibly shallow and self-centered in his presentation of the facts of McCartney’s solo career. I’m not sure exactly what I was reading. This book is not a guide…since there is no indexing of songs. I guess it could be a biography, but there is so much missing…including song titles!

Several times throughout the book, the author spends entire paragraphs detailing a song…but fails to mention the song title. “Mull of Kintyre” was a standout example.

The reader is also introduced to much of Mr. Cherry’s private life as he continually mentions his personal life events and how they related to McCartney’s music. Sorry…but I considered this TMI!

I could go on, but what’s the point? Exactly! What’s the point to this book? Either too much info or not enough info…and the straw that broke the camels back and made me lose faith is this writing was the typo “Paula”. Seriously? Someone didn’t catch that?!

For more information or to order this book, go to Amazon.com.

I rate this book: 1 out of 4 Beetles

4 Comments

Filed under Beatles books, music, Paul McCartney, reviews

August 18, 2010 · 1:04 pm

Book Review – The Last Days of John Lennon

The Last Days of John Lennon – A Personal Memoir : by Frederic Seaman

Okay, so I’m a bit behind on my reading (this book was published in 1991), but I’m not like a lot of Beatles freaks…I don’t feel the need to know every detail of the Fab Four’s lives to know that they were the greatest band the world has ever known. I have to admit that I never heard of the conspiracy theories on John Lennon’s death until about 6 months ago. This is one of the books that was on the recommended reading list of a friend that turned me on to this alternative premise as to how/why Lennon was murdered.

The author of this book, Frederic Seaman had the dream job of many Beatles’ fans around the world – he was John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s personal assistant. And being the smart boy that he was, Frederic kept personal journals on the daily ins and outs and going-ons in the Lennono world.

I can honestly say that this book held my interest. It’s definitely a different read than some of the other Lennon bios that I’ve read like: Larry Kane’s Lennon Revealed, Cynthia Lennon’s John and May Pang’s Loving John. It also brought up a lot of questions in my mind as to who was the real John Lennon in those two years leading up to his murder. Frederic Seaman’s book paints a very scary portrait of a man that Beatles fans never knew existed and an even scarier image of exactly who Yoko Ono was/is.

Would I recommend this book? That depends on how you feel about Lennon’s image. If you’re a diehard fan that wants to know every detail and read every word every written about the Beatles, then yeah…read the book. I will tell you though that this book came to me with a warning from a friend that those who follow believe the theory that there was a conspiracy to kill John Lennon have been the victims of some pretty bizarre events.

For me though, knowing this all information doesn’t help in bringing John Lennon back no matter what the circumstances were behind his death. Nor will the next book on my reading list – Who Killed John Lennon? by Fenton Bresler.

Until the next time…R.I.P. John

Rated: 2 out of 4 Beetles