When celebrities bring out their biographies, it is customarily a pack of lies. They fall in two categories, how I would have liked my life to have been, and how I would like to be remembered. This one falls into the second category. But whereas other celebrities showed a certain artfulness in names dropping, this is just plain over-kill.

Starting with his childhood in Stockwell, South London, is not a topic that fascinates, nor being a hypochondriac. But calling every person he cares to mention, i.e. names drop, a very good friend is putting it on too brown. And leaving out two marriages and the reasons for their break up just shows the quality of the biography: Zero content. Instead we get some sop about his children and his current marriage.

This book probably started out life as a list of names that then were cobbled together willy nilly by construing painful sentences to fill empty pages. The long litany of names dropped from actors to singers, from presidents to royalty, is interspersed with thin anecdotal comments. The final bomb shell is the last chapter; it's a boring list of all the countries he has ever been. Publisher said it needed a few more pages.

There is absolutely no reason why anybody would want to buy this book. It's bland like a glass of water. It is boring. It puts you to sleep every second passage. Even fans will be shocked by the complete emptiness that is Roger Moore.

I have accorded this book the title of Passenger Number One on the James Bond marketing train. If you like to meet further passengers, here they are:

Why James Bond is Eternal

Quantum of Solace by Ian Fleming: Reviewed

Falling through the earth is an incredibly readable, unusually objective diary portraying very real people.  Half a lifetime's undesirable traits and mistakes are acknowledged and discussed, but never, ever out of self-pity.  The fact the the author can communicate many endured hurts and wrongs so vividly without a "poor me" attitude is a testament to her strength and makes for beautiful, honest narration of a compelling family.

Are you happy by Emily Fox Gordon

Gordon shows us vivid snapshots of her life, my favorite being "the
two of us were like a pair of cats sitting on a windowsill.  At any
given moment, the dominant one might turn the other and cuff it across
the head, but our proximity made a kind of genetic sense."
Unfortunately, the whole book is presented as a life in Polaroids
pulled randomly out of a shoebox.  It is nostalgia, intimate instances
one might look back on with a close friend over coffee.  Gordon,
however, is not my close friend, and does not try to make me one which
leaves me uninterested and unaffected by what she has to say.

Girlbomb by Janice Erlbaum

Let's hear it for the unexceptional delinquent!  Girlbomb shows that a
life doesn't have to hit rock bottom and be filled with all sorts of
depravities to make it an interesting read.  Erlbaum shows herself as
she is--average.  Her circumstances remind us of all the places
average can end up.

In Girlbomb, Janice continually makes one bad decision after another.
With most books I have no patience for stupidity, but in this case I
found myself still cheering her on.  She doesn't always learn anything
from her mistakes, but neither do I.  This book will swallow you
because you know (even if you won't admit it) this character could
have been you.

This book is about Wu Mei and her struggle to fit in with her family. She had been despised from the start because her siblings blamed her for their mother's death. Through her life she makes friends, loses some, gets very mistreated and abused by her Niang, and is sent away to boarding school…twice! This book is a true story of an unwanted daughter, who has to cope with so many of the things we would never even dream of.

The conflicts in the story were man vs. man and man vs. himself. One was man vs. man because of the constant fighting with Wu Mei and her Niang. Her Niang was very easily angered and took it all out on Wu Mei, physically. She beat her and made her so unhappy in her so called home. Another conflict would be man vs. himself because Wu Mei was always trying to hide her emotions and prove her father wrong, that she could be somebody. She tried so hard in school. She got straight A's, Student of the Week five times in a row, and even won Class President! Even then, her father gave in to Niang and turned her away. Soon enough she went to boarding school and was almost completely forgotten.

The conflict of man vs. man was never completely solved. When she was old enough and was still in boarding school, she asked her father to go to England and be in school to become a writer. Her father let her go, but she had to go to medical school. But she got to be away from her Niang and was finally free. The conflict of man vs. himself was never completely solved either. She still had to keep her thoughts straight like before but it was easier because she didn't have to prove anything to anyone and she was not under pressure like before.

I loved this book! Before I had ever read a biography, I thought they would be boring. But after reading this book, I know I will read more in the future. The only thing I didn't like about this book was that Adeline Yen Mah's writing style is somewhat dull. Other than that it was a great story and kept me interested. (Most of the time anyway.)

I would recommend it to anyone from 12 to around 18. It was a very intelligent book, so I think older people would be more interested than younger people.

Bell was brought up in a home where there was an atmosphere of respect for new idea's. His father often invited scientists and writers to there home. At age 15 he spent a year with his grandfather in London, this had an inspiring influence on his life. His grandfather helped him to become ambitious. Also his father and grandfather's careers in the study of sounds of the human voice began Alexander's interest in sound.

Alexander Graham Bell's main accomplishment was the telephone, he changed the world with the telephone. He also invented the audiometer which measured the relative loudness of sound. It was used to measure people's hearing and hearing loss. He made the graphophone which recorded sound on a wax cylinder. He founded the national geographic magazine which you may know now. He also invented the metal detector , the telephonic probe and the worlds first artificial respirator.

Alexander wanted to teach the deaf to speak and become more independent. Alexander achieved his goals and was a teacher of the deaf and a great inventor. He played an important role in the lives of deaf people by the encouragement he gave to Helen Keller who became an inspiration to millions of deaf people around the world. His invention of the Audiometer also helped the hearing impaired. He spent years teaching and tutoring deaf children. Yes, he was successful because he never gave up and he kept on encouraging the deaf and inventing until he died. A factor that influenced his desire to help the hard of hearing was the influence of his mother. Though she was almost completely deaf since childhood she spoke and communicated well, she read lips and she was a talented painter and pianist.

A factor that influenced Alexander's achievements in the field of inventing was a challenge given to him and his friend when he was a boy. His friend's father owned a mill and told them to do something useful instead of getting into mischief at the mill. Alexander rose to the challenge and invented a simple method of husking wheat. As an adult Alexander looked back at that happening and realized that first success in inventing encouraged him greatly to continue inventing.

Bell encouraged and influenced his community,country and maybe even the world in different ways.

His inventions generally improved peoples lives but he also encouraged and helped others by forming different types of groups. For instance with the help of other men he formed the National Geographic Society, the Bell Telephone Company, the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf and the Aerial Experiment Association. Also he encouraged many others though his teaching and devotion of deaf children. These are just some of the well known areas where Bell influenced the world.

I think that he was a great help to the deaf, to teach them and to work with them. His inventions also were a help to everyone, not just the deaf.

I would recommend this book to a friend, because it had a lot of information in it and it was interesting . I would also recommend it to a person who likes history. I especially would recommend it to a person interested in inventing.

The book starts at the beginning of his work experience, cleaning up poop as he gently puts it, and then goes all the way to his current job. I enjoyed the part where Tom slips on a piece of feces that was thrown at him by inmates. I am amazed at the things one person can experience.

Tom also gives the readers great advice, I love this one, your just passing through this world, might as well enjoy it, now put this book down and go try something new, or something you always wanted to do but haven't. I liked that for the simple fact, that he is right. We all are just passing through, and like Tom said when it's all said and done and you reflect on your life, are you going to have regrets on things you should have done? Should have seen?

Well, I am going to go and try to live life more, I think I will learn to play the piano, and I think I will take that trip. But before you decide to do things that you have always dreamt of, check out Mr. Instability on Lulu.com and enjoy. I did.

This tale goes further and deeper than the legendary rock band that Jim Morrison fronted. It is a poignant, unapologetic account of the Lizard King and his Faerie Queen. Pamela and Jim Morrison, a couple who's love defied and in some ways defined an era.

I congratulate Patricia Butler on her unflinching quest to capture the essence of the devotion that Jim and Pamela shared. She went beyond the glaring limelight,and stared myths square in the face.

In this book she painstakingly separates the legend from the facts. Dissecting and in some cases dismantling much of the mystery surrounding the life of the American Poet and his Cosmic Mate.

If you love true romances, I definitely recommend this book. Neither shallow or superficial, this book goes straight to the heart of a love that transcends even death to echo through the ages.

His wife Paula has a career of her own. When his daughter leaves for college, he buys a dilapidated house in the mountains, in spite of the fact that their New York home needs fixing up, and he should think about saving for retirement. In a writer's wobbly financial life, the only predictable thing was that nothing was predictable.

He takes the plunge, for the “new” house was a writer's place.

On and off from 1997, he spends time there with his two Labradors and many books of Thomas Merton. Since his youth this controversial monk was Jewish Katz's spiritual inspiration, as he searches with Merton's for truth and his faith in God. In the end he comes to the disappointing conclusion that the monk didn't find an answer to his many questions after all.

“At the peak of the mountain that looks from New York State across a rural valley carpeted with farms into the green hills of Vermont”, describes the location of the wreck of a house.

We meet Jeff, Jon's peer, writer-brother and friend. Writers really need friends, for they are perpetually in crisis, spend a lot of time alone - a state in which crises loom especially large, according to Jon.

In coming to the mountain he hoped that change, spirituality and idealism weren't only “up there”, but also “down there” in the details of his daily life, work, friends and dreams.

“Journeys of the soul” are key moments or passages in our lives that often ask for spiritual decisions. Jon stopped, stepped out of routine, and took the trouble to think. For him it wasn't a luxury, but an obligation; he forced himself to make deliberate decisions, not on impulse or fear.

As he began to discover himself he realized that he had a choice: change or not. People who choose for change often were happier than those who didn't.

Jon takes us along on his journey of buying the house, the struggles renovating it, how he dealt with undrinkable well water and had to dig a new well, and the mice that seemed to have taken over.

We meet his neighbors - one loans Jon his dog, “Lulu”, who kills more mice than ten cats; the village people who are so helpful and so different from the big city folk he is used to. After Jon had been stupid enough to stand outside while a thunderstorm passed by his house, his closest neighbor, each time a new storm blew in, called to check on him.

Being a web-editor turned out to be very difficult without internet access. He only had a party line to use.

Katz saw turning 50 as a milestone that needed to be recognized and marked, celebrated as a passage, not as a birthday.

50 was the time to take stock. He asked himself how he wanted to spend their remaining years, decided to seize opportunities, and tried to reckon with both past and future. He wanted to spend the next 20 years in a joyful way, not rushing towards aches, pensions and retirement.

He began to realize that publishers, readers, agents and critics could make his life easier or harder, but in the end they couldn't determine what he should be doing and how well he could do it. He decided to stop allowing others to define him, have faith in himself and do better work. Instead of hop scotching across several avenues he would only work on one or two. Writing was what he loved and was meant to do.

For Jon, change (buying the house) had been a clarifying experience. It had been like buying a new pair of glasses with a better prescription. Fuzzy things became clearer, perspective sharper and his focus changed - he rearranged himself.

Through the house and the interactions and friendship with the local people, Jon learned to live life with less fear and more freedom; he realized that he had a worthwhile place in the world and important things to contribute.

Turning 50 for Jon became an exhilarating kickoff to life after 50. His new life motto was: you have to give change the chance to happen, and don't overlook one of life's basic tasks: to have a good time.

His dreams, hope and faith were inextricably linked. He pursued his dreams, believed in them and miraculously, they materialized.

An enjoyable book - even when you're not turning 50 (yet).

Budd Schulberg, the son of the Hollywood movie mogul, Benjamin Schulberg, was born in New York on 27th March, 1914.

After attending school at Dartmouth College, he worked as a screenwriter at Paramount. Schulberg was known for his left leanings and was formerly a member of the Communist Party (1937-40). His biases and affiliations however were not apparent in the first two screenplays, Little Orphan Annie (1938) and White Carnival (1939) he wrote. g

When White Carnival did not fare well in the box office, Schulberg was booted out of Paramount. With plenty of time in his hands, he ventured into writing novels. His very first novel was What Makes Sammy Run? (1941). The book was a satire on Hollywood's power and corruption.

Aside from Hollywood themes, Schulberg also tackled pressing issues relevant to his times even now like racketeering that happened in the union, misuse of public trust and the moral implications of success enjoyed by Americans.

The screenplay "On the Waterfront" (1954) tackled the corruption of organized labor unions on New York docks. His novel The Harder They Fall (1947), heacquainted the reader on the pitfalls of professional boxing. Another screenplay "A Face in the Crowd" (1957) examined the dangers of television. His memoirs Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince (1981) detailed his roots.

In a 1965 article in Los Angeles magazine, Schulberg reminisced about his Hollywood childhood. "If life is a series of disenchantments through which we prepare ourselves, then I was richly endowed, for our castles were built on glamorous quicksand," he wrote, referring to the success and failure of his father who by the time of his death in 1957 was reduced to begging for employment and compulsive gambling.

'What Makes Sammy Run?'

BOOK SUMMARY

'What Makes Sammy Run?' centers on the career of Sammy. Sammy's life is described as a continual "Blitzkrieg against his fellow-men." Sammy came from bottom ranks. His ability to double-cross people, betray his friends, lie to his own family and many other selfish, unscrupulous acts helped him rose swiftly to the top. He first used his wiles in a New York paper. It was there that he first started to work. Then he invaded Hollywood, wreaked havoc as he snaked his way to the top.

Sammy came from the slums, hence his dog-eat-dog outlook in life. His humble origin had contributed to his ruthless character. The pacing in the novel was fast as it examined Hollywood in great detail. It presented Hollywood as a place where one could gain or lose all in an instant. Hollywood was also the place to witness victorious parties at the club of the season, rumors that spread magically on the fate of its dwellers.

In the story, Sammy came from Rivington Street. He was a hardhearted person who had quick wits about him. He started as a copy boy on a newspaper. By the time he was 19, he became a radio columnist. Not contented with his lot, Sammy stole a manuscript to be able to penetrate Hollywood. He had no writing abilities but was able to exploit the system of collaboration in Hollywood.

Sammy's life was for all to see. Mr. Schulberg spared no detail when it came to Sammy. Sammy's portrait is acerbic but was never dull. This made the book What Makes Sammy Run? an important piece of document.

Book Review

In the book What Makes Sammy Run? Schulberg wants to portray the truth of his life, the way he sees it. It is almost hard to distinguish when the truth begins and the imagination ends in his story because of his journalistic approach. One can read a disclaimer before all his fiction: "only the names of the characters are changed to protect the innocent." But the story about Sammy does not revolved around innocence. As a matter of fact, it is the opposite. Sammy's cunning, ruthless way to approach life is simply unimaginable. Schulberg presents a very grim depiction of Hollywood's skeletons in the closet. Stories about success and failure, a person's maltreatment to others, greed leading human misery abound in the novel. All these plots intertwine to make a very interesting read.

What makes the novel brilliant is its honest depiction of the beliefs and hopes that are apparent during the time. The story flows easily, as if it is not forced. The dialogues among characters are less reserved.

Schulberg's life revolved around the motion-picture. As he brilliantly weaves the story and leads us deeper to the search on what makes Sammy run, Schulberg unmasks his own views about the place. The product is a book which stings Hollywood in its honesty and provides an intimate portrait on the life of Hollywood.

This seems to show us that this particular child is very alone and has no one to turn to as he is visiting his parent's graves it shows us that he so much longs for a family that loves him like any other boy of his age has. That he likes to escape the reality of real life and escape to a dream world where he is close to his family and using his imagination, that we already know from his time as a child in the book, he uses it to escape to a dream world where he will picture a life with him and his parents and all of his siblings. But even in this happy place of his that he seems to go to often by his visits to the graveyard.

The sudden announcement of the fugitive disrupts him from this place and drops him straight back into the lone, dark scary world. The convict then goes onto scare pip even further by turning him so if he does have anything it will fall out of his pockets. Then just to help the situation he threatens him with another convict that he has tucked away somewhere in the graveyard and how hard it is for him to stop him coming out and eating him. This doesn't help coupled with the imagination of pips it really scares him as it should but through out all this pip show respect for his elders and for the convict alike by saying yes sir and no sir to hopefully show him respect and not kill him or let his friend on him.

Pip knows that when he is asked to steal some food and a file for the convict that it is wrong and that he shouldn't do it but there is a big problem that he thinks he will be killed if he doesn't. We can't use this as a judge of character as it is simple human nature to protect oneself, if you add up the odds of his situation it will look very clear to him that he will die if he doesn't help him because the convict even said that he would creep into his room while he was tucked up in bed, and that anywhere he went he wouldn't be safe and he couldn't hide.

Pip's only living relative is his much older sister forced the local blacksmith called Joe Gargery into marrying her she by what we can only think of is by force as that's the way she seems to keeps him and pip in some amount of discipline as she calls it “Raised by hand” literally. The first time we meet her she is trying to find pip so she can beat him with a cane and when she enters the room she gives pip a whack the throws him at Joe intentionally but Joe manages to catch him before more harm is caused. This is the way in which his sister seems to treat him all the time and we can concluded that she has never been kind to him it seems a very obvious.

Joe is pip's only real friend in his childhood even thought he is technically an adult he is still a child at heart this is properly why Mrs Joe found it easy to bully him into marriage. He is a true friend and pip sees him as a friend and not a father figure.