Reading Wednesday
Oct. 30th, 2019 07:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
troisoiseauxI finished The Disappearing Spoon on Wednesday night; since both of the books I planned to read next were still on hold, I picked back up on Nicholas Nickleby rather than start something new. The plotline about the terrible school resolved itself more quickly than I expected (which is a relief, because Not Being In The Mood For That was the reason I’d been neglecting this book for so long) and things have been moving at a brisk pace since then.
I’m most invested in Kate’s plotline, at the moment, and I have a very soft spot in my heart for Newman Noggs, because of course I do. I’m warming up towards Nicholas, because initially he struck me as having all the personality of mashed potatoes [the better to use as a vehicle to introduce a shifting cast of absurd, satiric side characters with, my dear!] with a dash of “I’ll kick your ass! I’ll kick everybody’s ass! I’ll kick my own ass!” for spice, but I found myself won over by his quietly amused, “adult life is already so weird, this might as well happen” reaction to life in the Crummles’ theater troupe.
I got to about the halfway point of Nicholas Nickleby by Sunday night, when – literally just as Nicholas overheardSir Mulberry and Lord whatshisface?? Some Mysterious Strangers being disrespectful about his sister and was, presumably, about to go kick their asses – I got an alert that it was my turn for Elton John’s memoir, Me, on Libby!
I grew up on Elton John’s music – both knowingly (my dad’s a big fan, because he grew up listening to Elton John) and unknowingly (The Lion King, The Road to El Dorado) – but I’ve never been the kind of person who knows a lot about the musical artists they like? So, Elton John has been a consistent but abstract concept in my life until two weeks ago, when I watched half of Rocketman (2019) on a plane and immediately came down with a bad case of Feelings about it. And then I stumbled across a couple of reviews of his new memoir - including this article about all the wild celebrity stories in it - and knew I had to get my hands on it immediately.
(‘Immediately’ turned out to be closer to two weeks, because I managed to beat the rush & be the first person to put it on hold on Libby, but someone already had it out and took forever to return it.)
It always feels weird to “review” memoirs, because a. it’s, like........ a person’s real life?? you can’t really comment on the plot or characterizations; and b. most of the famous-person memoirs I’ve read have been by people who had political/politics-adjacent careers, so you have to take them with a grain of salt.
That being said: I found Me a very frank, funny memoir, and wildly enjoyable to read. Possibly because I’d read the aforementioned article ahead of time and had already gone through every possible emotion about, say, the idea of Katherine Hepburn sternly scooping a frog out of Elton John’s pool, or the time he and John Lennon hid from Andy Warhol like middle school mean girls (SHHH, PRETEND WE’RE NOT HERE!) because the annoying guy with the ever-present camera is not the person you want hanging around while you’re doing illegal drugs, I found myself slightly less interested in the celebrity cameos than in, say, the insight into his musical influences and the backstories of certain songs.
A large chunk of the book dealt with his struggles with addiction; I kept thinking, as I read that part, how I could see another celebrity memoir taking a defensive approach (“LOOK. I was on so much cocaine! It was the 80s! Every rock star was on so much cocaine!”) or a maudlin one, but he had a wryly self-mocking sense of humor about it - very god, I was such a tit back then - while not downplaying the seriousness of the impact his addiction had on him and everyone around him, or how much work he put into his recovery. [Disclaimer: of course there’s no One Right Way to talk about addiction, especially for someone speaking about their own experiences, but what I’m trying to say here is that I think he did a good job of it!!]
Anyway, Elton John is a good egg and I came out of his memoir feeling very happy for him, that he’s had such a hugely successful career and now he plans to retire from touring (for real, this time!) to spend more time with his husband and kids.
I’m most invested in Kate’s plotline, at the moment, and I have a very soft spot in my heart for Newman Noggs, because of course I do. I’m warming up towards Nicholas, because initially he struck me as having all the personality of mashed potatoes [the better to use as a vehicle to introduce a shifting cast of absurd, satiric side characters with, my dear!] with a dash of “I’ll kick your ass! I’ll kick everybody’s ass! I’ll kick my own ass!” for spice, but I found myself won over by his quietly amused, “adult life is already so weird, this might as well happen” reaction to life in the Crummles’ theater troupe.
I got to about the halfway point of Nicholas Nickleby by Sunday night, when – literally just as Nicholas overheard
I grew up on Elton John’s music – both knowingly (my dad’s a big fan, because he grew up listening to Elton John) and unknowingly (The Lion King, The Road to El Dorado) – but I’ve never been the kind of person who knows a lot about the musical artists they like? So, Elton John has been a consistent but abstract concept in my life until two weeks ago, when I watched half of Rocketman (2019) on a plane and immediately came down with a bad case of Feelings about it. And then I stumbled across a couple of reviews of his new memoir - including this article about all the wild celebrity stories in it - and knew I had to get my hands on it immediately.
(‘Immediately’ turned out to be closer to two weeks, because I managed to beat the rush & be the first person to put it on hold on Libby, but someone already had it out and took forever to return it.)
It always feels weird to “review” memoirs, because a. it’s, like........ a person’s real life?? you can’t really comment on the plot or characterizations; and b. most of the famous-person memoirs I’ve read have been by people who had political/politics-adjacent careers, so you have to take them with a grain of salt.
That being said: I found Me a very frank, funny memoir, and wildly enjoyable to read. Possibly because I’d read the aforementioned article ahead of time and had already gone through every possible emotion about, say, the idea of Katherine Hepburn sternly scooping a frog out of Elton John’s pool, or the time he and John Lennon hid from Andy Warhol like middle school mean girls (SHHH, PRETEND WE’RE NOT HERE!) because the annoying guy with the ever-present camera is not the person you want hanging around while you’re doing illegal drugs, I found myself slightly less interested in the celebrity cameos than in, say, the insight into his musical influences and the backstories of certain songs.
A large chunk of the book dealt with his struggles with addiction; I kept thinking, as I read that part, how I could see another celebrity memoir taking a defensive approach (“LOOK. I was on so much cocaine! It was the 80s! Every rock star was on so much cocaine!”) or a maudlin one, but he had a wryly self-mocking sense of humor about it - very god, I was such a tit back then - while not downplaying the seriousness of the impact his addiction had on him and everyone around him, or how much work he put into his recovery. [Disclaimer: of course there’s no One Right Way to talk about addiction, especially for someone speaking about their own experiences, but what I’m trying to say here is that I think he did a good job of it!!]
Anyway, Elton John is a good egg and I came out of his memoir feeling very happy for him, that he’s had such a hugely successful career and now he plans to retire from touring (for real, this time!) to spend more time with his husband and kids.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-30 03:04 pm (UTC)If you get a chance, watch the Great Performances recording of the RSC’s eight-hour-long stage version of Nicholas Nickleby – not only is it one of the more faithful adaptations ever done of anything, it’s populated by a lot of actors who were not yet famous in the 1980s, most of them playing multiple roles (Bob Peck is John Browdie *and* Sir Mulberry!)—and Newman Noggs is played by Edward Petherbridge and he’s wonderful.
I could see another celebrity memoir taking a defensive approach (“LOOK. I was on so much cocaine! It was the 80s! Every rock star was on so much cocaine!”) or a tragical, poor little rich boy one
I saw a quote a few years ago from an interview with Helen Mirren where she alludes to having enjoyed cocaine back in the day but also that she gave it up, not for health or legal reasons, but because she began worrying about the conditions under which the raw materials for it were produced. After all when a product is already illegal there’s no way to guarantee it’s responsibly and fairly sourced; and she says something like you don’t want there to be farmers enslaved somewhere while you’re having a lovely time at a party -- which struck me as an attitude to recreational drugs that I hadn’t encountered before.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-30 04:12 pm (UTC)I regret that Ben Kingsley and Timothy Spall were not part of the cast that transferred to Broadway, because it means they're not on the recording, but Alun Armstrong is and so Ian McNiece and so is John McEnery, who almost never appeared on film.
-- which struck me as an attitude to recreational drugs that I hadn’t encountered before.
Me neither, and I think it speaks well of Mirren that she thought of it.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-30 09:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-01 03:01 am (UTC)Huh. I have to say, this is the only end to that sentence that could throw me more than the fact it started off with Helen Mirren admitting she'd done cocaine in the first place.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-01 10:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-30 04:04 pm (UTC)+1.
with a dash of “I’ll kick your ass! I’ll kick everybody’s ass! I’ll kick my own ass!” for spice, but I found myself won over by his quietly amused, “adult life is already so weird, this might as well happen” reaction to life in the Crummles’ theater troupe.
The RSC's Nicholas Nickleby does well by its Nicholas, who is Roger Rees and has a personality in addition to a complete lack of chill.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-01 02:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-30 05:45 pm (UTC)