The community passed on fiction.
Our guess?
The campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump provided more than enough fiction to last a lifetime.
So community members focused on non-fiction.
Someone was heavy non-fiction, some was more focused on celebrities.
Regardless, the community appeared to be zooming in on facts.
1) THE KILLING OF OSAMA BIN LADEN by Seymour Hersh.
This was the book Gina and Krista discussed in a gina & krista round-robin, that Goldie reviewed in POLLY'S BREW and that Hilda hailed as the best of 2016 in HILDA'S MIX and with that kind of build up, it's no wonder community members picked up the book -- that and Sy Hersh's well established reputation as a truth teller.
2) STILL SO EXCITED! MY LIFE AS A POINTER SISTER by Ruth Pointer with Marshall Terrill.
The Pointer Sisters had an amazing streak. 9 Grammy nominations -- 3 wins. 4 American Music Award nominations -- 3 wins. 13 top twenty pop hits. 21 top forty R & B hits. 5 gold albums. 1 platinum album and 1 multi-platinum album. From "STILL SO EXCITED (Ava and C.I.):"
And Ruth's not pulling any punches in this book.
She's got praise for Angela Y. Davis but none for Loretta Switt (like most of the cast of TV's M*A*S*H, Switt was a pain in the butt -- a detail that would have been long ago outed had that series aired during the internet age).
She also dishes on nasty Paul Anka for that matter.
Diana Ross, Cher, Bonnie Raitt, Muhammad Ali, Richard Pryor, Joe Namath, Burt Reynolds, Sammy Davis Jr. and others all get fond mentions.
And she shares the tale of when Bill Withers pulled a knife on James Brown.
She's got praise for Angela Y. Davis but none for Loretta Switt (like most of the cast of TV's M*A*S*H, Switt was a pain in the butt -- a detail that would have been long ago outed had that series aired during the internet age).
She also dishes on nasty Paul Anka for that matter.
Diana Ross, Cher, Bonnie Raitt, Muhammad Ali, Richard Pryor, Joe Namath, Burt Reynolds, Sammy Davis Jr. and others all get fond mentions.
And she shares the tale of when Bill Withers pulled a knife on James Brown.
It's a lively book and one the community loved.
3) ELIZABETH AND MICHAEL: THE QUEEN OF HOLLYWOOD AND THE KING OF POP: A LOVE STORY by Donald Bogle
Marcia's rave steered a lot of readers to this book about Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson:.
Where the book works best is outlining moments in Michael's life and in
Elizabeth's life -- before either knew each other -- where they went
through similar experiences -- Taylor confronting MGM mogul LB Mayer,
Jackson confronting Motown mogul Berry Gordy.
You see how they could eventually relate to one another.
It's also great to read about when they hook up and are there for each other.
He captures that friendship very well.
I wish the book were longer. (The narrative ends on page 350.)
You see how they could eventually relate to one another.
It's also great to read about when they hook up and are there for each other.
He captures that friendship very well.
I wish the book were longer. (The narrative ends on page 350.)
4) THE WIKILEAKS FILES: THE WORLD ACCORDING TO US EMPIRE
Ava and C.I. reviewed this for the gina & krista round-robin exploring whether WIKILEAKS qualified as a press outlet and the merits of what the organization does and has done.
5) SHE MADE ME LAUGH by Richard Cohen
C.I. noted of this book:
All of the above is to note how huge Nora Ephron's accomplishments were and are.
Were she a man, there would be a dozen biographies on the shelves about her.
This is an important book just because of its subject.
But Nora had a varied life with second and third and fourth and fifth acts and Richard captures that so well.
It's also an important book because Richard Cohen knew Nora so this will be used in future works as a secondary source repeatedly.
It's also an important book because it's so well written.
Were she a man, there would be a dozen biographies on the shelves about her.
This is an important book just because of its subject.
But Nora had a varied life with second and third and fourth and fifth acts and Richard captures that so well.
It's also an important book because Richard Cohen knew Nora so this will be used in future works as a secondary source repeatedly.
It's also an important book because it's so well written.
6) WHAT IF . . . A LIFETEIME OF
QUESTIONS, SPECULATIONS, REASONABLE GUESSES, AND A FEW THINGS I KNOW FOR
SURE by Shirley MacLaine
Betty’s review grabbed a lot of you:
This really was a treat to read.
It was a series of short pieces -- some just a sentence or two on a page.
I'd advise you to read it slowly because the best part of the book is stopping to ponder what you have read.
I don't know how the book would strike you but I enjoy books that make me think and make leave my comfort zone.
I enjoyed pondering the meaning of trees and certainly the Iroquois Confederacy.
I also enjoyed reading about the Dalai Lama and his laughter.
My favorite section or passage opened with: "What if we really grasped the profound theatricality of the so-called theater of war?"
7) THE LOST BOOK OF MOSES: THE HUNT FOR THE WORLD’S OLDEST BIBLE by Chanan Tigay
This book was the topic of a roundtable for POLLY'S BREW that Marcia and Ruth moderated.
8) WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE? by Alan Light.
The most powerful chapters to me are when she gets involved in the Civil
Rights Movement and continues to try to influence and lead as the
country moves away from equality.
She comes off as more human.
And her daughter's obsession with the gay man who was her minder?
Uh, big surprise, Nina probably had same-sex affairs.
Daughter needs to chill.
The book is one I highly recommend.
The last half is sad. Or was to me.
As she moves further and further into isolation.
It's a shame that she didn't live to see a rebirth of the Black artistic community -- the kind that gave a damn -- not the Beyoncé and Jay Z crowd, but people like Langston Hughes and Lorraine Hansberry.
That's the real thing about the book.
Nina Simone was more than an individual.
At her happiest and most creative, she was part of a group of people working for a better world.
That's also a point lost on that lousy NETFLIX documentary.
That's also a point lost on that lousy NETFLIX documentary.
9) KISS THE BOYS GOODBYE: HOW THE UNITED STATES BETRAYED ITS OWN P.O.W.S IN VIETNAM by Monika Jensen-Stevenson
This is an older book but Marcia discovered it this year, "This is a really important book about how P.O.W.s were left behind in
Vietnam and how Monkia Jensen-Stevenson documented this while working
for 60 Minutes but when the program aired her report it was heavily
edited so she quit CBS News." That was enough to interest community members.
10) HER AGAIN: BECOMING MERYL STREEP by Michael Schulman.
Marcia's "Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep" and Rebecca's "'her again: becoming meryl streep'" explored this book. Every year, Marcia and Rebecca pick a book to review together.
Since we've noted Marcia already, we'll go with Rebecca for this book:
the book traces the journey up to her 1st oscar win ('kramer v kramer').
you learn about how she went into her characters - tracing their pain was the key for her.
you learn how yale had her in 1 role after another, juggling constantly and how this prepared her for playing multiple roles.
you learn so much about her own pain.
and you see her decide who she is.
she knows she doesn't want to be 'the girl' in the movie.
and she structures her career accordingly.
early on, she goes out for the role in 'julia' that vanessa redgrave gets.
she instead gets a smaller role.
the book is wrong when they talk about how she needed to wear a wig because of the blond hair and too many blonds in the film.
she was forced into an ugly wig.
it was not because there were too many blond women in the film.
jane fonda's not blond, vanessa's not, the woman playing dorothy parker isn't ...
so ...
but on the film, she sees jane fonda, then at the height of her stardom.
and she's not eager to become that film set monster.
(it's worded more kindly but that's what it is.)
which is why she's probably always gone for a variety of characters while jane has tended to play the same role over and over with few exceptions.
you learn about how she went into her characters - tracing their pain was the key for her.
you learn how yale had her in 1 role after another, juggling constantly and how this prepared her for playing multiple roles.
you learn so much about her own pain.
and you see her decide who she is.
she knows she doesn't want to be 'the girl' in the movie.
and she structures her career accordingly.
early on, she goes out for the role in 'julia' that vanessa redgrave gets.
she instead gets a smaller role.
the book is wrong when they talk about how she needed to wear a wig because of the blond hair and too many blonds in the film.
she was forced into an ugly wig.
it was not because there were too many blond women in the film.
jane fonda's not blond, vanessa's not, the woman playing dorothy parker isn't ...
so ...
but on the film, she sees jane fonda, then at the height of her stardom.
and she's not eager to become that film set monster.
(it's worded more kindly but that's what it is.)
which is why she's probably always gone for a variety of characters while jane has tended to play the same role over and over with few exceptions.
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Martha and Shirley have also done the year in books for 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005.
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The year-in-review pieces up here:
- 2016: The Year of WTF
- Kat's Korner: 2016 in Music
- Ruth's Radio Report 2016
- 2016 in Books (Martha & Shirley)
- 2016 in film
- 10 hottest hotties of 2016 (rebecca)
books