Books to watch out for this spring.
Country star John Rich compares teachers to pedophiles and supports book banning in Tennessee.
Hillary Clinton producing movie adaptation of her State of Terror thriller novel.
Book Review: How to Talk to Girls About Duran Duran-One Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut by Rob Sheffield
I found this book review I wrote for an on-line publication years ago and decided to dust it off and publish it here. Enjoy!
Known for his best-selling memoir, Love is a Mix Tape, music journalist Rob Sheffield is back with Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut . Talking to Girls About Duran Duran is hardly a pick-up manual. Instead, it is a bittersweet look back at the author’s youth and the music that shaped it.
Divided up into 20-odd chapters named for songs, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran starts off with the Go-Gos’ “Our Lips Are Sealed” and ends with Duran Duran’s “All She Wants Is.” Sheffield, despite being the only brother among bossy sisters, couldn’t quite figure out the fairer sex. That’s where music came in. Sheffield claims, “…something in the music keeps promising that if I could only finally figure out Duran Duran, I would finally understand women, and maybe even understand love.”
Adolescence is never a smooth ride, and Sheffield stumbles through the 1980s confused and inept at everything from flirting to sports. He uses the pop hits of the day to describe emotions and feelings he thought only he experienced. He also thought if he could talk to his female classmates about Duran Duran that maybe they’d see him in a romantic light and he’d no longer be the “nice guy” that all the girls liked just as a friend.
Sadly, he was rarely successful.
But Sheffield doesn’t just use music to discuss girls. Music is also the backdrop to his failure as a high school wrestler, driving an ice cream truck one summer, the Roman Catholicism of his youth, and being the grandson of a wizened Irish immigrant. His sisters suffer in vain to make him “cooler,” and Sheffield fantasizes about becoming the only male member of the Go-Gos.
Unlike many male music journalists, Sheffield is no rock snob. He name checks such mainstream music-makers as Hall and Oates, Culture Club and Madonna. He even admits to attending a Debbie Gibson concert.
It’s also music that consoles him years later after the loss of his young wife, Renee. And it’s karaoake that helps him get through the grief of being a widower. For Sheffield, singing was easier than talking, and karaoke also had a way of summing up the cheesiness of over-produced 1980s synth pop.
Talking to Girls About Duran Duran is funny and touching, and you don’t have to remember when MTV actually showed videos instead of the shenanigans of various teen moms to appreciate it. If you’ve ever been a confused adolescent, and if music has been a huge part of your life, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran is a page-turning soundtrack.
Book Review: Dutch Girl-Audrey Hepburn and World War II by Robert Matzen
Being a huge fan of the late Audrey Hepburn, I knew much about her work as an actress and humanitarian. But when it came to her childhood growing up in the Netherlands during World War II, my knowledge was quite small. So when I came across Robert Matzen’s book Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II, I knew I had to read it.
Born in Belgium to an English father and a Dutch mother, Audrey’s life was already upended when her father abandoned the family and her parents divorced.
And that was just the beginning of what would be an incredibly difficult and troubled childhood.
Living in England when World War II began, Audrey and her mother moved to the Netherlands because Audrey’s mother thought they would be safer. They settled in and Audrey continued her beloved ballet training, unaware of the horror she would face. In 1940 Audrey’s life was thrown into a complete upheaval when Germany invaded her new homeland.
Countless horrors happened. Audrey’s uncle was taken hostage and executed. She witnessed Jewish citizens rounded up and taken to concentration camps. People nearly starved to death.
During this time Audrey and her family worked for the resistance and Audrey continued her dance lessons.
Though I was somewhat aware of this time in Audrey’s life, I was also shocked by some things. For instance, Audrey’s mother was initially a supporter of Hitler and his regime. During her career, Audrey was often questioned by her mother’s actions.
Throughout Dutch Girl are stories of Audrey’s film career. I found most of these stories to be very interesting. And I was especially fascinated on how the brief life of Anne Frank affected her.
Dutch Girl is portrayed as book about Audrey’s life during World War II, and this is true in some respects. However, I found it to me more of a history book of Works War II in the Netherlands. Audrey is more of a marketing tactic.
If you want to learn more about Audrey Hepburn, Dutch Girl is an interesting book, but there are countless more worthy nooks about this singular woman.
Writer’s Block
Due to some unforeseen issues, I’m going to refrain from updating this blog until further notice. Thanks for your patience.
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