What Have You Been Reading?

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Although I am not the most efficient or quick reader, this darned Quarantine or whatever has given me a lot of free time which I have tried not to waste. I am starting a book every other day or so, and just reading away at it!

I am just starting into the late art critic Robert Hughes' Heaven and Hell in Western Art, yesterday I skimmed a true crime book the Strange Case of the Mad Professor. Before that, I dipped into Webster Tarpley's Barack Obama, the Unauthorized Biography.

What have y'all been reading?

i read books by joan collins (entertaining writing)

mark twain (extremely gifted. entertaining but caustic humour)

and my all time favourite stephen leacock (perfect balance, more uplifting than twain)


and things by perfumers and whatnot (boring in comparison)



there are many people here who i know are experts in specific things-
maybe their books will be on those specialist subjects...

that's actually the type of person i aim to be by reading about aromatherapy, perfumery, skincare, etc, trying to fan the flames of that interest so i can say i know SOMETHING about something.


i read the biography of bettie page too

(which was sad and shows how a pervert parent can make an academically gifted child
take a path that probably wasn't as fulfilling as what they were capable of..
especially later in life..
but i think the success of her life is the spirit with which she took on her chosen career.. and turned it into something she could be proud of in later years-- similar to clara bow who also was molested by her dad and had a traumatic even apart from that childhood-- and who also developed schizophrenia in later years.. but unlike bettie page, she still did other work like radio work reading shakespeare and other classics

like an instinct for excellence.. no matter what the situation..
someone like me lacks that instinct..

but i find it fascinating to see in people's lives.. )

Hey, I read a book about Bettie Page as well! And not for the pictures Yeah, she was a gifted gal who could have made her mark in a totally different way.

But her looks are so breathtaking, I am glad that she was able to share her beauty with others.

me too (not to share, but it conveys a certain irrepressible spirit too, which i think women can find inspiring)
i don't mean irrepressible in the cutesy way but more like, determination to get on and not be bogged down.

but other people who later were found to have been molested as children,
became famous for those type of things, like pamela anderson, so i think in that sense it is still 'bogged down' by the trauma - at times, surely - but in order to repair it - and turning it into something else...something empowering perhaps..

intense shame of a victim vs. taking control, being confident, proud,
experiencing something the opposite of the trauma via the same body--
to prove to yourself it wasn't you, it was DONE to you.)

of course it can come out in less obvious ways, but i mean..

turning lemons into lemonade..it's a clear example of that.
i guess that's what i like. i don't care about the pictures but the life story

Absolutely. The history of modeling, or acting for women, is largely one of exploitation of the most rank kind. The "winners" are often shells of themselves, and don't ask about the losers.

I find the recent "revelations" about d-bags like Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein totally unsurprising.

actually joan collins touches on the subject frequently (though not too in depth)

she had a more privileged, stable upbringing and education than most though..so she observed more than she experienced.


of course, her first husband tried to sell her to an Arab sheikh, which is disturbing too.

Do you remember the movie "Showgirls"? It was ripped as an artistic failure, but with the passage of time it is clear that its director was spot-on about how much of the "Entertainment Business" really works.

Last edited by Romofan on 22 Jul 2020, 9:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Have not seen it. I don't like watching movies or tv.. unless brief clips at a time.. (the attention thing)

But simultaneously it's a way out and/or - the thing they've been born for - for many people.
It's like denying a person who was born to be a writer, pen and paper,
to deny people born to act/be entertainers, the stage (figuratively or literally)..

I know someone (my younger cousin) who was meant to be an entertainer - nothing less-
It's like he sought an audience since he was a baby - so talented, so good-looking, charismatic. so original, entertaining, easily learns anything that can be entertainment (music, singing, dancing, acting)...
so if I were his parent I could not deny him whatever he wanted to go into.

It must be heart-wrenching for such parents, to know that there are so many bad people who might prey on their child--in that business.

I guess that's where a reliable agent or manager comes in, to protect the person in personal and business dealings, when the parents cannot. (Then again, that person might be a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' and then what??)

And also.. the problem is how uncertain and insecure (yet demanding, so you mightn't be able to do anything else to make money) the profession is.

This thread veered dramatically from the topic.! !

Wow! I can totally relate to your lack of attention span for movies. I cannot watch a new one for my life, because ten minutes in I am squirmy and ready to do something else.

To reel this thread back in, while harping on its clear theme...I skimmed a biography of Judy Garland last month. Like you suggest, she was absolutely born to thrill audiences with her radiant talent. The talent and charisma attracted every worm and d-bag in her proximity, however, and the company that should have protected her got her hooked on drugs to lose her charming chubbiness.

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez.

A book for my women's literature class which is a fantasy novel set in an alternate 1940s Chile.

It has political undertones and timely themes that can still be viewed as relevant in today's world.

You can see an interview of Judy in her final years with her son and daughter by her side.

It seems like pure love captured on video.

it is quite touching as the vibes are strong enough you can feel them just from a video.


when she was becoming obviously distressed by the interviewer's question

(the train of thought that insensitive question created)
the boy says,

'she makes the best shephards pie' ..
i always start crying.

beautiful angelic heart of his-
The way he says it

That was a touching clip!

I love the surprises that a good book can give you. I thought I knew a fair amount about Andy Warhol, but in Gopnik's recent biography I learned that he was

1-muscular and a exercise nut
2-a big reader, with an above average IQ and pretty good High School Grades (people often put down his intelligence)
3-an out-of-control hoarder

just bumping this thread because i'm sure there are people on WP who are avid book readers (avid readers could just mean avid readers of message forums only)

Magazines.