I just finished reading this (Cybill Disobedience by Cybill Shepard -Mod) the other day, and, well, only one word comes to mind. Juicy. This is one juicy book. I enjoyed it.

I've never watched The Practice, but I enjoyed Camryn Manheim's Emmy acceptance speech ("This is for all the fat girls!"), so when a co-worker recommended her book (Wake Up, I'm Fat! -Mod) to me, I decided to actually read it, instead of tossing it into "the pile."

This is an excellent book. She writes with such passion, I was unable to put this book down. I highly recommend it.

I too, loved this book. I love Camryn Manheim!

I bought my sister Mellisa Etheridge's autobiography for Christmas.

Whew, bet that's a fun read. The 'why and how we decided to have David Crosby's baby' chapter alone would be a hoot.

If you won't do Peter Graves, then how about Jack Perkins? ;-)

What does the "-mod" mean?

That's short for Moderator, ie. me, who went back and added the book titles to the posts. (Originally the board was organized by book title, so which post was referring to what book was more obvious.)

Ohhh, I see. Thanks.

Has anyone read McCullogh's bio of John Adams yet?

Wellllll, American history isn't really my thing...but given the accolades his Truman collected I'd guess this one is worth the read.

I'm not much for non-fiction, but I just finished Madonna: An Intimate Biography by J. Randy Taraborelli. Fantastic book, as is his Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot.

Here's a bit of shocker, but I recomend the Traci Lords (yes, THAT Traci Lords) autobiography Underneath It All. If I hadn't fallen asleep last night I might've finished it by now. It's very interesting, but also kind of sad in a "oh that poor thing I'm glad she's okay now" kind of way.

She was on "Larry King Live" last night.

Just finished Gene Simmons' autobiography, KISS and Make-Up. Got a few nits to pick with the book. On page 135, Gene talks about KISS' appearances in Marvel Comics. He says, "First a Marvel artist named Steve Gerber who was a big fan put us in the last two issues of Howard the Duck. We were demons who possessed Howard." I read those sentences and threw the book away from me. I can't believe that Gene, who was self-proclaimed comics fan, made so many errors in those two sentences. I guess he's either has never actually read those issues, or was going by a very faulty memory.

First of all, Steve Gerber is not a comics artist, he's a writer. The final issue of Howard the Duck was #31*, which was written by Bill Mantlo.** KISS had already appeared in HtD long before that - in issues #12 and 13. In other words, they did not appear in the last issues of HtD. Nowhere near it.

And finally, the band appeared not from a possessed Howard, but from another character, Winda Wester. They were never described as demons. (Though Winda believed herself to be possessed.) In the two issues they appeared in, they were described as "nightmares", "phantasms" and "four silver-and-black baroques". To be honest, it's not entirely clear what KISS was supposed to be.

BTW, shouldn't the clause, "who was a big fan" be set off by commas, that is, shouldn't the sentence actually read, "First a Marvel artist named Steve Gerber, who was a big fan, put us in the last two issues of Howard the Duck"?

*Yes, there are two more sequentially numbered issues after that, but they were published many years later and really don't count in this instance.

**And no, KISS did not appear in #31.

Give a hoot! Read a book!

The paperback version of Light This Candle: The Life and Times of Alan Shepard has an error.

The cover shows a Mercury-Atlas launch. However, Shepard never went up in a M-A. Shepard's flight was a Mercury-Redstone. John Glenn flew the first Mercury-Atlas flight. Shepard's only other flight was in a Saturn V on Apollo 14.

I just read Anne Heche's "Call Me Crazy".

This woman has lead an interesting life, that's for sure!

Her father abused her, then was one of the first cases of AIDS in the U.S. and died in 1983. Anne's brother, also, was killed in a car accident. And before that, Anne's oldest sister "lived in the attic", and therefore also died young.

After enduring such tragedy, Anne became a successful actress on the soap Another World, and soon started receiving movie roles.

Of course, the two most significant parts of her life that she talks about are her relationships with Steve Martin, and later Ellen, and her much publicized mental breakdown which made her the butt of numerous tabloid and talk show jokes, until 9/11 happened and snapped us back to reality.

Please note, this was written in 2001, just as she was about to marry camera man Coley Laffoon, whom she would have a son with.

Of course, later came her growing her hair long and starring in ABC's "Men In Trees", where she woul have an affair with her stud-muffin co-star. She then went through a messy divorce and custody battle for her son.

I like her, I think it's sad what she went through in her childhood, and I'm glad she's doing better, and that her career is back on track.

I have also read various biographies by pro wrestlers, namely Bret Hart and Steve Austin. They were really good, I thought, as I like to read about that sort of thing.

And yes, from time to time, I indulge in various unauthorized biographies, such as "Cosby: The Life Of A Comedy Legend", which was a really good read.

I wonder, though, about what the famous people feel about such books being published. Just ask Tom Cruise about the one written on him!