Some Recent Reads

I gave up reading American Eve midway through because I didn't care for the author's technique of presenting the story of the Nesbit-Thaw-White triangle. She used too many novelistic techniques in a book that is supposed to be nonfiction. If you want to write a novel based on a real case, then do it; otherwise, don't bother. It has to do with credibility that the book is indeed nonfiction.

I gave up on it.


About a month ago I finished Mae West's autobiography, Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It. Despite the fact she had the book ghostwritten and she displayed just little bit too much ego, it is a worthwhile read if you can find a copy that won't set you back fifty or sixty dollars. You get a real feel for her era of the early twentieth century vaudeville and the "legitimate" stage. She also writes at length about her movie career. She did accomplish a lot in her life although she didn't write too much about her private life. She preferred to keep most of it private.



I finished about ten books since I read her book. I have started several, but I am currently focusing on two recent acquisitions: William Shatner's Up Till Now, and Seth Mnookin's The Panic Virus.