What to Read? … What to Read?

Thank you Amazon for the picture

“If with that last letter you pictured the urbane playwright in Switzerland, cigarette-holdered and smoking-jacketed, dashing off a letter in the 1960s from a cozy nook high up in Chalet Coward — the house he bought in the Alps to take advantage of Switzerland’s kinda gentler tax laws — located at Les Avants, Montreux, just down the mountain from the David Nivens at Château d’Oex, where Coward entertained guests that included Marlene, Garbo, George Cukor, Rebecca West, and a group that Elaine Stritch once called “all the Dames Edith”…you would be wrong.

Every letter reproduced here, along with hundreds like them, were turned out by me — conceived, written, typed, and signed — in my perilously held studio apartment in the shadow of Zabar’s on New York’s Upper West Side in 1991 and 1992. A room with a view not of Alpine splendor, but of brick and pigeons, a modest flat I took in the spring of 1969 with the seventy-five-hundred-dollar advance that G. P. Putnam’s Sons had given me to do my first book, a biography of Tallulah Bankhead. I sold those letters to various autograph dealers, first in New York City, and was soon branching out across the country and abroad — for seventy-five dollars a pop.”

I just picked up this little treasure, it didn’t seem like much just sitting on the shelf, but I decided it looked interesting. There was no real cover art, just a title Can You Ever Forgive Me? There was no fancy lettering only what looks like type writer print Memoirs of a Literary Forger, and it was signed by Lee Israel.

Before turning to the criminal life, running a one woman forgery scam out of an Upper West Side studio shared with her tortoiseshell cat, and dodging the FBI, Lee Israel enjoyed a celebrated reputation as an author. When her writing career suddenly took a turn for the worse, she conceived of the astonishing literary scheme that fooled even many of the experts. Forging hundreds of letters from such collectible luminaries as Dorothy Parker, Noël Coward, and Lillian Hellman — and recreating their autographs with a flourish — Israel sold her “memorabilia” to dealers across the country, producing a collection of pitch-perfect imitations virtually indistinguishable from the voices of their real-life counterparts.

This was exquisitely written, with reproductions of her marvelous forgeries, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is Israel’s delightful, hilarious memoir of a brilliant and audacious literary crime caper. I enjoyed every word of this book and I bet you will too.

Happy Reading

Sarah

Thank you Amazon for the picture

“I was going to begin my autobiography this way:
Call me . . . Captain James T. Kirk, or Sergeant T.J. Hooker, or Denny Crane Denny Crane or Twilight Zone plane passenger Bob Wilson or the Big Giant Head or Henry V or the Priceline Negotiator or . . .
Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it? I’ve been a working actor for more than half a century and I’ve played so many different roles on the stage, on television, and in the movies that it would be impossible to focus on just one of them. Besides, my career as an actor is only part of my story, so I realized I couldn’t begin this book that way…”

I was recently channel surfing and on a channel that I didn’t even know I received there was Captain James T. Kirk, Otherwise known as William Shatner. I watched for a little while as I was waiting for a very important phone call. Once I got the call, the T.V. went off and I went to the book store. I was intrigued by William Shatner and decided I wanted to read more about him and what better way to read about someone then to find their Autobiography.

Up Till Now: The Autobiography takes us through Bill Shatner’s universe, with the help of David Fisher we are taken through a life time of events and anecdotes. You will laugh, cry and maybe even feel a little in awe of this man whose career has spanned some 60 odd years.

After almost sixty years as an actor, William Shatner has become one of the most beloved entertainers in the world. And it seems as if Shatner is everywhere. Winning an Emmy for his role on “Boston Legal;” Doing commercials for Priceline.com. He is in the movie theaters; singing with Ben Folds. He’s sitting next to Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel, and he’s practically a regular on Howard Stern’s show. He was recently honored with election to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. He was a target on a Comedy Central’s “Celebrity Roast” entitled “The Shat Hits the Fan.” In “Up Till Now,” Shatner sits down with readers and offers the remarkable, full story of his life and explains how he got to be, well, everywhere.

In this touching and very funny autobiography, William Shatner reveals the man behind these unforgettable moments, and how he’s become the worldwide star and experienced actor he is today.

It doesn’t matter if you like biographies or not. If you are a Shatner fan or not, I think you will find that not only fans of Shatner will enjoy a look behind this icon of a man.

Happy Reading

Sarah