Tell-all portrays him as callous, abusive; Ono calls it 'too mean'
New York Post Oct 12, 08 7:05 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Not everything John Lennon could Imagine was so nice, the New York Post reports. The ex-Beatle callously cheated on his first wife, groped a girl in front of Yoko Ono, and upset Ono by treating her like a lay du jour when they first met, a new biography says. But Ono, who contributed to Philip Norman's John Lennon: The Life , calls the book “too mean.”
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Oracle of Omaha needed 'to be loved
and never criticized'
Time Sep 24, 08 3:00 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Warren Buffett’s personal life is a lot messier than his balance sheet, according to a biography. In The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life , which hits stores Monday, the Oracle of Omaha for the first time cooperates with a biographer, producing a revealing look at the folksy billionaire, Time reports. Buffett had a terrible relationship with his mother, the book reveals, and has since relied on powerful women to guide him as he focuses exclusively on business.
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White House braces for debut of Iraq-centric The War Within
Politico Aug 19, 08 11:20 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Bob Woodward’s fourth book on the Bush White House, originally a mere 352 pages, has ballooned into 496 pages of inside dope and is due in stores Sept. 8, Politico reports. And the mystery-shrouded volume, which focuses on the Iraq conflict, officially has a name: The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 . Simon & Schuster says it plans to print 900,000 copies.
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Experts have uneasy dreams about author's proclivities
Guardian (UK) Aug 15, 08 10:23 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Literary circles are in an uproar over a new biography of Franz Kafka that says the existentialist author had a penchant for porn, the Guardian reports. Kafka expert James Hawes, who says he unearthed some of the not-exactly-mainstream magazines the author enjoyed, makes the claim in a new book and says he was "genuinely shocked when I first saw it." Other Kafka scholars are outraged.
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Alleges Gwyneth smooch, pill-popping, fighting dirty with Guy
Sun (UK) Jul 6, 08 1:00 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Amid rumors of a crumbling marriage and an A-Rod affair, Madonna’s juicy past is now bubbling to the surface in a new biography written by her brother. At a boozy Hollywood party, the mega-star was dancing on a table when she pulled a surprised Gwyneth Paltrow up onto the table and kissed her full on the mouth, writes estranged bro Christopher Ciconne in Life With My Sister Madonna.
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Playboy founder green-lights a sex-filled biography
New York Post Jun 23, 08 11:00 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Hugh Hefner has signed off on a new biography that delves into the Playboy kingpin's sexual liberation, the New York Post reports. In "Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream," Steven Watts writes how the skin-mag magnate had a foursome with his first wife, his brother Keith and his sister-in-law, starred in a porno, and received oral sex from a man.
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Book review
Conrad Black, author of rival bio, scorns hit job, recites strong points
New York Sun Jun 19, 08 4:46 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The biography Nixonland is a hatchet job on an “excellent president,” media mogul Conrad Black (from behind bars) writes in the New York Sun , picking apart author Rick Perlstein’s slights—and reminding of the profound accomplishments of the 37th president. Beyond crediting Nixon with coarsening the political discourse permanently, Perlstein revels in his “manic, corrupt, rat cunning,” plus, Black notes, “cynicism, opportunism and chicanery.”
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He ducks rumor that Liam Neeson will portray prez
Los Angeles Times May 10, 08 5:21 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Once he wraps up Tintin , Steven Spielberg will make a long-awaited biopic about Abraham Lincoln, the Los Angeles Times reports. The director spilled the beans while promoting Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull , and said he wants to shoot the flick next year, Lincon's 200th anniversary—but did not confirm rumors that Liam Neeson will play the 16th US president.
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Second season debuts tonight
Salon May 4, 08 11:57 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The stories on the small-screen version of “This American Life” start out small—a husband’s protest over the oppressive American trend of lawn-mowing, a young man living with spinal muscular atrophy—and become something universal, both dark and light, even a little magical, writes Heather Havrilesky on Salon.com. On the second season, which premieres tonight on Showtime, everyday snapshots of people’s lives become art.
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Claims Jesus' dad
was a Roman rapist
Associated Press Apr 24, 08 5:42 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, best known for directing films like Robocop , Basic Instinct , and Total Recall , is releasing a biography of Jesus which is bound to spark an angry response, reports AP. The book, which Verhoeven has been working on for 20 years, suggests that Jesus' father was a Roman soldier who raped Mary. The director hopes the book will lead to a film.
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book review
Author peers into the brain of Apple's elusive guiding force
USA Today Apr 21, 08 6:39 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Though it’s near impossible to get an interview with Steve Jobs, author Leander Kahney’s book Inside Steve’s Brain gives a “fresh, noble perspective” on the Apple icon’s impenetrable mind, Jon Swartz writes in USA Today . Like most who try, Kahney couldn’t score facetime, but his book illustrates the opposing traits that make his subject—equal parts Disney and Barnum—who he is.
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Biographicon invites the real average Joes to tell their tales
Ars Technica Apr 2, 08 9:45 PM CDT
(Newser)
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While Wikipedia may promote itself as an encyclopedia of, for, and by the people, anybody who's had his stint as autobiographer cut short by the infamous "notability" requirement knows the site to be otherwise. Or so hope the creators of startup Biographicon, a website that invites the nobodies of the world to publish their life stories, writes Ars Technica.
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Blogger dissects
back pages of book
on Dem hopeful
New York Times Feb 11, 08 7:39 PM CST
(Newser)
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Readers looking for a crash course in everything Hillary can try the index of Carl Bernstein's A Woman in Charge, and find a laundry list of moody traits: "bossiness," "aloofness," "anger, temper and hurt" are only the A's and B's. But New York Times blogger David Kelly uncovers just one problem: the bio doesn't live up to its index.
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NEW RELEASE
Despite being a little uneven, Judd Apatow parody provides lots of laughs
Rotten Tomatoes Dec 21, 07 4:35 PM CST
(Newser)
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Judd Apatow's Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story "is less thoughtful satire and ... more the distant cousin of Airplane! ," writes Brian Orndorf of OhMyNews.com. Starring John C. Reilly as a blues prodigy who ultimately experiences success, failure, and redemption, it plays like "an extended riff on the likes of severely mediocre Oscar-bait" such as Walk the Line and Ray , Orndorf says.
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Heroine Lily Bart overdosed deliberately, note implies
New York Times Nov 21, 07 5:47 PM CST
(Newser)
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A recently-discovered letter by Edith Wharton provides new evidence in The House of Mirth's lingering literary mystery , suggesting that heroine Lily Bart does, in fact, intend to kill herself at the book's end, the New York Times reports. Though the ambiguous text has led ma