Looking For A Great Book?
It can be daunting to stare down stacks and stacks – er, I mean page after page of online choices…so here are five terrific books to give as holiday gifts!
“Eve’s Hollywood!”
In the swinging 60’s and 70’s of Hollywood’s music scene, Eve Babitz was described as “bubbly, busty, and brainy!” She was the child of bohemian parents, and was raised on high culture and schooled on rock and roll!
She called the Troubadour club and the Chateau Marmot on LA’s infamous Sunset Strip her home, and she was intimately involved with Jim Morrison – plus, she was a great artist, creating album covers for rock bands, like this one for Buffalo Springfield.
Checkmate!
Babitz achieved the most notoriety in the 60’s, however, for this scandalous photo!
“Naked Chess!”
In 1963, at the age of 20, she played chess with Marcel Duchamp — naked — at the Pasadena Art Museum, an occasion that was immortalized by the photographer Julian Wasser…
Eve’s memoir is a fascinating look at Hollywood in the 70’s…here is one of her beautifully written lines from the book:
“But when I hear that liar’s chocolate voice I am, each time, thrown into a confusion of the night he came in alone from the stars.”
As Amazon describes it, Eve’s memoir is “an album of vivid snapshots of Southern California’s haute bohemians, of outrageously beautiful high-school ingenues and enviably tattooed Chicanas, of rock stars sleeping it off at the Chateau Marmont.”
Eve’s candid memoir is a tale of sex and excess on Sunset Strip, at the height of the era of free love and rock ‘n’ roll…
Read more about this fascinating memoir by clicking on my story here:
Another series of candid memoirs are among my favorite non-fiction books of all time…
Life On A Deserted Island!
Imagine reading a want ad in the newspaper that said, simply:
A young woman from London answered the ad, which led to Lucy Irvine’s amazing year on a deserted island with a stranger – and the book “Castaway” is her incredible true story….followed up by another unbelievable adventure:
Lucy Irvine has published multiple books, all dealing with her amazing life adventures, as well as a series of short stories that are captivating as well – read all about them here:
Irvine has lived a fascinating, dramatic life, and her books are all worth finding and reading…and speaking of a person who has lived a fascinating life:
AJ Benza’s “Fame: Ain’t It A Bitch” is a hilarious and candid look at his life as a gossip columnist in New York – but this fall, he released a new memoir about life growing up with his father:
“74 & Sunny” is a warm love letter to his family, and a funny and insightful look at a unique time in Benza’s life…read all about this terrific memoir here:
As many of you know, I love to travel, and love travel books as well…and here is one of the best of 2015:
“Dispatches From Pluto!”
Richard Grant is a terrific writer, and I’ve profiled all of his book in the past – but here is his account of life in the Mississippi Delta – everything from deadly snakes to the meaning of life, courtesy of Morgan Freeman:
Get Morgan’s take on life, and see all of Richard Grant’s excellent adventures by clicking on my story here:
If you really want to satisfy a friend or family member, get them all of Grant’s book – they are all outstanding!
And if you have a taste for culinary adventures, then look no further than here:
My wife Alex and I were lucky enough to attend of the cooking classes that Patricia Wells conducts in her home in Provence:
Patricia Wells is not only a great cookbook Writer, she’s a terrific host as well…read all about her books by clicking here:
http://johnrieber.com/2013/10/20/new-patricia-wells-cookbook-her-amazing-cooking-classes/
There you go: five ways to satisfy the book lover in your life!
