Notes From My Nightstand

I'm still plugging away at "Helter Skelter" -- and have "In Cold Blood" waiting in the queue -- but here's what I've been reading lately:

"A Paper Life" by Tatum O'Neal: A fascinating memoir for a Gen Xer like me, who grew up on a diet of "The Bad News Bears" and "Little Darlings." Her childhood was even more harrowing than I knew -- and I wish I could say I was surprised to learn that John McEnroe is an awful lot like (fellow narcissist) Ryan O'Neal, or at least was back in the day. This book would have been a lot easier to swallow if I didn't already know the tragic post-publication "ending," where our flawed protagonist winds up overdosing and nearly dying in 2020, lucky to be alive as a shell of the person she once was.

"The Harder I Fight the More I Love You" by Neko Case: A childhood that rivals Jeannette Walls's goes a long way to explain why the gifted musician is the way she is -- yikes. Warning: she literally mentioned the New Pornographers once in passing(!).

"Then Again" by Diane Keaton: Not at all what I was expecting, which probably makes perfect sense coming from this idiosyncratic woman. Wish it hadn't been a "dual" memoir shared with her late mother -- start it and you'll see what I mean -- but now that Diane is someone's late mother, it did make for a haunting read.

"What Falls Away" by Mia Farrow: I think it's safe to say that NO ONE will ever live the life she did -- are we sure she wasn't the inspiration for "Zelig"?! -- and while I still maintain that she's a nut, I would like to go on record saying that I have long let Woody Allen off the hook more than he deserved as he seems like a truly awful person whether he's a child molester or not. To her credit, she questions what it says ABOUT HER that she stayed with him after so many red flags, many of which I was not aware of. 

"My Mother's Keeper" by BD Hyman: I've had this "Bette Davis tell-all" for decades since hearing about the infamous Stouffer's macaroni and cheese incident but finally got around to finishing it. While it's certainly no "Mommie Dearest," it frequently provided LOL moments due to the acting legend's complete inability to act like a normal person around her family or anyone else!

"In Her Sister's Shadow: An Intimate Biography of Lee Radziwill" by Diana Dubois: I've been on a Princess Lee kick -- does everyone know about turn as Tracy Lord in "The Philadelphia Story," her disastrous made-for-TV remake of "Laura" (opposite Farley Granger) and her attempt to be a talk-show host ... and why isn’t it all on YouTube? -- and am hoping there's a sequel that covers the balance of her life after this book's publication in 1995.

Tell me what you're reading in the comments!