Celebrities Books

Vanessa Carlisle has the next year of her life planned. Coast through senior year. Graduated salutatorian. Spend the next summer in Europe with her best friend. Come back from Europe in time to make orientation at Yale, where she'll be joining her boyfriend, with whom she'll live happily ever after. The End. Except that it's not. Right before school starts, the Carlisle's get a shocking phone call. Vanessa's half-brother is going to come live with them for the year. Yes, brother. Who no one even knew existed. Well, they didn't know he was a relation. Everyone in America has heard of Reed Vaughn, Hollywood bad-boy who needs to get away from that scene or he'll end up in therapy forever. Oh, and Reed's a senior. Starting at Vanessa's school. Suddenly, Vanessa's plans are shattered. She's never been good with change, and now she's scrambling for a Plan B... one that will still end with happily ever after. Though the plot is a little far-fetched, the writing style and characters makes it seem absolutely realistic. The reader, who will probably be smarter than Vanessa, will also want her to find happily ever after, but maybe not the way she sees it.

The writing is very good. The pace is fast. It held my attention from beginning to end.

Story wise, I think most people who've had a boyfriend could relate to Vanessa's boyfriend dilemna, and understand how difficult it is to breakup with someone you're in love with, even though you know they're no longer right for you.

The book was more about Vanessa than Reed's adjustment to non-celebrity lifestyle. I expected more about Reed and wanted more on his celebrity lifestyle, but there wasn't much at all. He actually appeared to be a decent down to earth guy doing his best to adjust to a new lifestyle. Vanessa at times behaved like a spoiled brat who wouldn't give her brother a chance. She was more like a 'diva' than Reed.

Plan B by Jenny O'Connell features Vanessa, a high school student who has always been a do-gooder and a planner. In other words, she has a few itsy bitsy neurotic tendencies and the need for order. When her parents tell her that she has a half-brother close to her age, she is surprised. When she is told he is Reed, a television actor who is popular with her peers, she is shocked. When she discovers that he's coming to live with her family and attend her high school, her entire world turns upside down.

In the past year, there have been many novels that feature a hip, famous teenage actor trying to live a "normal" life. Plan B by Jenny O'Connell could have been just another of those stories - been there, read that - but thanks to a storyline that was more about family than fame, it is memorable and meaningful. Put this book in your plans!

i absolutely could not put this book down. everything about it was great and i luv'd vanessa. this is my second MTV book and i hope they're all as good as the two i've read so far. definitely pick this one up.

Vanessa receives a shock one day when the phone rings and she finds out she has an older brother. There is another catch though not only does she have a brother she never know about but he is a Hollywood it boy. She has to also deal with her Hollywood obsessed best friend and a boyfriend who is away at Yale while she is stuck in Chicago. I thought the brother and sister angle was very entertaining but I also thought what happened between her and her boyfriend was very predictable. That is why I am giving it four out of five but I look forward to more books by Jenny O'Connell in the Young Adult field.

Sharp is described by the publisher as "a collection the likes of which have never been seen before", a book with such "brilliant lenswork" that it allows one "repeated viewings that never tire or bore."

If you are a photo editor that wants to run images of celebrities that depict every pore, with contrast on the image so intense that the subjects look like coal miners on their way home after a day in the pits, then this is your man and he's in the phone book under Creative Photographers, Inc.

In short, while Sharp represents an impressive roll call of celebrity faces, Parry's style is quickly revealed to be visually monotonous in the form of a collection.

Nigel Parry's Book sharp is a visual delight. His portraits are beautifully composed and capture that exacting moment as a photograph should....

Sharp is an impressive, 144-page, coffee table book showcasing Nigel Parry's black and white celebrity portraits. Parry uses his camera framing and lighting to present private images of movie stars, film directors, musicians, politicians, and entertainment celebrities in a totally new perspective that is both memorable and thought provoking. Highly recommended as a significant and welcome addition to any personal, photography school, professional, or community library collection, these outstanding portrait photos are enhanced for the photography study and connoisseur by an informative essay on Nigel Perry's life and work by Liam Neeson.

I always flip through photography books but until now, I have never bought one. It's a great book to have on the coffee table because it provokes conversations. Never seen celebs shot like this before.

As an up and coming photographer, I have piles of books, but this one is on top. Nigel Parry has always been one of my favorites, but I had no idea of the scope of his work. I have a lot to learn but now I have a new teacher.

It took me a week after reading this book to process my thoughts on it. It was a good book, definitely a great present for a young woman, but I ended up being disappointed by the book overall. I couldn't help feeling that the editor of this book did a real slash job on some of these essay to keep them at the 2-4 pages alloted each author. Many of them, including some from writers whose style I am familiar with, seemed very disjointed and thrown together. Many of the paragraphs seem completely unrelated, jumping from one idea to the next without any connection. It made it difficult to read, and took away from the essays.

There are some good essays in there, Joyce Carol Oates' and surprisingly Julia Stiles' were two of my favorites out of the whole book.

Feminism was soppoed to liberate women from their civil predicament of being second class citizens, but instead it repalced this with making them merely the sexual objects of men, spending their entire lives concerned with nothing but sex and good looks, the depiction of woman as the sexual being on the front of this book is nothing but proving the point. Either stripping in clubs or donning burkas, the modern woman is unequal and in general this is the cause of her won choices. Imagine giving a graduating girl a book about something like success, like one would a boy, since no one would give a boy a book of self blah blah nonsense.

Seth J. Frantzman

Great book for every woman in the process of "becoming herself." This is a how-to guide to womanhood by women who have walked the walk and are speaking from personal experience. Loved the intimate stories in this book that reveal the most personal lives of great women with autobiographical essays by JK Rowling, Kate Winslet, Maya Angelou and many others, aged 24 (Jamie Lynn Sigler) to 94 (Kitty Carlisle Hart). Contributors focus on personal subjects we all share: family, emotional growth, joys and sorrows. I read the book in random order: just opening it anywhere and reading the story on that page. I love being able to 'browse' through a book like this. The pieces are really diverse which gave me the feeling of 'sitting around a kitchen table' with friends ... some share a lot, some a little. Some are more eloquent, some less. But all feel safe enough to reveal the tender realities of life that are usually held private. Since reading it, the voices of the women come to mind when I least expect it, tapping me on the shoulder with words of wisdom. Great graduation gift or "any time" gift to for women of all ages.

This book is a great graduation gift for any young women who you want to inspire to live a powerful life. In "Becoming Myself," 50 successful women (many famous, some not) talk about how they grew up and how they got where they are today by staying true to themselves. All the stories are different. Some are shocking, some are funny, some are sweet. All are wise and inspiring.

I love this book! I just received it as a birthday gift from a girlfriend. What a lovely book, filled with inspirational stories of women -- mostly famous. This is the perfect bedside book -- for moments when you want to read what other women have endured and enjoyed as they become themselves. I will share this book with my daughters and my girlfriends.

maya angelou's even the stars look lonesome is an outburst to the african american society. it gives so much hope. her words express a lyrical emotion. her usage of intelligent voice structure titilates the mind.

The deep and compelling thoughts of life and how to endear every emotion, experience, and disappointment that comes with growing older day by day, were wonderfully displayed in Maya Angelou's Even the Stars Look Lonesome. This book was an intelligent continuation of her best selling book Wouldn't Take Anything from my Journey Now. Taking life one day at a time, and learning from each experience is what this book is all about. The recreating of each memorable happening from love and intimacy to rage and violence, not discounting her remarkable outlook on age, fame, and perhaps the most impotent, the comfort and security you find in a home and a family. The experiences would relate more to elder women looking for advice and insight on common life issues.
In this novel, Maya Angelou has combined a wonderful collection of life experiences that have formed and made her the person she is today. Each chapter reflects an important stepping-stone of her life. The book consists of twenty chapters that are mumbled together and yet stayed in order of the way they took place.
The plot is always changing each chapter is like a different book. Towards the beginning of the novel, love and divorce where the experience of choice and she soon moves in to her times in Africa, and how challenging it is to be an African American Women earning her well deserved respect. Maya Angelou's novel also voices her opinion on age, denial, and anger to an older age group of African American women, using emotionally over powering stories. The chapters are short and moderately easy to get through, if you're good at combing facts and clues to complete the final picture.
Coming to a conclusion of the eye opening novel Even the Star Look Lonesome we feel as though the experiences displayed in this book would better relate to women between the ages of 20 and 80. The reason for that relation is due to the fact not many people have experienced the things talked about until theses ages have been reached. Also the group felt the book was directed towards African Americans and the troubles that race encounters.

What a Voice! What an inspiration, and great enunciation. The Lady is her usual awesome self in this wise and eloquent sharing of some of her more intimate life experiences. It's impossible to adequately praise Angelou's ability to speak to the heart and soul, whether through her written work or recorded truth. You'll listen to this over and over again, and will be renewed, and renewed. Enjoy!

When Maya Angelou was a young woman -- "in the crisp days of my youth," she says -- she carried with her a secret conviction that she wouldn't live past the age of 28. Raped by her mother's boyfriend at 8 and a mother herself since she graduated from high school, she supported herself and her son, Guy, through a series of careers and buoyed by an implacable ambition to escape what might have been a half-lived, ground-down life of poverty and despair. "For it is hateful to be young, bright, ambitious and poor," Angelou observes. "The added insult is to be aware of one's poverty." In "Even the Stars Look Lonesome," a collection of reflective autobiographical essays, Angelou gives no further explanation for her "profound belief" that she would die young.

"I was thirty-six before I realized that I had lived years beyond my deadline and needed to revise my thinking about an early death," she recalls. "With that realization life waxed sweeter. Old acquaintances became friendships, and new clever acquaintances showed themselves more interesting. Old loves burdened with memories of disappointments and betrayals packed up and left town, leaving no forwarding address, and new loves came calling."

Angelou, looking at tailights of her 20's, is the nearest thing America has to a sacred institution, a high priestess of culture and love in the tradition of such distaff luminaries (all of them, hitherto, white) as Isadora Duncan and Pearl S. Buck, with a bit of Eleanor Roosevelt and Aimée Semple MacPherson thrown into the mix.

"She was born poor and powerless in a land where/power is money and money is adored," the poet Angelou writes in tribute to another astonishing black woman of our time, Oprah Winfrey. "Born black in a land where might is white/and white is adored./Born female in a land where decisions are masculine/and masculinity controls." Angelou's lifelong effort to escape and expose the "national, racial and historical hallucinations" that have burdened black women in America and replace them with a shining exemplar of power, achievement and generosity of spirit is as miraculous as she says it is, even if one suspects that in "real life" Angelou must be a little hard to take.

"I would have my ears filled with the world's music," she writes, "the grunts of hewers of wood, the cackle of old folks sitting in the last sunlight and the whir of busy bees in the early morning ... All sounds of life and living, death and dying are welcome to my ears." At times Angelou seems more like a blast from Olympus than a woman of flesh and blood.

Reading these essays, I found myself longing somewhat guiltily for evidence of smallness on her part, of pettiness, even -- some sign that even an icon as monumental as she is might occasionally allow herself an irritated moment, a lapse into cynicism, or humor that wasn't so resolutely seasoned and wise.

On the other hand, smallness isn't what Maya Angelou stands for. Ordinary is not what she does. Only a cynic, a smaller mind than Angelou's, could fail to welcome the gifts she offers.

it talks about essays of aspects in life and what kind of journey that people are planning to have in their experiences and I think its a very interesting book
Best Book

"From the Piano Bench" is a light, and easy read. What fun to confirm your suspicions about some stars, and gain new insights into others. I loved it. Marilyn Irr, author of "REVENGE", and "DISTANT COUSINS."

This author really downplays how good a pianist and entertainer he is. I've read his book and he wants to sound like Joe Average piano pounder, but that's not true. He plays ANYTHING, yes ANYTHING. And he plays it well. I mean classics, jazz, cool, romantic, oldies, R & B, R & R, and country and whatever. And he plays them well. I've heard him play alone and with his cute wife Sal, and they are terrific.
But about his book---it's a rip! The guy has met, fallen on or over or into the lap of, about any sort of celeb you can name. He's done it graciously ( if occasionally clumsily) and the results have been hysterical. I mean this guy is as down to earth as they come, but he really has hobnobbed with the full range of celeb--Perlman to Dangerfield--and I mean up close and personal. He's writes a funny book chock full of cute stories and anecdotes.
I think this book makes a great gift. I got my copy from my Dad who lives in Florida, and I couldn't put it down after I cracked the first page. A must read--fun book!

This is a new and refreshing book as told by a professional pianist. He describes his experiences meeting celebrities from the stage, screen, world of entertainers and absolutely blows away my prior images of loads of top name folks. Who would dream of meeting the likes of gangsters who are "nice guys"? Who would dream of literally running into (and running down) top drawer folks like Perry the Sleeping Prince Como, getting passes from Johny Mathis (another guy) and on and on. This is a very funny guy who tells one very funny story after another. What's new in the book writing scene? This author that's who. Roger Rossi.

A very fun, easy read. Mr. Rossi's storytelling credentials equal that of his very impressive musical credentials. It's nice that Mr. Rossi had all these great experiences. It's a treat that he shared them with us. A delightful read for the musician and non-musician alike. We hope that he is considering a sequal.

"From the Piano Bench" was filled with funny stories from page one. The author gives us a good glimpse of life from his professional perch. The stories flow along effortlessly with his wry wit and quirky style providing laughs all the way through. I never thought playing the paino for a living would be so much fun and lead to so many encounters with famous people. A good book for anytime reading!

This is a sassy interesting book and a fun entertaining quick read.
Molly is a great storyteller. I found it the perfect summer read on a hot, humid afternoon when I wanted to hide in the air-conditioned house. I saw a lot of my own child in Molly. I'm the mother of a teenager who had acquired the same adolescent drug problems; she too was kicked out of the best schools on the East Side and then proudly became a successful graduate of drug rehab at 16 years old, and slowly making her way thru college sober. I loved molly's witty take on life in Manhattan for teens with issues.

I just need to add how wrong the comments were from that bitter angry reader. Sounds like she needs a little psychotherapy to get over her anger, probably just a jealous unpublished 30 year old.

I was pleasantly surprised after my sister made me read "Normal Girl." I never thought I'd actually get into "chic-lit," but Molly's voice is so clear and concise that I eagerly anticipated the publication of Sex Doctors, her followup. Sex Doctors is even better than her prior work and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to get inside a new york socialite's head and still find her endearing. Keep it coming Molly, great job!

PS - Molly really captures the audience during her readings (she's basically a stand-up comic on a book tour).

I have to confess that I picked up Jong-Fast's first book, Normal Girl, because I have been a long time fan of her mother, Erica Jong. Was I glad that I picked up the book though! Normal Girl was an at times disturbing yet ultimately enlightening read, and the experiences of Miranda were ones that I could (unfortunately) relate to. So, when I found out that Jong-Fast had another book coming, off I ran (literally) to Borders. I was totally crushed to be told that The Sex Doctors in the Basement wasn't to be released in Australia until Jan 2006. Undeterred, I logged on to Amazon and bought an uncorrected proof copy.

It arrived yesterday and I have already finished the book. The Sex Doctors in the Basement is absolutely wonderful. Being of the same generation as Ms Jong-Fast, I can really relate to much of the book. This aside though, her wittiness, her bitchiness, her strength and her warmth make this a compelling read.

It's impossible to consider jong-fast's work without the context of her mother's. But Erica Jong is sort of an institution of modern literature so it's sort of an appropriate cultural touchstone. So whether you dislike Fear of Flying and Jong's body of work or, like me, have loved Jong since you snuck and read your mom's copy- you still have that familiar backdrop to jong-fast's witty, moving and sly accounts of growing up in the time and place she did. Her essays are stronger than her fiction. That being said, her fiction doesn't suck. I agreed with her grandfather's summation of her fiction skills as described in one of the essays. The fact that she's written so well and at such a young age is remarkable. I look forward to seeing what she'll write next.

I'm not sure if Molly Jong-Fast thought that joking about the nepotism that allowed her second (and second rate) novel to be published would endear the few wary-yet-game readers she may have had left to her, but if that was the case, the joke is on her. She is not funny. She is not interesting. She is not talented. She comes across as spoiled, self-indulgent, and, most horrifyingly, BORING. She not only steals her mother's material (Material that had already been used by her mother, the actual writer)but she sucks in the retelling of it. For a bragart who talks so much, Molly Jong-Fast has very little to say. This book blew. As did 'Normal Girl'. Get a real job, Miranda.

Funny as &)ll.. Cheered me up after a bad day.. my family thought I was losing it because I was laughing out loud.

Gabe Kaplan is a true comedian and it shows in this funny, laugh-out-loud book. A few years ago he started having some fun with people via e-mail about various project ideas and current (made-up, of course) issues he was having in his life. The advice and return ideas that are replied are outright hilarious. I especially enjoy the one where he exchanges e-mails with a "life coach" who encourages Gabe to pull himself up by his boot straps and become the success that HE knows he can be. He even offers to give this advice to Gabe FREE OF CHARGE. What a guy, huh?

Overall, a very fun, lighthearted read that you can just open up to any page and enjoy. And don't you dare feel sorry for the people he's having fun with -- permission was granted to be in the book. Purchase this book and you get a big kick out of it -- I promise.

I thought that Kaplan's book was hilarious.
I could not keep from laughing out loud while reading it in a public place.

It was a fast read and over too soon.

Phyllis Benjamin

Kotter is great -- the reviewer above is totally off base.

He's probably Arnold Horshack

The concept of this book is and the majority of the content delivers laughs. Gave Kaplan writes emails with strange requests to people in various industries--one wonders while reading the book how many of the folks thought Kaplan was insane or were simply playing along. Anotner nice thing about the book is that each chapter\"email stream" takes only about 5 minutes to read. Great way to kill time.

The book (used) was in excellent condition and was received quickly as promised. Kudos to the seller for their great performance.We lioked the price as well.

I love this book. I am a wedding planner and it is very inspirational. Actually my very own wedding dress is featured in the book. I highly recommend it.

Other reviewers have said that this book has serious problems given that some of the weddings featured ended in divorce or other tragedy. While it's true that one can't help but to think about those things while reading this book, the book is about WEDDINGS, not marriages, and as such, I found it to be beautiful. The book features brides throughout the ages, starting with Queen Victoria and moving on to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. The author describes the overwhelming love felt by each of these brides at the time of their marriages and highlights the most romantic details of their weddings. In addition, she offers suggestions (under the heading "Something Borrowed") on how to adapt some of the wedding traditions used by these brides in order to incorporate them into a modern wedding. Overall, this book is gorgeous to look at, and while some of the stories had sad endings, the book itself is joyous.

Most wedding authors,especially those who are "in the know" such as Miss Baldrige, would have you believe that capturing a Prince Charming is the most important feat in having a romantic wedding. Were only that the case, as she so aptly illustrates with her fatalistic choices of weddings profiled in her latest book, "Legendary Brides: From the Most Romantic Weddings Ever".
While each of the brides profiled did indeed marry a wonderful, famous man, the marriages and divorces resulting from these unions produce better fodder for reading than the photos in the book, many reproduced in countless other publications. Looking at the fabulous Grace Kelly as a young bride, one feels for the family not only for enduring her tragic death of a car accident in Monaco that claimed her life and injured daughter Stephanie, but also for her estrangement from Caroline at the time of her death. Jackie Kennedy's wedding day smile masks her shame of her father lying in a drunken stupor while an uncle walks her down the aisle. Who knew she would marry a man quite like Black Jack Bouvier, with an eye for the women? And Princess Diana, did she know that Prince Charles spent the night before their wedding with Camilla? How he tortured her by ignoring and mocking her naivete only makes our hearts ache for her boys left behind? Now the boys are to be molded into employees of "the firm", Queen Elizabeth's tongue in cheek reference to the monarchy.
Carolyn Bessette looked angelic on her wedding day. One doesn't sense from the photos that John would risk their lives to fly to a relative's wedding rehearsal dinner they would miss anyway. John dismissed the flying instructor at the airport, even though weather reports predicted low ceilings and marginal weather. An inexperienced pilot in a relatively new airplane (he had purchased the plane only 1 month prior to the fatal flight)John had under 100 actual flying time as pilot in command. Coupled with his lack of knowledge and experience in flying his new plane, inclement weather and spatial disorientation, the flight was doomed before takeoff.
Had Ms. Baldrige done her homework, some inspirational close ups of the couples not widely published would have been better than table shots and mundane overviews best left to where she obtained them -- People Magazine and the like.

Others have sniped that Letitia Baldrige has focused on an odd assortment of brides, including both Diana, Princess of Wales, and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy--both of whom had famous weddings, but both of whom died tragically young. The key word here, my dears, is "bride" in the book's title. Baldrige's work doesn't purport to say anything about the marriages that followed these weddings--only that the brides themselves were gorgeous, amazing, almost fantastical creatures who caught the imagination of nearly everyone when they appeared on the world stage.

That said, there are great things about this book and not-so-great things. It's fun to see so many photos of these lovely brides--among them, the two named above and Jacqueline Kennedy, Princess Grace, Wallis Warfield Simpson, and Consuelo Vanderbilt. Many of the photos were either previously unpublished or not well-known by the general public, so they appear here in fresh light. The photos and the handsome graphic design are among the excellent things about the book, as are the little anecdotes (such as what each famous bridal couple gave each other and the members of their wedding parties as gifts).

The down side is that Baldrige tries to meld a wedding etiquette book with a coffee table overview of, well, legendary brides. I'm not sure it works all that well. While she undoubtedly has excellent advice to offer all of us on the planning and execution of a memorable wedding, I for one would have preferred that these pages had been devoted to a broader group of other legendary brides. What, for instance, of the English Queen Mother and King George? What about the current Japanese crown prince and princess? What about other well-known society or Hollywood brides? Others are touched on lightly here, but Baldrige doesn't devote the space to them that her title promises.

Mario Testino has an "eye" for taking aewsome photos, you will love the collection in this book. I fully reccomend it for anyone who enjoys good photography.

I like very much this book. I like format, photos, colours. Mario Testino is one of the best contemporary fashion / celebrities protographer and I must agree with this opinion after seeing this book. It's worth to buy!

This book shows the portraits of the exibitions that took place in 2002 in London (England) and in 2003 Edinburgh (Scotland). I went to the one in Edinburgh and it was amazing. If you have the oportunity to go and see it your country don't miss it.

I think Mario Testino used to be a waiter. Be fearless, you can do it. All you need is a point of view. Use the shotgun approach to photography - shoot shoot shoot and you'll get at least one good one.

Here's some good inspiration for you...

This collection is superb and the size of the book is well chosen to display the images. It's a well rounded selection, including fashion, editorial, advertising, personal and celebrity. Reproduction of the images is high quality with good resolution and colour. Highly recommended to Testino fans.

Unless you were raised on the Enquirer like me or are very old, you will not recognise the majority of the people in the photographs.

Also, the book does not have a lot of material and the majority of their most shocking, funny, and just plain weird photos are not included. The few photos in the book are poorly organized.

If you really like tabloid culture, you would be better off by subscribing to the magazine. At least you can make your own scrapbook.

I'm not a particular fan of the National Enquirer, but I really enjoyed this book. It looks great, and shows some really impressive celebrity photos.

I love a good freak show, don't you? The publicity starved and plastic surgey obsessed celebrities strut their stuff in all their grotesque glory. Michael Jackson get's top billing here as the world's strangest living curiosity. If you enjoy this side show you should check out Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon and John Waters' Shock Value. What was Julia Roberts thinking?

The Enquirer is infamous for its shameless portrayals of American celebrities (and the odd royalty living elsewhere). This amazing collection of photography though is something even more rewarding than the weekly grind-out of the delightful tabloid. The images are juxtaposed SO skillfully, and with great humor. A dumpy, potato-like Xaviera Hollander and beau just across the page from slender and youthful Tommy Lee and Heather Locklear - a horrible, prophetic Dorian Gray vision of the future! Plenty of foreshadowing photos of relationships doomed to failure, a gallery of mugshots and coffin shots. The famous Elvis casket photo is easily eclipsed by the very gruesome River Phoenix shot. If I had to pick one shot as a favorite, it would be the Christmas cheer of Anna Nicole Smith and her 90-year old sugar daddy, the expression on her face instantly confirming the nation's worst speculations of that relationship. The best cross-page pairing is aging-but-sexy Joan Collins in her bikini across from a braid-wearing Sean Connery in HIS futuriffic bikini from a 70s Sci-fi movie. Can anyone possibly think he's the sexiest man alive after seeing THAT??? The book also maintains that peculiar and annoying quality of the Enquirer that some soccer-mom favorite celebrities are somehow "untouchable" - Oprah and Rosie O'Donnell are visions of personal triumph and noblesse, never to be shown in an unflattering manner. Despite that minor gripe, you can't afford to miss this photo treasury of everything beautiful about the supermarket years of the Enquirer. I'm hoping they do a companion volume of the best of the Enquirer's "shock value" black & white early years.

The Enquirer is infamous for its shameless portrayals of American celebrities (and the odd royalty living elsewhere). This amazing collection of photography though is something even more rewarding than the weekly grind-out of the delightful tabloid. The images are juxtaposed SO skillfully, and with great humor. A dumpy, potato-like Xaviera Hollander and beau just across the page from slender and youthful Tommy Lee and Heather Locklear - a horrible, prophetic Dorian Gray vision of the future! Plenty of foreshadowing photos of relationships doomed to failure, a gallery of mugshots and coffin shots. The famous Elvis casket photo is easily eclipsed by the very gruesome River Phoenix shot. If I had to pick one shot as a favorite, it would be the Christmas cheer of Anna Nicole Smith and her 90-year old sugar daddy, the expression on her face instantly confirming the nation's worst speculations of that relationship. The best cross-page pairing is aging-but-sexy Joan Collins in her bikini across from a braid-wearing Sean Connery in HIS futuriffic bikini from a 70s Sci-fi movie. Can anyone possibly think he's the sexiest man alive after seeing THAT??? The book also maintains that peculiar and annoying quality of the Enquirer that some soccer-mom favorite celebrities are somehow "untouchable" - Oprah and Rosie O'Donnell are visions of personal triumph and noblesse, never to be shown in an unflattering manner. Despite that minor gripe, you can't afford to miss this photo treasury of everything beautiful about the supermarket years of the Enquirer. I'm hoping they do a companion volume of the best of the Enquirer's "shock value" black & white early years.