Re: What are you reading?
Posted: September 8th, 2011, 9:55 am
Thanks for your feedback Alison.
I read An Exhausted Man by Richard Vanderbeets and he discredited Brian Aherne's version as being unreliable and having an axe to grind, I think Aherne lost some money in a venture George Sanders fronted. After reading both Sander's book and vanderbeet's I can't say I really take to George Sanders, in his autobiography he's witty but sometimes at others of other cultures expense, my distaste at this might just be the passing of fifty years when his view isn't acceptable anymore. Yet there is a moving section about Tyrone Power were we perhaps get the only peek at his emotions. In both books he comes across as a cold man, an intellectual snob and the cad image which was put on as a front, I'm sure he was a psychiatrist's dream patient and he does narrate a funny section on psychiatrists. I did feel pity for him, he found a woman who he was happy with for her to die a lingering death, this plunged him into a final depression. A Complicated Man might be another good title, I do love him on film. Unfortunately our library doesn't carry Brian Aherne's book, I am curious though.Mr. Arkadin wrote:For another look at Sanders, check out A Dreadful Man by Brian Adherne. They were close friends (or as close as anyone could get to Sanders) and the book reveals many insights that are not often discussed about his life.charliechaplinfan wrote:Sounds very entertaining.
I'm half way through The Memoirs of a Professional Cad by George Sanders, it's taking my time, not because it's difficult but because I find him smug and the caddishness a mask. I'm sure the smugness hide insecurities but for me it's ladled on a little thick. I'm glad I hired this from the library as it's really expensive secondhand.
That's odd, because I never felt Aherne's book was critical of Sanders, if anything, I thought he was perhaps too generous. He talks of Sanders amazing abilities which not only included being a great actor and singer, but also his genius with electricity, wood and metal craft, inventons, and many other things. On the down side, he did feel that Sanders courted some women for money, was always looking for a way to get rich, and hated paying taxes (can't blame him there). He also talked at length of his love for Benita and what a magical pair they were.charliechaplinfan wrote:I read An Exhausted Man by Richard Vanderbeets and he discredited Brian Aherne's version as being unreliable and having an axe to grind, I think Aherne lost some money in a venture George Sanders fronted. After reading both Sander's book and vanderbeet's I can't say I really take to George Sanders, in his autobiography he's witty but sometimes at others of other cultures expense, my distaste at this might just be the passing of fifty years when his view isn't acceptable anymore. Yet there is a moving section about Tyrone Power were we perhaps get the only peek at his emotions. In both books he comes across as a cold man, an intellectual snob and the cad image which was put on as a front, I'm sure he was a psychiatrist's dream patient and he does narrate a funny section on psychiatrists. I did feel pity for him, he found a woman who he was happy with for her to die a lingering death, this plunged him into a final depression. A Complicated Man might be another good title, I do love him on film. Unfortunately our library doesn't carry Brian Aherne's book, I am curious though.Mr. Arkadin wrote:For another look at Sanders, check out A Dreadful Man by Brian Adherne. They were close friends (or as close as anyone could get to Sanders) and the book reveals many insights that are not often discussed about his life.charliechaplinfan wrote:Sounds very entertaining.
I'm half way through The Memoirs of a Professional Cad by George Sanders, it's taking my time, not because it's difficult but because I find him smug and the caddishness a mask. I'm sure the smugness hide insecurities but for me it's ladled on a little thick. I'm glad I hired this from the library as it's really expensive secondhand.
I read that book too; Jack Favell and its one of my favorite book about Lincoln. As a student of the Civil War - I often tutor both middle school and high school students on History and this book is a perfect book to get student to understand more about Lincoln and the American Civil War. I'm retired now, and I help tutor my friends kids on any subject of History and get them a better understanding of it. I tutor on an average of 2-5 hours a week usually on any afternoon before dinner.JackFavell wrote:I am struggling through Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals right now, all about Lincoln. I shouldn't say struggling, it's a great read, easy to understand, easy to get lost in, but family gets in the way of my reading. I am over halfway through and seem to be stuck on one paragraph about the fear of invasion of Washington at the beginning of the Civil War.
You're not the only one. While we were at the Freud Museum in Vienna last week (excuse the name and city-dropping), one of the items on display was a copy of the book that had been given to Von Sternberg. It was inscribed:CCF wrote:
I had started Josef Von Sternberg's book Fun in a Chinese Laundry, I'm not very far into it but here is a man who is not afraid to stand out from the crowd, he's prepared to put his own theories forward whoever he might upset, he's blunt, takes the long way around with some of his stories, goes off at tangents. I think it's going to be entertaining.