Neal Gabler's biography of Walt Disney

This is the very first biography that I have ever chosen to read. I don't know that I've ever read a complete one for any reason, actually...but I love Walt Disney's work, and would like to know more about the man behind the magic. I'd heard a while back about Neal Gabler's biography, so I picked it up one day, and thought I'd tackle it next. It is well over 700 pages, so I'll be working on this one for a while...biographies read more slowly than novels.

The full title is Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination and it (as well as the image below) can be found here.



I'll try to keep posting updates while I'm reading this one...tidbits that I find especially interesting, perhaps, or something...just so that I don't get out of the habit of posting :-)

If You Could See Me Now, part two

Wow! This was SUCH a lovely, magical story! Cecelia Ahern, I think it's safe to say, is now one of my favorite authors. I would recommend this book to absolutely anyone who likes to be filled with wonder and imagination.

If You Could See Me Now was a sweet reminder not to worry about "the most unimportant things imaginable, like mortgages and bank statements, when everyone knows that the majority of the time it's the people around them that put the smiles on their faces." (42-43)

I LOVED this book, and I'll be buying everything else that this author releases. I've already got P.S. I Love You on my shelf at home, and she's got one other, called Love, Rosie, that I intend to go and buy tonight. :-) Absolutely wonderful! It just might come out on film, too...I hope it does!

If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern

I LOVED P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern. I saw the film before I knew of the book, and upon that discovery, I picked up the novel and loved every bit of it. The novel and film were significantly different, but not detrimentally so. A couple of months after reading that book, I was wandering around in Barnes & Noble and came across a handful of other books from the same author, so I chose one at random and wound up with If You Could See Me Now.



I'm a couple of chapters in, and I know already that it will be magical and fantastic, and I think it'll be perfectly light-hearted, following the heaviness of my last read. I'm sure I'll enjoy this one!

A Long Stone's Throw by Alphie McCourt

Before I really get started, let me first say that I normally am not particularly interested in biographies or autobiographies. On a few occasions, a person's life has caught my attention enough to make me want to read more about them, but generally, it's just not my thing. That being said, here's what I thought about Alphie McCourt's A Long Stone's Throw.

I picked up A Long Stone's Throw because I hoped it would capture me in the way that Frank McCourt's books did, but sadly, that was not the case. It is rare that I have trouble finishing a book, but this simply did not grab me.

I think that the difference was that Frank McCourt's works are about his struggle to overcome hardship, but also his continual success in doing so. Alphie McCourt seemed, on the other hand, to be what I fear becoming myself. He struggles constantly through this memoir, and time after time, he fails. The underlying message, I suppose, is that you simply cannot give up. You must trudge on and try something else if whatever you're doing isn't working. It may be that I had difficulty in finishing this book because I saw too much of myself in it, but I just prefer to read stories with more hope than this one offered.

Frank and Alphie McCourt have another brother, Malachy, who is himself a published author, and I believe has done some work in the film industry, and I still intend to check out his work...but for now, my favorite McCourt author is still Frank. However, I am not at all sorry that I read this...I think a dose of reality is healthy from time to time, no matter how hard it can be to take.

I haven't yet decided what to pick up next, but when I do, I'll let y'all know!

*EDIT*
I do want to make one thing clear: this book did end well. It wasn't completely devoid of hope or happiness. It just took a lot longer for Alphie McCourt to find stability and contentment. I very much respect the fact that he trudged on and struggled through in spite of failures. I don't want you to think that it was a complete downer. It was heavy, but it did end well.