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The Monkees: The Day-By-Day Story
The already extensive, classic book about The Monkees... now completely rewritten, redesigned, and expanded to over 700 pages!
739 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 10, 2023
Well, not a convenient book to read! It took me over a year to finish just because of the sheer size of it -- not the length, but the SIZE. (I couldn't prop it up in my usual reading spots: on the breakfast table, on my treadmill, or on my lap in bed). Anyway, it was well worth the time, speaking as someone who's been a fan of the Monkees for close to 50 years. I especially enjoyed the details of the boys' early lives, and the wide range of photographs alone makes the book worth the read.
If I have one complaint, it's that there weren't enough details about the making of the Monkees TV show for my taste. So if you want that content, you'll be disappointed. (At one point there's a mention of Davy going to the hospital after having a physical fight with Peter, but it's a throwaway sentence. Seriously? I wanted more details about that!) However, if you want *exhaustive* details about the group's recording sessions, as well as sessions done by their collaborators, this is the book for you. Personally I found those sections less interesting, but there were plenty of them.
(As a writer, I also had problems with the weird verb tenses. Usually with a nonfiction book that takes place in the past, the writer uses past tense or present tense. In this case, future tense was frequently used, and it just bugged me. There's a lot of inconsistency in how the boys are referred to by name - sometimes first names alone, sometimes first and last; sometimes Mike is "Mike" and sometimes he's "Michael" and sometimes he's "Nesmith". And with the sections where the Monkees themselves are quoted, I sometimes couldn't tell *when* they were speaking -- "back then" or more recently.)
Taken all in all, it's a book I'd recommend to any true fan; casual fans of the group would maybe find it a bit too much.
If I have one complaint, it's that there weren't enough details about the making of the Monkees TV show for my taste. So if you want that content, you'll be disappointed. (At one point there's a mention of Davy going to the hospital after having a physical fight with Peter, but it's a throwaway sentence. Seriously? I wanted more details about that!) However, if you want *exhaustive* details about the group's recording sessions, as well as sessions done by their collaborators, this is the book for you. Personally I found those sections less interesting, but there were plenty of them.
(As a writer, I also had problems with the weird verb tenses. Usually with a nonfiction book that takes place in the past, the writer uses past tense or present tense. In this case, future tense was frequently used, and it just bugged me. There's a lot of inconsistency in how the boys are referred to by name - sometimes first names alone, sometimes first and last; sometimes Mike is "Mike" and sometimes he's "Michael" and sometimes he's "Nesmith". And with the sections where the Monkees themselves are quoted, I sometimes couldn't tell *when* they were speaking -- "back then" or more recently.)
Taken all in all, it's a book I'd recommend to any true fan; casual fans of the group would maybe find it a bit too much.
June 19, 2024
Detailed, carefully researched, with tons of photos and reproductions of Monkees memorabilia. The indispensable source on the group.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews