Reading the 20th Century discussion

I have heard Roger Lewis mentioned several times as beign a fantastic biographer. His biographies include books about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Olivier and other famous people from my childhood. I just got the Daunt Books newsletter and one book mentioned was:

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers which is being reissued (although not on kindle until next year).

Just wondered whether anybody has read any of his work and, if so, what you think of him and his biographies?

If anybody would be interested in a buddy read of Erotic Vagrancy: Everything about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor it might push me into giving him a try.

One of the very best biographies I have ever read' STEPHEN FRY
'A hot thunderstorm of a book' DAVID HARE
'Erotic Vagrancy gave me a week of pure joy' CRAIG BROWN
'Unputdownable' TONY PALMER
'A genius writer' LYNN BARBER
'I've never read anything like it!' RICHARD E GRANT

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were a Sixties supercharged couple in an era of supercharged couples. As a pairing they were fantasy figures, impossibly desirable. Liz supple and soft, in perfumes and furs - yet with something demonic and lethal about her. Dick, in turn, with his ravaged, handsome face, looked as though lit by silver moonlight - poised to turn into a wolf.

Roger Lewis uses this glamorous and damaged pair as the starting point to tell the story of an age of excess: the freaks and groupies, the private jets and jewels and the yachts sailing in an azure sea; the magnificent bad taste and greed. It is about the clash of worlds: the filth and decay of South Wales and the grandeur and elegance of Old Hollywood; the fantasies we have about film stars and the fantasies the Burtons had about each other.

Susan wrote: "If anybody would be interested in a buddy read of Erotic Vagrancy: Everything about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor"

I'd love to read that. As usual, I don't really know anything of their lives other than what I've picked up from cultural osmosis and hearing Burton's fantastic voice for reading poetry. It sounds like Valley of the Dolls in real life!

I'd be interested in reading the Sellers biog. I've heard great things about it. I think I still have a copy. It's an absolute whopper which put me off it. An audio version would be fab*


*EDIT - turns out there is audio version! - 40 hrs and 44 mins.

The Burton/Taylor is a mere 23 hours!

Roger doesn't do brevity it appears

I know nothing about Burton/Taylor but I thought it would be cheaper/easier to access than the Sellers one, which I also want to read. I've always been fascinated by Peter Sellers and there is a season of his films on at the BMI.

Peter Sellers is the Pink Panther, right?

When would you like to do Burton/Taylor? It'll be fun if it's new to both of us.

Besides, there is something fascinating about that constant, rumbling news story of Burton/Taylor when I we were young. The on-again, off-again, love story - marriage, divorce, remarriage.

If you do fancy a buddy read, RC, let me know when suits. I am happy to fit in with your schedule.

Should we slip it into August or is that too soon? I'm on holiday so have more time than back-to-school September. If that's too soon then October?

I am curious why everyone would wish to read the Lewis over the Kasner bio, Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century which seem to have much better reviews. Some of the criticisms levelled at the Lewis bio is that it is more about Lewis than Buton/Taylor and that it is extra critical of Taylor to the point of being misogynistic. Here is a less critical review of Erotic Vagrancy that does point out some flaws.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

I am interested because I have bought and am looking forward to Cocktails with George and Martha: Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and thought I might need a Burton/Taylor refresher before that.

Roman Clodia wrote:


"Peter Sellers is the Pink Panther, right? "

Kinda

He's Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films

A bit slapsticky but not without its charms

He's made far better films though, for example...

Dr Strangelove
Being There (total gem)
Lolita

Susan wrote:


"Besides, there is something fascinating about that constant, rumbling news story of Burton/Taylor when we were young. The on-again, off-again, love story - marriage, divorce, remarriage."


The two of them in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) are superb. I often wonder how much it mirrored their own turbulent relationship

I am happy enough with August, RC, although I have a LOT of books on the go, so I can't give it much time.

I am more interested in the person writing the biography than the biography, Sam. I think I came across Roger Lewis in Backlisted and he had high praise.

Sam wrote: "I am curious why everyone would wish to read the Lewis over the Kasner bio, Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century"

Good question, Sam. In this case, I saw a review of Erotic Vagrancy on LitHub which caught my interest so when Susan suggested it, I jumped at the chance of a buddy. I wasn't in the market for a general biography on Taylor/Burton.

Susan wrote: "I am happy enough with August, RC, although I have a LOT of books on the go, so I can't give it much time."

Great, let's do it - I'll set up a thread and we can stroll through this extravagant celeb world!

Great fun, RC, thanks!

Nigeyb, let me report back. Dig out the Peter Sellers bio and if this impresses then we can do that later if you want.

Nigeyb wrote: "He's Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films."

Ah yes, of course - I remember laughing myself silly!

Now trying to remember if I've seen any Taylor or Burton films - Equus was Burton, if I recall correctly?

I think this was the Backlisted episode if anyone is interested (I am saving Locklisted for my Sunday morning tea tomorrow morning)

https://www.backlisted.fm/episodes/23...

A Backlisted Special dedicated to biographies and memoirs, with books by Nancy Mitford, Roger Lewis, Elizabeth Jane Howard, P.D. James and Jean Rhys.

John Mitchinson talks to the writer and friend of the show Laura Thompson about five of her favourite books – two of them biographies (Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford and The Real Life of Laurence Olivier by Roger Lewis) and three memoirs (Slipstream by Elizabeth Jane Howard; Time to Be in Earnest by P.D. James and Smile Please by Jean Rhys).

The discussion explores the difference between writing about someone else’s life and writing about your own; the various motivations that lead writers to produce memoirs, and the relationship between both forms and fiction. Laura Thompson is herself the writer of both biography and memoir. She has written a life of Agatha Christie, and books about the Mitford sisters and the Lord Lucan case, as well as a memoir of her grandmother, The Last Landlady. This is her fifth appearance on Backlisted, after joining us for episodes on Nancy Mitford, Antonia White, P.D. James and Agatha Christie.

Books mentioned
Nancy Mitford - Madame de Pompadour; Love in a Cold Climate
Roger Lewis - The Real Life of Laurence Olivier; Erotic Vagrancy: Everything about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Jane Howard - Slipstream
P.D. James - Time to Be in Earnest
Jean Rhys - Smile Please
Laura Thompson - The Last Landlady; Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters

I do love a biography. I just discovered that Gyles Brandreth has a biography of A A Milne coming out which is definitely on my TBR list.
Somewhere, A Boy And A Bear: A Biography of A. A. Milne and Winnie The Pooh

‘Whatever subject an author chooses or has chosen for him, he reveals no secret but the secret of himself’ A A Milne

When Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared in print on Christmas Eve 1925, his creator had no idea that this bear, and the fellow inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood, would go on to capture the imaginations of people of all ages all over the world for the next hundred years.

In this new biography Gyles Brandreth tells the remarkable story of A A Milne – and of the ‘bear of very little brain’ who went on to become a global phenomenon.

Drawing on his friendship with Milne’s son, the real Christopher Robin, Gyles Brandreth has produced a revealing and intimate portrait of a prolific author whose legacy came to be defined by his most famous creation, and of the divided Milne family who for many years had a conflicted relationship with the iconic bear.

This is the story of a man, a boy and a bear – but it is also a gripping family drama, and a fascinating exploration of the complicated nature of growing up, and the impossible longing for a return to the enchanted places of childhood.

‘Gyles Brandreth has a touching access to the secrets of the human heart’ The Times

A 100 years since Winnie the Pooh arrived on a page - a milestone indeed!

Ah, I still adore Winnie the Pooh. Sadly, can't bear (ha!) Giles Brandreth.

My real-life book group is reading AA Milnes' The Red House Mystery in the autumn, his only detective novel.

I will be interested in any further comments on the Lewis bio. In the meantime, though I can't link a free link, I think you can get an idea of the negative criticism from the opening of this review by Frances Wilson from the New York Review of Books. It could be the negative criticism stems from acrimony between Lewis and fellow critics, especially women.

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024...

Peter Sellers was born in 1925, so would have been 100 this year, hence the reissue of that biography.

Sam, I looked on Audible and the reviews of Erotic Vagrancy were all really good, so I am surprised. Apparently, this took him 13 years to write and is a portrait of the era as well as Taylor/Burton. However, reviews on Amazon were more mixed, with many suggesting it was incoherent. The Backlisted podcast claimed he is the greatest biographer ever, quite a claim. However, I will see what I think. I grew up in that era and it was definitely quite misogynistic, but I always thought of Taylor as something of a parody to be honest - all fur coats, sunglasses and diamonds. I am interested in learning about them and that era, which I lived through, but as a child, so I just saw news stories and TV clips.

It seems like a marmite book from the reviews on here with some people not liking that it's not a traditional 'academic' biog - but we can make up our own minds. I know Marina Hyde loved it so that's a strong plus for me.

I just started the Prologue and I think it is wonderfully, wickedly funny.

Yesterday I downloaded the Audible version of the Peter Sellers biography. I won't start that after this one, as there are SO many books out in September that I want to read, but it is most definitely on my TBR list.

I like Peters Sellers films, but I know he was a very troubled man. I am fascinated to see how the author will approach him.

Lewis certainly has a unique way of approaching 'biography'! I could imagine getting annoyed if he decimated someone I love/respect but he has so much scope in the deranged world of Hollywood.

It is definitely his own view of someone, but I am loving it. Have a busy day today, but hoping for some listening time. I am pleased we gave him a go.

Having recovered from my first outing with Roger Lewis, I am thinking about listening to the Peter Sellers biography later in the year. I felt lost in the previous biography of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, as I knew nothing about them. I actually like Peter Sellers and intend to re-watch several of his films before embarking on this and hoping it is an enjoyable read. I already know about many of Sellers issues, as his life intersected with that of The Beatles and he appears in many books about them. Anyway, I am hoping to watch The Ladykillers next week, which was apparently his first main film role. I know little about The Goons, but I will try to listen to them too.

I am looking forward to your reaction Susan.


Alas, I no longer have a copy of the biography however if your response is favourable, I may splash out on an audiobook

Oh, I would definitely listen on Audible. It's SO long and somehow I find these long, rambling books are better on Audible.

Absolutely

There is a podcast with Roger Lewis I noticed:

Book Club: Roger Lewis on Peter Sellers
Best of the Spectator

Sam Leith's guest in this week's Book Club podcast is Roger Lewis, whose book The Life and Death of Peter Sellers has been republished to mark 100 years since the comedian's birth. Roger tells Sam about the difference between Sellers's public persona and private life, plus his influence on comedy today. They also discuss how Roger reinvented the way biographies were written, and whether the view he had of Sellers as a teenager changed through writing the book.

I am anticipating a deep dive into Sellers work later in the year (a year which is rushing by) and am hoping to read/listen to this, so will definitely give this a listen.

Having finished my long Titanic book, I have embarked on The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

Exciting


You're certainly tackling a few chunky books to start the new year

Yes, I think that I want to read some longer books this year. I have Middlemarch on the go too, so some really involving reads. I have only read the introduction of the Peter Sellers book so far - not rushing, just meandering through them, but I have already laughed several times. Roger Lewis has his minus points, but he is a great storyteller.