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All the Stars in the Heavens

October 14, 2015

all the stars

  After being a novitiate at a San Francisco convent for six years Alda Ducci is told that she is not suited to be a nun. Sent by her family from Italy to escape disgrace, returning home is not an option. Then, a friend of the mother superior gets her a job as a secretary to Loretta Young, the Hollywood star, and Alda’s life changes in ways she could never have imagined. ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1950s, Harper, historical fiction, Hollywood, pop culture

The Diamond Lane

October 6, 2014

diamond lane

Life here was weighted with the vague feeling that if anything was happening, it was happening wherever one wasn’t. Maybe that accounted for all the driving…Eleven million people scurrying around, trying to find the exclusive exciting event that would make them feel at the center of something big.  Mimi Fitzhenry is the type of living-in-Hollywood character who chooses to ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, Hollywood, satire

Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See

December 16, 2013

too bright

  And that’s how it happens. Like a broken record, warped and scratched. Once I was music, now I am just noise.  It requires a special gift to bring forth a largely unlikable character who can also evoke sympathy but Juliann Garey has done just that in her debut novel Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See. Greyson Todd is from one of the most unlikable genres of men in fiction ... Read More...

13 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, Hollywood, mental health, Soho Press

Little Known Facts

March 4, 2013

Little Known Facts

Christine Sneed’s Little Known Facts stars Renn Ivins, a mega-watt Hollywood star. As he enters his early fifties he’s had two wives, has two adult children, more acting awards than he can count, money to spare, directing and screenwriting credits, and is revered around the world by men and women alike. He’s also plagued with the burdens of this type of life: fidelity and ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Bloomsbury, Hollywood

Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures

September 3, 2012

laura lamont

From an idyllic childhood near the lakes of Wisconsin to the glamour of Hollywood’s studio days, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures traces Elsa Emerson’s journey to becoming Laura Lamont.Elsa’s family is in the theater business, running a small company in Door County, Wisconsin. The summer she is nine her father is convinced to give her a walk-on part in a play and For Elsa, ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1930s, debut, historical fiction, Hollywood, Riverhead Books

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