The Wolf of Wall Street by Jason Belfort

Seeee how quickly I am reading non-fiction books?  Blowing through them.  Anyway, yes, I’m aware The Wolf of Wall Street is a memoir, but (like I’ve said before) I don’t really count memoirs as non-fiction because they’re usually pretty interesting.  Some biographies also can be included!

Anyway, I also came across The Wolf of Wall Street randomly at the library.  I quite enjoyed the movie, so I wanted to see how the book compared.  I was surprised to learn how true the movie stayed to the book.  Typically I think that movies (and TV – like in the case of OITNB) sometimes sensationalize certain parts of books, but if you’ve read The Wolf of Wall Street memoir, it’s basically like reading a movie; not much embellishment is needed.  The book is pretty sensational and it’s hard to believe these things actually happened to Jason Belfort.  I’m surprised he’s not dead.   I’m sure Belfort took some creative liberties when describing how certain events went down, but it’s still hard to believe any of the stories actually happened to him.  My general reaction? Damn, Jordan, you crazy.

This is also one of the rare cases where I felt like I enjoyed the movie more than the book.  I know what you’re all thinking – “What a blasphemous thing to say!”.  The book goes into a lot of details and long paragraphs about financials and illegal things that Jordan and Stratton Oakmont were doing.  Frankly, although they were kind of relevant to the story, they were boring and sometimes those sections lost me.  The movie did a better job at paraphrasing those.  I also felt like the movie took a more chronological approach, which I felt gave a better sense of how the whole Stratton Oakmont craziness started.  The movie is almost 3 hours (and the book 500+ pages), so the movie was long enough to capture all the best parts of the book.  One thing the movie left out was a part that I think really humanized Belfort, which was the birth of his son who ended up having a series of serious medical problems.  The movie also left out Belfort’s stint in rehab and experiences there.

Overall, if you’ve seen the movie, there really isn’t too much of an incentive to read the book since it’s very similar.  That said, I did still really enjoy reading the book and would recommend reading it yourself, even if you’ve already seen the movie.  It’s long, but it goes by quick.

Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Unless you live under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard of Orange is the New Black.  The Netflix original series made a splash in the TV and Netflix world a few years ago and just released its fifth season in June.  I’ve been watching for the past few years and it’s one of my favorite shows!  Many of those who watch the show are aware that it was actually a memoir before becoming an insanely popular TV show.

Around the time when the fifth season was going to premier (June of this year), Orange is the New Black was a highlighted book at my library.  I have recently decided to take a break from reading non-fiction books, but I don’t really consider memoirs or certain biographies off limits in regards to that.  I’ve always been interested in reading this book since I like the show so much, and I also like to compare books to TV shows and see what creative liberties the TV shows take.

I found that for Orange is the New Black, the book is a lot more tame than the movie.  Although, this is probably a good thing since the book is a true story.  There are some similar characters, but many of them had their name changed from the book to the TV show.  Relationships between characters are slightly different as well.  This made it a little hard to try and “match people up”, which I really wanted to do since I viewed the people in the book as more “real” than those in the TV show.  The show brings them to life, but I wanted to know who they really are.  While I did enjoy reading Orange is the New Black, I wish I had read it before seeing the show.  The show is pretty sensational, so reading the book was a minor letdown.

I’d hope that Piper’s book opens up the dialogue for more women to discuss and publish their experiences in the prison system.  While Piper seemed to have a pretty safe and average experience, it’s important for those who have not to speak out as well.

Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn’t Commit by Kerry Max Cook

My journey to Chasing Justice has been a long one, so I’ll do my best to paraphrase.  Back in November 2014, my boyfriend told me about this little podcast you might have heard of called Serial (detect a bit of sarcasm there? It was huge.).  I really enjoy true crime shows (ones where they use forensics and evidence to solve mysteries), so he thought this was right up my alley.  In case you don’t know, Serial is a podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig and dives into a case that happened back in 1999 where a seventeen year old high schooler, Adnan Syed, was accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee.  There are a lot of twists, turns, and important minute details in the case, which I found fascinating.  If it was a book, I’d mark it as a page turner for sure.

Serial ends with Sarah Koenig not really coming to a final conclusion on the subject of Adnan’s guilt or innocence, and I think it also left a lot of the audience thinking the same.  I was really curious to learn more because there were a lot of questions left unanswered in the podcast.  Since the Serial podcast came out, there have been quite a number of spin-off podcasts discussing the case.  One of those podcasts is Undisclosed.  If you’re interested in really getting into the nitty gritty details of the Serial case from a lawyer’s perspective, I’d recommend listening to the Undisclosed podcast if you haven’t already.  It is quite skewed in one direction, since it takes the stand that Adnan is innocent and is out to prove that, but they do a really amazing job at getting into the details of the case that Adnan’s lawyer should have done the first time around.  Personally, I lean toward his innocence, especially after listening to Undisclosed.

From the Undisclosed podcast, I heard about yet another podcast, Serial Dynasty (it is now called Truth & Justice with Bob Ruff).  What I think makes Bob’s podcast special is that he approached it with an open mind to start…”Is Adnan innocent, is he guilty? I don’t know, let’s find out!”  He was also able to get an interview with one of the very elusive and small, but important, players in the overall story, “Neighbor Boy” (that’s what they were calling him in all the podcasts to keep him anonymous since he did not testify at trial).  I thought that it was pretty amazing to hear this guy’s side of the story all these years later.  He didn’t even know everyone had been talking about him in the podcasts and how potentially important his story was to the case.

Bob’s podcast started out more fan-focused, the point being to discuss theories about the Serial case.  However, it soon turned into a full on investigation where Bob came to the conclusion that Adnan was innocent.  Some of the sleuthing he did was amazing – specifically regarding Hae Min Lee’s most recent boyfriend’s time sheets for his alibi.  Eventually, Bob came to the end of his investigation that he could share on air, so his podcast changed again.  This time into Truth and Justice, where he is currently investigating another apparent wrongful conviction case.  It takes place in the same area as Chasing Justice – Tyler, Texas.  Bob has mentioned this book and case a bunch of times in his podcast, and it seemed really interesting to me, so I asked my boyfriend to get it for me for my birthday.  It might be hard to find in a library, but you can easily get it via Amazon.

To provide a little background, Kerry Max Cook was convicted of capital murder for the rape and murder of Linda Jo Edwards in 1977.  He spent nearly 20 years on death row, but maintained his innocence the entire time.  His case is really unlike any other in our legal system’s history; the alleged prosecutorial  misconduct that occurred was abhorrent – witnesses who were lying in their testimony, DNA that was left untested, and more.  Chasing Justice is written in the first person by Kerry Max Cook and chronicles his life before, during, and after prison.  While being in prison is hard for anyone, Cook seems to have had an extremely hard go of it.  He was raped, abused, and depressed for almost all of his time behind bars.  Very sad for someone who shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

I usually try to keep an open mind with things like this, especially because this was written directly by Cook who is writing not only to tell his story, but to maintain his innocence.  So I try to take that with a grain of salt.  But, after hearing more information outside of the book regarding the case, I do believe he was railroaded into a conviction.  While we all must understand that putting an innocent person in prison is completely against what our justice system stands for, we also must realize that having an innocent person in jail means that the real perpetrator is still running free.  Which, in my mind, is equally as disturbing.  Jail is supposed to keep those who cause harm in society away from us and when prosecutors and the legal system railroad innocent people through the system just to get a conviction, we all suffer.  It’s unacceptable.  Chasing Justice is also an example of the complexities of the death penalty.  Had Cook not been able to free himself from prison (free is a loose term by the way, he was never completely exonerated), an innocent man would have been killed.

Anyway, back to the book.  I was actually pretty surprised at how different this book read than what I was expecting.  I was expecting a more factual crime non-fiction book that was straight forward and focused on the facts of the case.  However, this book was written very much like a biography or a story.  It took me a few chapters to get used to this.  There was some legal jargon included, but I felt Cook did a good job explaining it.  Although, I did feel at times he did not do a good job explaining some details of the case to clearly lay out why he was innocent.  But, then again, it was not necessarily a pure crime book, so I understand why it might not have been muddled down with forensic and legal details.  Chasing Justice‘s sole purpose is not to explain why he is innocent, it is more a very detailed account of his experiences in the legal system and in prison.  I was also amazed at how much Cook was able to remember and relay back to us.  (Although I am always amazed by this in biographies.)  Overall I found this book a very interesting, emotional, and though provoking book.  I’d recommend it to anyone wondering how an innocent person can spend 20 years on death row, or anyone who knows why and wants to do something about it.

OK, it’s been a while…

So it’s been a while.  A pretty long while, actually.  Not sure why I’ve been neglecting this blog, but as I sit here on a cold San Francisco Memorial Day not feeling so hot (sore throat), I figured this is a good time to update.  Believe it or not, I’ve actually read a fair amount of books between November (last update and now).  I’m going to attempt to give a quick rundown of what I’ve read and what I’ve thought of it.

1. LAbyrinth by Randall Sullivan

2. Untouchable : the strange life and tragic death of Michael Jackson by Randall Sullivan

3. Man in the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson by Joseph Vogel

4,  Bossypants by Tina Fey

5. Hyperbole and a half : unfortunate situations, flawed coping mechanisms, mayhem, and other things that happened  by Allie Brosh

Five books! Not too shabby eh? I actually quite enjoyed all of them.  I’ll start with LAbryinth.  This book is about the LA police department back in the 90’s (hence the “LA” in “LAbryinth”) and goes into a lot about Tupac and Biggie’s lives (and – SPOILER ALERT – deaths) as well.  Apparently they all crossed paths quite often.  I came across this book because at the time I was actually reading the “Untouchable” book about Michael Jackson (also by Randall Sullivan).  That book is GIGANTIC and I was hard pressed for space during a trip back home to NJ in September (that’s how outdated I am!). I asked my mom (still works at the library!) to see if they had it so I didn’t have to carry a 15 pound book with me.  Unfortunately they didn’t, but they also had this book by the same author.  “About Suuuge Knight” she said (pronounced as you think it would be if you didn’t know otherwise.  So close, Mom. Close. BTW it’s “Shug”, as in “sugar”.). I actually only made it through about 3/4 of this book before I had to head back to SF, but it was quite interesting.  I didn’t get to the main part about the police department involvement/corruption, but the parts about Biggie and Tupac were incredibly interesting.  I learned a lot about their lives (and deaths) that I didn’t know previously.  I keep mentioning their deaths because unfortunately their deaths are very big parts of their stories.  Please read LAbryinth until the end and update me on the final chapters!

“Untouchable : the strange life and tragic death of Michael Jackson” by Randall Sullivan was quite the interesting book as well.  I am a big Michael Jackson fan (his music is just incredible), so I, of course, decided to pick the largest book at the library about him.  Common theme continuing, I also love rockstar biographies.  If you’re up for a 600+ page read, I would recommend this book for sure.  It does the reverse of many other books whereas instead of starting at the beginning, it starts with Michael’s death and surrounds many of his life stories around it.  It finally goes into the details of his death at the very end.  I found it quite well done.  His life was surely a mystery to us all and his death definitely was even more of a mystery, so I can see how the two easily intertwine.  I’m always amazed at the amount of detail these biographies are able to go into, and this book is no different.  They report details like on “May 2nd, 1982, Michael bought a $.29 can of soda from the corner store.”  I’m joking, of course, but the detail these books are able to go into is impressive.  Randall Sullivan leaves no bill unturned (we all know Michael lived an extravagant lifestyle) and really digs into the details of Michael’s life and end of life.  It’s important that he went into all those details because Michael Jackson’s life was plagued by financial troubles that he did little to stop.  “Untouchable” is a good read if you’re interested the details of MJ’s life and suspicious death.

“Man in the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson” by Joseph Vogel is great if you’re interested in Michael Jackson’s music and don’t give a damn about his personal life.  I mean that in the best way possible, by the way.  We all know Michael Jackson was constantly hounded by papparazzi and the media, which I don’t think helped his public perception (although it seems he did a poor job avoiding attempts to make himself seem “normal”).  Anyway, this book is really great because it goes into the details surrounding his albums, songs and music videos.  His music and art is really what he should be remembered for, not his crazy life and antics.  “Man in the Music” is a fairly quick read, but informative if you’re interested into diving deeper into each of his songs and biggest hits.

“Bossypants” by Tina Fey started off rough for me.  I know this book is a huge hit for everyone, but I thought it started off a little slow. (Sorry Tina!  I still love you.)  Anyway, it really picked up for me when she started talking about her SNL and 30 Rock days and beyond.  So probably the last 2/3 of the book.  Not that I don’t care about the beginning of her life and career, I just felt that the way it was presented was a little slow.  HOWEVER, I’m extremely glad I stuck through because the rest was fantastic.  I even started watching 30 Rock after.  If you haven’t watched 30 Rock yet, I’d recommend reading “Bossypants” first and then watch.  A lot of stuff will make sense.

And lastly…if you’re not aware, Hyperbole and a Half was first a blog (http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/).  I’d read it a few times and when I saw the book at the library, I had to have it!  I was hesitant to get it though because I remember someone told me that Allie Brosh had suffered from depression and to be completely honest, I wasn’t sure at the time if I wanted to read something that would dive deep into that topic.  At the time I was looking for something carefree and happy!  However, I thought this book did an excellent job addressing it and describing it for those of us who have never suffered from depression.  Outside of that, the book was lighthearted and entertaining, which I was happy about!  It was also an easy read (since most of it is cartoons), so if you need something quick you can easily read on the bus, this is a great book!  Depending on your commute, you’ll probably finish it within 1-3 commutes.

The Last Dive by Bernie Chowdhury

I’ll admit that it took me a while to finish The Last Dive mostly because I’m pretty binge-y with my reading these days.  I’ll go through phases where I read a lot and then not at all.  I was also reading another book at the same time (shhh…don’t tell The Last Dive).  So, this book did take me a few spurts to finish, but it was great because each time I was able to easily pick back up on the story and it was able to capture me back in each time.  That being said, The Last Dive is both memorable and captivating.  It tells the story of a father and son dive team, Chris and Chrissy Rouse, that ultimately perished on a dive trip off the coast of New Jersey in 1992.  This book was especially interesting to me because I am a scuba diver and my dad (who actually certified me) was an extremely avid scuba diver before he “retired” about 5 years ago.  In the summers, and even winters, he was out almost every weekend on the New Jersey coast diving, coming back with wreck treasures and stories.  So, I grew up with my dad quite possibly being any one of the many characters in this book.  The best part about it is that I don’t think you need to have any knowledge of scuba diving to read this story; it is very easy to follow and you’ll learn a lot about the scuba sport and history.  I liked how it was told from the perspective of a close friend of the Rouse’s, Bernie Chowdhury, who was also an avid diver.  We learn about his life as well as the Rouse’s.  He told the story of the Rouse’s fondly, and almost in an mystical way, as if despite their accident they are now dive legends.  Chowdhury had his own dive accident that he recalls in the book.  It is very interesting to read about the many things that can go wrong when diving and the risks that many “adventure” divers take.

Where We Going, Daddy?: Life with Two Sons Unlike Any Other by Jean-Louis Fournier

I’m a sucker for small books with an interesting looking, simple cover.  Well, Where We Going, Daddy? is exactly that.  If you’re looking for a very simple, but poignant book, Where We Going, Daddy? is the book for you.  Where We Going, Daddy? chronicles a father’s relationship (or lack thereof) with his two severely mentally challenged sons. Yes, two.  The book is interesting and a quick read, but it is pretty heavy.  The father discusses thoughts that are in most respects considered “untouchable” matters, such as wishing that his sons were never born or that they’d simply just disappear.  Not because he doesn’t love them, but because it is such a difficult life for him as well as them.  They’ll never have the full experiences most of not born with disabilities take for granted.  I’m not a parent, nor do I closely know anyone with a severe mental disability, but I can’t even imagine the difficulty of the situation.  I’d ask you to approach this book with an open mind because Fournier does address the thoughts that I’m sure parents of non-mentally challenged kids have felt.    I applause Fournier for his candidness in this book and while it’s something we all can’t relate to, I think it’s important for us all to understand.

If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home by Tim O’Brian

If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home by Tom O’Brian is heartbreaking.  That’s the simplest way to phrase it.  The chilling name essentially says it all.  My boyfriend lent me this book, citing it as an easy read.  Easy read technically? Yes.  Easy read emotionally? No.  If I Die in a Combat Zone is about Tom O’Brian’s experience in the Vietnam War.  You may recognize his name from the book The Things They Carried, which I did not realize he wrote until I noticed it on the back cover.  I haven’t read that book yet, but I plan to after reading If I Die in a Combat Zone.  It’s definitely the more well-known book, and I would assume has a slightly different focus than If I Die in a Combat Zone.

The Vietnam War’s name speaks for itself.  A book about the Vietnam War pretty much speaks for itself, too.  You can definitely expect what you’d think to expect when reading a book about it – sadness and nothing good.  What was most interesting to me about this book in particular, was the beginning and end of the book.  In the beginning, O’Brian outlines his plans to go AWOL before being sent to Vietnam (he later decided to bail on his escape).  Of course I knew he wouldn’t do it (otherwise there would be no book – so, no, that’s not technically a spoiler), but toward the middle and end I could feel his regret and wished he could have gone back in time and actually completed the act.  Some might think dodging the draft is unpatriotic, but as strong opponent of the draft, especially in a war like the Vietnam War, more power to you – go for it.  The end of the book was interesting as well, as it outlined his time after he left the combat zone.  It was not surprising to me that the US Army did little to ease the pain of the soldiers returning from war.  Something that resonated with me the most was the fact that “large breasted blonde women” were recruited to greet the veterans when they completed their duties.  It seemed as if the men were not very impressed and this “peace offering” from the government.  I don’t blame them.

While no one wants to read about the gritty details of a war, I feel that if you experienced it, you should write about it in detail.  If you hold back, there’s no way for people to learn the true horrors of war so we as a society can work to prevent it in the future.  I unfortunately felt that the middle section of If I Die in a Combat Zone was a little too simply written emotionally and didn’t go into the physical and emotional details I would have expected.  Part of me is content with that (because it’s gruesome and depressing), but another part of me wishes O’Brian had described his experiences in more detail and adding more emotion.  I would mostly attribute this to the straight forward writing style, but I think overall the book could have included more emphatic descriptions of the events that were discussed.  I’ll eventually read The Things they Carried and do a side-by-side comparison of his two books (he’s also written a few others).

John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster by Sam L. Amirante and Danny Broderick

As with many of the books I end up reading,  John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster was not a book I actively sought out to read.   I usually am in a rush when I go to the library since I normally stop by right before going to work and never give myself  enough time to peruse through the books.  My first stop is always to the new books section and on this particular day, I walk over and there’s John Wayne Gacy staring me in the face.  I had heard of this guy, but almost as an urban legend.  You know, one of those weird stories you tell on the playground when you’re a kid that’s actually kind of true–does some kind of killer clown sound familiar?  (Although this “clown killer” rumor about Gacy is a complete fabrication.)  So, if you’re still asking me,  “Wait, I thought John Wayne was an actor…” you are poorly mistaken.  John Wayne Gacy is quite possibly the worst serial  killer to have walked the face of this earth.  From 1972 to 1978 he succeeded in murdering 33 (YES, THIRTY-THREE–that is not a typo) young boys.  Crazy, huh?  To make matters worse, he sexually assaulted many of them and–wait for it–buried about 26 of them in his basement (YES, IN HIS BASEMENT–that is not a typo).   The reason why I picked up this book was not necessarily John Wayne Gacy because I didn’t recognize his crimes by his name; it was mainly because Defending a Monster  is written by one of Gacy’s lawyers, Sam Amirante.   The book is mostly from Amirante’s perspective–his interactions with Gacy and his experience of the trial.  The  fact that this is one of the most infamous cases in American history and written from the perspective of a lawyer, I was intrigued.

You may ask, who would ever want to defend such a horrible human being?  I was thinking the same thing.  However, Amirante continuously defends his decision to represent Gacy throughout the book and makes an extremely compelling argument based on our Constitution.  Everyone in America, no matter what their crime, is guaranteed a fair trial under the Constitution.  As a public defender, Armirante believed in this so strongly that he was willing to defend a man like Gacy.  Although I was not necessarily impressed with Armirante’s quality of writing (I found it a bit basic and simple for a lawyer), I was still impressed and inspired by his commitment to our justice system, and  I deeply respect him for that.  The book begins with a very detailed account of Gacy’s final murder and how it ultimately led to his demise.  As the police are honing in on Gacy’s crimes, he drunkenly comes to Armirante one night and confesses everything.  Readers relive with Armirante Gacy’s chilling and intense account of his first murder.  There is also ample coverage of the trial, where Armirante concedes that Gacy is guilty, but pleads for the jury to find him guilty by reason of insanity.   I do wish that Armirante went further into discussing  the testimonies of the psychologists that testified at Gacy’s trial.   For someone who was so convinced that Gacy was insane, I failed to be swayed by what he presented in this book.  I also felt that there was a lot of embellishment for the sole purpose of making this book more sensational and that a lot of important things (that I have now read in some light research elsewhere) about Gacy and the trial that were not addressed.  It read similar to a fiction novel, which I had a bit of  a problem with.  Regardless, Defending a  Monster will chill you to the bone and freak you out, but also give you a new perspective on how great our justice system really is.  I would definitely recommend reading this book if you have any interest in crime, psychology, and/or our justice system, or just want a real life horror story.   This quick, page turning read will give you a little (ok, BIG) scare and make you think.

There was also something small I needed to address about this book as well.  The cover says “Includes Graphic Images,” which I found weird.  A majority of the images were from the crawlspace where Gacy buried his victims.  While the photos were not horrifying (most were just bones), I did find them fairly disturbing.  But I need to beg the question–is this supposed to be a disclaimer?  Or is it supposed to get me excited about these graphic photos?  The latter concerns me, since I’m not sure I want the type of person who would be excited about a serial killer’s graphic images of victims to be drawn into reading this book…..just sayin’.

My Lobotomy by Howard Dully

I was not expecting to pick up My Lobotomy by Howard Dully when I walked into the library about a month ago.  While scanning  the biography section, I came across this oddly titled memoir.  It was fairly short and the description really captured my attention, so I checked it out.  My Lobotomy surveys Howard Dully’s life as a lobotomy patient.  However, Dully’s story is pretty different than most lobotomy patients; he was lobotomized using the transorbital, or ice pick lobotomy, at the age of 12 by the now infamous Walter Freeman.  Freeman performed over 3400 lobotomies across the United States in forty years.  What makes Dully’s story so interesting and controversial is that, in hindsight, it seems as if his lobotomy was orchestrated by his step mother and definitely not needed.  Dully begins his memoir with what he remembers about life before the lobotomy, which seemed  like the life of a normal child.  A little defiant, but no serious records of actions or mental illness that would call for a lobotomy.  After Dully’s lobotomy, his life was rife with drugs, alcohol, and crime.  His family abandoned him after the lobotomy, and he was pushed in and out of jail and mental institutions (where it was constantly decided he did not belong).   My Lobotomy was a fascinating account of a young man’s attempt to put together the pieces of his life after having it so brutally taken from him.  I would definitely recommend this book to everyone.  However, I must add a disclaimer because this book is pretty intense and quite depressing.  On the upside though, Dully’s life will move, inspire, and educate you about the lobotomy procedure that reached its peak and saw its (rightful) decline in the mid 20th century.  If you listen to NPR, this story might sound familiar–Dully was the center of a piece in  2005 which shares the title of his memoir.  He now lives a peaceful and satisfying life and has been able to tell his story via his memoir and NPR.

Jim Morrison and the Doors

The Doors are one of the most interesting bands in the history of music.  When they burst into the music scene in the late 1960’s, their sound was original, new, and innovative.  I really don’t see how anyone can NOT like the Doors—their music is timeless and just nice to listen to.  Yeah, I get it, the seventeen minute long “Celebration of the Lizard King” can probably freak some people out, but their radio-friendly hits such as “Light My Fire” are songs even my grandparents could probably listen to (without knowing the Doors’ reputation, of course).  I love the Doors, and growing up in an era where they are sometimes forgotten or unheard of by today’s youth, it is pretty hard to get a sense of the sensation that surrounded them.  So, what did I do to solve this problem?  You got it—I read three different books about them.  Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend by Stephen Davis was actually the first rock star biography I read this summer that started the whole frenzy.  Because (as with the Led Zeppelin book), there is some controversy surrounding the factual accuracy and representation of Morrison in Davis’ book, I read it with the criticism in mind.   I’m going to start this post with my thoughts on Davis’ Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend.

Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend was an amazing book.  Yes, the controversy thing bothers me a little, but this book really takes the cake for biographies.  Although it paints Jim Morrison in a horrible light, the book is a fascinating survey of Jim’s short life.  It begins with his childhood, which could be the focus of a child psychology book itself.  It goes into some detail about the famous Indian incident of Jim’s childhood, early girlfriends, and addresses other issues like Jim’s borderline obsession with violent and sexual images.  Jim Morrison is a fascinating individual who, as you read the book will find, has serious issues that stem past his drug use and ridiculously heavy drinking, which ultimately leads to his demise.  The book is long, but I could not put this one down.  Readers learn about the formation of the Doors, and one of my favorite parts of the book is when Jim first sings the lyrics of “Moonlight Drive” to Ray Manzarek one evening on the beach.  You can almost feel the excitement and expectation that they know they are about to embark on an intense, crazy, and historic journey.  I really enjoyed reading this book, but I warn you, it does make you hate Jim Morrison.  Yes he is a rock God, but according to this book, he is a huge misogynistic, crazy, self-centered asshole; but, you can also tell he is a very troubled individual who, while seemingly a huge jerk, maintains a level of charm and innocence.  Jim Morrison was an extremely complicated individual, and this book captures it all, including his controversial death.

Because I felt the first Jim Morrison book painted him is such a negative light, I decided to read an autobiography by a member of the Doors, John Densmore, the drummer.  In Davis’ book, Densmore apparently despised Jim, so I wanted to know what the Doors drummer had to say about Morrison for himself.  I found many aspects of Densmore’s book, Riders of the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors, a little weird.  First off, the cover of the book says it all—Jim Morrison in the front, and then Densmore behind him, in the shadows.  Weird, right?  This is supposed to be Densmore’s book, not Jim’s.  Even in death, I think Densmore feels overshadowed by Jim.  Densmore’s autobiography (or biography about Jim—still not sure who he was aiming to talk about more) begins and ends with a letter Densmore wrote to Jim after he died.  It seems that Densmore feels guilty about his lack of caring about Jim while he was alive, and wants to reconcile by cleaning up Jim’s name.  It cannot be denied that Jim Morrison was not a very liked person by anyone, but Densmore tries to justify his actions and paint him in a nicer light than Davis, while still addressing his personal issues with Jim.  Riders of the Storm is interesting and worth reading for a Doors fan.  The book mostly focuses on Jim, but also goes into Densmore’s personal affairs as well.

No One Here Gets Out Alive: The Biography of Jim Morrison by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman is the last Jim Morrison biography I read and will read for a while–I promise.  After reading the other two books, I unfortunately did not learn anything new from this biography.  In fact, even though I was skeptical about his portrayal of Jim, I liked Davis’ book more than this one.  However, I do believe this is because Davis’ is the first Morrison biography I read and No One Here Gets Out Alive just wasn’t as interesting because I basically knew the entire story already.  As with Densmore’s, it tried to paint Jim in a better light, but I have come to the conclusion that that is almost impossible to do.  No One Here Gets Out Alive was a little more impartial and lighter on Jim than Davis’ book.  The book is split up into three sections of Jim’s life and does not go into as much detail about his childhood.  It is long but quick read, and I think if you are a big Doors fan, it wouldn’t hurt to read all three.  You will get three perspectives and be able to piece together for yourself how you feel about Morrison, who is the main focus of all three books.