Cavendish Library Blog

What I Did for Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips William Morrow, 401 Pages Copyright 2009

I was not terribly enthusiastic when I saw this book.  Susan Elizabeth Phillip’s last effort, Glitter Baby, was less than sparkling in this reviewer’s eyes.  That said, I was pleasantly surprised to find this book a much stronger and well written endeavor.

What I Did for Love is the story of Georgie York, a former sitcom star, newly divorced from a famous movie star who left her for a doo-gooder, multiple parent former co-star.  The paparazzi follow her and she is rather sick of being a victim in the eyes of the press and public.  I think the resemblance between Jennifer Anniston and Georgie is more than accidental.  Anyway, enter Bramwell Shepard, Georgie’s neer-do-well costar and they get married under the influence of who-knows-what in Las Vegas.  The rest of the story is your standard love story with a few twists involving a quarantine, ex husbands and a role in a movie. 

Why is this book so much better than Glitter Baby? Well, the characters are well fleshed out and the plot isn’t as tangled and convoluted.  Since there are fewer characters, Phillips is able to focus more on them.  Also the story of new Hollywood is much more entertaining, in this instance than old as  Phillips is not at her best writing period pieces. Plus, there’s the connection to the Brad-Jennifer-Angelina triangle.  One has the feeling of a fly on the wall in a wonderful confrontation scene.

My recommendation?  Check out this book, pour a glass of wine and sit back and enjoy.  It’s worth your time.

Glitter Baby by Susan Elizabeth Phillips 2008 HarperCollins Publisher 429 p.

I was excited when I saw a new Susan Elizabeth Phillips book had been published because I am a fan.  Her characters are well thought out and her plots are engaging.  I was disappointed to find only one of the two was present in this book. I thought there were some great characters, but some poor plotting.

Glitter Baby is the story of two women: Belinda Britton, a would-be starlet from the late 1950’s and her daughter Fleur Savagar, a model and would-be actress from a more current date.  The book was originally printed in 1987 and has been extensively rewritten by Phillips so the story takes place in the past, though this is glossed over. The most interesting character in this book isn’t Fleur, the title character, but Belinda. Belinda is as obsessed with Fleur’s success as she was with Fleur’s biological father, Errol Flynn.  There is also the subplot of Belinda’s marriage to a somewhat obsessive French man, Alexi who predictably treats Fleur poorly.  Fleur is raised by her mother in the spot light, she then walks away from fame at her height and proceeds to make a comeback later.  These plot lines overshadow the love story between Fleur and Jake Koranda, which seems tacked on to me.    I felt as though Phillips was trying to write two books, one about Belinda and Errol Flynn and Alexi and one about Fleur and Jake.  It didn’t work.  Either she needed to add about one hundred pages to the book and flesh our Fleur and Jake a bit better or leave them out entirely.

The book isn’t a total loss though, the stories of “old Hollywood” are good and Fleur’s comeback is interesting, though her fade from fame was  abrupt and predictable.  Belinda and Alexi, two characters that you can love to hate, were the real glitter in this baby.

A recent acquisition to the library is the audio book version of Leonard Nimoy’s “I Am Spock”.  This book is part autobiography, part memoir and part psychological study of an actor.  Spock, for those who might not know, is the character Nimoy played in  the classic 1960’s television series Star Trek, six Star Trek movies and in a memorable guest appearance in one of the many Star Trek spin off shows.   This is the second of Nimoy’s memoirs, the first being  “I Am Not Spock”, which he published during the 1970’s. 

During “I Am Spock”, Nimoy intersperses stories of growing up with “dialogues” with his character of Spock.  I found these dialogues to be, well.. fascinating.  Not only is there a definate difference in Nimoy’s voice as he voices both himself and Spock, but the dialogues shed an interesting light on both Nimoy’s journey to create the character of Spock and the evolution of Star Trek, both as a show and as a franchise, and his fight to have Spock be a meaningful character.  As a self professed Trekkie, who has loved the show since she first saw it in reruns, it is a wonderful back story.  I don’t know if it would be as good in print form.

Missing from this book is the back biting found in many other Star Trek Memoirs.  Nimoy glosses over the anti-Shatner rants found in many other such books including those by James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols.  He focuses instead on the practical jokes they played on each other and the growth of their relationship over the last forty years.

For those who may not be as enamored of Star Trek as I am, there is much more.  Nimoy is an award winning director, of such films as “Three Men and a Baby” and “The Good Mother”, a poet and a photographer.  

For those of us who are Trekkies, there is a new film due out this May and Nimoy is a part of it.  As he spoke eloquently of not allowing Spock to have a part in various movies or television shows unless his character played a significant part in moving the plot along, I know we can look forward to another wonderful performance.

Ok I’m coming out of the closet.  I LOVE Star Trek.  I have since I discovered it in reruns in the 1970’s when I was still in elementary school.  One of my first memories is watching the episode “I, Mudd” where Harcourt Fenton Mudd, a somewhat ridiculous pirate, is on a planet covered with beautiful women in spangly dresses.  I was hooked, a passion that continues to this day, more than 30 years later.

I was a hard sell on the movies and on the “Next Generation” ten years later, but have come to enjoy them as a continuation of the Star Trek mythos.  My brother and I have an ongoing debate as to who the best captain was.  He votes for Picard (Next Generation) I for Kirk (Original Series) all the way.  Anyway, this is why I love Star Trek.

1) William Shatner as Kirk.  Yum, yum.  Handsome, sexy, forceful and that….WAY…he has of talking.  Of course the real William Shatner was a bit of an egomaniac…even he admits it.  We’re glad you grew up Bill.

2) It shows a future that is neither heavily post apocolyptic (though there were some catastrophies) nor devoid of love or emotion or anything.  The future has problems, but it is a reasonably healthy, normal place, where people get together to solve problems.

3) Gene Roddenbury was a humanist.  He believed that people could overcome their problems.  I believe that too.  See number 2.

4) The costumes and hair.  I loved Grace Lee Whitney’s woven hair, the velour mini skirts and all of the glittery alien costumes. 

5) Aliens, especially Mr. Spock.  Let’s show the world that we are not alone in the universe.

6) Women on the bridge, and in the Enterprise.  Kudos to Roddenberry for putting Uhura on the bridge and showing that women have a place aside from nursing in exploration and the military.  But come on…did Kirk have to kiss so many?

7) The stories.  Some of the best written science fiction ever. 

New Movie coming out based on the old series.  I can’t wait!

I  recently readthe new Cathy Lamb book “The Last Time I Was Me”.  The story is about Jeanne Stewart, and advertising executive who has a nervous breakdown while addressing 834 fellow advertising employees informing them of the pointlessness of their lives.  She then sells everything and leaves Chicago, heading out towards where her brother lives with a vague plan to drive into the ocean.  Luckily for all of us, she doesn’t.

Her story of self discovery is both heartbreaking and hilarious. She finds a place to stay with Rosavita, a woman obsessed with germs who runs a bed and breakfast and takes some court ordered anger management classes, the details behind which are eventually revealed as the books enfolds.

The book has several subplots; exploited migrant workers, a cross dressing member of the anger management group, an impending trial,  Jeanne’s shoe passion, a murder and the inevitable love interest before Jeanne is finally able to deal with her  anger.

What makes this book truly enjoyable to me is the character of Jeanne.  (The idea of a book starting with a nervous breakdown is not new.  I have read several other books with the same theme “Breathing Room” by Susan Elizabeth Phillips comes to mind.) Jeanne is full of energy and power.  She doesn’t take life lying down and stands up to her problems, rather than being a victim.  I often fantasize about standing up to people the way she does.   This facet of her personality makes her thoughts of suicide a little unrealistic because we know, as I think she does too, that she will not take her own life. 

Her humor as well as her passion for shoes gives us a heroine that we can enjoy.  Probably the best part of the book is the court scene at the end when we find out the exact details behind her nervous breakdown.  The scene is hilarious, but totally unrealistic.  There would have been a lot more objections!

Anyway, this book is worth your time.  It’s a perfect way to while away a stormy Saturday afternoon on a comfy couch with a box of chocolates.  Of course, it’s available at the Cavendish Fletcher Community Library.