Books: Girls like us

After prolonged silence,I am back to this blog - the reason why I haven't write anything for such a long time was that I was traveling & working way too much + asked myself who is ever going to read this anyway,after all I have my own diary - but than decided that this is for me and it might be pleasure to simply put down my musings about things that occupy me

I do travel a lot but it's what's inside my head that somehow seems more important that places outside.

To start with something interesting,here is a little essay about book "Girls like us" by Sheila Weller.

It is a triple threat,triple biography about Carole King,Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon - I wanted to read it for a long time but of course sailing around South Africa didn't help much so I couldn't believe when I found it by accident in some discount-books corner in Amsterdam,the book was simply waiting for me there and I didn't have to go through the whole internet order process.

It was very interesting and Weller had certainly done her research job carefully - she asked these ladies for permission to talk to their friends rather than to them (Simon was the only one who actively participated) - and not only there are hundreds of little stories and anecdotes about background of our favorite songs and albums,but she also cleverly connects King,Mitchell and Simon into (ahem) tapestry that at the same time reflects particular time when 1960s turned into 1970s and the whole social atmosphere. Surely,each of them was unique in her own way and each of them had her own share of troubles in beginning - King forever pregnant and balancing family and career,Mitchell hiding her real troubles behind artistic,icy persona,Simon being simply pushed around by guys in music industry who dismissed her because of her privileged background & attractive looks.

So far,so good - when book explored ladies beginnings and background,it was simply a matter of good research. But once they become successful,author unfortunately started to focus too much on lovers,husbands and love lives. While I understand that there is a huge audience who is interested in this,I found it a bit narrow-minded: I wouldn't mind some seriousness instead of backstage gossip and laundry list of lovers & husbands,no matter how fascinating they might be. At certain point I even became a bit bored with all this,it sounds better suited for "Vanity Fair" article (which eventually it was,abridged) than as a book. It became almost like Weller was more interested in husbands than into ladies themselves, I couldn't wait to finish the book and get over with it. Somewhere along the way music and art were pushed into background and what was supposed to be background became main focus - we got to know every man Carole King ever slept with but her music was rarely (if ever) discussed.

The good thing is - the book actually made me curious about Carly Simon's work. I am familiar with King and Mitchell but not so much with Simon so I collected some of her albums and decided to give them a proper listening,so far I was aware of her but never really listened carefully.