Dropped Names

This book can best be described by that oft-unused word: stupendous. Oh it was just so magically delightful. I have a deep love for stories, I always have, as my grade school year book stated under "It wouldn't be a school day if..." and mine was "...Lisa didn't tell a story." Like all working class folk, I do love stories about celebrities, especially when you find out that actors you've always liked are really nice in person. (I'm talking about you, Dee Wallace. Pax and his sister met her at Monster Mania a few years ago and he sang her praises the whole next day. Apparently she is genuinely kind and extremely intuitive and compassionate.) Mr. Langella is a gifted writer. He is ridiculously detailed at times and makes it so very easy for the listener/reader to conjure up an image in their mind's eye of Marilyn Monroe, dripping with diamonds on ears, throat, and wrists, stepping from a car in a stunning beaded gown and fur coat; the odd and out-of-place extras who appeared in his evening with Elizabeth Taylor, or the back garden and home of a dear friend in Massachusetts. I could nearly smell the chlorine from the pool and hear the creak of the floorboards in the parlour. It is this attention to detail that allows one to peer over Langella's broad shoulders or peek around his sleeve and see the entire scene laid out before you. I adore writers like this - the ones who are able to effortlessly draw you in to their world and allow you to leave your own behind while they spin you a yarn. The audiobook was so good that I went out and bought a physical copy to have on hand. Make no mistake though, this is a memoir that is best when the author is telling you these stories directly. I nearly swooned each time he spoke as Raul Julia, with that delicious accent. I was thoroughly entertained and captivated from the first word through to the last.