I get that the title of this memoir is a reference to Dirty Dancing. A specific quibble: I wish Patterson’s reading recommendations throughout were as diverse as the many series on his bibliography. And while he knows it’s great that he’s the best-selling writer in the world, a lifetime of reading great literature suggests it’s also “sad” that that’s the case. He wishes that Hollywood would make a decent movie or TV show out of one of his properties. He hooked me when he called Jeffrey Epstein a “piece of human garbage.” (Patterson co-authored a 2016 book about his Palm Beach “neighbor” Epstein, which became a Netflix documentary.) He also dreams about getting nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize only to arrive in Stockholm and discover it is a great big joke. But before I knew it, Patterson was ingratiating himself in my life. The way he describes working at a mental institution - both James Taylor and Susanna Kaysen ( Girl Interrupted) were patients - can feel flip. The early chapters in this collection of quick bites can be annoying. I expected Patterson to have a booming movie-trailer voice, but instead it’s just regular and squawky. (In real life, he’s also gotten into some hot water lately.) But I guess selling trillions of books makes you look like Kevin Costner. In real life, the blockbuster novelist James Patterson does not look like the picture on the cover of this memoir. But beware: Things begin amusingly enough, but very quickly Prince Jameson’s, well, little prince, starts stirring and/or throbbing on the regular. Wesleigh Siobhan, however, is delightful. He voices Duchess as if she’s a southern Belle from Steel Magnolias. We nicknamed her “So Delicious” because she endearingly knew all the lyrics of “ Fergalicious.” Like many books of this ilk, the narrators alternate reading chapters. I hung out with Markle a bit when she was married to her first husband. I suppose it’s not that much of a stretch. The flap copy suggests the plot is inspired by Meghan “Duchess” Markle and Prince Harry. That’s what happened listening to this book about a Cardi B–like rapper named Danielle “Duchess” Nelson who has an affair with the gorgeous, tall Prince Jameson. Read by: Antony Ferguson and Wesleigh SiobhanĮvery once in a while, I’ll pick up a romance and be shocked by the explicit sex. I’ve finally started my own, and hopefully Carrie Coon can do the audiobook when I’m done with the first volume. Excerpts that particularly struck me: “Sometimes I truly hate this business,” “A trip to the dry cleaners is good for the brain,” and “Why is the actuality of one’s work so far from its intention?” Rickman made me realize a diary entry can be rhythmic and flip instead of emotional and in-depth. at the Box in New York, or mistaking Jane Campion for Meryl Streep. I found the actor’s vicissitudes here very interesting - whether he’s getting stiffed with the bill by his fancy friends at the Ivy, hanging out until 4 a.m. But they’re pretty fascinating as a listen, even if it’s not always clear what or who the very opinionated Rickman is talking about. This audio would, obviously, be so much better if Rickman had read his diaries himself. Rickman, known for his roles as Hans Gruber in Die Hard and Snape in the Harry Potter flicks, died in 2016, at 69, of pancreatic cancer.
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