Review: Admit One by Emmett James

On 03.12.10, In Book Blather, Book Reviews, Memoir, Non-Fiction, By Natalie

Title: Admit One

Author: Emmett James

Genre/Pages: Nonfiction, Memoir/197

Publication: Fizzypop Productions, LLC; February 1, 2010

Rating: 3.5 BOOKMARKS

Source: Review copy courtesy of Lisa Roe of Online Publicist

A witty and entertaining memoir that details one Englishman’s life-long love of the cinema and experiences working as an actor.

Films have always played a defining role in Emmett James’s life, and his memoir, Admit One, takes the reader from his early childhood in South London all the way to sunny Los Angeles where, as an adult, James makes inroads into show business.

At the start of each chapter, James highlights a movie that had an impact on him, providing a succinct synopsis and starring cast information.  From there, Emmett entertains with humorous vignettes of his child and adulthood, drawing parallels back to the movies.

My husband is a huge movie fan and he and James seem to share the same taste in celluloid magic.  I found myself reading whole pages of the book out loud, especially those with references to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Amityville Horror.

James’s conversational tone and very English turn of a phrase brought to mind a few of my favorite non-fiction writers.  His honesty and self-deprecating humor were welcome, as were his interesting forays into the magic of Hollywood.  He offered up some interesting tidbits and a behind-the-scenes peek at being part of the cast of Titanic, one of the top-grossing films ever made.

I found the beginning and ending of the book to be the strongest, while the middle dragged a bit.  Also, I loved the idea of carrying the film theme through the whole book but felt a few chapters, especially ‘Coming to America‘ and ‘Ghostbusters’ were just vehicles to move the story along without really drawing parallels from James’s life to the movies.  In other chapters, he really explains how the movies impacted his life and his choices, but others felt forced–the movies didn’t really relate to what was happening in his life and only merited a mere mention instead of being the theme.

That said, I found this book to be a worthwhile and entertaining read.  I adore this genre–humor memoir–and am always on the lookout for fresh, new authors.  Emmett James fits the bill and I’m looking forward to reading more from him in the future.

Have you had any brushes with fame?  Maybe a walk-on role in a film or show?  Ever been to a taping of a show?  Any desire to act?

I’ve been to a few tapings and once won tickets and a limo ride to the MTV Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall.  When our limo pulled up out front, the crowds thought my friend and I were celebrities; I just put on my sunglasses and gave my best celebrity wave!

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Does Size Matter?

On 03.10.10, In Book Blather, By Natalie

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a tad tired of a couple of the sidebar images here at Book, Line, and Sinker.  The cover of Stephen King’s weighty Under the Dome has been roosting in the coveted ‘Listening To” and ‘On My Kindle’ spots for weeks now; the next time I get the genius idea of borrowing a 30-CD audio book from the library, kindly remind me of this folly.

Coming in at 1,074 pages, Under the Dome is the  longest book I’ve ever listened to and one of the lengthiest I’ve read in quite a while.  Last year I reveled in all 1,048 delicious pages of Gone With the Wind, but it did take me almost a week to get through it.

I’ve heard of a few challenges that deal specifically with long books (chunksters, in the colloquial) but haven’t had the fortitude to sign up.  I’m not necessarily daunted by books in excess of 600 pages but find that my attention starts to wander if the books are too long.

My wandering eye gets me in trouble (with books, that is) and I’ll often pick up a shorter book and read it while still in the middle of a chunkster.  Heck, I sometimes cheat on short books too–I’ll read two or three books at the same time!

I can’t promise that Under the Dome will be disappearing from my sidebar anytime soon–I just started disc 11 today, 19 more to go–but I did read a great book review over at Write Meg! that I might just have to download onto my Kindle.

If you’re so inclined, I have a few questions about your take on longer books:

  • Do you avoid chunksters?
  • Do you have a personal ‘page limit’ or is that too restrictive for your reading habits?
  • What was the last chunkster you read?
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TV Therapy

On 03.07.10, In Mad Ramblings, By Natalie

I’ve always turned to books as a vehicle of choice for escape.  In fact, my husband and I are such avid readers that when we moved into our house 10 years ago, we made a conscious decision not to hook up the cable.  We do have a TV with a DVD/VCR combo to watch movies–which we rarely do–but beyond that, it’s books, comics, and magazines for us.

Two weeks ago, in an instant (as the cliche goes), our lives turned upside down with a phone call.  Circumstances made it necessary for me to relocate to my sister’s house temporarily, and the situation was so stressful that when trying to read before bed, I couldn’t even get through a single sentence.

I tried desperately to focus–I had reviews to write–but couldn’t give the books my full attention.  I abandoned them and dashed off apologetic emails to the publicists, requesting extensions.  Thankfully, everyone was very understanding, and I was able to put reading (and blogging) on the back burner.

And that’s how I (temporarily) crossed over to the dark side.  I turned on the television and watched one of three soothing-to-me channels: Food Network, HGTV, and The History Channel.  The minute I put my nephew down for a nap each afternoon it was all about Giada, Paula Deen, Ina Garten, Rachel Ray, and Bobby Flay.

At night, instead of reaching for a book, I reached for the remote control.  (I would have scarfed a fistful of Valium but have never taken pills in my life and feared waking up in a foreign country, wearing a toga, beauty pageant sash, and sporting a tattoo on my face.)  I snuggled up with Pawn Stars, American Pickers, Hoarders, Chopped, Property Virgins, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and Dinner: Impossible.  For someone who has had little exposure to television in ten years, the choices were mind boggling.

Television did get me through the first two weeks of what promises to be a long and arduous journey.  I’m thankful that it was so distracting but was happy to come home and sleep in my own bed.  Drifting off to sleep last night, I wondered what I was missing on Food Network…but only for a second.  The delicious pile of TBRs on my nightstand pushed all thoughts of television right out of my head.

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