UNITED STATES AUTHOR · BIOGRAPHY · SINGERS
J. Randy Taraborrelli
Also known as: J. Randall Taraborrelli, j randy taraborrelli
J. Randy Taraborrelli is a respected journalist, a recognizable entertainment personality, and in-demand guest on many television programs including Today, Good Morning America, The Early Show, Entertainment Tonight, and CNN Headline News. He is the bestselling author of thirteen books.
OF the school of earnest young writers at whom the word muckraker had been thrown in opprobrium, and by whom it had been caught up as a title of honor, Everett was among the younger and less conspicuous.
— from Once upon a time, 1994
Most acclaimed
Call her Miss Ross
Let me put it to you straight: This much-talked-about "unauthorized" biography has all the dirt for love/hate Ross "fans" and loyal fans alike, dragging Ross's name through the mud even more than former Supreme Mary Wilson's Dreamgirl ( LJ 12/86). Enough is enough! We've heard it all before in the tabloids where so-called employees "tattle" about the star's feisty ways--the very source, claims Taraborrelli, of most of his information. Yet, unlike Wilson, Taraborrelli starts in on Ross early, opening with the funeral of former Supreme Florence Ballard and going on to imply that Ross slept her way to the top. Taraborrelli leaves one with the impression that Ross couldn't love if her life depended on it--though the great lady's recent marriage to Norwegian shipping tycoon Arne Naess is shown in a better light. What's sad is that Taraborrelli spends so much time depicting Ross as "the bitch of all time" that much of what makes her a megasuperstar is not even touched upon. Probably more than anything, he should have given some account of how Ross came out on top in a business dominated by men. Call Her Miss Ross , we surely do; but she deserves better. Unauthorized reading.
Jackie, Ethel, Joan
Over the years there have been many books published about the Kennedy family, individually and collectively. But only this book provides a powerful and detailed look at the complex relationships shared between the three women who were not born Kennedy but who married into the family: Jackie Bouvier, Ethel Skakel, and Joan Bennett. For each of the Kennedy wives, the Camelot years provided an entirely different experience of life lessons. These were the years when Jackie's dreams became reality, but at a hefty price. For Ethel, these were years of frustration where her dreams of being First Lady were dashed and she sank into a deep depression. For Joan, her years as a Kennedy wife were the most confusing of her life, and she is now a recovering alcoholic. This fascinating story is set against a panorama of explosive American history, as the women cope with Jack's and Bobby's alleged affairs with Marilyn Monroe, their tragic assassinations, and other tragedies and scandals. Whether dealing with their husbands' blatant infidelities, stumping for their many political campaigns, touring the world to promote their family's legacy or raising their children, the Kennedy wives did it all with grace, style, and dignity. In the end, JACKIE, ETHEL, JOAN is a story of redemption and great courage.
Once upon a time
1994
From master storyteller and National Book Award winner John Barth comes a bravura performance: a memoir wrapped in a novel and launched on a sea voyage. A cutter-rigged sloop sets sail for an end-of-season cruise down into the "Chesapeake Triangle." Our captain: a middle-aged writer of some repute. The sole crewmate: his lover, friend, editor, and wife. The journey turns out to be not the modest three-day cruise it at first seems. As we sail through sun and storm, our skipper spins (and is spun by) the Story of His Life - an operatic saga that's part Verdi, part Puccini, and more than a dollop of bouffe, a compound narrative voyaging through the imagination. Crisscrossing the past, mixing memory with desire, our narrator navigates among the waypoints of his life, beguiling us with tales of adventure and despair, love and marriage, selves and counterselves, aging and sailing, teaching and writing - steering always by the polestar of Vocation, the storyteller's call. With all the narrative verve, playful flourishes, and dazzling prose that made works like The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor, Giles Goat-Boy, and The Sot-Weed Factor so memorable, Once Upon a Time is a mesmerizing and entertaining performance from one of the most important writers of our time.