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78th out of 762 books
—
761 voters
By Myself and Then Some
The epitome of grace, independence, and wit, Lauren Bacall continues to project an audacious spirit and pursue on-screen excellence. The product of an extraordinary mother and a loving extended family, she produced, with Humphrey Bogart, some of the most electric and memorable scenes in movie history. After tragically losing Bogart, she returned to New York and a brilliant...more
Paperback, 512 pages
Published
October 31st 2006
by It Books
(first published 2005)
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The only other celebrity autobiography I can recall reading was Larry Flynt's (AWESOME, FYI). I don't know how to rate these kinds of books so the four stars is entirely based on what I wanted to get out of it as a Lauren Bacall fan. It was moving to me, reading about her relationship to Bogie and loss of him, and just interesting in general to read about historical events and movies as a backdrop to someone's life. Also interesting to me from the perspective of someone in Al-Anon because it tot...more
Other than having been married to Humphrey Bogart, I didn't know a lot about Lauren Bacall. This autobiography introduced me to a charming and headstrong woman who has faced many trials and come out the other side, trumphant.
A "nice, Jewish girl", and granddaughter of immigrants, Lauren's (nee Betty Bacal) parents divorced when she was quite young. Her mother worked quite hard to support the two of them, with the help of an extended family. Lauren's dreams of performing onstage were encouraged b...more
A "nice, Jewish girl", and granddaughter of immigrants, Lauren's (nee Betty Bacal) parents divorced when she was quite young. Her mother worked quite hard to support the two of them, with the help of an extended family. Lauren's dreams of performing onstage were encouraged b...more
I found this all but impossible to put down. Bacall writes in a very immediate style, full of personality - her prose apparently untouched by ghost writers. The most interesting part of the book is, inevitably, the description of her youth, covering her amazingly swift rise to fame and marriage to Bogart.
However, the later sections about her career after Bogart's death, her broken engagement to Frank Sinatra and failed second marriage to Jason Robards, are also just as readable.
There's an extra...more
However, the later sections about her career after Bogart's death, her broken engagement to Frank Sinatra and failed second marriage to Jason Robards, are also just as readable.
There's an extra...more
From her first appearance in the 1944 classic film, To Have and Have Not, actress Lauren Bacall took the motion picture industry by storm. With her husky voice, striking features (her stare became famously known as “The Look”), and acerbic wit, Bacall entered the pantheon of leading ladies from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Yet, throughout her book, Bacall takes her fans behind the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and paints a realistic and intimate portrait of her life. Raised solely by her mother...more
I found this wonderful book because of the Summer Reading Challenge - Take A Walk ON Wall Street. I chose from Norris Church Mailer's list of Top 5 Memoirs published on 5/1/2010, and I could not have been happier! I literally stayed up all night and did nothing today except read! Every personality is so alive in Ms Bacall's telling. I am a great weeper in movies and novels but I have never been so emotionally wrought as I was during the chapters relating to her mother's and husband's illnesses....more
I read the initial biography in the mid-80s. Back then it had been groundbreaking stuff; memoirs were not as common as they are now. Bacall's _By Myself_ was one of the books that ushered in the wave of memoir. It also set the standard for Celebrity Memoir and has what is perhaps the heaviest, most impressive collection of dropped names Ive ever read. By the end of the book Bacall feels like someone you have known all your life. She does an outstanding job of zipping the reader into her skin and...more
I love most of this book, right up until the last section, covering the last 25 years, tacked on after the original publication of “By Myself.” The tacked on section seems rather rushed and lacking in detail as compared to the fuller earlier section. I adored the section of her life where she meets and marries Bogie, and I cried like a baby when she describes his death. I also married my best friend, and I could feel the absolute pain in her life during that time. The last section covering the l...more
She tells the most amazing stories, has been friends with the most interesting people, and done some spectacular things. I would love to sit down with her for an afternoon and just listen.
Her writing isn't especially strong though, and by the end of the book, I was tired of reading. The additional chapters seem to be one obituary after another and some of the stories are slightly mean, as though she's only telling them because the other people are dead and won't complain.
Also, she doesn't go in...more
Her writing isn't especially strong though, and by the end of the book, I was tired of reading. The additional chapters seem to be one obituary after another and some of the stories are slightly mean, as though she's only telling them because the other people are dead and won't complain.
Also, she doesn't go in...more
Lauren Bacall tells the story of her life and the people who have been important to her over the years. Writing in a candid, chatty style, Bacall is honest about her innocence and insecurities as she moved to Los Angeles when she was eighteen. Telling stories about her early movies, life with Humphrey Bogart, his tragic death, her return to the stage in New York, and remarriage to Jason Robarts, it is almost as though you are sitting with Bacall over a cup of tea or taking a peek into her diary....more
I enjoyed her talking about show business, her start in it, and her doubts / fears before auditions etc. It was also nice learning more about Bogart through her. But, towards the end, particularly what she added after the first version of the book was ridiculous... modern world type stuff, why she likes her little dog etc. Some editor needed to get a spine.
Lauren Bacall is such an amazing woman. I enjoyed her book very much and found it hard to put down. The way she describes her love for Humphrey Bogart is just beautiful. It was truly heartbreaking reading about her life after his death. She is a survivor!
I'm no fan of biographies, but I couldn't miss this one. Betty has such a great personality and she lived in the most glamorous of all eras, the 1940's ! Call it a guilty pleasure, but a pleasure it was to read that book, from cover to cover.
One of the great things about this piece is that you get to see that the ICON, Lauren B., is not the same as good old Betty from NYC. Yes, she's opinionated, sassy, but she's also genuine, insecure at times, even shy.
And you get the full story about her and Bogie. You get to see them painfully at the end, and his passing. I sobbed through that part and the painful letters she wrote to her dear mother upon her passing. Betty "Lauren Bacall" was a woman's woman. At least in my opinion. In an era w...more
And you get the full story about her and Bogie. You get to see them painfully at the end, and his passing. I sobbed through that part and the painful letters she wrote to her dear mother upon her passing. Betty "Lauren Bacall" was a woman's woman. At least in my opinion. In an era w...more
I loved the first half of this book for the romance between Lauren and Bogart and all of the wonderful stories and reminiscences about the Hollywood and actors of old. After Bogart's death and Lauren's difficult time coping with the tragedy, it became harder to continue reading: I was less invested in the narrative and longing for what had been lost. I still rooted for her and certainly liked her no less, but the glamor and the romance fell from the world around her afterwards. I suppose I love...more
CD: the first three disks are about her life getting into the business and her life with Bogart. The parts about cancer treatments in the 50's were interesting. She was very naive.
She wrote this when she was in her late forties and divorcing Jason Robards.
Then Lauren lived another 25 years and wrote the second part. The next three disks were done after 2003. Even her voice has changed. She goes through the deaths of her good friends, some you know, some you won't. Rodney McDowell, Sir John Gil...more
She wrote this when she was in her late forties and divorcing Jason Robards.
Then Lauren lived another 25 years and wrote the second part. The next three disks were done after 2003. Even her voice has changed. She goes through the deaths of her good friends, some you know, some you won't. Rodney McDowell, Sir John Gil...more
I listened to this as audiobook read by author. Usually listening to an audiobk read by actual author is satisfying experience, and this was happily no exception. this version has 2 parts: an abridged version of Ms. Bacall's original autobiog By Myself, + an update added 25 years later.
Ms Bacall seems to hv been (until their deaths), or still be, friends with all the big names in show biz from the middle of the 20th century. Sometimes I wish she could have been friends with just one mere mortal...more
Ms Bacall seems to hv been (until their deaths), or still be, friends with all the big names in show biz from the middle of the 20th century. Sometimes I wish she could have been friends with just one mere mortal...more
Jul 29, 2011
Sharon
added it
Intresting book in parts, I felt it dragged at the end.
It changed my opinion of Miss Bacall, I always assumed she was more assertive than she was, and the way she allowed Bogart to act and treat her was rather amazing.
Mind you, the way Sinatra acted toward her when they were dating, was appalling, he deserved a right kick up the arse, and quite frankly, I'd have had nothing to do with him, after he broke it off from her.
Read if you want to have a idea about old, glamerous hollywood.
It changed my opinion of Miss Bacall, I always assumed she was more assertive than she was, and the way she allowed Bogart to act and treat her was rather amazing.
Mind you, the way Sinatra acted toward her when they were dating, was appalling, he deserved a right kick up the arse, and quite frankly, I'd have had nothing to do with him, after he broke it off from her.
Read if you want to have a idea about old, glamerous hollywood.
I have to confess, I only wanted to hear the "Bogie" parts. I listened to Bacall's story up through her divorce from Robards. I don't understand the blase attitude towards adultery and alcoholism. There doesn't seem to be much collateral damage, to hear Bacall tell it. I have enjoyed Bacall's film performances and imagine she's wonderful on the stage, her preferred venue. She's a sophisticated city girl but I think I heard a little of the insecure girl who never had a father in this reading. I g...more
I saw an interview recently with Ms. Bacall and it made me curious about her life. The book does have interesting stories about Bogie and others. Did you know she was only 18 years old when she starred in To Have and Have Not and fell in love with him? She does mention that she is not particularly insightful. Seemed to have no issue with her falling in love with a number of married men in her time - two of whom she married - Bogart and Robards. Lite reading.
A well-written, enjoyable autobiography. The most interesting parts are the ones detailing Lauren's courtship and marriage to Humphrey Bogart, her start in Hollywood and her friendship with other famous actors around the world. Some details are skipped over - including her relationships with her children. The update in 2005 is also mostly a catalogue of older friends of Lauren's who died in the early 2000s, but this is definitely worth reading. A terrific storyteller, an excellent actress, and a...more
I learnt just how much Lauren Bacall loved Humphrey Bogart and I respected her for her diligence and love in caring for him when he was dying. She wrote her autobiography her way, so that readers would know that she told the truth with no holds barred. Its a magnificent story. It is heartbreaking though, to read just how much the stars, including Humphrey and Lauren, were used in the film industry to make millions for the Hollywood moguls
One of my favorite books of all time. Betty is a natural writer. And the book reads like a laundry list of who was who in old Hollywood. Of course, the best part was her romance with Bogie, which was even more interesting than I imagined it was. But other parts of her life - like how she started out in acting and how she met Jason Robards - were interesting as well. She very much stumbled into fame unawares, and there's this underlying amazement she always seems to have, like she's amazed this a...more
Read by the author on CD, I enjoyed hearing this famous actresses great voice as she recalled all her Hollywood and Broadway experiences. There were probably too many "death scenes" as she details the passing of many of her famous and not-so-famous good friends. Probably the highlight of the book is her recollections of meeting, marrying, and mourning Humphrey Bogart.
Okay, I am fighting with myself over this book. Lauren Bacall was bluntly honest about so much, but instead of enjoying the ride, I felt judgmental. Yikes! Her life was and is interesting and many parts of the book were fascinating. I'm glad I read it, but it never felt like I couldn't put it down.
Apr 26, 2013
Lola
added it
Amazing! Ms. Bacall is truly an inspiration and her story is one everyone must read! From her beginnings as a model to her marriage to Bogart to her later years, this book is must read! Especially for Bacall fans :)
Wonderful read. It did take me three years to finish but that has entirely to do with my schziophrenic reading habits than it does with the interest of the book.
I absolutely adore Bacall in How to Marry a Millionaire. Her autobiography is honest and beautifully written. I cried several times.
She's a trip and a half, and a smart one at that. Great book written in her inimitable voice.
Was a fan of the actress and became a fan of the writer Ms. Bacall having read her books!
What a dame. What a doll.
Extreme kudos, and then some, for her role in Dogville.
Extreme kudos, and then some, for her role in Dogville.
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Betty Joan Perske, better known as Lauren Bacall, is a Golden Globe– and Tony Award–winning, as well as Academy Award–nominated, American film and stage actress and model. Known for her husky voice and sultry looks, she became a fashion icon in the 1940s and has continued acting to the present day.
She is perhaps best known for being a film noir leading lady in films such as The Big Sleep (1946) an...more
More about Lauren Bacall...
She is perhaps best known for being a film noir leading lady in films such as The Big Sleep (1946) an...more
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