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Jun 02, 2008

Robert rated it:

This book is so painful to read that I can't stand it. But I can never give up on a book after I have read more than 50 pages. The writing is dreadful. The '70s feminism is so tiresome. I bought it because I am interested in the music business of the '60s and 70s, but boy does this stink. Even if you are interested in Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon and Carole King, the bad writing will drive you to your knees. And the book is huge, 592 pages. Stay away from this book. Save your money.

5 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 16, 2008

Sheila rated it:

Try humming a Beatles song. Now try humming a Joni Mitchell song. With perhaps the exception of "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Both Sides Now," it's pretty hard, isn't it?

Having complex arrangments and open tunings doesn't make Joni Mitchell "better" than other musicians, but I think the fact that her songs are hard to hum is a strong testament to her mind-boggling talent with words and arrangements.

This book is centered around three women who came More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 30, 2008

Deborah rated it:

This was a very good biography, well-researched and well written, and a "three-fer" to boot. But I think I may have to stop reading biographies, or at least bios of contemporary artists whose art I admire. I like Carole King's work, not so much a fan of Carly, but she did do some good pop songs; but I really like Mitchell's music. And while I still admire her as an artist, as a person, I kind of just want to smack her. Or tell her to just get over herself! All three women seem to More...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2008

Betsy rated it:

Joni got her start in Detroit - and dated James Taylor before he married Carly? Who knew? Carole King had her first child at 17? Mick Jagger sang back up on "You're so vain" (but the song is probably about Warren Beatty, who, by the by, begged a very pregnant Carole King to have sex with him...because he wanted to have a sex with a very pregnant woman. ick.) This three-for-the-price-of-one (unless you get it free at the library like I did) biography (tri-ography?) is full of "who More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 18, 2008

Linda rated it:

Girls Like Us parallels the lives and careers of three iconic women composer/performers: Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon, while documenting the history of an era and a generation. The common threads among the three (James Taylor pops up in all three stories) were what I found most fascinating. The book is long and the writing is poor, with long, run-on sentences, including one that goes on for half a page. The author never mastered the use of footnotes, preferring to sprinkle the More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Apr 12, 2009

Jim rated it:

Album covers featuring their young, pretty faces were stacked next to every stereo in every funky apartment that we inhabited from ’67 to ’75 or so. Along with the Mateus-wine candelabra, the day-glow Jimi Hendrix poster, and the not-so-discreetly-hidden roaches in ashtrays on low-rise tables, the music made by these young women—Carole King was 19 when she wrote her first big hit, Joni Mitchell 21—were part of what we carried when we moved. We scattered those album covers in plain sight a More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Oct 09, 2011

Meg rated it:

3.5 stars. Really enjoyed reading this book, though I felt it could have used some editing. The author did exhaustive research and gives an in-depth portrayal of the lives and fortunes of these three women, relating their histories to the zeitgeist of the 60's and 70's. I was inspired to go back and listen to more music by these three singers, none of whom I know very well.

- I learned to appreciate Carole King as an incredible songwriter. I had no idea she (together with her then More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 27, 2008

Ginacjones rated it:

This was one of the most interesting biographies I have read about anyone in the entertainment field. First, I am a big admirer of their music - my late teens and college years were filled with Carly, Carole & Joni music. I don't know what the author had to do to get the cooperation that she got for this book, but she definitely got the inside look at these 3 women. I'd be interested in hearing what C, C & J think of the book. It really put their lives out front and in center - the good, the More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 13, 2008

Lori rated it:

I should begin this review by confessing some shocking ignorance. I am not in the right age group to be the prime demographic for this book. I was a young woman in the Big 80s and those times were vastly different from the heyday of Carole, Joni and Carly's music. The earth mothers had donned power suits and the free love had given way to a darker and more paranoid era sexually. The First Wave had already happened and women my age were told we could "have it all". Although we firm More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 29, 2008

Tressa rated it:

Even though I’ve been listening to Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon for decades, I had no idea I would enjoy Girls Like Us so much. Sheila Weller is a pop trivia queen and had to have spent hours hunched over microfilm machines, researching the minutiae of these ladies’ lives.

The interviewees go all the way back to neighborhood playmates and school chums, and the book is filled with information about the music scene starting in the early sixties, when Carole King started p More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 18, 2008

Michele rated it:

Stayed In Bed All Morning . . .
. . . just to finish reading this book. It's a long one, especially when you devour each little word contained in the many footnotes, but worth every hour spent. Reading this thorough, well-researched, and respectful biography of three notorious singer-songwriters, Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon, from their days as young, aspiring artists to current days as grandmothers, was like listening to their music for the first time again. I couldn't help b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 28, 2008

Katherine rated it:

Great material, problematic execution. Weller is an incredibly undisciplined writer, at least in this book. There's excess detail that seems to serve no purpose beyond showing off--endless anecdotes about minor, or even unrelated people, as if to show how hard the author worked and how much she found out, whether or not it actually informed her story.

And her sentence structure! Good lord, woman--INSERT A PERIOD EVERY NOW AND THEN. Because I was interested in the subject matter, I pu More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 25, 2008

Katie rated it:

The biggest problem I had with this book was with the way Weller organized the book. Instead of giving us the entire Joni story or the entire Carly story, she gave us what Carly, Joni and Carole were each doing during a span of years. I understand why she did this; as readers, we were supposed to see the parallels between these women. But instead of seeing the parallels, I was just confused and annoyed. It was nearly impossible to keep track of who all these people were and what significance More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

May 13, 2008

Marcia rated it:

A fun read for the last 250 pages or so, unfortunately, this book is over 500 pages. My advice, skip the first 200 pages or so. The pop psychology of their childhoods is less interesting to me than what is behind their music, the connections between the three of them, and, without a doubt, the gossip of who slept with whom and who the songs are REALLY about. The author is not a great writer, but the book is thoroughly researched and documented. I’ve never seen so many footnotes in a mus More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

How critics received Girls Like Us depended, in part, on how much they embraced or related to the 1960s; the dedication��"To the women of the 1960s generation. (Were we not the best?)"��tells all. Still, reviewers agreed that Girls Like Us has general appeal, much having to do with the juicy details and human interest stories Weller carves around these artists' relationships, heartbreaks, challenges, and inspirations. Weller, who interviewed only Simon of the three (and relies on inter

More...

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Jan 02, 2009

Mary rated it:

A compelling portrait of three leading female artists of the Baby Boom generation. I was a fan of all three, but I discovered much I didn't know about each of them in Weller's widely researched and deeply detailed book. In telling the story of the lives of King, Mitchell and Simon, Weller also gives readers insight into the history and culture of the music industry of the 1950s-80s. All of it is fascinating, including her tangents about the supporting players in the lives of the three women. Whi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 01, 2008

Kerfe rated it:

Sometimes I think that artists--both musical and visual--should just keep their private lives private and let the work speak for itself. If the art is wonderful, the actual person creating it--all too human--can be kind of a let-down.

No one in the incestuous musical world of Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, and as a unifying factor, James Taylor, comes off particularly well in this book. Though I think the author means to give you a sense of how hard it was for these pionee More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 14, 2012

Patti rated it:

I just finished listening to this book for the second time in less then two weeks. I have it on my iPod. Anyone that knows me knows that I love to read and listen to books. I love movies, but most importantly I love music. It has been a passion of mine for as long as I can even recall having memories. The first concert I ever went to was James Taylor. I still love this man's music....it should then come as no surprise to anyone that I also love the music of Carly Simon (James' ex wife and the mo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

David rated it:

Joint bio (mostly alternating chapters, covering their whole lives chronologically) of 3 singers of about the same vintage. Some stuff I've heard a million times (Warren Beatty inspired "You're So Vain"; James Taylor was a heroin addict......), some with which I was unfamiliar (Carole King and approximately her fourth husband had a long-running legal battle with Idaho neighbors about their wish to close off a private road that previous owners had let everyone use; "Anticipation" More...

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Oct 16, 2011

Phoebe Kate rated it:

This is a well-written, detailed chronicle not only of three women who were major influences in contemporary music, but also of rapidly changing times and social mores. It also presents a grim and realistic picture of the music business and the recording industry.

While King's, Mitchell's and Simon's careers successfully rolled with the punches for the most part, their personal lives were ongoing train wrecks for over three decades. In that regard, it's a gloomy book, filled with More...

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Oct 15, 2011

Kim rated it:

This is a delicious book! And I am not a DIEHARD fan of Joni, Carole or Carly - the kind of person who would love anything about them. I like all of them. I admire all of them. I enjoy and appreciate their music. But what fascinated me most about "Girls Like Us" was how these three very different women affected societal roles for women and changed the shape of gender dynamics in America. They validated what had before been dismissed as domestic or emotional ... those darn womanly trait More...

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Aug 18, 2011

Sandy rated it:

To be honest, when I heard that Sheila Weller had released, in 2008, a triple biography of Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon entitled "Girls Like Us," my initial reaction was one of skepticism. After all, a 530-page book on three of the greatest singer/songwriters of the 20th century...why, that's less than 200 pages, on average, per subject! How could an author possibly do justice to these three great talents in so short a space? But then I heard Ms. Weller being interviewed More...

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May 22, 2011

Eek-louisville rated it:

Girls Like Us- Sheila Weller
I loved reading that Joni Mitchell had men messing with her mind. In the 70's I thought she had it all together. I should have listened more to her lyrics -
Im so hard to handle
Im selfish and Im sad
Now Ive gone and lost the best baby
that I every had.

You got the touch so gentle and sweet
But youve got that look so critical
Now I cant talk to you baby
I get so weak
Sometimes I think love is just mythical
Up ther More...

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May 06, 2011

Glen rated it:

This book is very long, could use a little more editing, and I am no big fan of Carly Simon (though I certainly came to have more interest in her work as a result of reading this book), but it was hard to put this down because these women are so talented, so independent, so interesting in very different ways. I primarily read it because of Joni Mitchell, but the intertwining narratives of Carole and Carly came to grip my interest as well. I wish it had been written with someone or by someone w More...

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Jun 27, 2010

Joan rated it:

This was a detailed biography of 3 well-known singer/songwriters as well as some commentary about their larger social connections. Given that each one has been writing music for 40 years, the 559 pages, including index, covers a lot of ground.

I'm not sure why these particular women were chosen, but they were contemporaries and all related in some way to James Taylor. Although I'm familiar with some of their greatest hits, I don't own a single recording of the many mentioned, so I r More...

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Aug 12, 2009

Mike rated it:

I've been fascinated by Joni Mitchell, her lyrics, her chords, and her life since I first heard her 40 years ago. I feel sorry for subsequent singer/songwriters who may be compared to early and middle Joni because most, if not all, will be found lacking. (Yes, I know that many will take exception to this because they love singer X or Y but I've also read the lamentations of many of these same singers that they can't compare to Joni.)
So I got this book. I'm mildly interested in Carol More...

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Apr 04, 2009

Megan rated it:

This was an insightful look at how music affected 60s & 70s feminism and vice versa. The book tended to focus a lot on the sexual aspects of the feminist movement. I find that while that can be an important aspect of a woman's life, it isn't the most interesting part of the movement. I mean, monkeys have sex. Alpacas have sex. Little bitty insects do it, too. It's a fun thing, but it isn't what makes women special at the deepest level. I guess that because men already want to have sex wit More...

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Apr 10, 2009

Caitlin rated it:

I really wanted this to be better than it was. I love all 3 singers & Joni Mitchell, in particular, has been an off and on soundtrack in my life, but this book just didn't live up to its potential.

Weller can't seem to decide whether she's writing a social history of these women & their times or a gossipy tell-all potboiler. The book careens between these two choices & does neither well.

There's interesting material buried in here & in all 3 life stories. In particular the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 01, 2011

Diane rated it:

THESE ARE THE GOOD OLD DAYS!

I admit, a lot of this book is gossipy "who slept with whom" trivia but it is also a pretty in-depth look at three iconic singer/songwriters. I came of age listening to these three women and their music is the soundtrack of my life. As a result, I enjoyed reading about their success, their struggles and their flaws. The book is laid out by time period (with the 70's getting the heft of the 590 pages) and there are three separate chapters for More...

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Jan 02, 2010

Elizabeth rated it:

I picked this up because (a) it was mentioned favorably on a blog I sometimes enjoy, and (b) as a teen, I was a huge, huge fan of Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell. (I liked Carole King well enough, but she was no Joni.) I'm having a hard time pushing through this book. The prose is too floral, for lack of better word. And the author's attempts to link every moment of these women's lives to cultural and historical touchstones is becoming tedious. It's worse than Forrest Gump. For instance, watching More...

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