Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller

Jun 02, 2008

Robert rated it

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Recommended to Robert by: New York Times. Boy were they wrong..

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.

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Jun 16, 2008

Sheila rated it

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Recommends it for: you

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

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Jun 30, 2008

Deborah rated it

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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

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Jun 23, 2008

Betsy rated it

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Recommends it for: one and all

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

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Jun 18, 2008

Linda rated it

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Recommends it for: folkies, fans of the 60's & 70's music

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

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Apr 12, 2009

Jim Marshall rated it

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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
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 and played their music almost endlessly as a way of saying who we were: young, of course, but also independent—sexually if not always financially—and decidedly not ready to enter into the world of conventional responsibility occupied by our parents. A lot of it was image and wonderfully naïve self-delusion (“attitude dancing” Carly Simon would call it in a later song), but it seemed right enough for its time.

What we learn in this smart if sometimes breathlessly written book is that the music might not have happened at all. Pregnant and married at 19, Carole King was turning out hits like “Up on the Roof,” “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” and “The Locomotion” in the now famous Brill Building in New York—a fairly grim sweatshop for song writing talent--baby on knee. Joni Mitchell, on the other hand, was pregnant at 21 when she was still making the rounds in the Village and in clubs around Canada. She gave the baby up for adoption, which left any number of scars, not all of them soothed when she was reunited with her daughter some 30 years later. Carly Simon, already rich pretty much beyond measure and from a family with a complicated sexual history, was a little late getting started on her own career, but she managed to have fun with just about every male star of the time that you might like to name—from Cat Stevens to Warren Beatty to James Taylor (whom she married, although not until after he had also navigated significant affairs with Carole King and Joni Mitchell while managing a fairly serious heroin addiction.) It’s gets complicated and you kind of need a scorecard.

Which is part of the problem with this guilty pleasure of a book. It’s like Simon’s “No Secrets” with footnotes. We meet just about everyone these women sleep with, then the women the men slept with before, then a fade-out explained usually by a simple, “but things didn’t work out finally.” Too much information, or rather, too much information coming at you in a rush, with little time or attention paid to what is important, to what we really need to know.

But if you were in your 20’s when these women were at their best—or even if you weren’t—you might want to take a look. If nothing else, the book took me back to the music, and now our iPod has a long playlist called “The Girls” which is rich with the music these three amazing artists gave us.

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Oct 09, 2011

Meg rated it

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Shelves: feminism-gender, history

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...more3.5 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-husband) was the composer of "Crying in the Rain", "Natural Woman," and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (among many other hit songs). I also loved reading about how hard she worked as a musician when she had young children, the first of which she had at age 17. It was inspiring to read about someone who managed to have such a full and creative life while also being a mom.

- Learned a little more about cross-racial musical influences in the 50's, 60's, and 70's - I had always thought it was more of a one-way cultural appropriation street, with white musicians borrowing styles and songs from African Americans and enjoying greater commercial success. This book showed a little of how it was more complex than this - e.g. many African American recording artists became famous for interpreting songs by white songwriters. I'm curious to learn more about the nature of cross-racial collaboration and/or exploitation in music during this era.

- It was refreshing to hear about women unapologetically taking advantage of their sexual freedom. Wow, these women really got around! I've heard a lot about how the sexual revolution benefited men more than woman, and although this book definitely explored the double standard and the ways in which women could have more negative consequences from their sexuality than men, these three musicians all played the field. I have to say that in some ways, it feels like we've gone backward in the current era - it's hard to imagine a female celebrity today who wouldn't be castigated for sleeping with as many men as these women did.

- Hearing some stories behind some of the songs (like Joni Mitchell's "Little Green," about a child she gave up for adoption) makes me enjoy them in a different way.

- James Taylor really was the tortured heartthrob back then. I admit by the time I was growing up, he was an "oldie" singer of music on the "light rock" stations. I had no idea he was apparently so hot. To hear this author tell it, Carly Simon has never gotten over him.

OK, my criticisms of the book:
It had a very gossipy feel at times. While reading it, my comments to my partner mostly fell into these categories:
"Did you know _________ wrote ________ song about __________?"
"Did you know _________ slept with __________?"
At times the writing was overwrought and overly dramatic. And there was an excessive use of the future conditional tense, along the lines of: "In just a few years she would write a song about him, a song that would become the anthem for young women who would listen to it on their radios and would hear their own struggles reflected in it..." You get the idea.
Finally, I think some good editing could also have helped with the unnecessary details. Some of the details were what made the book fun, but often the author spun off into stories and gossip about peripheral characters whom I couldn't keep straight and didn't really care that much about.(less)

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Aug 27, 2008

Ginacjones rated it

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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

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Aug 13, 2008

Lori rated it

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Recommends it for: Music fans; groovy people; women's history readers

Shelves: music

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...moreI 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 firmly believed this, not a few of us were daunted and even conflicted by the high expectations that we would "bring home the bacon and fry it up in the pan." This was the era of Superwoman.

My musical memories of Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell and Carol King mainly take place in the car where their songs were featured in heavy FM rotation during my childhood. As the scalding pleather of the bench seat in the big floating mid 70s car scalded my terry cloth or polyester shorted bottom, I might hear Anticipation, Up on the Roof or You've Got a Friend...Frankly, it sounded like music for grownups who liked to talk about relationships a lot and I was not ready for that yet.

And, by the time I was ready, I tended to gravitate toward male singers (preferably depressive and gay) when I wanted to wallow in relationship drama (It was the eighties, remember?) The consciousness raising righteous mamas of my early childhood would have probably shuddered to see me take refuge in Sinatra (the 80s were a big era for the Rat Pack retro that these women fought against so tenaciously) and gin when some guy kicked me to the curb rather than a sister who could relate to my pain.

So how does an ignoramus who mainly remembers Carly for the song in the ketchup commercial and who, for years, confused Carole King with Carole Kane (Andy Kaufmann's ditzy wife Simka in Taxi) get to this book?

It may be because my daughter has recently discovered Carly from her soundtrack work in some Winnie the Pooh movies. My preschooler really likes her songs! Or it might be my general interest in music history. It may be the pull of distant childhood memories as my own daughter is now the age I was in 1969/70. Or, it may be that these 3 women seem so cool...so real...and so interesting to me now that I am middle aged. This triumverate of female singers present a genuine face. It was still about the music and their very personal relationship to crafting songs. Compare this to someone like Madonna who must reinvent herself constantly on the external side.

I have learned a gold-mine of information about the era and the impact Carole, Joni and Carly had. This is a highly detailed book and you practically need to take notes to keep all the inter-relationships between the cast of rock luminaries featured within. Between them, these three women knew everyone who was anyone in the music scene as it was exploding in the 1960s and 1970s. If your interest extends to a desire to "know all" you will not be disappointed.

I won't suddenly relegate all my Morrissey and Bauhaus CDs to the scrap heap...I am what I am and the soundtrack to my life is on a different trajectory than someone who was 20 the year I was born. But, this book has prompted me to take a new listen to some vaguely remembered songs and, perhaps, appreciate them more this time around.

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May 29, 2008

Tressa rated it

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Shelves: biography

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

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Jul 18, 2008

Michele rated it

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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...moreStayed 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 but break out my vinyl, stored in a moving box in the attic.

Sheila Weller clearly spent years gathering facts, information and quotes from those closest to these icons, (and in some cases from the women themselves), and braids the three stories together to paint a historical account of modern folk/rock/pop music. She doesn't merely regurgitate already published material from music reviews and Rolling Stone articles, but instead offers similarities and differences that made this reader appreciate the subjects as individuals as well as their contributions and reflections on the women's movement in general.

A surprising ribbon running through this braid is James Taylor, who had profound yet differing relationships with all three. What also ultimately struck me about the book was how deeply interested I was at the beginning and how it merely passed the time toward the end. I think it's a direct reflection on the careers of these women: exciting, fresh, ultra-talented in the beginning. . .but in the end, it becomes a biography of ordinary--albeit ambitious--women who've led extraordinary lives while looking for love and fulfillment, and endured tremendous public scrutiny. One thing the critics in our society can't take from them is their recorded music--their true biographies--and I, for one, will listen to them sing for the rest of my life.

Very well written, very well done and I certainly recommend this book to fans of these musicians (as well as James Taylor, and others like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young), and to those interested in the music scene as it developed and evolved through the 1960s-1980s. (less)

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Jul 28, 2008

Katherine rated it

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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

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Jun 25, 2008

Katie rated it

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Shelves: grown-up, non-fic

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

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May 13, 2008

Marcia rated it

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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

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

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

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Jan 02, 2009

Mary Jo rated it

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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

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Dec 01, 2008

Kerfe rated it

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Shelves: non-fiction

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

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Dec 06, 2011

David rated it

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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"...moreJoint 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" was about a date with Cat Stevens; Joni Mitchell stayed mad at Jackson Browne for decades after their relationship ended and wrote "Coyote" after a brief affair with Sam Shepard). Mostly a very bad book, especially relative to the eventfulness of their lives. In particular......

1. The social history hook is an awkward fit, mostly relying on the occasional "comes at a time when...." graft. After 10 pages or so of who slept with whom after saying what at a party, there will be a paragraph along the lines of "And Joni's fifth album was released at a time when more and more Americans were getting divorced", and then back to how many drugs David Crosby was using.....

2. Odd and frequent use of footnotes -- unless you think your book will remain in print 500 years, there is no need to explain what a "baby boomer" is, for example. Other footnotes could easily have been integrated into text, or just omitted; the author seems to have included every fact uncovered in her research (the drummer for these sessions was X, whose stepbrother was later hospitalized with schizophrenia........) without reference to whether it actually advances the main narrative.

3. Absurdly long sentences in which she tries to smuggle in more ideas or qualifiers via prolific hyphenation (in her ladies-of-the-canyon long dress, she spoke severely to the never-trusted I'm-just-a-vagabond guitarist with a kind of no-secrets-between-old-friends knowingness.......). Whoever edited this book should return the paycheck.

4. Not a real music critic. She dutifully lists every album and some song titles from it, along with its Billboard chart rating and maybe a quote from a review, but does not seem to have any independent insight into rock or folk music.

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Oct 16, 2011

Phoebe Kate Foster rated it

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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 Fay rated it

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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

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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 ...moreTo 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 on local radio station WFUV, and talking so intelligently and lucidly on her recent book, and so decided to give it a chance. Well, as it turns out, my initial qualms have turned out to be groundless. Sheila's book is a terrific success; wonderfully well written and concisely giving as much information about its three subjects as any reasonable fan could hope for. This reader has long been a marginal fan of Carole and Carly, and a 40-year adorer of everything Joni; I have read three previous biographies of the Big Mitch, but had been aware of nothing beyond the commonly known outlines of the other two women's lives. Now, I must report that Ms. Weller's book is not only the best Joni biography that I have read, but also provides a wealth of information on its two other subjects. I have always been a fan of novels that utilize a parallel plot device, and in this "alternating biography," we have a triple doozy. Carole, Joni and Carly have all led exceptionally interesting lives, of course, and Sheila has organized her book like a series of cliffhangers. Just as Carole moves to Laurel Canyon and is about to start a new phase of her life, we cut to what Joni was doing at that time. Then, just as Joni is about to release her first album, we move on to Carly. It is an extremely compelling method of moving this work along, and really does carry the reader. Ms. Weller has put an enormous amount of work and time into the production of her book; over the five-year course of "Girls"'s creation, she interviewed no less than 150 friends, spouses, relatives and coworkers of her three subjects, including Carly herself. I can't even imagine the logistical and organizational dilemmas that a biographer must deal with in creating a work of this kind, but they must have been numerous and constant. The end result, however, is a very wonderful tribute indeed. Ms. Weller effectively demonstrates how Carole, Joni and Carly were not only affected by the nascent women's movement of the time, but also served as a triad scaffolding of sorts for the movement itself. And despite being a longtime journalist, Sheila's writing is anything but dry. Though she writes in long, complex sentences, filled with M dashes and parentheses and footnotes (I like that kind of writing), she is also capable of penning something as touching as "...love is as much a locked box of esoteric intimacy that dissolves when it meets air as listening to a song is." And if you can read Sheila's depiction of Joni and her given-up-for-adoption daughter reuniting after 32 years, without getting a bit misty eyed, well, I guess you're better than me! As a work of juicy triple biography and as a social history of the women's struggle from the '60s through the '80s, "Girls Like Us" is a shining triumph. I came away from this book with an even greater admiration than I had before for these three great gals (and a slightly lower one, inevitably, of James Taylor, the man who figured so prominently in all their lives) and a desire to explore more of Carole's and Carly's work. (I already know Joni's, who I deem the greatest Canadian who's ever lived, exhaustively well.)

Having said all this, I must also report that the book has its fair share of minor problems. When I alerted Ms. Weller, via e-mail, of a couple of mistakes that I had noticed in her work, she seemed genuinely upset and gracious about my reporting this. She even intimated that perhaps my corrections would be incorporated into a later publishing of this book (and the book certainly deserves to be reprinted many times and to become a perennial). So it is in the spirit of helping to make a great work slightly more accurate that I humbly offer these nitpicking observations: On page 6, Sheila refers to "shav" as a drink, whereas it is actually a type of nasty, sorrel-based soup. On pg. 99, she reports that Carly's Uncle Peter had inspired her to go professional, but on pg. 159, she says that it was Carly's Uncle Dutch. Sheila tells us that Jim Morrison's dad had served in the Army (pg. 192), whereas it is fairly common knowledge that he was a Navy admiral. She refers to a Marvin Gaye album called "Sexual Healing" on pg. 257, whereas that was "merely" a song on Gaye's 1982 album "Midnight Love." The terms "lid" and "kilo" are used interchangeably on pg. 267 for pot measurements, but a lid is merely an ounce, and a kilo 2.2 pounds. (Don't ask me how I know this!) Joni's "Songs To Aging Children Come" is referred to as "Songs For Aging Children" on pg. 285, while on pg. 494, Joni's "Stay In Touch" lyric "we perceive one another" is given as "we receive one another." There is also, in the book, a problem with some dates. The Human Be-In in San Francisco took place on 1/14/67, not in 1966 (pg. 289); Cat Stevens almost drowned in 1976, not 1975 (pg. 354); Joni is five years older than Jackson Browne, not six (pg. 408); and actor Al Corley is not "over a dozen years" Carly's junior (pg. 468), but only 11. Some additional glitches: Real-life Lady of the Canyon Estrella Berosini has stated that her father was a high-wire walker, not a trapeze artist, as Sheila writes on pg. 244; jazz great Charles Mingus was born in Nogales, Arizona, not in Watts, California (pg. 433); and the referred-to "National Association of Record Merchandisers" (pg. 511) should be "...Recording Merchandisers." Finally, besides that inconsistency with Carly's uncles, two other Carly inconsistencies are revealed by a close reading: Sheila tells us on pg. 479 that Carly married second husband Jim Hart on 12/23/87, but in the photo caption of the wedding, the date is given as November 1987! Carly's album "Letters Never Sent" is said to have been released in 1995 (pg. 520), but in Carly's discography (pg. 563) is said to have as its date 1994. Again, don't ask me. Anyway, I feel a bit churlish in caviling about these errors, and only do so in the spirit of helping to eliminate what in essence undermines what is otherwise a great piece of research and reporting. For all its minor glitches (seemingly unavoidable in a work of this length and complexity), I really do love what Sheila has done here. I have read her book twice already and will doubtless be referring to it for many years to come. For all fans of the book's three great subjects, I would have to say that Sheila's "Girls Like Us" is absolutely essential reading. Thanks, Sheila! And if you should ever decide to continue in the same vein with a sequel on, say, Laura Nyro, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt and/or the Wilson sisters, I promise to be one of your very first customers. And with great, uh, anticipation.(less)

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May 22, 2011

Eek-louisville rated it

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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

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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

Shelves: book-club-reads

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

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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

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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

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Shelves: 2009

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

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May 01, 2011

Diane rated it

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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 Arveda rated it

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Shelves: music, biography

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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Apr 11, 2009

Beniciajo rated it

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I just finished Sheila Weller's book on Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon and Carole King. It was an amazing glimpse into the lives of these three talented women and the times they inhabited. I wasn't that familiar with their life stories and only kind of familiar with their music (I love girl group music and had no idea that Carol King was the melody writer for some of my favorite songs!), but I truly enjoyed learning more. The book uses mostly interviews to piece together the stories of these wome...more

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title link	preview: Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation
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Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation

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