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30th out of 109 books
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Stories from Candyland
Carole Gene Marer spent her girlhood dreaming of meeting Rock Hudson, but when she finally had the chance—on her second date with her future husband, television mogul Aaron Spelling—she was so shy she hid all night in the powder room. How Candy morphed from that quiet girl into a seemingly-confident, stylish trophy wife, mistress of the largest house in Los Angeles (
...moreHardcover, 272 pages
Published
March 31st 2009
by St. Martin's Press
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Let it be known that I only tried to read this book because I love Tori Spelling and her books and I wanted to try to see her mom’s side of the story. I was really interested in reading what Candy had to say about Tori and their relationship. I wasn’t really interested in Candy’s actual story because to be honest, she doesn’t interest me.
After reading a few pages, I knew this book wasn’t for me. I knew I wasn’t going to make it through the entire book and I HATE not finishing a book. ...more
After reading a few pages, I knew this book wasn’t for me. I knew I wasn’t going to make it through the entire book and I HATE not finishing a book. ...more
If you've followed Tori Spelling's on-again/off-again feud with her mom, Candy, on the Oxygen's "Tori & Dean," you may want to balance out the picture by reading Candy's version. Don't expect lots of juicy gossip about all those Spelling TV stars, though. A silent, supportive wife to her famous, prolific, husband, Candy remains practically mum about anything interesting except to explain why her attic at The Manor could have been mistaken for Home Depot. 100s of light bulbs, dozens a...more
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I have read both of Tori's books and I was curious to read about Candy's version. I picked this one up with and open mind and tried not to be influenced by too many reviews. It seems that most people who have read Candy Spelling's memoir tend to give it more negative reviews than positive. I read this book for entertainment purposes and to hear what Candy had to say about her life. I was not going into this hoping to read the best work of literature ever published, nor did I have any unreali...more
“Stories from Candyland” is an unexpected and seemingly forthright tale of a woman, raised in the fifties to be the best wife and mother she could be, who is catapulted into a Hollywood dream life. She describes herself as a “shy girl,” one who fantasized about movie stars and the Hollywood life, and who pored over movie magazines as a teenager.
Told in an organized fashion, this tale glides over the various aspects of this fairytale existence; she very deftly skirts the parenting i...more
Told in an organized fashion, this tale glides over the various aspects of this fairytale existence; she very deftly skirts the parenting i...more
I am conflicted with how to write this review. On one hand all I wanted was a Tori Spelling rebuttal. Candy knew that was what we were all hoping for and banked on that and instead told us very boring stories about her life. I'll save you the misery and give you the bottom line - she's shy, she listens, she has money. On the other hand I was getting annoyed because she would say she wanted Tori to stop talking about her and "rewriting history" yet then she would tell a rebuttal Tori st...more
Candy Spelling has not had a very rough life, although she would like you to think she has. She was a model at a young age and fawned over Rock Hudson as a teen. She eventually gets to meet him (how many people can say they've met their celebrity crushes?) but we're supposed to feel sorry for her because her nerves got the better of her and she didn't speak to him. They did become friends later in life. Sorry, Candy, no pity from me.
Her direct comments about/to her daughter are cringe ...more
Her direct comments about/to her daughter are cringe ...more
I tried to like this book, I am such a fan of the whole 90210 saga, so I immediately gobble up anything that is written about any of the former cast members and Tori has certainly been out there lately, and I like her. I really enjoyed her books, with the exception that she really seemed to have issues with her mother and made some very negative statements about Candy Spelling, so I wanted to be fair and read Candy's story. She makes as many negative comments about Tori as Tori does about her ...more
I wanted to give this one and a half stars. I had low expectations, but after reading both of Tori Spelling's books to date I felt compelled to hear her mother's POV (debating to read Aaron's autobiography). At least this was a quick read finished in a few hours. Besides the fact that it wasn't written very well, it was pretty boring. I can only assume Candy was trying to keep up her "sweet, shy Candy" personae and didn't really want to dish the dirt on Hollywood celebrities. The ...more
Here is what I think about Candy. Now that I have read all the books in their family saga.. This lady is off in never-never land. She barely talked about Tori in this book, and I know Tori put it all out on the table and Candy really didn't until recently. However, Candy talks about her childhood and her recipes in this book and her and her husband's fortune. That is what is going on in here. As a mother I do understand some of the things she is saying, but to feel like you are competing f...more
I know, total crap. But I want to hear her side after reading Tori's book. I checked it out from the library so she won't make any money. How could she possibly defend herself?
Well she doesn't defend herself. She barely responds to the things Tori says in her book. She just says "poor me, my daughter is so mean to me in the press." I never felt sorry for her. What it comes down to is she is an insecure, people pleasing, self-absorbed person. I also might even claim ...more
Well she doesn't defend herself. She barely responds to the things Tori says in her book. She just says "poor me, my daughter is so mean to me in the press." I never felt sorry for her. What it comes down to is she is an insecure, people pleasing, self-absorbed person. I also might even claim ...more
Had there been a half option, I would have opted for 1.5 stars. While the book was not horrible, I just was not that into it. I wanted to give Candy a "fair shake" and get her side of things on what Tori had published in her books. I found this book to dig at Tori, often at odd times. Tori seemed to be more objective than her mother. This may be because I like Tori better than her mother. Candy also seemed to complain about her life with Aaron, and how she had to go to all these ...more
This was Candy Spellings point of view. I am a big Tori Spelling fan so I wanted to read about her mom. You hear her speak of her often on her show. I don't know the whole background of their relationship. I do know there seems to be a lot of she said she said things that go on. (for instance Candy says she wasn't invited to Liam's bday part but Tori swears she was but didn't show up)I didn't feel that Candy really put Tori in a negative light. It wasn't my favorite book. I read it in 2 days but...more
liked the recipes and the part about the hoarding but the rest seemed like either bragging or a poignant letter to tori.... and little love shown for Aaron Spelling... she seems to have more love for Rock Hudson, Cary Grant (which i don't blame her for!) and Fred Astaire.
It was definitely good to read *for me* since i read both of Tori's books, but I went in open minded and was hoping to hear both sides and have a slight change of heart... yet, I come out of reading it find Candy S...more
It was definitely good to read *for me* since i read both of Tori's books, but I went in open minded and was hoping to hear both sides and have a slight change of heart... yet, I come out of reading it find Candy S...more
I only read this book after reading Tori Spelling's book,"sTori Telling" to see what her mother had to say. This book was so so so boring. I learned that Candy Spelling has way too many collections.
Also, what I found disheartening was that Candy never even mentioned "Nanny" who was Tori's African-American nanny for many years. The nanny who happened to go by the name "Nanny" has already passed away. I think Candy could have at least acknowledged the wom...more
Also, what I found disheartening was that Candy never even mentioned "Nanny" who was Tori's African-American nanny for many years. The nanny who happened to go by the name "Nanny" has already passed away. I think Candy could have at least acknowledged the wom...more
After reading both of Tori's books and watching her show, I wanted to see Candy's reaction to Tori's comments/stories about her childhood. Really though, there is no point to read Candy's book. She barely discusses her children.
**Possible Spoilers**
Here is what I did learn: her house is 56,500 sf; her attic at The Manor is 17,000 (with a salon; she is down sizing to a 17,000 sf condo (what will she do???); her husband, Aaron, was the king of ABC in the mid-80s - one third of their ...more
**Possible Spoilers**
Here is what I did learn: her house is 56,500 sf; her attic at The Manor is 17,000 (with a salon; she is down sizing to a 17,000 sf condo (what will she do???); her husband, Aaron, was the king of ABC in the mid-80s - one third of their ...more
I'm not sure if I am going to make it through this one before I have to return it. So far the the first pages are awful.
Ok, I read about 1/3 of this book before I took it back. I think I get the gist. She is supposedly the 'painfully shy' Hollywood wife that is bad with numbers, hums incessantly, makes up stories about her dolls and feels the need to publish an awful book with the main purpose of debunking rumors, myths and attacks from her daughter. A magazine article could have pr...more
Ok, I read about 1/3 of this book before I took it back. I think I get the gist. She is supposedly the 'painfully shy' Hollywood wife that is bad with numbers, hums incessantly, makes up stories about her dolls and feels the need to publish an awful book with the main purpose of debunking rumors, myths and attacks from her daughter. A magazine article could have pr...more
Cute stories about being married to Aaron Spelling, and the multi-mega mansion that she owned. There were quite a few repeats throughout the book, but it was a decent read. And she did quite a bit of cooking, something that she learned from her mom and home economics classes. Yes, she has a ton of collections, and I sure wouldn't want to move from 70,000 sq. ft. to 17,000 sq. ft. and have to get rid of all the "extra" stuff. But alas, the rich and famous.
If I could give this 1 and a half I would...two stars seems like too much. What can I say, I didn't think this was going to be a difficult read, but I found myself disgusted at her self-centeredness much more than enjoying her book. I, like many of the other reviewers, read it because I wanted to hear what she had to say in defense of Tori's book and show. This isn't really a mother, this is someone who had children and let someone else raise them and love them.
If you are looking for loads of celebrity gossip this is not the book for you. However, if you are merely looking to gain insight into the drama of the Spelling family this book provides subtle insights. Though this book is clearly meant as a rebuttal to her daughter’s first autobio, it in fact cements the claims made by her daughter. I loved it. And tried one of her recipes and it was a total success. Random.
It was entertaining, but it was mainly just a really bad jab back at her daughter, Tori, for saying a lot of nasty things about her in her own books. It's pretty bad when a mother/daughter relationship goes this far, but it has. This book just seemed like jabs back at Tori and then gloating about how wonderful her life is being rich...kind of sickening, but entertaining at the same time.
When reading this book I found that Candy took quotes from movies, song and other things and that is how she wrote this book. Her stories where never her own and the book really didnt flow. I only chapter that I enjoyed was chapter 16: Up, Up and Put Away. Other then that it wasnt great and didnt really give you inside on anything that you didnt already know.
I'm embarrassed to say I picked this up on Amazon's clearance shelves. I understand it has been pretty much universally panned, but I kind of liked it. I don't believe I've ever seen a person so out of touch with reality as Candy Spelling. This one entertained me and not because it was great writing.
http://theauthorstalkers.blogspot.com/
http://theauthorstalkers.blogspot.com/
Crazy clearly runs in the family. This book is written in total old-lady rambling stream-of-consciousness style, which makes it difficult to skip to the good stuff. Candy will be describing her expensive ceramic figurines and their thoughts and feelings (seriously, she makes up pasts and romantic stories for inanimate objects) in painstaking detail and then all of a sudden will be all, "Tori is the worst daughter ever and I hate her." (paraphrase)
Clearly a response to her daughter's tell-alls, Candy endeavors to tell the tale of the Spelling rise to Hollywood royalty. Ya know - there are stories to be told and some very interesting details but she needed a better editor. The book was incredibly disorganized. But hey - I think mother and daughter have reconciled so .......
I read this book on the beach --- so I don't feel terribly guilting about wasting the short amount of time it took to read(it was either this or a fashion magazine.) I was expecting vapid--- but I thought it would be dish-y, gossipy, fun vapid --- this is just the dull ramblings of a silly, rich woman.
Basically this was Candy Spelling's chance to get back at her daughter Tori and try to refute all the bad things that Tori has sad about her. She also mentions all the collections that she has and how wonderful her friends think she is. A good book to read to see how celebrities live but also good for a laugh at this poor deluded author.
read in an effort to be fair & balanced since I also plan to read the Tori book. It was horrible. Funny but horrible. And funny because it's basically a self-righteous justification for odd choices. Oh and [random!:] there were a bunch of great recipes in the book.
I did not like this book at all. It was all over the place. It didnt follow any particular order or have any meaning. In the beginning she was putting on the poor pitiful me act and towards the end she tried to act as if she is perfect. Maybe I already have my opinion formed of her because I enjoyed Tori's books so much but I think Candy Spelling is as fake as they come. Although I didnt enjoy the book it was entertaining to read about all her little quirks. She is a wierd one.
Dumbest book ever! Where's a ghost author when you need one? I was just curious to read the "other side" of the Tori vs. Candy drama and would've put this one down after the first chapter but I was hoping for some gossipy nuggets. Highly disappointed, but I guess, not surprised.
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Carole Gene "Candy" Spelling is an American author. She is the widow of Aaron Spelling.
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