Michael Palin Diaries: The Python Years, 1969-1979
by Michael Palin
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 227)
Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
Anybody obsessed with either Monty Python, George Harrison or Comedy.
I just bought this today. (It is, indeed, now available in the United States, but I can't find the American edition listed here. The Canadian will do.) I, of course, haven't finished it, but I've looked in the index for references to each Beatle (I being a Beatles fan) and read as much as I could in the space of a few hours about Michael Palin's friendship with George Harrison, and Palin's second, third and fourth-hand stories about the other Beatles. By the way, there are a lot more entires abo...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Python fans, diary enthusiasts
I must begin by saying that this uplifting diary of Michael Palin, who commenced it in 1969 at age 25 (at the beginning of his time with Monty Python's Flying Circus), reveals him as mature beyond his years, shrewdly observant, and a very engaging writer. It's arguably the best book I've read in years. Along the way, MP writes frankly and openly about his relationships with the other Python members and their personalities as well as others he meets along the way over the course of ten years. My ...more
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I was a big Monty Python fan as a teen-ager, so I was very excited when I learned founding member Michael Palin was publishing the diary he began keeping during the early days of the Monty Python show. The diary, however, is a tricky form in that it is rarely written with the interests of a reader in mind. Because of this, the book gets off to a surprisingly slow start. Palin’s early entries do contain some tidbits about the early days of Python, but, as he mentions, he had no idea at that ...more
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Read in February, 2008
I didn't buy the book when I saw him speak at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Sitting in the second row back from the stage and watching the Fan Circus was enough to write a short story. There is nothing like a room filled with old dorks. But even better, the new enthusiasm of a 20 something year old Chinese girl who had been recently introduced to the whole Python thing through her American boyfriend. Her gushing went from cute to hilarious as she exclaimed that more Python films and shows sh...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
Monty Python fans
I'm giving this book 5 stars because of the pure enjoyment I got from reading it. It's upwards of 600 pages, but I devoured it.
Deciding to publish his diary was a clever idea. Unlike an autobiography, which is inevitably tainted by current thoughts/feelings on what happened, a diary really charts the ups and downs as they unfolded. He's surprisingly candid and insightful about the good and the not-so-good within Monty Python, and he does it so in a witty and yet nice way. His diary consis...more
Deciding to publish his diary was a clever idea. Unlike an autobiography, which is inevitably tainted by current thoughts/feelings on what happened, a diary really charts the ups and downs as they unfolded. He's surprisingly candid and insightful about the good and the not-so-good within Monty Python, and he does it so in a witty and yet nice way. His diary consis...more
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Read in April, 2008
I heartily enjoyed this book, but I think it has limited appeal to the general public.
First, I'm a raving Monty Python fan. I have a rough knowledge of the order of events in the Python history, and the members of the troupe.
Second, I'm a big fan of Michael Palin in general. I've seen many of his travelogues and I'm generally not disappointed by his output.
Third, I generally enjoy reading diaries.
Here are some items I found to be engaging reading in the book (in no particular ord...more
First, I'm a raving Monty Python fan. I have a rough knowledge of the order of events in the Python history, and the members of the troupe.
Second, I'm a big fan of Michael Palin in general. I've seen many of his travelogues and I'm generally not disappointed by his output.
Third, I generally enjoy reading diaries.
Here are some items I found to be engaging reading in the book (in no particular ord...more
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Read in September, 2007
This is one of the most pleasurable reads I've ever enjoyed. Palin is a talented diarist. The diary is bookended by the first day of shooting for Flying Circus and the close of 1979 as Python was riding high on the success of Life of Brian and Palin was beginning his collaboration on Time Bandits with Gilliam. It's a real pleasure to read how Python evolved creatively and personally, without the perspective of history to color the recollections. The gossip and bits about Harrison, Jagger, th...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
humor fans, fans of memoir
Please see my detailed review at Amazon.com Grace's "Python Diaries" Review
Please click that the review was helpful to you at Amazon so that my rating continues to climb! Thanks!
I couldn't put it down; Michael Palin is a fun writer, even when he's only writing for himself (which is what he was doing initially). I kept thinking that if I finished one more section, I'd close the ...more
Please click that the review was helpful to you at Amazon so that my rating continues to climb! Thanks!
I couldn't put it down; Michael Palin is a fun writer, even when he's only writing for himself (which is what he was doing initially). I kept thinking that if I finished one more section, I'd close the ...more
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Read in November, 2007
For most, I would think that 600 pages of what some silly English guy thought 30 years ago would be tedious. But as a fan of Monty Python, but also someone struggling with a career of creating, I found this revealing.
Reading this book made me realize how his is the life I often wish I had.
He details accounts of Python meetings, of lunches with BBC producers and other creative types, but he also talks about watching his children grow up and seeing them in school plays and the like. He als...more
Reading this book made me realize how his is the life I often wish I had.
He details accounts of Python meetings, of lunches with BBC producers and other creative types, but he also talks about watching his children grow up and seeing them in school plays and the like. He als...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone who likes Palin or Python in general
Rather than an autobiography with half-remembered stories, these diaries provide a decade's worth of stories written while they are still fresh. Insights into not only the relationships between the Pythons, but their connections with others such as George Harrison and Keith Moon, about the politics of the day, and about Palin's own home life - particularly moving are the illness and eventual death of his father, and the story of Al and Eve Levinso...more
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Read in January, 2008
This is incredibly hilarious. I'm only a 1/5 of the way through it but it is astoundingly funny, and so incredible to see how things came together. If nothing else, it's worth checking out just to see some of the original names for the series that were rejected (they are in a footnote).
Continued reading has kind of brought on a sense of just how good of a person Palin is. He's very genuine, and very kind when he is honest. It's at times just very pleasant to read for the sake of hearing the...more
Continued reading has kind of brought on a sense of just how good of a person Palin is. He's very genuine, and very kind when he is honest. It's at times just very pleasant to read for the sake of hearing the...more
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Read in June, 2008
I've just started this one and love it! Palin is hilarious, even in these personal diaries, which he began writing as an antidote to the after-dinner cigarette. Although we get an interesting behind-the-scenes view of the creative genius that Palin and his fellow Python members developed and honed over 10 years, there is another compelling thing about this book: it's a record of a normal guy who adores his family and loves his work. Palin is an extraordinary star simply because he's an ordin...more
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Just came back from the book signing in Harvard Square with my new signed book. I was tickled pink to just say hi to Michael Palin (he's on my OGILF* list), though I got a chuckle out of him and that made my day, - year really. It's all a blur, but it was really hot, REALLY hot in the Unitarian church we were in, he said something 'bout the heat and I said they're all going to hell anyways, the unitarians. Ok, so you had to be there, and it was just a single "Ha!" out of him. but that ...more
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"It's very difficult to associate brass band music with any class of people. Most enthusiasts perhaps come from North of the Trent working class, but then of course it has high patrician status and support from its part in ceremonial. So in the end its a brass band march which we've chosen - because it creates such immediate atmosphere and rapport, without it being calculated or satirical or fashionable."
- Michael Palin on choosing the opening music for "Monty Python"
- Michael Palin on choosing the opening music for "Monty Python"
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Read in January, 2006
Fascinating...I've always been a bit obsessed with this era, not just because of the Pythons, and it's a lovely insight into the world of British Comedy, politics, and everyday family life. Michael Palin never fails to amuse and engage, it seems, in any of his work...most delightful was the fact that he lived close to my current home, and makes frequent mention of familiar territory, including the very bookshop I purchased his in!
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Read in October, 2006
Overall I thought it was a good book. I purchased it from Amazon UK because it wasn't available in the States at that point and I wasn't aware of it being available in Canada. As others have said, he is a talented diarist. I don't know that as he wrote the entries that he planned to publish them one day; they are very well written as if the plan was to publish. I'm looking forward to volume 2 supposedly being released in 2009.
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Read in December, 2007
Michael Palin and the two Terrys were always my favourite Pythons, and this disarming diary reminds me exactly why.
Michael Palin's an insightful, passionate and much more driven man than you imagine from the various BBC series where he cuddles the various peoples of the world. There's good dirt on the BBC, Government and as much Python bitching than you could throw a dead parrot at.
Michael Palin's an insightful, passionate and much more driven man than you imagine from the various BBC series where he cuddles the various peoples of the world. There's good dirt on the BBC, Government and as much Python bitching than you could throw a dead parrot at.
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am in the process of reading this book. it's really interesting, and i would say that it's pretty much a must for any python fan. you really get some insight on the guys from this book that i haven't found in any other book.
yay...i've gotten to the part where they're making holy grail....unfortunately, it's also the time where plain's dad is having health problems....good times and bad.
yay...i've gotten to the part where they're making holy grail....unfortunately, it's also the time where plain's dad is having health problems....good times and bad.
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
Python fans
In addition to being a writer, actor and explorer, Michael Palin is evidently also a faithful diarist, and this large selection edited from his earliest diaries - the beginning of which just happen to coincide with the first Monty Python series - gradually turns into a warm look at a man balancing his personal life and his creative ambitions against a creeping kind of fame.
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Read in April, 2008
Michael Palin is a freaking genius. And not just in the obvious, comedic sense. I have a hard time believing that there are people out there who don't like Monty Python, but Palin's storytelling skills and eye for detail make this a must read for anyone interested in the popular culture of the late sixties and seventies. Also, there are some interesting thoughts on cheese.
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