Hard to Get: Fast Talk and Rude Questions Along the Interview Trail

by Nancy Collins

Presents a collection of conversations with such superstars as Jack Nicholson, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Midler, and Joan Rivers, and reveals the secrets of a good interview

Genres: Biography

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Nancy Collins is a journalist.

Reviews

[Devon]

What can I say? I can’t remember regretting finishing a book so much before I did. I literally savoured this one, then left the last chapter unfinished for weeks because I didn’t want it to end. Like a fine liquor.

Collins is one of those arguably obsolete journalists of the pre-Internet era that intuitively (and based on extensive research too) got into the grit of a person’s story. And those times before the perfectly manicured sound byte were special. What you have here are the best kinds of interviews - the kind that make a person want to be a reporter in the first place.

This book is a collection of people - household names - baring their souls. I love how Collins never stays on the surface, and instead asks about her subjects’ views on money, for example, or how they feel about their mothers. She’s a sieve for all the best stuff; the pearls of wisdom gleaned from a bio without you having to slog through the whole thing. This book is entertaining and educational. I absolutely loved it. Now I’m struggling to find the extra copies I’d love to give as gifts.