Katherine of Aragon: the True Queen; John Lennon the Life; Bumping Into Geniuses

"Katherine of Aragon: the True Queen" by Alison Weir was so good, it made me cry, even though it's fiction. Katherine was a loyal queen to Henry VIII, who brutally put her aside and turned Christianity in Europe on its head, all to marry Anne Boleyn. Katherine never backed down from her steadfast belief that she was the one and only true queen, even though Henry made her life very unpleasant. She never gave up her faith. She was brave and true and it's a damn shame that Henry couldn't see that. Oh well. He suffered for it, although not nearly enough.

I enjoyed Philip Norman's biography on Paul McCartney so much I decided I had to read the one he did on John Lennon, and I was equally impressed.  Norman writes like he's right there next to his subject the whole time. He had some interesting insights into his complicated relationships with his parents and his Aunt Mimi, who raised him. I wish Norman would write a biography on Dave Grohl. That would be a lot more interesting than the ones currently out there! I also hope he's planning on covering George and Ringo, too. That would be very fun.

"Bumping Into Geniuses" by Danny Goldberg was a fairly interesting look at what goes on behind the scenes in the music industry. Goldberg has been in music since the late 1960s, and managed Led Zeppelin, Stevie Nicks' solo career, Bonnie Raitt, and of course Nirvana (three guesses as to why I wanted to read this one, and the first two don't count...)
Goldberg claims he failed Kurt Cobain as a friend, and I totally agree, but not in the same way he thinks he did. He was quite dismissive of Tom Grant, saying the only evidence his wife Rosemary gave him was that Kurt was planning on divorcing his wife. Well, when this book was published first back in 2008, maybe Goldberg didn't think Grant's evidence would be as widespread as it is now. Thanks to Soaked in Bleach, we now know just how valuable Rosemary Carroll's evidence was: she gave Grant the widow's backpack, which she left at Carroll's house, and it contained handwriting practice sheets. Practice sheets that Grant has had several handwriting experts evaluate and they have concluded that the same person who wrote those sheets wrote the last few lines of the "suicide" note, the only bit of the note that actually sounds like a suicide note and not just a retirement letter. So Goldberg was being just a *touch* disingenuous when he claimed his wife gave Grant nothing substantial. Hopefully, someday, if he really wants to make it up to Kurt, he and his wife will come forward with all they really know.