Rating: 
Summary: Another Life...and another...and another...
Review: At times Korda rambles on and on about tortured publishing executives that none of us care about, but when he describes authors and celebrity-authors it gets good.Korda explains how famous writers like Harold Robbins, for example, struggle to finish novels. And when Robbins finally delivers the manuscript, the characters in the second half of the story have different names and descriptions from the characters in the first half. And the book goes on to become a best-seller anway! Just goes to show that nobody reads but everyone wants to write -- even famous editors like Korda.
Rating: 
Summary: What Happened, Mike?
Review: Editors know what grabs people. That's why I'm perplexed that Michael Korda's new tell-all book about his life at Simon & Schuster didn't spend more time on its strong points--the dishy-dish on famous authors and stars. Rather, Korda opted for long, boring analysis on the publishing industry, it's quarter-century of peaks and valleys and ran me through a grammatical blender of too-heady commentary. I enjoyed "Another Life" because of its great, behind-the-scenes snapshots of Jackie Susann, Joan Crawford, Tennessee Williams, Nixon, a Mafia don and others. But Korda destroyed the tempo by reverting back to way-to-long diatribes of inter-office politics and industry lore. My biggest problem was Korda's horrible, infinity-like sentences--don't they teach journalists that it's better to use two short sentences rather than one long one. Korda and his editor drowned us with mega-sentences that were so long--I had to keep going back to re-read what was said just to make sure I understood it. One other thing really got me. An error. Can't believe it got by Korda, who states he's quite the military buff. Where was your editor and fact-checker, Mike? He refers to a "Missouri-class battleship" when writing about a pile of papers on a desk. Mike, you mean "Iowa-class." The USS Missouri, Iowa, New Jersey and Wisconsin are all "Iowa-class" battleships. How could you dear boy? Finally, there's no chronology here. Korda jumps through the book with some inattention to detail. He never sets a year on many of the happenings so you're never really sure whether he's still talking about the 1960s, 1970s or 80s. At other times he offers cute, heady Mensa-like postures that are not explained. We're all not Euro-heads, Mike. I enjoyed the book but it got rough toward the end, languishing with too much business and not enough gusto. Skipped most of the last 25 pages by the way. This book was tops with character portraits and gossip. Why didn't Korda stay with that positive side?
Rating:
Summary: Another Life
Review: I loved this book! The stories are hilarious at times -- especially about Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Harold Robbins, and his first boss at Simon and Schuster. I'm an editor myself, so I'm completely biased, but his insight into the editing process and the publishing business is exceptional, and the book was a joy to read. I've been telling people stories from the book, and highly recommend it to anyone who's in the publishing business or who is (or wants to be) a writer or editor. This book was a lot of fun -- I didn't want it to end.
Rating: 
Summary: Such a pleasant poolside read
Review: I really enjoyed this pleasant and often humorous insight into the world of publishing. Korda supplies his readers with interesting and often poignant anecdotes about the many famous celebrities with whom he's worked over his long career, including Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Susann and Claus von Bulow, to name just a few.
Rating: 
Summary: Editor's Ego Trip
Review: I was surprised to find such varied reviews of this book which I consider one of the most enjoyable I've read in years, as gripping in its way as the best novel particularly for those interested in how publishing changed in past decades. I believe this book would be valuable for any author struggling to understand publishing today. I find puzzling some reviewer's comments condemning its writing which I considered (as an author) professional indeed (just goes to show....). Possibly they sought what the book isn't. Certainly it's not a tell all autobiography, comments on his personal (family) life being restrained. But obviously he wrote the book he intended: a narrative of his life in publishing and for this we should be grateful.
Rating:
Summary: An insider's perspective of publishing
Review: Michael Korda is a gifted,prolific writer and editor. His memoir of other people sheds new light on how and why books are published in New York. His encounters with Harold Robbins and Ronald Reagan were especially rich, memorable and hilarious. Korda's experiences with literary figures like Tennessee Williams and Graham Greene illuminated their lives and muses. The book succeeds because Korda has led a full and intriguing life focused around an artfully crafted career in an industry that he clearly loves and has shaped professionally. From Oxford,the RAF and the Hungarian Revolution to his international forays for publishable manuscripts, he obviously is a spirited player in the pageant of his life's work. Korda also eloquently defines the evolution of publishing from closely-held businesses to multi-national corporations. Much homage is paid to the importance of uncovering significant literary works. One can only hope that the quest for shareholder wealth in this transition for publishing does not leave American literature the poorer. The book begs the question: Has publishing sold its soul?
Rating: 
Summary: Enough Already!
Review: Michael Korda is like a garrulous relative at a family gathering who just won't shut up. There are a few (a very few) amusing anecdotes in this overly long tome, but oddly enough, I can't think of any just now. The one about Harold Robbins was sort of interesting, but then again, why would I be interested in Harold Robbins? It was surprising to learn just how much an editor contributes to an author's manuscript (if this is indeed true. Given the apparent size of Korda's ego, I wonder if he places a bit too much importance on his worth.), but after a while the book just gets tiresome and repetitive. Korda seems to have led an interesting (and very privileged) life, and has known a lot of people--too bad he can't convey it in a more interesting manner. And I got a little tired of hearing about what a phenomenally best-selling author he is--although none of his previous books are in print! Given the quality of the writing in this one, I'm not surprised. And the "I'm just a humble editor at heart" schtick at the end of the book just didn't ring true. Korda might be editor-to-the-stars, but humble he is not.
Rating:
Summary: READER BEWARE - FANTASY AHEAD!
Review: The publishers made a typo error in this book's title - they added an "f". Instead of "Another Life", it should more appropriately be titled "Another Lie." Although it is a well-written and fairly entertaining memoir, it is the Napoleonic ambitions of its author that make it a very dubious and unreliable addition to any non-fiction library. Due to Michael Korda's supremely fragile ego, always in danger of having to be placed in intensive care, everything in this book must be viewed very skeptically. Korda not only takes credit for himself but distorts and erroneously states facts so that he can be the hero and the mastermind. After reading a few chapters, I became suspicious of Korda's "memory" when he always appeared as the brilliant, all-knowing catalyst of every event he was participating in. When I came to his chapter on his relationship with Graham Greene, I had the sense he was exaggerating his teenage friendship with the famous author - logic just wasn't on Korda's telling of the tale, especially since none of the principals are alive to offer a differing view, as is true for most of Korda's stories. But, as for facts, I decided to do some research and check what Korda was relating about his publshing career. Alas, he has created more fiction than fact in relating these tales. I could write half a book on his lies and misrepresentations, but I merely use one case in point. His experience with the bestselling novelist Susan Howatch. On pages 309 and 3l0 Korda presents Howatch as "some unknown woman in New Jersey sitting at her kitchen table and holding her baby as she wrote" the book which HE discovered and became the best seller "Penmarric". This was l970 and Korda paints the scene as if he is plucking an unknown first author and using HIS great judgment to determine that she, indeed, has written a great book. ACTUALLY, Susan Howatch had begun writing novels in l965 and was a successful and respected author of three novels published by Stein & Day by the time Korda caught up with her. It's rather clumsy and absurd to present her as his discovery, BUT Korda goes on to state that he perceptively noticed the subtle parallel between "Penmarric"'s plot and the lives of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He relates how Howatch reluctantly confessed to having borrowed the historical plot and was nervous that someone else might also notice. Korda, fully confident of his own superior brillance, assured her that no one would, and he states that they went ahead and published the book and not one reviewer commented on the Henry and Eleanor similarities. HOW CURIOUS. Especially since Howatch's book states in passages at the beginning of every chapter the Henry and Eleanor story and how it applies to the following chapter. She plainly wrote the parallel right there in the book and used it for the structure of her novel. And every book review commented on this fact, especially the New York Times, who thought it added greatly to the book's success. What is Korda talking about! I'm afraid every chapter is filled with such self-serving lies and erroneous facts that only serve to elevate poor little Michael Korda's sense of self-importance. The real crime here is how Korda gets away with these very easily checkable lies and how his legendary Editor, Robert Loomis of Random House, can allow this obvious distortion of truth to get publish. It's just not sloppy and careless editing, for which the aging Loomis is becoming famous, it is the deliberate distortion of their own industry and a real lowering of standards. This collaboration of Korda and Loomis and its careless and fictionalized view of the New York book world is far more eloquent than anything Mr. Korda has to say in his book. Yes, book publishing really has gone downhill, and Korda and Loomis have taken it another giant leap.
Rating:
Summary: Another Life: A Memoir of Other People by Michael Korda
Review: This book is a fascinating read and hard to put down. The reader gets a whirlwind tour through the editing side of publishing and a multitude of witty and entertaining brief caricatures of people famous in the world of books. But the only person, of the multitude vignetted in the book, who comes through even vaguely like a real human being, is Dick Snyder, one of Korda's bosses. Korda goes through paternity, divorce and prostate cancer with nary a whisper of an emotion. At the end one is left wondering what was the purpose of the whole exercise.
Rating:
Summary: Another Life: A Memoir of Other People by Michael Korda
Review: This dreadful piece of pap should be pulped. It is rife is factual errors so embarrassing one wonders if Mr. Korda has become senile, yet is still so hungry to publish that he is willing to lie ruefully in order to sell a book. Fact-checking will bear out appalling errors. Mr. Korda's memory requires a make-over, and his style is unbearable. Don't waste your money.
|
