Rating: 
Summary: Thougthful
Review: I had a fascination with Johnny Cash that began when I was a small kid, but I really didn't appreciate him fully until he was gone. There was something about his "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" that won me over although I had no great interest in his singing outside his novelty songs. As I got older I began to like the music quite a bit, but you don't have to be a fan to enjoy his book.
His story of growing up on a poor farm, a hitch in the military, his early music career, drug abuse, redemption, true love and a musical rebirth would work even if you'd never heard Johnny Cash tune. And it works mostly because it's such an honest portrayal of what a jerk he was and how he still struggles to be the man he wants to be. So many of these kinds of books are self-congratulatory, but Cash is just thankful that he got through it.
Along the way Johnny shares great stories of other famous musicians. He knew everybody even before they were anybody. I didn't know that he owned a house in Jamaica. I didn't know that he lived next door to Roy Orbison. I didn't know a lot of this stuff.
But the theme that runs through the book is Cash's religious faith and how it kept him alive. He says that he traded commercial success in the 1970s to record gospel music and that made him happier than anything else.
Some musicians are only interesting in what they produce over a short span of their lives. Johnny produced all kinds of music and hardly stayed in a genre very long, but he turned out to be just as interesting off stage and this book is a document of that.
Rating: 
Summary: The definitive word on J.R. Cash.
Review: I read this book two years ago, and couldn't put it down. When I reread it following Mr. Cash's death, I still couldn't put it down. Other reviewers have claimed that the book "lacked candor" and was not "even remotely interesting," but this is far from the truth. Cash paints vivid pictures of the stages of his life, and tells fascinating anecdotes to go along with them. The reader will learn a variety of things about the man and his life - from the various grades of cotton, to his high school crush on Grand Ole Opry star June Carter, to the history behind his many homes (including one with Yankee soldiers buried under the driveway) - and these are just the little things. He relates all the stories of his life with honesty, spirituality, and - oftentimes - humor. The book will probably surprise readers unfamiliar with Cash, for it proves him to be a very deep, spiritual, and intelligent man.Some readers are not satisfied with the time he focused on his drug addiction. Cash gave that part of his life the time it was due - no more, no less. He spends more time on the topic in his earlier autobiography, "Man in Black." By 1997, his life was far more than a recent recovery from these demons. And the reader who said that Johnny Cash never had an affair needs to read the book a little closer... If you are familiar with Cash's speaking voice, it should be easy for you to hear him reading the book aloud in your mind. That is the way the text goes along - like a conversation (albeit one-sided), with the same brief tangents you would expect if you were just sitting and talking to the man. The telling of events follows no strict timeline, which - though potentially a little frustrating at first - leaves you feeling very satisfied and as if you got to know the man by the end. There is a new book about Johnny Cash coming out this year. Though it may be an interesting read, THIS is the definitive word on J.R. Cash.
Rating:
Summary: A Staggering Life
Review: I've read a lot of autobiographies, some of them self-serving, some of them whining, and some of them boring. Johnny Cash's is none of these, it is one of the best books I've read in recent years. I read this book as someone who only knew him from his VH1 Duet with Willie Nelson, as well as his acoustic album American Recordings. Despite this, it was easy to follow his narrative of his life. As I read about the man in his autumn years, I do not feel sorry for him. He was human, he lists his mistakes, and goes on. This is a man I can respect, inside and outside of music. That is the impression this book gives me.
Rating: 
Summary: The house of Cash
Review: I, like you all, am a huge Johnny Cash fan. He walks the line between a woeful crooner and a comedian. As Terri Grosse on "Fresh Air" explained, he combines the sacred and the profane. Cash retorts that a friend of his wrote a song that described him as "A walking contradiction, one part truth and another part fiction". This is Cash's second autobiography, his first being "Man in Black". This is the far better of the two, and I feel that Cash is more intimate in this book, but I also think that he holds back too much. This book is one of an aging man, reflecting on his remembrances. It is based on different locations that Cash writes the book from, his different houses and his tour bus. He tells stories about the early days of Sun Records, he talks about his friends and famous aquaitances. At times it seems like he's name dropping, but not for self promootion, but historic preservation. He speaks of who he thinks is truly great in the history of Country music. I guess that the San Quentin Prison record has just been remastered and rereleased, Cash is suffering from a nerve disorder but is still recording on American records. I guess that three topical compilations have been released one focusing on Love, one on God, and one on Murder. I'm glad that Cash left this record (eventhough he's a better songwriter than a book writer) of his thoughts and stories and passions. He's one of the great musicians of the twentieth century.
Rating:
Summary: makes you smile
Review: If you like the Man in Black, you'll like this book. That's it, simple as that. It seems almost stream of consciousness in places, like you're on his porch with him and he's just telling you stories. Nothing earth-shattering, but some words of wisdom and no apologies.
Rating:
Summary: Long live the Man in Black
Review: In his new autobiography, Cash touches us with his heart, strengthens us with his courage, challenges us with his honesty, and renews us with his faith. Now, as Cash faces another chapter of his life, we ask if he will be able to use the same non-relenting force of character he is so well known for to overcome Parkinson's Disease. But this question is unfounded, for as his novel proves, Johnny Cash is the man who bows to no one. So during this time of trial, as we eagerly await to hear him play again, we simply say "We love you Johnny Cash, country music legend extraordinaire."
Rating:
Summary: Spiritual Story lacking candour!
Review: It seems to me that I need to read between the lines of this book to get any details out of it. I guess Johnny Cash never had an affair, he never did heroin with his daughter, and he spent most of his life prayin. Well, there was some spiritual consolation, but alot of preaching. Yet somehow, I want to recommend it....Sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Downhome Charm
Review: Johnny Cash had a profound impact on the American music scene, and much of that was due to his 1990s revival via his four American Recordings albums. This is a simplistic, downhome bio of Americana's Johnny, and though it's not sparkling in form, prose, or organization, it comes straight from Johnny's heart. It's well worth reading if you want to know a little more about how the man views life and learning. It's not the most *interesting* bio, but it's a look-see into his soul. He's simple, he's straightforward, and he's honest, though he's not too giving of all the details. Hence his lack of candor. One thing you do grab from this is how Johnny and June were soulmates, how they shared life's best and worst moments, and how Johnny knows and understands any mistakes he's made there. Thankfully, he doesn't practice victimology and blame the rest of the world for his problems. Instead, he tells us he looks to God for guidance. He tells the reader a few stories that will be new to them, in regards to his life of celebrity. Other than that, this is not a summarization of all that he's done or where he's been, but instead, it's a small window through which he viewed life and its assorted players. Read it if you are really interested in Johnny Cash.
Rating:
Summary: Back in Black
Review: Johnny Cash is a born storyteller, and as always an inspirational figure. He relates anecdotes, and memories with such a natural style and a comfortable tongue that it's hard not to be drawn in. His words speak with the humbleness of the everyman that he sings about, and the wisdom of a sage, enlightened by the wisdom of having truly lived to know loss, pain, heartbreak, and ultimately beauty, and redemption. Regardless of the enormous impact his work has had not only on Country music, but music as a whole, he continues to ride the fringe and forgotten back roads as the man in black.
Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: Johnny Cash is a legend. That is why he deserves the most wonderful and amazing tribute as one of the greatest legends of our time. He was a unique caliber, one of the last of his type. Johnny cash is everything and more. In this book, we get to know of his love, pains, strengths, weaknesses and his inner faith that never died. He was country music's legendary Man in Black, the symbol of all that is good about the music.
Also recommended: DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, MY LIFE
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