The Beatles have been the subject(s) of many books over the
last five decades. Some are fantastic sources of information and insight while
others are nothing but lame cash grabs. My goal with this blog is to weed out
the bad and highlight the good by reviewing as many of those books as possible;
a tall order, to be sure, but one I think necessary.
For each book I will attempt to answer, “Is it worth your
time?” Of course that question leads to many others, but the main two that will
likely tip the scales in or out of a book’s favor and come up the most
frequently will be: a) “how accurate is it?” and b) “who is it for?” Is it
sleazy, gossipy dreck? Is it for newbies? Do you like poetry or prefer
nonfiction? Etc. Because even if you’re a big Beatles fan not every book connected
to them will necessarily interest you. You might not care about Paul
McCartney’s poetry, Ringo Starr’s children’s book, an analysis of Beatle gear,
or (if you’re a veteran fan) a book that covers just the major plot points of
the Beatles’ story.
I’ve also considered the possibility of occasionally
including some of the different films that have been made on the Beatles, such as
Backbeat or Two Of Us. I’ll be honest, though, films that fictionalize the
Beatles don’t tend to bother me nearly as much as books that do so. I suppose
part of that is that a book can require more time be devoted to them and potentially
be a bigger waste than a silly TV movie. (Plus, admittedly, I dig some of them more than I probably should.) I could be alone in that thinking, but there we are. I'm not opposed to it, but we'll see what happens.
