Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix - Charles R. Cross; ISBN 1-4013-0028; Non-Fiction, Biography; Hyperion, 2005.

(This review was originally posted on my multiply page on January 27, 2009.)

If you're a Jimi Hendrix fan, do not to read this review.

Okay, consider yourself warned.

At the end of three weeks (a long read by my standards), I have to make an effort to finish reading this book. It was difficult to maintain interest in that seriously stupid guy that was Jimi Hendrix. Deliberately wasted talent, deliberately wasted opportunity, deliberately wasted life.

I would had still found the book fascinating despite having an unpleasant anti-hero as a subject (I like reading about the music of the 60s and the 70s, and the evolution of the genre that we call Rock) if only Mr. Cross doesn't have a limitless supply of excuses for Hendrix's failings. As an example, Mr. Cross reluctantly reveals about Hendrix's tendency to use violence towards his girlfriends - but, he hastens to explain, that was just the alcohol speaking and he's really actually quite gentle. But when one reads these sort of instances again and again and again, Mr. Cross's protestations becomes, not just ridiculous, but insulting to the readers' intelligence.

To Mr. Cross defense, one can argue that he have to contend not just with the entire Hendrix clan, but the hundreds of fellow musicians, friends and fans who zealously guard Jimi Hendrix's memory. He then has no choice but to tiptoe around; give the truth, of course, but provide exhaustive explanations, using carefully chosen and sometimes blandly neutral words. The general tone, therefore, comes across as ludicrously apologetic.

Not everything is bad though. Mr. Cross is at his best when writing about Jimi Hendrix and his band's (whether the Experience or the Band of Gypsys) professional life. The (r)evolution comes alive that you can almost see and hear it - the early forays of Rhythm and Blues musicians to Rock, the London Mod culture, the parallel hippie and psychedelic culture in the US. It is fascinating to read about Jimi's interaction with his fellow musicians, especially my favorite ones. My favorite part of the book was on the Monterey Pop Festival, attended by the "British delegation" consisting of The Experience and The Who, who totally owned The Experience that Jimi Hendrix was forced to do show gimmicks just to keep up with Townshend's gang.

Finally, the reason why I gave a good 4 instead of a mediocre 3 was that I'm eternally grateful to Mr. Cross for giving me Jimi Hendrix the Blues man, rather than just the rock star. I admit that I am part of the crowd that knows him by his four hits (Voodoo Child, Hey Joe, All Along the Watchtower and Foxy Lady) - now I love him for his less famous songs, such as Gypsy Eyes (which I thought was an Eric Clapton original; just goes to show that even the greatest guitarists are not immune to the temptation to steal 'n own); Castle Made of Sand (sad and hauntingly beautiful lyrics); Angel (if there is any theme song of Jimi Hendrix's life, this one is it); Red House (one of his hits but is more bluesy than most); and many, many more.

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I procrastinated long enough. I need the box to put some of my to-be-read and to-be-given away books (via Bookmooch, if you’re still not into the hottest thing to hit the book swapping world). Hence I need file away my to-be-reviewed ones. I’ll be short and snappy – if I can’t deliver my reviews at a minute reading time, then I won’t deliver it at all.

Hey now, I think I like this new reviewing format! Do you agree with me? Or should I go back to the longer ones, the one book per review posts?

The Case of the Left Handed Lady: An Enola Holmes Mystery – Nancy Springer
Fiction, YA, Mystery, Adventure; ISBN 978-0-399-24517-6; Philomel Books, 2007

I like Enola Holmes, not just because she’s the sister of the celebrated Sherlock Holmes (of which I am a most devoted fan). She is one of the rare YA female protagonist that I like at all levels – she is resourceful, brave, intelligent and rational, yet have a tinge of vulnerability and loneliness – so much so that she reminds me of Katniss of The Hunger Games. Though the story itself is weak (both shaky in terms of logic & believability), the characters makes up for this shortcoming. You must also remember that this is just the second book of what seems to be a long and promising YA series. I suggest you read this one instead of watching that dreadful Sherlock Holmes movie. 4 out of 5 stars.

ShrinkLits: Seventy of the world’s towering classics cut down to size – Maurice Sagoff
Reference, Poetry; ISBN 0-89480-079-5; Workman Publishing, 1980

There are a lot of books out there that do this kind of thing: cutting up books into perhaps a paragraph or two of the bare essentials. What I like about this one is that it pushes the envelope further – Maurice Sagoff trims down them hefty classics into bite-size rhyming poems. How exact to the original text are these concise poetry? Not so much. How high is the enjoyment factor? Very high indeed. 5 out of 5 stars. A warning though: if you are a literary purist, don’t read this book.

Jane Austen: A Life - Carol Shields
Non-fiction, Biography; ISBN 0-14-303516-9; Penguin Books, 2001

Carol Shields is an Austenite and it shows. Warmth, empathy and frankness permeate in her short discourse of Austen and her work that you can’t help but agree with the novelist’s (Austen, I mean) exclamation, “If a book is well written, I always find it too short”. I quite agree. 5 out of 5 stars. One of the best biographies I ever read. If you can help it, I suggest reading the main six works before reading this one.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – Seth Grahame-Smith (even if it says so on the cover, I refuse to add Jane Austen as an author to this mockery of a novel!)
Fiction, Horror; ISBN 978-1-59474-334-4; Quirk Books, 2009

Wow, this chick Jane Austen is so in nowadays. Look at these, all her sh- being relabeled as the original “chick-lit” novels, didn't know these chicklit sh- are *that* old. Too bad there’s a lot of boring stuff in here, like balls and parties and people making funny looks at each other. Bleeaach! Now, here’s an idea! Since this chick Jane Austen is a hot item commodity, why not sell our own version but one with zombies and killer ninjas and shaolin masters and pentagrams of death… * six weeks later* Dude, this writing thing sucks! So maybe I’ll just make an exact copy of this chick’s book then cut out all the crappy boring stuff then insert the cool stuff! Yeah, that’s the thing! They’ll be making a movie out of this sh-, I’m sure. I’m going to be famous and filthy rich! Yeah! Ride on!
Do I need to put stars on this one?

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