Dear Morrissey . . .

I know, bad form to repost other comment sections, but:

PresumingOgs (17 October 2013 7:04am)

Michael, I know you're desperate to get the juicy titbits out there, but enough already. Give the book a proper read and then give us a considered review. Or, better still, get someone else to do it for you. Your mining of the index is akin to children looking up dirty words in a dictionary.

Guardian staff CasparPresumingOgs (17 October 2013 7:53am)
Relax! The considered review is coming from John Harris in due course

There isn't an index, so I heard, PresumingOgs.

The jury's out

lol courtroom metaphors

Then it turns out it's nothing but obsessive journalling about his breakfasts.

― Ned Raggett

well why not

sofia coppola is the only person i want to see direct a moz biopic

Got this at lunchtime to read on a plane tomorrow. It had a whole table to itself in Waterstones that had six copies left when I got there. During the time I spent queuing, two other people bought it. No index. Slightly disappointed at the size of the text - bigger than the usual Penguin Classics font, about the same as most modern popular biographies - which means that the 457 pages isn't as much as it sounds.

started on this at lunch, first pages were some ponderous overwritten reflections on Manchester (almost like Laura Barton were ghosting), but warmed up a bit as it went on. Did want to shout 'stop remembering tv' when he was just listing things he watched in the 60s.

EK, I got the third-but-last one on the table at University Place Waterstone's.

Randomly opened to some surprisingly cogent stuff about 9/11.

He's doing a signing at Reading Waterstones, the same week Amber's doing her work experience...

OK, that's a complete lie there.

Still, ....

meanwhile...

http://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/s403x403/1385824_10153328667805117_1497073546_n.jpg

Our past comes back to haunt us.

momus to play moz

I was at the only place in the UK open at midnight to sell it (I had to for work). There were 18 people there at midnight for the 192 copies. Very jovial, though. And we got a free poster.

Wonder what the economics are of opening your bookstore at midnight to sell 18 copies of a paperback retailing at £8.99?

Two-man operation, so perhpas worth it. And there was a BBC camera crew there, so maybe some publicity.

And, of course, maybe some more people turned up after I went (I left as soon as I got my copy) …

I'm browsing it just now. It's a decent read i think. He doesn't seem to prioritise much - every incident is dealt with in around two pages - so the effect is like having his life's contents all set up in a line, and then viewing them from a moving train.

He also appears to have dampened his very worst and most cruellest affectations, while leaving the quintessential Morrissey character traits (including middling affectations and fairly cruel character judgements). It's actually not unlike reading a particularly long classic-era l0u15 j4g9er post, and that's a compliment of sorts btw.

okay i'm sold now

That's one for the back of the second printing, reviews..

the bit where he discusses his relationship with Jake Walters is pretty cute, which is not an adjective I foresaw myself using about this book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49lPGmnYDw4

sort of disappointed that this appears to contain forthright discussions of his romantic/sex life...? was hoping for more clever elisions and evasions tbh

It's not really any more forthright than any of his lyrics.

Did want to shout 'stop remembering tv' when he was just listing things he watched in the 60s.

Four and a half bloody pages worth. Morrissey veering dangerously close to Stuart MacConie territory.

Then again, that's only 4.5 pages. Stuart Mac writes whole books.

uh, just suffered through another three pages worth of childhood telly.

i keep hearing this thread title in my head sung to the tune of that gin blossoms song. driving me a little crazy...

and meanwhile i would LOVE to read 10 pages of MOz t.v. habits!!! maybe i'm crazy.

otm. I used to watch "Skippy The Bush Kangaroo" as well. Why then wasn't I the lead singer of The Smiths? Also, where does he stand on "Kimba The White Lion"?

He doesn't stand on lions.

I like it a lot more when he starts remembering music instead. And remembering books. I am completely into his tributes to Auden, Stevie Smith and Robert Herrick.

"And then my world would change forever..."

http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1275941673l/8242160.jpg

These are my favourite bits of autobiographies. Adolescence saved by books + music. I love his enthusiasm!

Only 15% in & I think the editor's starting to rush things a bit, 'Hillaire Belloc' repeatedly.

sort of disappointed that this appears to contain forthright discussions of his romantic/sex life...? was hoping for more clever elisions and evasions tbh

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2013/10/19/morrissey-not-homosexual-is-humasexual-instead/

at least sense of huma is intact

no huma, bro

Huma huma yay
Huma huma huma yay

http://oi43.tinypic.com/2vcgo3k.jpg

http://confessionsofacurlymind.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/yung-humma.jpg

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dUZ7DdnL20

Eh I've seen American beauty, not sure I need another story where the racist dude turns out to be gay

irl tee hee

Chris Heath's is the best review of this I've seen: http://www.gq.com/entertainment/books/201310/gq-reviews-morrissey-autobiography

Sums up exactly how I felt. It's a pretty great book up until The Smiths form, and then it just becomes weird and sad.

that seems about right – I still had legs for the section on The Smiths (maybe I'd have been disappointed if they mattered more to me – I like them, but I'm not one of the faithful), tho' it was a step down from the love art/hate school sections, but then… my god the trial… it goes on forever. And you think you're out, but the close reading of the judgement begins. And then the – what 100, 150-page? – repetitive tour diary is just rotten. Some nice little pen-portraits here and there, but really "The next night I played to a crowd of 5,249 adoring fans in Oslo. My audience is getting younger as I, unfairly, am getting older. I no longer care about the British press, especially not the NME, but they refuse to cover this hysteria." over and over with slight variations.

The first third or half is really really good, far better than I expected or feared after opening pages – but it goes badly wrong.

otoh, the tour diary is a sort of tribute to his fans, which is nice - but for a general reader, no.

First 150-200 pages of childhood and early youth are really great stuff.

The Smiths era is way glossed over, I was definitely interested to find how young Morrissey felt going from village misfit to indie stardom. But alas. The constant Geoff Travis bashing is hilarious, however.

The trial and legal fallout is obviously tl;dr but he does make one or two good points in the wash of whining.

Tour diary is very much for the fans. Not sure if one can really equate a concert in El Paso to prison sex but anyways.

Best revelation? He collected the money at A Certain Ratio's first gig!

Also: put this in context. There's less whinging in this book than in Peter Hook's "The Haçienda: How Not To Run A Club".

quick flickthrough..

Saw a bit where Mike Joyce managed to contact M via letter, post trial, etc.

The conclusion from Moz was more or less "yes, over time I may well find forgiveness, but we will never be friends again"

So, there you go..