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Good books/Bad books on Michael - Holiday Gifts

*~Tink~*

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There's a good thread about boycotting the new Rolling Stone tribute book here~
http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81960

This made me think, maybe we can make up a list of good books and bad books, a list to give people who might be buying us Michael books for the holidays. Very well intentioned peeps may make the error of thinking anything MJ is a nice gift, not knowing we feel passionately about which books to support and which to definitely NOT support. If we could make a list, then we can pass it along with any wish lists we are asked for.

I'll start...

#1 good book~ Moonwalk :)



********************

THE BAD BOOK LIST SO FAR


Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case by Diane Dimond

Freak!: Inside the Twisted World of Michael Jackson by David Perel and Suzanne Ely

J****, His Rise and Fall, Second Edition: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson by Darwin Porter

(The) Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story by J. Randy Taraborrelli

Michael by Rolling Stone Magazine

(The) Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Soul in Intimate Conversation by Shmuel Boteach

Michael Jackson Was My Lover by Victor M. Gutierrez

Michael Jackson Unauthorized by Andersen

Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson by Ian Halperin

********************


THE GOOD BOOK LIST SO FAR

Moonwalk
Moonwalker The Storybook
Dancing the Dream
Thriller 25th Anniversary
Opus

Conspiracy by Aprhodite Jones

For The Record 2nd Edition by Chris Cadman and Craig Halstead

In his own words by Catherine Dineen

In the studio with Michael Jackson by Bruce Swedien

Life Commemorative: Michael Jackson by Life magazine

Loving Michael Jackson by Selena Millman

Michael Jackson by Stewart Regan

Michael Jackson Before He Was King by Todd Gray

Michael Jackson King Of Pop by Lisa D. Campbell

Michael Jackson Life of a Legend by Michael Heatley

Michael Jackson Platinum Edition Collector's Vault (by David Lifton?)

Redemption by Hughes

Visual documentary by Adrian Grant

********************
 
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Dancing the Dream
Conspiracy by Aphrodite Jones
both were good books imo.
 
I had avoided Taraborrelli's Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story supposing it seemed to fall on the tabloid side. Am I wrong about that?

bad book~ The Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Soul in Intimate Conversation by Shmuel Boteach

bad book~ Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson by Ian Halperin
 
Dancing The Dream and Moonwalk is 2 very, very good MJ books to read. OMG do I love those books. Especially Dancing The Dream which is to me one of the most greatest books ever written.


A few bad MJ books 2 read:

Michael Jackson Was My Lover
Michael Jackson Unauthorized
and Freak


It makes me abslutely sick and angry of why those books were ever written about Michael. I just feel horrible about all of those poor trees that were cut down to make those books.
 
*~Tink~* said:
Awww... love, love, love, love this one! :wub: Right now they are pricey!
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Beautiful and emotional :yes:

I wanted to buy the original printing but after a quick search on ebay :bugeyed I settled for the second printing on sale on Play.com (if I'm not mistaken they are identical except for the book cover)

Oh, another good book is the Opus (which I'm agonizing over) and I was told this book (in Italian) is very nice too.
It's not too expensive....maybe I can write to Santa... :shifty:
 
MJsBollywoodGirl7 said:
It makes me abslutely sick and angry of why those books were ever written about Michael. I just feel horrible about all of those poor trees that were cut down to make those books.
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I know just what you mean! When I find one or two like that, it's fun to move them to an odd spot in the bookstore like "cooking". Not that I have ever done such a thing... *whistles and walks away*

Fede1583 said:
Beautiful and emotional :yes:
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Oh, man... I read it a tiny bit at a time. I wanted it to last forever. :)


Fede1583 said:
I wanted to buy the original printing but after a quick search on ebay :bugeyed I settled for the second printing on sale on Play.com (if I'm not mistaken they are identical except for the book cover)
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Thank you!!! I had only looked on amazon (US) and saw the used ones for so much! Now I am adding this to my wish list... no more reading it only online. :D


Fede1583 said:
Oh, another good book is the Opus (which I'm agonizing over) and I was told this book (in Italian) is very nice too.
It's not too expensive....maybe I can write to Santa... :shifty:
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Thanks you guys, keep 'em comin'! :D
 
A few bad MJ books 2 read:

Michael Jackson Was My Lover
Michael Jackson Unauthorized
and Freak
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The title of those alone would make me not want to read them.

I agree with Moonwalk being #1 and Aphrodite Jones Conspiracy. Madness and the Magic is kind of iffy to recommend. It's somewhere in between, but overall I thought it was pretty good, if you can overlook some stuff.

These are the only MJ books I've read though, so I don't know what else to put. I haven't read Dancing the Dream yet, but I know it's really good.
 
*~Tink~* said:
Thank you!!! I had only looked on amazon (US) and saw the used ones for so much! Now I am adding this to my wish list... no more reading it only online.
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No problem ;)
Keep in mind that they only deliver for free in Europe and that the prices are in £ or € ;)
 
Some other good books to read about Michael are:

Michael Jackson Platinum Edition Collector's Vault
Moonwalk
Moonwalker The Storybook
Dancing The Dream
Michael Jackson King Of Pop by Lisa D. Campbell
Loving Michael Jackson (This is a very good book to read. It was written by a handicapped MJ fan.)
Michael Jackson by Stewart Regan
Opus


I will be getting the Opus book sometime next month. But I have all of the other books already and I just totally love them. Especially the first 4. And I still can't believe how much they want for the Moonwalker The Storybook. I had gotten that book a good few years ago and it was really cheap. When I had bought that book.
 
*~Tink~* said:
I had avoided Taraborrelli's Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story supposing it seemed to fall on the tabloid side. Am I wrong about that?

bad book~ The Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Soul in Intimate Conversation by Shmuel Boteach

bad book~ Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson by Ian Halperin
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I really wish a list like this was out before I was lame enough to get the 2nd book. :( I can't even return it now because I got it back in September but for some reason never really read it because it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. :(
 
*~Tink~* said:
I had avoided Taraborrelli's Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story supposing it seemed to fall on the tabloid side. Am I wrong about that?
Click to expand...

No, for me your right! I got it and don't want it on ebay yrs ago for $6 bucks but i still want my money back!

I like the visual documentary by Adrian Grant that was approved by MJ! It's more then a book but a timeline of MJ here and there and everywhere if u know what I mean?
 
Good book

The Visual Documantary (authorized by Michael himself during his lifetime) - Adrian Grant

In his own words - Catherine Dineen

In the studio with Michael Jackson - Bruce Swedien

and of course OPUS

JRT the magic, the madness, the whole story is not bad to read but not good much.
 
Ask for

For The Record 2nd Edition

Michael Jackson Before He Was King
 
What I consider good and bad may differ from the majority here, but I will list them anyway.

The Magic and the Madness - This was well-written, and was pretty balanced. It was not afraid to criticize, yet at the same time was not afraid to show the positive aspects either. Some speculation and anecdotes are in the book, but like a lot of biographies, that goes with the territory. I enjoyed it.

Be Careful Who You Love- I am going to get a lot of flack for this one, but oh well. I think the book was well-written, and I read it a few times. I was hard pressed to find anything positive about MJ in the book and went to great lengths to find flaws and the extreme negativity in MJ's career and personal life. After reading it, I can see why this book got the press it did, and I would not recommend this to an MJ fan. In fact, it is widely shunned, and is understandable. I still read it though.

Freak: Poorly written, poorly executed, and it went all over the place. I tried reading it to see if it would get the point, but it never got there. It was a critical book, but even critical books can have some coherence to it. This failed to deliver.

Moonwalk- It was well-written, and flowed nicely. It was a feel-good story and many fans love it. While I enjoyed it, the book felt sugar-coated. I would recommend this book to fans. Oh the pics were nice too.

Life Commemorative: Michael Jackson - Very nice book, filled with photos and nice things. A nice coffee table book. I did not buy it, but did look at it at the bookstore. I would buy this for a fan.
 
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Moonwalk of course
Dancing the Dream
Adrian Grants Visual documentary
Michael Jackson In his own words (Beautiful quotes from celebs, familiy and friends)

Obviously Conspiracy by aprhodite jones (wich I havn't read yet,and i'm quite ashamed of that actually.. lol)
 
Thank you for the recommendations.
I really like Dancing the Dream! Lovely book!
 
*~Tink~* said:
There's a good thread about boycotting the new Rolling Stone tribute book here~
http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81960

This made me think, maybe we can make up a list of good books and bad books, a list to give people who might be buying us Michael books for the holidays. Very well intentioned peeps may make the error of thinking anything MJ is a nice gift, not knowing we feel passionately about which books to support and which to definitely NOT support. If we could make a list, then we can pass it along with any wish lists we are asked for.

I'll start...

#1 good book~ Moonwalk :)
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great idea.

can you update your 1st post with all the suggestions for both good & bad?

The thread could serve as a guide for people thinking of buying books for the holidays.
 
Good book - Michael Jackson Life of a Legend by Michael Heatley
(It's majority photos and it's hardcover and big like a coffee table book?)

I guess some books are clearly yes and clearly no, while others it depends on the fan to what you might get out of it.
Some of the 'tabloidy ones' have negative and positive aspects.

The clear yes books would be a much better gift though!

I looove Dancing The Dream so much. I had to get a second edition, but hoping to find an original one day that isn't too expensive! Lovely book. :) Beautiful photos of Michael. :)
 
If you want to know EVERYTHING about Michael then get these.

1.) A Visual Documentary (Adrian Grant - man who created mjworld.net) - this book contains every single event in Michael's life, even all the unimportant stuff. You'll always learn something new with this one.
2.) For The Record - this book includes every single bit if info about Michael's songs, videos, albums, concerts and films (even all available info on unreleased songs/videos and duets/collaborations).
 
oldmoon20 said:
I really wish a list like this was out before I was lame enough to get the 2nd book. :( I can't even return it now because I got it back in September but for some reason never really read it because it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. :(
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*hugs* It's okay, don't feel bad.

Putting together a list of what we have so far now... goods and bads... :)
 
bluetopez said:
No, for me your right! I got it and don't want it on ebay yrs ago for $6 bucks but i still want my money back!

I like the visual documentary by Adrian Grant that was approved by MJ! It's more then a book but a timeline of MJ here and there and everywhere if u know what I mean?
Click to expand...

That one sounds great! (the Adrian Grant one...)

Yeah, the Taraborrelli one I feel uncomfy with. Maybe I should put a star next to that one and let people decide rather than catagoize it, but to me it smacked sensationalism.
 
Books on Michael - Holiday DO NOT BUY LIST So Far

BAD BOOKS: the list so far, alphabetical order...

Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case by Diane Dimond

Freak!: Inside the Twisted World of Michael Jackson by David Perel and Suzanne Ely

J****, His Rise and Fall, Second Edition: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson by Darwin Porter

(The) Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story by J. Randy Taraborrelli

Michael by Rolling Stone Magazine

(The) Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Soul in Intimate Conversation by Shmuel Boteach

Michael Jackson Was My Lover by Victor M. Gutierrez

Michael Jackson Unauthorized by Andersen

Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson by Ian Halperin
 
books on Michael - Holiday Gifts

Before I make up the good book list, this is what we have so far. If anyone thinks differently, please say so...


good books....

Moonwalk
Moonwalker The Storybook
Dancing the Dream
Opus
Visual documentary Adrian Grant
For The Record 2nd Edition by Chris Cadman and Craig Halstead
Michael Jackson Before He Was King by Todd Gray
Michael Jackson Life of a Legend by Michael Heatley
Life Commemorative: Michael Jackson by Life magazine
Conspiracy by Aprhodite Jones
Michael Jackson Platinum Edition Collector's Vault (by David Lifton?)
Michael Jackson King Of Pop by Lisa D. Campbell
Loving Michael Jackson by Selena Millman
Michael Jackson by Stewart Regan
In his own words - Catherine Dineen
In the studio with Michael Jackson - Bruce Swedien
 
Re: books on Michael - Holiday Gifts

I've read all of these except for the Opus. Can't wait to get that! :punk:

If you want info on the child molestation charges/trial:

*Michael Jackson Conspiracy by Aprhodite Jones
*Redemption by Geraldine Hughes (But I considered this book a total waste of money since there is NO real information in it.)

If you want to know about the heart of Michael Jackson:

*Dancing The Dream
*Moonwalk
*The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story by J. Randy Taraborrelli
*The Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Soul in Intimate Conversation by Shmuley Boteach - (Just don't read Boteach's comments.)


For Historical Reference:

*Opus
*Michael Jackson Platinum Edition Collector's Vault - Whitman Publishing


Books I personally want to get:

*Visual documentary Adrian Grant
*For The Record 2nd Edition by Chris Cadman and Craig Halstead
*Michael Jackson Before He Was King by Todd Gray
 
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