- Paperback: 650 pages
- Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; Reprint edition (November 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312384882
- ISBN-13: 978-0312384883
- Product Dimensions: 23.5 x 15.5 x 5.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1.8 Kg
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #868,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
As one of the six Pythons to have assembled back in the late 1960s, Palin provides insights into the group's dynamics during the decade that brought the Monty Python troupe to international acclaim. This abridgment can be satiating and frustrating, often simultaneously. At face value, it provides many behind-the-scenes moments and explores how and why the comedy troupe went about its business. Yet the mere knowledge that it's an abridgment will have listeners yearning to hear more—especially Python-quoting fans. The short, occasionally abrupt entries feel authentic, as journal entries can often be a mere few sentences. But listeners may constantly question how much has been trimmed. Occasionally, the journal entries read as a mere chronological list of events. As narrator, Palin proves adept at adding life and emotion in his mild-mannered voice to the more pedantic lulls in the audiobook. But given the audiobook's shortcomings, a bonus interview or some other material might have improved the overall enjoyment for listeners.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Review
"Michael Palin is not just one of Britain's foremost comedy character actors, he also talks a lot. Yap, yap, yap he goes, all day long and through the night...then, some nights, when everyone else has gone to bed, he goes home and writes up a diary." --John Cleese
"Palin's prose is spry and insightful, identifying the true warmth felt for Hemingway in these locales...Any trout-fishing, bull-running, wing-shooting Hemingway fan worth his martini shaker should wind this book fun."--Library Journal on Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure
"Is there anything Michael Palin can't do?" --Washington Post on Hemingway's Chair
"Is there anything Michael Palin can't do?" --Washington Post on Hemingway's Chair
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Seventies according to Palin, Sep 27 2007
By Robin Cramp - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years (Hardcover)
What a nice man! Michael Palin's diary of Seventies Britain Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Yearsshows that you don't have to be weird or "out there" or even arrogant to create the kind of ground-breaking humor that was Monty Python's Flying Circus. They certainly needed the comic genius of John Cleese to make it come to life, but it is clear that Michael Palin and Terry Jones did much of the writing and then the general tidying up afterwards that made Python at once gloriously offensive and yet globally marketable.Palin's honest yet self-effacing notes on his life during the 1970's include lots of interesting out-takes on Python writing and performance for Python aficionados, but his attendance to his aging parents and his thoughtful asides on a critical decade in British politics show an Everyman that contrasts wildly with the lunacy of Python. Maybe that's why Python became a global experience - because it connected us to that silly streak we all have inside but seldom allow to show, in a decade when so many accepted social mores were being overturned.
For those of us that lived through that decade (I am English and two months younger than Palin) this is an entertaining and absorbing social history which will make you think "maybe if I had just had the right friends?".
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome book - but don't get the Kindle version, Jan 26 2009
By A. Gunn "taliswoman" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
To be quite honest, I got this on a whim. I was never a huge Python fan, but I have liked Michael Palin's journey series' and thought I would like his humor. I figured it would also give me a "behind the scenes" view of one of the largest comedy moneymakers in history.I was caught up as much with his family life and watching his children grow up as I was with the spats and tirades from the Python members. I cried when his father slowly faded away, just like my grandmother did. I laughed at the antics of his children, very close in age to myself, doing many of the same things I did, half the world away.
I enjoyed the book immensely, but I have a caviat. I bought it as a Kindle download. I didn't realize that the Kindle version would not include the pictures that were included in the actual book. I know Kindle is black and white, and I would have had no problem with seeing them as such, but there was only one small picture of Michael as a child, and that was it. No other pictures were on the Kindle, no other pictures were available from Amazon. I paid a lot of money for this book, and was very disappointed that I could not FULLY enjoy it. I enjoyed the book, and remembered many of the pictures and scenes that he talked about, but I would really have liked to SEE his children grow up. I would have liked to SEE a picture of his wife. THat's why the pictures were included in the book in the first place.
Buy the book. Enjoy the book. Just don't get the Kindle version.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Palin: The Nice Python, Feb 4 2008
By S. M Marson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years (Hardcover)
I have vivid memories of watching MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS every Saturday evening with group of fellow college students. We packed into the Grand Wazoo's apartment to watch the program on PBS followed by SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. What a hoot!I was delighted when I opened MICHAEL PALIN DIARIES as a Christmas present. I read it while receiving therapy for my back. The book was a fantastic diversion. As for me, I looked forward to reading Palin's description of the clerical attacks on THE LIFE OF BRIAN.* Well, that part was at the end. Nevertheless, the entire diary was a pleasure and captured my interest.
One unexpected dimension of Palin's life that captured my attention was the unfolding relationship he had with his family including his parents, wife and children. In particular, the progressive decline and death of his father produced a profound portrait of Palin. It was touching. Less touching but still an attention grabber was Palin's portrait of the other Pythons. The personality of each Python was a candid and multidimensional. However, I wasn't surprised by these descriptions and reaffirmed Palin's reputation as being "the nice one."
As for THE LIFE OF BRIAN, my primary interest in reading this diary, the description of the evolution of the leper and crucifixion scenes was a real hoot. The evolution of the leper scene was more complex than imaginable.
* An Episcopalian Bishop asked a close friend (a priest) to discourage his flock to not view THE LIFE OF BRIAN. He and his Bishop never saw the film, but after I explained the storyline, my friend became less concerned. The protest of the film could have easily been included in the film itself. If the Python boys realized a protest would ensue, I am sure they would have done so.
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