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The John Lennon Letters
30 January 2013
8.26pm
Velvet Hand
A Tunisian Amphitheatre
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I’m sorry to say that some of the more glaring chronological/factual errors in the Lennon Letters actually hampered my enjoyment of the book somewhat – stuff like the caption for the photo on page 98 (surely that’s not a picture of John by  the pool at Kenwood but rather one taken somewhere in LA in late 1973 or thereabouts?), dating John and Paul’s first meeting to 1956 (p. 206) and the Toronto festival to 1971 (214), or claiming (also 214) that John and Yoko appeared at George’s Bangladesh concert. I just find it really weird that these things didn’t get noticed during the review process I’m sure the book underwent. Does that make me a nerd?

5 February 2013
3.08pm
Mocker
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I spotted an error in the book and decided to email the address that Hunter Davies put in there and was quite surprised when he actually mailed back.

5 February 2013
3.15pm
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fabfouremily
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Mocker said
I spotted an error in the book and decided to email the address that Hunter Davies put in there and was quite surprised when he actually mailed back.

What did he say? :)

 

Moving along in our God given ways, safety is sat by the fire/Sanctuary from these feverish smiles, left with a mark on the door.

(Passover - I. Curtis)

6 February 2013
8.28am
Mocker
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haha, the exact response from Hunter is as follows:

Well  spotted- several people have given the same explanation- and I am sure you and they are right… ta   Hunter

 

(was with regards to Hunter thinking when John was talking about ‘E’s, he may have meant ecstasy but when you look his writing, it is clear that he is talking about the actual letter E! and how he writes them)

Was good of Hunter to respond.

 

6 February 2013
1.47pm
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DrBeatle
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Very good of him. And his response was all class, unlike that a-hole Spitz when people (rightly) pointed out the TRUCKLOADS of obvious errors in his “biography.”

"I know you, you know me; one thing I can tell you is you got to be free!"

 

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8 February 2013
4.33pm
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Little Piggy Dragonguy
Nowhere Land
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The only thing that annoys me about the book is there are a couple times where there is a letter from John to Cynthia where there are pages of the letters that don’t remain, and it says something like, perhaps Cynthia ripped them up and threw away those missing pages, for they were to hard to read. Yeah, even though the letters were written like fifty years ago, let’s not assume the rest of the letter just got lost overtime, but instead let’s assume Cynthia ripped them up.a-hard-days-night-paul-10

 

All living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit 

10 February 2013
11.12am
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fabfouremily
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Page 265 – letter number 183 (to Todd Rundgren). He says to him in the letter:

”I never hit a waitress in the Troubador. I did act like an ass, I was drunk. So shoot me.

Ouch, I almost cried when I read that.

Moving along in our God given ways, safety is sat by the fire/Sanctuary from these feverish smiles, left with a mark on the door.

(Passover - I. Curtis)

6 May 2013
2.15am
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HeyTrud
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I really enjoyed this book.  It is all personal letters, notes, drawings from John to a variety of other people through-out his life.  Letters from him to Cynthia, to many of his Aunts/Uncles, cousins, Julian, etc.  Honestly?  I couldn’t put it down.  Very well done, in my humble opinion.  a-hard-days-night-john-1

 

 

NOTE by Ahhh Girl 2 May 2014: This post started a new thread on this topic. I merged the two threads at @meanmistermustard’s suggestion. This conversations goes until post 53 and includes posts 69 and 70.

"....take a sad song & make it Meilleur"....

6 May 2013
2.53am
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Ron Nasty
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We had quite a discussion about the book (and others things) over in the John Lennon . It might interest you, HeyTrud. Some of us had problems with all the mistakes.

https://www.beatlesbible.com/f…..n-letters/

"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty

To @ Ron Nasty it's @ mja6758
The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966

6 May 2013
6.46pm
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HeyTrud
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Thanks, Mja.  I tried looking thru all the book posts to see if something had been posted about it (I assumed it would have been!)  I will take a reading on the John Forum.  Thanks, again & sorry for being repetitive.

"....take a sad song & make it Meilleur"....

22 May 2013
2.41am
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Expert Textpert
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There are a lot of threads on here.  It’s hard to find the right one to post in sometimes.

"If you're ever in the shit, grab my tit.” —Paul McCartney 

22 May 2013
3.07am
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HeyTrud
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There ARE, Expert Textpert!  I keep trying to do searches, but alas…I didn’t seem to find the other posts. 

"....take a sad song & make it Meilleur"....

22 May 2013
5.27pm
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fabfouremily
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Finally finished it this morning! Feel a bit bad that it took me so long, usually I finish any music, and particularly Beatles, book in a few days, not 7 months.

Moving along in our God given ways, safety is sat by the fire/Sanctuary from these feverish smiles, left with a mark on the door.

(Passover - I. Curtis)

12 November 2013
1.18pm
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vectisfabber
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I found the inaccuracies (and the occasional careless transcription), mildly annoying but not desperate. It’s a shame, though, because the thing is presented very attractively.

It is both illuminating and frustrating – it says a lot and nothing, at the same time. You’re not going to learn lots of information you didn’t know. On the odd occasion when one of the documents tackles part of The Story head on then either 1) we already know the information, or 2) Lennon dresses it up in obfuscatory code words so that the recipient will understand but we don’t. To that extent it is frustrating in that it adds virtually nothing to the substance of The Story.

Where it is interesting is that it gives us a distinct flavour of John Lennon the person, and how he changed (and how he didn’t!) over his lifetime. We get to see what mattered to him – a feeling for how Julian appeared to be never far from his thoughts, and wasn’t the forgotten child we have come to believe in, for instance. Howe he seemed to be genuinely besotted with Cynthia before and in the early days of his marriage. How he genuinely wished that in later years he still had the close contact with his extended family which he had enjoyed in his childhood. And even the fairly tedious Dakota shopping lists give an idea of what was going through his head in those days.

It’s not as important a book as it thinks it is, but it merits its place on a Beatle fan’s bookshelves.

12 November 2013
2.25pm
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DrBeatle
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^nice to hear. That’s on my pile of “to-review” books so I’m looking forward to it for those very reasons you state, more to get inside John’s head than anything else.

"I know you, you know me; one thing I can tell you is you got to be free!"

 

Please Visit My Website, The Rock and Roll Chemist

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12 November 2013
4.28pm
mccartneyalarm
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I liked it because it “backs up” many of the speculations/rumors we’ve read about in other Beatles books like the Fred Seaman book. Seaman mentions all those To Do lists and some of the letters in his book, and now we have them from John Lennon himself. The letters to Paul and John’s family are very interesting as are the letters to Cynthia. It is easy to read because it is very well laid out. You can look up a topic like “Christmas Letters”, read it, put it down, then go back and read another category of letter later on. There are some “Boo Boos”..but it is fun to find them!

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."

12 November 2013
4.34pm
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meanmistermustard
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No idea if it was ever noted here but there is a special edition which has a few more letters and notes than the standard normal one – same price but only available in selected stores. My brother picked it up in Waterstones solely because of that otherwise i’d never have known.

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

16 November 2013
11.16pm
Lennonista
Los Angeles
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Yeah, I had heard about this special edition, but haven’t seen one. I’ll check out some of the few bookstores left in my neighborhood. Thanks!

25 November 2013
7.37pm
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DrBeatle
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I recently got a copy of the new paperback version to review…wonder if that has any corrections/additions/updates? Anyone here know?

"I know you, you know me; one thing I can tell you is you got to be free!"

 

Please Visit My Website, The Rock and Roll Chemist

Twitter: @rocknrollchem

Facebook: rnrchemist

 

25 November 2013
7.52pm
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trcanberra
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DrBeatle said
I recently got a copy of the new paperback version to review…wonder if that has any corrections/additions/updates? Anyone here know?

The one I have claims it has some extra letters (bought it about 2 weeks ago) – but not sure compared to which edition.

 

==> trcanberra and hongkonglady - Together even when not (married for those not in the know!) <==

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