Adult Review Tags

I am a Michael J .Fox fan and think he is a very classy Canadian, so I loved reading his book “Always looking up: the adventures of an incurable optimist”. This follows on from his 2002 book "Lucky Man" which was also a good read.

I was really saddened when I first heard that he suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, a disease that my father struggled with in his later years, so it’s a condition I am very familiar with. I was really heartened when I read this book. In face of all his challenges his personal philosophy has enabled him to have a positive outlook this uplifting account tells how he has become a happier and a more satisfied person by recognizing the gifts of everyday life. It reads like a breath of fresh air.

Michael writes about the hard-won perspective that helped him see challenges as opportunities. Instead of building walls around himself, he developed a personal policy of engagement and discovery: an emotional, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual outlook that served him throughout his struggle with Parkinson’s disease.

This is a memoir of the last decade – after quitting his TV sitcom “Spin City” and coming to terms with being just Mike with Parkinson’s disease. He talks about his daily struggles and the work he is doing as an activist after having begun the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. As much as I enjoyed Michael J. Fox, the brilliant comic actor, I admire Michael J. Fox, the optimistic man seeking to improve himself, even more.

(P.S. I also enjoyed his brief, comedic speech about the meaning of being Canadian at the Olympic Closing Ceremony).

The first time Richard Burton laid eyes on Elizabeth Taylor he nearly burst out laughing due to her luminous beauty. Taylor took one look at the swaggering Welshman and thought he was an arrogant jerk. When they met years later on the set of the movie Cleopatra they began an infamous affair that rocked Hollywood and the world. The affair between Taylor and Burton was so shocking at the time it was branded Le Scandale. The authors of "Furious Love" have struck a delicate balance between paying tribute to the couple's talent and exposing the lives of a passionate duo that battled substance abuse and their own enormous egos. Elizabeth Taylor herself granted the authors access to her personal letters from Burton for this book. "Furious Love" is a great read and provides previously unknown details about one of the most powerful couples in Hollywood history.

You may also be interested in the following recent biography on Elizabeth Taylor’s life: “How to be a movie star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood” by William J. Mann.