Nancy Schoenberger

Beach, Books, Celebrities, Elizabeth Taylor, Furious Love, Love, Marriage, Nancy Schoenberger, New York Times, Relationships, Sam Kashner

The New York Times Reviews Furious Love!

August 4, 2010

You might remember my preternatural attachment to Richard Burton from earlier posts…in case you don't, here's my first review of Furious Love, the dual-biography of the Burtons by Nancy Schoenberger and Sam Kashner. The New York Times recently ran a stellar write-up of Furious Love, calling it "an indulgent, plenty-of-fun book about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s traveling circus of money, booze and mutual obsession." I couldn't agree more. Reviewer Ada Calhoun writes, "There’s a lesson here for couples: marriage doesn’t have to be a partnership of equals. It can be a bodice-ripping, booze-soaked, jewel-bedecked brawl that survives even death. It’s a tough way to live, but it makes for a good beach book." If that doesn't make you want to stuff Furious Love inside your beach-bag, I don't know what will. Browse inside the book, and click here for the full review!

-Kayleigh

American Library Association, Books, Celebrities, Current Affairs, Early Word, Elizabeth Taylor, Film, Furious Love, Love, Marriage, Nancy Schoenberger, Richard Burton, Sam Kashner

Furious Love

June 10, 2010

If you attended our title presentation at ALA Midwinter in January, you may recall that I confessed to having an intense teenage crush on Richard Burton. If you missed it, here's some auditory blackmail.

Furious Love hits shelves on June 15th and there's a reason I'm ridiculously excited: for years, I haven't had anyone to talk to about Richard Burton and Liz Taylor. Now, suddenly, there are stories in Vanity Fair and Time Magazine, coverage on Good Morning America, blog posts…it's the best excuse for my inner granny to come out at full force. So what did I, a die-hard Taylor/Burton fan, think of Furious Love?

Reader, I loved it. Biography buffs, tabloid addicts, cinephiles, jewelry collectors, romantics…will all find something to sink their teeth into in this compulsively readable dual biography. Burton's love letters to Taylor, many of which are excerpted, are incredibly intimate–I was visibly choked up by the end of the book, and wandered from cubicle to cubicle, telling anyone who would listen how sad it was, how tragic, that two people who loved each other so well could end up apart in the end. But Furious Love isn't all tragedy–rather, it is the story of a flawed but timeless passion that began on a movie-set and changed the face of American culture forever. Take a peek inside the book, check out some of the quoted love letters in Time, and know that summer flings–quite simply–pale in comparison.

-Kayleigh