Friday, April 18, 2008

Heroines in the Footlights, From All Sides Now

By Janet Maslin writing in The New York Times
April 17, 2008


There is something irritating about the very premise of “Girls Like Us,” Sheila Weller’s three-headed biography of legendary singer-songwriters. Maybe it’s the instant-girlfriend tone of the title. Maybe it’s that at least one of Ms. Weller’s subjects, Joni Mitchell, objected to being lumped into the same book with the other two, Carole King and Carly Simon. Or maybe it’s the euphemism. Her book is about women whose musical careers took off in the 1960s, and all are now in their 60s. They aren’t girls. They’re grandmas.

GIRLS LIKE US
Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon — and the Journey of a Generation
By Sheila Weller
Illustrated. 584 pages. Atria Books. $27.95.

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