Bright Side

Product Information

The inclusion of remarks made by her father throughout his life, was an enjoyable read. Also interesting to see how one of her siblings managed to turn his life around. Therefore, the 2 stars. Much of the book involves celebrity name-dropping and this gets tiresome, even as Idle admits to it. The book could have been quite a bit shorter, which would have increased its relative amount of interesting material, if Idle had worked with a collaborator to edit these name-drops. He says in the book that he’s a better rewriter than writer, and the book shows it. A few of said celebrities, notably George Harrison, were friends, and these parts of the book have real depth and show witty yet caring exchanges between the men. But, for example, who cares that Harrison introduced him to Eric Clapton once? Or a list of all the famous guys that he partied with? Interestingly, his relationship with his wife is rather glossed over, and it seems like he has more in common with his buddies. Though he mentions her several times, it’s mostly to say she’s a hot model.

Bright Side by Monica Parpal, Kim Holden | Waterstones

The New Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 85 Years Old is his diary for 2015 detailing his life in a care home in Amsterdam. This book follows on from The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 ¼ Years Old, which was his 2013 diary. Hendrik did NOT publish a diary for 2014. This book can be read as a stand-alone and covers similar ground to the first book. As Idle explains early on, there is an unending shelf of books, documentaries and products keeping the Monty Python myth alive. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life is certainly one of them. When I was given the opportunity to read this sequel to The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83¼ Years Old I hurried to read the first book before I embarked on the second. Wondering now whether the second would work as a stand-alone I am inclined to think it would but a great deal of the poignancy of Hendrik’s story would suffer. When On the Bright Side opens, one of his friends has died and one is suffering from dementia and has been moved to a different part of the home. His friendships with both continue to be very important to him and that doesn’t quite come across in the sequel. Nor do the experiences he has already shared with the other members of the Old But Not Dead club. Read the first one first is my advice. Immediately, there’s a chemistry that comes alive between them. Kate tries to suppress her intensifying feelings for him, but the more she gets to know him, the more she falls for everything about him. He’s smart, funny, caring, but also a bit of a mystery. The truth is, both Keller and Kate are keeping secrets. The kind of secrets that can change everything. “My life will not follow a fairy tale, and that’s okay. My life is reality. And in my reality people don’t fall in love and get married and live happily ever after, because life is complicated. And messy.” This collection of memoirs is about as positive as anything can be. Idle got break after break, got swept along to bigger and better things and was continually invited to new ventures, where he succeeded to great acclaim his first time out, be it sketch writing, film, opera, records or Broadway. Oh. And everyone adores him.Living in the Netherlands myself, I see how elderly people are treated here; as if they have no right to live anymore, as if they have nothing left to share, no value. Every day, there is some 'news' in the papers about the horrible influence of there living so many old people people in this country.

Bright Side - Kim Holden - Google Books

I encountered the song before I saw the movie. My first year in high school we had a headmaster who always started the assemblies with a piece of classical music. One day the seventh form decided to sabotage him and swapped out his chosen piece of pompous boredom for "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". My enduring memory of this occasion is the majority of the other teachers trying not to laugh out loud. Few succeeded. The book is also the history of a song. The wonderful "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" first performed in "Life of Brian". It has become the number one funeral song in the UK, and if you know the song, it's easy to understand why. When I was fighting for my own life in hospital earlier this year, some of the words almost became a mantra to me. I enjoy the Monty Python team and was hoping for a more meaningful insight into Eric Idle's life so this was a little disappointing. The book left me wanting to read a book by Michael Palin or John Cleese rather than to refer to what I had just read. Hendrik and his friends are still keen to have as much fun as they can manage given their advanced years and infirmity, and I found their camaraderie and exploits endearing. “Stop spending so much time studying life’s instruction manual. Just do it!! Yes, you may fall down a few times, but so long as you get up again, you’ll be ahead of where you were.” Hendrik writes with humour, insight and charm about often painful subjects - quite an achievement - and hints that his next project is to be a novel, I can’t wait for its publication. I'm a big fan of Monty Python so I was eager to read this memoir. I really enjoyed it! Say no more, say no more, nudge, nudge!On the Bright Side - The new Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 85 years old, is the follow up to the super funny first diary of Hendrik Groen aged 83 1/4 years old. Most of the people mentioned were treated to generous descriptions. Given the collective talent among the names I listed, why wouldn’t they be? There were a few cases where some agent or promoter tried to bilk him and deserved to be chastised, but those instances didn’t dominate. He also had a few choice words about the sitting US president. Even Brits are entitled to their opinions about our political landscape (as long as they’re the right ones). ;-) Idle loves adding adjectives before names. Everyone is amazing or wonderful, excellent or brilliant, fantastic or incomparable. The whole book is gossipy, teenage fandom style.

Bright Side — Inspiration. Creativity. Wonder. Bright Side — Inspiration. Creativity. Wonder.

Wat een geslaagd tweede deel! Met moment grappig, maar even goed moment voor een traantje te laten.

I enjoyed this memoir by a Canadian journalist. Bradbury had her personal annis horribilus in 2015, with the death of both parents, divorce after twenty-five somewhat tense years of marriage, and a beloved home needing repairs which no one was certain she could handle. Hendrik and his best friend Evert continue to get up to mischief – their stirring of trouble delights the group. Well something has to brighten their day, doesn’t it! With death getting closer to them all, a lot of the residents spend time going to funerals. But Hendrik no longer goes – he’ll be at his own soon enough he thinks! Basically, it's everything you could want from a celebrity tell all, and yet LOVELY. I can only think of one story that is unflattering to anyone (*cough*Deeprak Chopra is a prat*cough*). Instead Idle writes with love, with kindness, with admiration, and above all with humor, about the people and events that have shaped his life. He freely admits to his own mistakes, he brushes aside his own jealousies and frustrations in favor of telling the story that will make the reader smile, laugh, and even tear up. (I have never cared one way or the other about George Harrison, but I was ugly crying at the gym over his tribute to him.) Reading this wonderful book made me laugh and cry at the same time, and strangely enough gave me somewhat more hope for the (near) future... After all, I'm not much younger than Hendrik.