The Year of Having Fun with Reading: The Castle on Sunset + Postcards From a Stranger

 

Goodreads:  The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal in Hollywood's Chateau Marmont by Shawn Levy

Blurb:  Since 1929, Hollywood’s brightest stars have flocked to the Chateau Marmont as if it were a second home. An apartment building-turned-hotel, the Chateau has been the backdrop for generations of gossip and folklore: where director Nicholas Ray slept with his sixteen-year-old Rebel Without a Cause star Natalie Wood; Jim Morrison swung from the balconies; John Belushi suffered a fatal overdose; and Lindsay Lohan got the boot after racking up nearly $50,000 in charges in less than two months.

But despite its mythic reputation, much of what has happened inside the Chateau’s walls has eluded the public eye—until now. With wit and insight, Shawn Levy recounts the wild revelries and scandalous liaisons, the creative breakthroughs and marital breakdowns, the births and deaths to which the hotel has been a party. Vivid, salacious, and richly informed, The Castle on Sunset is a glittering tribute to Hollywood as seen from inside the walls of its most hallowed hotel.

My Thoughts:  This was fine.  I didn't mind reading it but it isn't really one I'll think about now that I'm done with it nor will I go looking for anything else by this author.  I did like how the author structured the book - into 6 chapters that told the story of the hotel during each of the main owners.  I enjoyed the first part about the hotel being built, the original purpose and how it evolved into a hotel.  I also enjoyed seeing how the studios used it and the clientele it typically attracted and why.  However, I was more interested in the hotel itself and what it would have been like for the employees than salacious Hollywood rumors that the author could dig up.   I also would have loved more pictures of the inside - especially as the hotel evolved.  I suspect the NDAs were a bit too strong and the secrets were kept a bit too well to really flesh the stories out.  My Rating: Liked It (3 Stars)

Goodreads:  Postcards from a Stranger by Imogen Clark

Blurb:  A secret lies buried at the heart of her family—but it can’t stay hidden forever.

When Cara stumbles across a stash of old postcards in the attic, their contents make her question everything she thought she knew.

The story she pieces together is confusing and unsettling, and appears to have been patched over with lies. But who can tell her the truth? With her father sinking into Alzheimer’s and her brother reluctant to help, it seems Cara will never find the answers to her questions. One thing is clear, someone knows more than they’re letting on.

Torn between loyalty to her family and dread of what she might find, Cara digs into the early years of her parents’ troubled marriage, hunting down long-lost relatives who might help unravel the mystery. But the picture that begins to emerge is not at all the one she’d expected—because as she soon discovers, lies have a habit of multiplying . . .

My Thoughts:  I enjoyed this read.  Cara's family story is complicated and after a surprise discovery in the attic is even more complicated than she realized.  She has to decide how much she wants to know the truth and what knowledge she's prepared to live with.  I liked Cara and sympathized with her struggles and feelings dealing with her father.  As so often happens in families one person takes on the bulk of the caregiving and that has fallen on Cara's shoulders.  I also really enjoyed the ending.  It was wrapped up nicely enough that it made me happy but also was a good reminder that feelings don't always fit in nice little boxes.  My Rating:  Really Liked It (4 Stars)