My collection of 'The Beatles' books.

The Beatles are one of the biggest parts of my life and one of the things that I have of The Beatles are books on and they're something which as soon as I seem them I buy because that's how deep the addiction is. Today I wanted to show them and review them a little from a fan's perspective. I've seen lots of others along the way which I haven't experienced yet but I'm sure a part two will come along. I'm going to make this a series where  I talk about different merchandise I've found, documentaries I like, film portrayals and all kinds of beatle-related things.

1. 

'The Beatles' by Kim Aitkin

This is one of the first books I received that I didn't get myself and I'm really fond of it for lots of reasons. One of my favourite things to have is memorbilia and this book inside of it has that and it is one of the more detailed books that I have come across and it's very descriptive and like most books written about the beatles it visits every beatle in turn and goes through events chronologically featuring glossy photos. What I really like is that at the end of the book there is a chapter dedicated to the legacy itself and that is a very cool part to it which has a lot of interesting information which is just as important and not always touched upon.

2. 

'The Illustrated John Lennon' by Geoffrey Giluliano

A slightly older, slightly less thorough in a few ways book which is really interesting to me. However with an introduction written by John's uncle, Charles Lennon written in 1993 gives it really cool aspect which gives it a sense of legitimacy which Charles mentions as a 'A fitting record of his incredible life and times. This means a lot to me personally.' and that really comes through in the ways it's written. Honest and to the point which John probably would have liked or would told to lighten up a bit. There's a bit of information in this book which I hadn't got anywhere else. Also the chapters are nicely named.

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'I met the walrus' by Jerry Levitan

This book is one of my favourites out all of the books that I own. Jerry as a young fan was able to meet John during the 'Bed or peace' movement with Yoko and it's an extremely intimate, access to knowledge which also describes the intensity of John and The Beatles impact for the young people of the time and is so beautifully written. It conveys a meeting between people which was unique among the insensitivity of the press. This part of John's life is spoken about so often that this book blows out of the water in some ways because it was a period where people saw John as very confused and he was anything but. John bubbled on inside of him and the glimpses you see in this represents everything about John and how he could move his layers around and it wasn't all serious. Jerry fights for his interview to be heard and the way that people responded to him is really fascinating. The end of the book is Jerry describing how his world changed when he heard that John has been killed and the personal feeling of the entire thing is one of the most moving things in the world to me. But, Jerry, 'The Walrus was Paul.'? :P

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'The Beatles Graphic' by Herve Bourhis

A book I am really fond of is this one. It's different because it tells the story of Paul, George, John and Ringo from the very beginning of their lives to the present day through beautiful drawings in a graphic novel style that goes from page to page like a timeline and litters facts and clever references throughout and I really like looking at it regularly because it's so gorgeous. Really. I would really recommend this because it captures them very well and is also good for the purpose for somebody who likes to read lightly and be immersed at the same time.

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'The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story' by Vivek Tiwary

Carrying on in the theme of graphic novels this is another book which I cherish a lot. It's a shift from the beatles and looks in depth at the life of Brian Epstein who, of course, is an extremely important person in their lives. Extremely, extremely talently drawn, it gives Brian's life the exposure it should always have. It is incredibly emotional and although there is a slight fictitious quality, it doesn't lie and it never differs from darkness and how Brian never entirely stopped feeling despite success. It also gives an unusual idea of the beatles being in the background of a lot of things. It's a reverse and it is done really well. It's being turned into a film and I'm really looking forward to seeing it come to life.

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'Love Me Do: 50 greatest beatles moments' By Paolo Hewit

'Drive my car: 100 objects that made the beatles the beatles.' By Brian Southhall

I put these two books together not only because I got them from the same place but because they have the style of both of them in common. Both books list significant events or objects that are important to every Beatle's fan's knowledge to have. Especially with 'Drive my car' it's the first time you are able to see each item up close and backed up with information it's really interesting and cool to skim as if you're visiting a museum. They both make good points of showing things which have contributed to the cultural significance many of these things have had. They're good for reference and a different way to experience information. I also look at the items, wanting them and it can be a little bittersweet for that reason. 

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'The John Lennon Letters' edited by Hunter Davies

This was obviously always going to be one of the best books there is because they are John's letters that he wrote throughout his life, what else can I say? I adore having them all in one contained huge, never-ending book of John-isms, wit, frustration and personal feelings. One of the most amazing parts are how they are sectioned and the stories surrounding who the letters now belong to or how they were found and the exact context the letters were written in. I love having access to John's notes and how they evolve and how he spoke to the people in his life and how he approached people he was angry with. His thoughts are the closest to the primary source you will ever get at every point of his life reflecting his state of mind at each corner, who he kept in contact with and why and it goes on and on. You have all of his drawings too in one place, and in order and it's incomparable.

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'You never give me your money: The battle for the soul of the beatles' by Peter Doggett

Now this is one has to be the one which I have gained the most from. I know that's strange to say that it's one of my favourites because of the subject but it really does get down to everything and I mean everything. It's very complex and it explores and investigates every single conflict within the beatles career almost by day to day it's that detailed spanning the entirety. It really conveys the tension and the hostility, betrayal and and the straying of every person involved. Where everything went wrong, patching up, falling apart, who wasn't there and why. Who almost got there, why. The business part of everything and the condition of money, the introduction and the fall of apple records, the state of money management in the 70s and decades after while still managing to weave each John, Paul, Ringo and George's feelings into the mix making what should be quite dry and intense (it can be but) making me not being able to put it down and I felt like I was sucking up knowledge so much and everything was specific for my memory to keep. It also came with a dvd of archive footage which is nice to have and I feel like is designed for you to watch with the knowledge you take from the book which you can attach to a recorded moment in time where it seems to show or if it doesn't.

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'Man on the run: Paul Mccartney in the 1970s.' by Tom Doyle

My first book purely on Paul on the list and also a full length biography and it couldn't be a better one. What is so good about this book is the attention the author gives to Paul and like 'You never give me your money' it's very to the day and it gives an insight to the years of Paul Mccartney in the aftermath of the beatles descent into nothing and the affliction of what that meant to enter a world where you weren't used to being in since a teenager and the struggle to remake yourself and the repercussions and backlash which came with constantly trying and the depression which inhabited his mind and the rollercoaster of being Paul Mccartney, being in a rollarcoaster career and being a target for failure and being named the cause of the death of the beatles for a long course of time. It really conveys the sadness that surrounded Paul but also highlighting the parts of him which are reckless and difficult to work with but with his constant eagerness to reinvent and not fade into the shadows for too long and reach out to the rest of the beatles. What makes it is also the fact that we get chapters where the author divulges his interactions with Paul and you can tell the book comes from a really inquisitive place. The interactions are extremely unique and funny and Paul's reflections are always significant stuff.

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'John Lennon Unseen Archives.' by Marie Clayton and Gareth Thomas

I was a bit dubius about this because the Daily Mail doesn't connotate the likelihood of that many good things but I discovered that as the front says it's only the photographs and any rare photos are good with me. Essentially the book has very little text but a lot of photos are full size which I really really love. It's not too original but a good book all the same and it adds to the collection and I imagine quite a few people will have bought this which makes it significant in some way. Oh and it was published where I live so that's very cool.

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'The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics.' edited by Alan Aldridge.

Another one I really liked the introduction of. This one is really important to me because it has every song the beatles as a whole or individually made and illustrated with all of the illustrations worthy of the songs and what they describe. It's very visual and styled in different art styles but really reminiscent of yellow submarine and magical mystery tour. I go to the song which I want to read when I need to and It's special having it on a page and being able to hold it. I feel like all four of them would have have been/would be chuffed about it existing.

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'The Beatles are coming. Beatlemania through the concert years. From the cavern to candlestick park.'

This is a magazine, not a book but I wanted to include it in the list. It came out around the time of 50th anniversary of The Beatles breaking America 1964 appearance on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' so I really wanted to get it although I restrained myself from getting any others. With all beatles books and publications things do get slightly repetitive which isn't a fault of the magazine's, just that I'm familiar with what's inside and it was a bit overpriced but there was a DVD provided and glossy pictures so it's not all that bad.

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'The treasures of The Beatles.' by Terry Burrows

The replicas of memorabilia that comes with this book is some of the most amazing I have. It makes me so excited to have important flyers, tour posters, signed postcards, programme covers,hand written set lists, tickets and the book has sections of time periods which it has a pocket on each page significant to it and I felt like a giddy child pulling them out and staring at them. For each time period there is a healthy amount of information written about it. It's really worth it for these reasons.

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'Paul Mccartney: Many Years From Now.' By Barry Miles

I originally saw this book on Paul Mccartney's authorised biography section on his website and I am in the middle of reading but I like what I have read so far.

These aren't all of the books I have read but they're the ones that I own and there are a lot more I still haven't gotten hold of. Three that I really want to read are George Harrison's 'I, Me, Mine.', 'Loving John' by May Pang for the purpose of reading her experience and to know more about her time with John and Cynthia Lennon's 'John', and I'm interested by Pete Best's two books which I might look into and more.

Are you a fan? Have you read any great ones? I'll take suggestions like a hungry harrowing fish. :P