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Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years |  | Author: Michael Palin Publisher: Orion Category: Book
List Price: £16.99 Buy New: £5.74 as of 12/3/2010 10:55 MST details You Save: £11.25 (66%)
New (19) Used (7) from £5.74
Seller: vicky Rating: 26 reviews Sales Rank: 250334
Format: Abridged, Audiobook, CD Media: Audio CD Edition: Abridged edition Number Of Items: 4 Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3 Dimensions (in): 6.4 x 5.5 x 0.4
ISBN: 0752875612 EAN: 9780752875613 ASIN: 0752875612
Publication Date: October 3, 2006 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 26
A must for Python fans March 9, 2010 Friend of Dorothy (Hampshire, England) I loved this book (although see my much longer review of Palin's next volume of diaries).
Took Me Ages but I Did It! March 1, 2009 Emma Peel (London, England) 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a long, long, long book. Took ten years to create and took me approximately seven months to read.
I think it's great to be given this insight into how Michael Palin's mind works and what he really thinks of the other Pythons. It's interesting to read that the Python ventures are not the fun you'd think they'd be. And that Michael Palin isn't the man you think he is.....
On television he comes across as friendly, non-judmental, could get along with anyone but in his diaries he seems much more hard and resilient than you'd expect. And could I even say he seems quite selfish?
He doesn't take much interest in the concerns of his mother and sister and doesn't really seem to have cared less when his father died. He'll also quite happily traipse off to some far-flung place and leave his wife Helen to bring up their children as a single mother for nine months of a year. His daughter seems to have been quite scared of him upon his return, not having any idea who he was.
And of course you only have his opinion on the other Pythons and their behaviour. It would be interesting to see what their opinion was of him at the time!
Having said that, it was very interesting to see what these famous people get up to on their days off TV. It's interesting that all the people he chooses to socialise with seem to come from a very similar background to him. He doesn't have any dustman friends or really mix with anyone who doesn't live in Hampstead.
I look forward to the the imminent publishing of the next lot of diaries. I was left there on New Years Eve 1979, wondering what happened the next morning. One thing you couldn't accuse him of is being boring. He always puts stuff in an intelligent and original way.
I'll miss not having him in my life every day.
I Can't Wait To Read About the Next 10 Years August 19, 2008 Graceann Macleod (London, UK) 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Michael Palin writes as he speaks, without pretension, and with a great deal of humor. These are his diaries - not initially meant for publication and thus full of honest, blunt observations regarding films, books, his own performances and the foibles of his fellow Pythons. Nobody escapes unscathed here, though I doubt anyone who Mr. Palin wrote about would dispute his conclusions.
The years 1969-1979 are some of the most amazing in Python history; they begin as Monty Python starts filming its first television series, and concludes as Life of Brian is released and there is backlash from the religious folks who don't understand the premise (and many of whom proudly state that they haven't even bothered to see the film they're condemning). Between these two seminal events are discussions of filming on other projects, the need and the attempt to write, and a man's deep and abiding love for his wife, children and parents. Reading the passages about Palin's father weakening was moving in the extreme, and his pain was palpable as the roles between father and son slowly reversed themselves.
This is a hernia farm of a book at over 600 pages hardcover, exclusive of introductions and index, but you soon forget your aching arms as the pages fly. The life that Michael Palin has built for himself and his family is so layered, rich and interesting (while still being fairly "normal") that you only want the best for him and can't wait to read what happens next. I understand that the next segment of diaries will be released in September 2009, and I'm very excited to read about that next decade in my favorite Python's life.
Despite copious footnotes explaining the backgrounds of the people mentioned, those who are not familiar with British comedy and culture may find the narrative a little hard to follow, at least initially. Because I've been living in London for a year or so, the people that Palin encounters (and then writes about) have become more familiar to me. Even more interesting were his mentions of favorite bookshops, restaurants and London haunts which he enjoyed with his children (and, in some cases, continues to enjoy to this day). In that respect, the Diaries became a bit of a travelogue for my future travels around my adopted hometown.
Great, inspiring read! April 30, 2008 S. Fuller 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Palin's diaries take in everything from Python meetings, filming, touring, and interesting analyses of the political climate of the time.
What comes across is that Palin is quite possibly the lynchpin that holds Python together. He acts as a sounding board to every Python member's upsets and troubles, mediating as best he can. This places his diaries in a unique position in that it gathers a wealth of insiteful information about all of them.
Palin himself comes across as very likable, very interested in the people he meets and what makes them tick. Only occassionally do you lose empathy with him. Firstly there is hardly any insite in the diaries to his family, with the exception of his father. This could well be down to editing, to keep his private life out of it, but the weighting is largely on his work and the impression given is of someone who puts this first.
But what work it is. Palin is enormously self-motivated, generating work for himself off of his own back, whilst his fellow Pythons wallow in depressions and neuroses.
This book nearly had me wanting to keep a diary myself, and did have me buying a load of Python on DVD. So for that it must be doing something right!
When can we have volume two? April 12, 2008 Annabel Gaskell (Nr Oxford, UK) This thick volume is a delight from page 1. We already feel we know MP through his air of general bemusement in his travels, but there is so much more to him than this.
Covering the Python Years, we hear all about the difficulties in getting six different personalities to agree and the creative struggle to behind Python - the relationships are often tense between the team.
We also learn about MP's family, the arrival of his children, and the sad decline of his father to Parkinsons.
We're so lucky that MP has written up his diary nearly every day and it appears that the hand of the editor has been light, making it even more of an achievement.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 26
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