Paul LaRosa

Sitting snug in my bed, I opened a window into the New York of the 60's/70's just by grabbing the book written by Paul LaRosa.
A journey into the intimacy of the author's memories who took me to a world of full of realism to describe the hippies period, the excesses in which the "peace and love" youth reveled themselves but only known by its still powerful influence today for my generation.

While pursuing my reading, my immersion in the writer's life took on the appearance of a history lesson, it also left me nostalgic for a time when I would have liked to sniff the atmosphere loaded with possibilities, adventure and celebrities.

I'm not a huge fan of biographies. If I like a public figure or a star for its words, writings or talents although I never succumbed to hysteria of wanting to know every single details of its daily life.
However, reading the summary, I felt curiosity.
Even if I've drunk gallons of too strong "sock juice" coffee, have fought in the newsroom (figuratively speaking, of course!) or smoked too many bad cigarettes while trying to write a paper to make the deadlines, I really wanted to know what it was really like to have experienced real journalism and lived through the biggest scoops of the last 40 years …

At the mere mention of the temple of the night, sex and drugs, the famous Studio 54 and its scrolled celebrity or John Lennon's assassination, with details that only one journalist can so well described, I felt chills. To me, this time is real only through films, old clippings or old vinyl.
No live for me, just the recorded ...
Ditto for the AP or AFP dispatches, they have always been delivered via computer and my papers were never typed other than on a PC... It is this gap that touched and moved me. I was eager to know the juicy details of History when the author was reliving his story.

I took this book as an amazing gift. Before starting it, I did not know the author. I really liked what he shared. His sincerity and courage that are necessary to let thousands of strangers glimpse into your memories, your faults, your hopes. But it is his friends, colleagues descriptions that made ​​me laugh out loud or feel overwhelmed by emotions. If I had to spend an evening chatting with Pau LaRosa, I imagine myself with wide-eyed while listening to all the incredible adventures and encounters that were his daily life.
Thank you for letting me share a rich, fun and moving moment.

Lucie
http://newbooksonmyselves.blogspot.fr/2012/05/leaving-story-avenue-by-paul-laros...… (mais)