The Moon's a Balloon

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An intimate, gossipy, heartfelt and above all charming account of life inside Hollywood’s dream factory, The Moon’s a Balloon is a classic to be read and enjoyed time and again. One of the bestselling memoirs of all time, The Moon's a Balloon is an account of one of the most remarkable lives Hollywood has ever seen. Read this years ago, and like you, I was charmed by it…and the sequel, which i also enjoyed. And like you, astonished at the amount they drank.

memoir by British actor David Niven (1910-1983). Published in 1971, it details his early life. He followed it with a sequel, It’s so brilliant. I have the second one he wrote on my Christmas list and will save it for when I need cheering up! 🙂 This does sound good, but I like my memoirs honest. I might not like that it feels like it’s made to entertain more than tell the truth. Great review! Beginning with the tragic early loss of his aristocratic father, then regaling us with tales of school, army and wartime hi-jinx, Niven shows how, even as an unknown young man, he knew how to live the good life.Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth With seven floors of striking architecture, UMoMA shows exhibitions of international contemporary art, sometimes along with art historical retrospectives. Existential, political and philosophical issues are intrinsic to our programme. As visitor you are invited to guided tours artist talks, lectures, film screenings and other events with free admission But it is his astonishing stories of life in Hollywood and his accounts of working and partying with the legends of the silver screen – Lawrence Oliver, Vivien Leigh, Cary Grant, Elizabeth Taylor, James Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich, Noel Coward and dozens of others, while making some of the most acclaimed films of the last century – which turn David Niven’s memoir into an outright masterpiece. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the sequel. It would be terrible if it wasn’t as charming as the first 🙂 Cyborgs, as the philosopher Donna Haraway established, are not reverent. They do not remember the cosmos.”

One of the bestselling memoirs of all time, David Niven’s The Moon’s a Balloon is an account of one of the most remarkable lives Hollywood has ever seen. Overall: top stuff. I’ve already put the second volume of his autobiography on my TBR list to enjoy the next time I need to be swept up in some serious Hollywood glamour. That said, he does freely admit that there were a few times in his life when he behaved unforgiveably and I was pleased to see these displays of self-awareness, especially given that I suspect other more difficult aspects of his life (particularly his relationship with his second wife) were heavily glossed over. And he certainly doesn’t try to disguise his drinking. I honesly don’t know how he lived to 73. His poor liver. It’s such a delight from the opening lines all the way to the end. I was so pleased to discover he wrote another book. I’m saving it for when I need cheering up! The overall sense I got from the book was that Niven managed to cram more into his first 20 years than most of us manage in a lifetime. And unlike many autobiographies, he has a real talent for telling a ripping yarn. There is not a dull moment in this book and I was utterly gripped from start to finish.