August 2011
58 posts
J.P. Lowe's review
** spoiler alert ** I read this title in a paperback “two-fer” edition back in the early 1990s. It was sandwiched together with Lennon’s other Beatles-era book, A SPANIARD IN THE WORKS. Yoko, ever anxious to turn a buck off Lennon’s legacy, has since reissued the two collections of nonsense verse and stories separately, in facsimile first-edition hardcovers. If you’re...
Brendan P's review
Kiddie fridge art; silliness ignored.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25400861
Kelly's review
fabulous.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26184135
Meg Johannsen's review
John Lennon, in all his poetic jibberish glory! In “HELP!” you’ll find Lennon quoting one of his poems as he walks with Ringo down the street to “post a letter”
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26955258
Meri Birdwell's review
My mom has an original copy of this book, and it’s filled with so many John-isms; great artwork and poems and stuff.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17220361
Bradley Hanson's review
early comical writing from john lennon provides insight into the clever word play that is the hallmark of his music and lyric writing.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13932159
Sarah beara's review
Very funny, witty and intelligent. Worth a read if you like word play, sarcasm and poetry.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/28296352
novia's review
i think i’m in love
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31794030
Van's review
Give this book a chance!
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32579877
Hamish Ian's review
This book is full of small gems. It is short but dense, and not for the faint hearted or the easily distracted. You need to take time to digest ‘In his own write’. The collection is a mixture of prose and poetry written in the style of literary nonsense, Lennon was a fan of Lewis Carroll and this collection and “A spaniard in the works” was inspired by Carroll’s...
Kim's review
I’ve had this sitting on my bookshelf for the longest time…still have yet to read his collection of short stories and drawings.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/33433483
Sarah Dee's review
What a weird and wonderful little book! I fell in love with John after this one…
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/33932420
Andy's review
In a word, unreadable. Ditto for “A Spaniard In The Works”.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/34897726
Joe Caravella's review
Twistedly Funny, The Smart Beatle shows his lighter side, It is hard to “Imagine” such mirthfull Little Vignets Comming from the mouth or mind of the man who once proclaimed His Band To be bigger than Jesus, Buts Just the point a truley brilliant mind is aware of his Insanity & his Genius, Because there is a fine line between the two. John was a Poet,A Composer, A Rocker,A Rebel, A...
Judith Kristen's review
John’s way for the play on words is a riot… No Flies on Frank… Deaf Ted, Danoota and Me, and I sat Belonely are my favorites!
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40289036
Tonya's review
You have to really understand John Lennon to be able to read this book! It is very strange, yet funny and witty and if you are a fan of British dry humor, then this is a book for you. This is a small book, 30 or so pages of poetry, short stories, and cartoons designed and written by John Lennon. The material is a collection of artwork he produced before he became a world-renowned Beatle.
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P. Sannie's review
Quirky. That’s pretty much In His Own Write in one word. Maybe eccentric would be another one. It’s a collection of very short stories, poems, and drawings from John and to be perfectly honest, I doubt he’d have been able to get it published had he not been a Beatle. Regardless, it made me chuckle because the humor is just so specific and rather dark; I don’t know how many...
Gene H hennighg's review
Are a goo book, you know.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/54081039
Pete daPixie's review
Hey…forgot this one. I surely must have read this back in the swinging sixties man. No flies on Frank. If you visit John’s home in Menlove Avenue, go upstairs into his little bedroom, and there on the window ledge is a book of Lewis Carroll’s nonsense. Say no more.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/55376459
Dave's review
He had a great love for language that also made for wonderful lyrics. I am still devastated he didn’t realize how much the US differs from England, he didn’t secure himself and his family, he thought he could be a common citizen and still be himself. The US allows two things he didn’t catch on to - the freedom to purchase a gun and complete freedom of expression extended to the...
Alexandra's review
I loved it, but it’s certainly not for everyone. the whole book is back to front, nonsensical, whimsy wordplay, which I find delightful, but others may feel they’re wasting their time. It’s fun to read, and strangely reminiscint of Roald Dahl, in my opinion.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71770005
MaR é...SoLeLuNa's review
Yes, this is an odd book. Some of the entries were very funny, some very odd, and some were really quite disturbing. However, despite being put off by some of the stories, I did thoroughly enjoy the way Lennon wrote. The play on words were especially humurous if very hard to interpret at times. This book may not be for those who enjoy traditional comedy, but it’s certainly worth a read if...
Rob Hermanowski's review
Simply brilliant and always hilarious. John Lennon’s creativity was pure genius.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74191268
Barberry's review
It is not easy to write a story, or a poem in the genre of literary nonsense, creating neologisms, applying inversion, tautology, phonetical effects etc., and balancing all the techniques in order to achieve an intended result… “This correction of short writty” is a nice, witty, funny book revealing one more facet of John Lennon’s genius.
...
Thom Dunn's review
“What I learned from this book”—-Writing as a Liberating Activity
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/61664493
Ladykaydee's review
I like this book because it’s a different from most literature and therefore, breaks a lot of rules. It’s a good piece of creative writing, and one that kept me laughing all the way through. I also enjoy the pictures. Any true Beatles fan will enjoy this witty read.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/49999212
Sydney Rose's review
i want to read it so bad
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/88939519
Jessica Mullan's review
Unfortunately for John and his sketches, Paul is already my favorite Beatle.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/96745786
Teresa's review
It’s hard to review this kinda thing as it’s not meant to be a super serious novel. It’s a bunch of short stories and occasional poems. He’s quite good at playing with words, a must read for Beatles/Lennon fans, John is brilliantly witty as always. You’re bound to laugh.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/99597210
maricar's review
I didn’t understand half of it! Haha! But that brief experience was still enjoyable :) I know I’m commenting on this piece of work from a biased perspective (am a Fab Four fan…and proud of it, babe ;-) ), so if that’s not gonna help…don’t bother reading on… Am always have been in awe of Lennon – with and post-McCartney, his musical intellect is undeniable. Added to that awe is a smidgen of a...
Patrice Hollmann's review
I finally found the book on internet and read it! but I’m a bit confused.. I adore John Lennon but the book was absolutely foolish
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/104069189
James Knox-Davies's review
It’s about as good as you would expect it to be
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/109644140
Sophie's review
Total and complete nonsense. I enjoyed it completely though. Most of the time, I didn’t understand a word that was written, but sometimes I would catch on and see his little tweaks to words like ‘in the jumble… the mighty jumble’ instead of ‘jungle’. Some of the passages will make you scrunch up your eyebrows in confusion, but by the end of the story or poem,...
Megan's review
So wonderful and quirky, like Lennon himself. I think you must have an English sense of humour to read it though, or you might not get some of the references and jokes.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/119319329
Catalina Dalton's review
LOL no plot, just a collection of stories, but I found it funny and random XD
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/83424077
DeAnna Rigney's review
You don’t need to be a Beatle’s fan to enjoy this, but it doesn’t hurt. These short little snippet stories and poems are offbeat and humorous. There are also little pictures to enjoy as you read (all created by Mr. L himself.) With titles like “Treasure Ivan” and lines like “I wandered happy as a jew,” it is an interesting short read at the very least.
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Salem's review
I am truly sorry to say that I was unimpressed by this book. I suppose I only bought it to possess yet another piece of memorobillia from the greatest singer/songwriter that ever lived. Truly he was a god of the 60s revolution that called everyone out to Give Peace A Chance…
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/122168978
Emilie Leming's review
I bought this book when it first came out and love Lennon’s quirky, oft’ bizarre sense of humor. Some pieces have made me laugh so hard… well, great stuff from my favorite Beatle, singer/songwriter & author.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/122441805
Cody Gillespie-Lynch's review
Wow! And when I say wow, I do not mean it in a good way. This book is absolutely awful. Had anybody other than a popular rock star submitted this to a publisher, it would certainly not have been published. I like nonsense, and British humor as much as the next person, but this book is uninteresting, and unfunny.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/126617677
Sam Haidy's review
Maybe it takes ages for me to interpret this book lol Lennon’s intention seemed to just have fun and play with words, whether it makes sense or not. The stories/poems based on his very personal surrounding. Perhaps only the ones who close/related to him could figure it out.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/128783968
Ezra22's review
A strange, very strange book by a famous, very famous man.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/132255485
Claire E.'s review
Ha ha! It is a lot of nonsense, but funny anyway! It was fun trying to figure out what he meant, no matter how hard it was. :)
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/135828468
Austin Ratner's review
Supposedly John Lennon loved Alice in Wonderland as a child and said his discovery of James Joyce was “like finding Daddy.” In His Own Write is a collection of nonsense stories by the late great Beatle with contagiously playful puns worthy of Joyce and Carroll. Yoko Ono writes a very funny introduction and Paul McCartney another one. The first of Lennon’s stories, “Partly...
Peacegal's review
This is a very silly little book of nonsense verse from Lennon. A very quick read, and probably only of interest to Beatlemaniacs.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/136723204
Elizabeth's review
I would LOVE to be able to understand a word he says in this book
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/140054687
Elle's review
What…
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/143417172
Dav8d777's review
The great wordsmith using words cleverly throughout. Many double meanings etc. Great for Lennon fans, with the caveat that some of Lennon’s word play assumes that the reader is conversant in British slang.
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/169915029
Angelina's review
One of the funniest things I’ve ever read. <3
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/177117296
Phil's review
My absolute favorite collection of nonsense poetry, by my (probably) favorite Beatle. John’s poetry was highly influenced by Edward Lear’s nonsense verse, but was also marked by the dry humor and wit that John displayed throughout his public life. Between the playful form of nonsense verse and the satiric treatment of various subjects, these poems are a fascinating precursor to songs...
Olivia's review
I can’t and won’t say anything negative about this book because it is, in fact, a piece of art. I cannot seem to enjoy it- but it was a work done from the author’s genuine heart and I think that is something worthy
- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/192846838
