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| I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone |  | Author: Nina Simone
Publisher: Pantheon
Category: Book
List Price: $22.00
Buy Used: $4.00
You Save: $18.00 (82%)
New (2) Used (11) Collectible (2) from $4.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 348724
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 181
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0679410686
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.42164092
EAN: 9780679410683
ASIN: 0679410686
Publication Date: February 25, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A singer often compared to Billie Holliday tells how racism forced her to relinquish her dream of becoming the first black concert pianist and describes her singing career, which has come full circle after a trying period in her life. 15,000 first printing.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 perfect condition, no hassle September 7, 2008
I received this item in perfect condition, shrink wrapped in plastic and in only a few days. Given as a gift and enjoyed greatly! Thank you.
Tortured Soul July 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It is true that this book is not well written and seems to have been put together on the quick without any professional editing. My guess is that it was written as a means to make a fast buck. That said, the autobiography is worth reading because it is the only real glimpse many of us will ever get into the psyche of Nina Simone. I read that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the 1960s and this was kept secret until well after her death. I don't know for a fact if she actually had bipolar disorder. However, it is evident from reading her life story as told by her that she did have emotional and psychiatric problems. She made rash and erratic decisions for her and her daughter and her life seemed to be filled with self imposed chaos. She was an angry person, was always running from some thing, and blamed anyone and anything but herself for her unhappiness and problems. Most surprising to me was how she was always looking for someone, usually a man, to save her. I had no idea before reading this book that Nina Simone struggled so much with low self esteem, fear, hate, and erratic behavior. Her music is so powerful and she comes off as such a strong and solid person. That is why this book is worth reading. Compared with her music and stage persona, the autobiography shows a different side or Nina Simone. With the two combined, the reader realizes just how complex and even tragic, Nina Simone the woman was. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know a little more about Nina Simone. She is an imperfect human being and this is her account of her life
great book! April 7, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was a great book. We read it for our book club and everyone enjoyed it. It was also easy reading.
I put a spell on you February 25, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Delivery-time of the book was really short. Thanks.
Great book from a really great artist.
Greetings,
Frank Debruyne
A case study in mental illness/ stupidity/ pure insanity July 6, 2007
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book was good in that it was concise and to the point (unlike the bloated, rambling autobiography of Miles Davis)-- and that's a good thing, because 176 pages is about all of Simone that I could handle.
The book was written for an American audience, but a lot of the usages/ spellings were British English, and that became annoying.
The quality of the photos was very poor-- One comes away from this book with the impression that it was done in a very seat-of-the-pants way.
1. She seems to think that every thing that went wrong in her life is the fault of America. So, she did not pay attention to where her money was going during the time that she was performing and duly got ripped off. But that has something to do with America and the establishment.
2. Ego! She's been known to call herself "Dr." Simone-- on the basis of having been granted an honorary degree. She also talks of being able to play "hundreds of songs" and reviews herself in glowing terms-- but her songs are distinctly not even as technical as, say, something done by Ray Charles.
3. Not the sharpest pencil in the box! Can you imagine someone that marries a man AFTER he beats her to a pulp and then has no memory of doing it? Can you imagine someone that talks about socialism as something that was a good idea-- in a book that was published AFTER the collapse of the Soviet Union?
4. Very needy/ emotionally unstable. Someone dancing naked at a club? Passing over many other men to find a married man that she thought was going to leave his wife for his piece on the side? Huh? Huh?
Not worth more than $5 (I bought it second hand) and one afternoon of reading time.
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