Autobiography

Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life

Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life

  • Downloads：1676
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-10-27 18:21:02
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Alan Cumming
  • ISBN：0062435787
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Reviews

Mardi ，

[Review of uncorrected page proofs]An open， honest， revealing excursion with one of my favorite actors （I even like his "creepy" characters）。 We seem to spend much of the book on planes or missing planes。 It feels very much like the story your row mate would tell you on a long flight when neither of you can sleep。Cumming questions the nature and faultiness of memory with the benefit/curse of having much of his life stored on the web for all to see。 He is gentle with people from his past， droppin [Review of uncorrected page proofs]An open， honest， revealing excursion with one of my favorite actors （I even like his "creepy" characters）。 We seem to spend much of the book on planes or missing planes。 It feels very much like the story your row mate would tell you on a long flight when neither of you can sleep。Cumming questions the nature and faultiness of memory with the benefit/curse of having much of his life stored on the web for all to see。 He is gentle with people from his past， dropping names of people he's worked with but protecting friends and past lovers。 There's none of the meanness or cattiness one might expect of a celebrity memoir。 This book is a lighter read than his previous memoir， "Not My Father's Son"。 Though， I recommend that one， too。 "Baggage" also serves as a chronology of Cumming's work and I thought several times as I was reading， 'I hope that's streaming！' 。。。more

Erik ，

Baggage is Alan Cumming's memoir about being himself， an actor in the 90s and early aughts。Cumming was a young boy in Scotland when he realized he had a knack for acting that could take him beyond the stages of Edinburgh and Glasgow。 His recounting of his acting experiences takes him from the stages of London - where he learned to embrace his Scottishness - to the stages of New York's Broadway。 On Broadway he became a breakaway star as the Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret and eventually would bec Baggage is Alan Cumming's memoir about being himself， an actor in the 90s and early aughts。Cumming was a young boy in Scotland when he realized he had a knack for acting that could take him beyond the stages of Edinburgh and Glasgow。 His recounting of his acting experiences takes him from the stages of London - where he learned to embrace his Scottishness - to the stages of New York's Broadway。 On Broadway he became a breakaway star as the Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret and eventually would become a regular in a number of Hollywood films。Alan Cumming always seemed to me to be an edgy， interesting， and unique queer figure。 But this book made me realize that he thinks far higher of himself than is warranted。 Much of Baggage is Cumming going on about how famous he is 。 。 。 over and over again。 There are nuggets of the book where Cumming explores the people that populate his life - Gore Vidal， Liza Minelli， and his partner - where this annoying self-indulgence disappears。 But far too much of the book is the product of self-promotion to make this memoir memorable。 。。。more

Lois ，

Loved it！ I've always thought Alan Cumming would be great at any kind of party， with his lively banter and entertaining stories。 This book just cemented that idea for me， with several stories （and especially the way he tells them） that had me actually laughing out loud。 He's had quite a life so far， and doesn't hold back about anything: love， marriage， children， sex， drugs， being Scottish， his luck in Hollywood， but also how the memories of his bad relationship with his father still come up from Loved it！ I've always thought Alan Cumming would be great at any kind of party， with his lively banter and entertaining stories。 This book just cemented that idea for me， with several stories （and especially the way he tells them） that had me actually laughing out loud。 He's had quite a life so far， and doesn't hold back about anything: love， marriage， children， sex， drugs， being Scottish， his luck in Hollywood， but also how the memories of his bad relationship with his father still come up from time to time and haunt him。 But he's no victim; he lives life to the fullest。 I love how he describes star power， and says it can be found in common people， often more than in highly paid celebrities。 And how his husband is quoted （in the acknowledgments at the back） as saying that "Alan is a butterfly and we have to let him fly。" I think that pretty much says it all。 （The acknowledgments also say that the original delivery date from him for this book was October of 2016， but he just needed more time。 Now its due out in October of 2021， but I was lucky enough to find an advance reader's edition in a "donate what you can" bin at a bookstore， and jumped on it！） 。。。more