Don't Ask Forever-My Love Affair With Elvis


Book Description

In this updated version of her original memoir "Don't Ask Forever", which chronicles her love affair with the "King of Rock and Roll" Elvis Presley, Joyce Bova adds a personal chapter and many more photos. This is the fantasy story of every girl's dream. Joyce's fantasy came true one starry night in Las Vegas in 1969 when she met and fell in love with the incomparable megastar. The 24-year old was working for the prestigious House of Representatives Armed Services Committee in Washington, D.C. She had hobnobbed with her fair share of famous and powerful men, but no one left her breathless her like Elvis. She had watched the show from Presley's private booth, was invited backstage and then dined with the King and his entourage in a garish hotel suite. Her association and his fascination with law enforcement, politics and the military formed a perfect storm. Concerned about her status on Capitol Hill, she chose to confide in a few close friends, including of course, her twin sister, Janice. Being an identical twin plays an important role in her relationship with Elvis, because he was born an identical twin as well. After a rocky start Elvis and Joyce finally consummate their relationship. It was a romance that lasted almost three years during which Joyce would feel happiness beyond her wildest dreams and overwhelming heartbreak that included her pregnancy with Elvis's child. Within the pages of her book she details what life was like with the superstar and the "man", describing the ups and downs (literally), mood swings, medical problems and exhilarating, heart-pounding performances in Vegas and on tour. She recounts the truth behind the Presley/Nixon meeting in December 1970 and the fact that Elvis was in D.C. to find her after a nasty argument in Vegas, and that Nixon was an afterthought. "Don't Ask Forever" tells about life at Graceland, the antics of the Memphis Mafia and, finally, Joyce's realization that Presley had fallen victim to prescription drugs. You will laugh and cry at Joyce's candid and revealing story. It is an intimate but vivid portrait of the "brightest star that will continue to shine forever". A must read for every Elvis fan.




Don't Ask Forever


Book Description

The author describes her affair with Elvis Presley, a relationship that jeopardized her government career and ended when Elvis' addiction to drugs spiraled out of control




The King, Mcqueen and the Love Machine


Book Description

Contains 55 pictures! From 1970 to 1972, Barbara Leigh and Elvis Presley embarked on a torrid love affair from the moment they locked eyes. At the time, Leigh was a world-class model and actress whose looks and beauty embodied the naturalistic seventies and captured the Kings heart at the same time. Add to this mix an affair with the worlds number one box-office attraction, Steve McQueen, and president of MGM studios and the inspiration for Jacqueline Susans The Love Machine, Jim The Smiling Cobra Aubrey, and you have the decades steamiest love triangle. Leigh herself has a legion of fans in Hollywood and abroad. She is legendary among Presley fans and, over the years, has developed a cult following as she was the original Vampirella, a comic book character created by Forrest J. Ackerman. One of six children, Leigh was born Barbara Ann Kish on November 16, 1946, in Ringgold, Georgia. She was raised in a Miami orphanage since her mother could not afford to raise all six children alone. Married at 14 to her sisters ex-boyfriend, and a mother at 17, she moved to Los Angeles and found work as a doctors assistant. Divorced soon after, Leigh was encouraged by a boyfriend to pose for photos, which led to a successful and glamorous modeling career. That soon led to more than 50 national TV commercials and a burgeoning movie career that boasted 10 films, including the cult classic The Student Nurses, Sam Peckinpahs gentle Junior Bonner and Roger Vadims Pretty Maids All In a Row. By the time she turned 21, Barbara Leigh had already lived several lifetimes worth of experiences. Barbara Leigh resides in Los Angeles, California, but spends a good amount of her time traveling around the country, where she frequently appears as a guest at collectors conventions. Leigh currently is working with Marilyn Grabowski, the west coast editor for Playboy for the last 40 years. In her private time, Ms. Leigh is actively involved with Animal Rescue, a passion she takes very seriously. To reach Barbara Leigh, go to www.barbaraleigh.com. Writer Marshall Terrill resides in Mesa, Arizona, and is the author of five books, including the best-selling biography, Steve McQueen: Portrait Of An American Rebel (Donald I. Fine, 1993) Terrill is currently a reporter for Tribune Newspapers as well as a writing teacher at Mesa and Glendale Community Colleges in Phoenix, Arizona.




Child Bride


Book Description

The myth-shattering account of the most famous—and most taboo—marriage in rock-and-roll history “Fascinating . . . Finstad’s research and her analysis of Priscilla’s complex character make for a riveting read.”—New York Post The real story [of Elvis and Priscilla] is infinitely more powerful than the myth and, ultimately, tragic; the true Priscilla more complex. Priscilla Beaulieu Presley is not, and never was, the fragile, demure child-woman she has come to personify; she is, in a word, a survivor, a woman of indomitable will and almost frightening determination.—from the Author’s Note Child Bride reveals the hidden story of rock icon Elvis Presley’s affair with fourteen-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, the ninth-grader he wooed as a G.I. in Germany and cloistered at Graceland before marrying her to fulfill a promise to her starstruck parents. But who is Priscilla—and what was her role in their infamous relationship? Award-winning biographer Suzanne Finstad perceptively pieces together the clues from candid interviews with all the Presley intimates—including Priscilla herself, along with hundreds of sources who have never before spoken publicly—to uncover the truth behind the legend of Elvis and Priscilla, a tumultuous tale of sexual attraction and obsession, heartbreak and loss. Child Bride, the definitive biography of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley, unveils the controversial woman who evolved from a lonely teenager bound to the King of Rock and Roll into a shrewd businesswoman in control of the multimillion-dollar Elvis Presley empire—a rags-to-riches saga of secrets, lies, and betrayal.




Leaves of Elvis' Garden


Book Description

Here is the mesmerizing story of Elvis Presley's deepest beliefs. Beautifully written by his close confidant, this work contains photographs, quotes, and passages from Elvis' favorite spiritual masters, including Paramahansa Yogananda, Krishamurti, Kahlil Gibran, Rumi, and others.




Careless Love


Book Description

Hailed as "a masterwork" by the Wall Street Journal, Careless Loveis the full, true, and mesmerizing story of Elvis Presley's last two decades, in the long-awaited second volume of Peter Guralnick's masterful two-part biography. Winner of the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award Last Train to Memphis, the first part of Guralnick's two-volume life of Elvis Presley, was acclaimed by the New York Times as "a triumph of biographical art." This concluding volume recounts the second half of Elvis' life in rich and previously unimagined detail, and confirms Guralnick's status as one of the great biographers of our time. Beginning with Presley's army service in Germany in 1958 and ending with his death in Memphis in 1977, Careless Love chronicles the unravelling of the dream that once shone so brightly, homing in on the complex playing-out of Elvis' relationship with his Machiavellian manager, Colonel Tom Parker. It's a breathtaking revelatory drama that for the first time places the events of a too-often mistold tale in a fresh, believable, and understandable context. Elvis' changes during these years form a tragic mystery that Careless Love unlocks for the first time. This is the quintessential American story, encompassing elements of race, class, wealth, sex, music, religion, and personal transformation. Written with grace, sensitivity, and passion, Careless Love is a unique contribution to our understanding of American popular culture and the nature of success, giving us true insight at last into one of the most misunderstood public figures of our times.




Before You Knew My Name


Book Description

Winner of Crime Debut and Readers’ Choice Awards—Sisters in Crime Editors’ Choice/Staff Pick by The New York Times Book Review “A brave and timely novel.” —Clare Mackintosh, internationally bestselling author of Hostage This is not just another novel about a dead girl. Two women—one alive, one dead—are brought together in the dark underbelly of New York City to solve a tragic murder. When she arrived in New York on her eighteenth birthday carrying nothing but $600 cash and a stolen camera, Alice Lee was looking for a fresh start. Now, just one month later, she is the city’s latest Jane Doe. She may be dead but that doesn’t mean her story is over. Meanwhile, Ruby Jones is also trying to reinvent herself. After travelling halfway around the world, she’s lonelier than ever in the Big Apple. Until she stumbles upon a woman’s body by the Hudson River, and suddenly finds herself unbreakably tied to the unknown dead woman. Alice is sure Ruby is the key to solving the mystery of her short life and tragic death. Ruby just wants to forget what she saw…but she can’t seem to stop thinking about the young woman she found. If she keeps looking, can she give this unidentified Jane Doe the ending and closure she deserves? A “heartbreaking, beautiful, and hugely important novel” (Rosie Walsh, New York Times bestselling author), Before You Knew My Name doesn’t just wonder whodunnit—it also asks who was she? And what did she leave behind?




This is how You Lose Her


Book Description

Presents a collection of stories that explores the heartbreak and radiance of love as it is shaped by passion, betrayal, and the echoes of intimacy.




These Precious Days


Book Description

The beloved New York Times bestselling author reflects on home, family, friendships and writing in this deeply personal collection of essays. "The elegance of Patchett’s prose is seductive and inviting: with Patchett as a guide, readers will really get to grips with the power of struggles, failures, and triumphs alike." —Publisher's Weekly “Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart. At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores “what it means to be seen, to find someone with whom you can be your best and most complete self.” When Patchett chose an early galley of actor and producer Tom Hanks’ short story collection to read one night before bed, she had no idea that this single choice would be life changing. It would introduce her to a remarkable woman—Tom’s brilliant assistant Sooki—with whom she would form a profound bond that held monumental consequences for them both. A literary alchemist, Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: engaging and moving pieces that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight. Turning her writer’s eye on her own experiences, she transforms the private into the universal, providing us all a way to look at our own worlds anew, and reminds how fleeting and enigmatic life can be. From the enchantments of Kate DiCamillo’s children’s books (author of The Beatryce Prophecy) to youthful memories of Paris; the cherished life gifts given by her three fathers to the unexpected influence of Charles Schultz’s Snoopy; the expansive vision of Eudora Welty to the importance of knitting, Patchett connects life and art as she illuminates what matters most. Infused with the author’s grace, wit, and warmth, the pieces in These Precious Days resonate deep in the soul, leaving an indelible mark—and demonstrate why Ann Patchett is one of the most celebrated writers of our time.




Being Elvis: A Lonely Life


Book Description

A “sympathetic and exceptionally well-written account” (USA Today), Ray Connolly’s biography of the King soars with “spontaneity and electricity” (Preston Lauterbach). Elvis Presley is a giant figure in American popular culture, a man whose talent and fame were matched only by his later excesses and tragic end. A godlike entity in the history of rock and roll, this twentieth-century icon with a dazzling voice blended gospel and traditionally black rhythm and blues with country to create a completely new kind of music and new way of expressing male sexuality, which simply blew the doors off a staid and repressed 1950s America. In Being Elvis veteran rock journalist Ray Connolly takes a fresh look at the career of the world’s most loved singer, placing him, forty years after his death, not exhaustively in the garish neon lights of Las Vegas but back in his mid-twentieth-century, distinctly southern world. For new and seasoned fans alike, Connolly, who interviewed Elvis in 1969, re-creates a man who sprang from poverty in Tupelo, Mississippi, to unprecedented overnight fame, eclipsing Frank Sinatra and then inspiring the Beatles along the way. Juxtaposing the music, the songs, and the incendiary live concerts with a personal life that would later careen wildly out of control, Connolly demonstrates that Elvis’s amphetamine use began as early as his touring days of hysteria in the late 1950s, and that the financial needs that drove him in the beginning would return to plague him at the very end. With a narrative informed by interviews over many years with John Lennon, Bob Dylan, B. B. King, Sam Phillips, and Roy Orbison, among many others, Connolly creates one of the most nuanced and mature portraits of this cultural phenomenon to date. What distinguishes Being Elvis beyond the narrative itself is Connolly’s more subtle examinations of white poverty, class aspirations, and the prison that is extreme fame. As we reach the end of this poignant account, Elvis’s death at forty-two takes on the hue of a profoundly American tragedy. The creator of an American sound that resonates today, Elvis remains frozen in time, an enduring American icon who could “seamlessly soar into a falsetto of pleading and yearning” and capture an inner emotion, perhaps of eternal yearning, to which all of us can still relate. Intimate and unsparing, Being Elvis explores the extravagance and irrationality inherent in the Elvis mythology, ultimately offering a thoughtful celebration of an immortal life.