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    Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon---and the Journey of a Generation
    Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon---and the Journey of a Generation
    Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon---and the Journey of a Generation
    Audiobook22 hours

    Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon---and the Journey of a Generation

    Written by Sheila Weller

    Narrated by Susan Ericksen

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct: King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City; Mitchell is a granddaughter of Canadian farmers; and Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s. Their stories trace the arc of the now-mythic generation known as "the sixties"-the female version-but in a bracingly specific and deeply recalled way, far from cliche. The history of the women of that generation had never been written-until now-and it is told through the resonant lives and emblematic songs of Mitchell, Simon, and King.

    Filled with the voices of many dozens of these women's intimates, this alternating biography reads like a novel-except it's all true, and the heroines are famous and beloved. Sheila Weller captures the character of each woman and gives a balanced portrayal enriched by a wealth of new information.

    Girls Like Us is an epic treatment of midcentury women who dared to break tradition and become what none had been before them-confessors in song, rock superstars, and adventurers of heart and soul.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 15, 2008
    ISBN9781400176496
    Author

    Sheila Weller

    Sheila Weller is the author of the acclaimed family memoir Dancing at Ciro’s; the New York Times bestseller Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon—and the Journey of a Generation; and The News Sorority: Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour—and the Triumph of Women in TV News. Her investigative, human interest, and cultural history journalism has won multiple major magazine awards. She has contributed to Vanity Fair, was a senior contributing editor of Glamour and a contributing editor of New York, and has written for The New York Times Book Review, Elle, Marie Claire, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and The Washington Post.

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    Reviews for Girls Like Us

    3.5/5

    168 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      So happy I discovered the 1/2 star! The only quibble I have with this book was its length. Not length for length's sake, but because a bit of the song-by-song analysis, and the discussion of the effect of Joni Mitchell's out-of-wedlock baby on her life/music, could have been trimmed, actually improving its readability.These three singers almost exactly one generation older than me, but I've always enjoyed their music, and have been curious about the times. Several of the partners at an old job had been at Berkeley during the late 60's, and talked of the "revolution." I felt as if I were living it through this book.Read it!
    • 4/5
      nteresting biosI was taken back by the complexity of their lives (although I shouldn't have been) and especially enjoyed learning what motivated a particular song.
    • 3/5
      Great material, needs editing. Unpleasant narrator who made listening difficult
    • 4/5
      Alrhough I was not old enough to live thru the Hippie era, the music of the times was the soundtrack of my childhood. These were the songs of summers at the cottage, bonfires at camp, and afternoons after-school. This book tells the stories of Carole King, Carly Simon, and Joni Mitchell. The first 2 ladies are singer songwriters I adore, Joni, well, not so much. I could never stand her voice, preferred it when others recorded her songs. I never gave her credit for being such a brilliant songwriter, she truly writes poetry, words that stand alone without the music!

      I have alsways loved the hits of Carole and Carly, and the stories behind the tunes are juicy gossip! Their lives meshed and co-mingled, rarely with happy results! The personal details are fun, Carly, such a slut, Carole, growing up thru her music, and Joni, well, Joni always seemed mean, cold and petulant to me, and this book did nothing to disavow me of these impressions! They shared men, few of whom are anywhere near as talented or interesting as the ladies!

      This is a big book, and a rather slow read, but if you grew up with these ladies on your portable record player, you will really love this book! Get your ipod loaded up with these nostalgic songs and enjoy!
    • 2/5

      Two stars for subject.

      The book is about Joni Mitchell, Carole King, & Carly Simon.....their music, lives, & loves (some handed down & around).

      I did not like the book: It began with a supposed diary entry of Carole's best young time friend about the day Carole chose her new last name King (it was Klein)....then in midstream I was reading about a young pregnant Joanie Anderson (now Mitchell)...and then I was reading about a stage frightened Carly Simon.

      The book kept shifting between the three women and was not written in a contiguous chronological order. I sure couldn't follow it.

      Also the author inserted suppositions....and I could not figure out how she could possibly know if she wasn't there.....

      I was very disappointed....At least the photos made some sense to me of what what was going on in their lives...and those I could follow.
    • 4/5
      At almost 600 pages, there's no point in picking this book up without an interest in the subject. That was not a problem for me, since the subjects are 3 singers whose work provided an important sound track to my youth: Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon. Tapestry, No Secrets, and Ladies of the Canyon (and Blue) all came out when I was in college, and Joni especially got played over and over. These artists also had men falling all over them (some famous), and there's plenty of gossip.
    • 1/5
      I haven't even finished this book. Unless you are just Totally engrossed in the era of Joni Mitchel Carole Kind and Carly Simon (Whom I was reading it for) It is just a total bore. Sorry every one.
    • 3/5
      first half of book was fascinating look at era & performers. Unfortunately, the last part of the book became a recitation of the performers' personal lives, which was a lot less interesting to me than to the author.
    • 4/5
      When I listened to these women's music in my teenage years, I had no idea how much they were enacting on my behalf all the changes in society and women's roles that were taking place in such a volcanic way. The world in which Carole King and Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon were born and raised was so different from the one they and I live in today - and those changes are due in great part to the way in which they forged and shaped a new world for women, albeit filled with old-fashioned longings and ambivalences and uncertainties, all of which come through in their music, things I used to think of as corny but which I now see were so true to who they were as women. Yes, this is a gossipy book, but why not? Women have always known that the truth about the world rests in gossip - how do people treat one another? what are their secrets? how do they get what they want? what are people like when others are not watching? This is the stuff of life, of music and of this book. I love it.
    • 4/5
      Absorbing look at the lives of three seminal women in rock music history. Joni Mitchell's life seems most compelling and Carole King's the least but all offer a different slant on strong women in the music scene of the 1960s. Well-written social commentary.
    • 2/5
      Interesting premise, but this book spent most of its time name-dropping and playing "who slept with whom." It got a little tedious. I think the title should be, "Girls UNLIKE ME!" Why they haven't all succumbed of STD's is beyond me.
    • 2/5
      I really wanted this to be better than it was. I love all 3 singers & Joni Mitchell, in particular, has been an off and on soundtrack in my life, but this book just didn't live up to its potential.Weller can't seem to decide whether she's writing a social history of these women & their times or a gossipy tell-all potboiler. The book careens between these two choices & does neither well.There's interesting material buried in here & in all 3 life stories. In particular the challenge of living outside the box, of successfully navigating a career in a challenging field & maintaining relationships with others. It's easy to forget how different times were for women then - how much more limited the choices were.I think the thing that bugged me the most about this book was the author's tone about all 3 women. It reminded me of the kinds of girlfriends you have in high school who will say behind your back, "She is SO cool! She's my best friend! If only her ass wasn't so fat."
    • 5/5
      A surprising winer. Three amazing lives that we all thought we knew, but theer is so much more from a generation that remains in transition even today
    • 5/5
      For a combined history of rock and roll, woman's liberation and the sexual revolution read this book. These 3 women paved the way for every female artist who came after them. It was never easy and all three women suffered many relational and psychological hardships while creating some of the best music of the 60's, 70's and beyond. My only complaint with the book itself was too many footnotes. Once I stopped reading them the book was much more enjoyable. I also quit trying to keep track of all the minor player boyfriends and lovers. The best thing this book offers is the story of these women and the history that they made (and continue to make) as songwriters, performers and artists.
    • 3/5
      The subtitle is Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation. I don't ordinarily buy celebrity bios, but I'm a huge Joni fan; I've only read the Joni chapters so far. The author managed to talk to a lot of people, and uncovered stories that as far as I can tell have never been told before. It's certainly interesting stuff, and for the most part the author is fair. But the overwhelming emphasis is on Joni's romantic relationships, and that was disappointing. The woman is an incredibly ambitious artist. I would have liked to read more about her artistic vision and her struggles as a woman in the music business.