Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life -- Clay Aiken (2004)

I can't claim to have actually read this book, in the traditional sense. To say that I skimmed it isn't even really accurate. I really bought the book more to support Clay Aiken's career than out of any actual interest in reading it. So what I actually did is read a couple of words on each page and stop where I saw something that interested me.

There's not as much inside information about his experience on American Idol as I would have liked. That was the thing in which I was most interested. Rather, a good deal of the book talks about two things. First, how he was picked on as a kid because he was a big dork. He beings one chapter, "When I was young, I was teased by other kids like it was their job." Second, how he got involved with special needs children.

It was interesting to read about his tranformation into being able to accept himself and how where he has been directly influenced where he is today. For example, it was the mother of one autistic kid he worked with who encouraged him to audition for American Idol. Now, he and that mother run a foundation that supports special needs children. Furthermore, the fact that Clay is still a big dork is hardly a secret, but where that might have been a destriment to the teenaged Clay, I think it's part of his attraction now.

This book is really only for the most fanatic of Clay Aiken fans. I'm a pretty big fan -- I've seen him in concert twice and have bought pretty much everything there is to buy that he's produced -- but the book was a bit too fluffy, even for me.

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5.

Anne

Books I am currently reading

I frequently have several books going at one time. It depends mostly on my attention span at any given time. Sometimes I just feel like starting a new book even when I'm not finished with other ones. I'll frequently read a chapter of one book, then a chapter of another, and so on. So here is a list of books that you can expect to see reviews of sometime in the future.

1776 -- David McCullough
Truman -- David McCullough
Miss Mackenzie -- Anthony Trollop
Look Away! -- William C. Davis (a history of the Confederacy)

Please feel free to post the books you are currently reading.

Anne

Introduction

Hello. Welcome and thanks for visiting. This blog will be a forum for me to post reviews of books I read in the hopes that it will motivate people to read some of them as well. I also invite you to post reviews of books you have read. So please return in the next couple of weeks to see my first book review, which will be a biography of Jane Austen. Enjoy!

Anne