Over the Top and Back: The Autobiography

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Over the Top and Back: The Autobiography

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Overview

"If Leo Tolstoy and David Sedaris ever had a chance to get together to write a novel, they might have come up with THE SWEET SPOT. It is at once intricate and laugh-out-loud funny, with characters who are drawn with such attention to detail that they feel like old friends. Filled with hope and redemption, I think it’s safe to say that THE SWEET SPOT is a masterpiece."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399576362
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/01/2016
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Tom Jones was born Thomas Jones Woodward in South Wales to a traditional coal-mining family. He began singing at an early age and landed is first record contract in 1964, winning a Grammy in 1965 for "It's Not Unusual." Knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2006 for his services to music, his recordings have spanned the spectrum of musical styles over 60 years. He lives with his wife of 58 years, Melinda, in Wales and California. They have one son.

Read an Excerpt

01/01/2023

Poeppel (Musical Chairs) writes charming, humorous stories, and this is a good one. Lauren is married with three kids living in a dilapidated brownstone in Greenwich Village with a dive bar, the Sweet Spot, in the basement. An artisan, she works at a high-end home-accessories store owned by TV home-improvement star Felicity. When Felicity casually mentions that she is having an affair with a married man and is pregnant, Lauren suggests she should chase her happiness. The next thing Lauren knows, Melinda, the now ex-wife of the baby's father, is on a rampage. Melinda fulfills nearly every scorned woman's fantasies until she realizes it doesn't make her feel any better. When a video of Melinda trashing Felicity's shop goes viral, both Lauren and Olivia, a bright young woman who works for Felicity, are collateral damage. But somehow the three women become friends. When Melinda's ex leaves the baby with her to chase Felicity across the country, Melinda gets her new friends to help out in this Shakespearean comedy of errors. VERDICT Quirky characters breathe life into this lighthearted family farce that will appeal to readers who enjoy the novels of Curtis Sittenfeld, Cathleen Schine, and Eleanor Brown.—Stacy Alesi

“THE SWEET SPOT is warm, witty, and big-hearted. I loved spending time in a Waverly Place brownstone with Lauren, a ceramic artist, and the women and men in her orbit as they each wrestled with work, family, and the price of love.”

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

"In Jones' new autobiography...the singer recounts some other excesses of his glory days, and of the leaner years and more modest venues that followed before his resurgence in recent decades. But the lasting image is that of Jones, now 75, as a family man who has been married to the same woman...for 58 years."—USA Today

"Packed with the kind of showbiz tales you don't get any more... Jones is a charming, matey voice and the book is a terrific, star-studded journey through the world of entertainment. Even after meeting some of the greats, such as Elvis and Sinatra, Jones still retains an innocence and freshness that is rare."—Daily Express

"A great read and funny. It charts his youth in the coal mining town of Pontypridd. It captures his Welshness."—Sunday Telegraph

"Tom Jones really has had the most astonishing life, one which he recounts here with verve, energy and a vivid eye for detail - this is a hugely enjoyable read."—The Daily Mail

"This lively, thoughtful and entertaining account does justice to a remarkable life and career.—Sunday Express

“A brilliant read full of charm and anecdote that captures the spirit of each decade as well as giving a great behind-the-scenes snapshot of the music world.”—Fanny Blake, Woman & Home

"Bound to be of great interest to pop music fans, especially those who remember Jones’s glory days, when women threw their panties at this übermale superstar. The honesty and openness with which Jones shares his life and career make it a must-read."—Library Journal, Starred Review

"In attitude and anecdote, his engaging and illuminating book backs him up...A remarkable memoir by a remarkable artist."—Kirkus, Starred Review

“A story brilliantly told...Hold up your banners: ‘Sir Tom F****** Jones’. Yeah!”—Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times

“A book that gets to Jones's core.”—The Daily Mirror

From the Publisher

Welsh actor and singer Jonathan Pryce narrates the autobiography of fellow Welsh entertainer Tom Jones with enthusiasm and style. The work itself is thorough, and the writing sounds like it’s Jones’s own as it shares his vocal personality. Jones’s drive—especially to stay relevant throughout his entertainment career—is on display. Though his family life is discussed, he treats it with broad strokes and keeps it to the periphery. Pryce’s tone and pacing resemble Jones’s to an uncanny degree. Precise enunciation and correct pronunciation are a pleasure throughout. Some profanity and street language reflect Jones’s masculine persona. This work is an ideal choice both for Jones’s fans and for those with a fondness for the 1960s “British Invasion.” W.A.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2016 - AudioFile

★ 2015-10-20
The memoir of the resilient career of a singer who knows how closely he succumbed to self-parody. Jones knows how most people think of him: "Tom Jones: panty magnet." With a tone that suggests that he never takes himself too seriously but knows that he deserves to be taken more seriously as an artist, he relates how the ritual started with one uninhibited female fan and how he instinctively wiped the sweat from his brow and handed them back to her. Thus began a ritual that would become more the focus of a Tom Jones show than the music, with countless women bringing along an extra pair of underwear just to toss. From his days as the teenage son of a Welsh coal miner, Tommy Woodward—later "Twisting Tommy Scott" before settling on the stage name he would ride to fame—knew that he had a powerful voice and that there was an animal magnetism to his presence, though occasionally he found himself the prey of men who could do something for him but wanted something back. He was a huge fan of Jerry Lee Lewis (on whose album he first heard "Green, Green Grass of Home") and thought Elvis Presley was comparatively contrived. But though he had the voice and soul of a rocker, his career path ended up taking him through the theater circuit and TV, with novelty numbers like, "What's New Pussycat?" Though he's not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he claims, "there's more rock 'n' roll in me than there is in 90%" of those in there. In attitude and anecdote, his engaging and illuminating book backs him up. Perhaps most impressive is the love story with the woman he married almost 60 years ago—after a teenage pregnancy—and the artistic command he has shown in recent years, since he stopped dyeing his hair and started paying more attention to the quality of his material than its pelvis-thrusting potential. A remarkable memoir by a remarkable artist.

Kirkus Reviews

Over the Top and Back: The Autobiography

Over the Top and Back: The Autobiography

Paperback

Paperback

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Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Read an Excerpt

Table of Contents

Customer Reviews

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Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Read an Excerpt

Table of Contents

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Customer Reviews