The Other Side of Me [Hardcover]

Sidney Sheldon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 8, 2005

In his eagerly-anticipated memoir, America+s premier storyteller shares the story of his own life in a frank and revealing book that rivals any of his fictional tales.Sidney Sheldon is truly an entertainment legend: Author of over a dozen bestsellers, Academy Award¨-winning screenwriter, and creator of some of television+s greatest hits, he has lived a singularly fascinating life. Sheldon has seen and done it all, and now in this candid memoir, he shares his story for the first time-talking about the personalities, highs, and lows that have made his career and life so captivating. From a depression-era childhood in Chicago to an Air Corps stint in WW II to the bright lights and hot parties of New York and Los Angeles, Sidney Sheldon has lived the kind of life most people could never imagine...until now.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestselling novelist Sheldon's memoir is reminiscent of his colorful novels, a rags-to-riches yarn replete with struggle, an indomitable hero and eventual glamour. It opens with a 17-year-old Sheldon preparing to commit suicide in Chicago in 1934. "[L]onely and trapped," he wanted to attend college but couldn't afford it. Thankfully, his father intervened, and the young man got a new lease on life. He went from being an RKO theater usher to a struggling songwriter, then a top-flight Hollywood screenwriter in a few short years. For the next 30-odd years, Sheldon wrote and directed films, meeting studio honchos and stars like Kirk Douglas, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe. The author's impressive achievements include a WWII flying stint, a screenwriting Oscar for 1947's The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, a Tony for writing the 1959 Broadway hit Redhead, the creation of four classic TV series (including I Dream of Jeannie) and several bestsellers (Bloodline; The Sands of Time; etc.). Yet these accomplishments came with bouts of depression and the death of a child. While the book is long on Sheldon's Hollywood and television days, it skimps on his domestic and publishing lives. Still, that shouldn't stop Sheldon's legions of fans from lapping this up.
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Review

‘Sheldon is an author working at the height of his power.’ New York Times‘Fast-moving … engrossing … Sidney Sheldon is a master at giving the public what it wants.’ Los Angeles Times --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1ST edition (November 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446532673
• ISBN-13: 978-0446532679
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,364,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Best known today for his exciting blockbuster novels, Sidney Sheldon is the author of The Best Laid Plans, Nothing Lasts Forever, The Stars Shine Down, The Doomsday Conspiracy, Memories of Midnight, The Sands of Time, Windmills of the Gods, If Tomorrow Comes, Master of the Game, Rage of Angels, Bloodline, A Stranger in the Mirror, and The Other Side of Midnight. Almost all have been number-one international bestsellers. His first book, The Naked Face, was acclaimed by the New York Times as "the best first mystery of the year" and received an Edgar Award. Most of his novels have become major feature films or TV miniseries, and there are more than 275 million copies of his books in print throughout the world.

Before he became a novelist, Sidney Sheldon had already won a Tony Award for Broadway's Redhead and an Academy Award for The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer. He has written the screenplays for twenty-three motion pictures, including Easter Parade (with Judy Garland) and Annie Get Your Gun. In addition, he penned six other Broadway hits and created three long-running television series, including Hart to Hart and I Dream of Jeannie, which he also produced. A writer who has delighted millions with his award-winning plays, movies, novels, and television shows, Sidney Sheldon reigns as one of the most popular storytellers of all time.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Sidney Sheldon Treat, November 8, 2005

By 

L. F. Guimaraes (Texas, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Other Side of Me (Hardcover)

I have read every book Sidney Sheldon has written to date and, although his recent novels are not as good as his earlier ones, he is still my favorite storyteller. I was lucky to get an advance reader's copy of his autobiography before the publication date and have already finished reading it. If you like his novels, then you will definitely enjoy reading this book. The only reason I didn't give the book five stars is that he included very little information about his career as a novel writer. The bulk of the book is about the challenges he faced early in his career as a screenplay and musical writer for which he is less known. I guess this is why he called the book 'The Other Side of Me.' In addition, I felt that he could have expanded more on his encounters with really famous people (Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, etc.). He only wrote two lines about each of them and yet he dedicated a lot of pages to people we have never heard of. Lastly, there was almost nothing about Sidney Sheldon today - his domestic life, his daily activities, his writing routine, his book signing tours, etc. Despite all this, he tells his life story as engagingly as he tells his fictional stories and reading this book was great fun.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "You'll never know what's next until you turn the page." -Otto, October 24, 2006

By 

Erol Esen (Liverpool, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Other Side of Me (Mass Market Paperback)

I had always seen the name "Sidney Sheldon" but never bothered to read any of his novels. I honestly had thought the books were about a mix of cheap romance and mystery novels because their covers looked that way. It's clear now that I had totally misjudged a book by its cover. Sheldon's autobiography, however, looked dignified as I pushed my cart at our local grocery store, Wegmans. Sheldon's face looks a lot like my grandfather's. So I picked it up and flipped to the first page. The first sentence demanded my attention. So I bought the book. I'm not a fast reader but this book turned out to be an exception. I took one breath and 150 pages flew right into my head, another breath and 200 pages. The last 50 or so pages I wanted to read slowly so it didn't finish. But, alas, it did. Or in a way it's the beginning really. Because I've already loaded up on most of Sheldon's books and the first book I will read is "The Other Side of Midnight".

One of the reviewers here laments that Sheldon doesn't go much in detail about novels he has written. But I suspect much of his novels have been influenced by what had transpired in his life. Sheldon didn't start writing novels until he was in his 50s! Yet his books are the most translated works in literature according to the Guinness Book of Records.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The reader falls off a cliff at the end., January 14, 2006

By 

RAH (Palm Springs, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Other Side of Me (Hardcover)

The pace of his book felt like going through one of his manic periods. The timeline keeps accelerating and accelerating, and the closer you get to the current era, the more and more he would just skim through things. He provides great detail about his parents and his early years, but he zips right through the 1970s in a couple of pages, covers his book career in barely that much, and covers most everything since 1979 in a quick epilogue. I felt strangely unsatisfied when I was finished reading it, and I wonder if he may have felt the same about the last quarter-century.

I give it three stars because the story is very compelling into the 1960's - but it's a shame he didn't give the rest of his professional life since then the same depth of coverage.