First word that comes to mind is engaging. I'm about 15 pages in, and subsequently digging it very much. Billy's written voice is very similar to his spoken in that you can easily hear him speak the words in his trademark friendly conversational tone. Funny stuff too so far- ( )

Most of people know him
for his large screen roles,
or put into other words,
for all kinds of large screen movie roles
he's had throughout
his entire movie career,

but not everyone knows
that this man is actually
a dearly devoted family man,
who by the looks of it,
would have done everything
for his family if his family
would have ever encountered
a truly terrible crisis.

I was deeply moved by
his words of knowledge
and wisdom,

I was deeply moved
by sincerity within
his truly touching words,

and especially by his humility,
humbleness, and kindness,

for he didn't talk on and on
about his movie career and
all other things and all other stuff
connected to whatever's been going on
in Hollywood industry at the time,

but he's actually shared his softer side with me
as his book's avid reader and made me see
that family, even though we sometimes
don't understand each other,
argue over pointless things
we shouldn't even argue about,
is very important,

and should always remain
on the first spot in our lives.

This man puts his family first
and I truly respect him for that,
and I find it truly admirable,
that success he's had with
all of his large screen movie roles
didn't convince him
to choose a different path
and try to handle things
differently. ( )

This is a touching and funny memoir. ( )

I wouldn't say this book was "amazing", but I did want to give it 5 stars: Quick, easy read, good story, and funny to boot! I was amazed by this book because he starts out saying that this book isn't about his career; instead it's about his father. So, I was expecting a more somber read. But I was pleasantly surprised when I found it not only interesting (all the famous folks his dad knew), but funny!! (There were a ton of parts where I literally laughed out loud.) And I'm kinda hard to please when it comes to reading.

So glad I found this! A definite "Read Again". ( )

700 Sundays by Billy Crystal
182 pages

★★★★

I assume everyone knows who the actor, Billy Crystal, is and if you don’t we need to have talk. This book does not deal with his incredible career but his childhood and his time with his family and more particularly his father. He would get to spend approximately 700 Sundays with his Dad before he would die when Billy Crystal was only 15 years old. This is adapted from his stage show by the same name.

My first observation was in some of the reviews before I even read the book - people giving it poor rating because it doesn’t deal with his success and career. Well guess what? The synopsis is no secret so don’t blame an author if you don’t know how to read a description of a book.

I really enjoyed this book. Billy Crystal is an incredibly funny guy in my opinion and that shines through in this book. But what also shows through is raw emotion and charm. In some parts of the book I found myself laughing and in others I felt my heart sink, I almost wanted to cry. He talks so lovingly about his family – his brothers, his uncles, his parents, etc. I kept going back and forth between a 3 and 4 star rating. I felt like he sometimes forced humor in where it didn’t need to be as if he was trying to soften to sad situations. However, his last chapter and epilogue were so heartwarming that I bumped this one up to a 4 star. It’s a quick one to read, it only took me a day in between errands and a busy schedule to finish this 182 page book. Worth a read if you are a fan of Billy Crystal or if you’ve ever lost a parent, you may just relate to him.
( )