Biography: November 2007 Archives

The name Raymond Chandler conjures the stories of 1930s and '40s Los Angeles for which the crime novelist was famous — The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The Long Goodbye — but little is known about what fueled his talent.

Author Judith Freeman researched Chandler's life before writing in hopes of putting together a more detailed story of his personal life. In The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved (Pantheon, 333 pages, $25.95), Freeman does a great job of documenting Chandler's love affair with Cissy Pascal, his wife of 30 years ...

Is there a bigger celebrity than Jack Nicholson? And when I say celebrity, I mean old-school celebrity — not the sad & skanky Paris-Lindsey-Britneys or even the seemingly clean-cut High School Musical geeks. I mean the able-to-get-away-with-wearing-your-shades-at-the-Oscars-year-after-year celebrity.

Dennis McDougal, an entertainment reporter for the New York Times, formerly of the Los Angeles Times, brings us Five Easy Decades: How Jack Nicholson Became the Biggest Movie Star in Modern Times (Wiley, 410 pages, $25.95)...