#the beatles books

[crepesuzette2023]

I'm in love with "The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story" by Vivek Tiwary, Andrew C. Robinson & Kyle Baker

The 10th anniversary edition appeared in 2023. I got it for Christmas.

I love it because it's not an illustrated biography (nor is it a Beatles book)—it is a journey into Brian's mind. The illustrations are expressive and unusual. The writing tells truth as poetry. It's worthy of a man who saw what others could not—and made it his mission to share it with the world.

It shows the nights of Liverpool, where Brian learns that love is dangerous, and the stylish success of the family business, where he's Mr. Brian.

The magic moment when he meets the band that will be the life and death of him. The majestic bullfight of fame and love begins...

The book gives him an ally, an angel, a demon.

The rejections. The world saying no, go back to—

The Screams. Ed Sullivan. Nat Weiss. Boys. The Philippines. Sgt. Pepper.

Brian's loneliness and greed for success are not shown as a character weakness, but a reaction to not being allowed to love openly, due to the barbaric reality of "The Wilde Laws." There is always something missing, never a place to rest.

The book plays with metaphors and symbolism. It serves banter and stings, it seduces and cuts. And in the end...

The 10th Anniversary Edition has lots of additional material, such as an annotated playlist, early sketches, and various writings.

"... brian already had at least two social marks against him—he was Jewish and he was gay.

christ, you know it ain't easy, dusty springfield was catholic and gay but she was able to sing her way through it.

brian had to stand in the wings and watch his lads twist and shout

but those wings became the wings of the world" (andrew loog oldham) [all illustrations from THE FIFTH BEATLE: The Brian Epstein Story (10th Anniversary Edition, 2023), by Vivek Tiwary, Andrew C. Robinson & Kyle Baker. More materials on the book's website]

#I cried #and laughed #and stared #and admired #vivek tiwary #the fifth beatle #the beatles #the beatles books #paul mccartney #john lennon #george harrison #ringo starr #brian epstein

[mostlyghostie]

I redrew my favourite books! This time I added my favourite albums too.

Books:

Paul Auster - 4321

Phillip Pullman - Northern Lights

AS Byatt - The Children’s Book

Charles Dickens - David Copperfield

William Goldman - The Princess Bride

George Saunders - Lincoln in the Bardo

RC Sherriff - The Fortnight in September

Kazuo Ishiguro - An Artist of the Floating World

Jon McGregor - Reservoir 13

David Mitchell - The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

Elizabeth Strout - Olive Kitteridge

Alice Munro - Hateship, Loveship, Courtship, Friendship, Marriage

Marilynne Robinson - Home

John Williams - Stoner

Albums:

Love - Forever Changes

Lou Reed - Transformer

Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club

Martha - Blisters in the Pit of My Heart

Big Thief - Masterpiece

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

Joanna Newsom - Divers

Richard Dawson - 2020

George Harrison - All Things Must Pass

The Beatles - Abbey Road

(I’ve added a new listing to my shop where you can request a big custom print like this of your own favourite stuff to display on your wall!)

Shop / Instagram

#my art #artists on tumblr #books #booklr #illustration #bookstack #fantasy books #paperbacks #vinyl #vinyl records #the beatles #joanna newsom #neutral milk hotel #big thief

[ceofjohnlennon]

Paul McCartney for The Beatles Monthly Book n°40, November/1966.

#paul mccartney #the beatles #60s #1966 #beatles monthly book #my:read

[muzaktomyears]

The first time Yoko spoke out at full volume during a recording session it was to convey some relatively trivial word of advice to John about whatever he was singing at the moment. The other Beatles looked around, straight-faced, startled, stunned. There was a moment's dead silence that was broken by Paul: "Fuck me! Did somebody speak? Who the fuck was that?" Of course he knew full well who had spoken. The others joined in: "Did you say something, George? Your lips didn't move!" "Have we got a new producer in?"

John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me: The Real Beatles Story, Tony Barrow (2005)

#paul mccartney #yoko ono #the beatles #tony barrow #books

[harrisonsbabygirl]

1963

#the beatles #george harrison #ringo starr #john lennon #paul mccartney #what the hell are they doing I love it #This reminds of that book of the girl who ate like a pea or something and she changed colors

[javelinbk]

“But you know John and Yoko, you can see it now, the way to get their friendship is to do everything the way they require it. To do anything else is how to not get their friendship. This is still how it is with John and Yoko. I know that if I absolutely lie down on the ground and just do everything like they say and laugh at all their jokes and don’t expect my jokes to ever get laughed at, and don’t expect any of my opinions ever to carry any weight whatsoever, if I’m willing to do all that, then we can be friends. But if I have an opinion that differs from theirs, then I’m a sort of an enemy.”

Paul McCartney, speaking in 1980. All You Need Is Love, Peter Brown and Steven Gaines (2024)

#sad but true #and why people like klein who were willing to say whatever j&y wanted to hear always got on their good side #paul mccartney #john and paul #john and yoko #beatles books #insane quotes

[reflectismo]

Paul attempting to fish. As he recalls in his book, “fishing didn’t suit me, so I put this one straight back!”

#Paul McCartney #The Beatles #(He good?) #1964 #1964: Eyes of the Storm #Photos #Miami #(Ok done posting photos just wanted to make sure I posted one of each member + Eppy!) #(So many other lovely photos included in the book though so I do recommend getting a copy if you can!

[franklyimissparis]

analysing mclennon feels like being an academic and pouring over historical texts and connecting the dots between passages because you basically are doing exactly that

#if old white guys can come up with their own beatles theories and write books and be taken seriously in an academic space… #then so should we #i trust beatles tumblr users opinions infinitely more than the opinions of 87% of music journalists out there #ppl will complain about beatles rpf fans cherry-picking evidence as if music journalists aren’t 100x worse abt doing just that #anyway i just really love mclennon lore and finding sources to support our theories #feels like putting my half-finished history degree to good (questionable) use #also enjoy that mclennon genuinely just feels very different to basically any other rpf ship #the beatles #paul mccartney #john lennon #mclennon #beatles rpf

[fall-dog]

little sketches of the boys™ that i like but can't bother to turn into full paintings

#sorry fellas i really tried with the photo quality😔 #the patch on remus' bag says the beatles btw #and the book is frankenstein #wolfstar #r/s #wolfstar fanart #sirius black #remus lupin #marauders fanart #marauders #art #sketch #my art

[theoldmixer]

#trying not to spoil all the best John pics in the book but here’s another preview! #much like john in hats I do love him in glasses too #and Paul is right it is very intimate we rarely see pics of him looking like this #John my love #eyes of the storm #John Lennon #the beatles

[thebeatlelove]

From The Beatles 1964 Tour Program

#the beatles #beatles #paul mccartney #john lennon #george harrison #ringo starr #60s #beatles fan #I had to scan these pics lol #never done that before #should I scan more pics? #from Beatles books/magazines I have

[zilabee]

"the Beatles' penchant for raucous, late-night merrymaking seemingly came to an end during the European tour, with the boys sometimes retiring for the night as early as eight o'clock on their off days, often ignoring their usual scrum of adoring female fans."

June 1965 - Living the Beatles Legend

sorry was nobody going to mention that Mal told us nearly the exact date that the Beatles stopped fucking girls and started fucking each other?

#weird timing to be fair - to me at least - ymmv #give me twenty guesses about when the fucking started #and I wouldn't get close to June 1965 #but here we are. #mal evans #mclennon #beatles books #living the beatles legend

[newportangels]

forget about what happened in India bro, what happened in Key West!!?

#my art #starrison #mclennon #i guess #drawing beatles rpf at my big age? YES #this is 100% based on someone's astute observation that Ringo looks like he has beard burn in the Miami pictures in pauls book #anyway <3 #dont take this too seriously its really not.

[ceofjohnlennon]

The Beatles for The Beatles Monthly Book n°75, October/1969.

#john lennon #paul mccartney #george harrison #ringo starr #the beatles #60s #1969 #beatles monthly book #n75 #my:read

[muzaktomyears]

some of the letters quoted in Love Letters to the Beatles (selected by Bill Adler), 1964

#hashtag relatable #'dear john i love the way you breathe in and out!!!' #george's oxford accent...... #beatlemaniacs #the beatles #books

[pauls1967moustache]

When trying to determine the veracity of a piece of Beatles lore make sure to always ask yourself these three important questions:

1. Is it funny?

2. Is it cunty?

3. Is it insane?

If the answer to any of these is yes then it definitely happened. Don’t worry about the source, that’s not relevant.

#source? made me laugh innit #that’s why my favourite beatles book is the paul chapter of body count :)