The John Lennon Letters: Edited and with an Introduction by Hunter Davies

Enjoyed this book

If you're a fan of John Lennon - of his music, art and writings - then I highly recommend this book. It's beautifully presented, as a large hardback publication. It presents nearly 400 pages of 'letters' (from correspondence to postcards to jottings and notes) written by Lennon, from his youth through to adulthood. These letters are accompanied by a commentary written by Beatles expert Hunter Davies, who edits and introduces this text. The letters themselves are photocopied and reproduced (although typically in a smaller size than the original documents), and then Davies presents a typed version of Lennon's hand-writing. Everything from love letters to fan mail is included, expressing thoughts, feeling, ideas, opinions, humour, and so much more. Obviously Lennon never intended for this material - or, at least, much of it - to be published. These letters are not great prose - yet occasionally we get glimpses of Lennon the poet and wordsmith. The most important aspect of this publication is that it allows us entry into Lennon's personal life ... although one might question whether this ought to be permitted. It's an enjoyable read, and it offers the chance to feel 'connected' to Lennon in a rather intimate manner. If this possibility interests you, then I recommend the item.

I am a huge Beatles fan so greatly enjoy reading anything about them. I enjoyed the book as it did give me a bit more insight into how John Lennon was as a person especially when he was being a Dad to Sean in New York towards the end of his life. A very interesting read and very well narrated

Quality purchase, satisfied.

What a fantastic book. Hunter Davies has produced a labour of love here. This is a wonderful record of John's crazy thinking, sense of humour and compassion (and anger at times). The illustrations are great and the stories behind many of the contributions are fascinating. I saw Hunter at The British Library giving a presentation about this book, although he spent far more time on his authorised biography of The Beatles from 1968. Try and see him talking about this book. Well worth it, as is this wonderful book.

From seeing his first handwritten school magazine to letters to fans, postcards to friends/family and even shopping and to do lists for staff I felt that I got to know John lennon through this book. In chronological order throughout his life with drawings and photographs once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down (and it's a thick book). Fabulous!

GREAT A1.........

This was an interesting read and gave a good insight into John's quirkiness, and spiky sense of humour (which I knew well from watching him perform at The Cavern), but I found his poor writing ability disappointing. I had hoped his letter skills would have matched his songwriting genius but never mind...you can't have everything. Still worth reading, just.

John Lennon's true personality comes through in this book. His quirky, fun and friendly style of writing, as well as Hunter Davies' editing, makes this one of my favorites. Letters from Rishikesh are especially evocative of the hippies' era of the 60s.

E' un must per un vero fan di John Lennon, contiene moltissime delle sue lettere dagli inizi con i Beatles fino a pochi giorni prima della sua morte. Questa è l'edizione inglese arrivata in tempi brevissimi

This book is a treasure trove of showing Joh's thoughts and creative actions and reactions to the life that was going on around him. As I'm also very big on In His Own Write and A Spaniard In The Works, this volume of letters starting from his youth up till the end share the singular and creative nature of these two masterworks. (Skywriting By Word Of Mouth doesn't succeed in scaling the heights of his earlier two books, but there still a number of fine pages in this third volume of his writings that still make the book worthwhile.) As you'd expect, the large array of letters show him in all the various modes of being that John possessed, including passion, humour, whimsy, non sequitur, caring, anger, inventive syntax etc. And special mention must be given to Hunter Davies, whose design and painstaking work to collect and present a lifetime of letters is a great homage to John. This is one of the coolest offerings from the vast sea of Beatles books. Highly recommended!

Pour tous les inconditionnels de Lennon c'est un vrais régal de lire ses lettres. A l'époque il n'y avait pas d'ordis pas de Iphone et autre...c'était totalement cool! C'est lui ses réflections sa vie intérieure.

Lo siento pero no puedo opinar sobre el libro porqué no era para mi y no lo he leído....ni lo leeré. Solamente lo ojeé.