Prince's upcoming memoir "The Beautiful Ones" mentioned in "Fall Books Preview: The 40 biggest titles of the season"

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https://ew.com/books/2019...st-titles/

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Reprinted here: https://www.yahoo.com/ent...00708.html

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The New Year gets all the credit in the self-improvement space, with its resolutions and dry Januaries and general air of rebirth, but for the true bookworm, the fall is the ideal time to turn over a new, perfectly crisp, reading leaf. Not only does the season inspire a callback to school supply shopping, planners, and the excitement of a syllabus, but it’s also the strongest time of year for great literature. As the awards shortlists beckon, publishers send their long-awaited prestige titles to the shelves.

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This year proves to be no exception. Below, EW’s book editors select the 40 titles for which we’re most excited. This year’s fall must-list reflects the best of everything on offer, from the literary A-listers still going strong to the debut darlings poised to be the next big thing.

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[...]

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THE CELEB PORTRAITS

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The season sees A-list tomes of all varieties, from exhaustive biography to posthumous memoirs

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[...]

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The Beautiful Ones, by Prince -- The memoir that the musician began writing before his untimely death in April 2016 is finally hitting shelves, packaged and framed by editor Dan Piepenbring (who also co-wrote this summer’s Manson murders exposé Chaos). It will also include photos, sheet music, and scrapbooks from his personal collection. (Oct. 29) —SR

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(Updated title of post to thread can be used as sticky.)

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Update 2 September: New Yorker article by Dan Piepenbring, the editor of the book: https://www.newyorker.com...-of-prince . This seems to be (a version of) the introduction to the book. Scroll down for my post where I quote from the blurb on the official website; the description of the book's introduction accurately describes this article.

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Update 9 October: The November 2019 issue of O magazine (i.e. Oprah's magazine) has an article by Chris Jackson, the man who edited the book: https://www.oprahmag.com/...s-jackson/ . The article also has many photos from the book.

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Update 17 October: Exclusive preview of several pictures from the book in EW: https://ew.com/books/2019...irst-look/

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Update 26 October:

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Dan Piepenbring @ "Sunday Morning" on 27 October: https://www.cbsnews.com/n...r-27-2019/

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TwinCities / Pioneer Press review of "The Beautiful Ones" (very superficial, not really spoilerish)): https://www.twincities.co...y-focused/

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Interview with Dan Piepenbring in Star Tribune: http://www.startribune.co...563845862/

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Star Tribune review of "The Beautiful Ones" (BEWARE: lots of SPOILERS): http://www.startribune.co...563845812/

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Interview with Dan Piepenbring in The Guardian (lots of spoilers, lots of previously unseen photos and drawings!): https://www.theguardian.c...ps-selfies

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Dan Piepenbring @ "Tamron Hall" on 29 October: https://www.broadwayworld...1-20191025

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Audiobook details: https://www.penguinrandom...iful-ones/

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Spoilerific article from Radar Online: https://radaronline.com/e...his-death/

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Another spoilerific article from Radar Online: https://radaronline.com/e...w-memoir/

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[Edited 10/26/19 1:39am]

what's the odds of this being cancelled?

[Edited 8/27/19 6:03am]

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

https://www.apnews.com/10...ef45246a6e

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Music lovers again can look forward to a new round of memoirs. Elton John’s “Me” is expected this fall, along with Debbie Harry’s “Face It,” Flea’s “Acid for the Children” and Andrew Ridgeley’s “Wham!: George Michael and Me.” Prince’s “The Beautiful Ones” is built around a manuscript he and co-author Dan Piepenbring were working on at the time of his death. A former Prince collaborator, Morris Day, tells his story in “On Time: A Princely Life in Funk.”

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lwr001 said:

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

what's the odds of this being cancelled?

[Edited 8/27/19 6:03am]

None. Absolutely zero. This is random house. There shit is in order

Amazon just updated my pre-order to include the estimated delivery time.

And the last thread which self locked

https://prince.org/msg/7/459145

They actually changed the cover. Cloned part of the wall/color corrected the top part and changed the font to purple.

https://prince.org/msg/7/459909

The Audiobook is even goofier because they cloned the background way beyond what it actually was.

[Edited 8/30/19 8:36am]

^^^^ nice

[Off topic snip - luv4u]

Physical media really is dying. I want to pre-order the audiobook on CD but all I can find are download links on Audible and Google Play. Of course I'll rip the files to my laptop and my external hard drive eventually, but I want an actual disc!

Anyone know who the reader is on the audiobook? The only info I can find is that the length is 4.5 hours.

bluefish said:

Physical media really is dying. I want to pre-order the audiobook on CD but all I can find are download links on Audible and Google Play. Of course I'll rip the files to my laptop and my external hard drive eventually, but I want an actual disc!

Anyone know who the reader is on the audiobook? The only info I can find is that the length is 4.5 hours.

You can burn Audible files to a disc.

https://audible.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9246/~/how-do-i-burn-my-audiobooks-onto-a-cd%3F

I haven't heard who's doing the reading but that information has been up for months now so they've must have recorded it awhile back. I'm surprised it's 4.5 hours considering that a third of the book is just pictures/notes. Can the portion Prince wrote before passing and the original Purple Rain script really take that long?

Missmusicluver72 said:

[Off topic snip - luv4u]

I'm really looking forward to that too. I got a notice from Amazon that it has been pushed back to November 19th.

motherfunka said:

Missmusicluver72 said:

[Off topic snip - luv4u]

I'm really looking forward to that too. I got a notice from Amazon that it has been pushed back to November 19th.

Aww, well at least it will be out before the holidays. Thanks for the update though.

motherfunka said:

Missmusicluver72 said:

[Off topic snip - luv4u]

I'm really looking forward to that too. I got a notice from Amazon that it has been pushed back to November 19th.

May I ask, where do you live? Because I'm in Michigan and I just checked my order again and it still says "Arriving October 29, 2019 by 8pm."

[Edited 9/2/19 3:46am]

Shockadelica9 said:

The New Yorker

The Book of Prince

On January 29, 2016, Prince summoned me to his home, Paisley Park, ... a memoir called “The Beautiful Ones,” after one of the most naked, ...

1 hour ago

[Edited 9/2/19 3:46am]

Great read. Don't mind admitting it brought a tear to my eye.

I'm actually looking forward to the book now after reading this..

dodger said:

https://www.newyorker.com...-of-prince

BartVanHemelen said:

https://www.newyorker.com...-of-prince

Excellent read, thanks.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

motherfunka said:

I'm really looking forward to that too. I got a notice from Amazon that it has been pushed back to November 19th.

May I ask, where do you live? Because I'm in Michigan and I just checked my order again and it still says "Arriving October 29, 2019 by 8pm."

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See, this is what happens when people don't stay on topic. Needless confusion. They're talking about Randee's book.

BartVanHemelen said:

https://www.newyorker.com...-of-prince

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BTW this looks to be (a version of) the introduction to the book. From https://www.apnews.com/0c...8b284f044b :

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the 288-page book will include an introduction by Dan Piepenbring, whom Prince had chosen as a collaborator.

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[...]

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Piepenbring’s introduction will touch upon Prince’s final days, “a time when Prince was thinking deeply about how to reveal more of himself and his ideas to the world, while retaining the mystery and mystique he’d so carefully cultivated.”

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From https://www.penguinrandom...399589652/ :

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The book is framed by editor Dan Piepenbring’s riveting and moving introduction about his profound collaboration with Prince in his final months—a time when Prince was thinking deeply about how to reveal more of himself and his ideas to the world, while retaining the mystery and mystique he’d so carefully cultivated—and annotations that provide context to the book’s images.

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BartVanHemelen said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

May I ask, where do you live? Because I'm in Michigan and I just checked my order again and it still says "Arriving October 29, 2019 by 8pm."

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See, this is what happens when people don't stay on topic. Needless confusion. They're talking about Randee's book.

Ah, okay. Thanks!

Dan's article gave me a sense that Prince was excited and hopeful for the future...HIS future. I feel he was looking forward to completing his book and SEEING for himself where it went and what would happen NEXT.

I'm going to go cry again now, I'll be back later to finish my thoughts and discuss this further.

Shockadelica9 said:

"As I read more about his last months, it was hard to reconcile the sunny, puckish, solicitous man I met with the one described in news stories and police reports, who could be unyielding, furtive, and willfully opaque. Prince had always embodied dualities. Here was one more: he had told me that he was O.K., and he was not O.K. There was nothing false in the way he spoke to me, and nothing false in the way he spoke during his darkest moments. I can’t think less of him for hiding his pain. He was living on his own terms. To expect anything more of him would have been to expect magic."


The last paragraph of Dan's article sums P up perfectly.

Prince(r.i.p.) captured in New York March(2016). on one of his last appearances unveiling his memoirs announcement .

[Edited 9/2/19 10:28am]

Nice article. Piepenbring's supportive and respectful tone makes a nice counterpoint to the Ian Penman piece in the LRB a few months back, which, though interesting, seemed a bit snide and critical, and sat badly with me as I digested it.

I did wonder if the book project would be one that fizzled out as P lost interest in it and got wrapped up in whatever he was working on musically - and perhaps it would have done - but it does rather sound like he was finding it engaging and devoting time to writing. (I suppose a sceptic might note that the co-writer and publisher have an incentive to paint it that way in the promotional campaign.) It does sound like the sort of project well suited to someone at a stage in their life and career where they want to reflect on and take stock of what's gone before - as a person might do in telling their story to their kids.

cellular memory


oh man i miss prince so much sometimes


i think i would have loved this book. it seems like he was ready to include everything and nothing
and a whole lot of weird stuff in there, going from bio to 'how to' to industry inside info to self help
to black history and empowerment and cellular memory/chemtrails/ancient egypt.

i would have loved that shit

makes me sad about what could have been and makes me realise how much i enjoyed following
prince and his topics of interest, even if i didn't always agree or believe. there was always a bit
of an interesting angle.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

Dan's article gave me a sense that Prince was excited and hopeful for the future...HIS future. I feel he was looking forward to completing his book and SEEING for himself where it went and what would happen NEXT.

I'm going to go cry again now, I'll be back later to finish my thoughts and discuss this further.

Honestly, it sounded the opposite to me. He sounded despondent until a new idea thrilled him. Then the thrill would fade from whatever that new idea was and he'd be back to despondent.

Like he could see everything, was paralyzed by possiblity and was just killing time to best of his ability with whatever was in front of him.

Compare 2014 Prince of "I am music. I never see myself stopping." to January 2016 Prince in that article says he's done with music and dreading the idea of picking up a guitar. It's a stark contrast.

[Edited 9/2/19 13:22pm]