The John Lennon Letters

OK it probably goes without saying that you should only read this if you are already a pretty big Beatles/Lennon fan. If you are, you will probably like this. Hunter Davies does a good job of providing context for the letters which vary wildly from short postcards to his aunt to letters to fans to diatribes about art to grocery lists. (He likes yogurt.) Sometimes John seems like a real dick in his letters, which by all reports he sometimes was in real life. You can understand why he would be that way, given all the insane amounts of celebrity & pressure surrounding the Beatles, but still–a dick. But sometimes he seems like a sweet, funny guy. Sometimes he seems like a true radical and I loved reading his thoughts about songs like Imagine and Revolution and their potential for being forces of change.

I will probably buy this book for my dad for Christmas and he will probably like it. Don't tell my dad. You might also want to get this book for your dad, if your dad like the Beatles. 97% of dads do.

PS I forgot to say that my favorite letter was one he wrote in reply to a letter to the editor someone wrote saying that TV was making kids dumb, and John wrote a really smart defense of Sesame Street <3