Dana Swilley

MY NAME IS BARBRA This book was FABULOUS. I felt like she was sitting in my reading room and it was 4 days of girl talk. What an experience! I could feel her emotions as I read page after page (992 to be exact). I could feel her pushing herself further and further in her career. To me Barbra is an singer. I have all of her music (I have been a collector since A STAR IS BORN) and as each movie came out I was always asking, "Is she gonna sing?" The movies left me with such emotion (THE WAY WE WERE when he leaves her and they meet on the street at the end, should have been a sequel. A STAR IS BORN when she is singing his song at the end and then gave it her own spin). I felt her pain as she was shunned by her peers, the work and the need to make it as she saw it, her vision, her project. Toward the end when she started talking politics I wanted to say "OK Babs I love you but lets not talk politics (I have said that to many friends I love and we abide each others views) but who can stop her, she is on a roll. So I listened (read, I swear it was like she was in the room with me) and then I was so grateful for her passion for what she believed because it gave all of her fans more music. She started performing again. Music was her way to do something, make a difference with her concerts. It seems it always came back to music for her. But I feel she felt she was actress, writer, producer and director first. She never "got it" that her voice was what made her a STAR shining brighter than anyone else. I saw ELVIS when I was a teenager and have loved his music all my life, even the movies were great to me because it brough him into my space. This book has brought her into my space unlike any book I have read. I can't wait to buy the audio. I am a fan, and have been since the 70's. Who can NOT be a fan of that voice. My hats off to you Babs, what a great read, I enjoyed having you over for a few days.