A month or so ago I bought Keith Richards' autobiography, "Life" and Jeff VanderMeer's latest, "The Third Bear". I picked up Richards' 576 page monster, took a deep breath, and started in. Five weeks later... I'm done. And It was an epic tale.

He tells story after story - starting with his early childhood in the late 40s, through his school days, his early musical experiences, the formation of the Stones, their early days, and right on through to the late 2000's - all in frankly astonishing detail, about his girlfriends, his dogs, music, the other Stones, his children, houses, drugs, the drug preferences of socialites of the 60s and 70s, etc.. Just mounds and mounds of details. But, it's no slog. It's lightly written: no complex prose or heavy concepts; it's just Keith Richards telling stories - and you can never forget it's Keith talking; he's got such a strong personality and the words carry his voice very clearly. So, it careens along pretty briskly from story to story.

If I have any complaint it's that I would've liked to read a lot more about his playing and songwriting techniques. He talks about each a number of times, but rarely in depth or at length. The making of an entire album goes by in a paragraph, some go unmentioned completely. And he has such a unique style and sound, I wish he'd have shared a bit more insight into how he does it - besides the 5-string open tuning thing, which he credits for a lot of his sound. But, that's just my preference, and the book's title isn't "Guitarist"; it's "Life". So that's what he gives.

A couple of things struck me. First, he hates Bill Wyman. There are maybe a dozen references to Wyman throughout the book, and nearly all of them are bitter. The first is when the Stones are first starting and Richards says the only reason they wanted Wyman in the band is because Wyman had an amplifier - nothing about his bass playing or personality. Other times, Richards insults Wyman's tea-making skills, or casts doubt upon his ability to compete with Jagger in the girl-getting department. He likes Charlie Watts and thinks the world of his drumming; he likes Ron Wood; he liked Brian Jones; he once liked, and now just loves like a rival brother, Jagger. But he hates Wyman.

The first mention of a Stones bass player is of the guy who replaced Wyman after thirty years of being with the Stones. I think the nicest thing Richards says about Wyman is that he was an early adopter of the personal computer. Ouch.

But what mostly struck me about the book is the detail, not just that there's so much of it, but that he apparently remembers it. You'd think there would be some blank spots! But if there are, he does a good job of camouflaging them, hiding them behind mounds of stuff he does remember. Or, if he doesn't remember all of it, he sure put in a huge amount of detail digging it all back up for us!

My memory, on the other hand, ain't so hot. Just before I finished this book, I went to Amazon and ordered some more books to read, including the one I'd ordered with Richards' book: Jeff VanderMeer's latest, "The Third Bear". Didn't notice until I put the new copy down on my nightstand - right on top of the other copy.