i just finished ian leslie's lennon/mccartney biography for about the third time around and it moves me in such a way i can't articulate every single time, honestly.
i have read quite a few beatles biographies about the band or the boys themselves, and truly nothing really comes close to this book.
i may just be sucker for john and paul but genuinely it is such an enthralling read that it grips you a new way every time you read, or re-read it. and it also doesn't help that leslie's general way of writing is extremely entertaining, it's almost like a movie in the way it's so vivid, it hooks you in a way that i have not felt for really any biography.
not only has this book introduced me to a new way of looking at john and paul's relationship, it shows you a new perspective of the music as well (hence the "in songs" part of the title lol) which i really appreciate. it gives words and analysis to the feelings i have experienced throughout my whole body when listening to the music of lennon/mccartney, to the way either one of them sings a certain verse, to their instrumentals down to the minute. it seems so excessive but it is so, so necessary.
i would recommend this book to quite literally anybody, and i don't say that about anything. if you are a new beatlemaniac: read it. an old beatlemaniac: read it. if you like john and paul: read it. if you don't: READ IT!!
i am so glad this topic of john and paul's relationship dynamic has been tackled one way or another, because although we talk about them constantly, nobody has really taken as much of a deep dive into them, especially in a biographical form, and what better way than have it like this, because it is one of the best beatles books i have read.
hence why i've done it three times (lol)
i cannot recommend it enough. whoever sees this, consider reading it, you will not regret it!
