This is a thoughtful, three-dimensional portrait of one of my favorite actresses. It is well-researched, and full of anecdotes about Lansbury's life and thoughtful opinions of her film and television work. I learned much about Lansbury, and would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in her life and career.

THIS BOOK WAS A WONDERFUL INSIGHT INTO THE LIFE OF A GREAT LADY WHOS LIFE WAS AS INTERESTING AS THE MANY ROLES SHE HAS PLAYED THROUGH THE YEARS . MOVIES,STAGE,AND TV AND SONG SHE HAS DONE THEM ALL WITH STYLE AND ELEGANCE

This is not only a book for fitness and well-being lovers, but a book to discover a nice aspect of Angela Lansbury's private life: her anecdotes, her favourite hobbies... it's like a conversation with a friend! If you like Angela Lansbury, you'll love this book!

I have not read this book in a long time and have been searching for it. I think it is an excellent piece of literature that isn't read enough. When I was in 4rth grade my teacher read it to the class. It has been one of my favorite books since! This book brings to my mind the story of A Little Princess! I think that Peppermints in the Parlor is alot like A Little Princess in many different ways. One way they are alike is that both young girls are orphaned(or so they think). Both are treated poorly and still are very polite-like girls. I enjoyed the personalities of the characters as much as the plot which was truly amazing. It is a book that is still read to the students in my old teachers class today because it is something you can learn from and enjoy. Read it, you won't regret it!

"Peppermints in the Parlor" is one of those books you never forget. The characters creep into your heart, curl up there, and won't leave. Emily, the little girl who finds herself in frightening and inexplicable distress at the beginning of the book, has become more like a real little girl to me each time I've read the book. In fact, she becomes more like ME every time I read her story. Last summer some people in Alexandria, Virginia, produced the novel as a musical and I realized after seeing the characters on the stage that the book is so vivid it really needs no dramatization (although the musical version was a lot of fun and I liked the songs.) I can hear the characters talking as I read. I have favorite scenes that are fresh every time I read them: an incident regarding a tea bag that never fails to shock me; the day when a kitten arrives at Sugarhill Hall bringing with it tremendous hope for the old people. I feel bad for Emily and the other characters as they struggle with the miseries at the beautiful old house, but I know that things will work out in the end just as I would have them do. I'm looking forward to the audio version.

I must say that it has been many years since I first read Peppermints in the Parlor, but I remember my sixth grade teacher assigning us this book and I became so attached to it that I sat down and read the entire book in one day! And for me that was an extremely big deal because I had never really liked to read. Now I liked To Kill A Mockingbird, A Brave New World, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but out of all the books I read in school I must say that this was by far the one book that stood out the most to me! Even if you're not a kid this book will thoroughly entertain you! This book was the first to spark my interest in reading and I always keep searching for books that can entertain me the way that this one did. While my taste in reading material has matured as I've gotten older, this book has stayed at the top of my favorites list. Once you read this book you will understand just why it changed my outlook on reading, it was the first book that I found to be fun!!!

Margaret Wander Bonanno's biography is well-worth reading, despite the fact that it was published quite some time ago (in 1987). The author clearly admires Angela Lansbury. The biography provides a warm and respectful recounting of Ms. Lansbury's life and career up to that point without fawning. The subject of the biography is treated as a real person, not as an idol.

I enjoyed reading this book. I learned many things that I didn't know about Angela Lansbury before. She is quoted extensively, and provides many fascinating anecdotes about her career in movies, theater, and television. But since it is authorized, you have to wonder what's left out. The fact that it's authorized may also account for its big flaw. The title and introduction suggest that Lansbury has had to balance professional triumphs with personal tragedies throughout her life. The book itself doesn't give you that impression. It devotes many chapters to the triumphs, but mostly skims over the tragedies, espicially Lansbury's children's drug problems, so that they are merely afterthoughts and don't seem to have affected her much. This may be because Lansbury and the others interviewed did not really want to talk about these tough times, or it may be because Martin Gottfried did not do enough research. Worth reading for the chapters on Lansbury's career, but don't expect much depth where her personal life is concerned.

This is one of the finest celebrity biographies that I have ever read. Actress Angela Lansbury is profiled with candor and wit in Martin Gottfried's "Balancing Act". Gottfried conducted countless interviews with the star herself of whom he says, "No biographical subject could have been more cooperative.", and many, many of those who knew her and worked with her. The book details her early life in London, her arrival in America during WWII, and her first film, at MGM, where they promptly decided to change her name to "Angela Marlow". The book writes with candor about her first failed marriage and her Hollywood years into the late forties, when she married Peter Shaw (and the marriage is still going strong). In the early fifties, she gave birth to her son Anthony and daughter Deidre Shaw, and in the late sixties, with her Hollywood career in a slump, she bounced back on Broadway in her Tony-Award winning title role in the musical "Mame". The book is at its most exciting when detailing her Broadway career, and not just with "Mame", but with her three other Tony-Award winning roles in "Dear World", "Gypsy", and "Sweeney Todd". And after Broadway, Lansbury conquered television with her ever-popular "Murder, She Wrote" series. Since then, Lansbury has enjoyed steady acting and puttering in her rose garden. Many humorous anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories told by Lansbury concern stars like Ingrid Bergman, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Bea Arthur among them. She is a rueful raconteur and thrilled with her extraordinary professional and personal life. With the color and gusto of "Balancing Act", Angela Lansbury is profiled up close and personal and, as always, absolutely great!

After finishing reading the final chapter of the unauthorized biography of ANGELA LANSBURY : BALANCING ACT by Martin Gottfried, this has to be the most interesting and well-written and accurate account of this great performer's life. From her humble beginnings in England to her contract in Hollywood, where she was always cast in roles much older than she truly was, the controversy over the "Manchurian Candidate", her success on the stage, and on TV as the loveable Jessica Fletcher in "Murder, She Wrote" --- this book tells all in a most fascinating way! However, what makes this book stand above previous efforts is the fact that the author knows the great lady, and included herein are Angela's own personal thoughts to flesh out his expose! And despite certain setbacks in her life and career, she always remains positive and trudges on to the next level. Truly inspiring and well worth reading! This is definitely a book to keep on my bookshelf! I especially enjoyed the chapters concerning Angela's performing as "Mame", the stage musical, and the heartbreak of not being considered to reprise the role when it was eventually turned into a movie. The role went to Lucille Ball, a great comedianne, but not a great singer! I once saw Angela when she played in "Sweeney Todd", as the pie-making Nellie Lovett, and it's beautifully captured here in this book. I loved it! Until the day comes when Angela herself writes the definitive bio of her colorful life, Martin Gottfried's book, BALANCING ACT, is a worthy treat for all her fans to read!

My fiance was a best man in a wedding recently and had never given a speech before. So I bought this book and another one. Boy am I glad that I bought the other book, because this one was no help at all. It only gives you examples of specific toasts and speeches for specific families. It doesn't help. It's not generic enough for someone to put together their own speech from it. It doesn't tell you how to write a speech or do's and don'ts about writing toasts. I would not recommend this book to anyone. If you want a good book for this, buy The Best Man's Handbook. It has way more useful information on speeches and toasts than most speech books.