Baby, Let's Play House: Elvis Presley and the Women Who Loved Him

This was a fascinatingly EXCELLENT read! I am a HUGE Elvis fan and was looking for something new to read about him that digs deep into his life and personality since I have only read one book on him before. Contrary to what some of the reviews say about it, it was NOT remotely trashy and is an amazingly well written and beautiful book that was the closest I have ever personally felt to being propelled into a time machine...this book made me FEEL like I was there observing everything as it happened! I am especially enamored with the early years of Elvis's career, the innocence of those times, and all of the various people and places that contributed to his rise (such as Sam Philips, Sun Studio, fellow musicians, etc.) and couldn't wait to immerse myself into this book every day! Alanna Nash manages to weave everything together in a cohesive timeline that goes so much deeper than just being a superficial peek into his love life. This book makes you FEEL like you were with Elvis from his very beginning to end and when I finished this book I literally grieved as if I had gotten to know and then lost someone...truly a sign a book has done its job. And for those saying it was "trashy", I believe you're in denial. Elvis was a hot-blooded male who loved women and just because he loved women to the extent he did, doesn't make him any less of the talented, gifted, kind, generous and complex man that he was. And that's what this book captures so well...his unique and one-of-a-kind complexity...flaws and all. I walked away from this book feeling he was still just as magical as ever and yet just as human as the rest of us. I can't wait to read it again!

Excellent book!! I'm am so glad that I picked this book out of many that I own to read and do recommend this book to any Elvis fan. It's so full of exciting things that happened in his life like his concerts, tours and specials that you can match up with the very popular pictures we all have seen a million times and makes you feel like you were there behind the scenes watching it happen.But also, it tells of all the ups and downs of the worlds most famous man known by everyone in the world by his first name , Elvis.It shows a man that was unable to find true love in his terms, which isn't reality. Almost as if Elvis never grew up and matured like a normal man. I found it to be very sad to be Elvis, to have everything at your feet, but never feeling satisfied with his life and always looking for something that just wasn't there. Even though he was "The King" he was still unable to have the stable family, that I felt he really wanted and couldn't understand why he couldn't have it. He wanted his freedom to do all he wanted, while the wife should stay house and be faithful. No woman in my eyes even for Elvis, would be able to put up with that kind of emotional behavior. The strange thing is, is that he didn't ever see it that way? Elvis seemed to be a victim of his God given talent and just couldn't seperate his image from his personal life. Thank you Alanna Nash, for all the research you had to go through to writing one book that covers possibly over a hundred people that were a part of Elvis' life in one way or another and all the time that you put into bringing a " honest book" to Elvis fans everywhere. I will reread this book again because it made me more knowledgeable on Elvis and also the book made me laugh a lot and also made me cry. Definitely one of the "BEST" books on The Life of Elvis Presley.

This author expounded on well known stories and uncovered a lot of unknown players in this tragic tale of such a beloved icon. She took the time to unpack the pathology of grief that led to Elvis’ compulsive behavior with food, drugs and women. The most disturbing revelation is his preoccupation with adolescent girls well into his own adulthood. For years, his relationship with Priscilla was painted as a fairy tale, while in reality she was the one girl out of many whose parents gambled with their daughter’s life in exchange for access to fame and fortune. Deep, dark and spellbinding.

I read Alanna Nash's book, Baby Let's Play House avidly and couldn't put it down. I felt it was the most meticulously researched and definitive book on Elvis's romantic life, his long term loves, shorter affairs, flings and peccadillos. Obviously she couldn't include every single one night stand or it would take years to read and also Elvis didn't always divulge what went on in the bedroom. Actually, his sexual behaviour didn't seem especially bizarre to me, I thought he seemed a fairly typical red blooded man and compared to nowadays not especially kinky in any shape or form at all. I never felt in any way that this book was salacious or sensationalising in any way, as that is not the writer's 'bag', like Peter Guralnik too, she never less than respects and loves her subject and yet she is still objective and not remotely saccharine. Rather, she tries to discover the psychology behind his behaviour, also his coping with fame and the insulating effects of it, his inherent loneliness, his unusually close relationship with his mother (probably his favourite girl), his self destructive behaviour, his flaws, his deference towards those in authority (maybe increased somewhat since the army years?), his fascination with the police and the feeling that he 'was chosen by God to be someone special'. I have been a Presley fan since I was a small girl and was in my early teens when he passed away so would defend him to the last, but I feel this book gives an interesting insight without any loss of respect for this very fascinating, charismatic and complex man. A riveting read.