Elvis Presley Book Reviews

A LITTLE THING CALLED LIFE
Linda Thompson

Rating: 3/5
Audiobook listened to? Mostly.

Linda in a movie magazine about Elvis from 1977.

-DISCLAIMER (AS ALWAYS): The point of someone writing a memoir is to share their side of the story. And everyone is entitled to their side of the story and their truth. When I rate a memoir I am rating the structure in which it is written and the layout of the book. To add on to that, my rating is based on the words and sentences themselves, and the overall use of the English language. In autobiographies, the only statements that can objectively be rated are the ones that can be proven true or false—someone's personal outlook will always only be able to be rated through a purely subjective lens.

-I got my hands on an autographed copy back in 2024 during Elvis Week, at Marlowe's, and FINALLY just now finished it in January 2026. It was challenging to get through and not an easy read for me as I know it was for some...

-Linda's writing style was challenging to follow along and keep up with. Given that she is a lyricist, her extremely detailed writing style, that she penned for her memoir, does not come as a surprise to me. However, I didn't find it necessary. Most of the pages and chapters dragged on due to the enormous amount of detailing she described every event in. Obviously, this is a memoir, and the whole point of a memoir is to recount one's life experiences in detail that is necessary, strong, and clear. But I also believe there is definitely such thing as too much detail (non-intentional Elvis pun), especially when describing someone else, more-so the deep struggles and battles that person faced or faces. Even more-so when writing about someone who is no longer on this plane. And in the half of her book that she reflects on her relationship with Elvis--which, of course, is why I picked up the book--I definitely feel that she went overboard.

-So much of what she wrote about E had to do with his deep addiction to prescription drugs and the way they deteriorated his body and prominently affected the ways in which she had to care for him. So many books have too touched on this, but going as far as revealing SUCH personal stories and details—such as having to prevent him from choking and dying on his food, after he fell asleep eating, by "literally pulling out chunks of food" from his throat—is simply too much and not at all necessarily to reveal; especially 41 years after it happened and 39 after he passed on.

And then the detail she went into about his two-week "sleep diet," that was apparently the plan one of his doctors put him on to rapidly lose weight, just left me feeling that something like that should always be kept private, just as it most certainly was as it was happening.

-When recounting one story she included in the book in an interview (I'm almost certain for an Elvis documentary), she said she "hesitated" to include it in her book but did so as "it demonstrated the kind of trouble he was in."

But if you knew (and also wrote about) how private of a person he was, and how he only ever wanted his fans to get the best of him—regardless of if sometimes they didn't—why go the opposite direction and reveal some of the most private, personal details ever revealed about him???

-While the amount of extreme detailing and, at times, belaboring of the point, did turn me off from this book, for the most part, Linda did make strong use of the English language with her chosen vocabulary.

-It is ironic how she writes about how much pain her relationship with Elvis caused her, but yet, still to this day, travels the globe as a guest speaker for so many Elvis events and festivals. I guess love goes a long way and really can last a lifetime.

-Overall, while I did find reading about her time with E fascinating, as a fan, it was also disheartening to find so many private and ultimately unnecessary details revealed. As I always say, EVERYONE is entitled to their truth and side of the story, and in turn entitled to publicly reveal it in any way they choose. But just because you can say something doesn't mean you should. And just because something is the truth about someone doesn't always mean it needs to be publicized—and most certainly not after the person's death, even worse decades after.

-Lyrics she wrote and included at the end of almost every chapter were cute. The layout of the lyrics, at the end of the chapters, was nice.

-As mentioned, I picked this one up as I was interested in Linda's stories on Elvis. I'm not interested in Bruce (Caitlyn) Jenner or David Foster and am not a celebrity-obsessed or easily-fascinated-by-famous-people type of person, so while I did read the whole memoir, the Elvis section, which comprised half of the page numbers, was all that truly held my attention.

Interesting to read about her other two big lovers but not something that I cared about or that kept me anywhere near enthralled.

-I didn't know all that much about her before this, but her life was almost as interesting to read about as Elvis's. All I knew were a few things I had picked up from being in the Elvis world, and I believe I knew she had written "I Have Nothing," so it was interesting to hear about her long acting career that began in the '70s and her songwriting accomplishments. As a poet, I liked learning that she wrote poetry for herself, E, and her family first and that's how she became a lyricist. This element made me connect to her more and better see her as a three-dimensional character.

-Still cool to have a signed copy as I do genuinely like Linda and have even seen her speak at Graceland twice. She carries herself with a lot of poise and grace.

-One of the easiest Elvis books to snag a copy of, especially at the Graceland gift shops. They shoveee this book down your throat there.

-Overall, I would classify this as being worth the read if you're a big time Elvis fan or interested in Caitlyn Jenner or David Foster. Otherwise, pass.

From Here to the Great Unknown
Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough

Rating: 4.5/5
Audiobook listened to? Yes.

-I pre-ordered this book from Graceland the day it was first announced. I also attended the On the Road with Riley Keough book tour in Memphis at the Graceland Soundstage on October 12, 2024, and got a signed copy of the book by Riley! The show was a little short but nonetheless a great night! I had a great experience and am glad I got to attend.

-I enjoyed this one and could talk about the content of it for hours. Given that I am a huge fan of Lisa's career and Elvis's career, nothing in this book was mind-blowing to me. The press had a heyday with some of the things that were revealed but if you are like me and not necessarily a casual listener and fan, the majority of the content in this book did not come as a shock or surprise.

What WAS newly revealed for the first time were the details in which Lisa and Riley recounted. The small details, that a casual fan or reader may or may not pick up on, were the best thing about the book and what made it so enjoyable.

-Along with the details of Lisa Marie's life that she had never-before shared publicly, the formatting and layout was my favorite thing about the novel.

It was relatively short and both fonts used— one for Lisa's voice, the other for Riley's—were big. Lisa's font and both font sizes of the book reflected those '80s quick-read mystery novels.

I immediately loved the layout for three reasons: I am a slow reader so the big fonts benefited my reading pace, you don't see these fonts and layout structure often within modern-day books, and not every memoir needs to be extremely long. I feel that a lot of people who write a memoir feel like they have to go on and on to reach a certain number of pages but it didn't feel like Lisa and Riley had that goal.

-Given Lisa's untimely passing, Riley had to step in and fill in the blank spots that presumably Lisa was in the process of writing or trying to figure out how to write. Lisa had asked Riley a month before she passed to help her complete her memoir but, of course, given her death, certain things were bound to be left out or not given much detail to. I discuss this more below.

Another fan of Lisa's once told me that he felt the book was rushed but I don't agree. While I guess I could see why he thinks that given the short length of the novel and certain things being left out, I believe the parts of Lisa Marie's life story that Lisa and Riley wanted to share were shared.

-Lisa and Riley shared what they wanted to share and didn't write about the rest or only briefly wrote about it. Again, as someone who was a big fan before this release, I immediately picked up on certain moments in Lisa's life that were left out or only casually discussed without much detail.

Throughout her life she rarely gave interviews and was extremely private so she rarely discussed anything. I went into it wanting to know more about two things: her music career and her children, especially the twins, as Lisa didn't discuss those parts of her life and people all that much. The relationship she had with each of her children and how they affected who she was and the life she led.

With that being said, while there was a lot written about Riley, from Lisa and Riley herself, and a lot on Ben, the twins were glossed over. This easily could've been intentional given that they are still children but I would've enjoyed reading more about them from Lisa and/or Riley.

Same goes for Lisa's music career. I am such a huge fan of all three of her albums and would have loved more detail on the writing process of each, her opinion of those three records looking back, her favorite songs she wrote and recorded, and overall just more about her career as a songwriter and recording artist.

-Was not a fan of Julia Roberts narrating Lisa's parts in the audiobook. I don't think she or Riley have strong narrator voices. Riley's narration was better than Julia's but it was expected to be better given that she was narrating her own words that she wrote.

However, aside from Julia's and Riley's voices, the tapes that Riley included of her Mother, sharing her stories, at the beginning and end of each chapter were beautiful, and the only reason I would recommend listening to the audiobook.

-The title is cute and fitting but I don't really understand the cover photo. The purpose of this memoir was for Lisa to share her life story, on her own terms and publicly, for the first time. It's not an "Elvis book." And while they do mention him a lot as the book progresses, the first two chapters are the only chapters solely about her time growing up at Graceland and who Elvis was through Lisa's eyes. The rest of the chapters go through her childhood after he died and her adolescence, up through Lisa's final writings for the book, before she passed, and Riley's recount of her visitation, memorial service, and burial in the Meditation Garden.

I don't know who chose the cover image but I would have preferred it to be a picture of only Lisa or Lisa and her children given the content and purpose of the book. I feel that the cover was chosen as a marketing tactic to sell more copies, but again, if the purpose of the book was to share Lisa's story through her own words and to humanize her a bit, I don't think Elvis on the cover was the right move. While Elvis was a huge secondary character, the book wasn't about him and there was only one true main character: Lisa Marie. I wonder if it would've had a different cover photo had Lisa lived...maybe, maybe not.

However, the back cover picture and signed lithograph photo by Riley, that came with an order of the book through Graceland and/or a book tour ticket, were perfect.

-Overall, a beautiful yet profoundly sad read.

Elvis and Me
Priscilla Beaulieu Presley
with Sandra Harmon

Rating: 5/5
Audiobook listened to? No.

-This is the first book written largely about Elvis I ever read, and I am glad I started my Elvis book journey here.

-Wasn't extremely long and didn't drag on and on like I feel some other Elvis books do.

-Loved how Priscilla completely stayed true to the purpose and format of a memoir and told her story based on her shared life and experiences with Elvis. She kept his career and public image on the back burner and consistently wrote about who he was around her and his core group of friends. Living up to the title, she wrote her entire memoir through the perspectives of two people: herself and Elvis. Naturally, mainly herself. There were barely any other secondary characters and the only ones she put energy into were her daughter and her parents.

-What I loved most about Elvis and Me was that Priscilla didn't fail to share how generous Elvis was to everyone and how protective he was of her, but also most certainly didn't hold back on his darker side and the complex, difficult parts of his character that made her question her own position in his life. Similarly to Linda Thompson's book, Priscilla begins by writing about how blinded by love, in her own naiveté, she was with Elvis. But as the story progresses and she grows up and becomes her own person, she writes about how she was no longer willing to live on his own whims, within his rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

-Some would probably argue that she focused too much on the bad and not enough on the good involving Elvis and the nature of their relationship, but ultimately I came away from it feeling that she was simply honest in her words and didn't hold back from depicting the full character that she lived with. She could've easily glamorized and romanticized parts of the story but she didn't. I felt that she told her side of things exactly as they were with no intention of defending his wrongs.

-Definitely a book that divides the Elvis fan base, especially die-hard fans, though I've never really understood why. Several fans claim this book is full of untruths and that Priscilla fabricated parts of her story, yet I didn't pick up on any claims throughout that seemed wrong or exaggerated when put up against other accounts about Elvis, from those who knew him well. As far as facts about him, more specifically his career, everything she wrote seemed to check out.

-I've also seen some comments on Reddit saying that since the initial release in '85, Priscilla has stated that the publisher pressured her into embellishing parts of her story for a more shocking, larger reaction from readers. I've yet to find any evidence of that being true, through a magazine, newspaper, or video recorded interview. Until I see a real quote from Priscilla, from a traceable source, regarding that claim, I will not believe it to be true.

-In 2023, Sofia Coppola's Priscilla was released, which was a biopic about Priscilla's life and years with Elvis. The entire film was based on this book.

I've seen the film several times and rate it a 3.5/5. If you would like my full review on that, drop me a line through my "About" page!

-And yes, I will probably read Child Bride at some point.

Elvis Presley Book Reviews

A LITTLE THING CALLED LIFE Linda Thompson

Rating: 3/5 Audiobook listened to? Mostly.

From Here to the Great Unknown Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough

Rating: 4.5/5 Audiobook listened to? Yes.