Review: 'The Elvis Encyclopedia,' by Adam Victor

October 26, 2008

BY VALERIE KELLOGG | valerie.kellogg@newsday.com

THE ELVIS ENCYCLOPEDIA, by Adam Victor. Overlook, 598 pp., $65.

How did Elvis Presley kiss? "How do you describe soft lips, slightly parted, not too much, but just perfect?"

It's just one of the many, many, many things even the most jaded Presley fanatics will learn in "The Elvis Encyclopedia."

Old girlfriend June Juanico's recollection can be found under the "Sex Life" heading - a salacious, if sad, read. Other engaging entries in this A-to-Z book are "Monty Python" .

(Presley could recite episodes by heart and loved the "Nudge, Nudge" skit), "Food" (when bingeing, he is said to have consumed 94,000 calories a day) and "Will" (he drew up his final wishes, which can be read in their entirety, less than six months before he died in 1977).

More than a few snapshots of the bloated King appear among the 500 photos, including one of the drug-addled rock star atop a woman on the carpeted floor of an unnamed location in Hawaii. But there also are many of Presley in his prime - like another for the unissued prototype of a Wheaties box.

"Elvis fans have an unslakable thirst for 'new' facts, and for books that challenge their knowledge of the man," author Adam Victor writes in the section called "Trivia." "This book may well swell the number of well-informed fans." With 598 pages resulting from six years of research in libraries, film and audio archives and private collections, there's a good chance.

Article Source: http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/fanfare/ny-c5894242oct26,0,1478645.story

Thanks for posting this Charmaine.

I thought it sounded interesting but I dont think the reviewer is doing the book any favors what so ever by calling him 'the bloated King' or 'drug-addled rock star'

Lorna wrote:

Thanks for posting this Charmaine.

I thought it sounded interesting but I dont think the reviewer is doing the book any favors what so ever by calling him 'the bloated King' or 'drug-addled rock star'

Lorna,

My good friend Cory Cooper wrote to the author of the article and expressed his feelings of the article she wrote!

Hugs Charmaine

Im glad he did, its awful some of the ways people describe Elvis. He doesnt deserve to be characterized in this way. Its a shame too because it does sound like its going to be a good bit of reading but Elvis Fans would be deeply upset with the way she has worded this article x