Book #2: Hollywood

Hollywood by Keegan Allen is kind of pushing what I set my "rules" on for this challenge but I can justify it!

Let me start with who Keegan Allen is, if you don't already know. I know him as an actor from the series Pretty Little Liars on, what was formerly known as ABC Family, now known as Freeform. I later learned, years after the series aired that Keegan was also a photographer. He has a few books out, as he was also a writer. The first one is life.love.beauty and the second one is Hollywood.

Now, I know what you are thinking. Photographer...meaning a book of his photographs? How does that count? Well, here is how I can justify it. Yes, it is mainly his photographs, but there are also poems and stories in this book. Plus it took me like four days to actually read it before it's a thick book. So there is that. I'm counting it. Random fun fact about this book, then I'll talk about it more, I got this book at our local Dollar General for $3! I saw Keegan had another book and when I saw the price I couldn't resist it. Now onto the book.

Hollywood is a collection of photographs taken throughout Hollywood. Keegan Allen grew up in Hollywood and wanted to show the reality of it. He "loves taking other people's pictures" and capturing the truth of Hollywood today, he describes in his book.

I've been to Hollywood a handful of times in my life. Growing up my grandparents lived in California, and whenever we'd visited, we would go to Hollywood. I was just there in September with my mom, actually, and I had all these memories in Hollywood flash back to me while we were there. Ironically enough, one core memory I have was revisited while reading this book, from this specific photograph.

*Photo taken from my phone from the book*

This photo made me freeze in my tracks but also freak out! My mom, grandma and I were in California, specifically in Hollywood, the day that Robin Williams passed away. This was one of the saddest things I experienced. Robin Williams was and will forever be one my favorite actors and his death was heartbreaking.

When I saw this picture in the book all these memories came back to me. Mind you, this death happened in 2014, this book came out in 2018 and I am just reading it for the first time in 2022. All four years apart! Freaky.

We (my mom, Grandma and I) were on a celebrity tour bus when we had passed a sign at a comedy club saying "RIP Robin Williams." I thought it as this place, The Comedy Club, in the photograph but after going through my photos from that trip I learned it was not the same club. It was the Laugh Factory, who had a very similar "RIP Robin Willams" sign outside it.

While going through my photos from 2014 and my trip from September, I have fond memories of Hollywood and California as a whole. So I loved continuing through this book and seeing other familiar sights.

Keegan Allen has a specific taste of his work and it shows in his photographs. Some of his photos are taken in a photo journalist way and others are taking in a portrait type of way. He also has the landscape photos too.

Personally, I love his portraits. The way he captures their souls is amazing. You can really see how people feel through their eyes and Keegan captures that so beautifully.

I give this book a 8/10. Keegan and I have a very different type of eye for photography. Some photos are amazing and others, I could take or leave. Going through his work, I have flashbacks to my numerous trips to Hollywood. For a $3 book, totally worth it.

2/29 books done. Today marks one month into my year challenge. We are still on track but this next month, I need to up my reading and try for three books. Onto book #3!

Sarah ♥︎