Living Like a Runaway.

Lita Ford, the self crowned 'Queen of Metal', started her musical career at the age of 16 when she joined The Runaways whilst still in High School. Following the band's breakup she went on to have a successful solo career as well as collaborating with many many other bands and musicians.

Living Like a Runaway is her memoir and it is an easy and entertaining read.

I love a good rock biography (or 'memoir' in this case) and Lita Ford tells a great story. There's plenty of sex, drugs, rock and roll and outrageous tales to be found here.

I loved reading about Lita and her exploits but parts of her story left me wondering. She is obviously a strong woman yet she has constantly made bad choices in both her professional and personal life. 

The last third of the book concerns her second marriage, divorce and legal proceedings that leave her with no access whatsoever to her two sons. This part of the book is very confusing as there are simply so many unanswered and unexplained things in it. I fully understand her not wanting to go into details about the situation as it is obviously very emotional and complex but there is something so strange about this part of the book that I think it would have been best if she had omitted to write about this part of her life... 

There has been a lot of criticism about this book and I strongly believe that a lot of it is due to the fact that it is written by a woman. Lita lives and works in what is very much a man's world (heavy metal music) and she lives her rock and roll lifestyle to the full... and why shouldn't she?

 Living Like a Runaway isn't a book for the faint hearted but I recommend it if you enjoy rock biography.