Madonna - One Of The Biggest Earners/Egos In The Past 25 Years! - Rated 
An interesting alternative view on Madonna's life from her brother Christopher. I thought it would be a biography on Madoona written by him but it's really HIS Autobiography but remembers to add in any snippett he can of when his life was involved with his sister. He also likes to mention any other famous person he crosses paths with. I was a bit dissapointed with the poor selection of photos in it, there are more of him with his friends rather than of Madonna, which I would've preferred to see. It's still a good read!
I feel for him, as the impression I get is he's been used by her like she's done with so many other people in her life. Saying that, he's aware of it, nurses his wounds and comes back to her for more time and time again, not being able to resist living under her spotlight. He seems a bit scared of her at times, also seems to treat her like a surrogate mother - at her beck and call like a puppy dog and she seems to act like a mother to him, not necessarily in a kind loving way more the telling off and bossy way!
I enjoy reading about Madonna, I find her fascinating but it must be said by the time I'd finished this book I'd had my fill of her! She has a HUGE ego, seems quite immature, spoilt and an emotional cripple - I wish she wasn't, I wanted to read this and like her but yet another book I've read about her and again this is the impression I get. How can she really follow Kabbalah and still act like she is the centre of the universe like a spoilt diva!
This book is easy to read and I enjoyed it. I expect Christopher's earned some well deserved money out of his sister this time!
sad,sad,sad - Rated 
I havn't even read this book but the exerts in the newspapers have been enough to turn me off. Chris is just airing his dirty linen in public ! Petty gripes and basic jealousy have fueled this book. The only one who comes out looking bad is him.
Or, how I let my sister walk all over me - Rated
There's a very true saying that you can choose your friends, but you cannot choose your family. If you could, most modern celebrities would have no family.
And it might as well be the title for "Life With My Sister Madonna," written by the pop singer's brother Christopher Ciccone. While it starts off vaguely interesting, Ciccone's book eventually devolves into a justifiable but long-winded rant about his sister's flaws, which grows more tedious and bland with each passing page. Even dozens of celebrity cameos can't make it interesting.
Christopher and Madonna were raised in a large Italian-American household of siblings and half-siblings, and both became interested in dance at the same time. But while Christopher's interest veered off into painting and design, his sister rapidly became a punky pop singer who used sexuality and shock tactics to get herself publicity. But with fame came a worldview that was increasingly selfcentric.
As Madonna's star rose, Christopher stayed close as her dresser and designer, all throughout her disastrous marriage to Sean Penn, several tours, and up until shortly before the birth of her first child. But Madonna's selfish demands, unreasonable behavior and relationship with second hubby Guy Richie put a wedge between the siblings at last.
The basic message of "Life With My Sister Madonna" is that Madonna is a manipulative, control-freaky, fame-hungry diva who would use anything (including her mother's grave) to get attention, and would stiff and ignore her family whenever it suits her mood.
Well, like we didn't know that already.
In fact, nothing much in this supposedly intimate tell-all is shocking, because virtually all of what is inside has been reported a dozen times before. Lesbian flings, using and dropping people, the "Daddy Chair" for a conveniently-timed conception, her abusive first marriage and many other stories have been reported in books and tabloid media. And despite having been there for it all, Ciccone adds little to them.
There are a few that haven't made the news -- the gay jokes at her wedding, her refusal to pay her brother for his work, her harassing his psychiatrist -- but most of the time Ciccone just gives his personal impressions of people like Madonna's yes-lackey Ingrid Casares. More often we get to hear about Ciccone's not-terribly-interesting love life, artistic pursuits, and how he came out to his family.
And unfortunately Ciccone's writing doesn't improve matters. It starts off tolerably, but takes a sharp nose-dive when Ciccone becomes Madonna's dresser (basically he mopped the sweat off her body and told her how awesome she was), and preens a lot about how invaluable he was to Madonna. By the time Ritchie appears, it's degenerated into a gooey dribble of celebrity name-dropping and complaints, composed in a vaguely stoned manner.
In fact, the most interesting part of the entire book is Ciccone's meetings with various stars such as Warren Beatty, Dolly Parton and Gwyneth Paltrow. Yet even then, there's the underlying feeling that he's telling us to demonstrate, "See? These people are nice, and my sister isn't!"
Which is rather funny, because Ciccone doesn't come across very well himself -- he seems rather brittle and doormattish, allowing a thousand nasty things his sister does to slide because... well, because she's Madonna and she's a star. It's hard to muster much sympathy for someone who allows himself to be ill-treated from day one, merely because his sister is famous.
"Life with My Sister Madonna" is pretty much a long, boring nightmare of divatastic proportions. It promises to be juicy, but after the first bite it dries into a mummy.
Tell us something we don't know, Chris! - Rated 
Christopher Ciccone's alleged tell-all book about his iconic popstar sister, Madonna, is actually anything but! The whole world already knows she's an insecure, manipulative, conniving, controlling, dysfunctional narcissist who will stop at nothing in the pursuit of fame and fortune, so what does that leave us with?
Well, depending on which side of the fence you're sitting, the only valuable insights to be gained in the book are, ironically, about Christopher himself! You don't need a psychology degree to understand that Christopher suffers from a severe inferiority complex and is hopelessly co-dependent! Perhaps, in light of the experiences he describes, this is justified! Perhaps not! One thing is for certain, though: if Madonna had treated me as coldly and dismissively as Christopher claims to have been treated by her, I would have severed my ties with her in a heartbeat and never looked back!
Sadly, though, Christopher falls prey to what can only be described as battered wife syndrome, forgiving the sister he believes has so cruelly mistreated him time and again when he could have drawn a line and forged a life of his own! To this end, it's difficult to empathise with his self-cast role as unwitting victim when walking away would have been a more empowering option!
The flipside of the coin, of course, is that Christopher's version of events is a complete fiction, fuelled as he was at times with cocaine and alcohol! Whatever the story, fleshing out issues with your famous big sister in public is probably not a brilliant career move and I strongly suspect he will come to regret his actions in the future! Fact or fiction, his book will fuel the kind of publicity he has come to resent his sister for! Ironic indeed!
Hilarious and sad - Rated 
This is one of the funniest and saddest books you'll ever read. Sad, because of the sheer lack of any real depth of insight by the hopelessly co-dependent author and hilarious, because of his lack perspective having lived and breathed little else but Madonna since birth! The author has a sensational sense of entitlement and only now seems to have wised up to the fact Madonna has been playing him like a fiddle from the start. It's hard to feel any sympathy for anyone but the massively underwritten remaining members of the Ciccone family.
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