THE film Backbeat has not reached Hong Kong and perhaps never will. It tells the story of Stuart Sutcliffe, who resigned from a struggling rock band to follow his dream of becoming a painter. The rock band was called The Beatles.
In the absence of the film, which received rave reviews elsewhere, you might settle for the book. Backbeat (Pan $85) is the first full biography of Sutcliffe, who died from a brain haemorrhage at the age of 21. It was written by Alan Clayson, described by a British journalist as ''the A J P Taylor of the pop world'', and co-written by Sutcliffe's younger sister, Pauline.
Marilyn Monroe is perhaps the most celebrated and controversial female icon of the 20th century. In his research for Marilyn Monroe The Biography (Arrow $94), Donald Spoto had access to more than 35,000 previously sealed documents and interviewed 150 people who had never spoken on the record.
The Stephen King Story (Warner Books $102) by George Beahm is the first chronological look at the life of the world's most popular storyteller. It examines his college days and his years of struggle as a fledgling writer, until he hit the big time, and the big money, with Carrie.
Marcel Pagnol, the French writer who died in 1976, is best known for works such as Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources both of which have been turned into films. He also wrote two other books of reminiscences, The Time of Secrets and The Time of Love which have been reissued as one paperback (Picador $119). Both books recall Pagnol's schooldays in Provence. He was born there in the small village of Aubagne.
Matilda - A Hong Kong Legacy ($250) has been reprinted. Writer Joyce Stevens Smith tells the story of the territory's most famous hospital, which celebrated its 136th anniversary this year. The story of the hospital is inseperable from that of the lady it was named after, Matilda Lincolne Sharp, an Englishwoman who arrived in Hong Kong on Christmas Day in 1858.
