Instagram Facebook X-twitter Linkedin

Sign Up

Get the latest ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

All , Coverage

All Memoir Coverage

NonfictionMemoir

Wise and witty books for dad

Feature by Harvey Freedenberg

If you’re searching for a gift for dear ol’ dad, two celebrity memoirs and two accounts of unusual personal quests are among our recommendations for a Father’s Day reading list.

It’s especially poignant to read Stuart Scott’s memoir, Every Day I Fight, knowing that not long after the book was finished, the ESPN anchor succumbed to appendiceal cancer at age 49. Writing in a conversational tone, his prose sprinkled with colloquialisms like “dude” and “brotha,” Scott never wavers in his candid account of the struggle with disease that dogged the final seven years of his life, describing how he “refused to curl up and just be a cancer patient,” when he’d head straight from chemotherapy treatments to the gym for a mixed martial arts workout. 

Famous for trademark phrases like “boo-yah” and for bringing hip-hop culture to ESPN in the age of the “raplete,” Scott recounts the highlights of a career that saw him make his meteoric rise from a reporting job in Florence, South Carolina, to ESPN in a mere six years. In the two decades he spent at the network, he shed the perception that he was nothing more than a “catchphrase guy” and established himself as a dedicated, hard-working professional. What makes this memoir most appropriate for Father’s Day is Scott’s account of his fierce love for his two daughters. Even when he was honored with the Jimmy V Perseverance Award in 2014, Scott steadfastly avoided referring to his seven-year fight against cancer as “brave.” But after reading this revealing and courageous memoir, we can.

MOCKING MIDDLE AGE 
If you’re offended by explicit language or jokes from a comedian who admits he’s “not very politically correct, nor do I have a very useful filter,” you may want to pass on Brad Garrett’s When the Balls Drop: How I Learned to Get Real and Embrace Life’s Second Half. But the many fans who enjoyed Garrett’s Emmy Award-winning nine-year role as the big brother on the hit series “Everybody Loves Raymond” will relish a book that blends memoir with pointed and often hilarious musings on the perilous passage through the shoals of middle age.

Garrett shares entertaining stories of his early days in comedy, as he moved from small-town clubs to opening in Las Vegas for performers like Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. He frankly acknowledges his debt to comedian Don Rickles, something that’s evident in the book’s blunt humor.

When it comes to what might loosely be called the self-help portion of the book, Garrett takes dead aim at targets that include vegetarianism, plastic surgery and exercise. He confesses his aversion to monogamy, though at 55 he’s quite content with his 31-year-old girlfriend. “Ultimately, you have to live right for you,” is Garrett’s theme, and from the evidence he presents here, he seems to have done quite well in that regard. 

REACHING FOR THE TOP
Austin newspaper reporter Asher Price’s decision, on the eve of his 34th birthday, to spend a year endeavoring to propel his 6-foot-2-inch, 203-pound frame high enough to dunk a basketball might seem to some a trivial pursuit. But in Price’s capable hands, Year of the Dunk: A Modest Defiance of Gravity, an exploration of what he calls the “limits of human talent,” is an informative, inspiring and often moving story of how life’s tough challenges can motivate us.

Price’s project takes him from a Texas gym, where he’s tutored by 1996 Olympic high jump gold medalist Charles Austin, to the Performance Lab of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York to the office of British zoologist Malcolm Burrows, an expert on the jumping characteristics of an insect known as the froghopper. While crisply explicating arcana like the difference between fast- and slow-twitch muscles, he documents a punishing exercise regimen that helped him shed pounds and gain vertical lift as he strained to reach his goal. He also describes unobtrusively his experience with an aggressive form of testicular cancer six years earlier.

Readers eager to learn whether Price’s project succeeded will have to look to the book for the answer. As is always the case, the outcome is far less interesting than the journey he recounts in this warmhearted story.

TRAVEL FOR THE DARING
Albert Podell’s Around the World in 50 Years: My Adventure to Every Country on Earth is the extraordinary account of a much different personal journey, or rather a series of them: his successful quest to visit each of the world’s 196 countries (plus seven that no longer exist). Podell, who achieved his goal in December 2012, is an engaging and colorful storyteller, and the momentum of this memoir rarely flags.

If you’re looking for a guide to the best all-inclusive resorts of the Caribbean or Europe’s finest five-star restaurants, look elsewhere. Instead, Podell offers tips for eating monkey brains, advice on how to bribe your way past corrupt government officials and a system for comfort-ranking countries based on the quality of their toilet tissue. At heart, this is an adventure story, one that nearly came to a premature end at the hands of a lynch mob on his visit to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in the middle of the 1965 war between India and Pakistan. That’s only one of the brushes with death or serious injury that enlivened Podell’s travels.

Through all these occasionally nightmarish experiences and the daunting logistical challenges he surmounted, Podell never loses his sense of wonder or his dry, punning wit. What’s most impressive is that he logged nearly one-third of his country visits after reaching age 70, including perilous trips to countries like Somalia and North Korea. 

Even if your desire for exotic travel never takes you out of your reading chair, you’ll find Podell a fascinating companion. 

 

This article was originally published in the June 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

If you’re searching for a gift for dear ol’ dad, two celebrity memoirs and two accounts of unusual personal quests are among our recommendations for a Father’s Day reading list.
NonfictionMemoir

The best medicine

Feature by Heather Seggel

2015 BookPage Summer Reads

Laughter can tighten your abs, soothe your mind and increase your empathy. Lighten up your summer reading with two funny new books that have both heart and brains.

When Patricia Marx, a New Yorker staffer, former “SNL” writer and Harvard Lampoon alum, commits to four months of brain fitness, watch out. “I could use some buckling down,” she writes. “My mental skyscape has too many aircraft aloft.” Let’s Be Less Stupid: An Attempt to Maintain My Mental Faculties details her often hilarious forays into IQ testing, online brain games, electrical brain stimulation and mindfulness meditation to combat the regrettable effects of aging. The book is peppered with wacky diagrams drawn by Marx; most are intentionally primitive, but her Millard Fillmore, on a list of “Presidents to Forget,” is surprisingly on the money. There are also a variety of puzzles and quizzes; only some are real, but all are funny. 

Marx’s efforts don’t always go as planned—she elects to learn Cherokee for the benefits of being bilingual, but confuses it with Navajo, the language she intended to learn. She still makes impressive gains for the time invested, and offers tips for those who want to give it a try. Crossword mavens may want to pick up a sudoku, or a Cherokee phrasebook, as it’s the process of learning something new that builds brain strength.

Since one of the meditation techniques mentioned here is laughter, merely reading this book could help your hippocampus feel the burn. Start with Marx’s suggestions, then plot your personal brain boot camp since sadly, liposuction is not an option for shaping up an aging brain.

Like diners at a popular Italian restaurant chain, readers of popular suspense writer Lisa Scottoline and her daughter Francesca Serritella enjoy the sense that “when you’re here, you’re family.” Does This Beach Make Me Look Fat?, the duo’s latest collection, is true to form, featuring riffs and one-liners about relationships, fitness, work and family traditions. (Christmas ornaments that have seen better days or that memorialize beloved pets? “If you’re maimed or dead, you’re on our tree.”) 

This book—the sixth from the mother-daughter team—brings the sad news that Mary, the family matriarch who figures in many of Scottoline’s funniest true and fictional stories, has died. The loss leaves Serritella more reflective about life and love just as she re-enters the dating pool, but she recalls venting about her love life to her grandmother one day and receiving this reply, written on a dry erase board: “Motto: Who needs it?” (When Mary realized that people were taking photos of her dry-erase messages to preserve them for posterity, she began writing things like, “Eat sh*t.”) Scottoline notes that the richness of her mother’s love unexpectedly made the grieving process more bearable. 

Take this collection to the beach (Spoiler: It doesn’t make you look fat after all!) and consider it a drama-free family reunion.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Laughter can tighten your abs, soothe your mind and increase your empathy. Lighten up your summer reading with two funny new books that have both heart and brains.

NonfictionMemoir

Stirring modern-day quests

Feature by Alice Cary

2015 BookPage Summer Reads

Don’t miss these superbly written books that combine intriguing history with memorable real-life escapades.

Discovering a Golden Age pirate ship is “the hardest and rarest and most exciting thing an explorer could find underwater, or maybe in all the world.” That’s exactly the mesmerizing story that unfolds in Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship. Robert Kurson, author of the best-selling Shadow Divers, makes readers feel as though they’re aboard these search vessels.

John Chatterton of Shadow Divers is now part of a trio trying to find a 17th-century pirate shipwreck in the Dominican Republic. Joseph Bannister was a respected English sea captain who went rogue, stealing his ship, the Golden Fleece, which the British Navy nearly sank in a fierce battle in 1686.

Chatterton, partner John Mattera and financier Tracy Bowden are determined to locate the wreck, but they clash over where to look. Meanwhile, other treasure hunters are breathing down their necks, and changing government policies threaten to shut down their mission.

Their elaborate hunt involves historical detective work on multiple continents and a powerful magnetometer that detects the presence of metals used in cannonballs. Kurson’s page-turning account reads like a novel as the search threatens to implode, with exhaustion creeping in, tempers flaring and even a few guns firing. 

The hunters finally succeed when they begin to think like pirates, treating readers to ringside seats on a modern Treasure Island. 

HITTING THE DUSTY TRAIL
For another contemporary adventurer, wanderlust was bred into his bones. When Rinker Buck was young, his father took the whole family on a covered-wagon trip from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. At age 17, Buck and his 15-year-old brother rebuilt a Piper Cub and became the youngest aviators to fly coast to coast.

In 2011, Buck decided to travel the 2,000-mile Oregon Trail from Missouri to Oregon in a restored covered wagon pulled by three mules. He chronicles his “completely lunatic notion” in the wonderfully engaging The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey. 

He’s accompanied by his brother, Nick, an expert horseman and mechanic. Nick is seemingly the ideal partner, except that he and Buck are the quintessential Odd Couple, with Buck being fastidious Felix and Nick sloppy Oscar .

Throughout, Buck skillfully weaves historical anecdotes into their misadventures, such as the story of Narcissa Whitman, the first white woman to cross the Rockies, whom Buck regards as his “guardian angel of the trail.”

Buck definitely needs an angel, sheepishly admitting after the first night that the wagon is overloaded, forcing him to leave behind cherished items like his Brooks Brothers bathrobe, bocce balls and shoeshine kit. 

Buck set out “to learn to live with uncertainty,” and in the end he and his brother fully embrace the experience, beautifully navigating a pioneer expedition on 21st-century terms.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Don’t miss these superbly written books that combine intriguing history with memorable real-life escapades.
NonfictionMemoir

The cold hard truth

Feature by Deborah Hopkinson

2015 BookPage Summer Reads

It’s no surprise that Alfred Lansing’s 1959 book, Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, is still in print. The harsh reality of survival near the Poles continues to make gripping reading, especially from the safety of our own homes. 

In 81 Days Below Zero, journalist Brian Murphy pieces together the improbable story of a young World War II pilot named Leon Crane. On December 21, 1943, Crane set out from Alaska’s Ladd Field on a test flight in a B-24D Liberator bomber. On a whim, co-pilot Crane grabbed two packs of matches, knowing that the pilot had a fondness for smoking a pipe. That quick action might just have saved his life. 

Somewhere near the Yukon River, a failed engine and elevator controls sent the plane spiraling toward the ground. Crane managed to bail out, becoming the only member of the five-man crew to survive the fiery crash. 

Crane’s situation was dire. His flight suit was intact and he had his old Boy Scout knife, but he’d forgotten his mittens on the plane. Crane’s first act was to grab piles of driftwood near a frozen river to spell out a huge SOS in the snow. But he soon realized that without a last-minute radio call, rescuers would have little idea of their location or where to search. A week after the crash, hunger drove Crane to a decision: His only chance of survival would be to walk out of the wilderness.

Using military records and interviews, Murphy has meticulously pieced together details of Crane’s trek, as well as later efforts to identify the remains of his fellow crew members. The result is a riveting tale of survival. It seems that Crane, who died in 2002, seldom spoke about what happened in 1943 and was always reluctant to be seen as a hero. Murphy’s account brings his inspiring story to light. 

Our second survival story is a first-person account by one of the lucky few to survive a sinking ship. Matt Lewis, author of Last Man Off, was just 23 in 1998 when he joined the crew of the Sudur Havid, a South African fishing boat. Lewis signed on as a scientific observer to ensure compliance with fishing regulations and watch for endangered albatrosses. A trained marine biologist, he was pleased to have a job in his field, even if his first sight of the rusty 30-year old boat gave him pause: “That’s the boat I’m living on for the next three months. Is it too late to change my mind?”

The boat left Cape Town on April 6, 1998. Two months later, on June 6, a couple of hundred miles from South Georgia Island in the southern Atlantic, the Sudur Havid began taking on water in a violent storm. The crew had no choice but to abandon ship. Without leadership from those in charge, Lewis stepped up to organize the escape onto three life rafts and was the last man to leave the ship. 

What followed was a grueling ordeal: Of the 38 men on board, 17 perished. Based on Lewis’ own recollections and testimony at the South African inquiry, Last Man Off is a sobering reminder of the power of the sea.

 

This article was originally published in the July 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

It’s no surprise that Alfred Lansing’s 1959 book, Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, is still in print. The harsh reality of survival near the Poles continues to make gripping reading, especially from the safety of our own homes. 
NonfictionMusicMemoirBiography

Following the beat of their own drummers

Feature by Henry L. Carrigan Jr.

The lives of musical greats continue to fascinate us, and this fall once again features biographies and memoirs of key players, from the producer credited with inventing rock ’n’ roll to a woman at the forefront of feminist rock.

On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash got together in Memphis’ Sun Studio for an impromptu jam session. Behind the console was Sam Phillips, the man who not only discovered Presley, Cash and Lewis, but who also dreamed of bringing together black and white voices in the studio in a deeply divided South. Peter Guralnick, the dean of rock historians, draws on extensive interviews from his 25-year friendship with Phillips in the epic, elegant and crisply told Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ’n’ Roll. Guralnick charts Phillips’ path from his birth near Florence, Alabama, to the founding of Sun Records—and chronicles his enduring contributions to rock ’n’ roll. When he produced Rufus Thomas’ version of “Hound Dog,” for example, Phillips thought it didn’t live up to Big Mama Thornton’s original, but “Rufus carried off his performance with genuine conviction—the one unwavering test Sam applied to any material he let out of the studio.” In the end, as Guralnick points out, what drove Phillips was his dream of allowing the voices he had heard singing chants in the cotton fields to express themselves in their own way. “[M]usic was not confined to the drawing room . . . there was great art to be discovered in the experience of those who had been marginalized and written off because of their race, their class, or their lack of formal education.” 

LONG AS I CAN SEE THE LIGHT
John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival serves as a cracking good storyteller in Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music. Born in El Cerrito, California, in 1945, Fogerty sought music as both escape and solace after his parents’ divorce. He traces the early incarnations of Creedence and the band’s rise to the top of the charts in 1969 with “Proud Mary” and “Born on the Bayou.” He also offers backstory on his lyrics: “Bad Moon Rising,” for instance, grew out of hearing people talk in astrological lingo such as “I’m a Virgo with Libra rising.” Although Creedence was flying high in the late 1960s and early ’70s, the group soon descended into an inferno of contentious legal battles. Fogerty expresses his anger and disappointment with bandmates Stu Cook and Doug Clifford, and for the first time shares what he believes were the outlandish courtroom tactics of lawyers who knew nothing about music. After a period away from the public eye, he has immersed himself in songwriting once again—“all good songs engage you because they get you to feel something”—and emerged thankful for the journey, even the hard parts.

THE LOVE YOU SAVE
Rolling Stone writer Steve Knopper chronicles the King of Pop’s rise to fame in the compulsively readable MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson. Drawing on 400 interviews with friends, family and others, Knopper traces Jackson’s musical genius from his early days with the Jackson 5 through his out-of-this-world solo success with “Beat It” and “Thriller.” When Jackson met Quincy Jones in the mid-1970s, he saw Jones as a father figure who could take the place of the abusive Joe Jackson, and by the end of the ’70s, Jackson was working with Jones, moving toward a solo career and developing his signature dance moves. With the release of videos for “Billie Jean” and “Thriller,” he successfully “integrated radio and MTV,” Knopper writes. Through much of the 1990s and early 2000s, Jackson lived under the shadow of child sexual abuse charges, and he sank into oblivion from prescription drug use before his death in 2009. Still, for nearly three decades, he was “supernaturally graceful, the rare show-business Renaissance man who could sing, dance, and write songs.” 

PAINTED FROM MEMORY
Unlike most traditional memoirs, Elvis Costello’s Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink eschews any narrative structure, moving freely out from his childhood in Liverpool and London, where he accompanied his father to dance halls, soaking up the chords and vibes. In school, he managed to talk a couple of friends out of an “unhealthy fascination with the music of Emerson, Lake & Palmer” and turn them on to the acoustic music then flowing out of Laurel Canyon. Costello mulls over his associations with musicians from Emmylou Harris to Kris Kristofferson, discussing the influence each has had on him. A prolific songwriter, he also shares insights into the composition of his songs. For “Allison,” which is based on the imagined life of a grocery checkout cashier, he writes, “I have no explanation for why I was able to stand outside reality and imagine such a scene as described in the song and to look so far into the future.” Costello’s aim is true in these peripatetic musings about his life and music.

MODERN GIRL
Guitarist Carrie Brownstein co-founded the group Sleater-Kinney, pushing the boundaries of punk and indie rock and emerging as a central figure of the riot grrrl movement. In Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, she probes her life with an honesty that is at once painful and spirited. Growing up in a suburb of Seattle, Brownstein attended her first concert—Madonna—in fifth grade, a “moment I’ll never forget, a total elation that momentarily erased any outline of darkness.” By the time she was in high school, she was alienated from her parents and immersed in Bikini Kill, whose music provided a haven from the turmoil of her teenage life. She and Corin Tucker eventually formed Sleater-Kinney and made a name for themselves in the Seattle scene and around the world. Brownstein bubbles over with fiercely blunt insights about the male-dominated music business: “[P]ersona for a man is equated with power; persona for a woman makes her less of a woman.” When Sleater-Kinney broke up in 2006, Brownstein went on to co-write, produce and star in the television show “Portlandia.” She declares that, for her, performing and playing and living the life of a working artist constitutes her search for a home: “the unlit firecracker I carried around inside me in my youth . . . found a home in music.”

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The lives of musical greats continue to fascinate us, and this fall once again features biographies and memoirs of key players, from the producer credited with inventing rock ’n’ roll to a woman at the forefront of feminist rock.
NonfictionMemoir

Unwrapping holiday hilarity

Feature by Lily McLemore

The holidays can be a bit stressful, but luckily, laughter is an excellent stress reliever! So crack open one of the three books below and crack up around the Christmas tree.

HILARIOUS HOLIDAY ANGST
Nothing says the holidays like a nice fire, a warm cup of cocoa and getting into a massive fight with your family. Jen Mann, author of the wickedly funny People I Want to Punch in the Throat, feels your holiday-fueled pain. In her latest collection of essays, Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat, she gleefully skewers Santa and all of his obnoxious Christmas acolytes. Mann grew up in a family of “holiday overachievers” (her mother has hundreds of Santa figurines), but even as a child, she was done with the excessive cheer and holiday perfectionism. In her book, she lambastes the humblebrag-filled Christmas letter, overzealous carolers and parents bent on giving their precious ones the perfect holiday. With Mann as my companion in animosity, I can feel a little less guilty about hating the holidays and dismiss it all with a good laugh.

BASSOON SOLO
You probably recognize Rainn Wilson as the galling Dwight Schrute from “The Office,” the hugely popular NBC TV show about the lives of a bunch of paper-pushers in Pennsylvania (indeed, “Dwight” writes the foreword), but Wilson delves deeper with The Bassoon King: My Life in Art, Faith, and Idiocy. Born as a “large-headed, pale horror” to admittedly odd, proto-hippie parents (hence the name “Rainn”) in Seattle, Wilson blossomed into a star high school athlete and had lots of girlfriends. Just kidding: He became a Dungeons & Dragons master and took up the bassoon. Filled with genuinely fascinating stories about his unusual upbringing, his entrée into the comedy world and his thoughtfully developed views on life, Wilson’s book is an unsurprisingly funny and surprisingly poignant entry in the cavalcade of celebrity memoirs. 

WISECRACKING
Jason Gay, the Wall Street Journal’s blithe and beloved sports columnist, offers up some excellent, if nontraditional, life advice in his hilarious Little Victories: Perfect Rules for Imperfect Living. Based on his popular “Rules” column, this book is filled with, as he writes, “both practical and ridiculous” advice, like his belief that everyone should allot a little more money to flowers, that one should never rent a PT Cruiser while on vacation and that the goal of attaining total happiness is total hogwash. Gay’s tidbits of hard-earned, unexpected advice and musings are truly hilarious, but as he reflects on his relationships with his loved ones and the big moments in his life, they’re also incredibly touching. Gay is a gifted writer, and I would say this book is a big victory. 

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The holidays can be a bit stressful, but luckily, laughter is an excellent stress reliever! So crack open one of the three books below and crack up around the Christmas tree.
NonfictionMemoirCookbooksBiography

Books for the well-read gentleman

Feature by Martin Brady

Sports heroes, military giants, one handsome movie star and savory recipes to satisfy even the burliest man’s appetite—these are the hooks that drive this holiday season’s selection of gift books for guys.

INTO THE WAR ROOM
Best known for his novel Forrest Gump, Winston Groom is also a well-published historian. His latest project, The Generals: Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and the Winning of World War II, is a multi-tiered yet wholly accessible examination of the intertwined careers of three brilliant American soldiers: George Marshall, George Patton and Douglas MacArthur. All three were born in the 1880s, gained critical experience in World War I and became key players in World War II. Groom outlines each man’s personal life and military exploits with special focus on the Second World War, where Marshall excelled as an army administrator, Patton as a fiery commander of forces on the European front and MacArthur as an inspirational leader in the Pacific theater. Groom balances the strictly biographical data with well-researched historical accounts, and along the way he offers invaluable perspectives on the world politics that critically influenced his subjects’ lives.

PIGGING OUT
Accomplished author and competitive hunter Jennifer L.S. Pearsall serves up Praise the Pig: Loin to Belly, Shoulder to Ham—Pork-​Inspired Recipes for Every Meal, a comprehensive collection of more than 50 pork recipes. Pearsall’s culinary celebration begins with a thorough overview of pork cuts and styles of preparation and cooking (roasting, smoking, etc.), plus an excellent discussion of bacon brands and pork-savvy kitchen tips. Then come the recipes, with inviting full-color photos, starting with Chili-Rubbed, Salsa-Braised Chops with Spiced Rice, moving to Roasted Pork Tenderloin Chili and ending with Connecticut Clam Chowder. In between are hearty sandwiches, soups (porkestrone!), breakfast dishes, puddings, mac and cheese variations and appetizers to die for, including a Bacon and Roasted Corn Salsa that demands the immediate gathering of ingredients. No self-respecting pork lover could ever refuse this book of porcine delights.

MAN BEHIND THE MUSTACHE
Man’s man Burt Reynolds has had a hit-or-miss acting career. Yet his life has certainly been eventful, as his new memoir, But Enough About Me, clearly attests. Penned with veteran author Jon Winokur, Reynolds’ book is frankly revealing but rarely mean-spirited. For example, Burt’s short-lived marriages to Judy Carne and Loni Anderson were admittedly rocky, but he always takes the high road when he can. More enlightening are his reminiscences of his close friendships with Bette Davis and Dinah Shore, both women of substance whom Burt cherished. Coverage here is chronologically ordered, from Reynolds’ youthful days as a Florida football star to his early acting adventures in New York City to his arrival in California in the 1950s, where small television roles eventually led to feature films, including the critically acclaimed Deliverance (1972) and Boogie Nights (1997), for which he received an Oscar nomination. The enduring Reynolds turns 80 in February, and his surprisingly entertaining show-biz retrospective should find a wide audience.

HEAVYWEIGHT HERO
Journalist Davis Miller’s obsession with Muhammad Ali has spanned from his childhood to the present day, and his book Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts represents the culmination of that relationship. The heavyweight champ first inspired Miller when he was a sickly, depressed child. As a teen, Miller had an opportunity to spar with The Greatest, an event that spawned a short news account for Sports Illustrated and helped point him toward a writing career. In this latest testament to his hero, Miller blends new material on his more recent experiences with Ali with reworked excerpts from his previous writings, presenting what he believes to be “the all-time most intimate and quietly startling portrait of Ali’s day-by-day life, as well as the only deeply detailed look at his enormously rich years after boxing.” Ali, now 74 and courageously battling Parkinson’s disease, remains one of the great figures of 20th-century sports, and this profile finds the boxer’s playful good nature and magnanimous personal spirit intact.

TALLYING THE SCORE
Veteran sportswriter Gary Myers recounts the careers of the game’s marquee quarterbacks in Brady vs Manning: The Untold Story of the Rivalry That Transformed the NFL. Myers successfully achieves a dual biography of these iconic figures, focusing not only on what the pair have meant to the National Football League but also what they’ve meant to each other. The relationship between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning emerges here as one of keen mutual respect—both on and off the field—despite the differing nature of their media personas. When Myers isn’t connecting the dots of the Brady-Manning friendship, he serves up thorough profiles of their separate lives, including their college football careers and their arrival on the pro scene: Manning as the coveted #1 draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 1998 and Brady as an unheralded 6th-round pick of the New England Patriots in 2000. There are no shocking revelations here, just good information, solid quotes from important football folks and interesting viewpoints on two important athletes.

 

This article was originally published in the December 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Sports heroes, military giants, one handsome movie star and savory recipes to satisfy even the burliest man’s appetite—these are the hooks that drive this holiday season’s selection of gift books for guys.
NonfictionMemoirAnimals

Amazing animals

Feature by Linda M. Castellitto

Whether you need a gift for a staunch dog- or cat-person, or someone who treasures all creatures, here are three perfect picks! Discover a cult poet's fondness for felines, rediscover the work of a famed dog portraitist or learn more about sharing space and interacting with animals. 

FELINE FAMILY
It's likely that Charles Bukowski’s On Cats will prove surprising as well as captivating. After all, the late writer's fans admired his macho-hooligan persona as much as his poems and novels. But with this book of newly published work, the word is out: The man really loved cats. In poems and essays, he shares his admiration, frustration, inspiration and adoration of his cats; he and his wife lived with between four and nine, depending on how many strays they took in. He declares, "A cat is only ITSELF. . . .This is a representative of the strong forces of LIFE that won't let go." And, regarding his art: "Writing is also my cat. Writing lets me face it." Photos throughout show the author's delight in his pets—which just might inspire cat-lovers to become Bukowski fans, and vice versa. On Cats would be a meaningful gift for either, or both.

DARLING DOGS, REVISITED
A flip through Dogs As I See Them is all it will take to convince readers of Lucy Dawson's immense talent . . . and the introduction will inspire dismay when it reveals that Dawson is no longer with us. But as Ann Patchett admiringly notes in the foreword, this book marks the re-publication of a book of drawings "as timely and relevant today as they were when Dawson drew them in England in the 1930s." Dawson was known for her dog-portraits, sold in books; as playing and post cards; and as commissions (including a Christmas card for the Royal Family). It's easy to see why her work captivated then, and why it remains so vibrant today: She wholly captured her subjects in all of their sleepy, hyper, floppy, panting, bone-gnawing glory. The artist's brief stories about the dogs add context and fun. Indeed, there's "upsidedownish" Nanki Poo, "conscientious" George and regal Wanda, who "dislikes [music] of a jazzy nature." Dog-lovers and art aficionados will be thrilled at the chance to discover (or rediscover) Dawson's singular talent. 

ANIMAL PLANET
It's an animal-lover's fantasy: Author Tracey Stewart lives with four dogs, two pigs, three rabbits, a hamster, a parrot, two guinea pigs and two fish, plus her two kids and her husband Jon (yes, that Jon Stewart, former host of “The Daily Show”). Tracey, a former veterinary tech and newly minted proprietor of a rescued-farm-animal sanctuary, shares her wisdom and experience with our furry, scaly and feathered friends in Do Unto Animals. Her passionate belief in the value and power of caring for animals resonates through this super-smart, heartfelt book, beautifully illustrated by Lisel Ashlock, which combines memoir, education and advocacy. For example, "Dog-ese," "Cat-ese," and "The Real Pig Latin" help us speak their (body) language, and Stewart's take on backyard animals is healthy and helpful (she calls them "The Landscaping Team"). Her knowledge of farm animals is likewise helpful and impressive. Animal lovers of all stripes will find this an engaging, useful guide, and a source of boundless inspiration.

Whether you need a gift for a staunch dog- or cat-person, or someone who treasures all creatures, here are three perfect picks! Discover a cult poet's fondness for felines, rediscover the work of a famed dog portraitist or learn more about sharing space and interacting with animals.
NonfictionMemoirBlack HistoryAmerican History

Perspectives on the road to equality

Feature by John T. Slania

Racism. Oppression. Violence. Faith. Hopefulness. These themes have defined the black experience in America from the moment slaves touched shore. As African Americans continue their struggle, three new books cast fresh light on the journey from slavery to freedom.

A LOST MEMOIR FINALLY FOUND
Austin Reed’s birth certificate states that he was born a free man in New York, unique for a person of color in the 1820s. But Reed’s struggles in the pre-Civil War era made him far from free. Never before published, his remarkable 150-year-old autobiography, The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict, shows that even in the North, hatred and prejudice made life intolerable for African Americans.

Reed’s handwritten account chronicles years spent as an indentured servant and petty thief whose crimes led to turns in a juvenile reformatory and later, prison. Following the death of his father, Reed was made an indentured servant to pay off his family’s debts. When he burned down his master’s house, he was sent to a reformatory, where he was subjected to hard labor. But he also learned to read and write, allowing him to create this fascinating account of his experiences. As an adult, crimes of theft and larceny would return him to prison, where he was beaten and left in solitary confinement.

The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict is believed to be the earliest account of prison life written by an African American. Authenticated by a team of scholars, it helps broaden the historical context of the black experience in America.

BAD SEEDS
Author Karen Branan is forced by two events to confront her prejudices: the present-day birth of her granddaughter and a century-old lynching in a small Southern town. The birth involves a baby girl born to Branan’s white son and his African-American girlfriend. Brenan’s first instinct is to recoil, a reaction that can, in part, be traced to her upbringing in Georgia. It is there, in the town of Hamilton, that four African Americans were lynched in 1912 for their suspected role in the murder of a white man. The sheriff at the time was Branan’s great-grandfather.

Branan, a veteran journalist, decides to confront her family’s past, and her own beliefs, by researching the lynching. It forms the basis for her cathartic memoir, The Family Tree. The book reveals some dark truths. First, the murdered white man, Brenan’s distant cousin, had a history of assaulting black women. He was found shot dead after pursuing a 14-year-old black girl. As the case unfolded, Branan’s great-grandfather, the sheriff, arrested a woman and three men, all black. Then he offered no resistance when a white mob dragged the four suspects from jail and hanged them from a tree. Even more startling is that Branan discovers she is related to one of the lynching victims.

The Family Tree is a fascinating account of a white author’s struggle to examine lynching, racism and the violent crimes of her own family. She strives for healing the only way she can: by uncovering the truth.

AN INFLUENTIAL VOICE
When African Americans began the Great Migration from the South to Northern cities, many found opportunities in Chicago: employment in factories, steel mills and stockyards, a chance to own a home and greater social acceptance. The city’s South Side became a black metropolis teeming with shops, restaurants, nightclubs and churches. Providing news to this emerging group was the newly created Chicago Defender, a black-owned newspaper.

Ethan Michaeli traces the growth of this groundbreaking newspaper in The Defender, showing how the Chicago Defender grew to become a cultural and economic force in not only Chicago, but also the nation. Smuggled copies made their way to the Jim Crow South, providing blacks with much-needed news of the civil rights movement. A team of national correspondents from the Chicago Defender was there to cover the lynching of Emmett Till, the violence against the Freedom Riders and King’s crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. And the newspaper played an important role in supporting and promoting the emerging black middle class.

The Defender is a thorough and well-researched account of an important voice in black history.

 

This article was originally published in the February 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Racism. Oppression. Violence. Faith. Hopefulness. These themes have defined the black experience in America from the moment slaves touched shore. As African Americans continue their struggle, three new books cast fresh light on the journey from slavery to freedom.
NonfictionFictionPop CultureMemoirFood & Drink

Solutions to the dilemma of what to get Dad

Feature by Keith Herrell

Dads can be notoriously tough to buy for, so Father’s Day brings a fair amount of angst for gift-giving sons and daughters. Here are five books to spare you from buying a necktie or golf balls and make you a family hero.

KING OF THE COURT
We’ve all said it—especially harried parents torn between workplace and home, with precious little time to themselves: “If only I had the time to practice, I could get really good at (fill in the blank).” 

In Late to the Ball, Gerald Marzorati recounts how, at age 60, with work and family responsibilities winding down, he fills in the blank with competitive tennis. Marzorati, formerly editor of The New York Times Magazine, knows what he is up against in his quest to make the leap from decent club player to a force on the national senior circuit: lifelong players with extensive backgrounds in the game, many with international experience. But he stubbornly (and at no small expense) makes the effort. There’s the requisite coach along the way (more than one, in fact), but also cameos by a psychotherapist, a biomechanics expert and an ill-fated friend, all of whom have lessons to impart. Marzorati soaks them all in, but in the end—and to the reader’s benefit—appears to succeed just as much in improving his perspective on life as in perfecting his backhand. 

STOPPING THE BOMB
Don’t be surprised if, partway through The Winter Fortress, you get the urge to flip to the back cover and make absolutely sure that it’s a nonfiction book. This tale of a daredevil mission to slow Germany’s World War II progress toward an atomic bomb could only be conjured by a master storyteller. Neal Bascomb’s a master all right, but the events he describes in fly-on-the-wall fashion—working from recently declassified documents, firsthand interviews and previously unseen diaries and letters—are true. In 1942, the Nazis were bent on developing a nuclear capability, and a fortress-like facility in Norway was crucial to their goal. Making incredible sacrifices, commando teams made up largely of Norwegian patriots battled harsh conditions and nearly insurmountable odds in their quest to derail the Germans’ plans. It’s part spy tale, part action-adventure yarn as the saboteurs strap on skis and undertake the mission of a lifetime. We know how it will turn out, but there are plenty of surprises along the way in a book that, once you reach the midpoint, is almost impossible to put down.

BOTTOMS UP
Taking on a subject near to almost any dad’s heart, The United States of Beer: A Freewheeling History of the All-American Drink is a light, informative read that goes down easily on a hot summer day. Author Dane Huckelbridge clearly loves his subject, and it’s obvious he had fun drinking his way through the necessary (really it is, Dear) research. And you’ll get quite an education as Huckelbridge starts in New England and works his way across the country, with shoutouts to beloved brands such as Iron City, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Anchor Steam Beer. He traces beer’s roots in other cultures, notes that it came over on the Mayflower and describes how, for a time, beer battled with whiskey before emerging as America’s alcoholic beverage of choice. Breweries large and small are toured, and there are numerous history mini-lessons along the way, with such figures as Ben Franklin and George Washington making appearances. And who knew that Gen. George Armstrong Custer unwittingly played a role in the early mass marketing of beer? So it almost goes without saying: Tell Dad to enjoy this book with a glass of beer close by.

SUMMONING THE FORCE
Perhaps you’ve noticed that the world has a few problems. But Cass R. Sunstein is here with The World According to Star Wars to tell you the Force can fix them, along with taking off those extra five pounds and curing the common cold. OK, just kidding on those last two—but Sunstein, a Harvard professor and behavioral economics expert when he’s not geeking out with the Imperial March playing in the background, is a true believer and then some when it comes to the wildly successful Star Wars films. In Sunstein’s view, fortunately written in an un-professorial tone, the movies unify people, connect generations (got that, Dad?) and form a modern myth that exists as a “rousing tribute to human freedom.” And just to seal the Father’s Day deal, there are enough “I am your father” references to sustain a drinking game, and there’s an entire chapter (this book calls them “episodes”) entitled “Fathers and Sons.” So sure, you can just read that one chapter. But trust the Force—you’ll enjoy Sunstein’s musings all the way through.

SECRETS OF THE PAST
The world cannot end in The House of Secrets, because it’s billed as the first in a series. The conspiracy thriller is co-written by Brad Meltzer and Tod Goldberg, with Meltzer getting top billing—that’s understandable, as his credits include multiple bestselling novels, plus graphic novels and children’s books. He also hosts “Brad Meltzer’s Decoded” on the History Channel and “Brad Meltzer’s Lost History” on H2. Novelist Goldberg (the Burn Notice series) is no slouch either, so they have combined for a fast-paced novel that keeps the reader guessing all the way through. After all, how can you go wrong when you start off with a dead body (oops, make that two!) that has a Bible implanted in its chest and is dressed in a Revolutionary War uniform? The task of making sense of all this falls to the daughter of a TV host who’s a lot like, well, Brad Meltzer. And Meltzer (the real one) says the book’s premise is based on fact. So buy it for Dad, but don’t be surprised if you see him acting strangely as he turns the pages.

 

This article was originally published in the June 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Dads can be notoriously tough to buy for, so Father’s Day brings a fair amount of angst for gift-giving sons and daughters. Here are five books to spare you from buying a necktie or golf balls and make you a family hero.
NonfictionMusicMemoir

The defining sounds of a generation

Feature by Hilli Levin

The nostalgia wave rippling through today’s culture may seem troublesome to some, but music has always been an art form that builds upon and pays homage to what has come before. Five new books chronicle some of the most earth-shaking, history-making artists who changed our cultural landscape. From the story behind the sweet and soulful sounds of Motown to Bruce Springsteen’s long-awaited memoir, each is worthy of a spot alongside any record collection.

THE LEGEND OF MOTOWN
On my first trip to Detroit this year, the only site on my list was the original Motown headquarters. There are many remarkable things to see in that venerable building, but for me, the most astonishing was the size of the garage recording studio where some of the biggest songs in the American musical canon were put to tape: It’s tiny! But that studio is a powerful testament to the magic of Berry Gordy’s larger-than-life empire, and Adam White’s Motown does an incredible job of examining just what happened in the building that housed America’s most influential record label. This beautifully packaged book holds a staggering amount of interviews with the label’s influencers and recording artists along with absolutely stunning photographs from all of the eras and iterations of Motown, from Tamla in 1959 to the opening of Motown: The Musical in 2013. Go behind the scenes with Motown artists like Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder and The Jackson 5, starting with their discoveries, first records and those early days on tour. While this is an all-out celebration of African-American music, glitz, glamour and Motown’s cultural impact, White also highlights the abysmal state of the political landscape during the label’s rise in chapters like “We Don’t Serve Coloured People,” which makes the incredible success, resilience and power of the Motown sound shine that much brighter. 


The Temptations perform their signature hit, "My Girl," in 1965. From L to R: Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams, Paul Williams and David Ruffin. Motown Records Archives. Courtesy of the EMI Archive Trust and Universal Music Group.

SATISFACTION SONG BY SONG
Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon sum up the reason why the Rolling Stones are still one of the biggest bands in the world in their introduction to The Rolling Stones All the Songs: “The music of the Stones comes across as authentic because it is the music of a never-ending party, of a categorical refusal to grow old.” Their ambitious tome delivers on the title’s claim, opening with a brief history of the band’s formation in London in 1962 and wading through their entire catalog in a whopping 704 pages. Of course, there’s no pressure to read from cover to cover—fans are sure to go straight for their favorite songs and hop around from there. With fun facts “For Stones Addicts,” standalone “Portraits” of important Stones collaborators like Ian Stewart (the oft-forgotten “Sixth Stone”), along with full details on the writing and recording process as well as the reception of each track, Margotin and Guesdon make what could be a bit of a slog into a rip-roaring journey through the discography of the kings of cool. 

THE FREEWHEELIN' BARD
Is there any songwriter worthier of a sumptuous lyrics collection than the inimitable Bob Dylan? The Lyrics: 1961-2012 is an updated edition of the stunning 2014 volume with new edits supplied by Dylan himself on dozens of his classic songs. Running chronologically from his early Greenwich Village days to 2012’s “Tempest,” this collection is comprised of the lyrics from 31 Dylan albums. Full-page photos and a few facsimiles of his handwritten drafts—there were quite a few interesting changes to “Blowin’ in the Wind”—put his poetic mastery on full display. 

With more than 100 million records sold, Dylan is not only one of our most artful songwriters, but one of the bestselling of all time. A great coffee-table book, this could easily provide hours of study, or you could just grab your favorite Dylan record, put the needle down and read along.

YOU WANT A REVOLUTION?
There have likely been more books written about the Beatles than any other figures in music history, and when the field is this crowded, it’s hard to find a read that stands out. But Steve Turner’s Beatles ’66: The Revolutionary Year is a wonderfully compelling look into the year that changed everything for the band. By 1966, the hysteria of Beatlemania and the strain of public life had taken quite a toll. After their joyless show at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, George suggested, and the rest of the band readily agreed, that it was time to quit the touring life for good. From there, John, Paul, George and Ringo took control—pushing boundaries in the studio and grappling with more adult issues in their lyrics in order to “stretch the limits of pop.” Turner immerses readers in their lives: the art and media they were consuming, the drugs they were taking, the creative breakthrough they were seeking—all of which resulted in “Revolver,” which Turner argues is the most innovative and compelling album the Beatles ever recorded. A chronology of the year’s historical events and a selection of each member’s favorite songs from the period round out this entertaining study.

A TRAMP LIKE US
Readers, I’ll admit: I am late to the Bruce Springsteen fandom. Maybe it was the macho stage histrionics or his cheesy nickname (“The Boss”) that kept me away. But after my first three-hour Springsteen show, it made sense. His anticipated memoir, Born to Run, is similar to his live shows, inviting you along on an emotional marathon. Herein lies the Springsteen I’ve been hoping to find: raw and poignant with plenty of punk attitude. Some will undoubtedly be surprised by the amount of casually crass and sexed-up passages, but the cheeky Springsteen makes no apologies. Superfans will love the details of his musical beginnings, the fledgling days of the E Street Band and his recording process for each of his records, but he doesn’t leave out the less glamorous details of sleeping rough and scraping by for decades. In passages like his account of seeing Elvis for the first time—“THE BARRICADES HAVE BEEN STORMED!! A HERO HAS COME.”—hearing the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and the life-altering birth of his first child, his writing mirrors his rock ’n’ roll preacher stage-speak. But his true gifts as a writer come through in the quieter passages that lay bare his struggles with deep depression, the scars of his Catholic upbringing and his tumultuous relationship with his mentally ill father.

With high praise for each movement and artist chronicled in the other four books featured here, it’s clear that The Boss may be one of biggest music geeks of us all. Born to Run may not be as lyrical as his friend Patti Smith’s Just Kids, but it’s a haunting and hopeful triumph.

 

This article was originally published in the November 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The nostalgia wave rippling through today’s culture may seem troublesome to some, but music has always been an art form that builds upon and pays homage to what has come before. Five new books chronicle some of the most earth-shaking, history-making artists who changed our cultural landscape. From the story behind the sweet and soulful sounds of Motown to Bruce Springsteen’s long-awaited memoir, each is worthy of a spot alongside any record collection.
NonfictionMemoirArts & Culture

Humorous reflections on fame and fortune

Feature by Linda M. Castellitto

Curious about what it’s like to be a child actor, a standup comedian, a podcast star or some combination of the above (and beyond)? You’re in luck: These memoirs offer a fascinating peek behind the curtain of fame. 

In Scrappy Little Nobody, Anna Kendrick chronicles her journey from auditioning for roles at age 5 to being a Tony-nominated singer (High Society) and Oscar-nominated actress (Up in the Air). “[P]erforming is all I’ve cared about since the first time I can remember caring about anything,” she writes. While Kendrick shares self-deprecating and I’m-just-like-you sentiments in her memoir, she also expresses pride in her uncommon career, noting that theater work “gave me a basic work ethic that I may not have gotten if I started in film and television. I worked six days a week, eight shows a week. . . . I was held accountable for my work.” A heavy load for sure, but Kendrick persevered, getting more and more high-profile roles (The Twilight Saga, Into the Woods, Pitch Perfect) along the way. Plenty of revelations about the non-magical side of moviemaking and an irreverent Reading Group Guide round out this entertaining, appealing first book.

COMEDY OF THE MIND
On a recent talk show appearance, Norm Macdonald said his book, Based on a True Story, is 50 percent true and 70 percent made-up. That feels about right; this elliptical memoir loops its way through Macdonald’s life so far, bringing the reader along on a hallucinatory road trip filled with strange characters who may or may not be real people. When he’s being more straightforward, Macdonald shares stories both funny and poignant from his formative years in rural Canada and details his experiences competing on “Star Search” and being the new kid on “Saturday Night Live.” At book’s beginning, he says standup comics are “never in one place long enough to experience anything but the shabbiest of love.” But at book’s end, he writes, “I’ve been lucky. If I had to sum up my whole life, I guess those are the words I would choose, all right.” Both feel like moments of honesty shoring up a performance-art-esque tale. 

SIMPLE REQUESTS
After reading You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain, readers will want to be Phoebe Robinson’s friend. But they better not try to make her TBF (The Black Friend), “a singular dash of pepper in a bowl of grits.” Witty, truth-telling commentary abounds here, and it’s delightful. Robinson wasn’t always this confident; she uses her childhood relationship with her hair as a metaphor for her growing awareness of the assumptions projected onto black people—women in particular—based on their hairstyles: “‘[H]ire-ability,’ acceptance, and attractiveness are all on the line when someone wears his or her hair naturally? That’s a lot of weight to assign to a physical attribute.” Indeed. She now has a thriving career in standup, as well as acting, and writing for the New York Times, Glamour and “Broad City”—and she wears her hair however she wants. Chapters like “Dear Future Female President: My List of Demands” and “People, Places, and Things That Need to Do Better” are funny and on-target, while personal stories in “Uppity” and “The Angry Black Woman Myth” illustrate how systemic racism has affected the way she communicates every single day. It’s exhausting, yes, but Robinson is hopeful: “We all have some growing to do. So let’s try and get better together. Cool?”

READING AMY
Amy Schumer is a household name, thanks to her hilarious, award-winning TV series, “Inside Amy Schumer”; her worldwide comedy tours; and the movie Trainwreck, which she wrote and starred in. In The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, Schumer says, “I wanted to share these stories from my life as a daughter, sister, friend, comedian, actor, girlfriend, one-night stand, employee, employer, lover, fighter, hater, pasta eater, and wine drinker.” And that she does, in a book that’s a mix of funny, smart, straightforward, raunchy and sweet. A more serious side of Schumer emerges here, as well. When she explores the ways her parents’ tumultuous marriage and an abusive dating relationship have affected her, she plumbs her pain to share what she’s learned and demonstrates that she’s a survivor in more ways than one. The tattoo story is in there, too, as well as a strong stance for gun control, a stand against body-shaming and ultimately a case for being OK with imperfection: “My vulnerability is my ultimate strength,” she proclaims. With this book, she proves that writing is a close second.

TALL AND HANDSOME
Joel McHale hit his head a lot as a kid. Did this lead to his becoming a comedian and actor (“Community,” “The Great Indoors,” Ted), host of E! Network’s “The Soup” and a relentless commercial pitch-man? In Thanks for the Money: How to Use My Life Story to Become the Best Joel McHale You Can Be, McHale hints at a link between his multiple head injuries and his fearless quest for attention, performance and money. McHale’s fondness for dark, somewhat disturbing humor will be familiar to fans and makes for an entertaining through-line in the book, which begins at childhood—well, before childhood, really (see the detailed and discomfiting “Mama-and-Papa-Sutra”). He was born in Rome, Italy, grew up in Seattle and takes us up to now, with a variety of weird and wacky pit stops along the way—a Mr. McHale’s wild ride, if you will. Said pit stops include “Midbook Reading-Retention Puzzles,” an infographic called “How to Survive a Chevy Chase Attack” and a response to rumors about hair implants (yep, he got ’em—twice). Insider info ranges from celebrity quirks to career strategies to details on the free stuff you get once you’re wealthy and don’t really need it. This is an edgy, entertaining memoir/self-help combo from a sharp, successful showbiz guy.

 

This article was originally published in the November 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Curious about what it’s like to be a child actor, a standup comedian, a podcast star or some combination of the above (and beyond)? You’re in luck: These memoirs offer a fascinating peek behind the curtain of fame.
NonfictionMemoirMedicine

Final life lessons

Feature by Henry L. Carrigan Jr.

Several recent books, most notably Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal, urge us to ask ourselves how we can live a good life, recognizing that death is a seamless part of our existence. Two compelling new accounts highlight individuals struggling with this question.

LESSONS FROM HOSPICE
In On Living, hospice chaplain Kerry Egan begins her vocation with some resistance, unsure that in her own brokenness she can provide comfort to those who are broken by life and waiting for death. Reluctant to talk about religion with her patients, she soon discovers that simply listening to their stories—of their families, of their losses and regrets, of love—heals her and them: “I don’t know if listening to other people’s stories as they die can make you wise, but I do know that it can heal your soul. I know this because those stories healed mine.”

Egan shares the story of Gloria, a mother who’s been withholding a secret from her son and wants to reveal it as a gesture of love in her final days. A patient named Reggie expresses regret about a life that’s been “empty and alone,” leaving him without a single friend or family member to offer comfort. Then there’s Cynthia, who struggles to accept her overweight body even as she’s dying; like all people who are dying, Egan observes, Cynthia faces the reality that she will “no longer be able to experience this world in this body, ever again.” The lesson for those of us not dying, of course, is that living fully means embracing our imperfect selves with joy and love while we still can.

Egan’s evocative and eloquent book reminds us that we are defined by the stories we tell, and those stories often reveal how life can be “beautiful and crushing” at the same time.

DEATH WITH DIGNITY
Deborah Ziegler’s poignant and fierce Wild and Precious Life celebrates the life of her daughter, Brittany Maynard, who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2014 at the age of 29. 

When Ziegler first learned of her daughter’s condition, she ran screaming into the dark night of hopelessness, praying that God would take her and not her daughter. She refused to accept her daughter’s impending death and wanted to pursue any treatment that would extend her life.

Brittany, however, taught her mother the one truth we most often avoid in such situations: A good death is part of a life well lived. After Brittany learned the gravity of her situation, she moved from California to Oregon, where a death with dignity law allowed her to make her own choices on how and when her life would end. Her decision prompted a nationwide discussion of assisted suicide and a patient’s right to make end-of-life decisions. 

Skillfully interspersing stories of Brittany’s growing up with a touching account of her final year, Ziegler reminds us, in Brittany’s own words, of the real lesson we need to learn: “Live your lives well. Accept the sorrow with the joy, the ineffable grief with the love.”

 

This article was originally published in the November 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Several recent books, most notably Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal, urge us to ask ourselves how we can live a good life, recognizing that death is a seamless part of our existence. Two compelling new accounts highlight individuals struggling with this question.

Sign Up

Stay on top of new releases: Sign up for our newsletter to receive reading recommendations in your favorite genres.

Sign up now

Recent Reviews

All Reviews

Author Interviews

More Interviews

Recent Features

All Features