biography

Imagine, at the age of 30, discovering you're not typical — or rather, not neurotypical. What could have been a scary diagnosis turned out to be very empowering for David Finch. His personal story of coping with Asperger Syndrome and saving his marriage paints a picture of hard-earned possibility. Finch may be at the milder end of the Asperger/autism spectrum, but for a neurotypical like myself, I learned a lot about the life of someone whose brain works very differently from my own. At the same time, I also saw aspects of myself in his behaviors, a reminder that common ground can still be

It is common knowledge amongst Star Trek fans (and most everyone else who has heard of him) that William Shatner has an ego the size of a Galaxy-class starship. From insulting trekkers and trekkies alike (“Get a life!”) to famously arguing with co-star Leonard Nimoy and the show’s creator Gene Roddenberry, Shatner’s legacy is one of both passionate intensity and an inflated sense of self. Perhaps it is appropriate that a film dedicated to uncovering the underlying motives (neuroses?) of those other actors chosen to sit in the captain’s chair of the various Star Trek iterations should be

Belinda Carlisle seems to have lived the quintessential rocker’s life—starting off poor and dreaming of a magical life, being in love with music at a young age, starting a band almost on a whim, seeing her band rise to fame, drowning in drugs. Belinda’s story, Lips  Unsealed, is one of brutal honesty about how her own shortcomings and insecurities kept her in the grip of addiction even while her life seemed perfect and almost fairy-tale like to those on the outside. Her life reads as an inspiring and cautionary tale. It also made me want to dig up The Go-Go’s albums and listen with a greater

Food critic Frank Bruni reveals his personal struggle to overcome a love-hate relationship with food, and how he achieved self-control in the most unlikely circumstances.

Ramsey Beyer grew up in small town Michigan, dreaming of going to art school in a big city. Although she loved growing up in a rural area, she longed for the diversity and challenge of an urban life. So when it came time to apply to schools she looked for art schools in her favorite big cities, eventually settling on a well-respected institution in Baltimore.

With her freshman year of art school and a move to a big city looming ahead, Ramsey began to worry that she would miss her rural life. Between rigorous foundation classes and learning to live with roommates, Ramsey kept meticulous

Ever since she was little, Liz preferred jeans to dresses, action figures to dolls, and sports to dress-up. Adults and other kids told her this made her a tomboy. Seeing the way the mass media marketed to girls and told them how they should look and behave, Liz was fine with not falling into the “girly” category. But the tomboy label wasn’t easy to fit into either. Eschewed by girls who didn’t understand her jeans and baseball caps, and belittled by boys who didn’t want to play with a “girl” (especially in front of other boys), Liz had trouble finding her place. Navigating the rocky shoals of

It's 1986 and five year old Saroo has made a last minute decision to accompany his older brother on a short train trip to a nearby town in rural India. Instructed to wait on the platform by his older brother, young Saroo is scared and confused when his older brother fails to return in the specified time. Not sure what to do next, he hops onto a waiting train, taking him far away from his family.

Saroo lives on the streets of Calcutta, just trying to survive, for several weeks before being rescued by a caring woman who runs a nearby orphanage. Although attempts are made to locate Saroo's

In this memoir, Will Schwalbe looks back on the last years with his mother, Mary Anne. When Mary Anne is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Will and his mother use books as a meaningful way to connect with each other and talk about life and death and everything in-between. Will, a former publisher, and Mary Anne, a life-long reader, look at a variety of literature for their book club. The club is informally held in waiting rooms and during Mary Anne's treatments. Though the subject matter is heavy as it deals with dying and death, I felt that this book was a lovely tribute and a beautiful way

There are times when I hesitate giving any work (an album, movie, or book) "5 stars." In fact, I try really hard not to do it. The idea that a work is "Perfect" and therefore deserving an entire constellation seems somewhat counter-productive to critical thinking and writing about whatever work a person has experienced: Does the White Album REALLY need all of those songs? Did Han Solo REALLY have to live? Objective correlative, indeed!

That being said, it's pretty difficult to NOT award The Punk Singer five stars and some kind of glowing effusive praise. The troubling thing is, I'm not sure

I'm not a writer but Anne Lamott makes me believe that I could be a great one.  Bird by Bird is a writing manual that reads like a memoir, a very funny, life affirming, let's get real memoir.  She reminds me a bit of Cheryl Strayed in her clarity and insight not only about writing but about relationships and priorities.  Lamott says, "if you want to know your characters, you have to hang out with them for awhile."   I highly recommend hanging out with Lamott.

This memoir explores the life of Waris Dirie, recognized by many for her work as a model, and by others for her advocacy for human rights and a battle against female genital mutilation. The reader follows her from her early life as a nomad in the deserts of Somalia, to her difficult and sometimes dangerous journey to Mogadishu and eventually London. Working there as an underappreciated maid for her own family, she is "discovered", and sets off on an equally nomadic life as a model. Throughout her journey, Waris has to face the world with her own wits and tenacity. The best part of this story

Jordan Romero was fascinated by a poster in his elementary school of the Seven Summits, the highest mountain peaks on each of the seven continents. When he was nine years old, he announced to his parents that he wanted to climb the Seven Summits and he wanted to start training immediately. Jordan was familiar with what training involved; his father and stepmother were adventure racers. They traveled the world racing by foot, bike, canoe, kayak and even camel!  After much discussion and consideration, his parents eventually gave their stamp of approval.  On July 22, 2006 Jordan ascended his

In The Bully Pulpit, Doris Kearns Goodwin discusses the Progressive Movement through the eyes of three principal actors—Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Samuel S. McClure—along with the remarkable contributors to McClure’s Magazine, notably Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker, Lincoln Steffens, and William Allen White.

As in her previous histories of Lincoln, the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, and Lyndon Johnson, Kearns Goodwin provides rich descriptions of the relationships among the many players in her books. This makes her writing so much more compelling than histories that merely

In 1928, sixteen-year-old Minka has to make a decision that will affect her life forever: to give up her newborn daughter Betty Jane for adoption. At a sewing class picnic, Minka was assaulted in the woods by a stranger and becomes pregnant. The family has no way to support the baby, so against her strongest desires, she chooses a better life for Betty Jane. But she can't ever forget her little girl, and for twenty years she writes the adoption home trying to find information about her precioius daughter. At every point in her life, she thinks about how old her daughter would be and what she

These poignant and lightly humorous episodes are based on Jennifer Worth’s memoirs about midwifery in East London in the 1950's.  The nurses and nuns that run Nonnatus House are well developed, and I especially adore nurse Chummy Browne’s fish out of water storylines.   Sister Monica Jean’s aging-but -still -feisty storyline is also very affecting.  The plots of some of the episodes can get a little heavy since we are dealing with 1950’s obstetrics and gynecology, so be prepared for  messy births, unhealthy mothers and children, and frank discussion of Catholicism vs. birth control.   I

In many ways, I love Pritchard’s story of rebuilding his family farm. Against the advice of pretty much everyone, Pritchard takes up farming the land that his parents could never make a living off of. Gaining Ground is his amazing journey. He starts off with crushing debt, little help, and no plan. Through trial and error, trial and error, and then a little more trial and error, Pritchard finds a way to make the farm not only his own, but profitable for the first time in many years.

Yet, as Pritchard waxes poetic about saving the family farm, he omits even the significant details of his

This memoir recounts the story of Malika Oufkir, whose father was the closest aide to the King of Morocco. We follow Malika from the age of five, as she is raised in the palace as the princess’ companion. While life in the harem is a kind of imprisonment itself, it is nothing compared to what awaits her, her mother, and her siblings after her father is executed for an attempt to assassinate the King.

She and her family spend the next 20 years in prisons. Sixteen years into their ordeal, sickly, starving, and desperate to the point of suicide, Malika and some of her siblings manage to dig a

Holly George-Warren’s new biography on Alex Chilton, A Man Called Destruction: the Life and Music of Alex Chilton From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man, is a true cautionary tale, especially if you’re planning on becoming a rock star. Talent and hard work don’t always translate to success. What you do, no matter how good it is, can be so anachronistic as to render your hard work audience-less for decades. Drugs and alcohol can really mess things up (duh). You only have a small amount of control over success, recognition and financial rewards. But despite all this, you may still be

This is the autobiography of Frank White, the 8-time Gold Glove second baseman for the Kansas City Royals. White describes his childhood and the loving support of his family while growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, his high school days at Lincoln High School, and playing baseball as a young teen. He was a pretty good pitcher in those days. Interestingly, he describes fearful moments when visiting relatives in his birthplace, Mississippi, during the 1950s and 1960s when he and his friends dashed away from roadsides when cars filled with white people sped along the roads.

White describes

Naoki Higashida is a thirteen-year-old boy with autism so severe that he cannot speak aloud.  But using an alphabet grid, he--letter by letter--has composed this missive from the depths of autism, revealing that a clever mind and keen perception lie behind the limits of his disorder.  Higashida approaches the topic through a series of questions, like "What's the worst thing about having autism?" and "Is it true that you hate being touched?"  His answers are illuminating and occasionally heart-breaking, like this one: "The hardest ordeal for us is the idea that we are causing grief for other

Graham Nash’s autobiography captures the inner workings of three significant bands of the Sixties and Seventies: The Hollies; Crosby, Stills, & Nash; and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. It’s well worth the read.

Musical harmony was a trademark of the three groups. Nash may have named his first group after Buddy Holly, but his major influence came from the distinctive harmonies of the Everly Brothers, a 1950s and early Sixties Nashville duo that is mentioned several times in the course of the book. Crosby, Stills, and Nash astonished themselves when rehearsing Suite Judy Blue Eyes for the first

Most of us have a general sense of what hoarding is, from popular TV shows such as Hoarders and other news programs. We've seen the pictures and heard the horror stories of the type of conditions that people live in when they live with hoarders. But as a child, author Kimberly Rae Miller had never heard the term, so she never knew what was wrong with her dad. She knew it wasn't normal, but she and her mom spent many years thinking they must be the only family living this way. She longed to have a "normal" childhood, to invite friends over and not be embarrassed if someone happened to drop by

Hilton Als' essays about gender identity, race awareness, African-American gay men and masculinity will give readers severe whiplash.  He does indeed discuss several white girls, Flannery O'Connor for one, but then he also explores the white-girlness of Truman Capote, Michael Jackson and Eminem.  The chapter on Richard Pryor is my absolute favorite and is followed by a confusing and bizarre fictional rumination about Richard Pryor's sister.   Don't try to find a rhyme or reason to White Girls, just enjoy.

Kids really do say the darnedest things, but so do parents!  From the eye of the storm, comedian Jim Gaffigan reports on the trials of raising five young children and celebrates the absurdities, embarrassments, and joys.  He begins by reflecting on his early perceptions of being abducted by aliens (aka, babies) and then recounts his own recent adventures in sleep deprivation, family vacations, juggling schedules, and the power of ice cream.  Gaffigan pokes at his own fathering foibles and sings the praises of his wife’s mothering and family management, even if there is some comedic friction

The smell of baking cookies brings back memories of mother's kitchen...Biting into a fresh tomato recalls the garden behind your childhood home...Watching the yellow powder and milk combine to create delicious macaroni and cheese reminds you of your first apartment. For author Lucy Knisley, as for many of us, food is a trip down memory lane. With a caterer mother and foodie father, her life has been defined and marked by some of the best (and worst food).

A graphic memoir, this book touches on the food that has shaped her life, from sushi visiting a childhood friend in Japan to the junk food

Similar to Tina Fay’s Bossy Pants, William Shatner’s Shatner Rules might possibly be better in audio than written form. Narrated by the great Captain Kirk himself, the audio version feels as if you’re watching a personal interview with Mr. Shatner. Whether reading or listening, if you’re in the mood for a humorous, informative biography on a TV legend, this is the book for you.

When one thinks of William Shatner, it is likely that his role as Captain James Tiberius Kirk on Star Trek comes to mind first. In this, his thirty eighth book (yes, you read that correctly), we get a glimpse of the

I dare you to read this collection of Strayed's advice columns and not be moved. I also found it odd that critics found her personal stories narcissistic and meandering. Au Contraire Mon Frere - her stories reveal her brokenness, her unworthiness, her poor judgment and the tragic acts she's endured at the hands of others. She has walked through the fire and she is still standing strong.

Alan Alda's insightful autobiography Never Have Your Dog Stuffed gives us a peek into the highs, lows, and adventures of an actor's life.  Growing up among a family of burlesque performers, perhaps Alda was fated for acting, but his journey had its fair share of bumps.  He laces candid humor throughout the telling of his trials and tribulations, from growing up with a schizophrenic mother to enduring emergency surgery in the remote Chilean mountains, but his successes are equally exciting.  And yes, his father really did take his childhood dog to a taxidermist. I have a fond appreciation for

Would my review seem unprofessional if I simply said, “I la-la-la-loooooved this book” and left it at that? John Bingham recounts his transformation from a child who played for the sheer joy of it to a small and un-athletic high school music geek, desperate to be one of the cool school athletes. He then recounts his next transformation, from an over-weight, beer-swilling, chain-smoker to an “adult onset athlete,” running simply for the joy of it. Most of us can relate to the crushing disappointments and humiliations inherent to competitive sports. While An Accidental Athlete focuses on

I suppose I should start by admitting that before I picked up this book I had no idea who Kathy Griffin is. And, having given a celebrity tell-all or two a try I am not usually drawn to them. In fact, I avoid them. Official Book Selection, however, is well worth making an exception for. I got hooked while reading the captions of the photos and belly-laughing in the relative quiet of the public library. I couldn’t put it down. Luckily, the audio was there and Griffin’s reading makes the book that much more enjoyable. Being a professional comedian lends itself to writing and reading an