Search results matching tags 'nonfiction' and 'biography'

Read By the Author

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:30:00 GMT

I love to listen to memoirs read by the authors that wrote them. Not so long ago, I was quite skeptical of all audiobooks. I viewed listening to a book as cheating, unless it was a matter of poor eyesight. I have, however, warmed somewhat to audiobooks, and memoirs read by their authors have become a favorite of mine. When it comes to memoirs, what could possibly be better than someone's story in his or her own voice?

Here are some of my favorite memoirs read by their authors that I've had the pleasure to listen to so far:

Haven Kimmel's memoirs about growing up in Mooreland, Indiana, A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch. These two are good enough I recommend listening to them, even if you've already read them.
Kate Braestrup's Here if You Need Me, about being chaplain for the Maine Warden Service and her part in their search-and-rescue missions, plus her second memoir, Marriage and Other Acts of Charity.
Advice columnist Amy Dickinson's The Mighty Queens of Freeville, about the strong women in her family, including her mother, sisters and daughter.
Tina Fey's wildly popular Bossypants.
Anna Quindlen's recent memoir, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake. I don't think I'm the target audience for this one, but I enjoyed it very much anyway.
Craig Ferguson's American on Purpose, the story of how he became a musician, then a comedian, the drugs he did and the hearts he broke along the way, and his decision to become an American citizen (he was born & raised in Scotland), might be a bit heavy on foul language for some people, but it charmed me.
Bill Bryson's memoir of growing up in Iowa in the 1950's, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is most amusing read in his slight British accent-- he lives in England now.
A. J. Jacobs' The Year of Living Biblically details the year he attempted to follow the Bible really, truly literally. Unfortunately, this is an abridged audiobook, meaning some parts of the original text are not included.

Do you have a memoir read by the author to recommend to me?

Double Take worth a look

myzticrhythmz@evpl — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:13:00 GMT

You're walking down the street and a legless man on a skateboard zooms by. Your first reaction--shock? disgust? pity?

Welcome to Kevin Michael Connolly's world.

Author of the recent memoir Double Take, Connolly was born without legs. Instead of being institutionalized or coddled, Connolly's parents allowed him the freedom to experience life and grow into a remarkable young man. He attended public school, made friends and got into the usual high school escapades (such as dousing a parade crowd with permanent red dye), became a professional skier, and graduated from Montana State University with degrees in film and photography.

On a trip abroad, Connolly began paying attention to the reactions he received from the people he passed on the streets. As a kind of catharsis, he began to photograph passersby. These photographs became the basis for an exhibit, The Rolling Exhibition, as well as this book, Double Take.

Connolly brings his own unique voice to this work, and it is wonderful to read. The prose is clear & direct, without being maudlin. There are moments of disappointment and sadness, but they are never dwelt on for long. As he finally reaches the limit of his frustration with people staring at him and starts firing back (with his camera), Connolly realizes through his photos the impact his appearance has on others. This awareness, along with a visit to Sarajevo where his leglessness is not out of the ordinary among Bosnian war survivors, suggests a burgeoning maturity and selflessness.

Be sure to check out the author's promotional trailer for Double Take, as well as a feature ABC's 20/20 did on Connolly in 2007.

It will be interesting to see where Kevin Connolly's skateboard takes him next, and what he will show us on the way.

Strong at the Broken Places

wag.mado@evpl — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:55:00 GMT

This book's preface begins, "These are the faces of illness in America. Do not look away.......Quite simply, they are us." If you have ever known someone with a chronic or terminal illness, you probably already know that each person approaches their difficulties in a way that is all their own. Strong at the Broken Places by Richard M. Cohen is a book that demonstrates this. He features 5 people who have been given life changing diagnoses. Cohen interviews them over several years, asking them questions and observing them in their everyday life. The interviews speak of fear, loneliness, and anger - but also show the personal strengths that allow these people to thrive, revealing the common ground they all stand upon. Although it may sound depressing, I found this book full of life. To me the stories are all about living in the truth, with as much hope as one can muster. And after all, isn't that what we are all trying to do?

Books For Lunch @ Red Bank

Guatemama@evpl — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:16:00 GMT

Join us at Red Bank Branch Library for Books for Lunch our December book discussion where will will discuss Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup.

Wednesday Dec. 10, 2008 from noon until 1:00 PM.

Experience another point of view, another way of seeing life. Bring your lunch and eat with us while we talk about the books we have read.

"Zen and Now: on the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Mark Richardson

MediaPhile@evpl — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 03:23:00 GMT

No, you aren't seeing double. The cover of this biographical travelogue features an out-of-focus motorcyle.

I was in grad school in 1974 when "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" was published. I never read it or its British precursor, "Zen in the Art of Archery" -- I wasn't a big fan of either Zen OR motorcycle maintenance. Starting small, sales of the book grew by word of mouth, eventually totalling in the millions, with translation into 27 languages. It became a sort of cult classic with philosophers as well as the counter-culture.

Fast forward 30+ years, and a motorcyle enthusiast and sports writer named Mark Richardson has reproduced Robert Pirsig's 17-day motorcycle trip from Minneapolis to San Francisco. Pirsig, travelling with his young son Chris and a married couple, had roughed it -- camping every evening. Richardson, armed with GPS and a laptop, did the trip alone and stayed in cheap motels.

Richardson cleverly intersperses his narrative of his own trip with biographical information about Pirsig. Pirsig, who claimed an IQ of 170, had degrees and both science and philosophy. He taught at several colleges, but constantly rankled adminstrators with his refusal to follow the institutional rules. He was eventually diagnosed as a schizophrenic and endured a series of shock treatments, which he later claimed destroyed a large chunk of his personality.

Pirsig returned to his wife and two sons and took a job as a writer of technical manuals. He had earlier flown small planes, but now become a motorcyclist. He found he loved not only the open road, but also the connectedness that resulted from maintaining his own bike. Hence his cross-country trip and the book of philosophical ruminations that resulted. Publication brought financial independence, including an ocean-going yacht, but not peace. Both sons had their own problems, as did his marriage. And his second book, "Lila," was a relative flop.

I was intrigued enough by this book to attempt to read "Zen and the Art of Motocycle Maintenance," but I must admit that I only made it through about the first 75 pages. I guess I find Pirsig's story more interesting than his thoughts.

"sTORI Telling" by Tori Spelling

librarianinheels@evpl — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:41:00 GMT

Tori Spelling is the daughter of Aaron Spelling - the famous, super-rich producer of classic cheeseball TV hits like Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Dynasty, and Melrose Place, to name a few. In 2006, Spelling died, and his daughter Tori learned of her father's death via text message. Tabloids reported that Tori, who had recently divorced her husband of less than two years and married another man about six months later, had been virtually cut out of her father's $500 million dollar estate - her mother, Candy, received the bulk of it, while Tori and her brother Randy each received just $800,000.

In the last two years, Tori Spelling has married the love of her life, given birth to two children, co-written a book about her life, and starred in a reality show with her husband, Dean McDermott, entitled "Tori and Dean: Inn Love". One might say that Tori's making a concerted effort to continue living in the style to which she is accustomed. For that, she deserves at least some kudos...she's nothing if not resourceful.

Still, it's kind of hard for me to believe that Tori Spelling, of all people, has spent her whole life just longing to be "normal" - which is what she asserts in her recent autobiography, sTORI Telling. Even though she was given hand-delivered white Christmases in her Beverly Hills backyard, received a champagne-colored BMV convertible for her 16th birthday (when all she really wanted was a VW convertible) and was thrown a $1 million wedding - all Tori Spelling has ever wanted is to just be "normal". Finding some kind of "normal" seems to be the theme of the book. By the end, Tori seems to come to terms with her own version of "normal" and it's just difficult to not like her for that.

This book was an easy, somewhat juicy, but ultimately unsatisfying read. Tori briefly delves into the interworkings of the troubled cast relationships on 'Beverly Hills, 90210' ~ the show that made her famous ~ but not with enough detail for me. She spends a lot of time discussing her many dysfunctional personal relationships, most notably the one with her mother - who, if you believe all that Tori lays out, must be a real piece of work. sTORI Telling is OK - but I'm sure the tell-all that comes out in 30 or 40 more years will be much more interesting. Tori just hasn't lived long enough or, simply, enough to do much storytelling....YET.

There's not much else to say about sTORI Telling - it is just what you would expect it to be - fluffly, lacking substance, but it still keeps your attention - if only so you can find out what kind of weird thing Tori's mother will do next. (Spoiler alert: they make up, but Tori still doesn't get any more money from her dad's estate.) If you're looking for a quick, entertaining read, pick up sTORI Telling.