Dancing electronic violinist Lindsey Stirling shares her unconventional journey in an inspiring memoir filled with the energy, persistence, and humor that have helped her successfully pursue a passion outside the box.A classically trained musician gone rogue, Lindsey Stirling is the epitome of independent, millennial-defined success: after being voted off the set of America's Got Talent, she went on to amass more than ten million social media fans, record two full-length albums, release multiple hits with billions of YouTube views, and to tour sold-out venues across the world. Lindsey is not afraid to be herself. In fact, it's her confidence and individuality that have propelled her into the spotlight. But the road hasn't been easy. After being rejected by talent scouts, music reps, and eventually on national television, Lindsey forged her own path, step by step. Detailing every trial and triumph she has faced until now, Lindsey shares stories of her humble yet charmed childhood, humorous adolescence, life as a struggling musician, personal struggles with anorexia, and finally, success as a world-class entertainer. Lindsey's magnetizing story - at once remarkable and universal - is a testimony that there is no singular recipe for success, and despite what people may say, sometimes it's okay to be The Only Pirate at the Party.
Gallery Books, 2016.
|
9781501119101
|
Hardcover
Hillbilly Heart
By Cyrus, Billy Ray
Billy Ray Cyrus is an award-winning country music legend whose "Achy Breaky Heart" propelled his debut album, "Some Gave All," to the top of the charts for a record-breaking seventeen weeks. He's also father of Miley Cyrus, one of Hollywood's most successful young stars, who grew up on stage and on screen, most famously as the lead on the Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana," where Billy Ray Cyrus played her father. But sometimes the truth is even better than fiction. Now, for the first time, fans can read about Cyrus's tenacious and inspiring struggle to find his own way to faith, family, and the power of music. Hillbilly Heart opens during Cyrus's turbulent childhood in Kentucky, where he sought refuge in music and sports after his parents' divorce.
New Harvest; 1 edition
|
9780547992655
|
Hardcover
Scandals of Classic Hollywood
By Petersen, Anne Helen
Celebrity gossip meets history in this compulsively readable collection from Buzzfeed reporter Anne Helen Peterson. This guide to film stars and their deepest secrets is sure to top your list for movie gifts and appeal to fans of classic cinema and hollywood history alike. Believe it or not, Americas fascination with celebrity culture was thriving well before the days of TMZ, Cardi B, Kanyes tweets, and the #metoo allegations that have gripped Hollywood. And the stars of yesteryear? They werent always the saints that we make them out to be. BuzzFeeds Anne Helen Petersen, author of Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud, is here to set the record straight. Pulling little-known gems from the archives of film history, Petersen reveals eyebrow-raising information, including:. * The smear campaign against the original It Girl, Clara Bow, started by her best friend * The heartbreaking story of Montgomery Clifts rapid rise to fame, the car accident that destroyed his face, and the "long suicide" that followed * Fatty Arbuckles descent from Hollywood royalty, fueled by allegations of a boozy orgy turned violent assault * Why Mae West was arrested and jailed for "indecency charges" * And much more . Part biography, part cultural history, these stories cover the stuff that films are made of: love, sex, drugs, illegitimate children, illicit affairs, and botched cover-ups. But its not all just tawdry gossip in the pages of this book. The stories are all contextualized within the boundaries of film, cultural, political, and gender history, making for a read that will inform as it entertains. Based on Petersens beloved column on the Hairpin, but featuring 100% new content, Scandals of Classic Hollywood is sensationalism made smart.
Tantor Audio; Unabridged CD edition
|
9780142180679
|
Paperback
Everything's Trash, But It's Okay
By Robinson, Phoebe
From New York Times bestselling author and star of 2 Dope Queens, Phoebe Robinson, comes a new, hilarious, and timely essay collection on gender, race, dating, and a world that seems to always be a self-starting Dumpster fire.Wouldn't it be great if life came with instructions? Of course, but like access to Michael B. Jordan's house, none of us are getting any. Thankfully, Phoebe Robinson is ready to share everything she has experienced to prove that if you can laugh at her topsy-turvy life, you can laugh at your own.Written in her trademark unfiltered and singularly witty style, Robinson's latest essay collection is a call to arms. She tackles a wide range of topics, such as giving feminism a tough-love talk in hopes it can become more intersectional; telling society's beauty standards to kick rocks; and takes a hard look at our culture's obsession with work.Robinson also gets personal, exploring debt she has hidden from her parents, how dating is mainly a warmed-over bowl of hot mess, and maybe most importantly, meeting Bono not once, but twice. She's struggled with being a woman with a political mind and a woman with an ever-changing jeans size. She knows about trash not only because she sees it every day, but also because she's seen about one-hundred-thousand hours of reality TV and zero hours of Schindler's List. Everything's Trash, But It's Okay is a candid perspective for a generation that has had the rug pulled out from under it too many times to count, as well as an intimate conversation with a new best friend.
Plume
|
9780525534143
|
Hardcover
Take You Wherever You Go
By Leon, Kenny
Starting from humble beginnings under his grandmother's care, Leon takes us to unexpected places in his ascent to the top from the house off the dirt road without electricity in rural Florida to being the first African American director to win a Tony Award. In TAKE YOU WHEREVER YOU GO, Kenny reflects on the lessons he learned every step of the way from the most important people in his life-from his grandmother's sagacious and encouraging motivations to the deep artistic influence of iconic American playwright August Wilson in his work. The pillars and wisdom he has learned through all the seminal people that have influenced him, paired with his tremendous storytelling, will show that you can find a classroom anywhere and it will inspire you to never change who you are, and as his grandmother instilled in him, "take you wherever you go".
Grand Central Publishing
|
9781538744970
|
Hardcover
Masterpiece
By West, Nancy
On a wintry night in 1971, Masterpiece Theatre debuted on PBS. Fifty years later, America's appetite for British drama has never been bigger. The classic television program has brought its fans protagonists such as The Dowager Countess and Ross Poldark and series that include Downton Abbey and Prime Suspect.In Masterpiece: America's 50-Year-Old Love Affair with British Television Drama, Nancy West provides a fascinating history of the acclaimed program. West combines excerpts from original interviews, thoughtful commentary, and lush photography to deliver a deep exploration of the television drama. Vibrant stories and anecdotes about Masterpiece's most colorful shows are peppered throughout, such as why Benedict Cumberbatch hates Downton Abbey and how screenwriter Daisy Goodwin created a teenage portrait of Queen Victoria after fighting with her daughter about homework.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781538134474
|
Hardcover
The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness
By Poundstone, Paula
"A remarkable journey. I laughed. I cried. I got another cat." - Lily Tomlin "Paula Poundstone is the funniest human being I have ever known." - Peter Sagal, host of Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! and author of The Book of Vice "Is there a secret to happiness?" asks comedian Paula Poundstone. "I don't know how or why anyone would keep it a secret. It seems rather cruel, really . . . Where could it be? Is it deceptively simple? Does it melt at a certain temperature? Can you buy it? Must you suffer for it before or after?" In her wildly and wisely observed book, the comedy legend takes on that most inalienable of rights - the pursuit of happiness. Offering herself up as a human guinea pig in a series of thoroughly unscientific experiments, Poundstone tries out a different get-happy hypothesis in each chapter of her data-driven search. She gets in shape with taekwondo. She drives fast behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. She communes with nature while camping with her daughter, and commits to getting her house organized (twice!) . Swing dancing? Meditation? Volunteering? Does any of it bring her happiness? You may be laughing too hard to care. The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness is both a story of jumping into new experiences with both feet and a surprisingly poignant tale of a single working mother of three children (not to mention dozens of cats, a dog, a bearded dragon lizard, a lop-eared bunny, and one ant left from her ant farm) who is just trying to keep smiling while living a busy life. The queen of the skepticism-fueled rant, Paula Poundstone stands alone in her talent for bursting bubbles and slaying sacred cows. Like George Carlin, Steve Martin, and David Sedaris, she is a master of her craft, and her comedic brilliance is served up in abundance in this book. As author and humorist Roy Blount Jr. notes, "Paula Poundstone deserves to be happy. Nobody deserves to be this funny."
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
|
9781616204167
|
Hardcover
Fraternity
By Robbins, Alexandra
The New York Times bestselling author of Pledged is back with an unprecedented fly-on-the-wall look inside fraternity houses from current brothers' perspectives - and a fresh, riveting must-read about what it's like to be a college guy today. Two real-life stories. One stunning twist. Meet Jake, a studious freshman weighing how far to go to find a brotherhood that will introduce him to lifelong friends and help conquer his social awkwardness; and Oliver, a hardworking chapter president trying to keep his misunderstood fraternity out of trouble despite multiple run-ins with the police. Their year-in-the-life stories help explain why students are joining fraternities in record numbers despite scandalous headlines. To find out what it's like to be a fraternity brother in the twenty-first century, Robbins contacted hundreds of brothers whose chapters don't make headlines - and who suggested that many fraternities can be healthy safe spaces for men. Fraternity is more than just a page-turning, character-driven read. It's a vital book about the transition from boyhood to manhood; it brilliantly weaves psychology, current events, neuroscience, and interviews to explore the state of masculinity today, and what that means for students and their parents. It's a different kind of story about college boys, a story in which they candidly discuss sex, friendship, social media, drinking, peer pressure, gender roles, and even porn. And it's a book about boys at a vulnerable age, living on their own for perhaps the first time. Boys who, in a climate that can stigmatize them merely for being male, don't necessarily want to navigate the complicated, coming-of-age journey to manhood alone.
Dutton
|
9781101986721
|
Hardcover
My Adventures with God
By Tobolowsky, Stephen
From legendary character actor Stephen Tobolowsky - who currently appears on The Goldbergs, HBO's Silicon Valley, and Norman Lear's new One Day at a Time, author of The Dangerous Animals Club and The Tobolowsky Files podcast - My Adventures with God is a funny, introspective collection about love, catastrophe, and triumph, all told through the lens of his evolving relationship with the mystery that is "God."As Tobolowsky explains, "It's hard to believe in nothing. Even cats believe in suppertime. As much as we love certainty, we are often shaped by the invisible, the unexplainable - something we call faith. We are inclined to acknowledge the holy. Even if it is only a paper heart we find in an old suitcase." My Adventures with God is a series of short stories exploring the idea that most people's lives seem to fit into the template of the Old Testament. We all have powerful creation myths: tales of our childhood and family, our first battles won and lost. It is our Genesis. Then, like in the Book of Exodus, we go into slavery. Rather than building pyramids, we lose ourselves in fear and ambition - in first loves, first jobs, too many dreams mixed with too much beer. We eventually become free, only to wander in the wilderness. At some point we stop and proclaim to the universe who we are. This is our Leviticus moment. We reconcile what we thought we would be with what we have become. We often attempt a mid-course correction. Then, as in the Book of Numbers, we are shaped by mortality as we bear the loss of family and friends. Finally, we retell our stories to our children hoping to make sense of the journey, as Moses did in Deuteronomy. Tobolowsky's stories tell of a boy growing up in the wilds of Texas, finding and losing love, losing and finding himself - all told through the prism of the Torah and Talmud, mixed with insights from science, and refined through a child's sense of wonder. My Adventures with God not only shines a light into the life of one of America's most beloved actors, but also provides a structure to evaluate our own lives and relationship with God.
Simon & Schuster
|
9781476766461
|
Print book
In Pieces
By Field, Sally
In this intimate, haunting literary memoir, an American icon tells her story for the first time, and in her own gorgeous words--about a challenging and lonely childhood, the craft that helped her find her voice, and a powerful emotional legacy that shaped her journey as a daughter and a mother. One of the most celebrated, beloved, and enduring actors of our time, Sally Field has an infectious charm that has captivated the nation for more than five decades, beginning with her first TV role at the age of seventeen. From Gidget's sweet-faced "girl next door" to the dazzling complexity of Sybil to the Academy Award-worthy ferocity and depth of Norma Rae and Mary Todd Lincoln, Field has stunned audiences time and time again with her artistic range and emotional acuity. Yet there is one character who always remained hidden: the shy and anxious little girl within.With raw honesty and the fresh, pitch-perfect prose of a natural-born writer, and with all the humility and authenticity her fans have come to expect, Field brings readers behind-the-scenes for not only the highs and lows of her star-studded early career in Hollywood, but deep into the truth of her lifelong relationships--including her complicated love for her own mother. Powerful and unforgettable, In Pieces is an inspiring and important account of life as a woman in the second half of the twentieth century.
The Only Pirate at the Party
By Stirling, Lindsey
Dancing electronic violinist Lindsey Stirling shares her unconventional journey in an inspiring memoir filled with the energy, persistence, and humor that have helped her successfully pursue a passion outside the box.A classically trained musician gone rogue, Lindsey Stirling is the epitome of independent, millennial-defined success: after being voted off the set of America's Got Talent, she went on to amass more than ten million social media fans, record two full-length albums, release multiple hits with billions of YouTube views, and to tour sold-out venues across the world. Lindsey is not afraid to be herself. In fact, it's her confidence and individuality that have propelled her into the spotlight. But the road hasn't been easy. After being rejected by talent scouts, music reps, and eventually on national television, Lindsey forged her own path, step by step. Detailing every trial and triumph she has faced until now, Lindsey shares stories of her humble yet charmed childhood, humorous adolescence, life as a struggling musician, personal struggles with anorexia, and finally, success as a world-class entertainer. Lindsey's magnetizing story - at once remarkable and universal - is a testimony that there is no singular recipe for success, and despite what people may say, sometimes it's okay to be The Only Pirate at the Party.
Hillbilly Heart
By Cyrus, Billy Ray
Billy Ray Cyrus is an award-winning country music legend whose "Achy Breaky Heart" propelled his debut album, "Some Gave All," to the top of the charts for a record-breaking seventeen weeks. He's also father of Miley Cyrus, one of Hollywood's most successful young stars, who grew up on stage and on screen, most famously as the lead on the Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana," where Billy Ray Cyrus played her father. But sometimes the truth is even better than fiction. Now, for the first time, fans can read about Cyrus's tenacious and inspiring struggle to find his own way to faith, family, and the power of music. Hillbilly Heart opens during Cyrus's turbulent childhood in Kentucky, where he sought refuge in music and sports after his parents' divorce.
Scandals of Classic Hollywood
By Petersen, Anne Helen
Celebrity gossip meets history in this compulsively readable collection from Buzzfeed reporter Anne Helen Peterson. This guide to film stars and their deepest secrets is sure to top your list for movie gifts and appeal to fans of classic cinema and hollywood history alike. Believe it or not, Americas fascination with celebrity culture was thriving well before the days of TMZ, Cardi B, Kanyes tweets, and the #metoo allegations that have gripped Hollywood. And the stars of yesteryear? They werent always the saints that we make them out to be. BuzzFeeds Anne Helen Petersen, author of Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud, is here to set the record straight. Pulling little-known gems from the archives of film history, Petersen reveals eyebrow-raising information, including:. * The smear campaign against the original It Girl, Clara Bow, started by her best friend * The heartbreaking story of Montgomery Clifts rapid rise to fame, the car accident that destroyed his face, and the "long suicide" that followed * Fatty Arbuckles descent from Hollywood royalty, fueled by allegations of a boozy orgy turned violent assault * Why Mae West was arrested and jailed for "indecency charges" * And much more . Part biography, part cultural history, these stories cover the stuff that films are made of: love, sex, drugs, illegitimate children, illicit affairs, and botched cover-ups. But its not all just tawdry gossip in the pages of this book. The stories are all contextualized within the boundaries of film, cultural, political, and gender history, making for a read that will inform as it entertains. Based on Petersens beloved column on the Hairpin, but featuring 100% new content, Scandals of Classic Hollywood is sensationalism made smart.
Everything's Trash, But It's Okay
By Robinson, Phoebe
From New York Times bestselling author and star of 2 Dope Queens, Phoebe Robinson, comes a new, hilarious, and timely essay collection on gender, race, dating, and a world that seems to always be a self-starting Dumpster fire.Wouldn't it be great if life came with instructions? Of course, but like access to Michael B. Jordan's house, none of us are getting any. Thankfully, Phoebe Robinson is ready to share everything she has experienced to prove that if you can laugh at her topsy-turvy life, you can laugh at your own.Written in her trademark unfiltered and singularly witty style, Robinson's latest essay collection is a call to arms. She tackles a wide range of topics, such as giving feminism a tough-love talk in hopes it can become more intersectional; telling society's beauty standards to kick rocks; and takes a hard look at our culture's obsession with work.Robinson also gets personal, exploring debt she has hidden from her parents, how dating is mainly a warmed-over bowl of hot mess, and maybe most importantly, meeting Bono not once, but twice. She's struggled with being a woman with a political mind and a woman with an ever-changing jeans size. She knows about trash not only because she sees it every day, but also because she's seen about one-hundred-thousand hours of reality TV and zero hours of Schindler's List. Everything's Trash, But It's Okay is a candid perspective for a generation that has had the rug pulled out from under it too many times to count, as well as an intimate conversation with a new best friend.
Take You Wherever You Go
By Leon, Kenny
Starting from humble beginnings under his grandmother's care, Leon takes us to unexpected places in his ascent to the top from the house off the dirt road without electricity in rural Florida to being the first African American director to win a Tony Award. In TAKE YOU WHEREVER YOU GO, Kenny reflects on the lessons he learned every step of the way from the most important people in his life-from his grandmother's sagacious and encouraging motivations to the deep artistic influence of iconic American playwright August Wilson in his work. The pillars and wisdom he has learned through all the seminal people that have influenced him, paired with his tremendous storytelling, will show that you can find a classroom anywhere and it will inspire you to never change who you are, and as his grandmother instilled in him, "take you wherever you go".
Masterpiece
By West, Nancy
On a wintry night in 1971, Masterpiece Theatre debuted on PBS. Fifty years later, America's appetite for British drama has never been bigger. The classic television program has brought its fans protagonists such as The Dowager Countess and Ross Poldark and series that include Downton Abbey and Prime Suspect.In Masterpiece: America's 50-Year-Old Love Affair with British Television Drama, Nancy West provides a fascinating history of the acclaimed program. West combines excerpts from original interviews, thoughtful commentary, and lush photography to deliver a deep exploration of the television drama. Vibrant stories and anecdotes about Masterpiece's most colorful shows are peppered throughout, such as why Benedict Cumberbatch hates Downton Abbey and how screenwriter Daisy Goodwin created a teenage portrait of Queen Victoria after fighting with her daughter about homework.
The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness
By Poundstone, Paula
"A remarkable journey. I laughed. I cried. I got another cat." - Lily Tomlin "Paula Poundstone is the funniest human being I have ever known." - Peter Sagal, host of Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! and author of The Book of Vice "Is there a secret to happiness?" asks comedian Paula Poundstone. "I don't know how or why anyone would keep it a secret. It seems rather cruel, really . . . Where could it be? Is it deceptively simple? Does it melt at a certain temperature? Can you buy it? Must you suffer for it before or after?" In her wildly and wisely observed book, the comedy legend takes on that most inalienable of rights - the pursuit of happiness. Offering herself up as a human guinea pig in a series of thoroughly unscientific experiments, Poundstone tries out a different get-happy hypothesis in each chapter of her data-driven search. She gets in shape with taekwondo. She drives fast behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. She communes with nature while camping with her daughter, and commits to getting her house organized (twice!) . Swing dancing? Meditation? Volunteering? Does any of it bring her happiness? You may be laughing too hard to care. The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness is both a story of jumping into new experiences with both feet and a surprisingly poignant tale of a single working mother of three children (not to mention dozens of cats, a dog, a bearded dragon lizard, a lop-eared bunny, and one ant left from her ant farm) who is just trying to keep smiling while living a busy life. The queen of the skepticism-fueled rant, Paula Poundstone stands alone in her talent for bursting bubbles and slaying sacred cows. Like George Carlin, Steve Martin, and David Sedaris, she is a master of her craft, and her comedic brilliance is served up in abundance in this book. As author and humorist Roy Blount Jr. notes, "Paula Poundstone deserves to be happy. Nobody deserves to be this funny."
Fraternity
By Robbins, Alexandra
The New York Times bestselling author of Pledged is back with an unprecedented fly-on-the-wall look inside fraternity houses from current brothers' perspectives - and a fresh, riveting must-read about what it's like to be a college guy today. Two real-life stories. One stunning twist. Meet Jake, a studious freshman weighing how far to go to find a brotherhood that will introduce him to lifelong friends and help conquer his social awkwardness; and Oliver, a hardworking chapter president trying to keep his misunderstood fraternity out of trouble despite multiple run-ins with the police. Their year-in-the-life stories help explain why students are joining fraternities in record numbers despite scandalous headlines. To find out what it's like to be a fraternity brother in the twenty-first century, Robbins contacted hundreds of brothers whose chapters don't make headlines - and who suggested that many fraternities can be healthy safe spaces for men. Fraternity is more than just a page-turning, character-driven read. It's a vital book about the transition from boyhood to manhood; it brilliantly weaves psychology, current events, neuroscience, and interviews to explore the state of masculinity today, and what that means for students and their parents. It's a different kind of story about college boys, a story in which they candidly discuss sex, friendship, social media, drinking, peer pressure, gender roles, and even porn. And it's a book about boys at a vulnerable age, living on their own for perhaps the first time. Boys who, in a climate that can stigmatize them merely for being male, don't necessarily want to navigate the complicated, coming-of-age journey to manhood alone.
My Adventures with God
By Tobolowsky, Stephen
From legendary character actor Stephen Tobolowsky - who currently appears on The Goldbergs, HBO's Silicon Valley, and Norman Lear's new One Day at a Time, author of The Dangerous Animals Club and The Tobolowsky Files podcast - My Adventures with God is a funny, introspective collection about love, catastrophe, and triumph, all told through the lens of his evolving relationship with the mystery that is "God."As Tobolowsky explains, "It's hard to believe in nothing. Even cats believe in suppertime. As much as we love certainty, we are often shaped by the invisible, the unexplainable - something we call faith. We are inclined to acknowledge the holy. Even if it is only a paper heart we find in an old suitcase." My Adventures with God is a series of short stories exploring the idea that most people's lives seem to fit into the template of the Old Testament. We all have powerful creation myths: tales of our childhood and family, our first battles won and lost. It is our Genesis. Then, like in the Book of Exodus, we go into slavery. Rather than building pyramids, we lose ourselves in fear and ambition - in first loves, first jobs, too many dreams mixed with too much beer. We eventually become free, only to wander in the wilderness. At some point we stop and proclaim to the universe who we are. This is our Leviticus moment. We reconcile what we thought we would be with what we have become. We often attempt a mid-course correction. Then, as in the Book of Numbers, we are shaped by mortality as we bear the loss of family and friends. Finally, we retell our stories to our children hoping to make sense of the journey, as Moses did in Deuteronomy. Tobolowsky's stories tell of a boy growing up in the wilds of Texas, finding and losing love, losing and finding himself - all told through the prism of the Torah and Talmud, mixed with insights from science, and refined through a child's sense of wonder. My Adventures with God not only shines a light into the life of one of America's most beloved actors, but also provides a structure to evaluate our own lives and relationship with God.
In Pieces
By Field, Sally
In this intimate, haunting literary memoir, an American icon tells her story for the first time, and in her own gorgeous words--about a challenging and lonely childhood, the craft that helped her find her voice, and a powerful emotional legacy that shaped her journey as a daughter and a mother. One of the most celebrated, beloved, and enduring actors of our time, Sally Field has an infectious charm that has captivated the nation for more than five decades, beginning with her first TV role at the age of seventeen. From Gidget's sweet-faced "girl next door" to the dazzling complexity of Sybil to the Academy Award-worthy ferocity and depth of Norma Rae and Mary Todd Lincoln, Field has stunned audiences time and time again with her artistic range and emotional acuity. Yet there is one character who always remained hidden: the shy and anxious little girl within.With raw honesty and the fresh, pitch-perfect prose of a natural-born writer, and with all the humility and authenticity her fans have come to expect, Field brings readers behind-the-scenes for not only the highs and lows of her star-studded early career in Hollywood, but deep into the truth of her lifelong relationships--including her complicated love for her own mother. Powerful and unforgettable, In Pieces is an inspiring and important account of life as a woman in the second half of the twentieth century.