Gripping, singular, and gorgeously reflective, Grace Notes is a memoir told in essays by beloved actress, Hollywood veteran, and singer/songwriter Katey Sagal - perfect for fans of Mary Louise Parker's Dear Mr. You and Patti Smith's M Train.Popular and award-winning star Katey Sagal chronicles the rollercoaster ride of her life in this series of evocative and beautifully written vignettes, resulting in a life story recounted unlike any other Hollywood memoir you've read before. Sagal takes you through the highs and lows of her life, from the tragic deaths of her parents to her long years in the Los Angeles rock scene, from being diagnosed with cancer at the age of twenty-eight to getting her big break on the fledgling FOX network as the wise-cracking Peggy Bundy on the beloved sitcom Married ... with Children. Sparse and poetic, Grace Notes is an emotionally riveting tale of struggle and success, both professional and personal: Sagal's path to sobriety; the stillbirth of her first daughter, Ruby; motherhood; the experience of having her third daughter at age fifty-two with the help of a surrogate; and her lifelong passion for music. Intimate, candid, and offering an inside look at a remarkable life forged within the entertainment industry, Grace Notes offers unprecedented access to the previously unknown life of a woman whom audiences have loved for over thirty years.
Gallery Books
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9781476796710
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Print book
Opening Wednesday at a Theater Or Drive-In Near You
By Taylor, Charles
"Movie criticism's Dostoyevsky . . . Taylor reveals a national identity forged from the innocence we claim to have lost but never had in the first place." --Steve Erickson, author of ZerovilleWhen we think of '70s cinema, we think of classics like TheGodfather, Taxi Driver, and The Wild Bunch . . . but the riches found in the overlooked B movies of the time, rolled out wherever they might find an audience, unexpectedly tell an eye-opening story about post-Watergate, post-Vietnam America. Revisiting the films that don't make the Academy Award montages, Charles Taylor finds a treasury many of us have forgotten, movies that in fact "unlock the secrets of the times." Celebrated film critic Taylor pays homage to the trucker vigilantes, meat magnate pimps, blaxploitation "angel avengers," and taciturn factory workers of grungy, unartful B films such as Prime Cut, Foxy Brown, and Eyes of Laura Mars. He creates a compelling argument for what matters in moviemaking and brings a pivotal American era vividly to life in all its gritty, melancholy complexity.
Bloomsbury USA
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9781632868183
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Hardcover
She Wants It
By Soloway, Jill
From the creator of the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning series Transparent, a poignant memoir of personal transformation set against the profound cultural upheaval and shifting power dynamics that continue to shape our society.In She Wants It, Jill Soloway takes us on a patriarchy-toppling emotional and professional journey from straight, divorced, mother of two working on other people's television shows to coming into their own as a nonbinary and genderqueer director, show creator, and activist. When Jill's parent came out as transgender, Jill pushed through the male-dominated landscape of Hollywood to create the groundbreaking and award-winning Amazon TV series Transparent. Exploring identity, love, sexuality, and the blurring of boundaries through the dynamics of a complicated and profoundly resonant American family, Transparent gave birth to a new cultural consciousness. While working on the show and exploding mainstream ideas about gender, Jill also began to erase the lines on their own map, coming out as queer and nonbinary. Written with wild candor, urgent rhythms, and razor-edged humor, She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy charts Jill's intense and revelatory journey.
Crown Archetype
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9781101904749
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Hardcover
Nevertheless
By Baldwin, Alec
Harpercollins
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9780062409706
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Hardcover
Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave
By Kargman, Jill
The star of Bravo's breakout scripted comedy Odd Mom Out shares her razor-sharp wit and backhanded wisdom in a deeply observed and outrageously funny collection of musings, lists, essays, and outrages. From her unique lingo (things don't simply frighten her, they "M. Night Shyamalan her out") to her gimlet-eyed view of narrow-mindedness, to her morbid but curiously life-affirming parenting style, Jill Kargman is nothing if not original. In this hilarious new book, the sharp-elbowed mother of three turns her unconventional lens on life and death and everything in between, including * the politically correct peer pressure she felt from the new moms in her hood, the women who provided the grist for the mill of her hit television show * the evolution of her aesthetic from Miami Vice vibrant (a very brief flirtation) to Wednesday Addams-meets-rocker chic * her deep-seated New Yorker's discomfort with moving vehicles that aren't taxis and subways (a.k.a. "suburban panic disorder") * the family obsession with reading obituaries for their medical revelations and real estate news value * the reasons why, in a land of tan-orexic baby-oil beach bakers, she chooses to honor the valor of her ghostly pallor From a hellish visit to the Happiest Place on Earth to her unusual wedding night with Russell Crowe to her adrenaline-pumping Gay Pride parade experience, Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave is as wonderfully indecent and entertainingas a spring break road trip with your best friend. Assuming your best friend is the kind of gal who still wears a motorcycle jacket to pick up the kids at school.Advance praise for Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave "The creator of Bravo's Odd Mom Out, Kargman dishes out a variety of essays that poke fun at herself, her family, friends, and the world in general. . . . Prepare to laugh." - Kirkus ReviewsPraise for Jill Kargman's Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut "Please welcome the new David Sedaris, not that the old one is broken or anything. It's just that Jill Kargman . . . provides the same gut-splitting reading pleasure." - Los Angeles Times "Edgy, addictive, and relatable." - The Daily Beast "A smart, pocket-sized delight that artfully engages the funny bone." - Kirkus Reviews "With her sense of irony and humor, Ms. Kargman laughs at moments others might cry over. . . . Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut is more than funny, more than insightful and more than a guilty read." - New York Journal of Books Praise for Odd Mom Out "The smartest piece of anthropology on cable - and something to make TV fans grateful that something so specific and deeply thought-through can exist in the shallow end of cable's pool." - Time
Ballantine
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9780399594571
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Print book
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
By Offerman, Nick
At last, the full story behind Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman's epic romance, including stories, portraits, and the occasional puzzle, all telling the smoldering tale that has fascinated Hollywood for over a decade.The year: 2000. The setting: Los Angeles. A gorgeous virtuoso of an actress had agreed to star in a random play, and a basement-dwelling scenic carpenter had said he would assay a supporting role in the selfsame pageant. At the first rehearsal, she surveyed her fellow cast members, as one does, determining if any of the men might qualify to provide her with a satisfying fling. Her gaze fell upon the carpenter, and like a bolt of lightning, the thought struck her: No dice. Moving on.Yet, unbeknownst to our protagonists, Cupid had merely set down his bow and picked up a rocket launcher. Then fired a love rocket (not a euphemism) . The players were Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman, and the resulting romance, once it ignited, was . . . epic. Beyond epic. It resulted in a coupling that has endured to this day; a sizzling, perpetual tryst that has captivated the world with its kindness, athleticism, astonishingly low-brow humor, and true (fire emoji) passion.How did they do it? They came from completely different families, endured a significant age difference, and were separated by the gulf of several social strata. Megan loved books and art history; Nick loved hammers. But much more than these seemingly unsurpassable obstacles were the values they held in common: respect, decency, the ability to mention genitalia in almost any context, and an abiding obsession with the songs of Tom Waits.Eighteen years later, they're still very much in love, and have finally decided to reveal the philosophical mountains they have conquered, the lessons they've learned, and the myriad jigsaw puzzles they've completed, in a book. Featuring anecdotes, hijinks, interviews, photos, and a veritable grab bag of tomfoolery, this is not only the intoxicating book that Mullally's and Offerman's fans have been waiting for, it might just hold the solution to the greatest threat facing our modern world: the single life.
Dutton
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9781101986677
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Hardcover
Anyone Who's Anyone
By Wayne, George
From former Vanity Fair magazine's celebrity interviewer George Wayne comes a collection of piquant, poignant, and nostalgic interviews with some of the iconic personalities of our time, curated from his legendary magazine career.The man behind some of the most notorious celebrity interviews, George Wayne, has redefined, reimagined, and remastered the modern art of the conversation. For over twenty years, he documented pop culture with the George Wayne Questionnaire, his patented question and answer column, which has been one of Vanity Fair's most iconic and intriguing features. In each issue, he posed a series of offbeat questions to some the most captivating people in the world.Refreshingly unafraid to ask anything and everything, GW has perfected what he calls - the probe and parry - to break down protective facades and get inside the heads and hearts of his interviewees.
Harper
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9780062380074
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Hardcover
The Murder of My Aunt
By Hull, Richard
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARTIN EDWARDSEdward Powell lives with his Aunt Mildred in the Welsh town of Llwll. His aunt thinks Llwll an idyllic place to live, but Edward loathes the countryside - and thinks the company even worse. In fact, Edward has decided to murder his aunt.A darkly humorous depiction of fraught family ties, The Murder of My Aunt was first published in 1934.
Poisoned Pen Press
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9781464209734
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Paperback
I'm Just a Person
By Notaro, Tig
One of America's most original comedic voices delivers a darkly funny, wryly observed, and emotionally raw account of her year of death, cancer, and epiphany.In the span of four months in 2012, Tig Notaro was hospitalized for a debilitating intestinal disease called C. diff, her mother unexpectedly died, she went through a breakup, and then she was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. Hit with this devastating barrage, Tig took her grief onstage. Days after receiving her cancer diagnosis, she broke new comedic ground, opening an unvarnished set with the words: "Good evening. Hello. I have cancer. How are you? Hi, how are you? Is everybody having a good time? I have cancer." The set went viral instantly and was ultimately released as Tig's sophomore album, Live, which sold one hundred thousand units in just six weeks and was later nominated for a Grammy.Now, the wildly popular star takes stock of that no good, very bad year - a difficult yet astonishing period in which tragedy turned into absurdity and despair transformed into joy. An inspired combination of the deadpan silliness of her comedy and the open-hearted vulnerability that has emerged in the wake of that dire time, I'm Just a Person is a moving and often hilarious look at this very brave, very funny woman's journey into the darkness and her thrilling return from it.
Ecco, 2016.
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9780062266637
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Print book
Calypso
By Sedaris, David
David Sedaris returns with his most deeply personal and darkly hilarious book.If you've ever laughed your way through David Sedaris's cheerfully misanthropic stories, you might think you know what you're getting with Calypso. You'd be wrong. When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And life at the Sea Section, as he names the vacation home, is exactly as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realization: it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself.With Calypso, Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation toward middle age and mortality. Make no mistake: these stories are very, very funny--it's a book that can make you laugh 'til you snort, the way only family can. Sedaris's powers of observation have never been sharper, and his ability to shock readers into laughter unparalleled. But much of the comedy here is born out of that vertiginous moment when your own body betrays you and you realize that the story of your life is made up of more past than future.This is beach reading for people who detest beaches, required reading for those who loathe small talk and love a good tumor joke. Calypso is simultaneously Sedaris's darkest and warmest book yet--and it just might be his very best.
Little Brown and Company
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9780316392389
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eBook
Thanks, Obama
By Litt, David
Remember when presidents spoke in complete sentences instead of in unhinged tweets? Former Obama speechwriter David Litt does. In his comic, coming-of-age memoir, he takes us back to the Obama years - and charts a path forward in the age of Trump. More than any other presidency, Barack Obama's eight years in the White House were defined by young people - twenty-somethings who didn't have much experience in politics (or anything else, for that matter) , yet suddenly found themselves in the most high-stakes office building on earth. David Litt was one of those twenty-somethings. After graduating from college in 2008, he went straight to the Obama campaign. In 2011, he became one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history. Until leaving the White House in 2016, he wrote on topics from healthcare to climate change to criminal justice reform. As President Obama's go-to comedy writer, he also took the lead on the White House Correspondents' Dinner, the so-called "State of the Union of jokes."Now, in this refreshingly honest memoir, Litt brings us inside Obamaworld. With a humorists' eye for detail, he describes what it's like to accidentally trigger an international incident or nearly set a president's hair aflame. He answers questions you never knew you had: Which White House men's room is the classiest? What do you do when the commander in chief gets your name wrong? Where should you never, under any circumstances, change clothes on Air Force One? With nearly a decade of stories to tell, Litt makes clear that politics is completely, hopelessly absurd. But it's also important. For all the moments of chaos, frustration, and yes, disillusionment, Litt remains a believer in the words that first drew him to the Obama campaign: "People who love this country can change it." In telling his own story, Litt sheds fresh light on his former boss's legacy. And he argues that, despite the current political climate, the politics championed by Barack Obama will outlive the presidency of Donald Trump. Full of hilarious stories and told in a truly original voice, Thanks, Obama is an exciting debut about what it means - personally, professionally, and politically - to grow up.
Ecco
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9780062568458
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Hardcover
Lou Reed
By Decurtis, Anthony
The essential biography of one of music's most influential icons: Lou ReedAs lead singer and songwriter for the Velvet Underground and a renowned solo artist, Lou Reed invented alternative rock. His music, at once a source of transcendent beauty and coruscating noise, violated all definitions of genre while speaking to millions of fans and inspiring generations of musicians.But while his iconic status may be fixed, the man himself was anything but. Lou Reed's life was a transformer's odyssey. Eternally restless and endlessly hungry for new experiences, Reed reinvented his persona, his sound, even his sexuality time and again. A man of contradictions and extremes, he was fiercely independent yet afraid of being alone, artistically fearless yet deeply paranoid, eager for commercial success yet disdainful of his own triumphs. Channeling his jagged energy and literary sensibility into classic songs - like "Walk on the Wild Side" and "Sweet Jane" - and radically experimental albums alike, Reed remained desperately true to his artistic vision, wherever it led him. Now, just a few years after Reed's death, Rolling Stone writer Anthony DeCurtis, who knew Reed and interviewed him extensively, tells the provocative story of his complex and chameleonic life. With unparalleled access to dozens of Reed's friends, family, and collaborators, DeCurtis tracks Reed's five-decade career through the accounts of those who knew him and through Reed's most revealing testimony, his music. We travel deep into his defiantly subterranean world, enter the studio as the Velvet Underground record their groundbreaking work, and revel in Reed's relationships with such legendary figures as Andy Warhol, David Bowie, and Laurie Anderson. Gritty, intimate, and unflinching, Lou Reed is an illuminating tribute to one of the most incendiary artists of our time.
Little, Brown and Company
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9780316376556
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Hardcover
A Body of Work
By Hallberg, David
David Hallberg, the first American to join the famed Bolshoi Ballet as a principal dancer and the dazzling artist TheNew York Times described as "the foremost classical stylist of our day," presents an intimate journey through his artistic life up to the moment he returns to the stage after a devastating injury almost cost him his career.Beginning with his real-life Billy Elliot childhood - an all-American story marred by intense bullying - and culminating in his hard-won come-back, Hallberg's brave memoir dives deep into life as an artist as he wrestles with ego, pushes the limits of his body, and searches for ecstatic perfection and fulfillment as one of the world's most acclaimed ballet dancers. While rich in detail ballet fans will adore, this is a book that anyone interested in a life of creativity will love. Hallberg reflects on themes like inspiration, self-doubt, and perfectionism as he takes readers into daily class, rigorous rehearsals, and triumphant performances, searching for new interpretations of ballet's greatest roles. He reveals the loneliness he felt as a teenager leaving America to join the Paris Opera Ballet, the ambition he had to tame as a new member of American Ballet Theatre, and the reasons behind his headline-grabbing decision to be the first American to join the top rank of Bolshoi Ballet, tendered by the artistic director who would later be the victim of a vicious acid attack. Then, as Hallberg performed throughout the world at the peak of his abilities, he suffered a crippling ankle injury and unsuccessful surgery leading to an agonizing retreat from ballet and an honest reexamination of his entire life. Combining his powers of observation and memory with emotional honesty and artistic insight, Hallberg has written a great ballet memoir and an intimate portrait of an artist in all his vulnerability, passion, and wisdom.
Touchstone
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9781476771151
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Hardcover
Balancing Acts
By Hytner, Nicholas
From the Tony Award and Laurence Olivier Award-winning former director of Londons National Theatre--this is a fascinating, candid, eloquent memoir about his career directing theater, producing films and opera, and working closely with some of the worlds most celebrated actors. . The list of Nicholas Hytners accomplishments is long and distinguished: as Artistic Director of Londons National Theatre from 2003-2015, he directed and produced a great number of their most popular and memorable plays and musicals, many of which have come to Broadway: Carousel, Richard Beans One Man, Two Guvnors, David Hares Stuff Happens among them. He directed both the London and Broadway productions of Miss Saigon, each of which ran for ten years. He directed Alan Bennetts The Madness of George III on both stage and screen. In short: He is one of todays most successful and admired theatrical impresarios. . In Balancing Acts, Hytner gives us a detailed behind-the-scenes look at his creative process. From reviving classic musicals and mastering Shakespeare to commissioning new plays, he shows theater making to be a necessarily collaborative exercise, and he writes insightfully about the actors and playwrights hes worked with: Derek Jacobi, Richard Griffiths, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Harold Pinter, and Tom Stoppard among them. With a cultural range that spans from The Mikado to The Lady in the Van, Balancing Acts is not only a memoir but a gathering of illuminating notes on the art of directing and a thoughtful meditation on the purpose of theater.
Knopf
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9780451493408
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Hardcover
Eat Cake. Be Brave.
By Radke, Melissa
My name is Melissa Radke, and there is a very real chance you have no idea who I am or why I wrote a book. But admit it, you're curious! Even though millions of people seem to like watching my videos bemoaning the trials of parenting, marriage, French braiding, faith, and living life as an anti-aging female, you may still be wondering who let me write a book. I mean, books are written by people who have been interviewed by Gayle King and say things like, "You see, Gayle, I was having a root canal and I literally died in the chair. I saw heaven. Also, when I came back to earth I could speak Mandarin." Yeah, that didn't happen to me. No Mandarin. Though I have been known to break out in song! (My voice was once described as a "ray of light in a dark world" .
Grace Notes
By Sagal, Katey
Gripping, singular, and gorgeously reflective, Grace Notes is a memoir told in essays by beloved actress, Hollywood veteran, and singer/songwriter Katey Sagal - perfect for fans of Mary Louise Parker's Dear Mr. You and Patti Smith's M Train.Popular and award-winning star Katey Sagal chronicles the rollercoaster ride of her life in this series of evocative and beautifully written vignettes, resulting in a life story recounted unlike any other Hollywood memoir you've read before. Sagal takes you through the highs and lows of her life, from the tragic deaths of her parents to her long years in the Los Angeles rock scene, from being diagnosed with cancer at the age of twenty-eight to getting her big break on the fledgling FOX network as the wise-cracking Peggy Bundy on the beloved sitcom Married ... with Children. Sparse and poetic, Grace Notes is an emotionally riveting tale of struggle and success, both professional and personal: Sagal's path to sobriety; the stillbirth of her first daughter, Ruby; motherhood; the experience of having her third daughter at age fifty-two with the help of a surrogate; and her lifelong passion for music. Intimate, candid, and offering an inside look at a remarkable life forged within the entertainment industry, Grace Notes offers unprecedented access to the previously unknown life of a woman whom audiences have loved for over thirty years.
Opening Wednesday at a Theater Or Drive-In Near You
By Taylor, Charles
"Movie criticism's Dostoyevsky . . . Taylor reveals a national identity forged from the innocence we claim to have lost but never had in the first place." --Steve Erickson, author of ZerovilleWhen we think of '70s cinema, we think of classics like The Godfather, Taxi Driver, and The Wild Bunch . . . but the riches found in the overlooked B movies of the time, rolled out wherever they might find an audience, unexpectedly tell an eye-opening story about post-Watergate, post-Vietnam America. Revisiting the films that don't make the Academy Award montages, Charles Taylor finds a treasury many of us have forgotten, movies that in fact "unlock the secrets of the times." Celebrated film critic Taylor pays homage to the trucker vigilantes, meat magnate pimps, blaxploitation "angel avengers," and taciturn factory workers of grungy, unartful B films such as Prime Cut, Foxy Brown, and Eyes of Laura Mars. He creates a compelling argument for what matters in moviemaking and brings a pivotal American era vividly to life in all its gritty, melancholy complexity.
She Wants It
By Soloway, Jill
From the creator of the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning series Transparent, a poignant memoir of personal transformation set against the profound cultural upheaval and shifting power dynamics that continue to shape our society.In She Wants It, Jill Soloway takes us on a patriarchy-toppling emotional and professional journey from straight, divorced, mother of two working on other people's television shows to coming into their own as a nonbinary and genderqueer director, show creator, and activist. When Jill's parent came out as transgender, Jill pushed through the male-dominated landscape of Hollywood to create the groundbreaking and award-winning Amazon TV series Transparent. Exploring identity, love, sexuality, and the blurring of boundaries through the dynamics of a complicated and profoundly resonant American family, Transparent gave birth to a new cultural consciousness. While working on the show and exploding mainstream ideas about gender, Jill also began to erase the lines on their own map, coming out as queer and nonbinary. Written with wild candor, urgent rhythms, and razor-edged humor, She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy charts Jill's intense and revelatory journey.
Nevertheless
By Baldwin, Alec
Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave
By Kargman, Jill
The star of Bravo's breakout scripted comedy Odd Mom Out shares her razor-sharp wit and backhanded wisdom in a deeply observed and outrageously funny collection of musings, lists, essays, and outrages. From her unique lingo (things don't simply frighten her, they "M. Night Shyamalan her out") to her gimlet-eyed view of narrow-mindedness, to her morbid but curiously life-affirming parenting style, Jill Kargman is nothing if not original. In this hilarious new book, the sharp-elbowed mother of three turns her unconventional lens on life and death and everything in between, including * the politically correct peer pressure she felt from the new moms in her hood, the women who provided the grist for the mill of her hit television show * the evolution of her aesthetic from Miami Vice vibrant (a very brief flirtation) to Wednesday Addams-meets-rocker chic * her deep-seated New Yorker's discomfort with moving vehicles that aren't taxis and subways (a.k.a. "suburban panic disorder") * the family obsession with reading obituaries for their medical revelations and real estate news value * the reasons why, in a land of tan-orexic baby-oil beach bakers, she chooses to honor the valor of her ghostly pallor From a hellish visit to the Happiest Place on Earth to her unusual wedding night with Russell Crowe to her adrenaline-pumping Gay Pride parade experience, Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave is as wonderfully indecent and entertaining as a spring break road trip with your best friend. Assuming your best friend is the kind of gal who still wears a motorcycle jacket to pick up the kids at school.Advance praise for Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave "The creator of Bravo's Odd Mom Out, Kargman dishes out a variety of essays that poke fun at herself, her family, friends, and the world in general. . . . Prepare to laugh." - Kirkus ReviewsPraise for Jill Kargman's Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut "Please welcome the new David Sedaris, not that the old one is broken or anything. It's just that Jill Kargman . . . provides the same gut-splitting reading pleasure." - Los Angeles Times "Edgy, addictive, and relatable." - The Daily Beast "A smart, pocket-sized delight that artfully engages the funny bone." - Kirkus Reviews "With her sense of irony and humor, Ms. Kargman laughs at moments others might cry over. . . . Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut is more than funny, more than insightful and more than a guilty read." - New York Journal of Books Praise for Odd Mom Out "The smartest piece of anthropology on cable - and something to make TV fans grateful that something so specific and deeply thought-through can exist in the shallow end of cable's pool." - Time
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
By Offerman, Nick
At last, the full story behind Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman's epic romance, including stories, portraits, and the occasional puzzle, all telling the smoldering tale that has fascinated Hollywood for over a decade.The year: 2000. The setting: Los Angeles. A gorgeous virtuoso of an actress had agreed to star in a random play, and a basement-dwelling scenic carpenter had said he would assay a supporting role in the selfsame pageant. At the first rehearsal, she surveyed her fellow cast members, as one does, determining if any of the men might qualify to provide her with a satisfying fling. Her gaze fell upon the carpenter, and like a bolt of lightning, the thought struck her: No dice. Moving on.Yet, unbeknownst to our protagonists, Cupid had merely set down his bow and picked up a rocket launcher. Then fired a love rocket (not a euphemism) . The players were Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman, and the resulting romance, once it ignited, was . . . epic. Beyond epic. It resulted in a coupling that has endured to this day; a sizzling, perpetual tryst that has captivated the world with its kindness, athleticism, astonishingly low-brow humor, and true (fire emoji) passion.How did they do it? They came from completely different families, endured a significant age difference, and were separated by the gulf of several social strata. Megan loved books and art history; Nick loved hammers. But much more than these seemingly unsurpassable obstacles were the values they held in common: respect, decency, the ability to mention genitalia in almost any context, and an abiding obsession with the songs of Tom Waits.Eighteen years later, they're still very much in love, and have finally decided to reveal the philosophical mountains they have conquered, the lessons they've learned, and the myriad jigsaw puzzles they've completed, in a book. Featuring anecdotes, hijinks, interviews, photos, and a veritable grab bag of tomfoolery, this is not only the intoxicating book that Mullally's and Offerman's fans have been waiting for, it might just hold the solution to the greatest threat facing our modern world: the single life.
Anyone Who's Anyone
By Wayne, George
From former Vanity Fair magazine's celebrity interviewer George Wayne comes a collection of piquant, poignant, and nostalgic interviews with some of the iconic personalities of our time, curated from his legendary magazine career.The man behind some of the most notorious celebrity interviews, George Wayne, has redefined, reimagined, and remastered the modern art of the conversation. For over twenty years, he documented pop culture with the George Wayne Questionnaire, his patented question and answer column, which has been one of Vanity Fair's most iconic and intriguing features. In each issue, he posed a series of offbeat questions to some the most captivating people in the world.Refreshingly unafraid to ask anything and everything, GW has perfected what he calls - the probe and parry - to break down protective facades and get inside the heads and hearts of his interviewees.
The Murder of My Aunt
By Hull, Richard
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARTIN EDWARDSEdward Powell lives with his Aunt Mildred in the Welsh town of Llwll. His aunt thinks Llwll an idyllic place to live, but Edward loathes the countryside - and thinks the company even worse. In fact, Edward has decided to murder his aunt.A darkly humorous depiction of fraught family ties, The Murder of My Aunt was first published in 1934.
I'm Just a Person
By Notaro, Tig
One of America's most original comedic voices delivers a darkly funny, wryly observed, and emotionally raw account of her year of death, cancer, and epiphany.In the span of four months in 2012, Tig Notaro was hospitalized for a debilitating intestinal disease called C. diff, her mother unexpectedly died, she went through a breakup, and then she was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. Hit with this devastating barrage, Tig took her grief onstage. Days after receiving her cancer diagnosis, she broke new comedic ground, opening an unvarnished set with the words: "Good evening. Hello. I have cancer. How are you? Hi, how are you? Is everybody having a good time? I have cancer." The set went viral instantly and was ultimately released as Tig's sophomore album, Live, which sold one hundred thousand units in just six weeks and was later nominated for a Grammy.Now, the wildly popular star takes stock of that no good, very bad year - a difficult yet astonishing period in which tragedy turned into absurdity and despair transformed into joy. An inspired combination of the deadpan silliness of her comedy and the open-hearted vulnerability that has emerged in the wake of that dire time, I'm Just a Person is a moving and often hilarious look at this very brave, very funny woman's journey into the darkness and her thrilling return from it.
Calypso
By Sedaris, David
David Sedaris returns with his most deeply personal and darkly hilarious book.If you've ever laughed your way through David Sedaris's cheerfully misanthropic stories, you might think you know what you're getting with Calypso. You'd be wrong. When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And life at the Sea Section, as he names the vacation home, is exactly as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realization: it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself.With Calypso, Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation toward middle age and mortality. Make no mistake: these stories are very, very funny--it's a book that can make you laugh 'til you snort, the way only family can. Sedaris's powers of observation have never been sharper, and his ability to shock readers into laughter unparalleled. But much of the comedy here is born out of that vertiginous moment when your own body betrays you and you realize that the story of your life is made up of more past than future.This is beach reading for people who detest beaches, required reading for those who loathe small talk and love a good tumor joke. Calypso is simultaneously Sedaris's darkest and warmest book yet--and it just might be his very best.
Thanks, Obama
By Litt, David
Remember when presidents spoke in complete sentences instead of in unhinged tweets? Former Obama speechwriter David Litt does. In his comic, coming-of-age memoir, he takes us back to the Obama years - and charts a path forward in the age of Trump. More than any other presidency, Barack Obama's eight years in the White House were defined by young people - twenty-somethings who didn't have much experience in politics (or anything else, for that matter) , yet suddenly found themselves in the most high-stakes office building on earth. David Litt was one of those twenty-somethings. After graduating from college in 2008, he went straight to the Obama campaign. In 2011, he became one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history. Until leaving the White House in 2016, he wrote on topics from healthcare to climate change to criminal justice reform. As President Obama's go-to comedy writer, he also took the lead on the White House Correspondents' Dinner, the so-called "State of the Union of jokes."Now, in this refreshingly honest memoir, Litt brings us inside Obamaworld. With a humorists' eye for detail, he describes what it's like to accidentally trigger an international incident or nearly set a president's hair aflame. He answers questions you never knew you had: Which White House men's room is the classiest? What do you do when the commander in chief gets your name wrong? Where should you never, under any circumstances, change clothes on Air Force One? With nearly a decade of stories to tell, Litt makes clear that politics is completely, hopelessly absurd. But it's also important. For all the moments of chaos, frustration, and yes, disillusionment, Litt remains a believer in the words that first drew him to the Obama campaign: "People who love this country can change it." In telling his own story, Litt sheds fresh light on his former boss's legacy. And he argues that, despite the current political climate, the politics championed by Barack Obama will outlive the presidency of Donald Trump. Full of hilarious stories and told in a truly original voice, Thanks, Obama is an exciting debut about what it means - personally, professionally, and politically - to grow up.
Lou Reed
By Decurtis, Anthony
The essential biography of one of music's most influential icons: Lou ReedAs lead singer and songwriter for the Velvet Underground and a renowned solo artist, Lou Reed invented alternative rock. His music, at once a source of transcendent beauty and coruscating noise, violated all definitions of genre while speaking to millions of fans and inspiring generations of musicians.But while his iconic status may be fixed, the man himself was anything but. Lou Reed's life was a transformer's odyssey. Eternally restless and endlessly hungry for new experiences, Reed reinvented his persona, his sound, even his sexuality time and again. A man of contradictions and extremes, he was fiercely independent yet afraid of being alone, artistically fearless yet deeply paranoid, eager for commercial success yet disdainful of his own triumphs. Channeling his jagged energy and literary sensibility into classic songs - like "Walk on the Wild Side" and "Sweet Jane" - and radically experimental albums alike, Reed remained desperately true to his artistic vision, wherever it led him. Now, just a few years after Reed's death, Rolling Stone writer Anthony DeCurtis, who knew Reed and interviewed him extensively, tells the provocative story of his complex and chameleonic life. With unparalleled access to dozens of Reed's friends, family, and collaborators, DeCurtis tracks Reed's five-decade career through the accounts of those who knew him and through Reed's most revealing testimony, his music. We travel deep into his defiantly subterranean world, enter the studio as the Velvet Underground record their groundbreaking work, and revel in Reed's relationships with such legendary figures as Andy Warhol, David Bowie, and Laurie Anderson. Gritty, intimate, and unflinching, Lou Reed is an illuminating tribute to one of the most incendiary artists of our time.
A Body of Work
By Hallberg, David
David Hallberg, the first American to join the famed Bolshoi Ballet as a principal dancer and the dazzling artist The New York Times described as "the foremost classical stylist of our day," presents an intimate journey through his artistic life up to the moment he returns to the stage after a devastating injury almost cost him his career.Beginning with his real-life Billy Elliot childhood - an all-American story marred by intense bullying - and culminating in his hard-won come-back, Hallberg's brave memoir dives deep into life as an artist as he wrestles with ego, pushes the limits of his body, and searches for ecstatic perfection and fulfillment as one of the world's most acclaimed ballet dancers. While rich in detail ballet fans will adore, this is a book that anyone interested in a life of creativity will love. Hallberg reflects on themes like inspiration, self-doubt, and perfectionism as he takes readers into daily class, rigorous rehearsals, and triumphant performances, searching for new interpretations of ballet's greatest roles. He reveals the loneliness he felt as a teenager leaving America to join the Paris Opera Ballet, the ambition he had to tame as a new member of American Ballet Theatre, and the reasons behind his headline-grabbing decision to be the first American to join the top rank of Bolshoi Ballet, tendered by the artistic director who would later be the victim of a vicious acid attack. Then, as Hallberg performed throughout the world at the peak of his abilities, he suffered a crippling ankle injury and unsuccessful surgery leading to an agonizing retreat from ballet and an honest reexamination of his entire life. Combining his powers of observation and memory with emotional honesty and artistic insight, Hallberg has written a great ballet memoir and an intimate portrait of an artist in all his vulnerability, passion, and wisdom.
Balancing Acts
By Hytner, Nicholas
From the Tony Award and Laurence Olivier Award-winning former director of Londons National Theatre--this is a fascinating, candid, eloquent memoir about his career directing theater, producing films and opera, and working closely with some of the worlds most celebrated actors. . The list of Nicholas Hytners accomplishments is long and distinguished: as Artistic Director of Londons National Theatre from 2003-2015, he directed and produced a great number of their most popular and memorable plays and musicals, many of which have come to Broadway: Carousel, Richard Beans One Man, Two Guvnors, David Hares Stuff Happens among them. He directed both the London and Broadway productions of Miss Saigon, each of which ran for ten years. He directed Alan Bennetts The Madness of George III on both stage and screen. In short: He is one of todays most successful and admired theatrical impresarios. . In Balancing Acts, Hytner gives us a detailed behind-the-scenes look at his creative process. From reviving classic musicals and mastering Shakespeare to commissioning new plays, he shows theater making to be a necessarily collaborative exercise, and he writes insightfully about the actors and playwrights hes worked with: Derek Jacobi, Richard Griffiths, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Harold Pinter, and Tom Stoppard among them. With a cultural range that spans from The Mikado to The Lady in the Van, Balancing Acts is not only a memoir but a gathering of illuminating notes on the art of directing and a thoughtful meditation on the purpose of theater.
Eat Cake. Be Brave.
By Radke, Melissa
My name is Melissa Radke, and there is a very real chance you have no idea who I am or why I wrote a book. But admit it, you're curious! Even though millions of people seem to like watching my videos bemoaning the trials of parenting, marriage, French braiding, faith, and living life as an anti-aging female, you may still be wondering who let me write a book. I mean, books are written by people who have been interviewed by Gayle King and say things like, "You see, Gayle, I was having a root canal and I literally died in the chair. I saw heaven. Also, when I came back to earth I could speak Mandarin." Yeah, that didn't happen to me. No Mandarin. Though I have been known to break out in song! (My voice was once described as a "ray of light in a dark world" .