Showing posts with label biography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biography. Show all posts

Friday, January 19, 2024

Through the Wilderness by Brad Orsted

I sort of peripherally know the author having worked with his ex-wife and was curious about the book. I knew a little bit about their story (that they had a child who had died) but didn't know the whys and wherefores. And that story is enough to bring anyone to their knees.
Orsted talks through his life with a bit of a description of his childhood through meeting his wife and kids, his daughter's birth, and death. Interspersed with these stories are his life after it changes irrevocably. He moves to Montana, on the border of Yellowstone National Park. 
More and more studies are showing the healing powers of being in nature and Orsted is certainly proof of that. His story is a hard one to read but hopeful in the end with a great look at Yellowstone and the joys of living in the wild. 

Four stars
This book came out June 27, 2023
Borrowed as ebook from Libby
Opinions are my own



Tuesday, January 9, 2024

I Didn't Know I Needed This by Eli Rallo

The cover of this book was pretty and the subtitle intriguing so I decided to borrow the book from the library. I quickly realized that I am probably not in Rallo's main demographic but it was an interesting enough book that I finished it. 
Rallo has collected a number of rules for herself that she is sharing with other people. Most of the lists seem to relate to dating and love but she also touches on friendship. Weaving stories of her past loves and lovers into the story, it is easy to see why Rallo is compared to Carrie Bradshaw. 
I'm not a huge fan of stories that skip around in time and this book does that, identifying characters by name though none of them really stuck with me other than Rallo's best friend.

Three stars
This book came out January 1, 2023
Borrowed as ebook from Libby
Opinions are my own


Wednesday, December 27, 2023

My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand

48 hours of listening. 48. hours. It was a very interesting read and really inclusive of all of Streisand's work which, as most of us know, is extensive. I did finish the whole book before it needed to be returned to the library but it did start to drag a bit. In an effort to include everyone she worked with, Streisand name drops everyone. Ev. Er. Y. One. So many names. A really interesting look at her life from her side and most of the stories, especially those that set her up to look like a high strung diva are shown to have been untrue. Like so many women, she was vilified to make others look good. 

Four stars
This book came out November 7, 2023
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own


Monday, December 18, 2023

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

For those of us who have seen Britney's Instagram, we can tell that this book has been heavily (HEAVILY) edited. Or the ghostwriter was really good at pulling together a coherent narrative from fractured stories. But it is an interesting glimpse into the life of a woman who, the world is slowly discovering, was done wrong by almost everyone around her. While she may not be completely on her feet, that is probably not completely her fault and what happened to her is given context by what was going on in her own mind versus the narrative being built by people who only wanted to make money off of her. We get stories from Star Search, the Mickey Mouse Club years, her marriages, some of her dating life, and her time being pregnant. Getting to see behind the curtain makes her so much more relatable.

Four stars
This book came out October 24, 2023
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own


Saturday, December 9, 2023

Not That Fancy by Reba McEntire

Reba McEntire has had a fantastic life. Singing, TV shows, movies, Broadway... the woman does it all and she shares some of that with her readers. The stories aren't particularly deep but they are entertaining. We get to see teh highs of her life as well as the lows. There's not a lot about her personal life, it's mostly about the professional but what is included is all positive. Definitely worth a listen.

Four stars
This book came out October 10, 2023
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own


Monday, July 24, 2023

I'm No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts by Kristin Chenoweth

I love listening to biographies when they are read by their authors. This book is not very in depth but skims over a lot of Chenowith's life with additions of various meditations or prayers that you can use in your own everyday life. 
We do get to learn a little bit about Chenowith's life including the fact that she was adopted and a touch about her relationship and her husband, Josh. She touches lightly on various Broadway and TV shows that she was in though nothing goes into great depth.

Four stars
This book came out January 17, 2023
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson

I am a sucker for autobiographies narrated by their authors. This book is no different. Painted as a blonde bombshell from her youth, Anderson tells her side of the story. Even though this designation has brought her great heartache at times, Anderson is matter-of-fact in telling her stories. She weaves in some information that isn't available as part of her public persona, mainly how she grew up and stories from her youth. The stories are short and sometimes rather shallow but it is an interesting book and worth a listen.

Four stars
This book came out January 31, 2023
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Sunday, February 5, 2023

Have I Told You This Already? by Lauren Graham

Lauren Graham is a gifted actress and writer. These essays cover a variety of topics including her work on the Might Ducks television series, stories her father told her (that may not have been completely true), and her time during COVID. Like her other books, this one is quick, witty, all about herself, but doesn't really go deep into any topic. Still, highly enjoyable.

Four stars
This book came out November 15, 2022
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own


Thursday, February 2, 2023

Bad Mormon by Heather Gay

Like a lot of other Housewives of Salt Lake City fans, I really related to the brash new star, Heather Gay. She tries to be there for her friends (doesn't always do it in the right way), she's always wanting the tea, and seems down to have a great time. While what we see may not actually be her authentic self, it sure seems like it is and it's something that normal viewers can relate to. Her book is the same way. We get to see Heather's life growing up in the Mormon church (or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and how she struggled between wanting to be a good Christian but also having real human urges and feelings. 

Three and a half stars
This book came out February 7, 2023
ARC kindly provided by Gallery Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own



Monday, January 23, 2023

Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton

In late 2001, the first adaptation of Harry Potter made its way on to the big screen. The child actors were instantly catapulted into fame. As the young villain of the piece, Tom Felton says that he never got as much press as the actors who played the main three characters, but it did, of course, change his life.
Felton had already been an actor and he walks us through the roles he had and some of the people he met on various sets. He also tells us about working behind the scenes of the Harry Potter films and gives us a lovely glimpse of many of the actors on the films, including those who have since passed away. And they are very short glimpses with very little going too far into depth. 
Read by Felton himself, this book is an interesting look at how the children of Harry Potter grew up on set but also how Felton himself changed both before and after the films. He definitely struggled afterwards but seems to have pulled himself back up by his bootstraps.

Four Stars 
This book came out October 18, 2022
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

I'm Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy

Okay, I have never actually watched a full episode of anything McCurdy has been in but social media seems to believe I should watch show clips and so I've seen a bundle of them and thought she was hilarious. This behind-the-scenes look at why she was on the shows... not so hilarious. As the title suggests, this is due to the machinations of her mother. And her mom was not okay. Like, not at all. It's surprising that McCurdy sounds as balanced as she is, even being able to turn down the reboot though it might have made her a ton of money. The "chapters" are incredibly short, more like a series of short stories but really interesting to listen to how a star was made.

Four stars
This book came out August 9, 2022
Audiobook from Audible
Opinions are my own


Friday, August 5, 2022

Hello, Molly!: A Memoir by Molly Shannon, Sean Wilsey

I've been on an autobiography kick lately and enjoyed all of them, especially when the authors read them on the audiobook version. This book is definitely worth listening to.
Molly Shannon started performing at a young age. Not on the stage, per se, but with other children. It was one way to control her life after her family was in a car accident when she was four and her mother, sister, and cousin all died. There was a lot left out of Shannon's relationship with her father and enough information to know that she had a hard time while growing up. 
We learn about her going to school and really getting into acting, having to scramble in both New York and Los Angeles before finally landing her role on Saturday Night Live. 
There isn't much on her life post-SNL but I get the feeling that she hasn't had as much time process that as she has her early life.

Four stars
This book came out April 12, 2022
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own


Saturday, July 2, 2022

Girl Walks Into a Bar... by Rachel Dratch

Most famous for being on Saturday Night Live, Dratch is also known for not having been on 30 Rock even though she started off as one of the stars. In the book, she tries to emphasize that that is just how it works in Hollywood but she was still disappointed that she was replaced. But most of the book isn't supposed to be about her time on television but more about what happened in her midlife when, at 43, having given up hope of having children, she suddenly found herself pregnant by a man with whom she was in what could best be called a friend-with-benefits-when-they're-in-the-same-town. 
I do like autobiographies, especially when they are read by the authors. The book was a little thin but I found myself identifying with Dratch in various places of her life, including being a single, childless woman at baby showers.

Four stars
This book came out March 29, 2012
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own


Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Drop the Ball by Tiffany Dufu

I had read about this book on a blog site but I forgot to pin which one it was. I do remember the article
was about ways for women to succeed. I don't know if the author described exactly how much this book skews toward assuming that the reader is in a hetero-normative relationship. There is good advice but it won't work if you are single or same sex because so much of it skews on assuming that the partners align along stereotypes. 
I also wasn't expecting dropping the ball to be so much work. Work that still needs to be initiated by the woman.
One thing I did like was the idea of thinking about, "Is what I am working on the highest and best use of my time?"

Three stars
This book came out February 5, 2017
Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla
Opinions are my own

Sunday, May 15, 2022

Memoirs of a Professional Cad by George Sanders

I cannot remember why I added this book to my TBR but I do regret that it took me so long to read it. Sanders (or perhaps his ghost writer) is incredibly witty with a very dry sense of humor. If every story in this book is true, he lived an amazing life. If only half of the stories in this book are true, Sanders still lived an amazing life. 
His life began in Russia where his family wasn't wealthy but they were well-off. At least, they were until they were drummed out of the country. From there, he lived in England and then traveled many places, never holding down a job but having experiences that very few others in life would be able to have. He fell into acting and says that it was mostly because it allowed him to remain lazy. 
His views on women were of the time and probably exaggerated for the book but... eh. 
I will say that the narrator added to the enjoyability.

Four stars
This book came out in 1960
Borrowed as an audiobook from Hoopla
Opinions are my own

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile

I honestly wasn't sure who Brandi Carlile was but the NPR Best Books of 2021 made it sound so good. And it really was. With the story of Carlile's life interwoven with songs that she wrote and that meant something to her, we learn about her own history from her own mouth. I highly recommend listening to the audibook because I just don't think reading it would be the same. Especially when so many of the stories are so personal including growing up so poor, working through her own fame, and falling in love with a good friend.

Four stars
This book came out April 6, 2021
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Friday, December 17, 2021

Please Don't Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes by Phoebe Robinson

Phoebe Robinson is a phenomenal writer who is tackling the hard topics with grace and humor. Does all of it hit? Maybe not but it's all entertaining. And I've learned about things that I never knew before like 4C hair and outside clothes. I guess I knew about outside clothes before but this was an even deeper dive into that topic as well as things like racism, living duringba pandemic and a host of other topics.

Four stars
This book came out September 28th 2021
Borrowed as ebook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

How Y'all Doing? by Leslie Jordan

Leslie Jordan has been a favorite of mine since Ski Patrol and I loved discovering his true personality as he blew up on Instagram. This is a rather short book (~4 hours) but is a joy to hear Leslie read his own stories starting with the show he was on "The Cool Kids" which is where he really learned what Instagram was.
He gives his stories including the time Debbie Reynolds called his mother which almost made me cry, information on his seasons on American Horror Story, meeting Dolly Parton, and more. One of the amazing things is that he worked breaking horses for a number of years before becoming an actor.
Definitely consume this as an audiobook. Hearing it in Jordan's voice is the reason I would give this four and a half stars.

Four and a half stars
This book came out 
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own


Sunday, April 4, 2021

Broken (in the best possible way) Jenny Lawson

 
If you haven't read Jenny Lawson before, you may want to start with her other books but only because they are so amazingly awesome and worth reading as well. This book had me laughing out loud so hard it hurt my throat. It also had me crying. 
Lawson tells stories from her own life that cross topics from her childhood to her marriage to her mental illness. And it is really the last that has garnered her the most attention. She honestly describes her (at times crippling) depression. She doesn't whitewash the pain it has caused her or her family. But she also highlights the hysterical parts of life (the Twitter thread she accidentally started about people's most embarrassing moments makes me feel better about how I people) as well as those parts that are amazingly poignant (her grandmother's dementia.) 

Four and a half stars
This book comes out April 6th
ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Will Work for Shoes by Susan J. Ashbrook

I had originally requested this book from NetGalley but didn't download it before it expired. I later bought the book on Kindle and it was interesting. Especially since I was reading it almost ten years after it came out and during a global pandemic so the red carpets have more or less disappeared. It is an interesting look behind the scenes of how much getting people dressed just to go to an awards show could become a big business. On the other hand, it actually could have been a little bit shorter with a lot of the padding coming from some name dropping and the author's actual experience in dealing with celebrities and tracing how particular trends were started by their red carpet wears.
Three stars
This book came out September 1st, 2011
Ebook from Kindle
Opinions are my own