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My First Hundred Years in Show Business: A Memoir
by Mary Louise WilsonThis Tony winner&’s memoir is &“a riot of characters met and characters played . . . a funny, frank, and savvy chronicle of a wonderful life.&” —David Hyde Pierce Mary Louise Wilson became a star at age sixty with her smash one-woman play Full Gallop, portraying legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland. But before and since, her life and career—including the Tony Award for her portrayal of Big Edie in Grey Gardens—have been celebrated and varied. Raised in New Orleans with a social climbing, alcoholic mother, Mary Louise moved to New York City in the late 1950s; lived with her gay brother in the Village; entered the nightclub scene in a legendary revue; and rubbed shoulders with every famous person of that era and since. My First Hundred Years in Show Business gets it all down. Yet as delicious as the anecdotes are, the heart of this book is in its unblinkingly honest depiction of the life of a working actor. In her inimitable voice—wry, admirably unsentimental, mordantly funny—Mary Louise Wilson has crafted a work that is at once a teeming social history of the New York theatre scene and a thoroughly revealing, superbly entertaining memoir of the life of an extraordinary woman and actor. &“Brims with anecdotes . . . plenty of laughs [and] plenty of candor, too.&” —Nola.com
My First Memory: Epiphanies, Watersheds and Origin Stories
by Ben HoldenWHAT IS YOUR FIRST MEMORY? Or, rather, what do you imagine to be your earliest memory? Perhaps, alternatively, there was a moment during childhood when the world’s axis shifted? A transformative realisation, epiphany or experience that changed the course of your life: your very own ‘sense of a beginning’… In My First Memory, bestselling anthologist Ben Holden explores these touchstones via the watershed experiences of some of the greatest figures of our age. Along the way, he lightly explores how memory and childhood merge to form identity. How, in the process, we not only create individual origin-stories but also, on a broader level, fashion human history. The first memories of iconic figures – from Machiavelli to Freud, Einstein to Hawking, Churchill to Luther King, Pankhurst to Angelou, Pavarotti to Springsteen, and Pelé to Bolt – combine with exclusive, personal pieces by some of today’s greatest writers, scientists and thinkers: the likes of Sebastian Barry, Melvyn Bragg, David Eagleman, Susan Greenfield, Tessa Hadley, Javier Marías, Michael Morpurgo and the late Ursula K Le Guin. The trip down memory lane is heightened by the remembrances of refugees: from heroic figures such as Madeleine Albright, Isabel Allende, Alf Dubs, Yusra Mardini, Elie Wiesel and Stefan Zweig to lesser-known but no less courageous voices. Many of these moving accounts tell of children being forced to leave home and family behind forever. They may have grown up to lead inspirational lives – but none ever forgot from whence they came. After all, each of us must start somewhere and – as this timeless collection unforgettably proves – there is always a first time for everything.Praise for Poems That Make Grown Men Cry: 'Everyone who reads this collection will be roused: disturbed by the pain, exalted in the zest for joy given by poets' Observer 'That's the great thing about a good anthology of poems: you are reminded of old friends and introduced to new ones... This is a welcome addition to my shelves' Sunday Telegraph 'A fascinating anthology. Finding out what makes particular men emotional is intriguing' Irish Independent 'The title is pure genius... what I love most is the proud grasp of emotion as mature and manly. Two words that become magnificent in their juxtaposition: "men" and "cry"' Daily Mail 'This is a really thought-provoking book...The range of contributors leads to a wonderful range of verse. And the overall result is a wonderfully powerful and moving experience' The Times
My First New York: Early Adventures in the Big City
by New York MagazineA book as effervescent and alive as the city itself.My First New York features candid accounts of coming to New York by more than fifty of the most remarkable people who have called the city home. Here are true stories of long nights out and wild nights in, of first dates and lost loves, of memorable meals and miserable jobs, of slow walks up Broadway and fast subway rides downtown.The contributors—a mix of actors, artists, comedians, entrepreneurs, musicians, politicians, sports stars, writers, and others—reflect an enormous variety of experiences: few have arrived with less than filmmaker Jonas Mekas, a concentration-camp survivor on a UN refugee ship; few have swanned in with more than designer Diane von Furstenberg, a princess. And an extraordinary number managed to land in New York just as something historic was happening—the artist Cindy Sherman arrived in the middle of the Summer of Sam; restaurateur Danny Meyer came on the day John Lennon was shot.Arranged chronologically, these moving and memorable stories combine to form an impressionistic history of New York since the Great Depression. They also provide an accidental encyclopedia of New York hotspots through the ages: from the Cedar Tavern and the Gaslight to Lutèce and Elaine's, from Max's Kansas City and the Mudd Club to the Odeon and Bungalow 8, they're all here, dots on the unbroken line of the Next Next things.Taken together, My First New York is a collection of fifty-six testaments to a larger revelation, one that new arrivals of all stripes and all eras have experienced again and again in New York, regardless of how the city proceeds to treat them: what the songwriter Rufus Wain-wright calls "having cracked the code of living life to the fullest."
My First Popsicle: An Anthology of Food and Feelings
by Edited by Zosia MametA warm and relateable collection of essays exploring the memories we associate with different meals in our lives, from a spectrum of talented creatorsWhat is your most poignant memory surrounding food? Of all the essentials for survival: oxygen, water, sleep, and food, only food is a vast treasure trove of memory and of sensory experience. Food is a portal to culture, to times past, to disgust, to comfort, to love: no matter one's feelings about a particular dish, they are hardly ever neutral. In MY FIRST POPSICLE, Zosia Mamet has curated some of the most prominent voices in art and culture to tackle the topic of food in its elegance, its profundity, and its incidental charm. With contributions from Stephanie Danler on vinaigrette and starting over, Anita Lo on the cultural responsibility of dumplings, Tony Hale on his obsession with desserts at chain restaurants, Patti LuPone on childhood memories of seeking out shellfish, Gabourey Sidibe on her connections with her father and the Senegalese dish Poullet Yassa, Andrew Rannells on his nostalgia for Jell-O Cake, Sloane Crosley on the pesto that got her through the early months of the pandemic, Michelle Buteau on her love for all things pasta, Jia Tolentino on the chicken dish she makes to escape reality, and more, MY FIRST POPSICLE is as much an ode to food and emotion as it is to life. After all, the two are inseparable.
My First Rodeo: How Three Daughters, One Wife, and a Herd of Others Are Making Me a Better Dad
by Stoney StamperMy First Rodeo is a heartwarming collection of stories that reveal the ups, downs, and delights of being a family man, from a guy who never dreamed of being one.Happily unmarried with no desire for a change in status, Stoney Stamper met a beautiful lady with two daughters, and to his surprise fell head over boots in love. At the encouragement of family and friends, he decided to chronicle his new life and created the popular blog--The Daddy Diaries. My First Rodeo will inspire those just starting out with families to hang in there, they can do it. And for those well beyond the child raising years, it will be a poignant reminder of the enduring goodness of family.
My First Seven Years (Plus a Few More): A Memoir
by Dario FoAn extraordinary coming-of-age memoir by the Nobel-Prize-winning playwrightMy First Seven Years is Dario Fo's fantastic, enchanting memoir of his youth spent in Northern Italy on the shores of Lago Maggiore. As a child, Fo grew up in a picturesque village teeming with glass-blowers, smugglers and storytellers. Of his teenage years, Fo recounts the struggles of the Fascists and Partisans, the years of World War II, and his own tragicomic experience trying to desert the Fascist army. In a series of colorful vignettes, Fo draws us into a remarkable early life filled with characters and anecdotes that would become the inspiration for his own creative genius.
My First Seven Years (plus a few more): A Memoir
by Joseph Farrell Dario FoMy First Seven Years is Dario Fo's fantastic, enchanting memoir of his youth spent in Northern Italy on the shores of Lago Maggiore. As a child, Fo grew up in a picturesque village teeming with glass-blowers, smugglers and storytellers. Of his teenage years, Fo recounts the struggles of the Fascists and Partisans, the years of World War II, and his own tragicomic experience trying to desert the Fascist army. In a series of colorful vignettes, Fo draws us into a remarkable early life filled with characters and anecdotes that would become the inspiration for his own creative genius.
My First Summer in the Sierra
by John Muir Mike Davis Herbert W. GleasonJohn Muir, a young Scottish immigrant, had not yet become a famed conservationist when he first trekked into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, not long after the Civil War. He was so captivated by what he saw that he decided to devote his life to the glorification and preservation of this magnificent wilderness. My First Summer in the Sierra, whose heart is the diary Muir kept while tending sheep in Yosemite country, enticed thousands of Americans to visit this magical place, and resounds with Muir's regard for the "divine, enduring, unwasteable wealth" of the natural world. A classic of environmental literature, My First Summer in the Sierra continues to inspire readers to seek out such places for themselves and make them their own.From the Trade Paperback edition.
My First Summer in the Sierra
by John MuirConsidered one of the patron saints of twentieth-century environmental activity, John Muir's appeal to modern readers is that he not only explored the American West but also fought for its preservation. My First Summer in the Sierra is Muir’s account of his adventures and observations while working as a shepherd in the Yosemite Valley, which later became Yosemite National Park as a direct result of Muir’s writings and activism. Muir’s heartfelt and often humorous descriptions of his first summer spent in the Sierra will captivate and inspire long-time fans and novice naturalists alike.
My First Summer in the Sierras
by John MuirMuir kept this journal on his first extended trip to Yosemite in 1869. Here he faithfully recorded his impressions of the dazzling animal and plant life he encountered in the magnificent Sierra.
My First Thirty Years: A Memoir
by Gertrude Beasley"Thirty years ago, I lay in the womb of a woman, conceived in a sexual act of rape, being carried during the prenatal period by an unwilling and rebellious mother, finally bursting from the womb only to be tormented in a family whose members I despised or pitied, and brought into association with people whom I should never have chosen."Shortly after its 1925 publication, Gertrude Beasley's ferociously eloquent feminist memoir was banned and she herself disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Though British Nobel Prize winner Bertrand Russell called My First Thirty Years "truthful, which is illegal" and Larry McMurtry pronounced it the finest Texas book of its era, Beasley's words have been all but inaccessible for almost a century—until now.Beasley penned one of the most brutally honest coming-of-age historical memoirs ever written, one which strips away romantic notions about frontier women's lives at the turn of the 20th century. Her mother and sisters braved male objectification and the indignities of poverty, with little if any control over their futures. With characteristic ferocity, Beasley rejected a life of dependence, persisting in her studies and becoming first a teacher, then a principal, then a college instructor, and finally a foreign correspondent.Along the way, Beasley becomes a strident activist for women's rights, socialism, and sex education, which she sees as key to restoring bodily autonomy to women like those she grew up with. She is undaunted by authority figures but secretly ashamed of her origins and yearns to be loved. My First Thirty Years is profoundly human and shockingly candid, a rallying cry that cost its author her career and her freedom.Her story deserves to be heard.Praise for My First Thirty Years:"For almost a century in Texas literary circles, Gertrude Beasley's 1925 memoir has been more a legend than a book... The tangled history of My First Thirty Years, and Beasley's horrific personal fate, are case studies in society's merciless treatment of women of her era who gave voice to socially unspeakable truths. The memoir's republication this month, which makes it widely available for the first time in 96 years, is a long-overdue moment of reckoning. It's also a rich gift to the Texas literary canon."—Texas Monthly"We should all be as fierce, loud, and convinced of our own self-worth as Gertrude Beasley was. This story of a justifiably angry woman living ahead of the world she lived in will resonate deeply today."—Soraya Chemaly, activist and award-winning author of Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger"Gertrude Beasley's 1925 memoir grabs the reader by the arm and holds tight, speaking with a voice as compelling as if she had just put down her pen this morning. Feminist, socialist, and acute observer of both herself and the world around her, Beasley gives us stories that illuminate the costs of poverty and of being a woman. To read My First Thirty Years is to be in conversation with an extraordinary mind."—Anne Gardiner Perkins, author of Yale Needs Women
My First White Friend
by Patricia Raybon"In mid-life Afro-American journalist Raybon made a conscious decision to stop hating white people. Her journal/analysis provides discourse on hatred and forgiveness, the rise of her hatred, and her efforts to conquer her fears and forgive the past. An unusual account of conscious change. "-Kirkus Reviews. .
My First Year in the Country
by Kim CherninAn urban woman moves to the country and falls in love with a horse—an embodiment of nature, wisdom, and living in the moment. She is not exactly a spring chicken, as the village people are quick to point out, and she hasn’t been in the saddle since she was a child. Her tireless quest for the world’s most beautiful horse makes her look like a fool. That’s OK with her; she knows it isn’t far from the truth. But will it stop her?
My Fishing Life: A Story of the Sea
by Ashley Mullenger'A beautiful, heartfelt love letter to the sea, and a cherished industry. Ash is a force of nature, she's a testament to working hard and dreaming big' Dermot O'LearyAshley Mullenger had never planned to become a fisherman. A chance fishing trip - catching mackerel off the Norfolk coast - was the start of an obsession. One that resulted in a transformation from clean-cut office worker to commercial 'Fisherman of the Year', and proud working owner of two boats, Fairlass and Saoirse, alongside skipper Nigel.This is a memoir of that journey, a life swept up in tides and elements, strength of mind and body, of old ways and new struggles. It's about the bravery of crews, early mornings, weather-beaten characters and those that can sink pints as fast as they can haul pots. These coastal communities and age-old livelihoods are built on trust, courage and skill - but they are also fraying against politics, poverty and climate change. The reality of commercial fishing is rarely seen, but Ashley carries us across the waves and around the UK's waters in vivid detail to show what is really happening at sea to land the fish on our plates.My Fishing Life is both a rallying cry and a love letter, rinsed down with salty humour, to an industry often misunderstood. One woman's unique story of boat, skipper, sea and catch ultimately becomes a transformative view of a world that impacts deeply on us all.
My Fishing Life: A Story of the Sea
by Ashley Mullenger'A beautiful, heartfelt love letter to the sea, and a cherished industry. Ash is a force of nature, she's a testament to working hard and dreaming big' Dermot O'LearyAshley Mullenger had never planned to become a fisherman. A chance fishing trip - catching mackerel off the Norfolk coast - was the start of an obsession. One that resulted in a transformation from clean-cut office worker to commercial 'Fisherman of the Year', and proud working owner of two boats, Fairlass and Saoirse, alongside skipper Nigel.This is a memoir of that journey, a life swept up in tides and elements, strength of mind and body, of old ways and new struggles. It's about the bravery of crews, early mornings, weather-beaten characters and those that can sink pints as fast as they can haul pots. These coastal communities and age-old livelihoods are built on trust, courage and skill - but they are also fraying against politics, poverty and climate change. The reality of commercial fishing is rarely seen, but Ashley carries us across the waves and around the UK's waters in vivid detail to show what is really happening at sea to land the fish on our plates.My Fishing Life is both a rallying cry and a love letter, rinsed down with salty humour, to an industry often misunderstood. One woman's unique story of boat, skipper, sea and catch ultimately becomes a transformative view of a world that impacts deeply on us all.
My Fishing Life: A Story of the Sea
by Ashley Mullenger'A beautiful, heartfelt love letter to the sea, and a cherished industry. Ash is a force of nature, she's a testament to working hard and dreaming big' Dermot O'LearyAshley Mullenger had never planned to become a fisherman. A chance fishing trip - catching mackerel off the Norfolk coast - was the start of an obsession. One that resulted in a transformation from clean-cut office worker to commercial 'Fisherman of the Year', and proud working owner of two boats, Fairlass and Saoirse, alongside skipper Nigel.This is a memoir of that journey, a life swept up in tides and elements, strength of mind and body, of old ways and new struggles. It's about the bravery of crews, early mornings, weather-beaten characters and those that can sink pints as fast as they can haul pots. These coastal communities and age-old livelihoods are built on trust, courage and skill - but they are also fraying against politics, poverty and climate change. The reality of commercial fishing is rarely seen, but Ashley carries us across the waves and around the UK's waters in vivid detail to show what is really happening at sea to land the fish on our plates.My Fishing Life is both a rallying cry and a love letter, rinsed down with salty humour, to an industry often misunderstood. One woman's unique story of boat, skipper, sea and catch ultimately becomes a transformative view of a world that impacts deeply on us all.
My Floating Grandmother
by Gerald SchnitzerPanic was a permanent guest in the Schnitzer's home during the 1920s. They celebrated life, but never in moderation. Thanks to Gerald's grandmother acting as a traffic cop on an emotional oasis, order was restored. Before her death, Grandma Sarah discovered the calming waters off Coney Island. She never learned to swim, not a stroke, but she could float, sometimes out of sight of land - but that's another story.
My Florence
by Art ShayMy Florence is a collection of striking moments drawn from the shared life of renowned Chicago photojournalist ART SHAY and his beloved wife, Florence. By turns casual and glamorous, pensive and humorous, the photographs start the day Art and Florence met in 1942, as 20-year-old camp counselors in the Catskill Mountains, and continue for seven decades.Former LIFE, Fortune, Time, and Sports Illustrator photographer, ART SHAY is famous for immortalizing some of America's most compelling 20th century figures, including John F. Kennedy Jr., Muhammad Ali, and Eleanor Roosevelt. But the story of Florence was Shay's constant beat. The result is a story that runs deep and reads as a call to joy and source of inspiration for lovers, family, friends, and the photographer in us all.From the Trade Paperback edition.
My Foot Is Too Big for the Glass Slipper
by Gabrielle Reece Karen KarboSo you got the guy on the big white horse, and the beautiful little mermaids, and the picket fence, and your life isn' t . . . perfect in every imaginable way? You're not alone. In 1997, Gabrielle Reece married the man of her dreams--professional surfer Laird Hamilton--in a flawless Hawaiian ceremony. Naturally, the couple filed for divorce four years later. In the end they worked it out, but not without the ups and downs, minor hiccups, and major setbacks that beset every modern family. With hilarious stories, wise insights, and concrete takeaways on topics ranging from navigating relationship issues to aging gracefully to getting smart about food, My Foot Is Too Big for the Glass Slipper is the brutally honest, wickedly funny, and deeply helpful portrait of the humor, grace, and humility it takes to survive the happily ever after.ns the notion that women can "have it all" on its head. As Gabby dismantles the notion of happily ever after, she gives readers plenty of concrete takeaways about how to deal. She underscores the notion that you have to make yourself happy before you can make anyone else happy. My Foot Is Too Big for the Glass Slipper is an irresistible, hilarious, and helpful portrait of the humor, grace, and humility it really takes to stay sane given the challenges of being a modern wife and mother.
My Footprint
by Jeff GarlinJeff Garlin shares his hysterical and eye-opening journey to reduce his waistline and his carbon footprint during the production of the seventh season of HBO's Curb Your EnthusiasmJeff Garlin has dedicated the filming of an entire season of Curb Your Enthusiasm to completely making over his lifestyle in two major ways--by lightening his physical and his ecological footprints. After many false starts, he believes that writing a book about the experiment is the only possible way to help him lose weight and go green. The hardest part of the endeavor is overcoming his food addiction--especially when craft service has a constant buffet of everything delicious you could imagine on set. In addition to cutting calories, Jeff accidentally falls into a love affair with pilates, sweats with Richard Simmons, and twice visits the Pritikin Longevity Center, which he says is "rehab for people who eat too much pizza." Larry David's rooting for him. Jerry Seinfeld's plotting against him. And his wife is just plain annoyed by everything. As far as going green, Jeff has always been a big recycler, but he has a lot to learn. For example, actor Ed Begley Jr. is the guy to call if you want to reduce your environmental impact. Jeff does, and it changes everything. He hopes that being healthy and green becomes a big part of who he is--if not now, when?
My Forbidden Face: A Young Woman's Story
by Linda Coverdale Queen LatifahLatifa describes the consequence of the ruthless rule of the Taliban on the dreams and aspirations of young women in Afghanistan.
My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under The Taliban - A Young Woman's Story
by LatifaLatifa was born into an educated middle-class Afghan family in Kabul in 1980. She dreamed of one day of becoming a journalist, she was interested in fashion, movies and friends. Her father was in the import/export business and her mother was a doctor. Then in September 1996, Taliban soldiers seized power in Kabul. From that moment, Latifa, just 16 years old became a prisoner in her own home. Her school was closed. Her mother was banned from working. The simplest and most basic freedoms - walking down the street, looking out a window - were no longer hers. She was now forced to wear a chadri. My Forbidden Face provides a poignant and highly personal account of life under the Taliban regime. With painful honesty and clarity Latifa describes the way she watched her world falling apart, in the name of a fanatical interpretation of a faith that she could not comprehend. Her voice captures a lost innocence, but also echoes her determination to live in freedom and hope. Earlier this year, Latifa and her parents escaped Afghanistan with the help of a French-based Afghan resistance group.
My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under The Taliban - A Young Woman's Story
by LatifaLatifa was born into an educated middle-class Afghan family in Kabul in 1980. She dreamed of one day of becoming a journalist, she was interested in fashion, movies and friends. Her father was in the import/export business and her mother was a doctor.Then in September 1996, Taliban soldiers seized power in Kabul. From that moment, Latifa, just 16 years old became a prisoner in her own home. Her school was closed. Her mother was banned from working. The simplest and most basic freedoms - walking down the street, looking out a window - were no longer hers. She was now forced to wear a chadri. My Forbidden Face provides a poignant and highly personal account of life under the Taliban regime. With painful honesty and clarity Latifa describes the way she watched her world falling apart, in the name of a fanatical interpretation of a faith that she could not comprehend. Her voice captures a lost innocence, but also echoes her determination to live in freedom and hope. Earlier this year, Latifa and her parents escaped Afghanistan with the help of a French-based Afghan resistance group.
My Foreign Cities: A Memoir
by Elizabeth Scarboro"Uplifting . . . it's about savoring the present, not allowing sadness to dominate and surrendering yourself to love, for better or worse."--San Francisco Chronicle When she was just seventeen, independent and ambitious Elizabeth Scarboro fell in love with irreverent and irresistible Stephen. She knew he had cystic fibrosis, that he was expected to live only until the age of thirty or so, and that soon she'd have a choice to make. She could set out to travel, date, and lead the adventurous life she'd imagined, or she could be with Stephen, who came with an urgency of his own. In choosing him, Scarboro embraced another kind of adventure--simultaneously joyous and heartrending--staying with Stephen and building a life in the ten years they'd have together. The illness would be present in the background of their lives and then ever-more-insistently in the foreground. Beyond the illness, though, is a breathtaking love story. In crystalline prose, Scarboro describes the pulse of her relationship with Stephen with all its illuminating quirks. Like any young couple, they agonize about career choices, attempt ill-fated road trips, bargain about whether to adopt a puppy, and host one memorably disastrous Thanksgiving. They navigate the growing pains of their twenties alongside the twists and turns of life-threatening disease; if their telephone rings at midnight, the caller might be a heartbroken friend, or the hospital offering a new set of lungs. As time goes on and trouble looms, the dangers of Stephen's illness consume her, just as they will consume readers who feel they have come to know this extraordinary couple. Scarboro tells her story of fierce love and its limitations with humor, grace, and remarkable bravery. My Foreign Cities is a portrait of a young couple approaching mortality with reckless abandon, gleefully outrunning it for as long as they can.
My Four Worlds
by Smart Eze"My Four Worlds" is the autobiography of a blinded war veteran. Smart Eze, was born in Nigeria, began his education, but was unable to attend college due to financial reasons. Then the Biafran-Nigerian civil war erupted, and he became a Biafran soldier. He was blinded in a bomb explosion at age 23. He was taken to Austria for medical treatment, but remained totally blind. However, he received training in braille, cane use, and other skills. He eventually attended university and earned a Ph.D. He has worked for the United Nations and traveled around the globe. In 2012, he was in the USA training and receiving a guide dog for the blind from Guide Dogs of the Desert in California.