Biographies & Memoirs

An indispensable reference for anyone who knows how to read—or wants to fool people into thinking they do— The Funny Thing Is... is sure to make you laugh.Ellen DeGeneres published her first book of comic essays, the #1 bestselling My Point...And I Do Have One, way back in 1996. Not one to rest on her laurels, the witty star of stage and screen has since dedicated her life to writing a hilarious new book. That book is this book.After years of painstaking, round-the-clock research, surviving on a mere twenty minutes of sleep a night, and collaborating with lexicographers, plumbers, and mathematicians, DeGeneres has crafted a work that is both easy to use and very funny. Along with her trademark ramblings, The Funny Thing Is... contains hundreds of succinct insights into her psyche and offers innovative features -More than 50,000 simple, short words arranged in sentences that form paragraphs.-Thousands of observations on everyday life—from terrible fashion trends to how to handle seating arrangements for a Sunday brunch with Paula Abdul, Diane Sawyer, and Eminem.-All twenty-six letters of the alphabet.

Uh-Oh is a heartwarming collection of short essays that encourages readers to enjoy the little things in life. From finding joy in simple pleasures, like good food and music, to uplifting personal anecdotes, Robert Fulghum's witty writing style and relatable stories make this book a must-read for anyone looking for a pick-me-up.

The eminent physician-essayist combines an account of his life as a physician, researcher, and administrator with meditations on the practice and promise of medicine

For those seeking an irreverent and humorous take on life, with a strong dose of common sense, The World According to Clarkson is a must-read. Jeremy Clarkson shares his opinions on everything from science to rock music, hunting to cricket, and more. With great wit and sharp observations, he hilariously attacks the absurd and celebrates the eccentric. This book is a road map to modern life and one that you won't want to put down.

The interviews, essays and articles collected here span a quarter century of Philip Roth's distinguished career and 'reveal a preoccupation with the relationship between the written and the unwritten world'. Here is Roth on his work and the conroversies it's engendered. Here too are Roth's writings on the Eastern European writers he has championed; and on baseball and American fiction. The essential collection of non-fiction by a true master, Reading Myself And Others also features his long interview with the Paris Review.

"True Crimes: A Family Album" could be a good read for those who enjoy thought-provoking and honest exploration of family relationships and dynamics. The author writes with vulnerability and clarity about her own family experiences and challenges readers to reflect on their own. The most unique feature of this book is the author's unflinching and heartfelt honesty in exploring complex and taboo topics within her family. Readers may appreciate the author's insights about love, loss, and the enduring impact of family dynamics on individuals.

Croatian journalist, novelist, and essayist Slavenka Drakulić notes that Eastern Europeans are so anxious to become like their Western counterparts that every city and town has a Cafe Europa that is a pale imitation of similar establishments in cities like Paris and Rome. She presents here a collection of essays that explore life in various Eastern European countries since the fall of communism. As a citizen of Croatia (formerly part of Yugoslavia) living now in Vienna with her Swedish husband, she writes knowingly as a survivor of a communist regime, as one who realizes that pitfalls still lie ahead for nations emerging from the Soviet yoke. In Albania, she observes rage everywhere in people who seem to want to smash all vestiges of the Hoxha regime. In Romania, she comments on the execrable state in which public toilets are maintained: "[T]he standard of Romanian toilets reflects the nature of the communist system of which it is a legacy"; "the absence of any improvement is... a warning for the future of democracy" there. Drakulic's pungent and insightful ruminations not only describe life in her part of the world?she makes us feel it as well.--Publishers Weekly

This book is an ultimate guide to the prominent figures of the twentieth century, including thinkers, philosophers, and artists. It's a must-read for anyone interested in gaining insights into cultural history and savoring the life-long research of Clive James. Through a turbulent read, it provides snippets of knowledge and reflections for the readers to assemble their own conclusions. It's not just a book; it's an insight into cultural landscapes, and a cornerstone for the curious.

A brilliant personal history from the award-winning author of ‘The Corrections’.Jonathan Franzen arrived late, and last, in a family of boys in Webster Groves, Missouri. ‘The Discomfort Zone’ is his intimate memoir of his growth from a ‘small and fundamentally ridiculous person’ through an adolescence both excruciating and strangely happy, into an adult with embarrassing and unexpected passions. It's also a portrait of a middle class family weathering the turbulence of the 1970s, and a vivid personal history of the decades in which America has taken an angry turn away from its mid-century ideals.The stories told here draw on elements as varied as the effects of Kafka's fiction on Franzen's protracted quest to lose his virginity, the elaborate pranks that he and his friends orchestrated from the roof of his high school, his self-inflicted travails in selling his mother's house after her death, and the web of connections between his all-consuming marriage, the problem of global warming, and the life lessons to be learned in watching birds.These chapters of a Midwestern youth and a New York adulthood are warmed by the same combination of comic scrutiny and unqualified affection that characterize Franzen's fiction, but here the main character is the author himself. Sparkling, daring, arrestingly honest, Franzen narrates the formation of a unique mind and heart in the crucible of an everyday American family.

If you could send a letter back through time to your younger self, what would the letter say?In this moving collection, forty-one famous women write letters to the women they once were, filled with advice and insights they wish they had had when they were younger.Today show correspondent Ann Curry writes to herself as a rookie reporter in her first job, telling herself not to change so much to fit in, urging her young self, "It is time to be bold about who you really are." Country music superstar Lee Ann Womack reflects on the stressed-out year spent recording her first album and encourages her younger self to enjoy the moment, not just the end result. "Your hair matters far, far less than you think," is the wry advice that begins the letter bestselling mystery writer Lisa Scottoline pens to her twenty-year old self. And Maya Angelou, leaving home at seventeen with a newborn baby in her arms, assures herself she will succeed on her own, even if she does return home every now and then.These remarkable women are joined by Madeleine Albright, Queen Noor of Jordan, Cokie Roberts, Naomi Wolf, Eileen Fisher, Jane Kaczmarek, Olympia Dukakis, Macy Gray, and many others. Their letters contain rare glimpses into the personal lives of extraordinary women and powerful wisdom that readers will treasure.Wisdom from What I Know Now"Don't let anybody raise you. You've been raised." -Maya Angelou"Try more things. Cross more lines." -Breena Clarke"Learn how to celebrate." -Olympia Dukakis"You don't have to be afraid of living alone." -Eileen Fisher"Please yourself first...everything else follows." -Macy Gray"Don't be so quick to dismiss another human being." -Barbara Boxer"Work should not be work." -Mary Matalin"You can leave the work world--and come back on your own terms." -Cokie Roberts"Laundry will wait very patiently." -Nora Roberts"Your hair matters far, far less than you think" -Lisa Scottoline"Speak the truth but ride a fast horse." -Kitty Kelley