A sports-crazed kid from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Gary David Goldberg never imagined he’d end up in Hollywood, let alone make it big there. But as a twenty-five-year-old waiter in Greenwich Village he met Diana, the love of his life; followed her out to Northern California; then moved in and never moved out. He also, without realizing it, put himself on track to found UBU Productions (named after his beloved Labrador retriever) and become a successful creator of such family sitcoms as Family Ties, Brooklyn Bridge, and Spin City.* In Sit, Ubu, Sit, award-winning writer/producer Goldberg tells the mostly upbeat, sometimes difficult, and frequently hilarious tale of his improbable career and the people who have filled it. A love story and a rare behind-the-scenes look at the entertainment industry, Sit, Ubu, Sit proves that it is possible to be creative and successful while holding on to your integrity, your family, and your sense of humor. *with Bill Lawrence
"Ubu and the Truth Commission" is the full play text of a multi-dimensional theatre piece that tries to make sense of the madness that overtook South Africa during apartheid.
Stunning, controversial work that immediately outraged audiences at the 1896 premiere with its scatalogical references, features a cruel, gluttonous, and grotesque main character — the author's metaphor for modern man.
Ben Hecht's critically acclaimed autobiographical memoir, first published in 1954, offers incomparably pungent evocations of Chicago in the 1910s and 1920s, Hollywood in the 1930s, and New York during the Second World War and after. "His manners are not always nice, but then nice manners do not always make interesting autobiographies, and this autobiography has the merit of being intensely interesting."--Saul Bellow, New York Times Named to Time's list of All-Time 100 Nonfiction Books, which deems it "the un-put-downable testament of the era's great multimedia entertainer."
In-laws are the inescapable consequence of marriage. Whether they’re kindly or malevolent, helpful or crazy, they’re unavoidable. The relationship can be traumatic, rewarding, maddening, and hilarious—sometimes all at once. In I Married My Mother-in-Law and Other Tales of In-Laws We Can’t Live With—and Can’t Live Without, Ilena Silverman brings together a collection of talented, successful writers who plumb their own experiences for extraordinary and unexpected wisdom about this prickly and often misunderstood relationship. We hear from some of today’s best authors, including Michael Chabon, who writes movingly about the lessons he learned from his first father-in-law; Kathryn Harrison, whose relationship with her father-in-law was far more rewarding and less complicated than the one she had with her own father; Matt Bai, who struggled across cultural barriers to learn more about the lives of his reserved Japanese-American in-laws; Martha McPhee, who explores the difficulty in fully knowing her husband without ever having known his parents; Susan Straight, who recounts her experience as the first white woman to marry into her African-American husband’s extended family; and Ayelet Waldman, who ponders the competition between wives and their mothers-in-law for the attention of their husbands/sons. By turns blunt and poignant, horrifying and touching, the essays reflect the rich complexities of these bewildering and life-changing relationships. Remarkable for both the quality of its prose and the scope of its emotional insight, I Married My Mother-in-Law is an unforgettable anthology about the struggles and rewards of life with our other families.
‘Eunoia’, which means ‘beautiful thinking’, is the shortest word in the English language to contain all five vowels. This book also contains them all, but never at the same time. Each of Eunoia’s five chapters is univocalic: that is, each chapter uses only one vowel. A triumphant feat, seven years in the making, this uncanny work of avant-garde literature is one of the most surprising and awe-inspiring books of the year. A challenging feat of composition and technical skill, Bök has worked this into a series of compelling narratives and rhythms.
Official Book Club Selection is Kathy Griffin unplugged, uncensored, and unafraid to dish about what really happens on the road, away from the cameras, and at the star party after the show. (It's also her big chance to score that coveted book club endorsement she's always wanted. Are you there, Oprah? It's me, Kathy.) Kathy Griffin has won Emmys for her reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, been nominated for a Grammy, worked and walked every red carpet known to man, and rung in the New Year with Anderson Cooper. But the legions of fans who pack Kathy's sold-out comedy shows have heard only part of her remarkable story. Writing with her trademark wit, the feisty comic settles a few old scores, celebrates the friends and mentors who helped her claw her way to the top, and shares insider gossip about celebrity behavior–the good, the bad, and the very ugly. She recounts the crazy ups and downs of her own career and introduces us to some of the supertalented people she encountered before they got famous (or, in some cases, after fame went to their heads). Word to the wise: If you've ever crossed Kathy Griffin at some point in your life, check the index for your name. Along the way, Kathy reveals intimate details about her life before and after she made the big time. She opens up about everything from growing up with a dysfunctional family in suburban Illinois to bombing as a young comedian in L.A., from her well-publicized plastic surgery disasters to her highly publicized divorce, and more. Only in this book will you learn how the dinner table is the best training ground for a career in stand-up, how speaking your mind can bite you on the ass and buy you a house, and which people in Kathy's life have taught her the most valuable lessons–both inside and outside the entertainment industry. And as if all that wasn't enough, there are also dozens of exclusive and somewhat embarrassing photos from Kathy's own collection–featuring the diva of the D List herself, with her old nose as well as her new one, plus celebrity friends, foes, frenemies, and hangers-on for you to gawk at. Refreshingly candid, unflinchingly honest, and full of hilarious "Did she really say that?" moments, Official Book Club Selection will make you laugh until you cry, or just puke up a little bit.
Withhonesty and heart-rending emotion, actress and filmmaker DyanCannon tells the story of her topsy-turvy relationship with Hollywood legendCary Grant. Cannon’s captivating narrative takes the reader behind the scenesof Hollywood’s Golden Age, inside America’s high court of glamour and notorietyin which Cary Grant was king. In his private life alongside Cannon, however, astory that began with all the romance of his famous films—Charade, ToCatch a Thief, An Affair to Remember or The Philadelphia Story—wouldend up taking a series of tragic and unpredictable twists and turns. Insharing Grant’s inside story for the first time, Dear Cary is exactlywhat Hollywood is always looking for . . . the next blockbuster, and a storyfor romance lovers of all ages.
This long-awaited biography of Alfred Jarry reconstructs a life both "ubuesque" and pataphysical. When Alfred Jarry died in 1907 at the age of thirty-four, he was a legendary figure in Paris—but this had more to do with his bohemian lifestyle and scandalous behavior than his literary achievements. A century later, Jarry is firmly established as one of the leading figures of the artistic avant-garde. Even so, most people today tend to think of Alfred Jarry only as the author of the play Ubu Roi, and of his life as a string of outlandish “ubuesque” anecdotes, often recounted with wild inaccuracy. In this first full-length critical biography of Jarry in English, Alastair Brotchie reconstructs the life of a man intent on inventing (and destroying) himself, not to mention his world, and the “philosophy” that defined their relation. Brotchie alternates chapters of biographical narrative with chapters that connect themes, obsessions, and undercurrents that relate to the life. The anecdotes remain, and are even augmented: Jarry's assumption of the “ubuesque,” his inversions of everyday behavior (such as eating backward, from cheese to soup), his exploits with gun and bicycle, and his herculean feats of drinking. But Brotchie distinguishes between Jarry's purposely playing the fool and deeper nonconformities that appear essential to his writing and his thought, both of which remain a vital subterranean influence to this day.
The inspiration for the Lifetime movie and a guide for parents confronting their autistic children's journeys to adulthood. Parents of autistic children often wonder: What will happen to our kids when they grow up? Can they work? Have relationships and their own families? Here is the poignant story of one woman watching her autistic boys reach adulthood. A single mother barely making ends meet, Corrine Morgan-Thomas could hardly afford doctors for her twins, Stephen and Phillip. After their diagnosis of autism, no one else thought these boys would ever amount to anything. But Corrine managed single-handedly to keep the boys out of institutions-and in "regular" school. And their inspiring story became Lifetime television's Miracle Run. The real miracle, though, was what happened where the movie left off-when Stephen and Phillip graduated to face adult autism. From their diagnosis to the present day, when the boys have grown into young men leading happy lives, Corrine's eye-opening story is full of candor, humor, and most of all, hope.
