18 results for "Autobiography"

Left on Tenth: a second chance at life : a memoir

Ephron, Delia
The bestselling, beloved writer of romantic comedies like You've Got Mail tells her own late-in-life love story in her "resplendent memoir," complete with a tragic second act and joyous resolution. Delia Ephron had struggled through several years of heartbreak. She'd lost her sister, Nora, and then her husband, Jerry, both to cancer. Several months after Jerry's death, she decided to make one small change in her life -- she shut down his landline, which crashed her internet. She ended up in Verizon hell. She channeled her grief the best way she knew: by writing a New York Times op-ed. The piece caught the attention of Peter, a Bay Area psychiatrist, who emailed her to commiserate. Recently widowed himself, he reminded her that they had shared a few dates fifty-four years before, set up by Nora. Delia did not remember him, but after several weeks of exchanging emails and sixties folk songs, he flew east to see her. They were crazy, utterly, in love. But this was not a rom-com: four months later she was diagnosed with AML, a fierce leukemia. In Left on Tenth, Delia Ephron enchants as she seesaws us between tears and laughter, navigating the suicidal lows of enduring cutting-edge treatment and the giddy highs of a second chance at love. With Peter and her close girlfriends by her side, with startling clarity, warmth, and honesty about facing death, Ephron invites us to join her team of warriors and become believers ourselves.
Little, Brown and Company 2022 291 pages

It's been a good life

Asimov, Isaac
New one-volume autobiography spans Asimov's life for the first time!As one of the most gifted and prolific writers of the twentieth century, Isaac Asimov became legendary for his inexhaustible creativity, wide-ranging intellectual curiosity, and talent for explaining complex subjects in clear, concise prose. While regaling his readers with an incredible opus of almost five hundred entertaining and illuminating science fiction and nonfiction books, he also found time to write a three-volume autobiography. Now these volumes have been condensed into one by Asimov's wife, Janet, who also shares excerpts from letters he wrote to her. Together these writings provide an intimate portrait of a creative genius whose love of learning and playing with ideas is evident on every page. Reading this autobiography is like sitting down with Isaac Asimov and experiencing his witty, engaging, and brilliant personality firsthand. We are treated to many marvelous stories about his upbringing in Depression-era Brooklyn, his early fascination with the new science fiction pulp magazines, the thrill of his first published story, the creation of his well-known story "Nightfall," the genesis of the Foundation series, and the evolution of his creative life as a writer. He also reveals his inner thoughts about and experiences with various luminaries in science and science fiction. Above all, Asimov's autobiography conveys unbounded enthusiasm for his craft, the infectious joy of learning and creating, complete intellectual honesty, his strong humanist convictions, and his infinite fund of good humor and optimism even at the end of his life - all told in the lively clear writing style that was his trademark. Although Janet Jeppson Asimov concludes this work with a shocking revelation about her husband's death, the volume is clearly intended as a celebration - as the title suggests - of a wonderful, creative life. As a poignant coda to this work, Janet has appended one short story that was Isaac's favorite, and his 400th essay on this thoughts about science.
Prometheus Books 2002 309 pages

Everybody's autobiography

Stein, Gertrude
"[This book] is Gertrude Stein's 1937 sequel to The Auobiography of Alice B. Toklas, but it is a profoundly different different book from its predecessor. Where that book is breezy and almost glib, this book is serious, and funny in a more biting manner. [It] is a book of the thirties, rather than the twenties: more sober, more concerned with social issues like nationhood and justice, and more realistic. Most dramatically, of course, Stein drops the voice of Alice B [Babette] Toklas and writes as herself. ..."--Publisher's note (page vii)
Exact Change 2014 328 pages

Sailor and fiddler: reflections of a 100-year-old author

Wouk, Herman
"In an unprecedented literary accomplishment, Herman Wouk, one of America's most beloved and enduring authors, reflects on his life and times from the remarkable vantage point of 100 years old. Many years ago, the great British philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin urged Herman Wouk to write his autobiography. Wouk responded, "Why me? I'm nobody." Berlin answered, "No, no. You've traveled. You've known many people. You have interesting ideas. It would do a lot of good." Now, in the same year he has celebrated his hundredth birthday, Herman Wouk finally reflects on the life experiences that inspired his most beloved novels. Among those experiences are his days writing for comedian Fred Allen's radio show, one of the most popular shows in the history of the medium; enlisting in the US Navy during World War II; falling in love with Betty Sarah Brown, the woman who would become his wife (and literary agent) for sixty-six years; writing his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Caine Mutiny; as well as a big hit Broadway play The Caine Mutiny Court Martial; and the surprising inspirations and people behind such masterpieces as The Winds of War, War and Remembrance, Marjorie Morningstar, and Youngblood Hawke. Written with the wisdom of a man who has lived through two centuries and the wit of someone who began his career as professional comedy writer, the first part of Wouk's memoir ("Sailor") refers to his Navy experience and writing career, the second ("Fiddler") to what he's learned from living a life of faith. Ultimately, Sailor and Fiddler is an unprecedented reflection from a vantage point few people have lived to experience"-- Provided by publisher.
Simon & Schuster 2016-10-18 137 pages

Groundwork: autobiographical writings, 1979-2012

Auster, Paul
"Paul Auster has spent his fifty-year writing career examining what it means to be truly alive. And now, for the first time ever, in this newly self-curated collection, Auster stitches together various autobiographical writings to lay bare the trajectory of both his personal life and sense of self. From his breakout memoir, The Invention of Solitude, which solidified Auster's reputation as a canonical voice in American letters, to excerpts from his later memoirs, Winter Journal and Report from the Interior, readers are ushered into the inner workings of Auster's self-development. His sweeping recollection winds through the halls of Columbia University during the turbulent 1960s and into life as a young poet-turned-novelist, then dives headfirst into the realities that accompany aging today. Along the way, Auster continually challenges the notion of what autobiography can be, inverting the form through fragmentation and, ultimately, illustrating firsthand the brilliance behind "one of the great writers of our time" (San Francisco Chronicle)"--
Picador 2020-05-05 639 pages

Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Rosenthal, Amy Krouse
"In the ten years since her beloved, groundbreaking Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, New York Times bestselling author Amy Krouse Rosenthal has been quietly at work on this modest but mighty magnum opus, creating a spectacular literary experience that is unprecedented, unforgettable, and explosively human. Amy Krouse Rosenthal has cultivated a distinct blend of nonlinear memoir, observational humor, wistful reflections, and interactive connections with readers. A decade after Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, she's back with a sublime new work, a timeless collection of insights, memories, and moments that are at once intimate and universal. Why the title Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal? Because each piece of prose is organized into classic subjects such as Social Studies, Music, and Language Arts. Because textbook would accurately describe a book with a first-of-its-kind interactive text messaging component. Because textbook is an expression meaning "quintessential"--Oh, that wordplay and unconventional format is so typical of her, so textbook AKR. Because if an author's previous book has the word encyclopedia in the title, following it up with a textbook would be rather nice. Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal speaks to the awe, bewilderment, and poignancy of being alive"--
Dutton 2016 317 pages

Mosaic: memoirs

Kirstein, Lincoln
Mosaic: Memoirs, Lincoln Kirstein's long-awaited autobiography, is a compelling, often highly subjective evocation of his astonishing youth. The book's scenes move from the old mansions of Brahmin Boston to the waterfront bars of Brooklyn, George Gurdjieff's Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at Fontainebleau, and the brothels of Marrakesh. It culminates with thrilling suspense in 1933, when Kirstein visits Paris, hoping to lure George Balanchine to the United States. Kirstein shapes his numinous memories into the story of a young man's quest to fuse his various roles into a unified self. Mosaic is the epic history of his ultimately triumphant search for a vocation. As a chapter in the growth of modernism, and as a contribution to cultural history - and the history of assimilation - this superbly written, humorous, and candid book is unique and invaluable.
Farrar, Straus & Giroux 1994-05-01 269 pages

Just as I thought

Paley, Grace
This rich and multifaceted collection is Grace Paley's vivid record of her life. As close to an autobiography as anything we are likely to have from this quintessentially American writer, Just As I Thought gives us a chance to see Paley not only as a writer and "troublemaker" but also as a daughter, sister, mother, and grandmother. Through her descriptions of her childhood in the Bronx and her experiences as an antiwar activist to her lectures on writing and her recollections of other writers, these pieces are always alive with Paley's inimitable voice, humor, and wisdom.
Farrar, Straus & Giroux 1999-06-30 332 pages

Conversations with James Salter

Salter, James
"James Salter (born James Horowitz in 1925) has been known throughout his career as a "writer's writer," acclaimed by such literary greats as Susan Sontag, Richard Ford, John Banville, and Peter Matthiessen for his lyrical prose, his insightful and daring explorations of sex, and his examinations of the inner lives of women and men. Conversations with James Salter collects interviews published from 1972 to 2014 with the award-winning author of The Hunters, A Sport and a Pastime, Light Years, and All That Is. Gathered here are his earliest interviews following acclaimed but moderately selling novels, conversations covering his work as a screenwriter and award-winning director, and interviews charting his explosive popularity after publishing All That Is, his first novel after a gap of thirty-four years. These conversations chart Salter's progression as a writer, his love affair with France, his military past as a fighter pilot, and his lyrical explorations of gender relations.The collection contains interviews from Sweden, Chile, France, and Argentina appearing for the first time in English. Included as well are published conversations from the United States, Canada, and Australia, some of which are significantly extended versions, giving this collection an international scope of Salter's wide-ranging career and his place in world literature"--
University Press of Mississippi 2015 236 pages

Never say you've had a lucky life: especially if you've had a lucky life

Epstein, Joseph
"An autobiography usually requires a justification. The great autobiographies-those by Benvenuto Cellini, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Benjamin Franklin, and Henry Brooks Adams-were justified by their authors living in interesting times, harboring radically new ideas, or participating in great events. Joseph Epstein qualifies on none of these counts. His life has been quiet, lucky in numerous ways, and far from dramatic. But it has also been emblematic of the great changes in our country since World War II. He grew up in a petit-bourgeois, Midwestern milieu, and the city of Chicago looms large in his life. He drew a lucky ticket in the parent lottery and his was a happy boyhood spent on playgrounds and hanging around drug stores. At high school dances, he was the rhumba king and at drive-in movies he was never allowed to go as far with girls as he so ardently desired. At twenty-six, after two years in the army, he found himself married, the father or stepfather of four children, and living in New York on the meager salary of a magazine subeditor. He was ablaze with ambition and fettered by frustration. He broke out by moving to Little Rock, Arkansas, to direct the city's anti-poverty program at the height of the Civil Rights movement. His writing career blossomed, he began teaching at Northwestern University, and, for twenty-five years, edited one of great intellectual magazines. Never Say You've Had a Lucky Life is an intimate look at one life steeped in radical change: from a traditionally moral culture to a therapeutic one, from an era when the extended family was strong to its current diminished status, from print to digital life featuring the war of pixel on print, and on. But for all the seriousness of Epstein's themes, this book is memorable for its comic point of view and the constant reminder of how unpredictable, various, and wondrously rich life can be"--
Simon & Schuster 2024-04-16 287 pages

O.J. in the morning, G&T at night: spirited dispatches on aging with Joie de Vivre

Hotchner, A. E.
""Acclaimed author and feisty nonagenarian Hotchner's witty ruminations about the art of living well into old age...with brio and a touch of his trademark sass, Hotchner writes about rediscovering love after 75, finding joy in a scrappy African gray parrot he named after his longtime friend, Ernest Hemingway, and going on his very first safari at age 88." - Kirkus Reviews When youngsters in their seventies and eighties, nervously lurching toward the horizon of ninety, ask me, "What's the secret?" That's what I tell them: "O.J. in the morning, gin and tonic at night." You don't have to be in your seventies or eighties to enjoy A. E. Hotchner's elixir for aging happily, but after reading this charming collection of essays, you may wish you were. Nonagenarian, novelist, playwright, and biographer, Hotchner gives us heartfelt and laugh-out-loud anecdotes that describe his unique reflections on the aging process. His musings cover everything from the outlandish commercials that target the older generation (Viagra, Cialis, and Flomax) to suggestions on adapting the tennis game for seniors (he suggests lowering the net by two inches and moving all outer lines two feet inward) to the advantages of having a pet (his pet parrot often tells guests to "kiss my ass"). He can equally capture the headier side of aging, which is bittersweetly revealed in his piece about divorce. With his disarming, eloquent voice and dry sense of humor, Hotch illuminates life's wisdoms through his optimistic, witty, and romantic outlook, all the while maing you feel, well, not unhappy about growing older. O.J. in the Morning, G&T at Night is a book of courageous advice, humorous wisdom, and, above all, good strategies for how to stay young at heart"--
St. Martin's Press 2013 179 pages

Animal bodies: on death, desire, and other difficulties

Roberts, Suzanne
"How do we reckon with our losses? 'Animal Bodies' offers an unflinching examination of grief and personal loss-such as the death of parents, friends, and beloved pets, as well as broken marriages, lost friendships, and the loss of innocence and youth-and our collective grief caused by Covid-19, mass shootings, societal and gender inequities and violence, and environmental degradation"--
University of Nebraska Press 2022-03 236 pages

The devil at large

Jong, Erica
Erica Jong, the author of Fear of Flying, was a correspondent and friend of Henry Miller for the last decade of his life. In this blend of biography, autobiography, scholarship and polemic, she sets out to re-evaluate Miller's work and to rescue him from charges of misogyny and titillation. The book contains Jong's own correspondence with Miller, and also examines the background to the diaries of Anais Nin.
Vintage 1994 340 pages

The secrets of grown-ups: an autobiography

Caspary, Vera
Vera Caspary, the celebrated author of Laura , tells her own story in this captivating autobiography. With a career that spanned from the 1920s through 1970s, one that produced over twenty novels, in addition to her many credits for film and theater, Caspary centered her life around a passion for writing. From her early experiences at an advertisement agency--where she developed a correspondence school and invented its "famed" instructor--to the struggles of being gray-listed in the McCarthy Era, Caspary constantly found a way to turn her creative needs into viable work. Caspary recalls the rest of a full life, too, including her flirtation with communism, travels across Europe, and a marriage. Caspary's skillful writing makes her incredible depictions of people, and the times in which they lived, jump off the page.
Open Road Media 2016-01-26 237 pages

Harry Harrison! Harry Harrison! it seemed like a good idea at the time

Harrison, Harry
"Recollections of one of the grand masters of science fiction, on his storied career as a celebrated author and on his relationships with other luminaries in the field. This memoir is filled with all the humor and irreverence Harry Harrison's readers have come to expect from the New York Times bestselling author of the uproarious Stainless Steel Rat series. This also includes black and white photos spanning his sixty-year career"--
Tor, A Tom Doherty Associates Book 2014-11-04 351 pages