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Alison Pink (7 KP) rated Bossypants in Books

Jan 15, 2018  
Bossypants
Bossypants
Tina Fey | 2012 | Biography
10
7.7 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
Okay there is no doubt about it...Tina Fey is hilarious! This book was such an easy, enjoyable read! I found myself laughing at something on pretty much every single page. The good thing about this though is that the jokes didn't feel "forced." They fit perfectly with the flow of the story. The book did bounce around a bit, but it was easy to follow & didn't take away from the story itself. I'm not normally a biography/autobiography fan, but this really was an excellent read. I wish I'd read it sooner!
  
This memoir is the true story of Jessica Fishman, a young Jewish woman from the USA and her experiences when she moved to Israel to start a life there. In this book, Fishman details all the pitfalls of her learning Hebrew, getting into the army, finding a job as a civilian as well as the straw that broke the camel's back and forced her back to America (for a while). Read what I thought of this autobiography in my review here.
https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2017/08/08/now-youre-an-immigrant/
  
High Hopes: My Autobiography
High Hopes: My Autobiography
Ronnie Corbett | 2016 | Biography
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
light hearted, fun, lots of information (0 more)
A good read, funny and insightful
With this being an autobiography of Ronnie Corbett i was fearful that it was going to be bad jokes and constant talking about random stuff....it isnt. Its a great account of one half of arguably one of the best entertainment pair ever. Its everything you could imagine asking in a q and a sessions. From childhood to going on his own after Ronnie Barkers passing. A great light hearted read that you will enjoy as much as i did :)
  
The Push Man
The Push Man
Yoshihiro Tatsumi | 2012 | Comics & Graphic Novels
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Genius at work
After reading his autobiography I thought I'd try his work. It is easy to see why the man is do revered. Fascinatingly he is not influenced by the genre he created, instead his influence came from watching the working class men in the inner city around him as well as the seedy crime stories from the newspaper. It makes his work an absolute contrast to the innocence of the man which makes the stories more absorbing. The stories are like snapshots of lives that tell large stories and are absolute genius
  
First Man In Leading from the Front
First Man In Leading from the Front
Ant Middleton | 2019 | Biography
9
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
To be honest this is not my type of book of read, it was purchased for my husband to take on a flight but he forgot it so I picked it up and started to read it and have not put it down. You may know him from the TV programme SAS Who Dares Wins. This is not the typical autobiography that you read, yes it does give some of his history in the military but it is more about the inner turmoil that they are go through in the way of demons, attitude and how to deal with things. Recommended to everyone
  
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Frank Turner recommended Black Coffee Blues in Books (curated)

 
Black Coffee Blues
Black Coffee Blues
Henry Rollins | 2005 | Biography, Essays, Music & Dance
(0 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"His book, Black Coffee Blues, was probably the book that most influenced The Road Beneath My Feet. It was written between the late eighties and early nineties whilst Henry was on the road. The idea of writing an actual autobiography at my age seems quite repulsive to me, but tour diaries is a different thing as it’s not just about you but about the experiences and memories of playing shows around the world, both for you and the fans. Black Coffee Blues is the best book I’ve read like this and was a huge influence, both thematically and structurally."

Source
  
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Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Just Kids in Books

Aug 17, 2017  
Just Kids
Just Kids
Patti Smith | 2014 | Biography
10
8.3 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Mesmerising memoir of the 1970s art scene
I was worried that this was another overhyped autobiography of another self-congratulating artist. But I was proved totally wrong. Patti Smith is truly unique and interesting, having had a life of hardship living on the streets to living with a partner equally mixed up, to engaging in a world that was the founding of America's modern art scene. More than the meandering, wonderful, dark tales is her liquid prose. She's not only an inspired poet but a fantastic all-round writer. She was known for all of her relationships with famous men, but this is about the one man who mattered the most. Well worth all of the awards.
  
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Miguel Arteta recommended Dodes'ka-den (1970) in Movies (curated)

 
Dodes'ka-den (1970)
Dodes'ka-den (1970)
1970 | Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"This is a flawed film from the master, and I read in his autobiography that after it tanked, he tried to kill himself and did not make a film for five years. I love it! Such gorgeous vignettes, like the man who stops talking and loses all the color in his flesh after he finds out his wife cheated on him! Or the drunk couples who swap partners every night! He built a whole artificial dumpster on a stage and painted it in radiant colors, and then went about telling the most heartbreaking short stories of madness and despair in it. It’s like Raymond Carver on some very good acid, taking no prisoners!"

Source
  
Scrappy Little Nobody
Scrappy Little Nobody
Anna Kendrick | 2016 | Biography
6
8.0 (13 Ratings)
Book Rating
Anna Kendrick has been acting (and singing) since childhood, and her autobiography chronicles her growth as an actress and person, as told in little snippets and essays. Grouped in assorted themes, we hear from various stages of Anna's life, spanning her childhood to present day, and learn how Anna, a tiny scrappy kid, became a famous, Oscar-nominated actress. The book touches on her fame, as well as her personal thoughts and feelings.

I've always enjoyed Kendrick and have seen several of her films (and heard her sing about a million times, thanks to my young children and the popularity of the film, <i>Trolls</i>) but didn't know a lot about her early career. Her autobiography does a good job of filling in some of the gaps of Anna's childhood career (working on Broadway at twelve - who knew?!), but isn't told in any chronological order, so we don't get a sense of any real span of her career from Point A to B. Most of the book is told in short little bits. Many of them are quite funny stories, and there are some truly laugh out loud moments. In many cases, Kendrick is a very relatable person, who seems like the type of friend you'd like to hang out with. At other points, she seemed a bit whiny, and for me, the book spent too much time with her protesting about some of the travails of being in the celebrity industry. I can only take so much "woe is me" from famous people who write books about their lives.

The book is on more solid ground when we're reading about Anna's early life, where you gain a true admiration for her talent, and with her silly and snarky stories about her misanthropic personality (misanthropes unite!). Still, the jumping back and forth in time makes it hard to get a true trace on the arc of her life at times, and beyond some of the complaining and expounding on the travails of award shows, press junkets, and the like, there wasn't as much about her post-fame life as I was interested in.

If you like Kendrick's films, or her twitter feed, you'll probably enjoy the book and its organization, even if you find yourself wishing for a little more at the end. She's led an interesting life so far, and I'm sure another autobiography down the road would be quite intriguing.
  
L&
Lust & Wonder
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well, I did it. I finally finished this book. Honestly, I wasn't sure that I was going to like this book. I have never read anything by the author but the name and description caught my attention.

I really liked the dry humor in this book. I could truly relate to the author and I enjoyed learning about all of the details that have happened in the author's life. I will admit, I think I would have liked this book better if I have read some of his other books first but this truly was enjoyable.

The details and descriptions in this book were hilarious and definitely dark and a little twisty. If you want a fun autobiography, this is something to pick up.