Entertainment Memoir

As a woman used to traveling and living the high life in Bangkok, Leanne Shirtliffe recognized the constant fodder for humor while pregnant with twins in Asia's sin city. But in spite of deep-fried bug cuisine and nurses who cover newborn bassinets with plastic wrap, Shirtliffe manages to keep her babies alive for a year with help from a Coca-Cola deliveryman, several waitresses, and a bra factory. Then she and her husband return home to the isolation of North American suburbia.

Rob Paulsen is one of Hollywood's busiest and most passionate performers. If you don't know him by name, you will know him by the many characters he has brought to life: Pinky from Pinky and the Brain and Yakko from Animaniacs, Raphael from the original animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and many more. So, you can imagine how terrifying it must have been when Rob was diagnosed with throat cancer, putting his entire livelihood in jeopardy and threatening to rob the world of all his loveable characters that filled our youth and adulthood with humor and delight.

For ten years, Calvin and Hobbes was one the world's most beloved comic strips. And then, on the last day of 1995, the strip ended. Its mercurial and reclusive creator, Bill Watterson, not only finished the strip but withdrew entirely from public life. In Looking for Calvin and Hobbes, Nevin Martell sets out on a very personal odyssey to understand the life and career of the intensely private man behind Calvin and Hobbes.

Misanthrope. Iconoclast. Apostate. Drunk. Many words have been used to describe Doug Stanhope, but rarely has “hopeful” been one of them. However, heading into 2016, Stanhope peered through the apocalyptic fog and saw a forecast that was more rainbows than acid rain: His first book was set for release, his new stand-up special was in the can, and he was about to film a television pilot with his friend and confidant Johnny Depp. The only thing that could stop Doug was himself, and that’s exactly what he did.

Authors Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key build on the popularity of their 2022 Webby Award-winning podcast and delve deeper into the world of sketch, helped along with new essays created expressly for the book by comedy greats.

Having outlived his bandmates, Marky is the only person who can share the secrets and stories of the Ramones' improbable rise from obtuse beginnings to induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But it wasn't all good times and hit songs, and Marky doesn't shy away from discussing his own struggles.

In these fresh and hilarious personal essays, Mindy Kaling gives the inside scoop on her new role as single mom, the perks of being her own husband, and how she deals with social anxiety even at the most glamorous A-list parties. In between, the beloved actress, writer, and Hollywood power-bruncher gets Kanye West’d at her best friend’s birthday, thwarts an “only in LA” crime, and learns what it means to have it all.

Was it a typo when the CEO mandated that the organization "institutionalize incompetents"? If not, how did the company wind up institutionalizing incompetence instead? How to Work for an Idiot is still the confessions of a recovering Idiot Boss. After decades of writing and consulting, Dr. Hoover finally realized that many of the people he kept trying to "energize" and "enlighten" were, well, idiots. More importantly, he was an idiot for thinking he could change them. This new edition is bigger and better - and filled with even more idiots - than before.

Perhaps the most unconventional and literally breathtaking father-son story you'll ever read, My Friend Leonard pulls you immediately and deeply into a relationship as unusual as it is inspiring. The father figure is Leonard, the high-living, recovering coke addict, "West Coast Director of a large Italian-American finance firm" (read: mobster) who helped to keep James Frey clean in A Million Little Pieces.

Em Rusciano has some stories to tell! In the space of a few short years, she quit breakfast radio, birthed her third child and staged a sold-out tour across the country – all before being hurled headfirst into the existential crisis of lockdowns. She felt everything at full volume: the burnout, the joy, the rage ... and a deeply inconvenient urge to get into craft.

While on a three-month-long tour, Jeremy met and built a friendship with the lead singer of another band. In a beautiful and inspiring story, their love unfolded taking them both by surprise. After 16 years of marriage, Jeremy and Adrienne have experienced devastating losses and incredible joy and have grown alongside each other. They continue to strengthen their friendship as they juggle life and frequent separations, due to tour schedules, with the demands and stressors of parenting their three kids.

Harry Freedman uncovers the spiritual traditions that lie behind Leonard Cohen's profound and unmistakable lyrics. The singer and poet Leonard Cohen was deeply learned in Judaism and Christianity, the spiritual traditions that underpinned his self-identity and the way he made sense of the world. In this book Harry Freedman, a leading author of cultural and religious history, explores the mystical and spiritual sources Cohen drew upon, discusses their original context and the stories and ideas behind them.

Sharon Osbourne's life has always been full of drama, heartbreak and passion. When she completed her best-selling first book, Extreme, she had hoped to find some peace and stability after her rollercoaster years. It was not to be. In Survivor, her brand-new memoir, she reveals what really happened next. From famous celebrity feuds, to her eventful experiences on The X Factor, to her turbulent relationship with her father and the tragic impact of his death, Sharon remains as frank and insightful as ever.

Keith Morris is a true punk icon. No one else embodies the sound of Southern Californian hardcore. Short and sporting waist-length dreadlocks, Morris is known the world over for his take-no-prisoners approach on the stage and his integrity off of it. Over the course of his 40-year career, he's battled diabetes, drug and alcohol addiction, and the record industry. My Damage is more than a book about the highs and lows of a punk rock legend, however.

After years of gigging everywhere from suburban backyards to dive bars, Van Halen - led by frontman extraordinaire David Lee Roth and guitar virtuoso Edward Van Halen - had the songs, the swagger, and the talent to turn the rock world on its ear. The quartet's classic 1978 debut, Van Halen, sold more than a million copies within months of release and rocketed the band to the stratosphere of rock success.

By night, Brian Johnson sings in the biggest rock 'n' roll band on the planet. But by day, AC/DC's charismatic, flat-capped frontman gets to indulge his passion for all things automotive. Cars and rock 'n'roll - they were made for each other. Car racer, car collector, and all-round car enthusiast, Johnson is an incurable, certifiable petrolhead who can't remember a time when four wheels didn't feature as large in his life as music

In 1969, a rumor erupted that Paul McCartney, “the cute Beatle”, had been replaced. Generations later, we see that the Beatles spent hundreds of hours making “Paul is Dead” clues but were required to deny it. What if “Billy Shears” really had replaced Paul and still plays that role today? How would he explain taking over the band? The memoirs, from Billy Shears’ perspective, reveals his conflict with John but also his delight in working with “Fifth Beatle” George Martin.

Looking back over his life, from schoolboy crushes (on girls and boys) to discovering the power of making people laugh (in the Cambridge Footlights with David Mitchell), and from losing his beloved mother to becoming a husband and father, Robert Webb considers the absurd expectations boys and men have thrust upon them at every stage of life.

Dr. Ralph Greenson, the star of Hollywood psychoanalysts, treated Marilyn Monroe for 15 months until her August 1962 suicide. He saw her seven days a week and brought her into his home. He never got over losing her. Written by a practicing psychoanalyst, The Misfit recounts this tragic alliance and Marilyn Monroe’s borderline personality.

Melody Thomas Scott admits she is nothing like her Young and the Restless role, who has seen it all in her 40-year tenure on America's highest-rated daytime serial. But the high drama, angst, and catastrophes aren't confined to her character's plotlines. In this captivating memoir, Melody reveals behind-the-scenes tales of her own riveting journey to stardom.