Funny Memoir

The "utterly compelling, uncommonly beautiful" collection of personal essays (Newsweek) that established Jo Ann Beard as one of the leading writers of her generation. Cousins, mothers, sisters, dolls, dogs, best friends: these are the fixed points in Jo Ann Beard's universe, the constants that...

A stand-up comedian beloved for her combination of feisty wit and Southern charm, Pierce knows all too well that life is funny—until it’s not. But she also knows that it will become funny again. She’s held on to that hope—and that promise—through tragedy and triumph. And now she’s finally ready to tell her full story. In Life Is Funny until It’s Not, Pierce recounts a preacher’s daughter’s childhood filled with heartbreak, including abuse, her parents’ divorce, and the sudden deaths of her two sisters in the span of two years.

For the last 25 years, Jeff Silverman has been the President of YukYuk's comedy club: one of the world's largest stand-up comedy chains. With a career spanning more than forty years, Jeff has helped launchthe careers of Jim Carey, Howie Mandel and Russell Peters, and started his business career with the 99-cent Roxy Theatre back in the '70s, showcasing cult underground movie marathons. He went on to run the New Yorker Theatre and Horseshoe Tavern music venues, bringing in bands like The Police and The Ramones for the very first time.

“Uprooted reveals how a late-life uprooting changed Dickey as a gardener.” —The Wall Street Journal When Page Dickey moved away from her celebrated garden at Duck Hill, she left a landscape she had spent thirty-four years making, nurturing, and loving. She found her next chapter in...

An improv comedian all his life, and a standup comedian for over 15 years, Dave Gutteridge combines his comedy experience with the latest scientific research on humor and the human brain to offer his take on what exactly it is that makes us laugh. Whether you're trying to get a little funnier, on stage or in daily life, or if you're just curious about humor and laughter, this book will provide insights not only on how and why we laugh, but on how we relate.

An irresistibly moving, funny and urgent memoir about the reality of caring for your parents, when you can barely care for yourself. 'Moving and real, as well as splutter-your-tea funny' – Miranda Sawyer It was the kind of phone call we all dread. Your elderly father has been admitted to...

A poignant, “raw[,] and tender” (The New York Times Book Review) memoir told in essays and graphic shorts about what life looks like twenty years after recovery from addiction—and how to live with the past as a parent, writer, and sober person—from a regular opener for David Sedaris. In...

An entertaining and insightful homage to Tom Hanks, America's favorite movie star, from the New York Times bestselling author of the cult sensation The Tao of Bill Murray. Niceness gets a bad rap these days. Our culture rewards those who troll the hardest and who snark the most. At times it...

Based on the wildly popular Twitter feed Dear Girls Above Me, a roman à clef about how thinking like a couple of girls turned one single guy into a better man. When Charlie McDowell began sharing his open letters to his noisy upstairs neighbors—two impossibly ditzy female roommates in...

Amy Cohen always imagined that by age thirty she would be juggling a thriving career, a devoted English husband, and two adorable children who had shag haircuts and a room in their loft where they could play the drums. But at thirty-five, as she struggled to come to terms with the loss of her...

Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show and one of today's most hilarious comedians and insightful social critics, pens a brilliant account of how she discovered her comedic voice. In this collection of autobiographical essays, Winstead vividly recounts how she fought to find her own voice...

Unabridged CDs * 7 CDs, 9 hours The hardcover debut from the New York Times– bestselling author of Such a Pretty Fat...

The year was 1957, the month September, and I had just turned eight years old. Dwight Eisenhower was President, but in my life it was the diminutive, intense Sister Mary Lurana who ruled, at least in the third-grade class where I was held captive. For reasons you will soon understand, my parents...

Ah, 55. Gateway to the golden years! Professional submitting. Emotional maturity. Easy surfing toward the glassy blue waters of retirement...Or maybe not? Middle age, for Sandra Tsing Loh, feels more like living a disorganized 25-year-old's life in an 85-year-old's malfunctioning body. With raucous wit and carefree candor, Loh recounts the struggles of leaning in, staying lean, and keeping her family well-fed and financially afloat - all those burdens of running a household that still, all-too-often, fall to women.

For fans of books like Waiter Rant, and all those who have always wondered how the other half lives, comes this heartfelt, laugh-out-loud memoir from a New York City doorman with astute ears and a penchant for storytelling As an academically gifted Latino kid growing up in the Bronx, Stephen...

Part of the four-book Queens of the Resistance series, saluting some of the most beloved boss ladies in Congress: a celebration of AOC, the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress and its newest superstar Not long ago, no one could even imagine a twenty-eight-year-old Latina upstart...

“Exquisite. Full of wry humor, tenderness, and compassion.” —Jeannette Walls, New York Times bestselling author A hilarious and heartbreaking memoir about a mother and son’s outlandish odyssey of self-discovery, and the rag-tag community that rallied to help them when they needed it most...

What is it like to be known as Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi's daughter? Or to have a mother as famous as Sharmila Tagore? Or to be recognized as Saif Ali Khan's sister? Or as Kareena Kapoor's sister-in-law? And where do I stand among them? Actor Soha Ali Khan's debut book is at heart a brilliant...

A disarmingly honest memoir about giving advice when you're not sure what you're doing yourself, by the woman behind The Boston Globe's Love Letters column. Every day, Boston Globe advice columnist Meredith Goldstein takes on the relationship problems of thousands of dedicated readers. They look...

The aviators. The Amtrak. The ice cream cones. The memes. Few politicians are as iconic, or as beloved, as Joe Biden. Now, in The Book of Joe, Biden fans will finally have the definitive look at America's favorite vice president - and what he can teach us. Structured around key moments in Biden's life and career - and filled with Biden-isms like "That's a bunch of malarkey" and "I may be Irish, but I'm not stupid" - this blend of biography, advice, and humor will reveal the experiences that forged Joe Biden, and the lessons we can use in our own lives.