Good Reads & Views

Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick 
Nonfiction 

What it’s about: While many of us know a thing or two about Elvis, this immersive biography is a meticulously researched and compelling look at his young life that reveals the vulnerability—and eventual triumph—of his early years. In 560 pages that fly by, Guralnick gives us the young Elvis Presley in vivid technicolor.  

Why you might like it: For rock & roll enthusiasts, this book is a treat: it’s the first of two volumes considered the definitive biography of Elvis. Readers who love biographies will appreciate the in-depth research combined with sparkling writing about larger-than-life personalities against a lovingly depicted backdrop of 1950s America. 

Reviewers say: “A serious, musically literate, and historically attuned biography. An American epic that belongs on every bookshelf” (Kirkus Reviews).

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Left on Tenth by Delia Ephron
Nonfiction

About the Author: Delia Ephron is a bestselling author, screenwriter, essayist, and playwright. Her novels include Siracusa, The Lion Is In, and her movie credits include You’ve Got Mail and Hanging Up. Her play, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, written with her sister Nora Ephron, ran for two years off Broadway.

Reviewers say: “Ephron’s memoir is a heart-wrenching tale of second chances at life and love” (TIME Magazine).

You might also like: Sister Mother Husband Dog by Delia Ephron or The Most of Nora Ephron by Nora Ephron

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Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
Nonfiction

What it’s about: Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing is Matthew Perry’s memoir about his addiction, his illness, and his paralyzing loneliness. He takes us through his “hell” but doesn’t wallow. Ultimately, this book is filled with hope for the future.  

Reviewers say:  “The beloved star of Friends takes us behind the scenes of the hit sitcom and his struggles with addiction in this ‘candid, darkly funny...poignant' memoir” (The New York Times).

You might also like: Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey or Will by Will Smith

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21 Lessons for the 21^st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
Nonfiction

What it’s about: The author’s bestsellers Sapiens and Homo Deus dealt with the past and the future of humanity, whereas this book concerns itself with the present and immediate future. Great on audio.

Reviewers say: “Harari delivers yet another tour de force” (Kirkus); “This well-informed and searching book is one to be savored and widely discussed” (Publishers Weekly); “Highly recommended for general readers and academics alike” (Library Journal).

Some quotes: “Humans were always far better at inventing tools than using them wisely”; “We should never underestimate human stupidity. Both on the personal and on the collective level, humans are prone to engage in self-destructive activities”; “So the best advice I could give a fifteen-year-old stuck in an outdated school somewhere in Mexico, India or Alabama is: don’t rely on the adults too much. Most of them mean well, but they just don’t understand the world.”

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Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Nonfiction  

What it’s about: It’s time to face the fact that we’ll never complete our to-do lists, and we’re making ourselves miserable thinking otherwise. (Is anyone else as freaked out by this idea as I am?) That’s the premise of this wide-ranging self-improvement book, which suggests that we acknowledge the limited amount of time we have on Earth—so we can then focus on what matters most to us.  

Why you should read it: Whether you love or dislike time management books, Four Thousand Weeks proposes a thought-provoking way of looking at how we spend our time. For those of us who like nothing better than a good life hack, this book challenges us to focus on the big picture before optimizing the small details.  

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Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
Nonfiction

About the author: “Chelsea Handler is an accomplished stand-up comic and actress, as well as the bestselling author of My Horizontal Life. She was the star of her own late-night show on E!, Chelsea Lately; was one of the stars of Girls Behaving Badly; has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with David Letterman; and has starred in her own half-hour Comedy Central special. Chelsea makes regular appearances in comedy clubs across America and lives in Los Angeles” (Amazon).

Reviewers say: "Ms. Handler's style is a friendlier, more workaday version of the haughty self-abasement practiced by Sarah Silverman, leavened by the everywoman spirit of Kathy Griffin... She seems like a cruel queen bee from an expensive college: There's something suspiciously sophisticated about how her jokes line up that suggests the moral austerity of a comic not of [Joan] Rivers's bad-girl school: Tina Fey" (New York Times).

You might also like: Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog by Lisa Scottoline or Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me by Chelsea Handler.

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Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari 
Nonfiction

What’s it about: In this provocative and thought-provoking tome, Historian Harari (author of the international bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind) discusses achievements of the civilized world in the areas of disease, famine, and war, and speculates on humanity’s evolutionary goals for the future - immortality, happiness, and divinity.

Reviewers say: "Harari paints with a very broad brush throughout, but he raises stimulating questions about both the past and the future” (Publishers Weekly); “A relentlessly fascinating book” (Kirkus Reviews).

Want a taste?  “Every day millions of people decide to grant their smartphone a bit more control over their lives or try a new and more effective antidepressant drug. In pursuit of health, happiness and power, humans will gradually change first one of their features and then another, and another, until they will no longer be human.”

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I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
Nonfiction

About the author: “Michelle McNamara (1970-2016) was the author of the website Truecrimediary.com. She earned an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Minnesota, worked as a consultant for "Dateline NBC," and had sold television pilots to ABC and Fox and a screenplay to Paramount. She lived in Los Angeles and is survived by her husband, Patton Oswalt, and their daughter, Alice” (https://www.bookreporter.com/authors/michelle-mcnamara).

Reviewers say: “What makes McNamara’s work so compelling is her empathy and sensitivity toward the people touched by these crimes.... I wish I could read the next 10 books she would have written” (Kate Tuttle, Los Angeles Times).

You might also like: When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain or Chase Darkness With Me by Billy Jensen (Journalist).   

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Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton
Nonfiction   

What it’s about: In this candid, vulnerable, and engaging mash-up of memoir, genealogical research, science, and sociology, the author investigates her troubling family history. From shocking stories about her parents to disturbing discoveries about her Southern ancestors, Newton faces the unsettling truths about her family. Interspersed with her genealogical quest, she explores genetic research to learn more about nature vs. nurture, and she does some serious soul searching to determine how to respond to her findings.

You might also like: Readers of The Glass Castle will find Newton’s family story similarly compelling. To read another memoir about life-changing genealogical discoveries, pick up Dani Shapiro’s Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love.

Reviewers say: “An engaging and thoroughly researched memoir relaying a family history that is at turns recognizable and abhorrent, as an honest and typical history of American exceptionalism, racism, and misogyny. Will appeal to lovers of memoirs, family secrets, genealogy, and the sociological makeup threading U.S. history” (Library Journal).

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Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom by Carl Bernstein
Nonfiction

What it’s about: Before he became famous for his Watergate reporting at the Washington Post, Carl Bernstein started his newspaper career as a teenage copy boy at the Washington Star. This engaging, spirited memoir tells the story of a young man finding his calling in the rollicking newsrooms of the early 1960s. Bernstein provides a wide-eyed, first-hand, behind-the-scenes view of reporting major 20^th century news stories, including the Civil Rights Movement, Sputnik, and the Kennedy assassination.

Why you might like it: Bernstein is a great storyteller, and the people of the newsroom are quirky, larger than life, and unforgettable—so this memoir reads like fiction (even though it’s true).

You might also like: While the timeframe and setting are completely different, Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi is another exuberant memoir of mastering skills through on-the-job training.

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