Dear Cary: My Life with Cary Grant


Dyan Cannon - 2011
    When they began living together, she was 25; he was 58. Three years later, they married, but within a year and a half, she left him, amidst reports of loud arguments and spanking episodes. Their divorce, finalized in 1968, was a major news splash even in that pre-TMZ, pre-internet era. Grant died in 1986, but Cannon has continued to wrestle with the details, the rights, and the wrongs of their relationship. Dear Cary is a memoir that celebrates and scrutinizes the great love of her life.

The Eagle and the Dragon: A Story of Strength and Reinvention


Chris Duffin - 2019
    The story of his unconventional life will take you from gripping tales of murder, trauma, heartbreak, and survival deep in the Pacific Northwest wilderness all the way to an idealization of the self-made man--still flawed, but never broken.
In The Eagle and the Dragon, you'll follow one man's journey into the darkness of his own heart and witness the transformation of alcoholism, pain, and defeat into vision, character, and victory. Through Chris's powerful self-realization, you'll see how the human spirit can be either shackled by circumstance or freed from it.Strength and Reinvention: the Eagle and the Dragon. Are you ready to walk through the fire and make your vision a reality?This book will show you how.

Jack Ma: A Biography of the Alibaba Billionaire


Ryan Gardner - 2017
     He is one of China's richest men, as well as one of the wealthiest people in Asia. He has become a global icon in business and entrepreneurship, one of the world's most influential businessmen, and a philanthropist known for expounding his philosophy of business. Ma is one of the world's most powerful people, and has been a global inspirer and role model to many, he also gave numerous lectures, enlightenments and advices throughout his life career.

Still Whispering After All These Years: My Autobiography


Bob Harris - 2015
    He continues to be a household name today and his velvety voice can be heard on Radio 2's The Bob Harris Show and Bob Harris Country. In this fully revised and updated autobiography, with a forward by Robert Plant, Bob tells his story of over 40 years of broadcasting with the BBC, from the young, passionate music fan who moved to London determined to make music his life, to being presented with an OBE for his services to music broadcasting. Much like his musical heroes, Bob's personal life has had somewhat of a rock 'n' roll vibe: he has been married three times, gone bankrupt, fought cancer, weathered a very public spat with a fellow DJ and has had to revamp his career four times. Throughout all these times, however, his love of music and talent for broadcasting has endured. The Whispering Years is a frank, vibrant and inspiring tale of one of the most influential names on the radio and reveals the story of the man behind the voice.

Joan Rivers Confidential: The Unseen Scrapbooks, Joke Cards, Personal Files, and Photos of a Very Funny Woman Who Kept Everything


Melissa Rivers - 2017
    With a career that began in the late 1950s, Joan kept mementos over the course of her entire working life, and Joan Rivers Confidential is a compilation of never-before-seen personal archives. Assembled by her daughter Melissa with Scott Currie, the book contains scripts and monologues, letters from famous friends, exchanges with fans, rare photographs, as well as classic and never-before-heard jokes—many simply scribbled on everything from hotel stationery to airplane boarding passes. Touching on subjects from her 50 years in show business (The Tonight Show, Las Vegas, Elizabeth Taylor, Heidi Abromowitz, the red carpet, and Fashion Police), this is a revelatory and humor-filled insider look at the popular, multitalented comedian.

Number Two: More Short Tales from a Very Tall Man


Jay Onrait - 2015
    . .— explored the squalid world of medical marijuana; — made a mess of himself on the road to Pittsburgh; — got upstaged on live TV by comedy legend Martin Short; — rode a Street Dragon through the laneways of Sochi; — shared a drink with Jay-Z and was then asked to leave;And much, much more!

The Grim Reaper: The Life and Career of a Reluctant Warrior


Stu Grimson - 2019
    They all grew up dreaming of skating in the big league as stars. Then one day, a coach tells them the only way to make it is to drop the gloves. And every guy says the same thing: I'll do whatever it takes to play in the NHL.Not Stu Grimson, though. When he was offered a contract to patrol the ice for the Calgary Flames, he said no thanks, and went to university instead. And that's the way Grimson has approached his career and his life: on his own terms. He stared down the toughest players on the planet for seventeen years, while working on his first university degree. He retired on his own terms, and went on to practice law, including a stint as in-house counsel for the NHLPA.This has put him in a unique position when it comes to commenting on the game. He's seen it from the trenches, and he's seen it from the courtroom. This puts him in the eye of the storm surrounding fighting and concussions. And he handles that the way he does everything: on his own terms. When Don Cherry called him out on televison, it was the seemingly indominable Cherry who backed down. Hockey fans will be fascinated by his data-driven defence of fighting.But in the end, this is not a book about fighting and locker-room stories. It's the story of a young man who ultimately took on the toughest role in pro sports and came out the other side. Where many others have not.

Second Wind


Jimmy White - 2014
    All I’ve ever wanted to do is entertain the public and hear the roar of the crowd as they chant my name. From the age of just 11, snooker has given me a life of fun, fame, fortune and freedom. But it’s not always been easy – there have been plenty of ups and downs, on and off the table. I’ve lived the way I’ve played my snooker – fast, hard and with plenty of risks. Some of those risks have nearly cost me everything; my career, my family, even my life. If I had my time again I might do it differently. Doesn’t mean I have any regrets. My journey has taken me from Tooting to Thailand, from Higgins to Hendry, from cocaine to the Crucible. I’ve been through a Whirlwind of change and come out the other side. There’s a reason why I’ve held back from telling my real story. We all need a second chance... Welcome to my mad, bad world.

The King: A Biography of Clark Gable


Charles Samuels - 2015
    The book traces Gable's life from its humble, hard-scrabble beginnings in Ohio, to his hard-work and determined efforts to achieve success on Broadway, to his meteoric rise to stardom in Hollywood, his time spent in the Army Air Force in Europe, and his many loves, including Carole Lombard who was tragically killed in an airplane crash in 1942. The King paints an intimate, contemporary portrait of Clark Gable the man, both on and off camera, and ends with Gable's work on his last film, The Misfits, and his subsequent decline in health and his death on November 16, 1960, at age 59.

Tales of a Hollywood Housewife


Betty Marvin - 2010
    It is the first journey in what will be a remarkable life among remarkable people: Betty’s first job out of college is as Joan Crawford’s nanny, caring for the Crawford children at the height of the star’s career. Hollywood is about to play an even larger role in Betty’s life when she meets a young ambitious actor named Lee Marvin. After a whirlwind courtship and a trip to Las Vegas, Betty and Lee are married. In this unique memoir, both hilarious and touching, we follow Betty as she creates a family with Lee, and is by his side as he works with Marlon Brando, John Wayne and a host of other stars. She is the penultimate hostess and Hollywood Housewife. Nobody knew what was really going on at home - until, unable to take Lee’s womanizing, drinking and abuse, Betty leaves him and strikes out on her own. What follows are adventures that could only be Betty Marvin’s; from the building of her career as an artist. To a love affair with an Italian King, to dire straits as investment con artists leave Betty suddenly homeless. After years of the Hollywood life, Betty is left with only her car, her dog and her typewriter. Forced to employ all of her skills to survive, she comes out on top. This is the story of a woman who finds the real riches that come with learning the value of a joyful life.

Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination


Neal Gabler - 2006
    We see the visionary, whose desire for escape honed an innate sense of what people wanted to see on the screen and, when combined with iron determination and obsessive perfectionism, led him to the reinvention of animation. It was Disney, first with Mickey Mouse and then with his feature films - most notably Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi - who transformed animation from a novelty based on movement to an art form that presented an illusion of life.We see him reimagine the amusement park with Disneyland, prompting critics to coin the word Disneyfication to describe the process by which reality can be modified to fit one's personal desires. At the same time, he provided a new way to connect with American history through his live-action films and purveyed a view of the country so coherent that even today one can speak meaningfully of "Walt Disney's America." We see how the True-Life Adventure nature documentaries he produced helped create the environmental movement by sensitizing the general public to issues of conservation. And we see how he reshaped the entertainment industry by building a synergistic empire that combined film, television, theme parks, music, book publishing, and merchandise in a way that was unprecedented and was later widely imitated.Gabler also reveals a wounded, lonely, and often disappointed man, who, despite worldwide success, was plagued with financial problems much of his life, suffered a nervous breakdown, and at times retreated into pitiable seclusion in his workshop making model trains. Gabler explores accusations that Disney was a red-baiter, an anti-Semite, an embittered alcoholic. But whatever the characterizations of Disney's personal life, he appealed to the nation by demonstrating the power of wish fulfillment and the triumph of the American imagination. Walt Disney showed how one could impose one's will on the world.This is a masterly biography, a revelation of both the work and the man - of both the remarkable accomplishment and the hidden life.

If Only He'd Told Me: A foster Family Pushed To the Limits


Mia Marconi - 2014
    Foster carer Mia Marconi was thrilled when he first arrived – a boy the same age as her son.It can be so bewildering for foster children when they arrive. The older ones are usually withdrawn and sullen. The younger ones will be screaming, spitting at you, making themselves sick and throwing themselves on the floor.For Mia, it’s normally her boisterous, happy children who provide the comfort at the beginning, because why should they trust another adult. Children always feel safe and secure when there are other children about. Mia believes it’s through making relationships with other children that they begin to trust adults again. But little did she know that six-year-old Brody was actually taking his anger and frustration out on her son. She quickly begins to realise the heavy price her family has had to pay. (Amazon.com)

Mongoose Bravo: Vietnam: A Time of Reflection Over Events So Long Ago


Timothy McCullough - 2019
     I would guess that I’ve been at it for more than twenty years. It started as a result of wanting to let the mother of a fallen soldier know what happened to her son, as well as where his death took place. She and I had been in contact over the years, during which she asked quite a few questions; so, I began writing it all down. I may have been better served if I had pushed my memories of Vietnam off into the ditch alongside the road traveled and driven on without looking back. In the long run, I believe it has been therapeutic. Therefore, worth the time I put into writing it all down. We lived, and fought as a unit, covering each other’s backs. Most came home to tell their own stories, many didn’t.

Laker Girl


Jeanie Buss - 2010
    Yet despite all the championship banners the team has put on the walls of Staples Center, and despite all the books the Lakers have put on the shelves of fans - featuring everybody from Jerry West to Magic Johnson to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Phil Jackson to Chick Hearn - there has never been a book on the Lakers from the Buss family. Until now. Until Laker Girl.

3 Feet to the Left: A New Captain's Journey from Pursuit to Perspective


Korry Franke - 2018
    For the first time in his career, 31-year-old Korry Franke sits in the left pilot seat--the captain's chair--of a United Airlines Boeing 737. In many ways, the moment feels like the realization of success Korry has chased for years. But over the next whirlwind year, as he is pushed as a leader and shaped as a man by experiences both inside and outside the flight deck, Korry discovers that his definition of success--and possibly yours, too--is missing one critical, life-giving piece. Strap into the 737's extra flight deck jumpseat and fly along with Korry on his journey in search of success that fulfills the spirit and completes the soul. Feel what it's like to push the limits of comfort zones while battling mechanical malfunctions in the flight simulator, thunderstorms in Mexico City, and blizzards in Chicago. Experience the challenges, insecurities, successes, and failures of a new leader who is stepping up and taking command in the high-stakes world of airline flying. 3 FEET TO THE LEFT is a story about Korry, but it's really a story about all of us. Because in one way or another, we are all on our own journeys...three feet to the left.