‘Eat, Pray, Love,’ ‘Committed’ Author Separates from Husband

Normally, I wouldn’t blog about gossip-related items, but in this case, it’s the subject of Elizabeth Gilbert’s books. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love and Committed is separating from her husband. Her husband is the man she met on her trip to Bali and the same man she wrote about and called “Felipe” in her memoir.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the author posted about the separation on Facebook, explaining “Because I have shared details of my private life with you all so intimately over the years, I feel the need to share with you this recent change in my personal life…He has been my dear companion for over 12 years, and they have been wonderful years. Our split is very amicable. Our reasons are very personal.”

Much of Committed was about her fascination with marriage and discussion about why we, as modern-day Americans, make such a big deal out of getting married. Her reasons for marrying weren’t want and desire. She married because of obligation. So maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that she and her husband are separating. After all, is that what she really wanted to begin with?

It’s hard to know the answer to that. And it’s hard to write about this and her, knowing that she’s not, in fact, a character, but a real person. All I have to say is I commend her for her openness and honesty. I respect that she announced it and agree that because she wrote about her love and marriage to “Felipe,” it’s only fair she acknowledge her separation from him as well. Their story may be over, but hopefully her stories are not.

Bryan Cranston To Release Memoir This Fall

“I am the one who knocks” on your…bookshelf? That’s right. Actor Bryan Cranston, who played the infamously beloved Walter White on five seasons of Breaking Bad, is set to release a memoir, A Life in Parts, October 18.

According to Entertainment Weekly, it will includes sections about his most famous roles, including Walter White and the dad on Malcolm in the Middle, as well as sections about his real life.

The best part, though, are the front and back covers of the memoir, which portray Cranston’s uncanny ability to be seemingly friendly and seemingly ferocious. (Truth be told, my fiance and his family ran into Bryan Cranston a few years ago in New York City and said he was extremely friendly.)

Aside from being a big Breaking Bad fan, I have always been fascinated by actors who can vacillate between comedy and drama, as well as those who hit their prime later in life like Cranston did. Coming off one of the most best television series in recent memory, Cranston’s memoir is sure to sell well.

Review: Year of Yes

Recap: When Grey’s Anatomy/ Scandal/ How to Get Away With Murder writer/ creator/ producer/ extraordinaire Shonda Rhimes realized she said “no” a lot, she decided something needed to change. Her sister had pointed out to her during Thanksgiving a few years ago that Shonda Rhimes, the woman who runs ABC’s Thursday night TV show lineup, may have been saying “yes” to more work and more amazing shows — and for that, we are forever grateful — but she wasn’t doing much for herself or her children. When she came to this shocking revelation, she decided that for one year, she would say “yes” to anything and everything that scared her.

And she so wonderfully documented it all for us. She said “yes” to attending events and giving speeches that she would normally turn down without hesitation. She said “yes” to watching what she ate and taking care of her health for the first time in years — and lost a ton of weight doing it. She said “yes” to doing what she wanted, even if that meant losing some friends along the way and ending a relationship. She said “yes” to playing with her children more often. She said “yes” to getting help from a nanny. And then she said “yes” to putting it in a book so we could learn the ways of her almighty awesomeness and badassery.

Analysis: My telling you many of the things Shonda Rhimes said “yes” to does not ruin the book in any way because this book is about so much more than saying “yes” to your fears. It’s about finding yourself and growing up, even when you think you already have. Year of Yes is a unique combination of memoir and self-help book that not only inspires, but energizes. I learned so much about Shonda Rhimes’ life and world, including all the fun details and anecdotes I’d hope for from any memoir. She writes a lot about her family, her career, and her kinship with the character she created, Christina Yang. But I also found that I had some of the same fears as Rhimes does, the same fears that many women have.

This book taught me how to take a compliment (because I deserve it!), and it taught me that difficult conversations are important to have, even if you think you might lose a friend (he/she probably wasn’t a very good one anyway!). I gained a new outlook and perspective from this book. And what’s better: it’s written in the very way Rhimes writes her TV shows. It felt familiar. Rhimes felt like my friend. It was like I could hear Ellen Pompeo as Meredith Grey or Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope saying certain sections of the book out loud. It became clear to me how much of Rhimes’ personality comes out in her TV characters, so it was nice, for once, to see her come out of her shell through this book instead of hiding behind one of her characters.

MVP:  Shonda Rhimes. Publishing a book like is courageous. I couldn’t help but think of all the formerly close friends of hers buying this book and reading the sections about them. Putting it all out there is a scary thing. It is the ultimate “yes,” and Rhimes astounded me by doing it.

Get Year of Yes in paperback for $8.46.

Or get it on your Kindle for $12.99.

New Memoir from ‘Matilda,’ ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ Alum

You may not remember the name Mara Wilson, but you’ll remember her when you see the cover of her new book. The now grownup, out-of-the-limelight child actress is due to release a book of essays in September about growing up as the girl who starred in both Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire, among other movies, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Mara Wilson has left the industry, but apparently has become quite the witty writer over the years. Where Am I Now? will include anecdotes about Wilson’s first kiss, learning about sex, her mother’s death and accepting herself.

She’s one of those people whom I forgot existed, but I was such a huge fan of her movies growing up, I can’t imagine not reading her memoir. I’ve got to think she has a lot of interesting stories to tell.

Movie vs. Book: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Kim Barker has a fine life — boring, but fine. She works for a newspaper. She has a boyfriend that she might, kind of like. She’s in her 30’s, but she’s as lost as a teenager. Then 9/11 happens. Suddenly, she has found new meaning. She’s going to Afghanistan to cover the war on terror for The Chicago Tribune. 

Kim Barker’s memoir of her years covering the war in Afghanistan — or as she calls it, The Forgotten War — is as real as it gets. It’s full of bombings, political corruption, shootings and journalist kidnappings. But hers is also the story of “Kabul High” as she likes to call it — partying, heavy drinking and drugs, competition amongst reporters, adrenaline rushes, hookups and backstabbing. She tells the stories we don’t expect to be happening between reporters and their sources and reporters amongst themselves. But it does happen. It’s the rush of it all that sucks Kim in to the Middle East and keeps her from returning home to the U.S. for more than six years.

In Barker’s memoir, she tells her story in vignettes — an interview with a warlord here, a failed vacation with her boyfriend there, but there’s no plot, per se. It’s more of a diary of her experiences abroad and a depiction of her inability to leave what’s become her new home.

The movie, however, changes that, and that may be for the best. Tina Fey as Barker is a perfect fit — a little bit of hot mess, but still focused on her work and a good woman overall. The movie adds a little drama to the story — making the several journalist kidnappings at the end of the memoir the main plot of the film, when it happens to a boyfriend of Barker’s who never actually existed in real life. In fact, the movie combines several of the men in Barker’s life into one hunky journalist boyfriend. It also creates a fellow female journalist with whom Barker has a competitive frenemy relationship. The movie also makes Barker a TV journalist. All of this does nothing, but add plot and pizzazz.

While typically, I like a movie to stay true to a book — especially if that book is a memoir, in this case, I thought the movie did a good job in adding what the book lacked. The memoir — while interesting — is dense and gives a lot of descriptive detail about Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. Some sections are hard to get through, especially as I sometimes waited for a juicy plot twist. A movie without a focused story wouldn’t have been good as a movie. So in this case, the movie is more of an interpretation of the memoir, with juicy plot twists. The book’s juicy plot twist was the overall journey and how it changed Barker’s life.

Get Whiskey Tango Foxtrot in paperback for $11.96. 

Or get it on your Kindle for $11.99.

Review: A Million Little Pieces

Recap: Since he was ten years old, James Frey has been drinking. He’s been smoking pot since he was a teenager and doing hard drugs since he graduated high school. Arrests and sweet girlfriends couldn’t get him to stop. So finally one day, he woke up on a plane with a broken nose, missing teeth and no idea where he was headed. It turns out, he was headed to meet his parents, who were taking him to a rehab facility — one of the best in the country — at the age of 23. With his life and his heart in a million little pieces, he spends the duration of the book trying to put it all back together in rehab.

He gets into fights and refuses to accept the Twelve Step program. He starts dating a girl named Lilly even though it’s against facility rules. But eventually makes friends, reads books sent to him by his brother and makes amends with his parents, who visit for the family program.

Analysis: If you’re wondering “is this the ‘fake memoir’ whose author Oprah embarrassed on national television years ago?”, the answer is yes. But for me, the controversy that comes with the book makes it all the more interesting. Knowing the background allowed me to read the book more as a fictionally-embellished memoir or straight-up fiction novel and therefore enjoy it. Sure, had I read it ten years ago as a memoir and learned afterwards that many of the characters and experiences in Frey’s life were fabricated, I would have been upset. But it likely wouldn’t have — and didn’t now — stop me from still finding the Frey’s struggle with drugs both fascinating, sad and educational — however enhanced they may be.

Frey’s writing style also mirrors the struggle of an addict. New paragraphs are not indented. Many sentences are run-ons. Selective words are capitalized throughout the books, like Family or Girl or Fury. Those choices parallel the messiness, disorder and classification of things good and bad with which an addict tends to deal. One can assume that Frey’s staying sober is real since he’s now a well-known published author. The “friends” he references throughout the book mostly end up in jail or dead in the books’ epilogue. Even though those characters may not be real, I believe that their endings are likely real for most addicts of that level. The book’s details may not be real, but the experience seem true, and that makes it worth reading.

Get A Million Little Pieces in paperback for $9.25.

Or on your Kindle for $11.99.

 

Why It’s No Surprise ‘Friday Night Lights’ Author Buzz Bissinger is Writing Caitlyn Jenner’s Memoir

Ever since Caitlyn Jenner debuted on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine it became clear to the world that this article was opening the door to her eventual and inevitable memoir. It was recently announced that her memoir will debut sometime in the spring of 2017.

Also new was the announcement that Pulitzer Prize-winning Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger is helping to write it.  Entertainment Weekly sat down with Bissinger, who explained the memoir will remain written in first person from Caitlyn’s perspective.

It should come as no surprise that Bissinger is writing the memoir, since he wrote that now famous Vanity Fair cover article about Jenner. He also is a former sports writer, while Jenner is a former athlete. But there’s another reason it should also come as no surprise that Bissinger is writing it: Bissinger has spoken openly about coming to terms with his sexual identity and cross dressing. All this came out in a GQ article he published in 2013, entitled “My Gucci Addiction,” in which he also explained his addiction to couture clothing, writing:

I began to wonder about sex and sexuality and where exactly I fit in in the complex spectrum. I did go into the sexual unknown, and the clothing I began to wear routinely gave me the confidence to do it, to transcend the rigid definitions of sexuality and gender, just as I also know there were the requisite stereotypical snickers.

In his more recent interview with EW, he said he developed a special bond with Jenner while writing her piece for Vanity Fair, but he doesn’t go into the details. He could very well mean that when you write a piece about someone that’s as personal as that one was, you’re bound to form some kind of connection with your interview subject. But I would imagine it’s also likely he felt a deeper connection and understanding of what Jenner was going through at the time, and it probably helped Bissinger to become more comfortable and understanding of his own identity.

Either way, his insanely talented writing abilities — Friday Night Lights is easily one of the best books ever written — are sure to make this memoir incredibly well done with in-depth reporting and description that would make even the most skeptical reader find truth.

Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ Released in Germany for First Time in 70 Years

Mein Kampf, or what would be translated as My Story, is the autobiographical book that helped place Adolf Hitler in a position of power in Germany before WWII. Because of that, the German state of Bavaria refused to print the book after Germany lost World War II. But as of January 1, 2016, the book’s copyright expired, and now Mein Kampf has reached bestseller status.

 

According to Mic, only 4,000 copies were planned the first printing of this new — and annotated — edition. As of last week, pre-orders hit 15,000.

The new version was annotated those reading it for scholarly use. An author featured last week on NPR’s “Fresh Air” said Mein Kampf is written in mostly statements, not arguments, and that the book is less impactful than Hitler’s speeches and oratory at the time. He had no fears about what the reprint of the book could mean. Other supporters also agree that the book serves an educational and scholarly purpose.

But since our current world still experiences so much hatred toward other ethnicities, races and religions, it’s hard for me to understand the good that the re-release of Mein Kampf brings. I believe in free speech, and as a Jewish person, I am curious to try and understand where his anti-Semitism started. But the thought of a vulnerable, irrational person reading this also makes me nervous.

Review: Walking Distance

Recap: David and Lisa are having trouble conceiving. But on some level, they’re not entirely sure they even want a child. Frustrated with the crossroad in their lives, they decide to take time off, travel and search within themselves to learn what they truly want. But this is not a story about a trip to the Caribbean — though it does include one. This is a true story of how David and Lisa took a month to walk the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage route to the shrine of the apostle, St. James the Great, in northern Spain.

They spend months studying Spanish and acquiring the appropriate footwear to prepare themselves intellectually, socially and physically for the very spiritual road ahead. The pilgrimage itself proves to be harder than expected. They must stop to go to the hospital. They drive, if absolutely necessary. Instead of camping or staying in hostels, they book nice hotel rooms. And while at times, they feel as though they’re cheating, it pays off when they make it to shrine. Their spiritual journey gives them the answers they were looking for: they do want children. The path propels them to come home and refocus their energy on the future — a new home and conceiving once again. And while a pregnancy finally happens for them, that, too, is not without difficulty.

Analysis: Similar to Eat, Pray, Love, author David Hlavsa takes us on his own personal international journey to find what he wants to have at home. Even having studied abroad in Spain, I never knew about the Camino de Santiago, which made his short and sweet memoir all the more fascinating. I understand why Hlavsa explains that friends and family thought he and his wife were crazy to take on this challenge; if someone in my family were to do it, I would also look at him like he had a few screws loose.

But Hlavsa explains his rationale in a way that made me understand why he and his wife had to do this. While the topic of the memoir is serious and sad, Hlavsa keeps the book charming, entertaining and humorous with sections about his wife’s inability to speak Spanish and their adventures with exotic food. The first half of the book is exciting as they make their way on the journey.

But when they come home, the book takes a dark turn as their pregnancy doesn’t go as planned. The ending and epilogue is ultimately satisfying, but to say parts of this book were difficult to read would be an understatement. That said, the memoir made me consider what I would if I were in his situation. It encouraged me to have serious talks with my fiancé about our future and where we stood if  we were to have trouble conceiving one day. A book that’s hard to read is worth it if it makes you think. And that’s exactly what Walking Distance did for me.

Get Walking Distance in paperback for $14.16

Or on your Kindle for $9.99.

Amy Schumer the Next Comedienne To Pen Memoir

In the growing list of female comedians who already have or plan to pen memoirs or books of essays — Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Lena Dunham, Anna Kendrick — we now have another to add to the list: Amy Schumer.

Who’s surprised? Not me! She’s had a fantastic year, and now Entertainment Weekly is reporting her book, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, sold for between $8-10 million. Apparently her book was shopped to publishers all over Manhattan, but Simon & Schuster imprint Gallery Book finally put in the highest bid.

No word on when the book is set to be published, but I think it’s safe to say it’s bound to be a bestseller!