Entertainment Memoir

In many ways, Kamal Haasan is unique. One of the greatest actors India has ever produced, he has usually gone further than just enacting a role to completely immersing himself in it. Kamal Haasan: A Cinematic Journey explores some 50 films out of the 245 Haasan has been associated with and analyses his cinematic journey from his beginnings as a child star all the way to his latest blockbusters.

Yo-Yo Ma was in his late forties when he decided he was truly happy being a musician. It was then he realized that he could use the cello to explore the world, to ask what it means to be human and how we can navigate the future together. Now, he has invited six friends to join him in answering these questions, to explore how they came to understand who they are, how they learned to love what they do in life, and how they would like to live in the world.

On July 14, 1895, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 59 years old and deeply in debt, boarded a night train to Cleveland, launching a performance tour designed to alleviate his financial woes, and, more importantly, resuscitate his alter ego, Mark Twain. The journey took him to Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa, and led to the resurrection of Twain as a celebrity. Equal parts travelogue, social history, and biography, Around the World with Mark Twain paints a decidedly different portrait of Clemens: a more tragic, darker figure who faced financial ruin and personal loss throughout his life.

Back in January 1995 in Los Angeles, California, a Singaporean pornstar named Annabel Chong took cultural rebellion to an extreme, on terms that had never been negotiated before. She was filmed having sex with a long receiving line of men, servicing them 251 times over a ten-hour period to set a new world record: The World’s Biggest Gangbang.

Twenty-five years after her passing, Audrey Hepburn remains the most beloved of all Hollywood stars, known as much for her role as UNICEF ambassador as for films like Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Several biographies have chronicled her stardom, but none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. According to her son, Luca Dotti, "The war made my mother who she was."

In Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, Jad Abumrad—creator of Radiolab, More Perfect, and Dolly Parton's America—tells the story of one of the great political awakenings in music: how a classically trained 'colonial boy' traveled to America, in search of Africa, only to return to Nigeria and transform his sound into a battering ram against the state—creating a new musical language of resistance called Afrobeat.

With a fun and folksy way of addressing its audience, Keep Moving serves as an instruction audiobook on how to embrace old age with a positive attitude. The chapters are filled with exclusive personal anecdotes that explore various themes on aging: how to adapt to the physical and social changes, deal with loss of friends and loved ones, stay current, fall in love again, and "keep moving" every day like there's no tomorrow.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In these hilarious essays, the Saturday Night Live head writer and Weekend Update co-anchor learns how to take a beating. “I always wanted to punch his face before I read this book. Now I just want to kick him in the balls.”—Larry David A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR...

Garcelle Beauvais has spent decades in the public eye: on runways, on sets, on red carpets, and on one of the most-watched reality franchises in television history. She has been celebrated, scrutinized, underestimated, and respected. And through all of it, she kept showing up—for her career, for her sons, for her friendships, for the rooms that didn't always make space for her. Now, in her own voice, Garcelle tells the story behind the most important decision she ever made—choosing herself.

No singer has been more mythologized and more misunderstood than jazz legend Billie Holiday, who helped to create much of the mystique herself with her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues - and this authentic biography sets the record straight. Donald Clarke was given unrivaled access to a treasure trove of interviews from the 1970s with those who knew Lady Day in all stages of her short, tragic life - from her childhood in the streets and good-time houses of Baltimore, through the early days of success in New York and the years of fame, to her tragic decline.

Today's most acclaimed film directors reveal intimate behind-the-scenes details of their most influential work and their unique approaches to their art. In the companion to the Silver Plaque-winning Starz/Encore documentary series, this book offers interviews with 13 top filmmakers. Contains each director's filmography, complete listings of major awards, and cast credits for all films discussed.

Stories I Must Tell: The Emotional Life of an Actor is the no-holds-barred autobiography of India’s first truly international film star. The journey of a middle-class boy from Delhi whose career took him to the heights of fame across the world. An unusually candid story of his strengths, weaknesses and turbulent relationships.

Acclaimed biographer Donald Spoto explores the roots of Hitchcock’s obsessions - with food, murder, and idealized love, among others - and traces the origins of his incomparable, bizarre genius, from his childhood and education to the golden years of his career. Based on interviews with his writers, actors, and longtime associates, and on exhaustive research, The Dark Side of Genius is the definitive biography of Alfred Hitchcock.

Superstar comedian and Hollywood box-office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.

In 1971, Newsweek heralded The Last Picture Show as "the most impressive work by a young American director since Citizen Kane." Indeed, few filmmakers rivaled Peter Bogdanovich's popularity over the next decade. Riding the success of What's Up, Doc? (1972) and Paper Moon (1973), Bogdanovich became a bona fide celebrity, making regular appearances in his own movie trailers, occasionally hosting late-night television shows, and publicly advocating for mentors John Ford and Howard Hawks.

When John Huston died at 81 on August 28, 1987, America lost a towering figure in movie history. The director of such classic films as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, The Maltese Falcon, Prizzi's Honor, and The Dead, John Huston evoked passionate responses from everyone he encountered. He was at the center of a dynasty, with three generations of Oscar winners (Walter, John and Anjelica).

The much-anticipated memoir of Dan Bilzerian is almost here! Dan takes listeners on a wild ride, from his anything-but-normal childhood, to the insanity that has followed him on his journey to becoming one of the most famous people in the world. Hear about his upbringing, military service, gambling, guns and other toys, and about girls. Lots of girls. And for the first time, Dan talks openly about how he was able to live unapologetically live his dreams using a simple method that he calls "The Setup".

Roberto «Bob» Bissonnette, le marchand de bonheur. Décédé à l’âge de 35 ans dans un accident d’hélicoptère, le hockeyeur devenu vedette du rock a certes connu une vie trop courte, mais n’en a assurément gaspillé aucune seconde. La pédale au plancher, donnant son 110 % sur la glace, sur scène ou même autour d’un feu de camp, il aura été l’incarnation même de la maxime carpe diem, «saisir le jour».

Following her retirement from Princeton University, celebrated historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter surprised everyone in her life by returning to school - in her 60s - to earn a BFA and MFA in painting. In Old in Art School, she travels from her beloved Newark to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; finds meaning in the artists she loves, even as she comes to understand how they may be undervalued; and struggles with the unstable balance between the pursuit of art and the inevitable, sometimes painful, demands of a life fully lived.

Cerphe's Up is an incisive musical memoir by Cerphe Colwell, a renowned rock radio broadcaster for more than 45 years in Washington, DC. Cerphe shares his life as a rock radio insider in rich detail. His story includes promotion and friendship with a young unknown Bruce Springsteen; his years at radio station WHFS 102.3 as it blossomed in a new freeform format; and candid interviews with famous musicians.