Check out these reviews written by the staff of the Marathon County Public Library, featuring books DVDs for adults! (For reviews of books for all ages, visit our main Staff Reviews webpage.) Staff book reviews are also published at Goodreads.com; follow us for the latest updates. The book reviews on this website represent the personal opinions of the individuals who created them and do not represent any official views of the Marathon County Public Library.
If you’re an inhabitant of planet Earth, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Elton John. Maybe you’re familiar with some of the wild outfits and costumes he’s worn over the years, or you know a couple of his (many) hit songs. Perhaps you know him from his work on Disney’s The Lion King, or you’ve seen the 2019 biopic Rocketman. If you know anything about...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, biography, memoir, biography and memoir, celebrities
The View has been a staple of daytime television for more than 20 years. Since debuting in the summer of 1997, the show has seen 23 co-hosts come and go, and has had its fair share of high-profile arguments and controversies. For creator and executive producer Barbara Walters, the show started as a labor of love. For years leading up to the...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, celebrities
Stand-up comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish makes a living out of entertaining others and making people laugh. That might not seem like anything extraordinary, until you learn about all of the strife and setbacks Haddish faced in her life, especially before reaching adulthood. While growing up, Haddish had an absentee father, a mother who verbally and...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, memoir, celebrities, humor
Nearly everyone knows Carrie Fisher for her portrayal of Princess Leia Organa in the "Star Wars" film series. Being so strongly associated with this iconic character is something Fisher has struggled with virtually from the beginning of her career until she learned to embrace her alter ego later in life. The double-edged sword of a dilemma is the basis...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, memoir, celebrities, movies
As someone who was thoroughly entertained by actress Mindy Kaling's first memoir "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" I really looked forward to what she had to say in this follow-up. While this book didn’t quite match the humor and substance of its predecessor, it was still enjoyable to read. Known as the star of TV's "The Mindy Project" and for...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, memoir, humor, celebrities, television
Celebrity memoirs almost always seem to promise to "bare it all" and give the reader an uncensored look at the star's life, but most only half-heartedly keep that promise. Amy Schumer, however, is not one of those stars. In her debut book, Schumer (perhaps best known for her Comedy Central sketch series or her semi-autobiographical comedy film "...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, memoir, celebrities, humor
A complex and enigmatic individual, Steve McQueen became a screen legend playing anti-authoritarian loners. Authors Antoniades and Siegel combine talents to produce this weighty and wonderful account of the life and film career of McQueen. The book is an entertaining tribute to the King of Cool, featuring over 1,000 color and black and white...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, celebrities
Few actors ever equaled Cary Grant’s elegance, sex appeal and versatility on screen. Yann-Brice Dherbier’s book offers up 170 pages of black and white photographs of Grant at work, at home and at play. It’s an entertaining photographic tribute that reminds us that Grant truly was one-of-a-kind.
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, celebrities, photography
Before Trevor Noah was an internationally known comedian and host of The Daily Show he lived a modest life in South Africa with his mother. The two made a remarkable “team,” as he calls them, constantly trying to get ahead at the center of a world attempting to keep them behind. Trevor Noah’s father is white, Swiss, and German. His mother is black and...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, memoir, humor, celebrities, television
Have you heard about Scientology but have no clue what it is about? This book gives us an inside view of the workings of this religion from the viewpoint of former Scientologist, Leah Remini. Leah Remini is a actress who is best known for her role in the television comedy "King of Queens". From a very young age she was brought up in Scientology when her...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, memoir, celebrities, television, spirituality
I loved this book! Reading it is like sitting down with a good friend over a cup of cocoa and listening to their stories. Drew writes with such emotion and honesty that you feel like she is in the room with you. This book made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me realize what a beautiful soul she is. This book is written as a collection of stories from...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, memoir, celebrities
As a Stevie Nicks fan, I enjoyed this new biography from British journalist Zoe Howe, but recommend it with some reservations. I was a bit disappointed that most of the material is sourced from published interviews and books, so I would not recommend this book for fans looking for "new" insights about Nicks, especially fans who have already read one of the...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, biography, celebrities, music
Whether your favorite Neil Patrick Harris character is Barney Stinson, Doogie Howser, or Hedwig, this book is highly recommended. NPH models his autobiography after the "Choose Your Own Adventure" children's series, where readers make a choice at the end of each chapter that will change the outcome of the story. This book is full of humor and quirky details...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, biography, celebrities, humor
Whether you know him as a Python or as The Pink Panther's Charles Dreyfus, chances are that at some point in your life, John Cleese has made you laugh. Easily one of my favorite comedic actors, John Cleese's memoir is a book that was worth the wait. From his quiet beginnings as the only child of older parents in a sleepy English town, to his adventures in...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, memoir, celebrities, humor
This was a profound read for me. While I started this somewhat with trepidation, as I'm not one to usually read something like this, it struck me from the very beginning. As someone who has had a scary and difficult year, I found a lot of truth and connection to the stories told in this that deeply struck a cord with me. Oprah recounts some of her biggest...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, celebrities
Are you ready to laugh, learn, and cry? Amy delivers all of this and more in her debut book. Anyone who is a fan of Amy from her television work and comedy will definitely appreciate her humor and stories about trying to make it in the business. She covers her childhood through her time on "Parks and Recreation." What I found to be the best part of this...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, biography, memoir, humor, celebrities, television
Full of gorgeous photographs, behind-the-scenes information about the show, and fascinating historical details, this book is a must-read for any Downton Abbey fan! The author breaks the chapters into months of the year, describing events that occurred each month and interviewing cast members and crew. She also focuses on a unique aspect of production on the...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, television, celebrities
Brooke Shields opens up about her sometimes tumultuous relationship with her mother and manager, Teri Shields. She reveals heartbreaking details about her mother's life-long struggle with alcoholism, and how her relationship with her mother affected her life. A constant theme throughout the book is Brooke defending her mother to critics, despite the pain...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, memoir, celebrities
Sophia Loren's memoir details her incredible life; full of beauty, love, success, but also tragedy and pain. The daughter of a single mother, Loren grew up in poverty during World War II in Italy and never had much contact with her father. She received her start in beauty pageants, and soon transitioned to film after she was noticed by her future husband,...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, celebrities, memoir
This cookbook is brimming with gorgeous photos of comfort food and nostalgia that made me think I was right back at home, curled up in my flat in London. Even though for me and my food allergy riddled body, I can't eat most of the entrees shown in this book anymore, the experience of looking through it was worth it. For those of us who love our cookbooks...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, cookbook, celebrities
Life's That Way is a beautiful and moving memoir by Jim Beaver, the talented actor who I came to know from the TV series Supernatural. His memoir is a heartbreaking, touching, but also uplifting recounting of his wife's battle with cancer and daughter's battle with autism. Told through the heart-wrenching emails Jim Beaver sent to their family and friends,...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, memoir, celebrities, television
Movie buffs will enjoy this Silver Screen daily calendar book, presenting, as it does, color photographs of hundreds of movie notables. Among the actors and actresses included are Tyrone Power, Tom Cruise, Humphrey Bogart, Greta Garbo, Joe Pesci, Claire Bloom, Kate Winslet, Jean Reno, Anita Ekberg, Peter Lorre, Nicole Kidman, Lee Marvin, Ralph Fiennes,...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, celebrities
John Wayne is, arguably, the most popular movie actor of all time. Marc Mompoint offers up a photo-tribute to 'The Duke' in this appealing 2012 Skyhorse Publishing release. The book features color and b&w candid snaps and production stills from Wayne's life and times. John Wayne fans will undoubtedly enjoy this latest tribute to the iconic movie star...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, celebrities, photography
In 2013, Hollywood had its best year ever, profits totaling 11 billion dollars! Hollywood expert Anne Thompson provides an insider look at how all that money was made, taking the reader through a year-long trip through film sets, movie studios, executive backrooms, PR firms, film festivals, etc. as stars, producers and assorted talent wheel-and-deal....
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, celebrities
NEW YORK JACKIE is a photo-history of the years Jackie Kennedy lived and worked in the big Apple. Taken by a number of photographers, the pix capture her strolling down streets, biking, talking with friends, at work, walking with Caroline and John Jr., attending a Broadway musical, etc. The images date from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s. Whatever the...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, photography, celebrities, history
