Books like Meet the Newmans

Nick Hornby is one of my favorite writers, and About a Boy is one of my favorite books of all time.

I love how his prose is pared down but so profound; every sentence, however simple, carries weight, and his characterization is wonderfully human. In this book, Hornby champions mainstream entertainment, something I’m passionate about, as I can’t stand cultural snobbishness.

It’s an homage to a golden age of light entertainment, and, like television comedy, this is a book that "makes us all part of something."

I read just about anything – dark fiction, cozy mysteries, thrillers, and even plenty of non-fiction. But, while I rarely read memoirs, I will if it’s someone I truly admire.

Enter Betty White. I’ve always been a fan of her quick, one-liner wit, and this book doesn’t disappoint. But even the non-witty parts are packed with a punch. Betty’s wisdom is heartfelt and spot-on.

To read about the life of Diahann Carroll, a true diva, sets the record straight on her beauty and humanity. Her many marriages, a tribute to her daddy issues, and her support of civil rights show the true sides of a diva. She was political, she was insecure, she failed, and she succeeded. That is a life well lived. Diahann as a mother, by her own account, had a mixed track record. But, she clearly was a good enough mother and grandmother. 

This book by Alison Arngrim is a comedic tell-all book about the crazy life behind the actor who portrayed the character of Nellie Oleson from Little House. I loved reading about her on-and-off-set adventures, but even more so, her honest confessions about the hardest parts of life.

I was inspired by her words, sharing openly about being a victim of child abuse and how she advocates for abused children through Protect.org.

After reading Alison’s book, I wanted to help someone, to make them laugh the way she does. What a beautiful human being!

I love bad-ass women who take the world by storm. I love it when they’re funny. I love it when they share their journey. Amy Poehler, badass writer/comedian, wrote her memoir in the form of a self-help book. The self-help aspect is in disguise, though. You’re supposed to think it’s a memoir/fun celebrity tell-all, but it’s way more than that. It’s a bossy bitchy blueprint on how to get through life with humor and honesty and loads of funny stories. 

Some of her advice: Talk To Yourself Like You’re Ninety and Treat Your Career Like A Bad Boyfriend. Amy’s snarky, smart, and silly stories about her successes and failures inspire me to be a badass, too. Humor and snark and advice. Yes, please!

If you’ve watched the recent Netflix series about Tembi Locke and her Sicilian chef husband, you only know half the story. Locke’s memoir, beautifully told, concentrates on (spoiler alert) her healing after her husband’s death. Recently widowed, she traveled to her husband’s tiny Sicilian village to inter his ashes. Although in many ways she dreaded going to Sicily (and her mother-in-law’s house) she is drawn to a simpler way of life from the one she has in Los Angeles. For several succeeding summers she and her daughter return to her husband’s hometown in which little has changed for centuries. Except for the local priest from Africa, they are the only people of color. Locke’s journey is one from despair and exasperation to healing and appreciation.

Along with being extremely well written, this book details the horrific murder of a celebrated actor, a man blitzed in his sleep, a decent man who dealt with mundane foibles many men experience. But Crane always continued on, heading to work, embracing a hopeful and positive outlook on his abilities and the future. Bob Crane may well have never awoken from the cowardly assault that took his life in 1978, leaving his 4 children fatherless. A couple of years ago, I got to know Robert David Crane, Bob Crane’s son, via social media and it was one of the oddest occurrences of my life. I’d never have predicted it. I’ve found him to be insightful, generous, accomplished, and genuine. I loved this book because it is about the murder of a man who I grew up seeing.

Yes, I too watched Hogan’s Heroes and absolutely loved the character played… show more.

Woody made fun of movie novelizations in Manhattan, but they have a special charm, especially when written by the director.* Tarantino’s gripping novel captures the changing of the guard in Hollywood ’69 as only a native son could, with special attention paid to Manson’s floppo music career.

The book also features some intense scenes that aren’t in the flick. For instance, in one chapter, Manson Family acolyte “Pussycat” creepy crawls into an elderly couple’s home at midnight and strips naked in their bedroom while they sleep and then…yeah, well, try not turning the pages, I dare ya. 

*(Another fine example is The Last Days of Disco, With Cocktails at Petrossian Afterward by Whit Stillman.)

Yes, this is technically a “celebrity memoir,” but Day is in a unique position of not only growing up in gaming culture but rising to fame because of it. While only two of the chapters in her book are about specific games she played, one of those games does become the basis for the show that launched her career. It’s interesting to read how she navigated the early days of YouTube and created and marketed the show with basically no budget. As someone who has frequently tried (and failed) to create game-related content of my own, it was nice to see what a self-made success story can look like.

Manzano played Maria for more than 40 years on Sesame Street, but this isn’t a book about that show. A sort of next-gen, nonfiction companion to Dominicana, it tells the story of Manzano’s hard-knock childhood in the South Bronx, and how her gifts as an actor and storyteller propelled her out of a rough neighborhood and troubled home (her father physically abused her mother.) Manzano doesn’t paper over the anger she felt and still feels about the systemic forces that ghettoized Hispanic kids like her. But she succeeds in offering hope and modeling Nuyorican success to latter-day versions of her young self.