You Brought a Book to the Dance?

“Fearless and Free” is labeled a memoir but just isn’t. It’s so short on the details, feelings, and reflections I hoped to find in Josephine Baker’s life story.

When I visited The Strand last month, I was drawn to purchase a book about New York City there. Having read about The Barbizon Hotel for Women and Sylvia Plath’s stay there as a Mademoiselle contest winner, “The Bell Jar” felt like the perfect choice. I read it in one evening.

One of my favorite things to do on social media is to read some unfortunate and ill-informed person try to debate The Bible and Christ’s teachings with John Fugelsang. It’s as delicious as it is nutritious! “Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back The Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds” is an expanded version of all those online debates only with more scripture and more context to help all of us counter the horrifying misuse of the teachings of Christ as reported by the people who were really there with him (not you, Paul). Though I believe, I have no interest in living in these people’s version of a “Christian nation,” I’d much rather live in a Christian-following one.

I recently watched the documentary “I Like Me”about actor and comedian John Candy, then came across the audiobook for Paul Myers’ biography. It provides so much more detail than the film could, so was a great companion listen. My only criticism is the continued references to the actor’s weight and that being the only market that mattered in regards to his health, and the glossing over of his smoking, drinking, poor sleep, stress, and anxiety. One day, we’ll be better about how we talk about health and weight, I hope.

I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking about the good and bad of evaluations while reading “Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well” by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen as part of an office book club. Now to put it into practice.

I’m always excited for a new David Sedaris release. This is the first time I’ve listened to the audiobook version and I so enjoyed hearing each essay in the author’s voice with the reactions of live audiences.

“Authoritarian regimes, in the words of Robert Hutchings, a scholar of public affairs and the former chair of the U.S. National Intelligence Council, are prey to ‘intellectual pathologies’ that drastically narrow what they’re capable of thinking: intense conformity, resistance to contrary information, the overestimation of insiders, and the stereotyping of outsiders. Authoritarianism is a catastrophic intellectual handicap.”

Infuriating and necessary. I’ll never think of the Kennedys the same after listening to Maureen Callahan’s “Ask Not.”

The mess of the Spider-Man musical was so much messier than I appreciated. That it came together at all, let alone lasted three years on Broadway, is astonishing, as I learned listening to book cowriter Glen Berger’s memoir of the fraught project.

I was searching for a new read on Spotify and came across Matt Baume’s quick exploration of LGBTQ+ representation on American television from the 1960s to 2010s.

Continuing my yoga education and working toward a new certification with John F. Barnes’ “Healing Ancient Wounds.”

I only know of “Lolita” so had no idea there was a real girl whose harrowing experience inspired the story. Thanks to Sarah Weinman, I now know who Sally Horner was.

“Mull on the truth that there’s only one of you in the whole history of humankind ever. No one who has come before you is the same. No one who’s come after you is the same. You are the only you who has ever appeared in history, therefore you simply are valuable, needed, approved, accepted. You are loved.”

I watched the Lifetime series and read Jim DeRegotis’ book, so knew I had to read Reshona Landfair’s book to finally hear her side.

One of my side jobs is covering reality TV news and gossip for The Ashley’s Reality Roundup, which gives me the opportunity and excuse to read the memoirs of reality stars like Lisa Rinna, whose new memoir was released this week.

Dipped back into CloudLibrary this week and found Tourmaline’s biography of LGBTQIA2S+ icon Marsha P. Johnson. As ever, there’s so much we can learn from the past to help us today.

Thanks to easy access to audiobooks, I was finally able to experience Susan Orlean’s history of the famous film dog Rin Tin Tin.