On My Radar:

Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama

by Bob Odenkirk

Random House

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

 

Bob Odenkirk’s career is inexplicable. And yet he will try like hell to explicate it for you. Charting a “Homeric” decades-long “odyssey” from his origins in the seedy comedy clubs of Chicago to a dramatic career full of award nominations—with a side-trip into the action-man world that is baffling to all who know him—it’s almost like there are many Bob Odenkirks! But there is just one and one is plenty.

Bob embraced a life in comedy after a chance meeting with Second City’s legendary Del Close. He somehow made his way to a job as a writer at Saturday Night Live. While surviving that legendary gauntlet by the skin of his gnashing teeth, he stashed away the secrets of comedy writing—eventually employing them in the immortal “Motivational Speaker” sketch for Chris Farley, honing them on The Ben Stiller Show, and perfecting them on Mr. Show with Bob and David.

In Hollywood, Bob demonstrated a bullheadedness that would shame Sisyphus himself, and when all hope was lost for the umpteenth time, the phone rang with an offer to appear on Breaking Bad—a show about how boring it is to be a high school chemistry teacher. His embrace of this strange new world of dramatic acting led him to working with Steven Spielberg, Alexander Payne, and Greta Gerwig, and then, in a twist that will confound you, he re-re-invented himself as a bona fide action star. Why? Read this and do your own psychoanalysis—it’s fun!

Featuring humorous tangents, never-before-seen photos, wild characters, and Bob’s trademark unflinching drive, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama is a classic showbiz tale told by a determined idiot.

On My Radar:

Windswept & Interesting: My Autobiography

by Billy Connolly

Two Roads Books UK

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

 

Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, and a survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family, Billy’s life is a remarkable story of success against all the odds.

Billy found his escape first as an apprentice welder in the shipyards of the River Clyde. Later he became a folk musician – a ‘rambling man’ – with a genuine talent for playing the banjo. But it was his ability to spin stories, tell jokes and hold an audience in the palm of his hand that truly set him apart.

As a young comedian Billy broke all the rules. He was fearless and outspoken – willing to call out hypocrisy wherever he saw it. But his stand-up was full of warmth, humility and silliness too. His startling, hairy ‘glam-rock’ stage appearance – wearing leotards, scissor suits and banana boots – only added to his appeal.

It was an appearance on Michael Parkinson’s chat show in 1975 – and one outrageous story in particular – that catapulted Billy from cult hero to national star. TV shows, documentaries, international fame and award-winning Hollywood movies followed. Billy’s pitch-perfect stand-up comedy kept coming too – for over 50 years, in fact – until a double diagnosis of cancer and Parkinson’s Disease brought his remarkable live performances to an end. Since then he has continued making TV shows, creating extraordinary drawings… and writing.

On My Radar:

 

The Year That Broke America: An Immigration Crisis, a Terrorist Conspiracy, the Summer of Survivor, a Ridiculous Fake Billionaire, a Fight for Florida, and the 537 Votes That Changed Everything

by Andrew Rice

Harper Books

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

 

Before there was Coronavirus, before there was the contentious 2020 election or the entire Trump presidency, there was a turning-point year that proved momentous and transformative for American politics and the fate of the nation. That year was 2000, the last year of America’s unchallenged geopolitical dominance, the year Mark Burnett created Survivor and a new form of celebrity, the year a little Cuban immigrant became the focus of a media circus, the year Donald Trump flirted with running for President (and failed miserably), the year a group of Al Qaeda operatives traveled to America to learn to fly planes. They all converged in Florida, where that fall, the most important presidential election in generations was decided by the slimmest margin imaginable. 

But the year 2000 was also the moment when the authority of the political system was undermined by technical malfunctions;  when the legal system was compromised by the justices of the Supreme Court; when the financial system was devalued by deregulation, speculation, creative securitization, and scam artistry; when the mainstream news media was destabilized by the propaganda power of Fox News and the supercharged speed of the internet; when the power of tastemakers, gatekeepers, and cultural elites was diminished by a dawning recognition of its irrelevance.

Expertly synthesizing many hours of interviews, court records, FOIA requests, and original archival research, Andrew Rice marshals an impressive cast of dupes, schmucks, superstars, politicians, and shameless scoundrels in telling the fascinating story of this portentous year that marked a cultural watershed. Back at the start of the new millennium it was easy to laugh and roll our eyes about the crazy events in Florida in the year 2000—but what happened then and there has determined where we are and who we’ve become.  

 

On My Radar:

Party Like a Rockstar: The Crazy, Coincidental, Hard-Luck, and Harmonious Life of a Songwriter

by J.T. Harding

Twelve Books

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

 

In PARTY LIKE A ROCKSTAR, J.T. Harding charts his life from a kid growing up in Michigan to a chart-topping songwriter living in Nashville and working with country music stars like Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney. As a kid playing rock n' roll in his parents' garage, Harding's was a world in which every taste of new music—from KISS to Prince and everyone in between—was a revelation. Inspired by his favorite artists, Harding abandons the classic "American Dream" and runs away to Los Angeles, where he forms a band and becomes part of the music scene there, all the while selling records to his favorite artists and producers at Tower Records.

A story of youth, rebellion, and determination, PARTY LIKE A ROCKSTAR is a memoir for music lovers and an invaluable how-to guide for anyone who wants to learn how to write a hit song. Fun and heartfelt, Harding's memoir is the story of one man's unshakable love for rock and roll, how it guided him through some of the greatest tragedies—and greatest triumphs—of his wild and unvarnished life. 

In My TBR Stack:

The Public Relations Handbook

edited by Robert L. Dilenschneider

Matt Holt Books

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

 

The Public Relations Handbook contains valuable guidance for navigating the 2020s and beyond, answering for public relations professionals questions such as:

• How can they best work with a market research department or firm?
• How can they contribute to the sales department’s efforts to open up new channels of distribution?
• How can they maximize the impact of the ad agency’s new campaign?
• How can they advise the HR operation on the best ways to assure a diverse workforce, thereby avoiding the nightmare of an attack in that regard?
• How will they work with top management in the event of a sex abuse scandal?

The Public Relations Handbook has always been at the forefront of the practice of public relations. The first edition was published in 1967, with updates following in 1979, 1987, and 2010. The 2010 edition reflected advances in the practice of public relations based on the realities of the digital age. This new 5th edition examines and prescribes how to make public relations indispensable in an era facing new challenges in global public health as well as the convergence of new financial, economic, political, and societal issues.

No longer is public relations viewed as a separate and narrow tactic isolated from other activities. Public relations professionals must be prepared to deal with a staggering variety of people, issues, and subjects. Today it is a given that planning and implementing a public relations program must harmonize with overall objectives whether that means selling a product, raising money, or advancing a cause or a candidate.

The Public Relations Handbook assures public relations practitioners that they can navigate this new world effectively, and provides them the tools for doing so.

In My TBR Stack:

Pitch Like Hollywood: What You Can Learn From the High-Stakes Film Industry

by Peter Desberg and Jeffery Davis

McGraw Hill

Hardcover

From the book publicity:

From impromptu elevator pitches to full-board presentations, sales and marketing professionals face an “audience” daily―often with make-or-break consequences. As the person delivering the performance, you need to know you have a great script and are able to maintain composure throughout.

To help you perfect both pitch and performance, there are no better coaches than clinical psychologist Peter Desberg and writer/producer Jeffrey Davis. With experience and insights from both the film industry and the corporate world, they understand the pitch process.

In Pitch Like Hollywood, they show you how to up your game substantially ―no matter what business you’re in―by incorporating elements of a classic Hollywood pitch: driving emotion, piquing curiosity, and ultimately winning over decision makers with powerful persuasion and performance. They take you on an insider’s tour of the entire process, from defining the fundamentals to designing effective presentation strategies to overcoming stage fright.

With chapters that include Persuasion Boot Camp, The Pitch Panic Cycle, and Creating the Pitch II (The Sequel), Pitch Like Hollywood provides a front-row seat in a master class on giving great performances for any audience, every time―at board meetings, sales calls, and whenever else you want to make a case to get the results you want.

On My Radar:

Watergate: A New History

by Garrett M. Graff

Avid Reader Press

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

In the early hours of June 17, 1972, a security guard named Frank Wills entered six words into the log book of the Watergate office complex that would change the course of history: 1:47 AM Found tape on doors; call police.

The subsequent arrests of five men seeking to bug and burgle the Democratic National Committee offices quickly unravels a web of scandal that ultimately ends a presidency and forever alters views of moral authority and leadership. Watergate, as the event is called, becomes a shorthand for corruption, deceit, and unanswered questions.

Now, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Garrett M. Graff explores the full scope of this unprecedented moment from start to finish, in Watergate: A New History, the first single-volume account in decades.

It begins in 1971, with the publication of thousands of military and government documents known as the Pentagon Papers, which reveal dishonesty about the decades-long American presence in Vietnam and spark public outrage. Furious that the leak might expose his administration’s own duplicity during a crucial reelection season, President Richard M. Nixon gathers his closest advisors and gives them implicit instructions: Win by any means necessary.

Within a few months, an unsteady line of political dominoes are positioned, from the creation of a series of covert operations code-named GEMSTONE to campaign-trail dirty tricks, possible hostage situations, and questionable fundraising efforts—much of it caught on the White House’s own taping system. One by one they fall, until the thwarted June burglary attracts the attention of journalists, investigators, and intelligence officers, one of whom will spend decades concealing his identity behind the alias “Deep Throat.” As each faction slowly begins to uncover the truth, a conspiracy deeper and more corrupt than anyone thought possible emerges, and the nation is thrown into a state of crisis as its government—and its leader—unravels.

Using newly public documents, transcripts, and revelations, Graff recounts every twist with remarkable detail and page-turning drama, bringing readers into the backrooms of Washington, chaotic daily newsrooms, crowded Senate hearings, and even the Oval Office itself during one of the darkest chapters in American history.

In My TBR Stack:

 The Answer is Love: A Simple Conversation About Discovering Your True Self

by Luis Rojas

Aviva Publishing

Hardcover

From the book publicity:

Whatever troubles are afflicting you or our society, Luis Rojas has found the answer to them: Love.

Join Luis Rojas on an extraordinary journey in the The Answer Is Love. Luis will take you on a gentle rollercoaster ride through the ups and downs of his life, from being a high-powered attorney to losing it all, from childhood bedwetting to bonding with others.

Throughout life, we all constantly experience significant pain and suffering. It is life’s only constant. Why does suffering happen? Is it true there’s a reason for everything? The answer to all life’s questions boils down to Love—the need we have for it and what we must do to become people who can understand, accept, and provide it.

Love may be seen by some as an ineffective tool—will it really stop crime, prevent abuse, or heal those who seem beyond help? As a husband, father, attorney, former criminal prosecutor, and fellow human, Luis Rojas will share with you his answers to these questions. He has seen Love at work and can tell you it is real. He has not only discovered how all-encompassing Love is throughout our lifetimes, but he knows beyond a doubt that it is the most powerful force in the Universe.

In My TBR Stack:

 Entrenched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go

by Linda Lee Blakemore

Leonella Press

Hardcover

From the book publicity:

 

When a destructive affair with an older, married boss ended in sexual assault, Linda was grateful her husband took her back. The reconciliation was short-lived when Linda found herself drawn to another older, married man. Even though he was selfish and controlling, she needed to be the one he chose. She got her wish. But shortly after he proposed, her repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse almost destroyed Linda and her new relationship. Linda persevered and they married. But just as he had done to his first wife, every two years her second husband left her. She always took him back-even after he moved in with his friend, a man charged with possession of child porn. Why did Linda cling to this unhealthy relationship? Would she ever find the strength to let go?

On average a woman will leave an unhealthy relationship seven times before leaving for good. Why? And why did she choose the wrong partner in the first place? The answer can most often be found by exploring past trauma. Our past formulates self-worth, how we attach to others, and how we believe we deserve to be treated. Given the important and timely focus on workplace sex assault/harassment, intimate partner sex assault, child sex abuse and trafficking, Entrenched: A Memoir of Holding On and Letting Go will resonate with anyone who has been a victim-and the numbers are staggering.

One in four girls is a victim of child sexual abuse and a child victim is six times more likely to be sexually assaulted as an adult. Each year in the United States alone there are 463,634 victims (12 or older) of rape and sexual assault- that's one in five women and almost half of those assaults are perpetrated by an acquaintance.

Blakemore writes for each of these women. She is one of them. Her poignant true story sheds light on the aftermath of child sexual assault, and highlights the pain and self-blame a victim often feels following intimate sexual assault. As the author confronts her past and heals, her journey creates a powerful resource for any woman who has experienced intimate sexual assault, workplace sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, or abandonment.

On My Radar:

Dark Horse: An Orphan X Novel

Orphan X (Volume 7)

by Gregg Hurwitz

Minotaur Books

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Evan Smoak is a man with many identities and a challenging past. As Orphan X, he was a government assassin for the off-the-books Orphan Program. After he broke with the Program, he adopted a new name and a new mission--The Nowhere Man, helping the most desperate in their times of trouble. Having just survived an attack on his life and the complete devastation of his base of operations, as well as his complicated (and deepening) relationship with his neighbor Mia Hall, Evan isn't interested in taking on a new mission. But one finds him anyway.

Aragon Urrea is a kingpin of a major drug-dealing operation in South Texas. He's also the patron of the local area--supplying employment in legitimate operations, providing help to the helpless, rough justice to the downtrodden, and a future to a people normally with little hope. He's complicated--a not completely good man, who does bad things for often good reasons. However, for all his money and power, he is helpless when one of the most vicious cartels kidnaps his innocent eighteen year old daughter, spiriting her away into the armored complex that is their headquarters in Mexico. With no other way to rescue his daughter, he turns to The Nowhere Man.

Now not only must Evan figure out how to get into the impregnable fortress of a heavily armed, deeply paranoid cartel leader, but he must decide if he should help a very bad man--no matter how just the cause.

On My Radar:

 The Nineties: A Book

by Chuck Klosterman

Penguin Press

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

It was long ago, but not as long as it seems: The Berlin Wall fell and the Twin Towers collapsed. In between, one presidential election was allegedly decided by Ross Perot while another was plausibly decided by Ralph Nader. In the beginning, almost every name and address was listed in a phone book, and everyone answered their landlines because you didn’t know who it was. By the end, exposing someone’s address was an act of emotional violence, and nobody picked up their new cell phone if they didn’t know who it was. The 90s brought about a revolution in the human condition we’re still groping to understand. Happily, Chuck Klosterman is more than up to the job.

Beyond epiphenomena like “Cop Killer” and Titanic and Zima, there  were wholesale shifts in how society was perceived: the rise of the internet, pre-9/11 politics, and the paradoxical belief that nothing was more humiliating than trying too hard. Pop culture accelerated without the aid of a machine that remembered everything, generating an odd comfort in never being certain about anything. On a 90’s Thursday night, more people watched any random episode of Seinfeld than the finale of Game of Thrones. But nobody thought that was important; if you missed it, you simply missed it. It was the last era that held to the idea of a true, hegemonic mainstream before it all began to fracture, whether you found a home in it or defined yourself against it.
 
In The Nineties, Chuck Klosterman makes a home in all of it: the film, the music, the sports, the TV, the politics, the changes regarding race and class and sexuality, the yin/yang of Oprah and Alan Greenspan. In perhaps no other book ever written would a sentence like, “The video for ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was not more consequential than the reunification of Germany” make complete sense. Chuck Klosterman has written a multi-dimensional masterpiece, a work of synthesis so smart and delightful that future historians might well refer to this entire period as Klostermanian. 

On My Radar:

America's Last Great Newspaper War: The Death of Print in a Two-Tabloid Town

by Mike Jaccarino

Fordham University Press

Hardcover

 

From the publisher's website:

 

When author Mike Jaccarino was offered a job at the Daily News in 2006, he was asked a single question: “Kid, what are you going to do to help us beat the Post?” That was the year things went sideways at the News, when the New York Post surpassed its nemesis in circulation for the first time in the history of both papers. Tasked with one job—crush the Post—Jaccarino here provides the behind-the-scenes story of how the runners and shooters on both sides would do anything and everything to get the scoop before their opponents.

The New York Daily News and the New York Post have long been the Hatfields and McCoys of American media: two warring tabloids in a town big enough for only one of them. As digital news rendered print journalism obsolete, the fight to survive in NYC became an epic, Darwinian battle. In America’s Last Great Newspaper War, Jaccarino exposes the untold story of this tabloid death match of such ferocity and obsession its like has not occurred since Pulitzer– Hearst.

Told through the eyes of hungry “runners” (field reporters) and “shooters” (photographers) who would employ phony police lights to overcome traffic, Mike Jaccarino’s memoir unmasks the do-whatever-it-takes era of reporting—where the ends justified the means and nothing was off-limits. His no-holds-barred account describes sneaking into hospitals, months-long stakeouts, infiltrating John Gotti’s crypt, bidding wars for scoops, high-speed car chases with Hillary Clinton, O.J. Simpson, and the baby mama of a philandering congressman—all to get that coveted front-page story.

Today, few runners and shooters remain on the street. Their age and exploits are as bygone as the News–Post war and American newspapers, generally. Where armies once battled, often no one is covering the story at all.

 

On My Radar:

 From Hollywood With Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy

by Scott Meslow

Dey Street Books

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

No Hollywood genre has been more misunderstood—or more unfairly under-appreciated—than the romantic comedy. Funny, charming, and reliably crowd-pleasing, rom-coms were the essential backbone of the Hollywood landscape, launching the careers of many of Hollywood’s most talented actors and filmmakers, such as Julia Roberts and Matthew McConaughey, and providing many of the yet limited creative opportunities women had in Hollywood. But despite—or perhaps because of—all that, the rom-com has routinely been overlooked by the Academy Awards or snobbishly dismissed by critics. In From Hollywood with Love, culture writer and GQ contributor Scott Meslow seeks to right this wrong, celebrating and analyzing rom-coms with the appreciative, insightful critical lens they’ve always deserved.

Beginning with the golden era of the romantic comedy—spanning from the late ’80s to the mid-’00s with the breakthrough of films such as When Harry Met Sally—to the rise of streaming and the long-overdue push for diversity setting the course for films such as the groundbreaking, franchise-spawning Crazy Rich Asians, Meslow examines the evolution of the genre through its many iterations, from its establishment of new tropes, the Austen and Shakespeare rewrites, the many love triangles, and even the occasional brave decision to do away with the happily ever after.

Featuring original black-and-white sketches of iconic movie scenes and exclusive interviews with the actors and filmmakers behind our most beloved rom-coms, From Hollywood with Love constructs oral histories of our most celebrated romantic comedies, for an informed and entertaining look at Hollywood’s beloved yet most under-appreciated genre.

In My TBR Stack:

Simple Truths of Leadership: 52 Ways to Be a Servant Leader and Build Trust

by Ken Blanchard & Randy Conley

Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Effective leadership is an influence process where leaders implement everyday, commonsense approaches that help people and organizations thrive. Yet somehow, many of these fundamental principles are still missing from most workplaces. In Simple Truths of Leadership, legendary servant leadership expert Ken Blanchard, whose books have sold millions of copies worldwide, and his colleague Randy Conley, known and recognized for his many years of thought leadership and expertise in the field of trust, share fifty-two Simple Truths about leadership that will help leaders everywhere make commonsense leadership common practice.

Readers will discover profound, memorable, and in some cases counterintuitive leadership wisdom such as

• Who should make the first move to extend trust
• What role a successful apology plays in building trust
• When to use different strokes (leadership styles) for different folks—and for the same folks
• Where the most important part of leadership happens
• How to create autonomy through boundaries
• Why the key to developing people is catching them doing something right

A fun, easy read that will make a positive difference in leadership and organizational success, Simple Truths of Leadership will show readers how to incorporate simple but essential practices into their leadership style, build trust through servant leadership, and enhance their own lives and the lives of everyone around them.

On My Radar:

 On the Road: Rock n Roll Stories

by Phil Mason

Zidane Press

Trade Paperback

From the book publicity:

This is a memoir of running rock n roll tours all over the world, with major artists and bands and all of the craziness that goes with it. A real warts and all story of the behind the scenes goings on in the weird world of rock n roll.

Phil Mason was a manager and organizer of tours and worked with the likes of Run-D.M.C., Madonna, Ozzy Osbourne ,Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Billy Joel, The Police, Public Enemy, The Beat, General Public, The Pretenders, Commodores, Kool & The Gang, Slayer, Toto, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Talking Heads, Womack & Womack, Robert Palmer, David Bowie, Queen and more -- and he has wonderful stories to tell about it all.

It is also the memoir of a kid from the backstreets of Birmingham who rose from working at the Bourneville Cadbury's factory to running major international tours.

It is a cultural history of the times and a great read about the way the world works, from meeting Howards Marks, bumping into 'The Serpent' in jail in India and mixing wit the high and mighty.