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MEAN BABY

A MEMOIR OF GROWING UP

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Actor Selma Blair recounts the story of her life, starting with her childhood struggles and continuing through her present challenges as a mother who has multiple sclerosis. Sounding vulnerable and authentic, Blair also shares her highs and lows with humor and wisdom. She powerfully expresses an array of emotions from moments of bliss to immense anguish, showing a total commitment to telling her story. Blair has an upbeat and loving quality when speaking of her happy memories and a heartbreakingly sad tone as she candidly shares difficult revolutionary moments that guided her to her true self. Compelling and inspirational, Blair pours out her experiences with sexual assault, excessive drinking, relationships, motherhood, and coping with a debilitating disease.

Pub Date: May 17, 2022

Duration: 9 hrs, 45 mins

DD ISBN: 9780593591598

Publisher: Random House Audio

Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026

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    TRANSCENDENT

    A MEMOIR

    Cox delivers both the searing pain and deep beauty imbued in her life journey.

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    The cudgel of gender conformity has never felt more visceral and brutal, more omnipresent and inescapable than in actor and activist Cox’s spellbinding memoir. Listeners will not be left unchanged by Cox’s courage in speaking her whole truth for the very first time. As narrator, Cox’s voice sometimes sounds armored, because this isn't Cox the performer, but Cox as a fiercely analytical intellectual as she examines how her life story embodies the intersection of gender, race, colonization, and patriarchy. Yes, listeners will hear about her fun rise to fame, which included working with film idols like Jodie Foster, but it is her relationship with the work of feminist icon and scholar bell hooks that informs the backbone of this intelligent, remarkable memoir.

    Cox delivers both the searing pain and deep beauty imbued in her life journey.

    Pub Date: June 9, 2026

    Duration: 9 hrs, 56 mins

    DD ISBN: 9781668135860

    Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

    Review Posted Online: today

    Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026

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      INSPIRATION PORN

      ESSAYS

      Honest, heartfelt recollections make this performance feel like catching up with a close friend on the phone.

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      The best narrator for O'Connell's unique mixture of humor and drama is, fittingly, O'Connell himself. In his essay collection, O'Connell discusses every facet of his life as a gay man with cerebral palsy, from his former reliance on alcohol and drugs to his struggle finding a sexual partner, experience in an open relationship, his exercise journey, and his Hollywood success. Listeners will find themselves laughing alongside O'Connell as he candidly recalls—with contagious cackles—his time as an addict in denial and his decade-long dry spell. O'Connell's narration is passionate, whether he’s recounting a heartbreaking story of childhood trauma or sharing a laugh-out-loud joke.

      Honest, heartfelt recollections make this performance feel like catching up with a close friend on the phone.

      Pub Date: May 26, 2026

      Duration: 6 hrs, 56 mins

      DD ISBN: 9781250457127

      Publisher: Macmillan Audio

      Review Posted Online: today

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