Animal lovers in particular will find much to savor in this endearing, breezy memoir from a young, enterprising Hollywood...
A TV actor reflects on his life (so far) and a love of birding.
Noting that at 30, he is too young to pen a memoir, Harding, known for his role as Ezra Fitz on ABC’s Pretty Little Liars, instead compiles an affable collection of stories, anecdotes, and memories of his time in Hollywood and his affinity for bird-watching. Though they don’t appear on the West coast, cardinals are plentiful in Virginia, where Harding grew up in a military family, and he writes fondly of how these birds still bring serenity and a sense of protectiveness for him. The author connects many of his Los Angeles adventures to his experience as an avid birder and a lover of the natural world around him, though as an adolescent, he hid his unconventional interest out of fear of being ostracized by classmates. Harding also explores his childhood penchant for tantrums and troublemaking; exhausting a steady stream of babysitters, he behaved in a manner that starkly contrasted with his “practically angelic” older sister, Sarah. Elsewhere, tales of acting classes at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama and a bold, postgraduate, cross-country move to Hollywood after driving for four days demonstrate Harding’s sheer dedication to acting. Fledgling actors will appreciate chapters on the craft of acting, the author's acquisition of the TV role that established him in LA, and the mechanics of on-set scenes. Thoughts on mockingbirds, woodpeckers, the massive California condor, and Harding’s palpable excitement over an arctic loon “rare-bird alert” are equally fervent. The author deftly interweaves both acting and nature loving into a unique group of memories and experiences. Harmless and pleasantly innocuous, the narrative stays in the safe zone yet is revealing enough to leave fans and birders satisfied.
Animal lovers in particular will find much to savor in this endearing, breezy memoir from a young, enterprising Hollywood actor.Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-11707-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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