Items13The creator’s order
  1. 1Steve MartinSteve MartinBorn Aug 14, 1945Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life Martin remembers the point at which he decided to give up every part of his act that wasn’t original. He takes the reader from a childhood job selling guidebooks at Disneyland to writing for the Smothers Brothers and working out what belonged in his own act. Start…0
  2. 2Tina FeyTina FeyBorn May 18, 1970Bossypants Fey has been the person writing the joke and the person who has to make it work on camera. Read her account of writing and performing on Saturday Night Live alongside the parts about making 30 Rock. The appeal is seeing the difference between getting one sketch on the air and keeping a…0
  3. 3Julie AndrewsJulie AndrewsBorn Oct 1, 1935Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years Written with Emma Walton Hamilton, this is the volume to pick for Andrews’s move into movies. It takes up her work on Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, then follows collaborations including Victor/Victoria with director Blake Edwards. The changing…0
  4. 4Dolly PartonDolly PartonBorn Jan 19, 1946Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics Parton builds her account around the songs. She pairs the lyrics with stories from her own memory and material from her archive, with historical context from Robert K. Oermann. If a favorite song has made you wonder what she was drawing on when she wrote…0
  5. 5Barbra StreisandBarbra StreisandBorn Apr 24, 1942My Name Is Barbra The long road to making Yentl is a place to start if you’re curious about what it takes for a star to get a film made. Streisand also writes about directing The Prince of Tides and making records. The book gives you several ways to see what changes when the performer gets a say…0
  6. 6Mel BrooksMel BrooksBorn Jun 28, 1926All About Me! Start with the pages on Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows. Brooks takes you from writing for live television to making The 2000 Year Old Man with Carl Reiner and eventually directing films. Read it for the jump from coming up with material together to building a movie around a comic…0
  7. 7Stephen KingStephen KingBorn Sep 21, 1947On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft King puts the years leading to Carrie next to advice about how to write fiction. The combination makes the book useful if you want to see the writer who had to learn the work, as well as the one who can now explain his process. Choose it for a memoir that leaves…0
  8. 8QuestloveQuestloveBorn Jan 20, 1971Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove Writing with Ben Greenman, the Roots drummer uses the records and artists he listened to as part of the story of becoming a musician. His account reaches beyond the band into how hip-hop is heard and written about. Keep a playlist nearby if you like…0
  9. 9Bruce SpringsteenBruce SpringsteenBorn Sep 23, 1949Born to Run Springsteen’s account of the Asbury Park bar-band years gives you a way to hear the rise of the E Street Band differently. The companion collection, Chapter and Verse, includes recordings from the Castiles with Springsteen as a teenager. It’s a rare chance to put some of the early work…0
  10. 10Viola DavisViola DavisBorn Aug 11, 1965Finding Me Davis writes about the distance between the training she received at Juilliard and the roles she needed to find her own voice. Her account of auditioning for August Wilson’s Seven Guitars brings the question into a room with a part to win. Pick this for an actor’s perspective on what…0