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Who doesn’t love a good memoir? Done right, they feel like grabbing a glass of wine (or three) and listening to one of your best friends’ stories, except you don’t even have to go to the effort of nodding sympathetically and can focus on the gossip. The women featured in this week’s book club have all achieved a great deal of success in their respective fields, and they’ve done it by being fierce and funny. So grab one of these bios and a glass of wine, and prepare to meet a new BFF.
<em>Grace Notes: My Recollections</em>
You might know Katey Sagal for her 11-season role as Peg Bundy on the hit TV series Married…With Children, or for her voice work as the ass-kicking, no-nonsense, one-eyed Leela on Futurama. Or maybe you’ve just joined her fan club after seeing her recent turn as Jake Peralta’s mom on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Whatever your experience with Sagal’s warmth and comic timing, there’s more to learn about her background, and the actress tells all in her new memoir, Grace Notes.
<em>Fierce, Funny, and Female: A Journey Through Middle America, the Texas Oil Fields, and Standup Comedy</em>
A prequel to her first memoir (Never Give in to Fear), Fierce, Funny and Female speaks to Marti MacGibbon’s indomitable spirit. MacGibbon, now a well-known motivational speaker as well as a comic, wrote her first memoir about learning the ropes of the world of stand-up while battling addiction and the loss of custody of her daughter. In this new volume, she focuses on her comedic childhood, a turbulent adolescence, and her unusual choice to work in the male-dominated Texas oilfields to become fully self-reliant.
<em>Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House</em>
Alyssa Mastromonaco made history at 32 as the youngest deputy chief of staff to work at the White House, under Barack Obama. Her success as a young woman in a field dominated by older men was a surprise to many, not least herself; she often found herself wondering how she got there. Her book answers that question, with a look at how she worked her way up in a high-pressure environment from John Kerry’s staff assistant to the press, to his presidential campaign’s deputy scheduler, to a position assisting in Obama’s senate run and beyond. (“I especially wanted to work for someone who was not going to run for president,” she writes, of joining Obama’s team. “I didn’t think I could take that heartbreak twice in a lifetime.” Oh well.)
