The Magical Language of Others: A Memoir

The Magical Language of Others: A Memoir
Author: E. J. Koh
Publisher: Tin House Books
Total Pages: 143
Release: 2020-01-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1947793470

Winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award and the Washington State Book Award in Biography/Memoir Named One of the Best Books by Asian American Writers by Oprah Daily Longlisted for the PEN Open Book Award The Magical Language of Others is a powerful and aching love story in letters, from mother to daughter. After living in America for over a decade, Eun Ji Koh’s parents return to South Korea for work, leaving fifteen-year-old Eun Ji and her brother behind in California. Overnight, Eun Ji finds herself abandoned and adrift in a world made strange by her mother’s absence. Her mother writes letters in Korean over the years seeking forgiveness and love—letters Eun Ji cannot fully understand until she finds them years later hidden in a box. As Eun Ji translates the letters, she looks to history—her grandmother Jun’s years as a lovesick wife in Daejeon, the loss and destruction her grandmother Kumiko witnessed during the Jeju Island Massacre—and to poetry, as well as her own lived experience to answer questions inside all of us. Where do the stories of our mothers and grandmothers end and ours begin? How do we find words—in Korean, Japanese, English, or any language—to articulate the profound ways that distance can shape love? The Magical Language of Others weaves a profound tale of hard-won selfhood and our deep bonds to family, place, and language, introducing—in Eun Ji Koh—a singular, incandescent voice.

Finding Magic

Finding Magic
Author: Sally Quinn
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 438
Release: 2017-09-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0062315528

The author, journalist, television commentator, and longtime Washington insider reflects on the spiritual quest that has brought deeper meaning to her life—and kept her grounded within the high-powered political world of Washington, D.C.’s elite—her renowned writing career, her celebrity marriage, and her legendary role as doyenne of the capital’s social scene. In this emotionally involving, illuminating memoir, the legendary Washington Post journalist, and author talks candidly about her life at the white-hot center of power and the surprising spiritual quest that has driven her for more than half a century. While working as a reporter, caring for a learning-disabled son with her husband, longtime Washington Post executive editor Benjamin Bradlee, reigning over the capital’s social scene, and remaining intimately connected with national politics, Sally Quinn yearned to understand what truly made the world—and her life—tick. After years of searching, most of which occurring in the secular capital of the world, she came to realize that the time she spent with friends and family—the evenings of shared hospitality and intimate fellowship—provided spiritual nourishment and that this theme has been woven into all the most important moments of her life. In this spiritual memoir, Quinn speaks frankly about her varied, provocative spiritual experiences—from her Southern family of Presbyterians and psychics, to voodoo lessons from her Baptist nanny, her trials as a hospitalized military kid in Japan as the Korean War begins, to her adventures as a Post reporter and columnist and her experience as one of the first female news anchors on national television; her battles with the Nixon administration, Watergate, and other scandals that have rocked the nation; her courtship and long marriage to one of the most authoritative figures in the media; her role as the capital’s most influential hostess; and her growing fascination with religious issues. This fascination led to her pioneering work in creating the most visited religious site on the web, OnFaith.co, where she reports on the unseen driving force of American life. Throughout this radiant, thoughtful, and surprisingly intimate memoir, Quinn reveals how "it’s all magic"—the many forms of what draws us together and provides meaning to all we do. Her roller coaster and irreverent but surprisingly spiritual story allows us to see how the infinite wonder of God and the values of meaningful conversation, experience, and community are available to us all. Finding Magic includes 16 pages of exclusive photographs.

The Magic Room

The Magic Room
Author: Jeffrey Zaslow
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2011-12-27
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1101553634

The New York Times bestselling journalist and author of The Girls from Ames, Jeffrey Zaslow, takes us to a multi- generational family owned small-town bridal shop to explore the emotional lives of women in the 21st century. You may not have heard of Fowler, Michigan, much less Becker's Bridal. But for the thousands of women who have stepped inside, Becker's is the site of some of the most important moments of their lives-moments that speak to us all. Housed in a former bank, the boutique owners transformed the vault into a "magic room," with soft church lighting, a circular pedestal, and mirrors that make lifelong dreams come true. Illuminating the poignant aspects of a woman's journey to the altar, The Magic Room tells the stories of memorable women on the brink of commitment. Run by the same family for years, Becker's has witnessed transformations in how America views the institution of marriage; some of the shop's clientele are becoming stepmothers, or starting married life for a second time. In The Girls from Ames, beloved author Jeffrey Zaslow used friendships to explore the emotional lives of women. In The Magic Room, he turns his perceptive eye to weddings and weaves together secrets, memories and family tales to explore the hopes and dreams we have for our daughters.

The Year of Magical Thinking

The Year of Magical Thinking
Author: Joan Didion
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2007-02-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0307279723

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • From one of America’s iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion that explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage—and a life, in good times and bad—that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child. Several days before Christmas 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their only daughter, Quintana, fall ill with what seemed at first flu, then pneumonia, then complete septic shock. She was put into an induced coma and placed on life support. Days later—the night before New Year’s Eve—the Dunnes were just sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John Gregory Dunne suffered a massive and fatal coronary. In a second, this close, symbiotic partnership of forty years was over. Four weeks later, their daughter pulled through. Two months after that, arriving at LAX, she collapsed and underwent six hours of brain surgery at UCLA Medical Center to relieve a massive hematoma. This powerful book is Didion’ s attempt to make sense of the “weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness ... about marriage and children and memory ... about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself.

The Magic of Memoir

The Magic of Memoir
Author: Linda Joy Myers
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2016-11-15
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 1631521489

The Magic of Memoir is a memoirist’s companion for when the going gets tough. Editors Linda Joy Myers and Brooke Warner have taught and coached hundreds of memoirists to the completion of their memoirs, and they know that the journey is fraught with belittling messages from both the inner critic and naysayers, voices that make it hard to stay on course with the writing and completion of a book. In The Magic of Memoir, 38 writers share their hard-won wisdom, stories, and writing tips. Included are Myers's and Warner's interviews with best-selling and widely renown memoirists Mary Karr, Elizabeth Gilbert, Dr. Azar Nafisi, Dani Shapiro, Margo Jefferson, Raquel Cepeda, Jessica Valenti, Daisy Hernández, Mark Matousek, and Sue William Silverman. This collection has something for anyone who's on the journey or about to embark on it. If you're looking for inspiration, The Magic of Memoir will be a valuable companion. Contributors include: Jill Kandel, Eanlai Cronin, Peter Gibb, Lynette Charity, Lynette Charity, Roseann M. Bozzone, Carol E. Anderson, Bella Mahaya Carter, Krishan Bedi, Sarah Conover, Leza Lowitz, Nadine Kenney Johnstone, Lynette Benton, Kelly Kittel, Robert W. Finertie, Rita M. Gardner, Robert Hammond, Marina Aris, LaDonna Harrison, Jill Smolowe, Alison Dale, Vanya Erickson, Sonvy Sammons, Laurie Prim, Ashley Espinoza, Jing Li, Nancy Chadwick-Burke, Dhana Musil, Crystal-Lee Quibell, Apryl Schwab, Irene Sardanis, Jude Walsh, Fran Simone, Rosalyn Kaplus, Rosie Sorenson, Rosie Sorenson, Jerry Waxler, and Ruthie Stender.

Show Me the Magic

Show Me the Magic
Author: Paul Mazursky
Publisher:
Total Pages: 296
Release: 1999
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

One of Hollywood's most admired filmmakers reveals the magic of a career boasting such triumphs as "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" and of working with zany, bigger-than-life stars such as Peter Sellers and Bette Middler. 36 photos.

The Story of Magic

The Story of Magic
Author: Frank B. Rowlett
Publisher:
Total Pages: 288
Release: 1998
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

The Magic Years

The Magic Years
Author: Jonathan Taplin
Publisher: Heyday Books
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2021
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781597145251

"This memoir traces Taplin's life and its intersection with several significant cultural moments, from his early days tour managing The Band, through his producing Mean Streets and several other films, all the way up to his present-day work advocating for a healthier cultural and digital commons"--

The Magic of Believing: A Lansbury Family Memoir

The Magic of Believing: A Lansbury Family Memoir
Author: Edgar Lansbury
Publisher: JLML Press
Total Pages: 429
Release: 2020-05-24
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Set against the seismic events of the twentieth century, “The Magic of Believing” is an inspiring family memoir of hardship, courage, hope and triumph. In 1940, as bombs fell on London, Charlotte Lillian McIldowie (“Moe”) boarded a steamer with her daughter, Angela, and twin boys, Edgar and Bruce, to cross the Atlantic. Dodging icebergs and German U-Boats, they eventually arrived unscathed in the United States, the first leg of a lifelong adventure from London to Broadway to Hollywood populated by the most creative and fascinating personalities of the day. The Lansbury family has a proud theatrical tradition that began with the nineteenth century Shakespearean tragedian Robert Mantell and continued with Moe, who under the stage name Moyna MacGill became one of London's golden leading ladies. Angela’s storied career launched in 1942 when she signed with MGM and appeared in her first big screen roles, “Gaslight” and “The Picture of Dorian Grey.” Decades later, she is known and beloved internationally for scores of defining film roles, Broadway musicals such as "Mame,""Sweenie Todd,” and "Gypsy" and, of course, for her portrayal of the beloved Jessica Fletcher in TV’s “Murder She Wrote.” The Lansbury twins wasted no time moving into the family business as well. Bruce became a prolific television writer, series creator, producer, and a senior executive at Paramount Pictures. He produced such legendary TV series as “Mission Impossible” and “The Wild, Wild West.” Edgar began in theater as a scenic designer and eventually produced his first Broadway play, "The Subject Was Roses," which won the Critics Circle and Tony Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize. He went on to produce several films and dozens of plays on and off-Broadway, including the international smash-hit musical "Godspell.” Throughout their lives and respective professional careers, in good times and bad, Moe's creative muse and her undying belief in ‘the possible’ provided the energy and magic that fueled the family’s dreams and success.