Stories I Only Tell My Friends – A Book Review

This is a book about the actor Rob Lowe, written by Rob Lowe and narrated by Rob Lowe. I’ve known this actor from the series Brothers and Sisters and now my favorite comedy Parks and Recreation (just started to watch it and loving it) and from his good looks, but I didn’t know much about his personal life other than he started acting in the 80’s and acted in St. Elmo’s Fire (which I haven’t seen).

The book is about his life growing up in Ohio and LA and his relationships with his parents, brothers and friends and later when he meets his wife and becomes a father. It also talks about how he started and pursued his acting career and his interactions with various directors, producers and other actors.

Lately, I’ve really started to enjoy listening to autobiographies on Audible and this one was no exception. The stories were interesting and engaging and some of them were quite surprising. From his roles in the series I’ve seen, I wouldn’t have assumed he had such a wild youth. What I liked about his story telling was the fact that he seemed humble and very honest. There are some things in the book that I am sure some people would have wanted to forget, but he goes on and talks about it candidly.

I highly recommend this book especially to those who like autobiographies and if you’re a fan of Rob Lowe, you’ll get a glimpse of his life behind the cameras. The writing style was good and easy to follow. The narration was excellent and he did good imitations of other actors he mentioned in the book. He has also written another autobiography called Love Life which I’ve added to to my to read list.

The book has a couple of memorable quotes, the one I liked most is:

“So I came to the realization: Nothing in life is unfair. It’s just life. To the extent that I had any inner turmoil, I had only myself to blame”

Not My Father’s Son – A Book Review

This book is a little bit out of my ordinary reads. I do like an autobiography every now and then and this one was quite interesting and left me thinking about it for a while after finishing it.

Not My Father’s Son is a memoir by the actor Alan Cumming (you may know him from his roles in the X-Men movies and The Good Wife TV show). The book is mainly about his relationship with his abusive father and his journey to find answers regarding the death of his grandfather.

I listened to it in audio which is narrated by the actor himself (I can’t say no to listening to a Scottish accent). The story goes back and forth in time between his life in Scotland as a child living with his father and his experiences in the more recent years and participation in the British TV show “Who do you think you are” to find out more about his maternal grandfather’s life and death.

I didn’t know anything about this actor before reading the book besides what films and shows he’s appeared on and I would not have imagined this actor having such a troubled childhood. The book is not long, it took me a couple of days to finish. It was well written, engaging and suspenseful. Here I’m sharing one of the interesting quotes in the book:

“Memory is so subjective. We all remember in a visceral, emotional way, and so even if we agree on the facts—what was said, what happened where and when—what we take away and store from a moment, what we feel about it, can vary radically.”

I haven’t read a good autobiography is a long time. This made me start to look for other best sellers in this genre. If you have any recommendations I’d love to hear them :)