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Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

While the name ‘Allan Rich’ may not jump into consciousness of the general public immediately, the face and persona of the man who adopted the name years ago are doubtless known to all who love the stage and film, whether in the form of motion picture or television.

Rich is a character actor par excellence who is so immersed in his roles that in becoming the character he loses his ’star identity’. Some would say that is a negative statement, but after reading this excellent book, A LEAP FROM THE METHOD, and learning from every page how Rich practices and teaches acting, then there could be no higher compliment.

Rich’s book is so warmly user friendly that after the first fifty pages of biographical information and photographs the manual feels like a conversation with an old friend - and a wise one at that.

While many actors have the ability to ’show’ students ‘how to act’ by proximity in a shared production, very few have the ability to put those instructions into words. Rich uses the first pages of the book to give his personal history and the reason for that seems to serve as a personal journey that quietly illustrates his points. Continue reading »

This little book is a big reminder of a tough time in world history - the years between 1939 and 1945: World War II. Originally published in 1940, and reissued in 2007, the book is a treasure of how practicality and ingenuity triumphed over Britain’s darkest (and most shining) hour.

101 Things to Do in Wartime 1940 contains dozens of made-up and make-do games, with illustrations showing how to make many items, including how to craft a croquet game for the floor, or structure a wire puzzle for the kids.

The book also includes tips on more practical matters - like how to ventilate a blackout curtain, how to stay safe from flying glass in case of an explosion, and how to use every inch of the yard to grow food in the garden.

Although this book provides a charming glimpse into another time, the reader is always reminded of the fact that it was written because the people in Britain were undergoing terrible deprivation. Learning how to cook without water, preserve eggs, or make a case for your gas mask may seem quaint in today’s world - - but this little book must surely have been a practical guidebook for a country that would see five more years of war.

Highly recommended.

“What are you looking at me for? I didn’t come to stay . . . Whether I could remember the rest of the poem or not was immaterial. The truth of the statement was like a wadded-up handkerchief, sopping wet in my fists, and the sooner they accepted it the quicker I could let me hands open and the air would cool my palms.”

So begins I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the first of six volumes of memoirs written by poet Maya Angelou. Using powerful imagery—“the dress . . . sounded like crepe paper on the back of hearses”—Angelou, immerses readers in the culture of pre-Civil Rights Arkansas, her own personal losses, and the hopes that survived even in the darkest of days.

The enormous popularity of memoirs such as Angelou’s—and more recently Angelas Ashes: A Memoir—speaks volumes about our love of riveting tales, even though some pull readers into the darkest corners of human experience.

But what defines this genre, and how does it differ from other, extraordinarily similar, formats? And how to write one? Here’s what memories—and the books they inspire—are made of.

Tackling theme
Unlike the clear demarcation between fiction and non-fiction, romance and western, the memoir walks a fuzzy line between autobiography, travelogue, essay and diary. Written in the first person, the memoir generally focuses on a single aspect of a person’s life, and has an underlying theme woven throughout.

Although a memoir may follow a chronological sequence, it’s not a chronological accounting of every life event—as seen in an autobiography. Compare, for example, Continue reading »