Saturday, May 21, 2022

Made In Hollywood: The Scott Morrow Story by Jennifer Vaughn

 Made In Hollywood: 

The Scott Morrow Story 

by Jennifer Vaughn




Scotty Morrow's ascent to the highest echelon of Hollywood has been one of the industry's best untold tales. Until now. The little boy who expertly navigated the scandalous vortex of Peyton Place, an alien arrival in The Cosmic Man, the pressure-cooker demands of live television, and the shocking untimely death of the woman he loved like a big sister, Marilyn Monroe, is now telling his fascinating life story.


Born to the original “mom-ager,” Toby, Scotty Morrow and his big brother, Brad, captivated Hollywood studio executives as mere toddlers. Through the ‘50s and ‘60s, they were cast in commercials, live TV shows, and some of the most revered big-budget films of all time. Known as A-list child actors, the Morrow brothers shared the screen with famous superstars as tiny Tinseltown insiders granted entrance into a world as full of sin and gossip as it was riches and notoriety.

Perhaps best known as young Joey Cross in the most outrageously provocative movie of its time, Peyton Place, Scotty's movie and television memories transport readers to studio sets loaded with big egos, fiery altercations, and intimate encounters. How he once "slept with" America's favorite housewife, Donna Reed, and how--simply by virtue of his last name--he was housed in the trailer next to Marilyn Monroe on the Twentieth Century-Fox lot.

Scotty's epic adventure through sound stages and fantasy worlds abruptly ended when he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force during the height of the Vietnam War. An aspiring photographer by then, his camera captured the frenzied images of conflict and foreign lands. He came home a changed man. In the decades that followed, Scotty pivoted into another realm, one that brought his vivid mind more clearly into focus.

Equally renowned for his second career, Scotty's photographic resume is as prolific as his childhood acting credits. His never-before-told saga is brimming with often comical and always fascinating tidbits of stardom, haunting loss, and the pictures to prove it all really happened.

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Made In Hollywood 

Thursday, May 19, 2022

Managing Expectations: A Memoir in Essays by Minnie Driver

 

Managing Expectations: 
A Memoir in Essays 
by Minnie Driver



MARIE CLAIRE BEST MEMOIR OF THE YEAR • A USA TODAY MUST READ BOOK • A W MAGAZINE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK • A SHEREADS BEST MEMOIR OF THE SUMMER

A charming, poignant, and mesmerizing memoir in essays from beloved actor and natural-born storyteller Minnie Driver, chronicling the way life works out even when it doesn’t.

In this intimate, beautifully crafted collection, Driver writes with disarming charm and candor about her bohemian upbringing between England and Barbados; her post-university travails and triumphs—from being the only student in her acting school not taken on by an agent to being discovered at a rave in a muddy field in the English countryside; shooting to fame in one of the most influential films of the 1990s and being nominated for an Academy Award; and finding the true light of her life, her son. She chronicles her unconventional career path, including the time she gave up on acting to sell jeans in Uruguay, her journey as a single parent, and the heartbreaking loss of her mother. 

Like Lena Dunham in Not That Kind of Girl, Gabrielle Union in We’re Going to Need More Wine and Patti Smith in Just Kids, Driver writes with razor-sharp humor and grace as she explores navigating the depths of failure, fighting for success, discovering the unmatched wonder and challenge of motherhood, and wading through immeasurable grief. Effortlessly charming, deeply funny, personal, and honest, Managing Expectations reminds us of the way life works out—even when it doesn’t.


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 Managing Expectations 


Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Lay Me Down by Jaynhi Allen

 Lay Me Down

 by Jaynhi Allen 



“Even in my last days, I still found ways to hurt the only person who meant the world to me.”


Colton has five months to live. Not long for this world, he’s willing to make Evie, the homeless girl’s life, more meaningful than his has ever been. He brings her into his home, inculcates her to be a better person.

When Evie falls in love with his step-brother, Colton wishes he had never introduced her to him. The dreadful thing is, he is falling in love with her, and it saddens him because he doesn’t have the strength to fight back for her love.

Looking back at his life, there has been nothing worth fighting for and would this be worth the risk?

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Lay Me Down 

Monday, May 16, 2022

Tommy Turtle by Mary Schmidt and Michael Schmidt

 Tommy Turtle by Mary Schmidt and Michael Schmidt 


Tommy Turtle is a shy land turtle who likes to hide inside his shell. Tommy represents children who are shy around other children and adults, and he is nervous to play or speak. Most children are shy from time to time and it's important for children to understand shyness and how to act around others who are or aren't shy. Children need to know that shyness is normal, and they need positive encouragement from peers, family, and teachers/adults in their lives. This concept teaching can start in preschool. 


Children need to develop and practice social skills which will increase their quality of life in school through drama class, music, gym class, show and tell time, play time and more, rather than staying on the sidelines and simply watching others and having less friends and social isolation. If confidence is learned, self-esteem increases, and children succeed.Less confidence promotes increased shyness. It is essential to praise children for their successes and not shame them at all when they fail. All social and emotional learning helps children to express feelings and be tuned in to the needs of others. 


This teaching contributes to the development of all children. Social acceptance and inclusion are important in social learning from an early age. The opportunity to interact with your child/children in a positive environment, such as the park in this story, illustrates the importance of a positive environment in aiding children with learning social skills with other children and adults. 


Tommy Turtle helps parents and teachers reinforce positive behaviors in an imaginative setting of a park and mud puddles as they learn about land turtles and shyness. Learning and sharing are essential for social development in all children. 

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Thursday, May 12, 2022

Midnight Express Epilogue: Train Keeps Rolling by Billy Hayes

 Midnight Express Epilogue: 

Train Keeps Rolling 

by Billy Hayes 





Billy Hayes was a college English major searching for adventure to write about, like his hero Jack London, when in 1970 he had a rude awakening--he was arrested at the Istanbul airport trying to board a plane while carrying four pounds of hashish. 

After receiving a life sentence, relentless efforts by his family to gain his release, enduring five brutal years and making numerous escape plans, Billy took matters into his own hands and pulled off a daring escape to freedom. 

Soon after, he wrote his first book, Midnight Express, a worldwide best seller that became an Academy Award-winning film.

Midnight Express Epilogue: Train Keeps Rolling shares Billy Hayes's continued journey of self-discovery as an actor and director, a husband, and a son of aging parents. He fulfills a longtime dream of rapprochement with the Turkish people when he accepts an invitation to speak in Istanbul, also revisiting his former prison and the now abandoned madhouse he had tried to escape from in 1972. 

He writes and performs a one man show, Riding the Midnight Express with Billy Hayes, where he's able to tell his story in his own words and in his favorite medium--theater--in New York City, London, Edinburgh, and beyond. When the documentary that filmed his return to Istanbul, Midnight Return: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey, screens at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, Billy and his wife Wendy return to where they first met in 1978 at his film's world premiere. 

Through it all, his marriage both challenges and sustains him. Includes photos.

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Midnight Express Epilogue 

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

The Story Of The Man by Paul Kristovic

 The Story Of The Man 

by Paul Kristovic 

The Story Of The Man is a darkly humorous tale set in a dystopian version of present day Britain, a place where the mundane coexists with the downright perverse.

Our guide through this looking glass journey is a nameless naive young man who quickly discovers that his good nature counts for very little here. 

Through all manner of seemingly random encounters with a cast of strange and grotesque characters comprising of nefarious salesmen, dancing headless gurus, suicidal taxi drivers and femme fatales to name just but a few, the young man is presented with an ultimate dilemma - Should he follow what he believes to be morally correct and suffer the consequences or should he allow himself to be coerced into living a corrupt existence in order to survive in this harsh world?

What would you do?

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The Story Of The Man 

Thursday, May 5, 2022

Welcome to Charm : A Charmed Life by Tonya Penrose

 

Welcome to Charm: 
A Charmed Life 
by Tonya Penrose 


A few unexplainable facts have left botanist ABBY DRAKE dazed and confused: why she can’t account for three lost hours, why a road detour she was traveling changed into a closed loop around a mountain town called Charm, why she can’t find the place on her map and a route home, and way too handsome, MAYOR NASH WALKER has appeared offering an introduction to Charm’s uncommon ways.

Nash’s words hold Abby captive on a park bench. She’s stuck in Charm. Needing to discover why and agreeing to complete a series of lessons taught by sage, GITA GREENLEAF helps chart Abby’s course. Humorous encounters follow Abby. 


She tries to adapt to living in an enchanted village, where money isn’t needed, but acceptance of the impossible is required. Over the next couple of weeks, Abby comes to recognize the unique beauty of living a charmed life. 


Unable to resist her growing attraction to Nash, she questions her desire to return home, assuming the portal opens.


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Welcome To Charm 


Tuesday, May 3, 2022

When I Close My Eyes by Jemma Wayne

 


When I Close My Eyes 
by Jemma Wayne  


For so many years it haunted. And in the end, all it took was a decision. One decision.

When an old friend reappears in her life, Hollywood screenwriter Lilith is forced to confront childhood demons that threaten to destroy the world she has created to keep herself – and others – safe.

Can she trust anyone?

Can she even trust herself?




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When I Close My Eyes