The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son

Pat Conroy

Nan A. Talese

One doesn't have to have read The Great Santini to know that Pat Conroy was deeply scarred by his childhood. It is the theme of his work and his life, from the love-hate relationship in The Lords of Discipline to broken Tom Wingo in The Prince of Tides to the mourning survivor Jack McCall in Beach Music. In this memoir, Conroy unflinchingly reveals that his father, fighter pilot Donald Conroy, was actually much worse than the abusive Meechum in his novel. Telling the truth also forces the author to confront a number of difficult realizations about himself. "I was born with a delusion in my soul that I've fought a rearguard battle with my entire life," he writes. "Though I'm very much my mother's boy, it has pained me to admit the blood of Santini rushes hard and fast in my bloodstream. My mother gave me a poet's sensibility; my father's DNA assured me that I was always ready for a fight, and that I could ride into any fray as a field-tested lord of battle." Conroy lovingly describes his mother, whom he admits he idealized in The Great Santini and corrects for this book. Although his father's fearsome persona never really changed, Conroy learned to forgive and even sympathize with his father, who would attend book signings with his son and good-naturedly satirize his own terrifying image. Less droll is the story of Conroy's younger brother, Tom, who flung himself off a building in a suicidal fit of schizophrenia, and Conroy's combative relationship with his sister, the poet Carol Conroy. It's an emotionally difficult journey that should lend fans of Conroy's fiction an insightful back story to his richly imagined characters. The moving true story of an unforgiveable father and his unlikely redemption.

The Four Doors: A Guide to Joy, Freedom, and a Meaningful Life

Richard Paul Evans

Simon and Schuster

The #1 bestselling author of The Walk and The Christmas Box recounts the lessons he wishes someone had taught him about realizing dreams and living a life that matters. More than a decade ago, Richard Paul Evans gave a talk to an auditorium full of students in Dayton, Ohio, about what he wished he had known at their age. The response that day was electric: the students took notes, cried, and, after a standing ovation, rushed up to the author to share with him their feelings and personal epiphanies. Since that initial presentation, he has given that talk hundreds of times and all around the world, in places as diverse as the Harvard Club and Sundance, the Utah State Penitentiary and Opryland-and to all kinds of groups, from recovering drug addicts to recently graduated Ivy League MBAs. Now, for the first time, the wisdom and insight that Richard Paul Evans has imparted to thousands is available in The Four Doors. This simple yet powerful approach to happiness is based on four essential components of joy and fulfillment: believing in your destiny, escaping internal captivity, leading a magnified life, and choosing a love-centered life. The Four Doors will set readers on the beginning of a journey to their own unique version of a meaningful life, providing life-changing inspiration to be shared with family and friends for generations.

What's So Funny?: My Hilarious Life

Tim Conway

Howard Books

In television history, few entertainers have captured as many hearts and made as many people laugh as Tim Conway. There's nothing in the world that Tim Conway would rather do than entertain--and in his first-ever memoir, What's So Funny?, that's exactly what he does. From his pranks in small Ohio classrooms to his perfor-mances on national television and movies, Tim has been cracking people up for more than seventy years. Long regarded as one of the funniest come-dians around, Tim also boasts an inspiring rags-to-riches story. "What's So Funny?" captures Tim's journey from life as an only child raised by loving but outra-geous parents in small-town Ohio during the Great Depression, to his tour of duty in the Army--which would become training for his later role in "McHale's Navy"--to his ascent as a national star and household name. By tracing his early path, this book reveals the origins of many of Tim's unforgettable characters--from Mr. Tudball and the Oldest Man to Mickey Hart to everyone's favorite, Dorf. "What's So Funny?" shares the hilarious accounts of the glory days of "The Carol Burnett Show" and his famous partnerships with entertainment greats like Harvey Korman, Don Knotts, Dick Van Dyke, Betty White, Vicki Lawrence, Bob Newhart, and of course, Carol Burnett. As a bonus, readers will enjoy never-before-shared stories of hilarious behind-the-scenes antics on "McHale's Navy" and "The Carol Burnett Show."

Nicholson: A Biography

Marc Eliot

Crown Archetype

For five decades, Jack Nicholson has been part of film history. With twelve Oscar nominations to his credit and legendary roles in films like Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Terms of Endearment, The Shining, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Nicholson creates original, memorable characters like no other actor of his generation. And his personal life has been no less of an adventure-Nicholson has always been at the center of the Hollywood elite and has courted some of the most famous and beautiful women in the world. Relying on years of extensive research and interviews with insiders who know Nicholson best, acclaimed biographer Marc Eliot sheds new light on Nicholson's life on and off the screen. From Nicholson's working class childhood in New Jersey, where family secrets threatened to tear his family apart, to raucous nights on the town with Warren Beatty and tumultuous relationships with starlets like Michelle Phillips, Anjelica Huston, and Lara Flynn Boyle, to movie sets working with such legendary directors and costars as Dennis Hopper, Stanley Kubrick, Meryl Streep, and Roman Polanski, Eliot paints a sweeping picture of the breadth of Nicholson's fifty-year career in film, as well as an intimate portrait of his personal life. Equally at home on the bookshelves of serious film historians and fans of compulsively readable Hollywood biographies, Nicholson is both a comprehensive tribute to a film legend and an entertaining look at a truly remarkable life.

The Art of Simple Food II: Recipes, Flavor, and Inspiration from the New Kitchen Garden

Alice Waters

Clarkson Potter

Alice Waters, the iconic food luminary, presents 200 new recipes that share her passion for the many delicious varieties of vegetables, fruits, and herbs that you can cultivate in your own kitchen garden or find at your local farmers' market. A beautiful vegetable-focused book, The Art of Simple Food II showcases flavor as inspiration and embodies Alice's vision for eating what grows in the earth all year long. She shares her understanding of the whole plant, demystifying the process of growing and cooking your own food, and reveals the vital links between taste, cooking, gardening, and taking care of the land. Along the way, she inspires you to feed yourself deliciously through the seasons. From Rocket Salad with Babcock Peaches and Basil to Moroccan Asparagus and Spring Vegetable Ragout to Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, Alice shares recipes that celebrate the ingredients she loves: tender leaf lettuces, fresh green beans, stone fruits in the height of summer, and so much more. Advice for growing your own fruits and vegetables abounds in the book-whether you are planting a garden in your backyard or on your front porch or fire escape. It is gleaned from her close relationships with local, sustainable farmers.

Johnny Cash: The Life

Robert Hilburn

Little, Brown and Company

People don't just listen to Johnny Cash--they believe in him. Although part of his life has been told on film, there are many compelling layers to his story that have remained hidden--until now. Robert Hilburn tells the unvarnished truth about a musical icon whose personal life was far more troubled and his artistry much more profound than even his most devoted fans have realized. As music critic for the Los Angeles Times, Hilburn knew Cash well throughout his life--he was the only music journalist at the legendary Folsom Prison concert in 1968, and he interviewed him extensively just before Cash's death in 2003. Drawing upon his personal experience with Cash and a trove of never-before seen material from the singer's inner circle, Hilburn gives us a compelling, human portrait of one of the most iconic figures in modern popular culture--not only a towering figure in country music, but also a seminal influence in rock.

Snowflakes Fall

Patricia Maclachlan, Steven Kellogg

Random House Books for Young Readers

In Snowflakes Fall, Newbery Medalist Patricia MacLachlan and award-winning artist Steven Kellogg portray life's natural cycle: its beauty, its joy, and its sorrow. Together, the words and pictures offer the promise of renewal that can be found in our lives-snowflakes fall, and return again as raindrops so that flowers can grow. MacLachlan and Kellogg, who are longtime friends, were moved to collaborate on a message of hope for children and their families following the tragic events in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012. Kellogg lived in Sandy Hook for thirty-five years-he raised his family there and was an active member of the community. With Snowflakes Fall, they have created a truly inspiring picture book that is both a celebration of life and a tribute to the qualities that make each individual unique. In honor of the community of Sandy Hook and Newtown, Random House, the publisher of Snowflakes Fall, has made a donation to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund. Random House is also donating 25,000 new books to the national literacy organization First Book in the community's honor and in support of children everywhere.

The Hug

David Grossman, Michal Rovner, Stuart Schoffman

Overlook Press

"You are sweet," Ben's mother tells him as they walk in the field at sunset, "There is no one like you in the entire world " "I want there to be someone like me " Ben exclaims, for if he is the only person like himself in the entire world, he wonders, won't he get lonely? In The Hug internationally renowned author David Grossman tells the moving story of the moment when Ben realizes that no two living creatures are alike--not his mother and father, their beautiful dog Miracle or the ants who march side by side at his feet and appear identical--and the loneliness he feels knowing that there is no one else quite like him in the whole world. But just as he is feeling the most alone he has ever felt, he is soothed by his mother's loving hug. Timeless, touching, and beautifully produced, The Hug is a charming and important work for parents and children encountering the feeling of being different, together.