Biography & Memoir

Book Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews a new autobiography by P.D. James.

Writer Stacy Schiff. She’s the author of “Vera” (now in paperback, Modern Library), about Vera Nabokov, and her 52 year marriage to Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov, the author of “Lolita”. The book is a literary story and a love story, revealing how important Vera was in shaping Nabokov’s work, and how devoted the two were to each other. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES THRU THE END OF THE SHOW)

Writer Ted Conover (CON-over) spent a year as a prison guard inside New York State’s infamous Sing Sing prison. He wanted to experience first hand the conditions within a prison. He writes about it in his new book “Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing” (Random House). Conover’s previous books chronicled his time spent with illegal aliens (“Coyotes”) and railroad hoboes (“Rolling Nowhere”). Conover is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine.

Pro-wrestler Bret “Hitman” Hart of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He comes from a wrestling family: his father was a wrestling promoter and ran a wrestling school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. All his brothers were wrestlers including his brother, Owen Hart, who was killed in a wrestling stunt last year. Bret Hart is the subject of a new biography, “Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be.”

Lennard Davis talks about his new memoir “My Sense of Silence: Memoirs of a Childhood With Deafness” (University of Illinois Press), about Davis's experiences, growing up a hearing child with deaf parents. He'll talk about his complex and sometimes difficult relationship with his deaf, working-class Jewish immigrant parents. DAVIS is a professor and Graduate Director of the English Department at State University of New York, Binghamton. He has written several books and published essays in The Nation, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and other publications.

Nathaniel Lachenmeyer has written the new book, “The Outsider: A Journey Into My Father’s Struggle with Madness” (Broadway Books). His father, Charles, was a professor of sociology who lived a normal suburban life with his family until the onset of schizophrenia. The disease destroyed his life: he lost his job, his family, and ended up homeless. Nathaniel corresponded with his father until it became too difficult to continue. After learning of his father’s death in 1995, he decided to find out what happened to him.

Retired U.S. Navy flight surgeon and NASA astronaut Capt. Jerry Linenger ("Linn-en-jer") In his new book, Off the Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mir" (McGraw-Hill) he chronicles his five months on board the Russian Space station "Mir" a ramshackle place he described as "six school buses all hooked together." During his five months there, they had numerous brushes with death, lacking adequate supplies, and battling constant system failures.

Writer and traveler Patrick Symmes. He writes about Latin American politics, globalization and Third world travel for the magazines Harper’s, Outside, Wired, and Conde Nast Traveler. He’s written his first book: “Chasing Che: A Motorcycle Journey in Search of the Guevara Legend” (Vintage Books). Symmes traces the path of Ernesto “Che” Guevara who in 1952 traveled via motorcycle across South America from Argentina to Cuba and emerged a revolutionary. Guevara was an upper class Argentine medical student before he started the journey, but the poverty he saw radicalized him.

Journalist Anthony Loyd. He was a special correspondent for The Times, covering wars In Chechnya, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Kosovo. In his new memoir "My War gone by, I miss It so" (Doubleday), he writes about his own desire to immerse himself In the chaos and drama of war, drawn by his own family's military history, his drug addiction, and despair. Loyd was born In 1966. Before becoming a journalist he was a platoon commander In Northern Ireland and the Gulf.

Loung Ung is the author of the memoir, “First They Killed My Father: a daughter of Cambodia remembers” (HarperCollins). UNG’s father had been a high-ranking government official, but in 1975 when Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge invaded Phnom Pen, her family fled, hiding in villages as peasants. But eventually her father was taken away and killed, and the family disperses to survive. Ung was seven years old and sent to a work camp, trained as a child soldier. Now UNG is National Spokesperson for the “Campaign for a Landmine Free World.”

We feature an interview with singer/Hollywood legend Rosemary Clooney. She will talk about her life as a singer and performer. We will also listen to songs from throughout her career. Her new autobiography, called Girl Singer, reads like a who's who from the golden age of Hollywood. She has also released a CD companion to the book. Its called Songs from the Girl Singer.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan give us her list of the best books to put on your Christmas list:
Two British comic novels:
"The Country Life" by Rachel Cusk
"Headlong" by Michael Frayn
The novels:
"Waiting" by Ha Jin
"Amy and Isabelle" by Elizabeth Strout
Two short story collections:
"The Way People Run" by Christopher Tilghman
"The Best American Short Stories of the Century" edited by John Updike and Katrina Kenison
The mysteries:

We remember novelist Joseph Heller, author of "Catch-22" which became an American classic. He died Sunday night at the age of 76, from a heart attack. (REBROADCAST from 1/29/88)

Writers, professors, and brothers Frederick & Steven Barthelme. They've written a new memoir "Double Down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss" (Houghton Mifflin). After both their parents died within a year and a half of each other, the two grieving brothers went on a gambling spree that lasted years, and cost them their inheritance. They write, "We were on our own in a remarkable new way, and we were not ready."

Retired CIA intelligence officer, Antonio J. Mendex was the agency's Chief of Disguise. He retired in 1990. In his 25 year career with the agency, he participated in many missions. In 1980 he helped six American diplomats escape from Tehran. Masquerading as a movie producer, he entered Iran supposedly to scout locations for a science-fiction movie. He then coached the diplomats to pose as the film crew, allowing them to leave the country. His new book is "The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA." (William and Morrow Company).

Ravi Shankar is the world's leading sitar player. Now at the age of 79, he's published his autobiography, "Ravi Shankar: Raga Mala" (Welcome Rain Publishers). The book was edited and introduced by his friend George Harrison. Shankar is now performing on tour with his 18 year old daughter, Anoushka. We'll hear from Ravi Shankar and later we'll be joined by his daughter.

Manager to TV and film stars, Bernie Brillstein ("STEEN"). His clients include John Belushi and Garry Shandling. He developed a very hands-on style of management, and has written a new memoir about his work, "Where Did I Go Right?: You're No One in Hollywood Unless Someone wants You Dead" (Little, Brown & Co.).