Note to self Inspiring words from inspiring people

Note to self By Gayle King. Read by a cast that includes Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Jimmy AUDIO Carter and Chelsea Handler. (Simon & Schuster Audio.) King organized a parade of the famous, from John Lewis to Kermit the Frog, to write letters to their younger selves, offering the wisdom that age has won them - read by the equally famous, a higher loyalty By James Comey. Read by the author. (Macmillan Audio.) The former F.B.I. director reads his own memoir, recounting his now infamous battles with the president. miss subways By David Duchovny. Read by the author and Tea Leoni, with West Duchovny. (Macmillan Audio.) To record the audiobook version of his new novel, Duchovny enlisted the help of his wife and daughter, adding much warmth to the story of a woman whose quest for something more plays out against the backdrop of a technicolor New York City, the favorite sister By Jessica Knoll. Read by Ashlie Atkinson, Jenni Barber and Aja Naomi King. (Simon & Schuster Audio.) A new thriller by the author of "Luckiest Girl Alive" follows a group of backstabbing reality television stars who are so busy competing for social media fame that they don't see the fatal danger lurking in their future, tradition By Brendan Kiely. Read by Alex McKenna and Robbie Daymond. (Listening Library.) This young adult novel tells the story of a new student on a hockey scholarship to an elite prep school. There is sex, love and friendship, and the stumble to figure it all out. "I have a weakness for memoirs, especially those written by journalists. And there are few braver reporters than those who covered the civil rights movement. John N. Herbers was one of those newsmen, first for United Press International and then The New York Times. I have been reading his book, deep south dispatch, which is co-written with his daughter, Anne Farris Rosen. Herbers, who died in 2017, delivers a gripping and painfully vivid account of the mid-20thcentury South and the racial violence that many whites simply did not want to be told about in the pages of the newspaper or hear of on radio and television. But eventually, and thanks in part to activists and reporters such as Herbers, whites in the South and beyond could not turn away. Writing about the 1955 publicity around the trial of Emmett Till, Herbers writes: 'The public reaction to photographs of Till's beaten and bloated body was so visceral that Till may as well have been dangling from a tree on the courthouse lawn.' " - JONATHAN MARTIN, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, ON WHAT HE'S READING.

A remarkable, diverse, and talented cast read aloud letters written to their younger selves. King (CBS This Morning) selected some of the most inspiring pieces she collected over the years and compiled them in this honest, emotional, and uplifting audiobook. Celebrities, athletes, pop culture icons, doctors, astronauts, and more read aloud correspondence that they wish their younger selves could have benefited from and been comforted. Oprah, Danika Patrick, Kermit the Frog, Tyler Perry, Dr. Ruth, and President Jimmy Carter are just some of the many amazing contributors. King does an excellent job of introducing each essayist and their achievements. VERDICT This wonderful and uplifting reflection on youth, lessons learned, and self-love would be a perfect gift for graduates and fans of inspiring reads.-Erin Cataldi, Johnson Cty. P.L., Franklin, IN © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Note to Self Introduction It's funny the things that stay with you. I was in third or maybe fourth grade, studying the presidents, when a boy named Wayne Viviano decided to share his latest off-the-mark epiphany with me: "If it weren't for Abraham Lincoln," he said, "you'd be my slave!" I remember feeling embarrassed, looking around the room to see if anyone else had heard him and wondering if other kids felt the same way. I remember rushing home after school to ask my mother if Wayne was telling the truth. My mom reassured me: "Wayne Viviano doesn't know what he's talking about," she said. So if I could send that skinny little nine-year-old girl with the braided pigtails and the happy smile a message from the woman she had grown up to be, what is it I would tell her? That's the premise of our "Note to Self" Emmy-nominated series on CBS This Morning. We asked visionaries, entertainers, politicians, humanitarians, athletes--even a Muppet--what they'd want to tell their younger selves, and we filmed every man, woman, and frog as they read their answers. The real question is this: How would you answer if you could write the younger you a letter? What advice, comfort, insight would you choose to include? Would you let your seventh-grade self know that sometimes insecurity comes across as mean? Would you tell your twentysomething self that not getting the job you thought you really wanted was actually a blessing in disguise? Would you share your hard-earned wisdom that it's dangerous to see your worth through somebody else's eyes? Maybe you would choose to concentrate on how to manage life's big relationships. Imagine being able to send word that marriage gets complicated and that sometimes the decision to stick it out--or to leave--is the best one you will make in life. Or maybe you could warn your younger self that the parents you thought were invincible will make some giant mistakes. I don't know about you, but there were a few times when the only thing my younger self wanted to hear was very simple: You are going to get through this with your body and soul intact. That's also the healing message of our segment, and of this book. Reading these letters is just about as thought-provoking, wrenching, relatable, funny, powerful, and comforting as going back in time and delivering a Note to Self message of your own. That's partly because each person in this collection speaks from a place of hard-won enlightenment. They are people who've been tested. Many have gone through unimaginable loss; many have triumphed in ways nobody believed possible. All have faith, resilience, and a mighty heart. Vice President Joe Biden is a man who has learned that when you get knocked down, you've got to get back up and start looking hard--really hard--for the small kindnesses, the tender mercies, and the genuine good that still exists. Jimmy Greene writes of channeling grief into music after losing his beautiful six-year-old daughter, Ana Grace, on a sunny December morning in 2012 when she became one of the twenty-six people massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Jane Fonda is another story. She wants you to understand that despite people constantly telling you to how to live, you will only be happy being your true self. Here is what she writes: "You'll come to find that you have to be perfect--meaning thin and pretty and appealing and certainly not angry, a quote unquote 'good girl'--if you want to be loved. Living inauthentically will lead you to various addictions that will dominate much of your life." Astronaut Peggy Whitson found her most profound happiness while away from the planet, but it took her some real earthly work to get there. As she tells her younger self: "It will take several years of raising and selling chickens to earn enough money to take your own flying lessons. But just remember, learning to fly with that chicken money will be the first step toward a higher purpose. Because one day, you will become a real space explorer." And after living six hundred and sixty-five days in space, Whitson also found that she was far more capable than she ever realized--she even managed to write her Note to Self while in orbit! There's a lot to be said for staying true to yourself and your dreams, and Oprah Winfrey says exactly that when she writes to her younger self about "moving with the flow of life." It's not easy to pick a favorite Note to Self, but I keep going back to Ryan O'Callaghan's letter again and again. No one would ever look at this burly, tobacco-chewing NFL lineman and suspect that he felt broken and alone and so ashamed of being gay that he'd even begun planning his suicide. Ryan's Note to Self had those of us at the CBS table reaching for the tissues, but I'm hoping it has some of you reaching for a pen and writing a note that speaks to the person you were in the past in a way that nourishes you, motivates you, and teaches you something about who you used to be and who you are today. Let the feelings flow . . . Gayle Excerpted from Note to Self: Inspiring Figures Write to the Young People They Once Were by Gayle King All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.