Celebrities came through in the world of books this year in a major way. From revealing the secrets to their iconic films to revealing the secret affairs that took place while filming iconic films, these stars really pulled the curtain back. Whether you’re looking to find all the juicy gossip behind the scenes of Glee or just looking to gain some new woodworking skills, there’s something here for everyone. Below is the list of the best celebrity books of 2016.
Lauren Graham,
Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (And Everything In Between)
Penguin Random House
This book is like a cozy night spent binge-watching
Gilmore Girls -- which, coincidentally, is an activity Graham delves into in the book. From her initial casting as Lorelai Gilmore to her run on
Parenthood and back to
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, the TV star reflects on everything from going vegan to meeting men at awards shows.
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Penguin Random House
Carrie Fisher recently discovered the journals she kept during the filming of the first
Star Wars film -- and she was shocked by what she found. Find out everything --
and we do mean everything -- that happened behind the scenes of one of the most iconic films ever made.
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Regan Arts
Read the never-before-published version of Francis Ford Coppola's notes on
The Godfather novel by Mario Puzo to better understand the intense creative process behind one of the most important films ever made.
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Macmillan Thomas Dunne Books
After they both worked on
The Man from U.N.C.L.E., William Shatner and
Leonard Nimoy landed roles that would change their lives forever: Spock and Captain Kirk. For over half a century, the two saw each other through the highs and lows. Part biography, part love letter to a friend,
Leonard is a heartfelt book written by one acting legend in celebration of another.
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Naya Rivera,
Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up
Penguin Random House
After her rise and fall from early childhood stardom, barely eking her way through high school, a brief stint as a Hooters waitress, going through thick and thin with her mom/manager, and resurrecting her acting career as Santana Lopez on
Glee, Naya Rivera emerged from these experiences with some key life lessons.
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Mara Wilson,
Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame
Penguin Random House
Tackling everything from what she learned about sex on the set of
Melrose Place, to discovering in adolescence that she was no longer “cute” enough for Hollywood, these essays chart her journey from accidental fame to relative (but happy) obscurity. They also illuminate universal struggles, like navigating love and loss, and figuring out who you are and where you belong. Candid, insightful, moving, and hilarious,
Where Am I Now? introduces Mara Wilson as a brilliant new chronicler of the experience that is growing up female.
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Simon and Schuster
Cranston maps his zigzag journey from abandoned son to beloved star by recalling the many odd parts he’s played in real life—paperboy, farmhand, security guard, dating consultant, murder suspect, dock loader, lover, husband, father. Cranston also chronicles his evolution on camera, from soap opera player trying to master the rules of show business to legendary character actor turning in classic performances as
Seinfeld dentist Tim Whatley, “a sadist with newer magazines,” and
Malcolm in the Middle dad Hal Wilkerson, a lovable bumbler in tighty-whities. He also gives an inspiring account of how he prepared, physically and mentally, for the challenging role of President Lyndon Johnson, a tour de force that won him a Tony to go along with his four Emmys.
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Simon and Schuster
Around the Way Girl is also a classic actor’s memoir in which Taraji reflects on the world-class instruction she received at Howard University and the pitfalls that come with being a black actress. With laugh-out-loud humor and candor, she shares the challenges and disappointments of the actor’s journey and shows us that behind the red carpet moments, she is ever authentic. She is at heart just a girl in pursuit of her dreams.
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Andy Cohen,
Superficial: More Adventures from the Andy Cohen Diaries
Macmillan Henry Holt and Co.
If The Andy Cohen Diaries was deemed “the literary equivalent of a Fresca and tequila” by Jimmy Fallon, Superficial is a double: dishier, juicier, and friskier. In this account of his escapades—personal, professional, and behind-the-scenes—Andy tells us not only what goes down, but exactly what he thinks of it.
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Trevor Noah,
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Penguin Random House
The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.
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Simon and Schuster
With her razor-sharp wit, Anna recounts the absurdities she’s experienced on her way to and from the heart of pop culture as only she can—from her unusual path to the performing arts (Vanilla Ice and baggy neon pants may have played a role) to her double life as a middle-school student who also starred on Broadway to her initial “dating experiments” (including only liking boys who didn’t like her back) to reviewing a binder full of butt doubles to her struggle to live like an adult woman instead of a perpetual “man-child.”
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Harper Collins
In his warm and inviting voice, Tony talks about who and what have enriched his own life, including Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Cole Porter, Amy Winehouse, Fred Astaire, Lady Gaga, members of his family, significant places, and more. Just Getting Started chronicles the relationship Tony has enjoyed with each one of these legends, entertainers, humanitarians, and loved ones, and reveals how the lessons and values they imparted have invaluably shaped his life.
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Harper Collins
In this absorbing and surprising memoir, one of the biggest names of classic Hollywood—the star of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and Marnie—tells her story, including never-before-revealed experiences on the set of some of the biggest cult films of all time.
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Teresa Giudice,
Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again
Simon and Schuster
The star of The Real Housewives of New Jersey and three-time New York Times bestselling author offers a behind-the-scenes look at life in prison, her marriage, her rise to fame, the importance of her family, and the reality TV franchise that made her a household name in her explosive and ultimately uplifting first-ever memoir.
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Phoebe Robinson,
You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have To Explain
Penguin Random House
A hilarious and timely essay collection about race, gender, and pop culture from comedy superstar and 2 Dope Queens podcaster Phoebe Robinson. Using her trademark wit alongside pop-culture references galore, Robinson explores everything from why Lisa Bonet is "Queen. Bae. Jesus," to breaking down the terrible nature of casting calls, to giving her less-than-traditional advice to the future female president.
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Penguin Random House
Not Dead Yet is Phil Collins’s candid, witty, unvarnished story of the songs and shows, the hits and pans, his marriages and divorces, the ascents to the top of the charts and into the tabloid headlines. As one of only three musicians to sell 100 million records both in a group and as a solo artist, Collins breathes rare air, but has never lost his touch at crafting songs from the heart that touch listeners around the globe.
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Nick Offerman,
Good Clean Fun: Misadventures in Sawdust at Offerman Woodshed
Penguin Random House
In these pages you will find a variety of projects for every skill level, with personal, easy-to-follow instructions by the OWS woodworkers themselves; and, what’s more, this tutelage is augmented by mouth-watering color photos (Nick calls it "wood porn"). You will also find writings by Nick, offering recipes for both comestibles and mirth, humorous essays, odes to his own woodworking heroes, insights into the ethos of woodworking in modern America, and other assorted tomfoolery.
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Harper Collins
Anchor of the number one news show on cable,
The Kelly File, F
ox News Channel's Megyn Kelly writes her much anticipated book, a revealing and surprising memoir detailing her rise as one of the most respected journalists working today.
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Carol Burnett,
In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox
Penguin Random House
In Such Good Company delves into little-known stories of the guests, sketches and antics that made the show legendary, as well as some favorite tales too good not to relive again. Carol lays it all out for us, from the show’s original conception to its evolution into one of the most beloved primetime programs of its generation.
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Simon and Schuster
In The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, Amy mines her past for stories about her teenage years, her family, relationships, and sex and shares the experiences that have shaped who she is—a woman with the courage to bare her soul to stand up for what she believes in, all while making us laugh.
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Simon and Schuster
Born to Run will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed Bruce Springsteen, but this book is much more than a legendary rock star’s memoir. This is a book for workers and dreamers, parents and children, lovers and loners, artists, freaks, or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock and roll.
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Barnes and Noble
I Am Brian Wilson reveals as never before the man who fought his way back to stability and creative relevance, who became a mesmerizing live artist, who forced himself to reckon with his own complex legacy, and who finally completed
Smile, the legendary unfinished Beach Boys record that had become synonymous with both his genius and its destabilization. Today Brian Wilson is older, calmer, and filled with perspective and forgiveness. Whether he's talking about his childhood, his bandmates, or his own inner demons, Wilson's story, told in his own voice and in his own way, unforgettably illuminates the man behind the music, working through the turbulence and discord to achieve, at last, a new harmony.
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