My Dad and Me
A Heartwarming Collection of Stories About Fathers from a Host of Larry's Famous Friends
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Yogi Berra’s dad, an immigrant from northern Italy, didn’t see the point of American sports, but taught Yogi to keep his word and always be on time. Mario Cuomo’s father seemed diminutive (“Maybe he was five foot six if his heels were not worn”), but he once led Mario and his brother in a herculean, nearly impossible effort to hoist and replant a downed 40-foot-tall blue spruce. C. Everett Koop’s dad imparted to his son the crucial difference between buying something and affording something. And from her famous father, Danny, Marlo Thomas learned the wisdom of forgiveness when he told her, “I do not hunch my back with yesterday.”
For My Dad and Me, Larry King asked more than 120 celebrated and successful people about their favorite memories of their fathers. Their recollections are rich with life lessons, large and small: Some are truly insightful and wise, some are hilarious, some are pragmatic, but each is a genuine reflection of the priceless gift of fatherhood. It’s one thing, after all, to be told about such virtues as honesty and integrity, hard work and perseverance, gentleness and strength. It’s quite another to see them living, or even sometimes faltering, within someone you love.
As warm and funny, reassuring and surprising as dads themselves, My Dad and Me not only celebrates fatherhood but also offers some candid glimpses behind the public images of well-known men and women from Donald Trump and President George H.W. Bush to Patricia Heaton and Bill Gates.
Larry King presents a moving and revealing collection of inspirational stories about fathers—and the life lessons they teach—from a host of famous men and women, including:
Chinua Achebe, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Helen Gurley Brown, President George H. W. Bush, Bob Costas, Alan Dershowitz, Phyllis Diller, Hugh Downs, Bill Gates, Ira Glass, Derek Jeter, Randy Johnson, Don Mattingly, Kevin Nealon, Kurt Russell, Bob Saget, Ryan Seacrest, Marlo Thomas, Alex Trebek, Donald Trump, Al Yankovic, And many more . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
From novelist Chinua Achebe to pop culture oddity Al Yankovic, CNN talk show host King collects 122 sentimental recollections of fathers and fatherhood. King's piece opens the collection; while his father died when King was just nine, King finds "I think about him almost all the time." The following short pieces (some fewer than 40 words) vary wildly. Producer, manager and consultant to the stars Bernie Brillstein recalls his father's belief, "When you meet someone new, if the first thing they see is dirty fingernails, their opinion of you won't be too hot." Saturday Night Live alum Victoria Jackson sees her father in moral terms, describing a man who "never had a drink or a cigarette, never cheated on my mom or told a dirty joke." Other recollections are boilerplate: fathers wanting the best for their children, working hard and making sacrifices to make ends meet. In the end, a father's influence on his offspring is difficult to quantify. Public radio superstar Ira Glass sums it up: "This stuff just shows up inside us, like a virus that they never intended to transmit and we didn't intend to catch." (On sale May 9)
