Tag Archives: Memoir

In My Hands Today…

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The Money Trap: Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble – Alok Sama

A gripping and entertaining memoir that offers a rare C-suite window on the world of technology investing. Veteran Morgan Stanley banker Alok Sama thought he’d seen it all, until he found himself at the helm of the secretive investment giant that controls global tech— SoftBank, the backer of Yahoo, TikTok, Uber, T-Mobile, DoorDash, Alibaba and WeWork, and the sponsor of the largest technology investment fund in history.

The Money Trap is a thrilling, stranger-than-fiction personal odyssey of Sama’s experiences while working alongside SoftBank’s iconic founder, Masayoshi Son, an eccentric genius who relies on “the Force” to guide his investment decisions and wants to be remembered as “the crazy guy who bet on the future.”

As a high-stakes dealmaker, Sama consorted with A-list CEOs and hobnobbed with heads of state, conducting negotiations on Gulfstream jets, the terrace of a medieval castle in Germany, Son’s private sanctuary with its exquisite Japanese garden, and waterside restaurants in the Turkish Riviera — all while contending with a mysterious dark-acts smear campaign that takes a toll on his private life.

This fascinating and humorous saga provides a unique insider perspective on an industry that is disrupting our daily lives and straining our social fabric. Written with self-deprecating wit, unflinching honesty and searing introspection, The Money Trap is ultimately a morality in life, as in technology investing, more money isn’t always the answer.

In My Hands Today…

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The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row – Anthony Ray Hinton, Lara Love Hardin

A powerful, revealing story of hope, love, justice, and the power of reading by a man who spent thirty years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit.

In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only twenty-nine years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free.

But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution. He spent his first three years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence—full of despair and anger toward all those who had sent an innocent man to his death. But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row. For the next twenty-seven years he was a beacon—transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, fifty-four of whom were executed mere feet from his cell. With the help of civil rights attorney and bestselling author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015.

With a foreword by Stevenson, The Sun Does Shine is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times. Destined to be a classic memoir of wrongful imprisonment and freedom won, Hinton’s memoir tells his dramatic thirty-year journey and shows how you can take away a man’s freedom, but you can’t take away his imagination, humor, or joy.

In My Hands Today…

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The Third Gilmore Girl – Kelly Bishop

Kelly Bishop’s long, storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey’s mother in Dirty Dancing. But it is probably her iconic role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy.

Now, Bishop reflects on her remarkable life and looks towards the future with The Third Gilmore Girl. She shares some of her greatest stories and the life lessons she’s learned on her journey. From her early transition from dance to drama, to marrying young to a compulsive gambler, to the losses and achievements she experienced—among them marching for women’s rights and losing her second husband to cancer—Bishop offers a rich, genuine celebration of her life.

Full of witty insights, The Third Gilmore Girl is a warm, unapologetic, and spirited memoir from a woman who has left indelible impressions on her audiences for decades and has no plans on slowing down.

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The Position of Spoons: And Other Intimacies – Deborah Levy

Deborah Levy’s vital literary voice speaks about many things.

On footwear: “It has always been very clear to me that people who wear shoes without socks are destined to become my friends and lovers.”

On public parks: “A civic garden square gentles the pace of the city that surrounds it, holding a thought before it scrambles.”

On Elizabeth Hardwick: “She understands what is at stake in literature.”

On the conclusion of a marriage: “It doesn’t take an alien to tell us that when love dies we have to find another way of being alive.”

Levy shares with us her most tender thoughts as she traces and measures her life against the backdrop of different literary imaginations; each page is a beautiful, questioning composition of the self. The Position of Spoons is full of wisdom and astonishments and brings us into intimate conversation with one of our most insightful, intellectually curious writers.

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Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show – Bethany Joy Lenz

In the early 2000s, after years of hard work and determination to breakthrough as an actor, Bethany Joy Lenz was finally cast as one of the leads on the hit drama One Tree Hill. Her career was about to take off, but her personal life was slowly beginning to unravel. What none of the show’s millions of fans knew, hidden even from her costars, was her secret double life in a cult.

An only child who often had to fend for herself and always wanted a place to belong, Lenz found the safe haven she’d been searching for in a Bible study group with other Hollywood creatives. However, the group soon morphed into something more sinister—a slowly woven web of manipulation, abuse, and fear under the guise of a church covenant called The Big House Family. Piece by piece, Lenz began to give away her autonomy, ultimately relocating to the Family’s Pacific Northwest compound, overseen by a domineering minister who would convince Lenz to marry one of his sons and steadily drained millions of her TV income without her knowledge. Family “minders” assigned to her on set, “Maoist struggle session”–inspired meetings in the basement of a filthy house, and regular counseling with “Leadership” were just part of the tactics used to keep her loyal.

Only when she became a mother did Lenz find the courage to leave and spare her child from a similar fate. After nearly a decade (and with the unlikely help of a One Tree Hill superfan), she finally managed to escape the family’s grip and begin to heal from the deep trauma that forever altered her relationship with God and her understanding of faith. Written with powerful honesty and dark humor, Dinner for Vampires is an inspiring story about the importance of identity and understanding what you believe.