To continue our monthly series of book lists, the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library would like to recommend the following titles about entertainers and writers from Washington state.
Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones by Quincy Jones. Portrait of the award-winning musician, composer, producer, and businessman who began his career at age eighteen playing backup for Billie Holiday in Seattle. Cassette book RC 53304.
Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain by Charles R. Cross. Investigates Cobain's unhappy teen years in Aberdeen, success with his band Nirvana, heroin addiction, marriage to fellow rocker Courtney Love, and 1994 suicide. Cassette book RC 53015. Braille book BRW 1022.
Carver Country: The World of Raymond Carver by Raymond Carver. Memoir of the poet and short story writer, from his boyhood in Yakima through the bleak, blue-collar towns that became a hallmark of his fiction. Cassette book CBA 6544.
Will There Really Be A Morning? by Frances Farmer. Autobiography of the Seattle-born movie star. Discusses her rise to fame in 1930s Hollywood, struggles with alcohol, mental illness, and institutionalization in Western State Hospital. Cassette book RC 25782. Braille book BR 4848.
Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles R. Cross. Investigates Hendrix's troubled childhood in the Seattle projects, struggles against racial prejudice as a young musician, drug use, rapid ascent to the top of the London rock scene, and untimely death. Braille book BRW 1132.
Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years by Gary Giddins. The singer and actor's family history, childhood in Spokane, and early career. Cassette book RC 53111. Large print book LP 17810.
Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert by Brian Herbert. Memoir of the Tacoma science fiction author by his son. Intertwines accounts of the son's life with that of his father's to shed light on the people, places, and experiences that played integral roles in the Dune novels. Cassette book RC 61596.
Link to previous Recommended Reads.