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Famous Father Girl
- A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein
- Narrated by: Jamie Bernstein
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
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Publisher's summary
The oldest daughter of revered composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein offers a rare look at her father on the centennial of his birth in a deeply intimate and broadly evocative memoir.
The composer of On the Town and West Side Story, chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic, television star, humanitarian, friend of the powerful and influential, and the life of every party, Leonard Bernstein was an enormous celebrity during one of the headiest periods of American cultural life, as well as the most protean musician in 20th-century America.
But to his eldest daughter, Jamie, he was above all the man in the scratchy brown bathrobe who smelled of cigarettes; the jokester and compulsive teacher who enthused about Beethoven and the Beatles; the insomniac whose 4 a.m. composing breaks involved spooning baby food out of the jar. He taught his daughter to love the world in all its beauty and complexity. In public and private, Lenny was larger than life.
In Famous Father Girl, Bernstein mines the emotional depths of her childhood and invites us into her family’s private world. A fantastic set of characters populates the Bernsteins’ lives, including: the Kennedys, Mike Nichols, John Lennon, Richard Avedon, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins, and Betty (Lauren) Bacall.
An intoxicating tale, Famous Father Girl is an intimate meditation on a complex and sometimes troubled man, the family he raised, and the music he composed that became the soundtrack to their entwined lives. Deeply moving and often hilarious, Bernstein’s beautifully written memoir is a great American story about one of the greatest Americans of the modern age.
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Story
Two sisters. Two voices. One Heart.
The mystery of "Magic Man." The wicked riff of "Barracuda." The sadness and beauty of "Alone." The raw energy of "Crazy On You." These songs, and so many more, are part of the fabric of American music. Heart, fronted by Ann and Nancy Wilson, has given fans everywhere classic, raw, and pure badass rock and roll for more than three decades. As the only sisters in rock who write their own music and play their own instruments, Ann and Nancy have always stood apart - certainly from their male counterparts but also from their female peers.
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Good Behind-The-Scenes Look At "Heart"
- By Kathy on 11-13-12
By: Ann Wilson, and others
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A Fine Romance
- By: Candice Bergen
- Narrated by: Candice Bergen
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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A Fine Romance begins with Bergen's charming first husband, French director Louis Malle, whose huge appetite for life broadened her horizons and whose occasional darkness never diminished their love for each other. But her real romance begins when she discovers overpowering love for her daughter after years of ambivalence about motherhood.
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up the speed to 1.5 and Candace sounds way better
- By Susan M. Mitchell on 06-03-15
By: Candice Bergen
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Growing Up Fisher
- Musings, Memories, and Misadventures
- By: Joely Fisher
- Narrated by: Joely Fisher
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Actress, director, entertainer Joely Fisher invites listeners backstage into the intimate world of her career and family with this hilarious, irreverent, down-to-earth memoir filled with incredible, candid stories about her life, her famous parents, and how the loss of her unlikely hero, sister Carrie Fisher, ignited the writer in her.
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Not what I thought it would be but I loved it.
- By Kristopher's Korner on 01-15-18
By: Joely Fisher
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American on Purpose
- The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot
- By: Craig Ferguson
- Narrated by: Craig Ferguson
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In American on Purpose, Craig Ferguson delivers a moving and achingly funny memoir of living the American dream as he journeys from the mean streets of Glasgow, Scotland, to the comedic promised land of Hollywood. Along the way, he stumbles through several attempts to make his mark - as a punk rock musician, a construction worker, a bouncer, and, tragically, a modern dancer.
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Unabashedly Honest
- By Diane on 12-09-09
By: Craig Ferguson
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The Ballad of Bob Dylan
- A Portrait
- By: Daniel Mark Epstein
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a vivid, full-bodied portrait of one of the most influential artists of the 20th-century - a man widely regarded as the most important lyricist America has ever produced. Acclaimed poet and biographer Daniel Mark Epstein frames Dylan against the backdrop of four seminal concerts - all of which he attended. Beautifully written, The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a unique, eye-opening portrait of an artist who has transformed generations and continues to inspire and surprise today.
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Excellent book, excellent narration
- By L chandler on 12-22-11
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Catch a Wave
- The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In Catch a Wave, Peter Ames Carlin pulls back the curtain on Brian Wilson, one of popular music's most revered luminaries, as well as its biggest mystery. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and never-before heard studio recordings, Carlin follows the Beach Boys from their earliest days through Brian's deepening emotional problems to his triumphant re-emergence with the release of Smile, the legendarily unreleased album he had originally shelved.
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Not great
- By J. Barker on 08-08-16
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Here's the Story
- Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice
- By: Maureen McCormick
- Narrated by: Maureen McCormick
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Abridged
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Marcia Brady, eldest daughter on television's The Brady Bunch, had it all. But what viewers didn't know about the always sunny, perfect Marcia was that offscreen, her real-life counterpart, Maureen McCormick was living a very different - and not so wonderful - life. Maureen tells the shocking and inspirational true story of the beloved teen and the woman she became.
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Gripping
- By Chris on 08-12-14
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Make 'Em Laugh
- Short-Term Memories of Longtime Friends
- By: Debbie Reynolds, Dorian Hannaway
- Narrated by: Judith Ivey
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Debbie shares memories of late-night pals and some of the greatest comedians of all time, stories from the big screen and small, and tales of marriage, motherhood, and children. Combining her wicked sense of humor and appealing charm, she reveals the personal side of show business and fame in funny, poignant, and delightful reminiscences. Nothing is off limits: Debbie talks about her sex life, her family drama - and even shares a few secret recipes.
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Love the book just wish it had been Debbie.
- By Kristopher's Korner on 08-13-16
By: Debbie Reynolds, and others
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You Might Remember Me
- The Life and Times of Phil Hartman
- By: Mike Thomas
- Narrated by: Corey Snow
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Both joyous tribute and serious biography, Mike Thomas' You Might Remember Me is a celebration of Phil Hartman's multi-faceted career and an exhaustively reported, warts-and-all examination of his often intriguing and sometimes complicated life - a powerful, humor-filled and disquieting portrait of a man who was loved by many, admired by millions and taken from them far too early.
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I Will Remember You Phil Hartman
- By Roxanna on 12-19-14
By: Mike Thomas
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Coreyography
- By: Corey Feldman
- Narrated by: Corey Feldman
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In this brave and moving memoir, Corey Feldman is revealing the truth about what his life was like behind the scenes: His is a past that included physical, drug, and sexual abuse, a dysfunctional family from which he was emancipated at age fifteen, three high-profile arrests for drug possession, a nine-month stint in rehab, and a long, slow crawl back to the top of the box office.
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Didn't like the Two Coreys, but liked this.
- By ricketsj on 04-29-14
By: Corey Feldman
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The Unspeakable
- And Other Subjects of Discussion
- By: Meghan Daum
- Narrated by: Meghan Daum
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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It's a report tempered by hard times. In "Matricide", Daum unflinchingly describes a parent's death and the uncomfortable emotions it provokes; and in "Diary of a Coma" she relates her own journey to the twilight of the mind. But Daum also operates in a comic register. With perfect precision, she reveals the absurdities of the marriage-industrial complex, of the New Age dating market, and of the peculiar habits of the young and digital.
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Complaining about her dead mom.
- By Erik Hermansen on 11-23-14
By: Meghan Daum
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Being John Lennon
- A Restless Life
- By: Ray Connolly
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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What was it like to be John Lennon? What was it like to be the castoff child, the clown at school, the middle-class suburban boy who pretended to be a working-class hero? How did it feel to have one of the most recognizable singing voices in the world but to dislike it so much he always wanted to disguise it? Being John Lennon is not about the whitewashed Prince of Peace of “Imagine” legend - because that was only a small part of him. The John Lennon depicted in this book is a much more kaleidoscopic figure, sometimes almost a collision of different characters.
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Stars taken off for inclusion of MDC’s story
- By rob on 12-09-22
By: Ray Connolly
What listeners say about Famous Father Girl
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sarah S Heath
- 11-02-18
A Brave and Dazzling Tribute to Bernstein
It’s not easy being the child of an iconic conductor, beloved by people the world over. Jamie brings us so close to her famous father in such an intimate way that we feel like family. She also lets us into his life as a driven, passionate composer, who lived and died for music. Her authenticity and spunky narration left this listener spellbound and quite teary, by the end!
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4 people found this helpful
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- Milton
- 09-06-18
Wonderful in Every Way!
I just finished this wonderfully narrated memoir. My only disappointment is that it was not longer. I’ll plan on attending one of Jamie’s programs with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach. Thank you for a memorable audio book.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amy Miller Cohen
- 12-26-23
The details
After watching Maestro I was eager to learn more about the Bernstein family…..listening to Jamie’s book filled in the details …..it was a wonderful experience to have
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-28-18
Engrossing, engaging and full of life!
I love the book. Jamie's life found its full meaning far sooner than she tells in this amazing memoir. Well done.
Dwayne Johnson-Cochran
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- Tabula
- 03-11-24
The talent and intensity of Leonard Bernstein and the seeming stability of his kids—in spite of his indulgent nature.
I especially liked the forthright insider view of the family and their satellite role around “Father Sun.”
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- Birdman
- 08-05-18
A Missed Opportunity During His Centennial Year
I returned this book roughly halfway through because the narrator' voice was annoying from the start-- in both sound and perspective. while her intention was to portray a famous father through the eyes of his daughter, all I really received was the daughter material.
Prior to publication, the book needed an editor to refine the descriptive passages of this well-intentioned author, to delete unctuous adjectives and trivial side-plots. In all, we learn so little that is new about Bernstein, that the text barely keeps it's head above water
Moreover, the author's attempted portrayals of artistic Titans such as Aaron Copland, Stephen Sondheim and many, many others are reduced to caricatures.
As for the cadence of Ms. Bernstein's voice, I leave it to the astute listener to decide.
In the end, the reader wonders whether the purpose of this book was to resurrect the author's authority about matters involving her father. I don't know, but my disappointment in the outcome left me a bit hungry for substantial information and a bit starved for an authentic narrative voice
What I didn't need we're the words of a privileged daughter if an American musical Titan, attempting to tell his story through the Ken's if her own. It simply doesn't succeed
If, perhaps, Ms. Bernstein had instead crafted a more literary memoir of her mother, that would have been the more redeeming choice. Felicia was a passionate and fascinating subject, but she fades into shadow with all the rest here.
I applaud the effort but not the outcome.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Phyllis B. Frank
- 09-17-18
Best Read of the Year
I have never felt so completely engaged in someone else’s story! And it gave me
words and images that brought my own life into clearer focus, as well. Thank you to Jamie Bernstein for writing it!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Barbara B
- 10-24-24
Family treasure
Warm, personal, fascinating glimpse into a towering figure and his family. I enjoyed the history lesson quality of the story.
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- Ron L. Caldwell
- 07-16-18
A bit too much gee-whizzing
I'm a child of the 60s and Leonard Bernstein was a god to me. West Side Story and Candide changed my life. In the ensuing decades other of his compositions have spoken to me. I was in the audience for rehearsals of Houston Grand Opera's productions of Trouble in Tahiti and A Quiet Place. All that is leading up to saying that I have the greatest respect for the maestro's immense talent.
Jamie Bernstein is a clear-eyed observer and reporter of her and LB's life and relationship. I'm grateful for that. The only criticism that I would offer is that there's a bit too much of the forced cutesy-ness in her childhood stories. The family's in-jokes are not all that funny to an outsider.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Brian
- 02-13-20
Bad narration
I downloaded this for a book club at a local book store. Leonard Bernstein was before my time but, being new to the area, I thought I'd give it a go. You know that voice when a woman narrates and she's trying to do the man's voice? That was this. To top it off, I ended up in the doctor's office and never made it to the book club. Just not my cuppa.
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