April 2011

I recently spent an evening with some very dear friends from high school. We don’t often have the opportunity to see each other, so when we do, I treasure those moments. I graduated from Beloit Catholic High School, sometime last century, and my class was very small – only about 62 people. I have kept in touch with most of my friends and we always try to get together whenever they make it back to Beloit.

Visiting with friends always makes me nostalgic and it gets me thinking about my life. Where have I been, what I have done and where I am going. So, I asked my friends, “If you could write your autobiography right now, what would the title be?” One friend said her title would be “Unfinished”, another said his would be “Genius Wasted” and a third friend called hers “Seventeen Pairs of Earrings.” Mine would be “Wait a Minute, What?” Obviously each of us has some very deep issues in our lives that we are still working through!

Whether or not these autobiographies will ever get written, we have yet to see. I can at least promise you this: if mine ever makes it into a book and onto a library shelf, I will be sure to let you know. In the meantime, be sure to check out these great new autobiographies coming soon to the Beloit Public Library:

Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography by Rob Lowe. Never mean-spirited or salacious, Lowe delivers unexpected glimpses into his successes, disappointments, relationships, and one-of-a-kind encounters with people who shaped our world over the last twenty-five years. These stories are as entertaining as they are unforgettable. (Product Description)

Bossypants by Tina Fey. At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon -- from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence. (Product Description)

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: A Rock n’ Roll Memoir by Steven Tyler. Tyler tells what it's like to be a living legend and the frontman of one of the world's most revered and infamous bands—the debauchery, the money, the notoriety, the fights, the motels and hotels, the elevators, limos, buses and jets, the rehab. He reveals the spiritual side that "gets lost behind the stereotype of the Sex Guy, the Drug Guy, the Demon of Screamin', the Terror of the Tropicana." And he talks about his epic romantic life and his relationship with his four children. (Product Description)

The FABL (Friends at Beloit Library) Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday April 18th at 7:00 p.m. in the Public Meeting Room at the library. The public is invited to come and hear award-winning Wisconsin author Jerry Apps speak about his Ames County series of books. Autographed books will be available for purchase and refreshments will be served.