From “Beautiful Boy” to “Inner Child”: Which Books Do Bill Gates, Cher, Alec Baldwin and Other Stars Recommend?

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Deacon King Kong

One day, a clumsy old deacon known as the Gym Jacket burst into the yard of the Goat Houses residential project in South Brooklyn and shot and killed local drug dealer Deems Clemens.
This significant incident drags the witnesses and those involved into a whirlpool of funny and sad events. All the characters – Hispanics, parishioners of the Baptist church, police officers, Italian mafiosi, Irish gangsters, African Americans – are connected with each other. Old secrets are revealed, new relationships and conflicts are born, but the ending convinces that not all secrets need to be hidden and that any changes can be met with hope and compassion. This is a funny, deep and touching book about those who live on the sidelines of megacities and who are usually not noticed. About little people with big souls and their hectic life in New York in the 60s.

As righteous anger and grief shake our country, Deacon King Kong reminds us that when we come together as a community in compassion and empathy, our love triumphs. I hope that readers will find in it what I do: sadness, joy, resilience, humanity and the understanding that, while struggling with pain and trauma, we can find refuge in each other – Oprah Winfrey.

Downstairs girl

Jo Kuan, a 17-year-old American-born Chinese woman, is accustomed to living in the shadows and not telling anyone that she lives in a secret basement under a printing press. During the day she works as a maid, and at night she writes a newspaper column for advice for noble ladies under the pseudonym Miss Berry. Her column becomes wildly popular, but Joe’s too progressive views make enemies. When they decide to uncover Miss Berries’ true identity, not only is her secret at stake, but her entire life.

A witty and funny book. A charming and important timeless story. This is a bold portrait of a young Chinese American woman named Jo who faces adversity and finds a creative way to use her voice for good – Reese Witherspoon.

inner child

Every adult has an Inner Child: open, sincere, alive. But often he is overwhelmed by traumatic childhood experiences. Among the reasons – the habit of parents to criticize and punish, perfectionism, coldness. This profound and healing book – published for the first time in Russian – is the most authoritative and cited publication on the Inner Child. Psychotherapist Charles Whitfield has developed a program to help anyone who feels that their Inner Child has been traumatized or abandoned to regain their true self.

My favorite book on inner development and one of the best books I have ever read in my life. She allowed me to look deeply into the problems that I saw in myself. Basically, this is a book about people who have been deprived of a happy childhood, and what they do to compensate for their misfortune – Cher.

A handsome boy

“Whenever he was delayed, it seemed to me that a tragedy occurred,” writes journalist David Sheff, talking candidly about his son Nick. Drugs have turned a once charming guy into a stealing and lying trembling ghost at every turn. Together they have come a long way from the first warning signs to attempts at rehabilitation. The book became a New York Times bestseller, and the film based on it was nominated for a Golden Globe.

My generation experimented with drugs, and now we are parents completely unprepared to face what David Sheff faced. He boldly and frankly writes about the difficult – and, unfortunately, by no means exceptional – history of his family. Handsome Boy is an important book. Poignant, timely and beautifully written by Richard Branson.

Choice

The book of the outstanding psychologist Edith Eger is not just a memoir of a Holocaust survivor, it is an unforgettable chronicle of heroism and strength of the human spirit, healing and mercy. At the age of 16, budding ballerina Edith Eger, along with her parents and sister, ended up in Auschwitz. Parents died a few hours later, and Edith and her sister experienced all the horrors of concentration camps, but were able to escape. In the book, Edith tells about personal events, alternating them with the stories of patients whom she helped to recover during her work as a psychotherapist.

Dr. Eger’s story changed me forever… Choice is a living illustration of what courage looks like in the worst of times, and a reminder that each of us has the opportunity to pay attention to what we have lost, or what what we still own is Oprah Winfrey.

This book is part memory and part trauma healing guide. Eger was only 16 years old when she and her family were sent to Auschwitz. After experiencing incredible horrors, she moved to the United States and became a psychotherapist. Her exceptional experience gave her a deep understanding of life, and I think many people will find comfort in her advice on how to get through difficult situations in life – Bill Gates.

What are we silent about with my mother

The sixteen writers who wrote the stories for this book had different relationships with their mothers. André Aciman lived with a mother who was deaf from birth. Julianne Baggott’s mother shared absolutely everything with her. Sari Botton tells how her relationship with her mother became more complicated when she got rich. And it took Michelle Filgate 12 years to complete the essay-letter for her mother from which the idea for this almanac was born. The experience of traumatic relationships with parents is familiar to many. But acknowledging what you have been hesitant to talk about for a long time will help you find a way to heal relationships with others and with yourself.

The most complex stories in the world, but they are told with absolute grace. You will devour these beautifully written—and very important—tales of honesty, pain, and resilience in one sitting by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love and City of Women.

DV: Diana Vreeland

The autobiography of American Vogue editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland is a fascinating journey into the world of high fashion with receptions, shows and acquaintances with dozens of famous people of the 20th century: from Coco Chanel and Jack Nicholson to Sergei Diaghilev and Ida Rubinstein. Bright and charismatic Diana was a woman with an unbending will, phenomenal discipline and impeccable taste. Thanks to her, Vogue gained fame, weight and significance. And her talent and sense of style defined the fashion industry for half a century.

“You will begin to see colors that you were not aware of before. You will get tired of laughing and brushing goosebumps off your hands, you will rush to a notepad or phone to write down quotes. How about: “Bikini is the greatest invention since the atomic bomb,” or “Fashion is the most intoxicating way to get rid of worldly banality”, or “I have always been fascinated by the absurdity, luxury and snobbery of the world that fashion magazines demonstrated”? domestic griffin”, “The color of his skin exactly repeated the color of the gardenia petals” … – I beg you, stop me, – Alena Doletskaya.

In a world with animals

Previously, people wore things with fur inside: then they valued comfort and did not think about demonstrating their wealth through clothes. Now animals are treated like material: they are used in circuses, crash tests, research, sew clothes and eat them. Did the animals, thanks to which man survived on this planet, deserve such treatment? This book will radically change your attitude towards our smaller brothers and show how talented, smart and emotional they are. PETA President Ingrid Newkirk shares amazing stories and explains how not to harm animals. Many stars advise reading the book, including Paul McCartney, Alec Baldwin, Mayim Bialik.

This book opens the reader’s eyes to the fact that it’s quite easy not to harm animals, that a life without violence against animals is rewarding and rewarding – and that’s why, as a vegan, I fell in love with the book. We have the opportunity to switch to tasty and nutritious food that is no worse than animal food. We can purchase fashionable handbags and outfits that are practically indistinguishable from “real” leather. Our entertainment experience and experiences under the dome of the circus were not lessened by the fact that they no longer use animals. And all this is quite accessible in a world where they do not cause suffering to other living beings, – Mayim Bialik, star of the TV series “The Big Bang Theory”.

Ingrid, like me, believes in protecting all the creatures we love – Paul McCartney.

Buy this book for everyone you know who still thinks animals aren’t smart enough or hard to help. Buy it – because Newkirk and Stone prove that animals are smart and that you can help them – Edie Falco, star of The Sopranos.

Animals are our neighbors on the planet, and this book shows us how we can be better neighbors – Alec Baldwin.