Category: Books

Janis Ian has learned the truth: At 57, she tells fans what it was like to be a teenage pop star

Jae-Ha Kim

Four decades before 15-year-old Miley Cyrus caused a media uproar for posing for photographs that implied she was nude, Janis Ian — then also 15 — wrote the critically acclaimed song “Society’s Child.” A thoughtful look at interracial dating, the song was deemed too controversial to play on many radio stations across the country. A few years later, Ian would become a pop star, thanks to her best-known song, “At Seventeen,” which told the universal tale, “Dreams were all they gave for free, to ugly duckling girls like me.”

Henry Winkler: The Fonz writes books!

Jae-Ha Kim

Three decades ago, Henry Winkler was best known for his role as the Fonz on “Happy Days.” These days, the actor has a whole new generation of fans, thanks to his Hank Zipzer: The World’s Greatest Underachiever series of children’s books. Hank, an irrepressible fourth-grader, deals with dyslexia, bullies and a potential love interest in the latest installment — The Life of Me: Enter at Your Own Risk ($5.99, Gosset & Dunlap) — which just hit book stores.

An organized, healthy lifestyle is the key to Marilu Henner’s positive attitude

Jae-Ha Kim

Phoning from her California home after her stint on “Celebrity Apprentice” was completed, Marilu Henner is in a chatty mood. Born and reared in Chicago, the actress best known for her work on “Taxi” gives a verbal high-five to her interviewer, whose accent she immediately recognizes as one from her hometown.

“Trail of Crumbs” by Kim Sunee

Jae-Ha Kim

With Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home (Grand Central, 370 pages, $24.99), first-time author Kim Sunee writes a fascinating account of her life thus far. Abandoned as a child in South Korea, Sunee remembers telling the policemen who found her that her name was Chong Ae Kim, she was 3 years old and her mother — who had left her with a small fistful of food — would be coming back for her. endure insensitive remarks from people who don’t understand the longing children may feel for the birth families they can no longer remember.

Beth Kohl, the repro woman: Winnetka author uses wit to discuss the challenges of getting pregnant

Jae-Ha Kim

When Beth Kohl was working on her M.F.A. at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she didn’t want to be known as “that IVF” woman. By then, she had already gained a reputation for writing eloquent class assignments about her reproductive journey — which would become the seed for her debut as an author. But she didn’t want to be pigeonholed.

‘Angelina Ballerina’ keeps author on her toes

Jae-Ha Kim

When she was a little girl growing up on the North Side of Chicago, children’s book author Katharine Holabird imagined herself as a beautiful, graceful ballerina whose jumps were as light as a feather.

“I was a theatrical, melodramatic child,” says Holabird, phoning from Los Angeles. “I was also a tubby little 4-year-old waltzing around the house who thought I was this beautiful archetype–a ballerina.”

Sex, sex and more sex

Jae-Ha Kim

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to make love with your partner three to five times a week. Now if you’re wondering how the heck you’re going to squeeze all that nooky into your busy schedule–the kids, the job, the social and community duties–perhaps you need to go on a diet, a sex diet. This concept is designed to let you have more, not less, whoopee, according to Laura Corn, in her new book.

Margaret Cho: Tears of a clown

Jae-Ha Kim

Margaret Cho has more than a few reasons to be bitter: At 8, Margaret Cho’s classmates dubbed her “Pee Girl.” At 12, she was ostracized by kids at church. At 14, she was raped by a 22-year-old man she met at a party. And at 16, Cho began a year-long relationship with a 26-year-old who tried to convince her to engage in a threesome.