The Most Requested Art, Music and Recreation Center books in May 2013

The books below are listed in order of the number of holds placed on them reflecting their current popularity at the San Francisco Public Library.  Almost all of these titles are from this year or last year.

Many of these titles are biographies and autobiographies of actors, actresses and musicians (Unsinkable, The Soundtrack of My Life, I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp, Behind the Candelabra, and Carrie and Me).  A number of titles are comedic memoirs (Attempting Normal, Screw Everyone, Drinking and Tweeting, and Man Up).

There also a few crafts / how-to books (Knit to Flatter, Origami: A Complete Step-By-Step Guide, Extreme Origami) and fashion books (Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me, Paris Street Style.)  There are two books defying categories: The Searchers traces the actual story behind a famed movie western, and 360 Sound is a pictorial history of Columbia Records.

The popularity of the books may mean a wait in getting a copy to borrow.  But because we either own or are ordering multiple copies of these books, the wait should not be very long.  Happy reading.

See also: Art, Music and Recreation Center Books in Demand, late December 2012.


1. Unsinkable: A Memoir by Debbie Reynolds and Dorian Hannaway (William Morrow, 2013).

2. Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me by Patricia Volk (Alfred A. Knopf, 2013).

3. The Soundtrack of My Life by Clive Davis with Anthony DeCurtis (Simon and Schuster, 2013).

4. I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp: An Autobiography by Richard Hell (Ecco, 2013).

5. Attempting Normal by Marc Maron (Spiegel and Grau, 2013).

6. Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy by Ophira Eisenberg (Seal Press, 2013).

7. My Way by Paul Anka with David Dalton (Saint Martin's Press, 2013)

8. Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV by Brian Stelter (Grand Central Publishing, 2013).

9. Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace by Scott Thorson with Alex Thorleifson (Dutton, 1988).

10. Drinking and Tweeting: And Other Brandi Blunders by Brandi Glanville with Leslie Bruce (Gallery Books, 2013).

11. Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story by Carol Burnett (Simon and Schuster, 2013).

12. The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend by Glenn Frankel (Bloomsbury USA, 2013)

13. 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design by Steven Heller, and Véronique Vienne (Laurence King, 2012).

14. Knit to Flatter by Amy Herzog (Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2013)

15. Man Up!: Tales of My Delusional Self-Confidence by Ross Mathews (Grand Central, 2013).

16. Origami: A Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Making Animals, Flowers, Planes, Boats, and More by Norio Torimoto and Yukiko Duke (Skyhorse Pub., 2012).

17. Extreme Origami: Transforming Dollar Bills into Priceless Works of Art by Won Park (Race Point Pub., 2012).

18. Paris Street Style: A Guide to Effortless Chic by Isabelle Thomas and Frédérique Veysset (Abrams Image, 2013).

19. 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story by Sean Wilentz (Chronicle Books, 2012).