ITunes offers a podcast called "iTunes: Meet the Author", which unfortunately is infrequently updated. I've subscribed to the feed for a while but had forgotten about it because it had been so long since a new item downloaded into my iTunes.

The episode released last week was evidence that iTunes should do more of these (though Apple's hands have been full with other important things).

Associated Press

Guest moderator Whoopi Goldberg interviewed actor Portia de Rossi about her memoir, "Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain", which was published by Atria and released Nov. 2. Last week, the book was third on Publisher's Weekly's hard-cover nonfiction best-sellers list, 13th on USA TODAY's best-sellers list, fourth on the Wall Street Journal's nonfiction best-sellers. After hearing de Rossi talk with Goldberg for an hour, it's not surprising to see the book's success.

In the podcast, de Rossi opens up about the difficulty she had with divorcing her husband (who left her for her sister-in-law), coming to terms with her sexuality, and learning to love her body in the Hollywood world of size zeros. She tells Goldberg that at one point she weighed 82 pounds, and she spent almost all of her time working out to keep control of her weight. De Rossi has an amazing, inspirational story, and she should be viewed as a role model to individuals hoping to succeed in Hollywood, as well as those struggling through their own identity issues.


I generally like reading memoirs by people I admire or respect, so I am looking forward to picking up de Rossi's.


-- Cheryl Sadler
CSadler@News-Herald.com