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You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams

This is a memoir by actor, singer, dancer, all around awesome hedonist Alan Cumming (I fell for him in SpyKids, though you may remember him from Broadway’s Cabaret, or The Good Wife, or “This is Masterpiece Mystery”). It is mostly just vignettes of his life, from a cross-country trip with his dog to how he entertained Elizabeth Taylor at Carrie Fisher’s birthday party, augmented with pictures he’s taken.

He’s led an interesting life, working on many different projects, and he has a clever, charming voice as he tells these stories. Some of them are just “here is the story of this picture” while some are moving tributes, and others are “my ridiculous life, let me show it to you.”

It’s a beautiful book, and well-produced. I saw him speak in Cambridge in September (I got the copy signed for a friend who couldn’t make it, and he asked my name was and I have no chill at all). He was delightful, funny, and very kind, and the book is the same. Also there are many doggie pictures!

– Redheadedgirl

A magical concoction of the mischievous, tender, whimsical, and debauched real-life adventures of Alan Cumming, told in his own words and pictures. Described by the New York Times as “a bawdy countercultural sprite” and named one of the most fun people in show business by Time magazine, Alan Cumming is a genuine quadruple threat—an internationally acclaimed, award-winning star of stage, television, and film, as well as aNew York Times best-selling author whose real-life vivacity, wit, and charm shine through every page of his third book, You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams. In these forty-five picture essays, Cumming recounts his real-life adventures (and often, misadventures), illustrated by his own equally entertaining photographs. From an awkward bonding session with Elizabeth Taylor to poignant stories about his family and friends to some harsh words of wisdom imparted by Oprah that make up the title of this collection, You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams is as eclectic, enchanting, and alive as its author.