Whether lighting up the small screen on SCTV or stealing scenes on the big screen in My Big Fat Greek Wedding (who could forget this hilarious moment) or starring on the stage in her recent Tony award winning role in Pippin, Andrea Martin is sheer brilliance.
The multiple Tony and Emmy-awarding winning actress and comedienne recently stopped by the HarperCollins office to discuss her forthcoming memoir, Lady Parts. This is a heartwarming, funny and insightful collection of essays about her life in – and out – of show business.
When I introduced myself to her as the Director of Library Marketing she literally grabbed my hand, kissed it and said, “Libraries!!! I LOVE libraries! I wrote about them in my book!” Her response was so passionate and heartfelt that we told her we’d like to share her essay about libraries on Library LoveFest. She was thrilled. Libraries were a haven to her – and her children. As a young girl she would lose herself in the stacks of the Portland Public Library in Maine. As an adult, she brought her young children to the Runnymede Branch of the Toronto Public Library at least 4 days a week.
Enjoy this lovely recollection of how libraries influenced her life – and what a life it is!
****
I love libraries. My best and most loyal friend, the library, since I was eight years old. How many hours would I spend in the Portland Public Library when I was a child? A recluse among Longfellow and Robert Louis Stevenson, Emerson and Thoreau. If they lived in Maine, or even passed through the state, I was captivated with what they had to say.
“‘Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day’s 
occupation, That is known as the Children’s Hour’ . . . ‘Listen my children, and you shall hear, Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.’”
The Runnymede Public Library was a home for me and my two small children at least four afternoons a week when I was a young mom. The storytelling hours and the dedicated teacher-librarians created a magical world for every kid sitting cross-legged on the floor. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Giving Tree, Are You My Mother?, Jacob Two- Two, Alligator Pie. Those books and the little room upstairs that housed them was a second home for us. It kept me from feeling isolated and made me feel like a “good mom” ’cause I was introducing my kids to books.
The library opened at ten. On the way there, we strolled through High Park and talked about nature and why Canada geese fly south in the winter. In those days, I knew the answer. Or if I didn’t, we’d find the answer in a book, together.
Now that part of my inquisitive, literate brain has stopped working. Instead, I make myself a cup of tea, turn on the TV, and check out. Maybe that’s the question. Not if TV is bad and books are better. Maybe the question is why do I feel the need to check out? And why can’t books help me do that?
It takes a lot of brain power with no distractions to read a book. Now, if I could board a plane and travel to the moon, I could get through every book in my library.
These are the books that sit on my night table, patiently waiting to be picked up and read: The Goldfinch, Wise Children, The Great Gatsby, Bring Up the Bodies, How I Became a Famous Novelist. I climb into bed, stare at the books, and shame myself to sleep. Too many thoughts of
the day, my life, my kids’ lives, my career, the environment, politics, unemployment, foreclosures, sadness, hopelessness, injustice, despair. No book can distract me from all that.
Wait, that’s a lot of responsibility to put on a little book. I think I’m looking at this reading thing the wrong way. Instead of needing to be distracted, maybe I could let myself be inspired. Elevated. Transported. Instead of thinking about what a book can’t do, let me think about what it can do.
That’s it. I’m going to march into my bedroom right now, and pick up The Goldfinch, and pour myself a cup of tea, and get all cozy in my down-filled chair, and put my feet up on the ottoman, and start reading. I’m so excited.
“Andrea Martin’s genius at combining hilarity and poignancy is breathtaking and will break your heart. From the first page you know this is going to be a brilliant and joyous ride with one of the truly great, funny originals.” — Martin Short
Lady Parts (9780062387288) is on sale September 23rd, so make sure to get your copy.
– Virginia