Lessons in Becoming Myself

This book was fantastic. I admire Ellen to be able to retell the life she has lived with such detail and candor. She really opened up with deeply personal issues and situations for all the world to read. She is just a regular person, trying to live her life like the rest of us. Unlike the rest of us......more

The public knows Ellen Burstyn as an accomplished actor. What I discovered in reading this exceptional memoir is that she is also an accomplished writer. Without a ghostwriter, using only the diaries, letters, notes and memories she's kept for eighty years, she has put together the story not only of......more

I didn't know what to expect from this book since I usually avoid autobiographies. I saw Ellen on Oprah while flipping channels and once I started listening, I found her highly intelligent and self-aware, so I got the book. Reading through it was an eye-opening experience. To see what Ellen went thr......more

What a fascinating woman Ellen is. I looked her up on IMDB afterwards and was happy to see she hasn't slowed down at all. I loved reading about Requiem for a Dream, especially when she shared how she got her heartbreaking performance for THE scene that also hit me. The scene that she should have won......more

I likely never would have picked this up if someone hadn't recommended it to me, and I'm so glad they did. She speaks frankly and without shame about her life, and treats the various versions of herself with compassion and childlike curiosity. I think she was in her 80s when she finished this, and i......more