Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American on Purpose | 2009 | Craig Ferguson | Buy |
| 2 | Riding the Elephant | 2019 | Craig Ferguson | Buy |
American on Purpose was published during Ferguson’s Late Late Show tenure and became a bestseller on the strength of his television audience’s goodwill and the genuine surprise of the book’s candor. He writes about his Scottish working-class upbringing, the years of drinking, the decision to get sober, and the circuitous route from bit parts to Late Late Show host without the self-congratulation that can sink celebrity memoirs.
Riding the Elephant appeared ten years later and represents a different kind of reflection. The Late Late Show chapter was over, Ferguson had moved on to other projects, and the book is written from the outside rather than the middle. Short, fragmentary chapters build a picture of a man thinking about what his life has meant rather than narrating it in order. The result is less a conventional memoir than a meditation in memoir form.