“I make art for the sake of art . . . and for my own selfish gratification, because I’m an artistic monster.”

I have a tendency to read memoirs written by celebrities, or “celebrities”, when they pop up on Overdrive — regardless of whether or not I’ve heard of the person. They usually short, fun reads and contain at least a few good stories. I probably don’t enjoy them as much when I have no outside information about the writer, but they’re usually worth the few hours it takes to read them. A strong endorsement, huh? Actually Lindsey Stirling’s memoirs, The Only Pirate at the Party, were pretty enjoyable overall. The other book I recently selected in this manner (Shane Dawson’s It Gets Worse: A Collection of Essays)….not so much.

“If you want to find me in a club, look for the sexiest girl in the room. Then turn slightly to the left, and you will see me dancing much faster and harder than her.”

Lindsey Stirling is a dancing electronic violinist with a pretty impressive following. She first appeared on people’s radars after a not great performance on America’s Got Talent. Since then, she’s turned her love for the electric violin and total lack of self consciousness about her dancing into a decent career — mostly on a YouTube channel and touring.

Her memoirs work best when she talks about her first years — growing up very poor but with parents determined to do whatever it took to help her fulfill her dreams, even if those dreams involved an electric violin that they couldn’t afford. She gets very real about her eating disorder, and how it affected not only her health but her relationships. The second half of the book deals more with her life on tour and what it’s like to perform. Unfortunately, these chapters seem a bit shorter and more random, but you definitely get the sense of how much she loves what she does and who she works with, which makes the book more enjoyable.