Stay Interesting: I Don’t Always Tell Stories About My Life, but When I Do They’re True and Amazing

As is made evident by this charming memoir, actor Goldsmith could very well have lived the life of the character who made him famous: the “Most Interesting Man in the World” of Dos Equis beer commercials. Goldsmith’s fateful audition to be a beer pitchman merely provides the framework for this collection of more than 50 anecdotes. He concocted an escape from boarding school as a teen; was friends with Hollywood notables (Shelley Winters, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Elia Kazan); saved a man on a frozen mountain; and was shipwrecked on a remote island. What makes his narrative stand out from other Hollywood memoirs is a curiosity and vulnerability that underscores nearly eight decades of ups and downs. Some tales soar, and a few drag. Goldsmith’s writing is straightforward, and he demonstrates that one doesn’t become interesting by being a braggart, but by being open to the world and all the people in it. (June)