“Scenes From My Life,” by Michael K. Williams: Best known for playing Omar Little in “The Wire” and Chalky White in “Boardwalk Empire,” Williams grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, raised by a not terribly loving mother. He became a backup dancer and model with high aspirations, but his hopes seemed to have been foiled by a bar fight that left his face permanently scarred. It was, however, this emblem of street cred that led to his casting as Omar – and in life, too, as he devoted himself outside acting to setting up programs for young people in trouble. “I want to tell my story not because it’s unique, but because it is not,” he tells us – not knowing that it would also end as so many similar stories have. Williams died of an accidental drug overdose on Sept. 6, 2021, and his co-author, Jon Sternfeld, completed the book posthumously. “Scenes from My Life” is an altogether superior memoir. Refreshingly straightforward, its impact is amplified by the mesmerizing low voice of narrator Dion Graham. (Random House Audio, Unabridged, 7 hours)
