Books, Biographies & Memoirs, Specific Groups

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Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
by Penguin (Non-Classics) (Paperback)

The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson’s quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit.

Carrie Fisher
Wishful Drinking
by Simon & Schuster (Hardcover)

Finally, after four hit novels, Carrie Fisher comes clean (well, sort of ) with the crazy truth that is her life in her first-ever memoir. In Wishful Drinking, adapted from her one-woman stage show, Fisher reveals what it was really like to grow up a product of "Hollywood in-breeding," come of age on the set of a little movie called Star Wars, and become a cultural icon and bestselling action figure at the age of nineteen.Intimate, hilarious, and sobering, Wishful Drinking is Fisher, looking at her life as she best remembers it (what do you expect after electroshock therapy?). It's an incredible tale: the child of Hollywood royalty -- Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher -- homewrecked by Elizabeth Taylor, marrying (then divorcing, then dating) Paul Simon, having her likeness merchandized on everything from Princess Leia shampoo to PEZ dispensers, learning the father of her daughter forgot to tell her he was gay, and ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside ...

Kelly Corrigan
The Middle Place
by Voice (Paperback) (Release Date: 2008-12-23)

"An amazing story told with steep honesty. The Middle Place is memoir at its highest form."--Darin Strauss, author of More Than It Hurts You and The Real McCoy "If you're in a book club or just love to read, make sure this book ends up in your lap, where it will remain until you finish. Plan to laugh, cry, and be consumed by Kelly Corrigan." --Winston-Salem Journal "Bravely reveals the frightened daughter inside the grown-up wife and mother."--Elle "Come for the writing, stay for the drama. Or vice-versa. Either way, you won't regret it." --San Francisco Chronicle For Kelly Corrigan, family is everything. At thirty-six, she had a marriage that worked, two funny, active kids, and a weekly newspaper column. But even as a thriving adult, Kelly still saw herself as the daughter of garrulous Irish-American charmer George Corrigan. She was living deep within what she calls the Middle Place--"that sliver of time when ...

Elizabeth Gilbert
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
by Penguin (Non-Classics) (Paperback)

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls “Anne Lamott’s hip, yoga- practicing, footloose younger sister”) is poised to garner yet more adoring fans.

Chelsea Handler
Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea
by Simon Spotlight Entertainment (Hardcover)

THE EAGERLY AWAITED COLLECTION OF PERSONAL ESSAYS FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF MY HORIZONTAL LIFEWhen Chelsea Handler needs to get a few things off her chest, she appeals to a higher power -- vodka. You would too if you found out that your boyfriend was having an affair with a Peekapoo or if you had to pretend to be honeymooning with your father in order to upgrade to first class. Welcome to Chelsea's world -- a place where absurdity reigns supreme and a quick wit is the best line of defense. In this hilarious, deliciously skewed collection, Chelsea mines her past for stories about her family, relationships, and career that are at once singular and ridiculous. Whether she's convincing her third-grade class that she has been tapped to play Goldie Hawn's daughter in the sequel to Private Benjamin, deciding to be more egalitarian by dating a redhead, or looking out for a foulmouthed, rum-swilling little person who looks just like her...only smaller, Chelsea has a knack for getting ...

Jeannette Walls
The Glass Castle: A Memoir
by Topeka Bindery (Library Binding)

Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
by HarperCollins (Hardcover) (Release Date: 2007-05-01)

Bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver returns with her first nonfiction narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat. "As the U.S. population made an unprecedented mad dash for the Sun Belt, one carload of us paddled against the tide, heading for the Promised Land where water falls from the sky and green stuff grows all around. We were about to begin the adventure of realigning our lives with our food chain. "Naturally, our first stop was to buy junk food and fossil fuel. . . ." Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that's ...

Chelsea Handler
My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands
by Bloomsbury USA (Paperback) (Release Date: 2005-05-12)

In this raucous collection of true-life stories, actress and comedian Chelsea Handler recounts her time spent in the social trenches with that wild, strange, irresistible, and often gratifying beast: the one-night stand.You've either done it or know someone who has: the one-night stand, the familiar outcome of a night spent at a bar, sometimes the sole payoff for your friend's irritating wedding, or the only relief from a disastrous vacation. Often embarrassing and uncomfortable, occasionally outlandish, but most times just a necessary and irresistible evil, the one-night stand is a social rite as old as sex itself and as common as a bar stool.Enter Chelsea Handler. Gorgeous, sharp, and anything but shy, Chelsea loves men and lots of them. My Horizontal Life chronicles her romp through the different bedrooms of a variety of suitors, a no-holds-barred account of what can happen between a man and a sometimes very intoxicated, outgoing woman during one night of passion. From her ...

Meryl Gordon
Mrs. Astor Regrets: The Hidden Betrayals of a Family Beyond Reproach
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Hardcover)

A riveting look behind the gates of the houseof Astor as a famous family falls apart in publicThe fate of Brooke Astor, the endearing philanthropist with the storiedname, has generated worldwide headlines since her grandsonPhilip sued his father in 2006, alleging mistreatment of Brooke. Andshortly after her death in 2007, Anthony Marshall, Mrs. Astor’s onlychild, was indicted on charges of looting her estate. Rarely has therebeen a story with such an appealing heroine, conjuring up a world sonearly forgotten: a realm of lavish wealth and secrets of the sort thathave engaged Americans from the era of Edith Wharton to the morerecent days of Truman Capote and Vanity Fair.New York journalist Meryl Gordon has interviewed not only theelite of Brooke Astor’s social circle, but also the large staff who cossetedand cared for Mrs. Astor during her declining years. The result is thebehind-the-headlines story of the Astor empire’s unraveling, filled withnever-before-reported scenes. ...

Ron Hall, Denver Moore
Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together
by Thomas Nelson (Paperback)

A dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery. An upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel. A gutsy woman with a stubborn dream. A story so incredible no novelist would dare dream it. It begins outside a burning plantation hut in Louisiana . . . and an East Texas honky-tonk . . . and, without a doubt, in the heart of God. It unfolds in a Hollywood hacienda . . . an upscale New York gallery . . . a downtown dumpster . . . a Texas ranch. Gritty with pain and betrayal and brutality, this true story also shines with an unexpected, life-changing love.

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