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Intolerable: a memoir of extremes
By Kamal Al-Solaylee. 2012
As a gay man living in an intolerant Middle East, Al-Solaylee escaped first to England and eventually to Canada, where…
he became a journalist and academic. While he was enjoying the cultural and personal freedoms of life in the West, his once-liberal family slowly fell into the hard-line interpretations of Islam that were sweeping large parts of the Arab-Muslim world in the 1980s and 1990s. The differences between his life and theirs were brought into sharp relief by the 2011 revolution in Egypt and the civil war in Yemen. Bestseller. Canada Reads 2015. 2012.Russian roulette: the inside story of Putin's war on America and the election of Donald Trump
By David Corn, Michael Isikoff. 2018
Option B: facing adversity, building resilience, and finding joy
By Sheryl Sandberg, Adam M Grant. 2017
After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure…
joy again. Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. We are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. It is a muscle that everyone can build. Combines Sheryl's personal insights with Adam's research on finding strength in the face of adversity. "Option B" goes beyond Sheryl's loss to explore how a broad range of people have overcome hardships including illness, job loss, sexual assault, natural disasters, and the violence of war. Their stories reveal the capacity of the human spirit to persevere. and to rediscover joy. Bestseller. 2017.Bad blood: secrets and lies in a Silicon Valley startup
By John Carreyrou. 2018
In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout…
whose startup "unicorn" promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood tests significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at $9 billion, putting Holmes's worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn't work. For years, Holmes had been misleading investors, FDA officials, and her own employees. When Carreyrou, working at The Wall Street Journal, got a tip from a former Theranos employee and started asking questions, both Carreyrou and the Journal were threatened with lawsuits. Undaunted, the newspaper ran the first of dozens of Theranos articles in late 2015. By early 2017, the company's value was zero and Holmes faced potential legal action from the government and her investors. Bestseller. 2018.The last black unicorn
By Tiffany Haddish. 2017
Stand-up comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish grew up in one of the poorest parts of South Central Los Angeles. Her…
mother wound up with a debilitating brain injury after surviving a car accident. Tiffany never fit in anywhere: not in the households she rotated through in the foster care system, and certainly not the nearly all white high school she had to ride the bus an hour to attend. As an illiterate ninth grader, Tiffany did everything she could to survive. After a multitude of jobs, she finally realized that she had talent in an area she never would have suspected: comedy. Tiffany faced the 'routine' hindrances of climbing the entertainment business ladder, but had the added obstacles of sex, race, and class in her way. But she got there. She's humble, grateful, down to earth, and funny as hell. She still cleans the toilet the way she was shown by a foster mom who worked as a maid, and she still rolls her joints the way one of her foster dads taught her. This memoir describes the struggles of a woman who was able to achieve her dreams by reveling in her pain and awkwardness, showing the world who she really is, and inspiring others through the power of laughter. Bestseller. 2017.The restless wave: good times, just causes, great fights, and other appreciations
By Mark Salter, John McCain. 2018
"A candid new political memoir from Senator John McCain--his most personal book in years--covering everything from 2008 up to the…
present."--Provided by publisher. Written while confronting a mortal illness, John McCain looks back with appreciation on his years in the Senate, his historic 2008 campaign for the presidency against Barack Obama, and his crusades on behalf of democracy and human rights in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Always the fighter, McCain attacks the 'spurious nationalism' and political polarization afflicting American policy. He makes an impassioned case for democratic internationalism and bi-partisanship. He tells stories of his most satisfying moments of public service, including his work with another giant of the Senate, Edward M. Kennedy. Senator McCain recalls his disagreements with several presidents and minces no words in his objections to some of President Trump's statements and policies. At the same time, he offers a positive vision of America that looks beyond the Trump presidency. Bestseller. 2018.What happened
By Hillary Rodham Clinton. 2017
Hillary Rodham Clinton reveals what she was thinking and feeling during one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential elections…
in history. Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules. Bestseller. 2017.I can't make this up: life lessons
By Neil Strauss, Kevin Hart. 2017
Comedian and Hollywood box office star Kevin Hart's memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself. It…
begins in North Philadelphia. He was born an accident, unwanted by his parents. His father was a drug addict who was in and out of jail. His brother was a crack dealer and petty thief. And his mother was overwhelmingly strict, beating him with belts, frying pans, and his own toys. Hart takes the reader on a journey through what his life was, what it is today, and how he’s overcome each challenge to become the man he is today. Bestseller. 2017.Birds, art, life: a year of observation
By Kyo Maclear. 2017
When it comes to birds, Kyo Maclear isn't seeking the exotic. Rather she discovers joy in the seasonal birds that…
find their way into view in city parks and harbors, along eaves and on wires. In a world that values big and fast, Maclear looks to the small, the steady, the slow accumulations of knowledge, and the lulls that leave room for contemplation. Celebrates the particular madness of chasing after birds in the urban environment and explores what happens when the core lessons of birding are applied to other aspects of art and life. Moving with ease between the granular and the grand, peering into the inner landscape as much as the outer one, this is a deeply personal year-long inquiry into big themes: love, waiting, regrets, endings. Winner of the 2018 Trillium Book Award. Bestseller. 2017.Born to run
By Bruce Springsteen. 2016
Bruce Springsteen describes growing up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey, amid the poetry, danger, and darkness that fueled his imagination,…
leading up to the moment he refers to as "The Big Bang": seeing Elvis Presley's debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work, and shows us why the song "Born to Run" reveals more than we previously realized. Bestseller. 2016.Leonardo da Vinci
By Walter Isaacson. 2017
Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo's astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Isaacson weaves a…
narrative that connects his art to his science. He shows how Leonardo's genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy. He produced the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and technology. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry. His ability to stand at the crossroads of the humanities and the sciences, made iconic by his drawing of Vitruvian Man, made him history's most creative genius. Bestseller. 2017.Juliet's answer: one man's search for love and the elusive cure for heartbreak
By Glenn Dixon. 2017
When Glenn Dixon is spurned by love, he does something unusual. He travels to Verona, Italy, to become a scribe…
of Juliet, Shakespeare's fictional character, all in an attempt to understand his heartbreak. Once there, he volunteers to answer the thousands of letters that arrive addressed to Juliet, letters sent from lovelorn people all over the world who long to understand the mysteries of the human heart. Bestseller. 2017.Scrappy little nobody
By Anna Kendrick. 2016
In this collection of autobiographical essays, the Academy Award-nominated actress and star of Up in the Air recounts memorable milestones…
from her New England upbringing to the blockbuster films that have made her one of Hollywood's most popular actresses. She invites readers inside her brain, recounting the absurdities she's experienced on her way to and from the heart of pop culture. From her double life as a middle-school student who also starred on Broadway to her rise dazzling on the stage and screen, we enter her sharp and sweet, funny and serious (well, not that serious) world. Bestseller. 2016.A full life: reflections at ninety
By Jimmy Carter. 2015
In this autobiography, former President Carter tells what he is proud of and what he might do differently. He discusses…
his regret at losing his re-election, but how he and Rosalynn pushed on and made a new life with second and third rewarding careers. He is frank about the presidents who have succeeded him, world leaders, and his passions for the causes he cares most about, particularly the condition of women and the deprived people of the developing world. Bestseller. 2015.More than two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Welsh revisits…
the bold claims of Fukuyama, who declared the triumph of Western liberal democracy and the advent of a more peaceful world. She identifies four main fault lines that threaten global security and economic and social stability: the return of barbarism with the rise of ISIS, the return of mass flight with the Syrian refugee crisis, the return of the Cold War with Vladimir Putin's Russia, and the return of staggering inequality within Western nations. Bestseller. 2016.Five presidents: my extraordinary journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford
By Clint Hill, Lisa McCubbin. 2016
Retired Secret Service agent Clint Hill walked alongside Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford, seeing them through a long,…
tumultuous era: the Cold War; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy; the Vietnam War; Watergate and the resignations of Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon. He delivers a unique insider's perspective of the most historic moments of the 20th century during his seventeen years protecting the most powerful office in the nation, sheds new light on the character and personality of these five presidents, reveals their humanity in the face of grave decisions. Bestseller. 2016.Where I live now: a journey through love and loss to healing and hope
By Sharon Butala. 2017
When Sharon Butala’s husband, Peter, died unexpectedly, she found herself with no place to call home. Torn by grief and…
loss, she fled southwest Saskatchewan and moved to the city, leaving almost everything behind. A lifetime of possessions was reduced to a few boxes, but a lifetime of experience went with her, and a limitless well of memory - of personal failures, of a marriage that everybody said would not last but did, of the unbreakable bonds of family. Reinventing herself in an urban landscape was painful, and facing her new life as a widow tested her very being. Yet out of this hard-won new existence comes an astonishingly frank, compassionate and moving memoir that offers not only solace and hope but inspiration to those who endure profound loss. Bestseller. 2017.The secrets of my life
By Buzz Bissinger, Caitlyn Jenner. 2017
This new memoir chronicles Caitlyn Jenner's childhood as Bruce Jenner and rise to fame as a gold-medal-winning Olympic decathlete, her…
brave transition into womanhood, and her experience as the world's most famous transgender woman. Bestseller. 2017.Al Franken, giant of the Senate
By Al Franken. 2017
The Harvard-educated comedian, talk-show host, and U.S. Senator chronicles the story of his unlikely senatorial campaign, detailing the ensuing months-long…
recount and what his service has taught him about America's deeply polarized political culture. Bestseller. 2017.A house in the sky: a memoir
By Sara Corbett, Amanda Lindhout. 2013
Freelance journalist Lindhout recounts her career, tracing its roots to her childhood in Alberta, Canada, where she grew up reading…
National Geographic. Describes her worldwide travels; experiences in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other hot spots; and 2008 kidnapping and fifteen-month captivity in Somalia. Violence and some strong language. Bestseller. 2013.