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Children of the Land: A Memoir
By Marcelo Hernandez Castillo. 2020
An NPR Best Book of the YearA 2020 International Latino Book Award FinalistAn Entertainment Weekly, The Millions, and LitHub Most Anticipated…
Book of the Year This unforgettable memoir from a prize-winning poet about growing up undocumented in the United States recounts the sorrows and joys of a family torn apart by draconian policies and chronicles one young man’s attempt to build a future in a nation that denies his existence.“You were not a ghost even though an entire country was scared of you. No one in this story was a ghost. This was not a story.”When Marcelo Hernandez Castillo was five years old and his family was preparing to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, he suffered temporary, stress-induced blindness. Castillo regained his vision, but quickly understood that he had to move into a threshold of invisibility before settling in California with his parents and siblings. Thus began a new life of hiding in plain sight and of paying extraordinarily careful attention at all times for fear of being truly seen. Before Castillo was one of the most celebrated poets of a generation, he was a boy who perfected his English in the hopes that he might never seem extraordinary.With beauty, grace, and honesty, Castillo recounts his and his family’s encounters with a system that treats them as criminals for seeking safe, ordinary lives. He writes of the Sunday afternoon when he opened the door to an ICE officer who had one hand on his holster, of the hours he spent making a fake social security card so that he could work to support his family, of his father’s deportation and the decade that he spent waiting to return to his wife and children only to be denied reentry, and of his mother’s heartbreaking decision to leave her children and grandchildren so that she could be reunited with her estranged husband and retire from a life of hard labor.Children of the Land distills the trauma of displacement, illuminates the human lives behind the headlines and serves as a stunning meditation on what it means to be a man and a citizen.American Princess: The Love Story of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
By Leslie Carroll. 2018
A behind-the-scenes look into the life of Meghan Markle and her romance with Prince Harry—a dishy, delightful must-read filled with…
exclusive insights for anyone obsessed with the Royal Family.Leslie Carroll’s books on royalty are “an irresistible combination of People Magazine and the History Channel.”—Chicago TribuneWhen Prince Harry of Wales took his American girlfriend, Meghan Markle, to have tea with his grandmother the queen, avid royal watchers had a hunch that a royal wedding was not far off. That prediction came true on November 27, 2017, when the gorgeous, glamorous twosome announced their engagement to the world. As they prepare to tie the knot in a stunning ceremony on May 19, 2018, that will be unprecedented in royal history, people are clamoring to know more about the beautiful American who captured Prince Harry’s heart. Born and raised in Los Angeles to a white father of German, English, and Irish descent and an African American mother whose ancestors had been enslaved on a Georgia plantation, Meghan has proudly embraced her biracial heritage. In addition to being a star of the popular television series Suits, she is devoted to her humanitarian work—a passion she shares with Harry. Though Meghan was married once before, Prince Harry is a modern royal, and the Windsors have welcomed her into the tight-knit clan they call “The Firm.” Even a generation ago, it would have been unthinkable, as well as impermissible, for any member of Great Britain’s royal family to consider marrying someone like Meghan. Professional actresses were considered scandalous and barely respectable. And the last time an American divorcee married into the Royal Family, it provoked a constitutional crisis!In American Princess, Leslie Carroll provides context to Harry and Meghan’s romance by leading readers through centuries of Britain’s rule-breaking royal marriages, as well as the love matches that were never permitted to make it to the altar; followed by a never-before-seen glimpse into the little-known life of the woman bringing the Royal Family into the 21st century; and her dazzling, thoroughly modern romance with Prince Harry.Symptoms of Withdrawal: A Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption
By Christopher Kennedy Lawford. 2005
At last, the first memoir from a Kennedy family member—an inspirational, candid, and explosive personal story sure to be one…
of the most sensational bestsellers of the yearChristopher Kennedy Lawson was born to enormous privilege. But with fame, money, and power came tragedy and heartbreak. In this clear-eyed, sensitive, and compulsively readable autobiography, he breaks his family’s long-held silence to a rare glimpse into the exclusive worlds of both Washington politicos and the Hollywood elite during the socially turbulent 1960s and 1970s. As the first born child of famed Rat Pack actor, Peter Lawford, and John F. Kennedy’s sister, Patricia, Christopher Lawford was raised in Malibu and Martha’s Vineyard with movie stars and presidents as close family members and friends. But this little boy who learned the twist thanks to private lessons from Marilyn Monroe would grow up to become a spoiled adolescent with a near-fatal jones for heroin and alcohol. With deep sincerity, Kennedy sets the record straight, sharing many never-before-told stories about the good, the bad, and the ugly in his life, including the deaths of his uncles, his parents’ divorce and its effect, his hard-fought struggle to overcome addiction, his long-lasting sobriety, his acting career, and his relationships with his famous cousins and his own children. Surprisingly frank, Kennedy pulls no punches as he tells us what it’s really like to be a member of America’s first family.Joy on Demand: The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within
By Chade-Meng Tan. 2016
A long-awaited follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Search Inside Yourself shows us how to cultivate joy within the…
context of our fast-paced lives and explains why it is critical to creativity, innovation, confidence, and ultimately success in every arena.In Joy on Demand, Chade-Meng Tan shows that you don’t need to meditate for hours, days, months or years to achieve lasting joy—you can actually get consistent access to it in as little as fifteen seconds. Explaining joy and meditation as complementary things that naturally reinforce each other, Meng explains how these two skills form a virtuous cycle, and once put into motion, become a solid practice that can be sustained in daily life.For many years, meditation has been taught and practiced in cultures where almost all meditators practice full-time for years, resulting in training programs optimized for practitioners with lots of free time and not much else to do but develop profound mastery over the mind. Seeing a disconnect between the traditional practice and the modern world, the bestselling author and Google’s “Jolly Good Fellow” has developed a program, through “wise laziness,” to help readers meditate more efficiently and effectively. Meng shares the three pillars of joy (inner peace, insight, and happiness), why joy is the secret is to success, and demonstrates the practical tools anyone can use to cultivate it on demand.The Book of Rosy: A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border
By Rosayra Pablo Cruz, Julie Schwietert Collazo. 2020
“Offers hope in the face of desperate odds” – ELLE Magazine, ELLE’s Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2020“[D]isturbing and unforgettable…
memoir…This wrenching story brings to vivid life the plight of the many families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.” – Publisher’s Weekly, STARRED REVIEW“[The] haunting and eloquent…narrative of a Guatemalan woman's desperate search for a better life." -Kirkus, STARRED ReviewPEOPLE Magazine Best Books of Summer 2020TIME Magazine Best Books of Summer 2020PARADE Best Books of Summer 2020 Compelling and urgently important, The Book of Rosy is the unforgettable story of one brave mother and her fight to save her family. When Rosayra “Rosy” Pablo Cruz made the agonizing decision to seek asylum in the United States with two of her children, she knew the journey would be arduous, dangerous, and quite possibly deadly. But she had no choice: violence—from gangs, from crime, from spiraling chaos—was making daily life hell. Rosy knew her family’s one chance at survival was to flee Guatemala and go north.After a brutal journey that left them dehydrated, exhausted, and nearly starved, Rosy and her two little boys arrived at the Arizona border. Almost immediately they were seized and forcibly separated by government officials under the Department of Homeland Security’s new “zero tolerance” policy. To her horror Rosy discovered that her flight to safety had only just begun.In The Book of Rosy, with an unprecedented level of sharp detail and soulful intimacy, Rosy tells her story, aided by Julie Schwietert Collazo, founder of Immigrant Families Together, the grassroots organization that reunites mothers and children. She reveals the cruelty of the detention facilities, the excruciating pain of feeling her children ripped from her arms, the abiding faith that staved off despair—and the enduring friendship with Julie, which helped her navigate the darkness and the bottomless Orwellian bureaucracy.A gripping account of the human cost of inhumane policies, The Book of Rosy is also a paean to the unbreakable will of people united by true love, a sense of justice, and hope for a better future.Power of 10: The Once-A-Week Slow Motion Fitness Revolution
By Adam Zickerman, Bill Schley. 2003
Fitness expert Adam Zickerman presents a revolutionary exercise program—slow strength training—that will forever change the way Americans work out.Power of…
10 seems to contradict nearly everything we’re accustomed to hearing about exercise. Forget hours on the treadmill, and forget daily visits to the gym. Power of 10 is based on a remarkably advanced yet simple discovery: By lifting weights in a series of ultra-slow movements that last 10 seconds each, you can stimulate lean muscle formation far more efficiently and safely than regular weight lifting or aerobics. Together with a healthy nutrition plan, Power of 10 is so powerfully effective that as little as one 20-minute workout per week is enough to build muscle, burn fat, and improve cardiovascular health at any age.Windswept & Interesting: My Autobiography
By Billy Connolly. 2021
In his first full-length autobiography, comedy legend and national treasure Billy Connolly reveals the truth behind his windswept and interesting…
life.Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, and a survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family, Billy's life is a remarkable story of success against all the odds.Billy found his escape first as an apprentice welder in the shipyards of the River Clyde. Later he became a folk musician - a 'rambling man' - with a genuine talent for playing the banjo. But it was his ability to spin stories, tell jokes and hold an audience in the palm of his hand that truly set him apart.As a young comedian Billy broke all the rules. He was fearless and outspoken - willing to call out hypocrisy wherever he saw it. But his stand-up was full of warmth, humility and silliness too. His startling, hairy 'glam-rock' stage appearance - wearing leotards, scissor suits and banana boots - only added to his appeal.It was an appearance on Michael Parkinson's chat show in 1975 - and one outrageous story in particular - that catapulted Billy from cult hero to national star. TV shows, documentaries, international fame and award-winning Hollywood movies followed. Billy's pitch-perfect stand-up comedy kept coming too - for over 50 years, in fact - until a double diagnosis of cancer and Parkinson's Disease brought his remarkable live performances to an end. Since then he has continued making TV shows, creating extraordinary drawings... and writing.Windswept and Interesting is Billy's story in his own words. It is joyfully funny - stuffed full of hard-earned wisdom as well as countless digressions on fishing, farting and the joys of dancing naked. It is an unforgettable, life-affirming story of a true comedy legend.'I didn't know I was Windswept and Interesting until somebody told me. It was a friend who was startlingly exotic himself. He'd just come back from Kashmir and was all billowy shirt and Indian beads. I had long hair and a beard and was swishing around in electric blue flairs.He said: "Look at you - all windswept and interesting!"I just said: "Exactly!"After that, I simply had to maintain my reputation...'Liz Earle shows us how to future-proof our health in midlife and beyond using evidence-based techniques, ideas and wisdom accumulated…
over her years of experience in the wellbeing arena.We all know that midlife women are often hit the hardest of all health-wise, sandwiched between bringing up our families, juggling work and caring for ailing parents, and it is all too easy to lose sight of ourselves. But whatever stage or age you are there is hope and many ways to take back control of your health - physical, mental and emotional - and make yourself a priority rather than bottom of the to-do list. Liz Earle will sort the fads from the fiction in wellbeing and break through the noise that surrounds all the online advice that can overwhelm us. She has taken this mission to heart with her empowering new book A BETTER SECOND HALF. Part a retrospective of her life and part a brilliant, distillation of self-help, Liz puts forward what we need to do to live well and age well through midlife and beyond. Never shy of making her body a testing lab for new discoveries, Liz shares important information on the gut-brain axis, nutri-genomics, the efficacy of high intensity weight training, the pros and cons of low carb diets, biohacking techniques and much, much more.Liz Earle is one of the most-trusted voices in wellbeing today and here she shares her hard-won wisdom, practical advice and know-how that can turn the tide on those feelings of dejection and can have us heading into our second halves full of vigour and hope to live longer and better.Liz Earle shows us how to future-proof our health in midlife and beyond using evidence-based techniques, ideas and wisdom accumulated…
over her years of experience in the wellbeing arena.We all know that midlife women are often hit the hardest of all health-wise, sandwiched between bringing up our families, juggling work and caring for ailing parents, and it is all too easy to lose sight of ourselves. But whatever stage or age you are there is hope and many ways to take back control of your health - physical, mental and emotional - and make yourself a priority rather than bottom of the to-do list. Liz Earle will sort the fads from the fiction in wellbeing and break through the noise that surrounds all the online advice that can overwhelm us. She has taken this mission to heart with her empowering new book A BETTER SECOND HALF. Part a retrospective of her life and part a brilliant, distillation of self-help, Liz puts forward what we need to do to live well and age well through midlife and beyond. Never shy of making her body a testing lab for new discoveries, Liz shares important information on the gut-brain axis, nutri-genomics, the efficacy of high intensity weight training, the pros and cons of low carb diets, biohacking techniques and much, much more.Liz Earle is one of the most-trusted voices in wellbeing today and here she shares her hard-won wisdom, practical advice and know-how that can turn the tide on those feelings of dejection and can have us heading into our second halves full of vigour and hope to live longer and better.Finding Me in Menopause: Flourishing in Perimenopause and Menopause using Nutrition and Lifestyle
By Dr Nitu Bajekal. 2024
HRT is the one-stop solution for difficult menopause symptoms, we are told. But what if you don't want to take…
it? What if you can't take it? What if you can't get to a doctor? What if you can't get through to a doctor?In Finding Me in Menopause, Dr Nitu Bajekal, OBGYN, and one of the UK's first Board-Certified Lifestyle Medicine Physicians, shares how lifestyle interventions, and the food we eat, can dramatically transform menopausal health. following the principle of six lifestyle pillars, she gives simple yet scientific nutrition and lifestyle tips to transform the experience of menopause, with or without hormone therapy.Throughout her book, Dr Bajekal shows you how to lead a healthier and happier life, and make a positive difference for yourself and your loved ones, using time-tested techniques that anyone can access. You will learn how to identify and manage stress, understand how sleep affects our hormones, the role of exercise in our lives, and the importance of maintaining positive social connections for our mental health.There is dietary support, which draws on the science and power of plant-based nutrition to offer Menopause Menus - dozens of easy, delicious, and nourishing plant-based recipes for breakfast, main meals, and snacks from Nitu's kitchen with a shopping plan, and health insights for each dish.Each lifestyle pillar chapter concludes with a Menopause Mantra: a summary, a list of the top self-help tips to implement and a positive affirmation that is tied to that chapter.Finding Me In Menopause is an inclusive, non-pharmaceutical, holistic program that takes into account the needs of all women, from all backgrounds, removing the barriers that might stop you seeking support and giving you straightforward, achievable lifestyle-based strategies that will make a huge difference to your wellbeing.Finding Me in Menopause: Flourishing in Perimenopause and Menopause using Nutrition and Lifestyle
By Dr Nitu Bajekal. 2024
HRT is the one-stop solution for difficult menopause symptoms, we are told. But what if you don't want to take…
it? What if you can't take it? What if you can't get to a doctor? What if you can't get through to a doctor?In Finding Me in Menopause, Dr Nitu Bajekal, OBGYN, and one of the UK's first Board-Certified Lifestyle Medicine Physicians, shares how lifestyle interventions, and the food we eat, can dramatically transform menopausal health. following the principle of six lifestyle pillars, she gives simple yet scientific nutrition and lifestyle tips to transform the experience of menopause, with or without hormone therapy.Throughout her book, Dr Bajekal shows you how to lead a healthier and happier life, and make a positive difference for yourself and your loved ones, using time-tested techniques that anyone can access. You will learn how to identify and manage stress, understand how sleep affects our hormones, the role of exercise in our lives, and the importance of maintaining positive social connections for our mental health.There is dietary support, which draws on the science and power of plant-based nutrition to offer Menopause Menus - dozens of easy, delicious, and nourishing plant-based recipes for breakfast, main meals, and snacks from Nitu's kitchen with a shopping plan, and health insights for each dish.Each lifestyle pillar chapter concludes with a Menopause Mantra: a summary, a list of the top self-help tips to implement and a positive affirmation that is tied to that chapter.Finding Me In Menopause is an inclusive, non-pharmaceutical, holistic program that takes into account the needs of all women, from all backgrounds, removing the barriers that might stop you seeking support and giving you straightforward, achievable lifestyle-based strategies that will make a huge difference to your wellbeing.Queen Consort: The Life of Queen Camilla
By Penny Junor. 2017
“Thoroughly well-written, this is a believable portrait of a woman who did not seek publicity or a royal role but…
instead to support the love of her life, Prince Charles.” —Library Journal (starred review)In the first in-depth biography of Camilla—the infamous other woman who made the marriage of Britain’s Prince Charles and Princess Diana "a bit crowded"—esteemed royal biographer Penny Junor tells the unlikely and extraordinary story of the woman reviled as a pariah who, thanks to numerous twists of fate, became the popular princess consort.Few know the Windsor family as well as veteran royal biographer and journalist Penny Junor. In Queen Consort, she casts her insightful, sensitive eye on the intriguing, once widely despised, and little-known Camilla Parker Bowles, revealing in full, for the first time, the remarkable rise of a woman who was the most notorious mistress in the world.As Camilla’s marriage to Charles approached in 2005, the British public were upset at the prospect that this woman, universally reviled for wrecking the royal marriage, would one day become queen. Sensitive to public opinion, the palace announced that this would never happen; when Charles eventually acceded to the throne, Camilla would be known as the princess consort. Yet a decade later British public sentiment had changed, with a majority believing that Camilla should become queen.Junor argues that although Camilla played a central role in the darkest days of the modern monarchy—Charles and Diana’s acrimonious and scandalous split—she also played a central role in restoring the royal family’s reputation, especially that of Prince Charles. A woman with no ambition to be a princess, a duchess, or a queen, Camilla simply wanted to be with, and support, the man who has always been the love of her life. Junor contends that their marriage has reinvigorated Charles, allowing him to finally become comfortable as the heir to the British throne.Across Mountains, Land and Sea: One Boy’s Extraordinary Journey
By Arman Azadi. 2024
Arman is just a boy when he is forced to leave his home and embark on the most extraordinary journey.…
Separated from family and friends, he travels across mountains, land and sea to find refuge. After encountering bandits, war and wolves, and surviving a hazardous boat crossing, he arrives at Dover, clinging to the underside of a lorry. Little did he know, his journey had just begun.Unable to speak English, Arman battles loneliness, despair and the reawakening of his traumas in this new strange place. Memories of his family haunt him. The dark clouds almost consume him. And still he persists, step-by-step.What follows is a struggle for self-understanding, and the great strength it takes to overcome the trauma we carry. Running through is the long journey to find peace, and how education is the most powerful tool to seeing one's life through new eyes.This is the unforgettable, heartfelt and transformative story, from a child who deserved to live in safety, not flee in fear. Arman's is a powerful new voice you won't forget and Across Mountains, Land and Sea the perfect book for fans of I Am Malala, Educated and Butterfly.The Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer—Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero
By Patricia McCormick. 2016
Perfect for fans of suspenseful nonfiction such as books by Steve Sheinkin, this is a page-turning narrative about Dietrich Bonhoeffer,…
a pastor and pacifist who became an unlikely hero during World War II and took part in a plot to kill Hitler. Written by two-time National Book Award finalist Patricia McCormick, author of Sold and Never Fall Down and coauthor of the young reader’s edition of I Am Malala. It was April 5, 1943, and the Gestapo would arrive any minute. Dietrich Bonhoeffer had been expecting this day for a long time. He had put his papers in order—and left a few notes specifically for Hitler’s men to see. Two SS agents climbed the stairs and told the boyish-looking Bonhoeffer to come with them. He calmly said good-bye to his parents, put his Bible under his arm, and left. Upstairs there was proof, in his own handwriting, that this quiet young minister was part of a conspiracy to kill Adolf Hitler.This compelling, brilliantly researched account includes the remarkable discovery that Bonhoeffer was one of the first people to provide evidence to the Allies that Jews were being deported to death camps. It takes readers from his privileged early childhood to the studies and travel that would introduce him to peace activists around the world—eventually putting this gentle, scholarly pacifist on a deadly course to assassinate one of the most ruthless dictators in history. The Plot to Kill Hitler provides fascinating insights into what makes someone stand up for what’s right when no one else is standing with you. It is a question that every generation must answer again and again.With black-and-white photographs, fascinating sidebars, and thoroughly researched details, this book should be essential reading.Burro Genius: A Memoir
By Victor Villasenor. 2004
Standing at the podium, Victor Villaseñor looked at the group of educators amassed before him, and his mind flooded with…
childhood memories of humiliation and abuse at the hands of his teachers. He became enraged. With a pounding heart, he began to speak of these incidents. When he was through, to his great disbelief he received a standing ovation. Many in the audience could not contain their own tears.So begins the passionate, touching memoir of Victor Villaseñor. Highly gifted and imaginative as a child, Villaseñor coped with an untreated learning disability (he was finally diagnosed, at the age of forty-four, with extreme dyslexia) and the frustration of growing up Latino in an English-only American school in the 1940s. Despite teachers who beat him because he could not speak English, Villaseñor clung to his dream of one day becoming a writer. He is now considered one of the premier writers of our time.The Male Stress Survival Guide: Everything Men Need to Know
By Georgia Witkin. 2002
In this valuable, easy-to-read book, Dr. Witkin explains why men develop the stress symptoms they do; how stress affects their…
bodies, careers, families, personal goals and expectations; why they are particularly vulnerable to certain types of stress and not to others; and how to improve the quality and prolong the length of their lives. Her practical strategies include how to measure your stress level, uncover ten potent hidden stressors, utilize sex therapy techniques, learn how to make stress work for you, and tips for reducing Type A behavior.The Fat Lady Sang
By Robert Evans. 2013
From the legendary producer and author of The Kid Stays in the Picture—one of the greatest Hollywood memoirs ever written—comes…
a long-awaited second work with all the elements of a star-studded blockbuster: glamour and conflict, giddy highs and near-fatal lows, struggle and perseverance, tragedy and triumph.This long-awaited follow-up to the New York Times bestselling The MELT Method introduces a unique, scientific-based proactive training program for…
improving overall balance, performance, and control while preventing pain and injury.Are you an athlete facing constant injuries that hold you back from achieving peak performance? Are you someone who wants to stay fit, but are dealing with aches and pains that make it more difficult to work out? Do you want to exercise or train without being sidelined by stress fractures, strained ligaments, and painful joints? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need MELT Performance.The conditioning you do to stay in shape and perfect and improve performance—running on a treadmill, doing squats or bicep curls, practicing our backhand, even doing downward dog—requires repetitive movements. Yet 80% of orthopedic injuries are the result of repetitive motion, not trauma or accidents. In MELT Performance, nationally recognized educator, manual therapist, and exercise physiologist Sue Hitzmann introduces a revolutionary program centered on neurological joint stability or Neurostrength, that will revolutionize your health and performance.The foundation of MELT Performance is stability. To stay injury free, our joints must stable before we do repetitive motions. Acquiring stability allows the body to respond to the demands of motion. It’s the way we were designed to function—and allows us to move more efficiently, improve coordination, and save our joints. Knowing how to check in, restore, and reintegrate joint stability before it’s compromised gives an unparalleled advantage to anyone who trains hard to perform at their best. Hitzmann’s techniques are proven to work—they’re already used by world renowned professional athletes and fitness enthusiasts. If you’re ready to improve your performance and prevent injury, MELT Performance is essential no matter what sport or activity you pursue.MELT Performance includes black-and-white instructional images throughout.The Dance: Moving to the Deep Rhythms of Your Life
By Oriah. 2001
Welcome to The Dance, the wise and practical book that expands on Oriah Mountain Dreamer's new moving prose poem. In…
this compelling book the acclaimed author of The Invitation challenges readers to live with passion, energy, and honesty. The key, says Oriah, is to savor the everyday world of family, friends, love, and work with clear minds and open hearts. When we are physically and emotionally stressed and our spirits are depleted, we must realize that happiness has not vanished but is buried beneath the clutter of our harried lives. With rare courage and honesty, Oriah unveils the challenge of her inspiring poem through compelling stories from her own experience, offering us tools to become fully the person we already are -- not ways to change."To dance -- to live in a way that is consistent with our longing" -- is to discover a gift that we can give ourselves again and again over a lifetime. To dance, alone or with others, is to be who we truly are as we fulfill our soul's desires. To do this, we must learn how to let go and slow down, returning to the sacred emptiness where we encounter our true self. Practical, inspiring, and profoundly illuminating, The Dance is an invitation to discover a place of connection, serenity, and joy that is uniquely our own.My Place At The Table: A Recipe for a Delicious Life in Paris
By Alexander Lobrano. 2021
In this debut memoir, a James Beard Award–winning writer, whose childhood idea of fine dining was Howard Johnson&’s, tells how…
he became one of Paris&’s most influential food critics Until Alec Lobrano landed a job in the glamorous Paris office of Women&’s Wear Daily, his main experience of French cuisine was the occasional supermarket éclair. An interview with the owner of a renowned cheese shop for his first article nearly proves a disaster because he speaks no French. As he goes on to cover celebrities and couturiers and improves his mastery of the language, he gradually learns what it means to be truly French. He attends a cocktail party with Yves St. Laurent and has dinner with Giorgio Armani. Over a superb lunch, it&’s his landlady who ultimately provides him with a lasting touchstone for how to judge food: &“you must understand the intentions of the cook.&” At the city&’s brasseries and bistros, he discovers real French cooking. Through a series of vivid encounters with culinary figures from Paul Bocuse to Julia Child to Ruth Reichl, Lobrano hones his palate and finds his voice. Soon the timid boy from Connecticut is at the epicenter of the Parisian dining revolution and the restaurant critic of one of the largest newspapers in the France. A mouthwatering testament to the healing power of food, My Place at the Table is a moving coming-of-age story of how a gay man emerges from a wounding childhood, discovers himself, and finds love. Published here for the first time is Lobrano&’s &“little black book,&” an insider&’s guide to his thirty all-time-favorite Paris restaurants.