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iTunes Store: Top 25 Books in Biographies & Memoirs 2017-07-30

Jenelle Evans & Tonia Brown - Read Between the Lines: From the Diary of a Teenage Mom artwork Read Between the Lines: From the Diary of a Teenage Mom
Jenelle Evans & Tonia Brown
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: July 25, 2017
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Seller: Smashwords

From her appearances on 16 and Pregnant and then Teen Mom 2, Jenelle Evans’s life was put on display for all to see, and all to judge. Everyone thinks they know her, but what the audience can’t see runs deeper than what is left on the editing room floor. What of Jenelle’s complicated life before her newfound fame? An overbearing mother. Erratic siblings. A father who didn’t seem to care. Though there was no camera to capture those difficult moments, there were, thankfully, a few well-kept diaries. Join Jenelle as she tells her story through the eyes of her troubled youth, taken from her memories that were scrawled across the pages of her own diaries.



Trevor Noah - Born a Crime artwork Born a Crime
Trevor Noah
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: November 15, 2016
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Seller: Penguin Random House LLC

The compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime New York Times bestseller about one man’s coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed.   Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.             Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.             The eighteen personal essays collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.



Hillary Clinton - What Happened artwork What Happened
Hillary Clinton
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $18.99
Expected Publish Date: September 12, 2017
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Seller: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc.

“In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I’ve often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net. Now I’m letting my guard down.” —Hillary Rodham Clinton, from the introduction of What Happened For the first time, 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. This is her most personal memoir yet. In these pages, she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterward. With humor and candor, she tells readers what it took to get back on her feet—the rituals, relationships, and reading that got her through, and what the experience has taught her about life. She speaks about the challenges of being a strong woman in the public eye, the criticism over her voice, age, and appearance, and the double standard confronting women in politics. She lays out how the 2016 election was marked by an unprecedented assault on our democracy by a foreign adversary. By analyzing the evidence and connecting the dots, Hillary shows just how dangerous the forces are that shaped the outcome, and why Americans need to understand them to protect our values and our democracy in the future. The election of 2016 was unprecedented and historic. What Happened is the story of that campaign and its aftermath—both a deeply intimate account and a cautionary tale for the nation.



Bill Browder - Red Notice artwork Red Notice
A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice
Bill Browder
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $12.99
Publish Date: February 03, 2015
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Seller: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc.

A real-life political thriller about an American financier in the Wild East of Russia, the murder of his principled young tax attorney, and his dangerous mission to expose the Kremlin’s corruption. Bill Browder’s journey started on the South Side of Chicago and moved through Stanford Business School to the dog-eat-dog world of hedge fund investing in the 1990s. It continued in Moscow, where Browder made his fortune heading the largest investment fund in Russia after the Soviet Union’s collapse. But when he exposed the corrupt oligarchs who were robbing the companies in which he was investing, Vladimir Putin turned on him and, in 2005, had him expelled from Russia. In 2007, a group of law enforcement officers raided Browder’s offices in Moscow and stole $230 million of taxes that his fund’s companies had paid to the Russian government. Browder’s attorney Sergei Magnitsky investigated the incident and uncovered a sprawling criminal enterprise. A month after Sergei testified against the officials involved, he was arrested and thrown into pre-trial detention, where he was tortured for a year. On November 16, 2009, he was led to an isolation chamber, handcuffed to a bedrail, and beaten to death by eight guards in full riot gear. Browder glimpsed the heart of darkness, and it transformed his life: he embarked on an unrelenting quest for justice in Sergei’s name, exposing the towering cover-up that leads right up to Putin. A financial caper, a crime thriller, and a political crusade, Red Notice is the story of one man taking on overpowering odds to change the world.



Sheryl Sandberg & Adam Grant - Option B artwork Option B
Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy
Sheryl Sandberg & Adam Grant
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $15.99
Publish Date: April 24, 2017
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House LLC

#1 New York Times  Best Seller From Facebook’s COO and Wharton’s top-rated professor, the #1  New York Times  best-selling authors of  Lean In  and  Originals:  a powerful, inspiring, and practical book about building resilience and moving forward after life’s inevitable setbacks.   After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. “I was in ‘the void,’” she writes, “a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe.” 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. Option B combines Sheryl’s personal insights with Adam’s eye-opening research on finding strength in the face of adversity. Beginning with the gut-wrenching moment when she finds her husband, Dave Goldberg, collapsed on a gym floor, Sheryl opens up her heart—and her journal—to describe the acute grief and isolation she felt in the wake of his death. But 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. Resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us. Even after the most devastating events, it is possible to grow by finding deeper meaning and gaining greater appreciation in our lives. Option B illuminates how to help others in crisis, develop compassion for ourselves, raise strong children, and create resilient families, communities, and workplaces. Many of these lessons can be applied to everyday struggles, allowing us to brave whatever lies ahead. Two weeks after losing her husband, Sheryl was preparing for a father-child activity. “I want Dave,” she cried. Her friend replied, “Option A is not available,” and then promised to help her make the most of Option B. We all live some form of Option B. This book will help us all make the most of it.



Jen Waite - A Beautiful, Terrible Thing artwork A Beautiful, Terrible Thing
A Memoir of Marriage and Betrayal
Jen Waite
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: July 11, 2017
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

“Like  Big Little Lies ,  A Beautiful Terrible Thing  is a startling reminder that fairy tales aren’t real. A master class in suspenseful storytelling, Jen Waite recounts the lies, betrayals, and infidelity she endured with unrestrained honesty and deft candor. I couldn’t turn away.” —Jillian Lauren, New York Times bestselling author of Some Girls: My Life in a Harem and Everything You Ever Wanted What do you do when you discover that the person you've built your life around never existed? When "it could never happen to me" does happen to you? These are the questions facing Jen Waite when she begins to realize that her loving husband—the father of her infant daughter, her best friend, the love of her life—fits the textbook definition of psychopath. In a raw, first-person account, Waite recounts each heartbreaking discovery, every life-destroying lie, and reveals what happens once the dust finally settles on her demolished marriage. After a disturbing email sparks Waite's suspicion that her husband is having an affair, she tries to uncover the truth and rebuild trust in her marriage. Instead, she finds more lies, infidelity, and betrayal than she could have imagined. Waite obsessively analyzes her relationship, trying to find a single moment from the last five years that isn't part of the long-con of lies and manipulation. With a dual-timeline narrative structure, we see Waite's romance bud, bloom, and wither simultaneously, making the heartbreak and disbelief even more affecting.



Miranda Richmond Mouillot - A Fifty-Year Silence artwork A Fifty-Year Silence
Love, War, and a Ruined House in France
Miranda Richmond Mouillot
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $1.99
Publish Date: January 20, 2015
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Seller: Penguin Random House LLC

A young woman moves across an ocean to uncover the truth about her grandparents' mysterious estrangement and pieces together the extraordinary story of their wartime experiences   In 1948, after surviving World War II by escaping Nazi-occupied France for refugee camps in Switzerland, the author's grandparents, Anna and Armand, bought an old stone house in a remote, picturesque village in the South of France. Five years later, Anna packed her bags and walked out on Armand, taking the typewriter and their children. Aside from one brief encounter, the two never saw or spoke to each other again, never remarried, and never revealed what had divided them forever. A Fifty-Year Silence is the deeply involving account of Miranda Richmond Mouillot's journey to find out what happened between her grandmother, a physician, and her grandfather, an interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials, who refused to utter his wife's name aloud after she left him.  To discover the roots of their embittered and entrenched silence, Miranda abandons her plans for the future and moves to their stone house, now a crumbling ruin; immerses herself in letters, archival materials, and secondary sources; and teases stories out of her reticent, and declining, grandparents.  As she reconstructs how Anna and Armand braved overwhelming odds and how the knowledge her grandfather acquired at Nuremberg destroyed their relationship, Miranda wrestles with the legacy of trauma, the burden of history, and the complexities of memory.  She also finds herself learning how not only to survive but to thrive – making a home in the village and falling in love. With warmth, humor, and rich, evocative details that bring her grandparents' outsize characters and their daily struggles vividly to life, A Fifty-Year Silence is a heartbreaking, uplifting love story spanning two continents and three generations. From the Hardcover edition.



Al Franken - Al Franken, Giant of the Senate artwork Al Franken, Giant of the Senate
Al Franken
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $18.99
Publish Date: May 30, 2017
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Seller: Hachette Book Group

#1 New York Times Bestseller "Flips the classic born-in-a-shack rise to political office tale on its head. I skipped meals to read this book - also unusual - because every page was funny. It made me deliriously happy." - Louise Erdrich, The New York Times From Senator Al Franken - #1 bestselling author and beloved SNL alum - comes the story of an award-winning comedian who decided to run for office and then discovered why award-winning comedians tend not to do that. This is a book about an unlikely campaign that had an even more improbable ending: the closest outcome in history and an unprecedented eight-month recount saga, which is pretty funny in retrospect. It's a book about what happens when the nation's foremost progressive satirist gets a chance to serve in the United States Senate and, defying the low expectations of the pundit class, actually turns out to be good at it. It's a book about our deeply polarized, frequently depressing, occasionally inspiring political culture, written from inside the belly of the beast. In this candid personal memoir, the honorable gentleman from Minnesota takes his army of loyal fans along with him from Saturday Night Live to the campaign trail, inside the halls of Congress, and behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic and/or hilarious moments of his new career in politics. Has Al Franken become a true Giant of the Senate? Franken asks readers to decide for themselves.



Jeannette Walls - The Glass Castle artwork The Glass Castle
A Memoir
Jeannette Walls
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $12.99
Publish Date: December 15, 2006
Publisher: Scribner
Seller: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc.

Soon to be a major motion picture from Lionsgate starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts. MORE THAN SEVEN YEARS ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST The perennially bestselling, extraordinary, one-of-a-kind, “nothing short of spectacular” ( Entertainment Weekly ) memoir from one of the world’s most gifted storytellers. The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered. The Glass Castle is truly astonishing—a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.



Paul Kalanithi & Abraham Verghese - When Breath Becomes Air artwork When Breath Becomes Air
Paul Kalanithi & Abraham Verghese
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: January 12, 2016
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House LLC

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER •  For readers of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, this inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY  THE WASHINGTON POST  • THE NEW YORK TIMES • NPR BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE AWARD FINALIST At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both. Praise for When Breath Becomes Air “I guarantee that finishing this book and then forgetting about it is simply not an option. . . . Part of this book’s tremendous impact comes from the obvious fact that its author was such a brilliant polymath. And part comes from the way he conveys what happened to him—passionately working and striving, deferring gratification, waiting to live, learning to die—so well.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times “An emotional investment well worth making: a moving and thoughtful memoir of family, medicine and literature. It is, despite its grim undertone, accidentally inspiring.” — The Washington Post “Possesses the gravity and wisdom of an ancient Greek tragedy . . . [Kalanithi] delivers his chronicle in austere, beautiful prose. The book brims with insightful reflections on mortality that are especially poignant coming from a trained physician familiar with what lies ahead.” — The Boston Globe “Devastating and spectacular . . . [Kalanithi] is so likeable, so relatable, and so humble, that you become immersed in his world and forget where it’s all heading.” — USA Today “It’s [Kalanithi’s] unsentimental approach that makes When Breath Becomes Air so original—and so devastating. . . . Its only fault is that the book, like his life, ends much too early.” — Entertainment Weekly “Split my head open with its beauty.” —Cheryl Strayed



Amy Schumer - The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo artwork The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo
Amy Schumer
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: August 16, 2016
Publisher: Gallery Books
Seller: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc.

#1 New York Times Bestseller "Amy Schumer's book will make you love her even more. For a comedian of unbridled (and generally hilarious) causticity, Schumer has written a probing, confessional, unguarded, and, yes, majorly humanizing non-memoir, a book that trades less on sarcasm, and more on emotional resonance." — Vogue " The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo is an alternatingly meditative, sexually explicit, side-splittingly hilarious, heart-wrenching, disturbing, passionately political, and always staggeringly authentic ride through the highs and lows of the comedic powerhouse's life to date." — Harper's Bazaar "This is your happy hour with Amy Schumer...It's Bossypants meets Trainwreck meets your long weekend." —TheSkimm “Amy’s got your back. She’s in your corner. She’s an honesty bomb. And she’s coming for you. ” —Actress Tilda Swinton and Trainwreck co-star The Emmy Award-winning comedian, actress, writer, and star of Inside Amy Schumer and the acclaimed film Trainwreck has taken the entertainment world by storm with her winning blend of smart, satirical humor. Now, Amy Schumer has written a refreshingly candid and uproariously funny collection of ( extremely ) personal and observational essays. In The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo , Amy mines her past for stories about her teenage years, her family, relationships, and sex and shares the experiences that have shaped who she is—a woman with the courage to bare her soul to stand up for what she believes in, all while making us laugh. Ranging from the raucous to the romantic, the heartfelt to the harrowing, this highly entertaining and universally appealing collection is the literary equivalent of a night out with your best friend—an unforgettable and fun adventure that you wish could last forever. Whether she’s experiencing lust-at-first-sight while in the airport security line, sharing her own views on love and marriage, admitting to being an introvert, or discovering her cross-fit instructor’s secret bad habit, Amy Schumer proves to be a bighearted, brave, and thoughtful storyteller that will leave you nodding your head in recognition, laughing out loud, and sobbing uncontrollably—but only because it’s over.



Phil Knight - Shoe Dog artwork Shoe Dog
A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
Phil Knight
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: April 26, 2016
Publisher: Scribner
Seller: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc.

In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and board chairman Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands. Young, searching, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed fifty dollars from his father and launched a company with one simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost running shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his Plymouth Valiant, Knight grossed eight thousand dollars that first year, 1963. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. In this age of start-ups, Knight’s Nike is the gold standard, and its swoosh is more than a logo. A symbol of grace and greatness, it’s one of the few icons instantly recognized in every corner of the world. But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always been a mystery. Now, in a memoir that’s surprising, humble, unfiltered, funny, and beautifully crafted, he tells his story at last. It all begins with a classic crossroads moment. Twenty-four years old, backpacking through Asia and Europe and Africa, wrestling with life’s Great Questions, Knight decides the unconventional path is the only one for him. Rather than work for a big corporation, he will create something all his own, something new, dynamic, different. Knight details the many terrifying risks he encountered along the way, the crushing setbacks, the ruthless competitors, the countless doubters and haters and hostile bankers—as well as his many thrilling triumphs and narrow escapes. Above all, he recalls the foundational relationships that formed the heart and soul of Nike, with his former track coach, the irascible and charismatic Bill Bowerman, and with his first employees, a ragtag group of misfits and savants who quickly became a band of swoosh-crazed brothers. Together, harnessing the electrifying power of a bold vision and a shared belief in the redemptive, transformative power of sports, they created a brand, and a culture, that changed everything.



Justin Trudeau - Common Ground artwork Common Ground
My Past, Our Present and Canada's Future
Justin Trudeau
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $1.99
Publish Date: October 20, 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Seller: HarperCollins

The national bestseller Justin Trudeau has spent his life in the public eye. From the moment he was born, the first son of an iconic prime minister and his young wife, Canadians have witnessed the highs and the lows, sharing in his successes and mourning with him during tragic times. But few beyond Justin’s closest circle have heard his side of his unique journey. Now, in Common Ground, Justin Trudeau reveals how the events of his life have influenced him and formed the ideals that drive him today. He explores, with candour and empathy, the difficulties of his parents’ marriage and the effect it had on a small boy and the close relationship with a father whose exacting standards were second only to his love for his sons. He explores his political coming of age during the tumultuous years of the Charlottetown Accord and the Quebec Referendum, and reflects on his time as a teacher, which was interrupted by the devastating losses of his brother and father. We hear how a connection was forged with a beautiful young woman, Sophie Gregoire, who had known the Trudeaus in earlier days. Through it all, we come to understand how Justin found his own voice as a young man and began to solidify his understanding of Canada’s strengths and potential as a nation. We hear what drew Justin toward politics and what led to his decision to run for office. Through Justin’s eyes, we see what it was like in those first days of seeking the Liberal nomination for Papineau, when it was just he and Sophie and a clipboard in a grocery store parking lot, and how hard work and determination won him not only the nomination but two hard-fought elections. We learn of his reaction to the considerable Liberal defeat in 2011 and how it clarified his belief that the Liberal Party had lost touch with Canadians—and how that summer he was far from considering a run for the Liberal leadership but contemplating whether to leave politics altogether. And we learn why, in the end, he decided to help rejuvenate the Liberal Party and to run for the leadership and for prime minister. But mostly, Justin shares with readers his belief that Canada is a country made strong by its diversity, not in spite of it, and how our greatest potential lies in finding what unites us, in building on a sense of shared purpose—our common hopes and dreams—and in coming together on common ground.



Ed Viesturs & David Roberts - No Shortcuts to the Top artwork No Shortcuts to the Top
Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks
Ed Viesturs & David Roberts
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $1.99
Publish Date: October 17, 2006
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Seller: Penguin Random House LLC

This gripping and triumphant memoir from the author of The Mountain follows a living legend of extreme mountaineering as he makes his assault on history, one 8,000-meter summit at a time. For eighteen years Ed Viesturs pursued climbing’s holy grail: to stand atop the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. But No Shortcuts to the Top is as much about the man who would become the first American to achieve that goal as it is about his stunning quest. As Viesturs recounts the stories of his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the flat, safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go. A preternaturally cautious climber who once turned back 300 feet from the top of Everest but who would not shrink from a peak (Annapurna) known to claim the life of one climber for every two who reached its summit, Viesturs lives by an unyielding motto, “Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” It is with this philosophy that he vividly describes fatal errors in judgment made by his fellow climbers as well as a few of his own close calls and gallant rescues. And, for the first time, he details his own pivotal and heroic role in the 1996 Everest disaster made famous in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. In addition to the raw excitement of Viesturs’s odyssey, No Shortcuts to the Top is leavened with many funny moments revealing the camaraderie between climbers. It is more than the first full account of one of the staggering accomplishments of our time; it is a portrait of a brave and devoted family man and his beliefs that shaped this most perilous and magnificent pursuit.



Anonymous - The Incest Diary artwork The Incest Diary
Anonymous
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: July 18, 2017
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Seller: Penguin Random House LLC

“In the fairy tales about father–daughter incest—‘The Girl Without Hands,’ ‘Thousand Furs,’ the original ‘Cinderella,’ ‘Donkey Skin,’ and the stories of Saint Dymphna, patron saint of incest survivors—the daughters are all as you would expect them to be, horrified by their father’s sexual advances. They do everything in their power to escape. But I didn’t. A little child can’t escape. And later, when I could, it was too late.”   Throughout her childhood and adolescence, the anonymous author of  The Incest Diary  was raped by her father. Beneath a veneer of normal family life, she grew up in and around this all-encompassing secret. Her sexual relationship with her father lasted, off and on, into her twenties. It formed her world, and it formed her deepest fears and desires. Even after she broke away—even as she grew into an independent and adventurous young woman—she continued to seek out new versions of the violence, submission, and   secrecy she had struggled to leave behind.      In this graphic and harrowing memoir, the author revisits her early traumas and their aftermath—not from a clinical distance, but from deep within—to explore the ways in which her father’s abuse shaped her, and still does. As a matter of psychic survival, she became both a sexual object and a detached observer, a dutiful daughter and the protector of a dirty secret.   And then, years later, she made herself write it down.      With lyric concision, in vignettes of almost unbearable intensity, this writer tells a story that is shocking but that will ring true to many other survivors of abuse. It has never   been faced so directly on the page.



Dion Leonard - Finding Gobi artwork Finding Gobi
A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart
Dion Leonard
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: June 13, 2017
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Seller: HarperCollins

A man, a dog, and the lengths to which love will go to sacrifice for its companion. Finding Gobi is the miraculous tale of Dion Leonard, a seasoned ultramarathon runner who crosses paths with a stray dog while competing in a 155-mile race through the Gobi Desert in China. The lovable pup, who would later earn the name Gobi, proved that what she lacked in size, she more than made up for in heart, as she went step for step with Dion over the Tian Shan Mountains, across massive sand dunes, through yurt villages and the black sands of the Gobi Desert, keeping pace with him for 77 miles. As Dion witnessed the incredible determination and heart of this small animal, he found his own heart undergoing a change as well.  Whereas in the past these races were all about winning and being the best, his goal now was to make sure he and Gobi’s friendship continued well after the finish line.  He found himself letting Gobi sleep in his tent at night, giving her food and water out of his own limited supply, and carrying her across numerous rivers, even when he knew it would mean putting him behind in the race, or worse, prevent him from finishing at all.  Although Dion did not cross the finish line first, he felt he had won something even greater – a new outlook on life and a new friend that he planned on bringing home as soon as arrangements were made.  However, before he could take her home, Gobi went missing in the sprawling Chinese city where she was being kept. Dion, with the help of strangers and a viral outpouring of assistance on the internet, set out to track her down, and reunite forever with the amazing animal that changed his life and proved to him and the world that miracles are possible.  “Leonard and Gobi’s story represents the power of people working together and the profound depth of feeling possible between a man and his dog.”--Publishers Weekly 



Tim Raines & Alan Maimon - Rock Solid artwork Rock Solid
My Life in Baseball's Fast Lane
Tim Raines & Alan Maimon
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $16.99
Publish Date: April 04, 2017
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Seller: HarperCollins

A NATIONAL POST NON-FICTION PICK For more than a decade, Tim Raines patrolled left field for the Montreal Expos, igniting the powder keg of what would become one of the most innovative and talented teams of the modern era. Alongside superstars such as Andre “Hawk” Dawson and Gary Carter, Raines, nicknamed “Rock,” hit and stole his way into the hearts of the team’s dedicated fan base. The seven-time All-Star tore through the Expos’ record books before moving on to the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles and Florida Marlins, earning three World Series rings (one as a coach). The Expos retired his number (#30), and in January 2017, Raines was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. But it wasn’t always easy being Tim Raines. Raines’s performance dipped in 1982, and at the end of the season, he entered a substance abuse program for cocaine addiction. He used cocaine before games, after games and, on occasion, in the clubhouse between innings. He would ultimately resume his career and once again become one of baseball’s brightest stars, but in 1999, Raines was forced to retire after being diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease. After undergoing treatment, Raines returned at the age of forty-one to where it all began—the Montreal Expos.



Tyler Henry - Between Two Worlds artwork Between Two Worlds
Lessons from the Other Side
Tyler Henry
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: November 01, 2016
Publisher: Gallery Books
Seller: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc.

From Tyler Henry, a twenty-year-old clairvoyant and star of E!’s hit reality series Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry , comes Between Two Worlds , a memoir about his journey as a medium thus far. Tyler Henry discovered his gift for communicating with the departed when he was ten, and now, at age twenty, is a renowned, practicing medium who is the go-to clairvoyant of celebrities, having worked with some of Hollywood’s biggest names including Khloe Kardashian, Amber Rose, Margaret Cho, Jaime Pressly, Monica Potter, and Boy George, many of whom appear on his smash hit E! reality show, Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry. Between Two Worlds reveals what living life as a medium is really like—from opening up about discovering his gift as an adolescent, to what it’s truly like to communicate with the departed and the lessons we can learn from our loved ones. He also discusses the difficulty he had accepting his rare talents and the courage it took to share them with the world.



Penn Jillette - Presto! artwork Presto!
How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales
Penn Jillette
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: August 02, 2016
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Seller: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc.

Penn Jillette’s New York Times bestselling account of his “extremely funny and somewhat profane journey to discovering a healthy lifestyle…that will motivate others to seek weight-loss solutions” ( The Washington Post ). More than three hundred and thirty pounds and saddled with a systolic blood pressure reading at dangerous heights, legendary magician Penn Jillette found himself at a crossroads. He needed a drastic lifestyle change if wanted to see his small children grow up. Enter Crazy Ray. A former NASA scientist and unconventional, passionate innovator, Ray Cronise changed Penn Jillette’s life with his wild “potato diet.” In Presto , Jillette takes us along on his journey from skepticism to the inspiring, life-changing momentum that transformed the magician’s body and mind. He describes the process in hilarious detail, as he performs his Las Vegas show, takes meetings with Hollywood executives, hangs out with his celebrity friends and fellow eccentric performers, all while remaining a dedicated husband and father. Throughout, he weaves in his views on sex, religion, and pop culture, making his story a refreshing, genre-busting account. Outspoken, frank, and bitingly clever, Presto is an incisive, rollicking read. In the end, it is “undeniably inspiring” ( Booklist ).



Admiral William H. McRaven - Make Your Bed artwork Make Your Bed
Small things that can change your life... and maybe the world
Admiral William H. McRaven
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $10.99
Publish Date: June 15, 2017
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Seller: Penguin Books Limited

*** THE INCREDIBLE No. 1 New York Times BESTSELLER *** Make your bed to change the world... 'What starts here changes the world' was the university slogan that inspired William H. McRaven to take charge of the small things that could change his life . . . and even the world. Here McRaven shares the 10 life-changing principles he learned during his 37 years as a Navy SEAL. These 10 philosophies helped him to overcome challenges not only in his career, but also throughout his life. What's more anyone can use these basic lessons to change themselves, and the world, for the better . . . Begin each day with a simple task, help one another you through life, respect everyone, know that your life won't be fair and that you will fail often; take risks, step-up when times are tough, face-down the bullies, lift-up the downtrodden and never ever give up. Do these things and we will live in a far better world than the one before it . . . Told with great humility and optimism, this timeless book provides simple and universal wisdom, practical advice, and words of encouragement that will inspire readers to achieve more even in life's darkest moments. 'Superb, smart, succinct' Forbes 'A book to inspire your children and grandchildren to become everything they can' The Wall Street Journal



Sheryl Sandberg - Lean In artwork Lean In
Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Sheryl Sandberg
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: March 11, 2013
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House LLC

The #1 international best seller In  Lean In,  Sheryl Sandberg reignited the conversation around women in the workplace. Sandberg is chief operating officer of Facebook and coauthor of Option B with Adam Grant. In 2010, she gave an electrifying TED talk in which she described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which has been viewed more than six million times, encouraged women to “sit at the table,” seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto. Lean In continues that conversation , combining personal anecdotes, hard data, and compelling research to change the conversation from what women can’t do to what they can. Sandberg provides practical advice on negotiation techniques, mentorship, and building a satisfying career. She describes specific steps women can take to combine professional achievement with personal fulfillment, and demonstrates how men can benefit by supporting women both in the workplace and at home. Written with humor and wisdom ,   Lean In  is a revelatory, inspiring call to action and a blueprint for individual growth that will empower women around the world to achieve their full potential. 



Deborah Spungen - And I Don't Want to Live This Life artwork And I Don't Want to Live This Life
A Mother's Story of Her Daughter's Murder
Deborah Spungen
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: June 12, 1984
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House LLC

For most of us, it was just another horrible headline. But for Deborah Spungen, the mother of Nancy, who was stabbed to death at the Chelsea Hotel, it was both a relief and a tragedy. Here is the incredible story of an infant who never stopped screaming, a toddler who attacked people, a teenager addicted to drugs, violence, and easy sex, a daughter completely out of control--who almost destroyed her parents' marriage and the happiness of the rest of her family. "Honest and moving...Her painful tale is engrossing." WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD From the Paperback edition.



Ian Grey - The Romanovs artwork The Romanovs
Ian Grey
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $1.99
Publish Date: August 25, 2016
Publisher: New Word City, Inc.
Seller: New Word City

The Romanov dynasty has dazzled, intrigued, and confused the world for more than three centuries. These extraordinary monarchs wielded absolute power over the vast, violent lands of Russia. Savagery and kindness, asceticism and opulence, piousness and cruelty existed side by side in the royal courts. New York Times bestselling historian Ian Grey threads his way through these turbulent centuries, his focus on the private lives of the tsars themselves, the rulers whose personal histories are entwined with the history of the empire. He brings to life the passions, rages, intrigues, and greatness of the remarkable men and women who guided the destiny of Russia and changed the world.



Saroo Brierley - Lion (Movie tie-in edition) artwork Lion (Movie tie-in edition)
Saroo Brierley
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $9.99
Publish Date: June 17, 2014
Publisher: Penguin Canada
Seller: Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara, this #1 international best-seller tells the miraculous and triumphant story of a young man who rediscovers not only his childhood life and home...but an identity long-since left behind. “Amazing stuff.” – The New York Post “So incredible that sometimes it reads like a work of fiction.” – Winnipeg Free Press (Canada) At only five years old, Saroo Brierley got lost on a train in India. Unable to read or write or recall the name of his hometown or even his own last name, he survived alone for weeks on the rough streets of Calcutta before ultimately being transferred to an agency and adopted by a couple in Australia. Despite his gratitude, Brierley always wondered about his origins. Eventually, with the advent of Google Earth, he had the opportunity to look for the needle in a haystack he once called home, and pore over satellite images for landmarks he might recognize or mathematical equations that might further narrow down the labyrinthine map of India. One day, after years of searching, he miraculously found what he was looking for and set off to find his family. Lion  is a moving, poignant, and inspirational true story of survival and triumph against incredible odds. It celebrates the importance of never letting go of what drives the human spirit: hope.



Sam Walton & John Huey - Sam Walton artwork Sam Walton
Made in America
Sam Walton & John Huey
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Price: $1.99
Publish Date: May 01, 1992
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House LLC

Meet a genuine American folk hero cut from the homespun cloth of America's heartland: Sam Walton, who parlayed a single dime store in a hardscrabble cotton town into Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world.  The undisputed merchant king of the late twentieth century, Sam never lost the common touch.  Here, finally, inimitable words.  Genuinely modest, but always sure if his ambitions and achievements.  Sam shares his thinking in a candid, straight-from-the-shoulder style. In a story rich with anecdotes and the "rules of the road" of both Main Street and Wall Street, Sam Walton chronicles the inspiration, heart, and optimism that propelled him to lasso the American Dream.



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