First published in 1958, this raw, devastatingly haunting Holocaust memoir is Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel's best known work. After the German army invades, they first confine the Jewish community of Sighet, Transylvania, into a ghetto, and then pack them into cattle cars bound for the concentration camps. Fifteen-year-old Eliezer and his f...more
“The most lacerating tale of drug addiction since William S. Burroughs’ Junky.” —The Boston Globe“Again and again, the book delivers recollections that leave the reader winded and unsteady. James Frey’s staggering recovery memoir could well be seen as the final word on the topic.”—San Francisco Chronicle“A brutal, beautifully writ...more
If wisdom could be traded like currency, author Elizabeth Gilbert would be a wealthier woman by far, though it's likely her fabulous memoir, Eat Pray Love, racked up a few bucks during its stay on the New York Times bestseller list. What Gilbert imparts in her story--basically, bracing self-knowledge acquired during a year of travel following a bit...more
The author of Sellevision describes his bizarre coming-of-age years after his adoption by his mother's psychiatrist, during which he witnessed such misadventures as a fake suicide attempt, a pedophile's life in a barn, and front-lawn family/patient sleepovers.
The second child of a scholarly, alcoholic father and an eccentric artist mother discusses her family's nomadic upbringing from the Arizona desert, to Las Vegas, to an Appalachian mining town, during which her siblings and she fended for themselves while their parents outmaneuvered bill collectors and the authorities.
Follows the life story of an exuberant golden Labrador who gets into perpetual trouble and experiences a range of inspiring adventures, from comforting his human companions in the aftermath of a devastating miscarriage, to shutting down an entire beach, to guarding a seventeen-year-old neighbor in the aftermath of a stabbing attack.
Greg Mortenson recounts his experiences as co-founder of the Central Asia Institute, a nongovernmental organization that, since the 1990s, has done exemplary work in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where it has built and operated schools and improved public health. He tells how, by working side-by-side, the villagers and the staff of the CAI have overcom...more
This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But unt...more