Hot Off the Press > Biographies and Memoirs
America
by Heart
by Sarah Palin
Release Date: 2010-11-23
In the fall of
2009, with the publication of her #1 national bestselling memoir,
Sarah Palin had the privilege of meeting thousands of everyday
Americans on her extraordinary 35-city book tour. Inspired by these
encounters, her new book, AMERICA BY HEART: Reflections on Family,
Faith, and Flag, celebrates the enduring strengths and virtues that
have made this country great.
Framed by her strong belief in the importance of family, faith, and
patriotism, the book ranges widely over American history, culture,
and current affairs, and reflects on the key values'both national
and spiritual-that have been such a profound part of Governor
Palin's life and continue to inform her vision of America's future.
Written in her own refreshingly candid voice, AMERICA BY HEART will
include selections from classic and contemporary readings that have
moved her-from the nation's founding documents to great speeches,
sermons, letters, literature and poetry, biography, and even some
of her favorite songs and movies. Here, too, are portraits of some
of the extraordinary men and women she admires and who embody her
deep love of country, her strong rootedness in faith, and her
profound love and appreciation of family. She will also draw from
personal experience to amplify these timely (and timeless)
themes'themes that are sure to inspire her numerous fans and
readers all across the country.
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As
Always, Julia
Release Date: 2010-12-01
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Bird
Cloud
by Annie Proulx
Release Date: 2011-01-04
Part autobiography, part natural history, Bird Cloud is the glorious story of Annie Proulx's piece of the Wyoming landscape and her home there.
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Conversations
with Myself
Release Date: 2010-10-11
Nelson Mandela
is widely considered to be one of the most inspiring and iconic
figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to
record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has
bestowed his entire extant personal papers, which offer an
unprecedented insight into his remarkable life.
A singular international publishing event, Conversations with
Myself draws on Mandela's personal archive of
never-before-seen materials to offer unique access to the private
world of an incomparable world leader. Journals kept on the run
during the anti-apartheid struggle of the early 1960s; diaries and
draft letters written in Robben Island and other South African
prisons during his twenty-seven years of incarceration; notebooks
from the postapartheid transition; private recorded conversations;
speeches and correspondence written during his
presidency�a historic collection of documents
archived at the Nelson Mandela Foundation is brought together into
a sweeping narrative of great immediacy and stunning power. An
intimate journey from Mandela's first stirrings of political
consciousness to his galvanizing role on the world stage,
Conversations with Myself illuminates a heroic life forged
on the front lines of the struggle for freedom and justice.
While other books have recounted Mandela's life from the vantage of
the present, Conversations with Myself allows, for the
first time, unhindered insight into the human side of the
icon.
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Countdown
to Lockdown
by Mick Foley
Release Date: 2010-10-15
The undisputed
king of the literary ring is back with another handwritten,
hardcore home run. Forget the ghost writer and the computer
keyboard - this mesmerizing memoir is straight from the pen and
notebook paper of the Hardcore Legend, Mick Foley, chronicling the
heart-pounding build-up to "Lockdown", one of the most important
matches of his long and storied career. Foley's every limit is
tested, as he battles back the formidable tag-team of Father Time
and Mother Nature - overcoming a host of injuries and serious
self-doubts to get back in the ring with one of his all-time
favorite foes. With his trademark blend of wit and wisdom, wildness
and warmth, Foley dishes previously untold stories from his
remarkable life, including his transition from WWE to TNA, his
ill-fated stint as a television commentator, his tumultuous
relationship with Vince McMahon, his thoughts on performance
enhancing substances in sports, the troubling list of wrestlers
dying way too young, and his soul saving work in Sierra Leone.
Raw, dynamic, and unabashedly honest, COUNTDOWN TO
LOCKDOWN charts Foley's wrestling rebirth, and rise to
heights that his fans thought he would never see again.
Publisher's Note: 100% of the advance for this book has
been donated to Child Fund International and
RAINN.
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Decision
Points
Release Date: 2010-11-09
President
George W. Bush describes the critical decisions of his presidency
and personal life.
Decision Points is the extraordinary memoir of America's
43rd president. Shattering the conventions of political
autobiography, George W. Bush offers a strikingly candid journey
through the defining decisions of his life.
In gripping, never-before-heard detail, President Bush brings
readers inside the Texas Governor's Mansion on the night of the
hotly contested 2000 election; aboard Air Force One on 9/11, in the
hours after America's most devastating attack since Pearl Harbor;
at the head of the table in the Situation Room in the moments
before launching the war in Iraq; and behind the Oval Office desk
for his historic and controversial decisions on the financial
crisis, Hurricane Katrina, Afghanistan, Iran, and other issues that
have shaped the first decade of the 21st century.
President Bush writes honestly and directly about his flaws and
mistakes, as well as his accomplishments reforming education,
treating HIV/AIDS in Africa, and safeguarding the country amid
chilling warnings of additional terrorist attacks. He also offers
intimate new details on his decision to quit drinking, discovery of
faith, and relationship with his family.
A groundbreaking new brand of memoir, Decision Points will
captivate supporters, surprise critics, and change perspectives on
one of the most consequential eras in American history and the man
at the center of events.
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Extraordinary,
Ordinary People
Release Date: 2010-10-12
Condoleezza
Rice has excelled as a diplomat, political scientist, and concert
pianist.� Her achievements run the gamut from
helping to oversee the collapse of communism in Europe and the
decline of the Soviet Union, to working to protect the country in
the aftermath of 9-11, to becoming only the second woman - and the
first black woman ever -- to serve as Secretary of State.
�
But until she was 25 she never learned to swim.
�
Not because she wouldn't have loved to, but because when she was a
little girl in Birmingham, Alabama, Commissioner of Public Safety
Bull Connor decided he'd rather shut down the city's pools than
give black citizens access.
�
Throughout the 1950's, Birmingham's black middle class largely
succeeded in insulating their children from the most corrosive
effects of racism, providing multiple support systems to ensure the
next generation would live better than the
last.� But by 1963, when Rice was applying
herself to her fourth grader's lessons, the situation had grown
intolerable.� Birmingham was an environment
where blacks were expected to keep their head down and do what they
were told -- or face violent consequences.
�That spring two bombs exploded in Rice's
neighborhood amid a series of chilling Klu Klux Klan
attacks.� Months later, four young girls lost
their lives in a particularly vicious bombing.
�
So how was Rice able to achieve what she ultimately did?
�
Her father, John, a minister and educator, instilled a love of
sports and politics.� Her mother, a teacher,
developed Condoleezza's passion for piano and exposed her to the
fine arts.� From both, Rice learned the value
of faith in the face of hardship and the importance of giving back
to the community.� Her parents' fierce
unwillingness to set limits propelled her to the venerable halls of
Stanford University, where she quickly rose through the ranks to
become the university's second-in-command.� An
expert in Soviet and Eastern European Affairs, she played a leading
role in U.S. policy as the Iron Curtain fell and the Soviet Union
disintegrated.� Less than a decade later, at
the apex of the hotly contested 2000 presidential election, she
received the exciting news just shortly before her father's death
that she would go on to the White House as the first female
National Security Advisor.�
�
As comfortable describing lighthearted family moments as she is
recalling the poignancy of her mother's cancer battle and the heady
challenge of going toe-to-toe with Soviet leaders, Rice holds
nothing back in this remarkably candid telling. This is the story
of Condoleezza Rice that has never been told, not that of an
ultra-accomplished world leader, but of a little girl and a young
woman -- trying to find her place in a sometimes hostile world and
of two exceptional parents, and an extended family and community,
that made all the difference.�
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Fragments
Release Date: 2010-10-12
But what of the other Marilyn? Beyond the headlines�and the too-familiar stories of heartbreak and desolation�was a woman far more curious, searching, and hopeful than the one the world got to know. Even as Hollywood studios tried to mold and suppress her, Marilyn never lost her insight, her passion, and her humor. To confront the mounting difficulties of her life, she wrote.
Now, for the first time, we can meet this private Marilyn and get to know her in a way we never have before. Fragments is an unprecedented collection of written artifacts�notes to herself, letters, even poems�in Marilyn's own handwriting, never before published, along with rarely seen intimate photos.
These bits of text�jotted in notebooks, typed on paper, or written on hotel letterhead�reveal a woman who loved deeply and strove to perfect her craft. They show a Marilyn Monroe unsparing in her analysis of her own life, but also playful, funny, and impossibly charming. The easy grace and deceptive lightness that made her performances so memorable emerge on the page, as does the simmering tragedy that made her last appearances so heartbreaking.
Fragments is an event�an unforgettable book that will redefine one of the greatest stars of the twentieth century and which, nearly fifty years after her death, will definitively reveal Marilyn Monroe's humanity.
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Governator
by Ian Halperin
Release Date: 2010-10-12
From his childhood in Austria to his rise as a star of American conservative politics, the story of Arnold Schwarzenegger's life reads like the script of a Hollywood B movie penned by Horatio Alger. In this chatty and engaging biography, scoop hunter Ian Halperin sifts through the myths and rumors to discover the real Arnold behind the icon, a man defined by unbridled ambition and an unending quest for power. Based on intensive research and candid interviews with many who know the man best, Halperin paints a candid, true-life portrait of this remarkable man. Going undercover in Austria, he takes a soul-searching journey through Schwarzenegger's past to explore his relationship with his abusive father and his feelings toward the Nazi Party. Halperin also infiltrates the exclusive world of bodybuilding and Schwarzenegger's early steroid use. He also addresses Arnold's reputation as a womaniser, including his alleged affairs and public accusations of sexual harassment, behaviour that earned the star the nickname 'the Groper'. Here, too, is an in-depth look at his marriage and family - including his wife, Maria Shriver's extremely secret and very serious illness - and his uncertain future. Halperin offers a serious analysis of Schwarzenegger's political career, revealing him to be an extraordinarily effective governor whose accomplishments, especially in environmental initiatives, have been overshadowed by a devastating fiscal crisis that threatens to tarnish his legacy. And he probes the depth of Schwarzenegger's commitment to the Republic brand vis-a-vis his attachment to the most famous Democratic family in America, the Kennedys. Filled with judicious research and a wealth of shocking headline-making revelations, "The Governator" is sure to be this bestselling investigative journalist's biggest hit yet.
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Half
a Life
Release Date: 2010-10-11
So begins Darin Strauss' Half a Life, the true story of how one outing in his father's Oldsmobile resulted in the death of a classmate and the beginning of a different, darker life for the author. We follow Strauss as he explores his startling past�collision, funeral, the queasy drama of a high-stakes court case�and what starts as a personal tale of a tragic event opens into the story of how to live with a very hard fact: we can try our human best in the crucial moment, and it might not be good enough. Half a Life is a nakedly honest, ultimately hopeful examination of guilt, responsibility, and living with the past.
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I
Remember Nothing
by Nora Ephron
Release Date: 2010-11-09
Nora Ephron
returns with her first book since the astounding success of I
Feel Bad About My Neck, taking a cold, hard, hilarious look at
the past, the present, and the future, bemoaning the vicissitudes
of modern life, and recalling with her signature clarity and wisdom
everything she hasn't (yet) forgotten.
Even as she's listing What I Won't Miss and What I Will Miss'making
the final tally'Ephron reaches back to recount falling hard for a
way of life ( Journalism: A Love Story) and breaking up even harder
with the men in her life ( The D Word), a long- anticipated
inheritance with entirely unanticipated results ( My Life as an
Heiress), and the evolution, a decade after she wrote and directed
You've Got Mail, of her relationship with her in-box ( The
Six Stages of E- mail). All the while, she gives candid, charming
voice to everything women who have reached a certain age have been
thinking . . . but have rarely acknowledged.
Filled with insights and observations that instantly ring true'and
could have come only from Nora Ephron'I Remember Nothing
is a pure delight.
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Is
It Just Me?
Release Date: 2010-10-05
Have you noticed that things aren't as civil as they once were? Or that rudeness is no longer an exception but a lifestyle? Sure you have. All you need to do is set foot outside your door to see that bad manners are taking over everywhere. People are yakking on cell phones in restaurants, even at church. Folks in carpools wear enough cologne to make our eyes bleed. Complete strangers think it's OK to rub a pregnant lady's belly. Passengers abuse flight attendants, family outings to the ball park are ruined by rowdy drunks . . . a congressman heckled the President of the United States.
Well, Whoopi Goldberg has noticed all this and more and asked herself, "Is it just me?" Unleashing her trademark irreverence and humor, her new book of observations takes a funny and excruciatingly honest look at how a loss of civility is messing with the quality of life for all of us.
So if your pet peeve is folks who talk in movie theaters like it was their living room, or if you get bugged by people clipping their nails and performing other personal hygiene next to you on the bus, or if you cringe when "please" and "thank you" get replaced by "gimme" and "huh?" . . . you have found a kindred spirit. Because Whoopi has witnessed the growing disrespect and rudeness in our lives and realized she is not alone. And, as you'll discover in these pages, neither are you.
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I'm
Not High
by Jim Breuer
Release Date: 2010-10-15
A deeply
personal, deeply hilarious memoir from one of America's most
Beloved Saturday Night Live comedians.
With his goofy smile, sleepy eyes, and stoner's laugh, Jim Breuer
might not appear to be the most introspective comedian out there.
The fact that he made his mark playing Goat Boy on Saturday
Night Live and a recalcitrant toker in the stoner classic
Half Baked doesn't help his reputation at all. But in
I'm Not High, we meet a whole new Jim Breuer: the Jim who
tours the country with his whole family in tow; the Jim who cares
for his ailing eighty-five-year-old father; the Jim who considers
himself a deeply spiritual person. I'm Not High reveals
the complex man behind the simpleminded persona, bringing to life
true stories from a career that has spanned two riotous (yet
somehow semi-righteous) decades.
Jim dishes on everything from the SNL years to his early
adventures in film. The cast of characters in I'm Not High
includes Chris Farley, Dave Chapelle, and Tracy Morgan-who all
taught Jim lasting lessons about the high-stakes game of fame. He
also chronicles the constant role his family has played in keeping
him honest. Whether he's arguing with his wife about religion (Is
it okay to believe in God but not believe in church?), trying to
take care of his kids, or helping his father get through the day
with his dignity in tact, it's clear that some of his best material
comes from his best moments as a son and a dad and a
husband.
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Joe
Biden
Release Date: 2010-10-05
"When I got knocked down by guys bigger than me . . . [my mother] sent me back out and demanded that I bloody their nose so I could walk down the street the next day."'Joe Biden
In this, the first definitive biography of Vice President Joe Biden, renowned journalist Jules Witcover examines the fascinating life of a man who, with his tenacity, outspokenness, and charming smile, has shaped Washington politics for the past forty years and who now serves as the forty-seventh vice president of the United States.
Raised in the working-class towns of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware, and with lackluster grades in school and no particular goals other than to play sports or, fleetingly, to become a priest, Biden shocked the nation in 1972 when he became one of the youngest elected senators in U.S. history. From that point forward, he carved a legacy for himself as one of the most respected legislators in the country. Biden's record in Congress was impressive. He chaired three Senate committees, confronted Slobodan Miloševic head-on as a war criminal, and conducted the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court justices. After voting for the 2002 Senate resolution to use force in Iraq, he later called for its repeal and became an outspoken critic of the conduct of the war.
Yet for all of Biden's achievements in the Senate, his life has been filled with tragedy and countless challenges. Within two months of being elected in 1972, Biden lost his wife, Neilia, and his young daughter in a tragic accident'a loss that brought him to the nadir of despair and shook his resolve to stay in politics. And even after Biden vowed to continue his career, his tenure was marked by two brain aneurysms and career-threatening verbal gaffes. Then, after being considered among the front-runners in the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries, Biden was accused of plagiarism for a speech he made at the Iowa State Fair. He dropped out of the race to the sounds of Washington pundits chattering that the presidency would never be his. Through it all, Biden survived and ran'and eventually dropped out'again in the 2008 primaries. But even with this defeat, Barack Obama recognized Biden's vast experience in domestic and foreign affairs, and selected him to be his running mate.
Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption is based on exhaustive research by one of Washington's most prolific journalists. In drawing on numerous exclusive interviews with Biden's confidants and family members, as well as President Obama and Vice President Biden, Witcover has gone beyond conventional biography to track the forces that have shaped a man who, with his plainspoken style and inspiring life story, has resonated with millions of Americans and whose work is now influencing the Obama-Biden administration and shaping America.
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Journey
by Tony Blair
Release Date: 2010-09-02
In 1997, the
biggest Labour Party victory in history swept England, ending
eighteen years of Conservative government. Prime Minister Tony
Blair'young, charismatic, and complex'shaped the nation profoundly
in the ten years that followed. Alternately beloved and reviled, he
was an international figure to a degree matched by few British
leaders'a role he continues to this day through the Tony Blair
Faith Foundation and his work in the Middle East. Now, for the
first time, we see the fascinating journey and difficult choices of
the Prime Minister through his own eyes.
Grippingly candid, A Journey is full of startling insights
into a host of world leaders, including George W. Bush and Bill
Clinton. It is also a book that delves deeply into what it
means'publicly and personally'to hold a position of great power in
today's world.
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Lost
and Found
by John Glatt
Release Date: 2010-10-15
Then, in August 2009, a registered sex offender named Phillip Garrido appeared on the University of California, Berkeley campus alongside two young women whose unusual behavior sparked concern among campus officials and law enforcement. That visit would pave the way for shocking discovery: that Garrido was Jaycee Lee Dugard's kidnapper�
Jaycee's story was revealed: For eighteen years, she had lived in an outbuilding on the Garrido property in Antioch, CA, just two hours away from her childhood home. Kept in complete isolation, she was raped by Garrido, who fathered her two daughters. When news broke of Jaycee's discovery, there was a huge outpouring of relief across the nation. But questions remain: How did the Garridos slip past authorities? And how did Jaycee endure her captivity? This is the story of a girl-next-door who was Lost and Found.
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Love,
Lust & Faking It
Release Date: 2010-09-28
In Belly Laughs, Jenny McCarthy told you what you could really expect when you're expecting; in Baby Laughs and Life Laughs, she gave you the unfiltered ups and downs of motherhood and marriage. Now in Love, Lust, and Faking It, the inveterate truth-teller turns the lights on for a funny, often wise, and no-holds-barred look at the essence of relationships: love and sex.
McCarthy talks about finding first love and dealing with heartbreak; the importance of playing doctor and other nice and naughty fantasies; becoming a Playboy Miss October; why women are master manipulators; the virtues of sex with the lights off; the power of a "loving no," and so much more.
Love, Lust, and Faking It takes on a subject the sex symbol, mother, television star, comedian, and divorcÉe can be trusted to examine with nothing but unvarnished honesty and outrageous humor.
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Malcolm
X
Release Date: 2011-03-08
Years
in the making-the definitive biography of the legendary black
activist.
Of the great figure in twentieth-century American history perhaps
none is more complex and controversial than Malcolm X. Constantly
rewriting his own story, he became a criminal, a minister, a
leader, and an icon, all before being felled by assassins' bullets
at age thirty-nine. Through his tireless work and countless
speeches he empowered hundreds of thousands of black Americans to
create better lives and stronger communities while establishing the
template for the self-actualized, independent African American man.
In death he became a broad symbol of both resistance and
reconciliation for millions around the world.
Manning Marable's new biography of Malcolm is a stunning
achievement. Filled with new information and shocking revelations
that go beyond the Autobiography, Malcolm X unfolds a
sweeping story of race and class in America, from the rise of
Marcus Garvey and the Ku Klux Klan to the struggles of the civil
rights movement in the fifties and sixties. Reaching into Malcolm's
troubled youth, it traces a path from his parents' activism through
his own engagement with the Nation of Islam, charting his
astronomical rise in the world of Black Nationalism and culminating
in the never-before-told true story of his assassination.
Malcolm X will stand as the definitive work on one of the
most singular forces for social change, capturing with revelatory
clarity a man who constantly strove, in the great American
tradition, to remake himself anew.
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Mary
Tudor
Release Date: 2010-09-07
She was the
first woman to inherit the throne of England, a key player in one
of Britain's stormiest eras, and a leader whose unwavering faith
and swift retribution earned her the nickname Bloody Mary. Now, in
this impassioned and absorbing debut, historian Anna Whitelock
offers a modern perspective on Mary Tudor and sets the record
straight once and for all on one of history's most compelling and
maligned rulers.
���
Though often overshadowed by her long-reigning sister, Elizabeth I,
Mary lived a life full of defiance, despair, and triumph. Born the
daughter of the notorious King Henry VIII and the Spanish Katherine
of Aragon, young Mary was a princess in every sense of the
word'schooled in regal customs, educated by the best scholars,
coveted by European royalty, and betrothed before she had reached
the age of three. Yet in a decade's time, in the wake of King
Henry's break with the pope, she was declared a bastard,
disinherited, and demoted from princess to lady. Ever her deeply
devout mother's daughter, Mary refused to accept her new status or
to recognize Henry's new wife, Anne Boleyn, as queen. The fallout
with her father and his counselors nearly destroyed the teenage
Mary, who faced imprisonment and even
death.�
It would be an outright battle for Mary to work herself back into
the king's favor, claim her rightful place in the Tudor line, and
ultimately become queen of England, but her coronation would not
end her struggles. She flouted the opposition and married Philip of
Spain, sought to restore Catholicism to the nation, and fiercely
punished the resistance. But beneath her brave and regal exterior
was a dependent woman prone to anxiety, whose private traumas of
phantom pregnancies, debilitating illnesses, and unrequited love
played out in the public glare of the fickle
court.�
���
Anna Whitelock, an acclaimed young British historian, chronicles
this unique woman's life from her beginnings as a heralded princess
to her rivalry with her sister to her ascent as ruler. In brilliant
detail, Whitelock reveals that Mary Tudor was not the weak-willed
failure as so often rendered by traditional narratives but a
complex figure of immense courage, determination, and
humanity.
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Match
Release Date: 2010-10-12
The story of how two wildly disparate lives come together in a dramatic and unusual transplant operation: the gift of a face.
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Muhammad
Release Date: 2010-09-21
Born into the factious world of war-torn Arabia, Muhammad's life is a gripping and inspiring story of one man's tireless fight for unity and peace. In a world where greed and injustice ruled, Muhammad created change by affecting hearts and minds. Just as the story of Jesus embodies the message of Christianity, Muhammad's life reveals the core of Islam. Deepak Chopra shares the life of Muhammad as never before, putting his teachings in a new light. Following the historical record but offering a unique perspective, Chopra's "Muhammad" captures the historical prophet but more importantly show us why his teachings are more important now than ever before.
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My
Formerly Hot Life
Release Date: 2010-09-20
When men stop
making lecherous catcalls and Spanx get comfortable in your
lingerie drawer, when marketers target you for Activia instead of
$200 premium denim, when you have to start wearing makeup to get
that I'm not wearing any makeup glow and are ma'amed outside the
Deep South, it may dawn on you that somehow you have crossed an
invisible line: You are not the young, relevant, in-the-mix woman
you used to be. But neither are you old, or even what you think of
as middle-aged. You are no longer what you were, but not quite sure
what you are.�
Stephanie Dolgoff calls this stage of a woman's life Formerly, the
state of mind and body she herself is in now: Her roaring twenties
are behind her, but she's not in hot flash territory, either.
My Formerly Hot Life, showcasing Dolgoff's wacky
and wise observations about this little-discussed flux time,
demonstrates that becoming a Formerly is intensely poignant if
you're paying attention, and hilarious even if you're not. From
fashion to friendship, beauty to body image, married sex to single
searching, mothering to careering (or both), Dolgoff reveals the
upside to not being forever 21'even as you watch the things you
once thought were so essential to a happy life go the way of the
cassette tape. You may be formerly thin, formerly cool, formerly
(seemingly) carefree, formerly cutting-edge, but in reading My
Formerly Hot Life you are reminded that you are finally more
comfortable in your skin (formerly obsessed with your weight),
finally following your instincts (formerly ruled by the opinions of
others), and finally happy with where you are (formerly focused on
the guy or job you thought would take you where you thought you
should be). While you may no longer be as close to the
media-machine-generated idea of fabulous, you can do many, many
more things fabulously.
Wildly entertaining and inspiring, My Formerly Hot
Life proves that once you let yourself laugh about that
which is passing, life is richer, more fun, and more satisfying.
Despite what you're led to believe, growing older most certainly
means growing better.
�
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My
Nest Isn't Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space
Release Date: 2010-10-26
In this book Lisa and Francesca spill all their family secrets—which sound a lot like yours, if you understand that three generations of women is the formula for spontaneous combustion.
Inspired by her weekly column entitled, “Chick Wit for The Philadelphia Inquirer, this is a book you'll have to put down—just to stop laughing.
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My
Reading Life
by Pat Conroy
Release Date: 2010-11-02
Bestselling author Pat Conroy
acknowledges the books that have shaped him and celebrates the
profound effect reading has had on his life.
Pat Conroy, the beloved American storyteller, is also a
vora�cious reader. He has for years kept a
notebook in which he notes words or phrases, just from a love of
language. But read�ing for him is not simply a
pleasure to be enjoyed in off-hours or a source of inspiration for
his own writing. It would hardly be an exaggeration to claim that
reading has saved his life, and if not his life then surely his
sanity.
In My Reading Life, Conroy revisits a life of passionate
reading. He includes wonderful anecdotes from his school days,
mov�ing accounts of how reading pulled him
through dark times, and even lists of books that particularly
influenced him at vari�ous stages of his life,
including grammar school, high school, and college. Readers will be
enchanted with his ruminations on reading and books, and want to
own and share this perfect gift book for the holidays. And, come
graduation time,�My Reading Life will
establish itself as a perennial favorite, as did Dr. Seuss's
Oh, the Places You'll Go!
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My
Stolen Son
Release Date: 2010-10-11
The
true story of the shocking crime behind the hit movie Alpha
Dog
One week after fifteen-year-old Nick Markowitz vanished, his mother
received the news: Nick's body had been found in a shallow grave.
Now she tells her own gripping story-the unbelievable motive for
the murder, the shocking identity of the accused, and her own
nine-year battle to bring her son's killers to justice.
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Obamas
Release Date: 2011-01-11
Peter Firstbrook spent many months in Kenya researching the history of Barack Obama's family. Peter is the only person to have traced Obama's roots from the present back through more than twenty generations, thanks to the Luo tribe's remarkable oral tradition. Seen though the eyes of the Obama family this will be the story of an African dynasty going back over 400 years. It is a truly astonishing drama culminating in the inauguration of Barack Obama on 20 January 2009, watched by Obama's African family on a flickering television clustered under a group of trees in the twilight of Kobama village in Kenya. A very special hundred or so men, women and children amongst billions all around the world who viewed the momentous event of the swearing in of the first black President of the United States. This book establishes the early ancestry of the Obama family in the Alego region, telling the story of farmers and fishermen, of love and tribal warfare, of families lost and found. It traces the Obama roots from famous tribal warriors in the seventeenth century to the first encounters with the white man in the early 1900s; generation by generation we follow the family through colonial rule and the fight for Kenyan independence, including the Mau Mau and the relationship of Barack Obama's father with President Kenyatta. This is a book about a family whose destiny is unknown to them. It is a true testament to the belief that any person can make their mark in the world no matter how humble their origins.
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Oogy
by Larry Levin
Release Date: 2010-10-12
In the
bestselling tradition of Rescuing Sprite comes the story
of a puppy brought back from the brink of death, and the family he
adopted.
In 2002, Larry Levin and his twin sons, Dan and Noah, took their
terminally ill cat to the Ardmore Animal Hospital outside
Philadelphia to have the beloved pet put to sleep. What would begin
as a terrible day suddenly got brighter as the ugliest dog they had
ever seen--one who was missing an ear and had half his face covered
in scar tissue--ran up to them and captured their hearts. The dog
had been used as bait for fighting dogs when he was just a few
months old. He had been thrown in a cage and left to die until the
police rescued him and the staff at Ardmore Animal Hospital saved
his life. The Levins, whose sons are themselves adopted, were
unable to resist Oogy's charms, and decided to take him home.
Heartwarming and redemptive, OOGY is the story of the people who
were determined to rescue this dog against all odds, and of the
family who took him home, named him "Oogy" (an affectionate
derivative of ugly), and made him one of their own.
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Our
Last Best Chance
Release Date: 2011-01-05
A newsbreaking memoir revealing the secret, high level negotiations that could soon transform the map of the Middle East.
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Rock
Roadie
by James
Release Date: 2010-10-11
Rock Roadie takes you on an exclusive all-access tour of more than thirty years on the road with the biggest names in rock 'n' roll.
����������� As a roadie for some of the world's greatest music stars, James �Tappy Wright has seen and done it all. He was there at the beginning when The Animals were formed and when they recorded their anthem, �The House of the Rising Sun. He was there when an unknown guitarist called Jimi Hendrix played to a handful of listeners in a smoky New York club and the next day, recorded one of his biggest hits, �Hey Joe. And as tour manager and often close confidante, Tappy has looked after superstar Tina Turner and her fiery husband, Ike, on tour, worked for Gene Vincent,�helped to trap an egotistical Little Richard in an elevator, and hung up on Elvis for impersonating . . . Elvis.
����������� Packed full of conspiracy theories, truths finally told, and previously unheard anecdotes, Rock Roadie is a gripping and hilarious read that blows open the world of rock 'n' roll in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, including an explosive revelation about the mysterious circumstances of Hendrix's death.
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Running
the Books
Release Date: 2010-10-19
Avi Steinberg
is stumped. After defecting from yeshiva to Harvard, he has only a
senior thesis essay on Bugs Bunny to show for his effort. While his
friends and classmates advance in the world, he remains stuck at a
crossroads, unable to meet the lofty expectations of his Orthodox
Jewish upbringing. And his romantic existence as a freelance
obituary writer just isn't cutting it. Seeking direction'and dental
insurance'Steinberg takes a job as a librarian in a tough Boston
prison.
�
The prison library counter, his new post, attracts con men, minor
prophets, ghosts, and an assortment of quirky regulars searching
for the perfect book and a connection to the outside world. There's
an anxious pimp who solicits Steinberg's help in writing a memoir.
A passionate gangster who dreams of hosting a cooking show titled
Thug Sizzle. A disgruntled officer who instigates a major
feud over a Post-it note. A doomed ex-stripper who asks Steinberg
to orchestrate a reunion with her estranged son, himself an inmate.
Over time, Steinberg is drawn into the accidental community of
outcasts that has formed among his bookshelves ' a drama he
recounts with heartbreak and humor. But when the struggles of the
prison library ' between life and death, love and loyalty ' become
personal, Steinberg is forced to take sides.
Running the Books is a trenchant exploration of prison
culture and an entertaining tale of one young man's earnest attempt
to find his place in the world while trying not to get fired in the
process.�
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Secret
Gift
by Ted Gup
Release Date: 2010-10-28
An
inspiring account of America at its worst-and Americans at their
best-woven from the stories of Depression-era families who were
helped by gifts from the author's generous and secretive
grandfather.
Shortly before Christmas 1933 in Depression-scarred Canton, Ohio, a
small newspaper ad offered $10, no strings attached, to 75 families
in distress. Interested readers were asked to submit letters
describing their hardships to a benefactor calling himself Mr. B.
Virdot. The author's grandfather Sam Stone was inspired to place
this ad and assist his fellow Cantonians as they prepared for the
cruelest Christmas most of them would ever witness.
Moved by the tales of suffering and expressions of hope contained
in the letters, which he discovered in a suitcase 75 years later,
Ted Gup initially set out to unveil the lives behind them,
searching for records and relatives all over the country who could
help him flesh out the family sagas hinted at in those letters.
From these sources, Gup has re-created the impact that Mr B.
Virdot's gift had on each family. Many people yearned for bread,
coal, or other necessities, but many others received money from B.
Virdot for more fanciful items-a toy horse, say, or a set of
encyclopedias. As Gup's investigations revealed, all these things
had the power to turn people's lives around- even to save them.
But as he uncovered the suffering and triumphs of dozens of
strangers, Gup also learned that Sam Stone was far more complex
than the lovable- retiree persona he'd always shown his grandson.
Gup unearths deeply buried details about Sam's life-from his
impoverished, abusive upbringing to felonious efforts to hide his
immigrant origins from U.S. officials-that help explain why he felt
such a strong affinity to strangers in need. Drawing on his unique
find and his award-winning reportorial gifts, Ted Gup solves a
singular family mystery even while he pulls away the veil of eight
decades that separate us from the hardships that united America
during the Depression. In A Secret Gift, he weaves these
revelations seamlessly into a tapestry of Depression-era America,
which will fascinate and inspire in equal measure.
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Sleepwalk
with Me
Release Date: 2010-10-15
Hello, I am Mike Birbiglia and I want you to read my book. Too on the nose? Sorry. Let me dial it back.
�I'm Mike Birbiglia and I'm a comedian. You may know me from Comedy Central or This American Life or The Bob & Tom Show, but you've never seen me like this before.
Naked.
Wait, that's the name of another book. Also I'm not naked as there are no pictures in my book. Also, if there were naked pictures of me, you definitely wouldn't buy it, though you might sneak a copy into the back corner of the bookstore and show it to your friend and laugh. Okay, let's get off the naked stuff.
This is my first book. It's difficult to describe. It's a comedic memoir, but I'm only 32 years old so I'd hate for you to think I'm wrapping it up, so to speak. But I tell some personal stories. Some REALLY personal stories. Stories that I considered not publishing time and time again, especially when my father said, Michael, you might want to stay away from the per�sonal stuff. I said, Dad, just read the dedication. (Which I'm telling you to do too.)
Some of the stories are about my childhood, some are about girls I made out with when I was thirteen, some are about my parents, and some are, of course, about my bouts with sleepwalking. Bring this book to bed. And sleepwalk with me.
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Storyteller
Release Date: 2010-09-17
THE FIRST AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF ROALD DAHL, STORYTELLER IS A MASTERFUL, WITTY AND INCISIVE LOOK AT ONE OF THE GREATEST AUTHORS AND ECCENTRIC CHARACTERS OF THE MODERN AGE.
In his lifetime Roald Dahl pushed children's literature into uncharted territory, and today his popularity around the globe continues to grow, with millions of his books sold every year. But the man behind the mesmerizing stories has remained largely an enigma. A single-minded adventurer and an eternal child who gave us the iconic Willy Wonka and Matilda Wormwood, Dahl was better known during his lifetime for his blunt opinions on taboo subjects'he was called an anti-Semite, a racist and a misogynist'than for his creative genius. His wild imagination, dark humor and linguistic elegance were less than fully appreciated by critics and readers alike until after his death.
Granted unprecedented access to the Dahl estate's extraordinary archives'personal correspondence, journals and interviews with family members and famous friends'Donald Sturrock draws on a wealth of previously unpublished materials that informed Dahl's writing and his life. It was a life filled with incident, drama and adventure: from his harrowing experiences as an RAF fighter pilot and his work in wartime intelligence, to his many romances and turbulent marriage to the actress Patricia Neal, to the mental anguish caused by the death of his young daughter Olivia. Tracing a brilliant yet tempestuous ascent toward notoriety, Sturrock sheds new light on Dahl's need for controversy, his abrasive manner and his fascination for the gruesome and the macabre.
A remarkable biography of one of the world's most exceptional writers, Storyteller is an intimate portrait of an intensely private man hindered by physical pain and haunted by family tragedy, and a timely reexamination of Dahl's long and complex literary career.
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Tattoos
& Tequila
by Vince Neil
Release Date: 2010-09-15
"So where do
we start? I remember when we did The Dirt,the Mötley
Crüe book, I was interviewed at The Grand Havana Room in
Beverly Hills. A lot of people think I didn't get to say much in
The Dirt. It's probably true. I didn't read it. I'm not
that big a talker. Some people can f*ckin' talk ... eat up all the
oxygen in a room in no time flat. I don't tend to run my mouth.
It's b*llshit. All those years in rehab and counseling--the talking
cure? I can't say I really got that much out of it. All that cure
and I should be cured by now, don't you think? All this
talking...
So forgive me if it's a bit hard for me to slice open a vein and
let my blood run red all over this page for you. I'll fight you or
I'll f*ck you but chances are I'll be hard pressed to sit there and
talk to you.
War stories. War wounds. I know, I know. Old rock stars fall hard.
I'm forty-nine years old. I'm five-foot-nine, 170. The spandex is
over. I've had three plastic surgeries. Still, who do you think
gets laid more, me or you? But time does change a man. I ain't
twenty-one anymore.
It's a miracle we survived at all. A bottle of Jack Daniel's and
uncooked hot dogs do not make for a particularly well-balanced
diet. We are all very lucky we didn't kill ourselves. It might look
like we were trying to do that but speaking for myself, death was
never my intent. I just wanted to feel good, you know? I was just
looking for that kick, that high...
These days I've got businesses to run. I like the action. Something
to get your heart pumping. Healthier than a syringe full of cocaine
powder like I was doing back in '81 with my girlfriend Lovey,
that's for sure...
But you got to admit...those days are a lot more fun to talk
about..."
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Unbearable
Lightness
Release Date: 2010-11-02
Actress Portia de Rossi shares her struggles with eating disorders and her sexuality in this riveting memoir.
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Unexpectedly
Eighty
Release Date: 2010-10-05
What does it mean to be eighty? In her wise and playful poems, Judith Viorst discusses marriage, friendship, grand parenthood, and all the particular marvels' and otherwise'of this extraordinary decade. She describes the wonder of seeing the world with new eyes'not because of revelation but because of a successful cataract operation. She promises not to gently fade away, and not to drive after daylight's faded away either. She explains how she's gotten to be a "three-desserts" grandmother ("Just don't tell your mom!"), shares how memory failure can keep you married, and enumerates her hopes for the afterlife (which she doesn't believe in, but if it does exist, her sister-in-law better not be there with her).
As Viorst gleefully attests, eighty is not too old to dream, to flirt, to drink, and to dance. It's also not too late to give up being cheap or to take up with a younger man of seventy-eight. Zesty, hopeful, and full of the pleasures of living, Viorst's poems speak to her legions of readers, who recognize themselves in her knowing observations, in her touching reflections, and in her joyful affirmations. Funny, moving, inspirational, and true'the newest in Judith Viorst's beloved "decades" series extols the virtues, victories, frustrations, and joys of life.
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War
for Late Night
by Bill Carter
Release Date: 2010-11-04
A
dramatic account of the politics and personalities behind NBC's
calamitous attempt to reinvent late-night television.
When NBC decided to move Jay Leno into prime time to make room for
Conan O'Brien to host the Tonight show-a job he had been
promised five years earlier-skeptics anticipated a train wreck for
the ages. It took, in fact, only a few months for the dire
predictions to come true. Leno's show, panned by critics, dragged
down the ratings-and the profits-of NBC's affiliates, while ratings
for Conan's new Tonight show plummeted to the lowest
levels in history. Conan's collapse, meanwhile, opened an
unexpected door of opportunity for rival David Letterman. What
followed was a boisterous, angry, frequently hilarious public
battle that had millions of astonished viewers glued to their sets.
In The War for Late Night, New York Times reporter Bill
Carter offers a detailed behind-the-scenes account of the events of
the unforgettable 2009/2010 late-night season as all of its
players- performers, producers, agents, and network
executives-maneuvered to find footing amid the shifting tectonic
plates of television culture.
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With
Love and Laughter, John Ritter
by Amy Yasbeck
Release Date: 2010-09-15
A Simon & Schuster eBook
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Woman
I Was Born to Be
by Susan Boyle
Release Date: 2010-10-12
From British singing sensation Susan Boyle, a memoir about overcoming adversity and achieving your dreams, no matter the obstacles you face.
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You
Had Me at Woof
by Julie Klam
Release Date: 2010-10-28
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Young
Mr. Obama
Release Date: 2010-10-12
Barack Obama's inspirational politics and personal mythology have overshadowed his fascinating history. Young Mr. Obama gives us the missing chapter: the portrait of the politician as a young leader, often too ambitious for his own good, but still equipped with a rare ability to inspire change. The route to the White House began on the streets of Chicago's South Side.
Edward McClelland, a veteran Chicago journalist, tells the real story of the first black president's political education in the capital of the African American political community. Obama's touch wasn't always golden, and the unflappable and charismatic campaigner we know today nearly derailed his political career with a disastrous run for Congress in 2000.
Obama learned from his mistakes, and rebuilt his public persona. Young Mr. Obama is a masterpiece of political reporting, peeling away the audacity, the T-shirts, and the inspiring speeches to craft acompelling and surpassingly readable account of how local politics shaped a national leader.
�Where did Barack Obama come from?� No answer to that question can be complete without the stories that unfold in this book.� Many of them date from the time when Edward McClelland was just about the only reporter covering the young and unknown Obama.� Understanding how this extraordinary leader rose from Chicago politics to the pinnacle of world power is not possible without the insights in Young Mr.Obama.�Stephen Kinzer, author of Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
�
"Edward McClelland's Young Mr. Obama argues convincingly that our first black president couldn't have come from any place other than Chicago. If you want to understand the 'Chicago-style' politics that shaped our president--the real thing, not the right-wing cartoon--you have to read Young Mr. Obama."�Joan Walsh, editor in chief�of Salon.com
�
�[McClelland] makes a convincing case that President Obama's experiences in his adopted city shaped him profoundly and helped make him the seasoned and formidable politician he is today. An engaging overview of the president's early political education. �Kirkus Reviews
�As Barack Obama's presidency is beset by falling ratings, a weak economy, and an antideficit mood, McClelland's examination of Obama's ascendency should encourage supporters and instill caution in opponents. �Publishers Weekly
�
�Richly details Obama's background in Chicago and how it impressed those who would eventually help his presidential campaign like senior advisor David Axelrod. �Paul Bedard, U.S. News & World Report's Washington Whispers blog
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