Other books that might interest you

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  The Confession

  James E. McGreevey

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  In August 2004, Governor James E. McGreevey of New Jersey made history when he declared "My truth is that I am a gay American," and announced his resignation.  
  Now, in this extraordinarily candid memoir, McGreevey shares his story of a life of ambition, moral compromise, and redemption. From childhood, McGreevey lived a kind of idealized American life, and he strove to exceed expectations in everything he did. He won three elections by the age of thirty-six, and four years later nearly toppled the state's popular governor, Christie Todd Whitman. When he ran again, in 2001, he won by a landslide.  
  Throughout his adult life McGreevey had been forced to suppress a fundamental truth: that he was gay. He knew that the only clear path to his dreams was to live a straight life, and so he split in two, accepting the traditional role of family man while denying his deepest emotions. And he discovered that becoming a political player demanded ethical shortcuts at least as corrosive as living in the closet.  
  Written with honesty, grace, and rare insight, The Confession may be among the most honest political memoirs ever written.

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  A Sky Full of Stars - Learning...

  Meg Apperson

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  Do You Trust God? 
  Meg Apperson grew up having a relationship with Jesus, and she always trusted God. But it wasn't until her daughter Avery-a miracle in so many ways-was born with a litany of life-threatening birth defects that she began to fully understand what it means to trust Jesus with everything. 
  In this heartbreakingly beautiful memoir, you'll learn how a mother fought for her child, her family, and even herself as she grappled with the weight of failure-of letting down everyone around her and feeling let down by God. 
  But in the midst of the fight, through heavy grief, she not only discovered her own voice-she discovered that God is both good and faithful. 
  If you have ever experienced grief, suffering, or pain; if God has ever asked you to surrender more than you thought possible; if you've ever questioned how God is at work in the darkness . . . Sky Full of Stars is for you. 
  This book will show you that when everything around you is dark, peace can be found in the suffering. You'll discover new ways to rely on God's trustworthiness.

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  Dog Man - An Uncommon Life on a...

  Martha Sherrill

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  As Dog Man opens, Martha Sherrill brings us to a world that Americans know very little about-the snow country of Japan during World War II. In a mountain village, we meet Morie Sawataishi, a fierce individualist who has chosen to break the law by keeping an Akita dog hidden in a shed on his property.During the war, the magnificent and intensely loyal Japanese hunting dogs are donated to help the war effort, eaten, or used to make fur vests for the military. By the time of the Japanese surrender in 1945, there are only sixteen Akitas left in the country. The survival of the breed becomes Morie's passion and life, almost a spiritual calling.Devoted to the dogs, Morie is forever changed. His life becomes radically unconventional-almost preposterous-in ultra-ambitious, conformist Japan. For the dogs, Morie passes up promotions, bigger houses, and prestigious engineering jobs in Tokyo. Instead, he raises a family with his young wife, Kitako-a sheltered urban sophisticate-in Japan's remote and forbidding snow country.Their village is isolated, but interesting characters are always dropping by-dog buddies, in-laws from Tokyo, and a barefoot hunter who lives in the wild. Due in part to Morie's perseverance and passion, the Akita breed strengthens and becomes wildly popular, sometimes selling for millions of yen. Yet Morie won't sell his spectacular dogs. He only likes to give them away.Morie and Kitako remain in the snow country today, living in the traditional Japanese cottage they designed together more than thirty years ago-with tatami mats, an overhanging roof, a deep bathtub, and no central heat. At ninety-four years old, Morie still raises and trains the Akita dogs that have come to symbolize his life.In beautiful prose that is a joy to read, Sherrill opens up the world of the Dog Man and his wife, providing a profound look at what it is to be an individualist in a culture that reveres conformity-and what it means to live life in one's own way-while expertly revealing Japan and Japanese culture as we've never seen it before.

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  The Iceberg - A Memoir

  Marion Coutts

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  “The work of an exceptional woman artist, writing from the inside about the things women have always done: nursing, nurturing, loving.” —The Guardian   Winner of the Wellcome Book Prize, and finalist for every major nonfiction award in the UK, including the Samuel Johnson Prize and the Costa Biography Award, The Iceberg is artist and writer Marion Coutts’ astonishing memoir; an “adventure of being and dying” and a compelling, poetic meditation on family, love, and language.   In 2008, Tom Lubbock, the chief art critic for The Independent was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The Iceberg is his wife, Marion Coutts’, fierce, exquisite account of the two years leading up to his death. In spare, breathtaking prose, Coutts conveys the intolerable and, alongside their two-year-old son Ev—whose language is developing as Tom’s is disappearing—Marion and Tom lovingly weather the storm together. In short bursts of exquisitely textured prose, The Iceberg becomes a singular work of art and an uplifting and universal story of endurance in the face of loss.   “Dazzling, devastating . . . In her plain-spoken retelling of the commonplace human experience of illness and loss, Coutts achieves something truly extraordinary—she’s created one of the most haunting and achingly honest explorations of grief in recent memory.” —Los Angeles Times

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  Blood Brother - A memoir

  Susan Keller

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  Johnny’s bone marrow could save my life, but he’d vanished thirty years ago.
   
  As an athletic, fifty-five-year-old professional woman, I had it all—or thought I did—until the fatal lymphoma. On the day of my shocking diagnosis, I was warned I might not survive the night. After months of punishing chemotherapy, I needed a Bone Marrow Transplant to survive. But there was one only person in the world I could turn to for that bone marrow: my brother, Johnny, who’d vanished thirty years before.
   
  Blood Brother is the story of curing an incurable cancer and of the enigmatic events that led to finding a man who never wanted to be found. It also explores acceptance of what can and cannot be changed and discovering what it means to forgive.
   
  Advance Praise
   
  “A beautiful story of the strength of the human spirit and fierce determination to live. I hope that others who have been faced with a cancer diagnosis will also find inspiration, healing, and closure in reading this most compelling memoir.... This book is insightful and illuminating. I highly recommend it to all readers.”—Joanna Mimi Choi, M.D.
   
  “Thanks, and praise to Susan Keller for her extraordinary medical memoir, Blood Brother. Though facing a potentially fatal illness can be terrifying, it’s also a priceless opportunity to learn, reconnect, and heal. Susan captures and shares these major life changes in a truly accessible way.—Amy Ewing, M.D.
   
  “I spent all [day] and most of the night reading Blood Brother and forced myself to stop at 3 AM (I just could not put it down!) It is truly an eye opener to see the whole illness process through Susan’s memories and feelings, and to learn of her family story. My older son, who is captivated by medicine, is reading it and loving it too. This is a great book for anyone who treats patients, and for the patients and their families as well. It brings the Patient Journey into clear and dramatic focus.”—Natalia Greyz, M.D.
   
  “From the first few engrossing pages, I was right there sharing Susan’s extraordinary experiences with her. Blood Brother is a must read for oncologists and other providers who believe their only responsibility is to treat the patient’s medical symptoms. It will inform and enrich the professional lives of those across the healthcare spectrum, adding depth, meaning to their days, and producing better outcomes for patients. Blood Brother gives hope to those who’ve lost theirs, patients as well as practitioners. There are happy endings after all!”—Meryl Luallin, CEO, SullivanLuallin Group

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  Vodka & Sandstorms - What is...

  Luke Richmond

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  Adventurer, B.A.S.E jumper, endurance athlete and writer, Luke Richmond is a man on a mission: to cram as much living into his lifetime as humanly possible. 
  As an overweight and bullied youth, he seemed destined to be the underdog, but fought back until his tormentors were cast aside. From the Australian outback, to climbing some of the biggest mountains on earth, to rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, his enthusiasm and passion for adventure is infectious. 
  This is the blistering first-hand account of his most recent expeditions; including a 57 day 1805 kilometre crossing of the Gobi Desert on foot, kayaking the 2220 kilometre length of the Murray River and an ocean row to New Zealand that doesn’t quite go to plan. Within these pages he also shares his lessons from the edge about controlling fear, high risk decision making and how to travel around Australia for free. 
  So hold on tight, you’re in for a wild ride with the man who has become known as the Tasmanian Dare Devil.

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