Other books that might interest you

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  Here Right Matters - An American...

  Anonymous

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  Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, who found himself at the center of a firestorm for his decision to report the infamous phone call that led to presidential impeachment, tells his own story for the first time. Here, Right Matters is a stirring account of Vindman's childhood as an immigrant growing up in New York City, his career in service of his new home on the battlefield and at the White House, and the decisions leading up to, and fallout surrounding, his exposure of President Trump's abuse of power. 
   0900, Thursday, July 25, 2019: President Trump called Ukraine’s President Zelensky, supposedly to congratulate him on his recent victory. In the months that followed, the American public would only learn what happened on that call because Alexander Vindman felt duty-bound to report it up the chain of command: that the President of the United States had extorted a foreign ally to damage a political challenger at home. Vindman’s actions and subsequent testimony before congress would lead to Trump’s impeachment and affirm Vindman's belief that he had done the right thing in the face of intense pressure to stay silent. But it would come at an enormous cost, straining relationships with colleagues, superiors, and even his own father, and eventually end his decorated career in the US Army, by a Trump administration intent on retribution.  
  Here, Right Matters is Vindman’s proud, passionate, and candid account of his family, his career, and the moment of truth he faced for his nation. As an immigrant, raised by a father who fled the Soviet Union in pursuit of a better life for his children, Vindman learned about respect for truth throughout his education and military service. As this memoir makes clear, his decision to speak up about the July 25th call was never a choice: it was Vindman’s duty, as a naturalized citizen and member of the armed forces. In the wake of his testimony, he would endure furious partisan attacks on his record and his loyalty. But far louder was the extraordinary chorus of support from citizens who were collectively intent on reaffirming an abiding American commitment to integrity.   
  In the face of a sure-fire career derailment and public excoriation, Vindman heeded the lessons from the people and institutions who instilled in him the moral compass and the courage to act decisively. Like so many other American immigrant families, the Vindmans had to learn to build a life from scratch and take big risks to achieve important goals. Here, Right Matters is about the quiet heroes who keep us safe; but, above all, it is a call to arms for those who refuse to let America betray its true self.

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  Escape from Kabul - A True Story...

  Enakshi Sengupta

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  Five Women. A Crumbling City. A Daring Flight to Freedom. 
   
  August 2021. The fall of Kabul.  
  Twenty years after they were defeated, the Taliban storms Afghanistan's capital, claiming every piece of land they pass and plunging the city into chaos. 
  For Anjali and four other women, who were all from different parts of the world and worked together at the Anglo-American University of Kabul, this moment marks the beginning of a harrowing journey. Forced into hiding, hunted for their work at the University, and unsure of whom to trust, knowing betrayal is just a whisper away, they are bound by one urgent impetus: to get out alive. 
  What unfolds is an inspiring story of resistance and survival, furtive phone calls, forged documents and midnight dashes through enemy territory-and the relentless courage of women who refuse to be silenced. 
  Searing and utterly gripping, Escape from Kabul is at once an extraordinary first-person account of sisterhood in crisis as well as a meditation on the meaning of freedom, and what it takes to reclaim agency when the world closes in.

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  Missed Translations - Meeting...

  Anonymous

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  A bittersweet and humorous memoir of family—of the silence and ignorance that separate us, and the blood and stories that connect us—from an award-winning New York Times writer and comedian. 
  Approaching his 30 birthday, Sopan Deb had found comfort in his day job as a writer for the New York Times and a practicing comedian. But his stage material highlighting his South Asian culture only served to mask the insecurities borne from his family history. Sure, Deb knew the facts: his parents, both Indian, separately immigrated to North America in the 1960s and 1970s. They were brought together in a volatile and ultimately doomed arranged marriage and raised a family in suburban New Jersey before his father returned to India alone. 
  But Deb had never learned who his parents were as individuals—their ages, how many siblings they had, what they were like as children, what their favorite movies were. Theirs was an ostensibly nuclear family without any of the familial bonds. Coming of age in a mostly white suburban town, Deb’s alienation led him to seek separation from his family and his culture, longing for the tight-knit home environment of his white friends. His desire wasn’t rooted in racism or oppression; it was born of envy and desire—for white moms who made after-school snacks and asked his friends about the girls they liked and the teachers they didn’t. Deb yearned for the same. 
  Deb’s experiences as one of the few minorities covering the Trump campaign, and subsequently as a stand up comedian, propelled him on a dramatic journey to India to see his father—the first step in a life altering journey to bridge the emotional distance separating him from those whose DNA he shared. Deb had to learn to connect with this man he recognized yet did not know—and eventually breach the silence separating him from his mother. As it beautifully and poignantly chronicles Deb’s odyssey, Missed Translations raises questions essential to us all: Is it ever too late to pick up the pieces and offer forgiveness? How do we build bridges where there was nothing before—and what happens to us, to our past and our future, if we don't?

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  Captain John Franklin and Sir...

  Editors Charles River

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  After the discovery of the Americas, several European countries were interested in finding the route, and nations from France to Spain sent out explorers searching for the mysterious route. While these voyages did not reveal the hoped for route, they did result in large parts of both North and South America being mapped, and as more of the new land mass was determined, the parameters of the search for such a route were narrowed. By the 18th century, explorers began to seek such a route to the north, looking for the legendary Northwest Passage.  
  	Eventually, some countries lost interest, but England remained determined, and the masters of the waves continued to send ship after ship and crew after crew across the Atlantic. By the early 19th century, the search was taking expeditions to the Arctic, and each time a team returned to England telling stories of how it was stymied by ice or bad weather, another team confidently went out, certain that it would be the one to make it through.  
  	This ultimately led to the voyage of Captain John Franklin, who left Britain in 1845 for the Arctic in the hopes of completing mapping the Northwest Passage. Instead of returning with spices and silks, Franklin and his men disappeared, leaving behind them a mystery that plagued the English conscience for decades. Ironically, the ill-fated trip only became more legendary when its mystery was solved than it was when it remained a curiosity. It was a tale of ice and cold, starvation and desperation, and a tragically fatal one.  
  	Shackleton’s place in history is not the one he set out to make, but his extraordinary deeds have made his contributions to early exploration of Antarctica indelible. Despite the victor’s wreath eventually going to another, Shackleton’s name is essential to any discussion of Antarctic exploration, based on personal heroism more than logistical triumphs.

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  Guts - A memoir of food failure...

  Melissa Leong

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  Gold Logie-nominated TV personality and food icon Melissa Leong bites down on her demons in this searing memoir, exploring themes of abuse in the hospitality industry, racism, mental health and, for a light palate cleanser, the thrill of mouth-wateringly memorable food. Most of all, she inspires the courage to create a life you really, really want. 
   
  From Melissa Leong (aka fooderati) - the first female judge of MasterChef Australia and Dessert Masters, fashion obsessive and self-confessed contrarian - comes an evocative, sharp, darkly funny and often brutal account of what it's like to try, fail and scrape together the confidence to try again. She invites you to consider your own limiting self-beliefs ... and give them the finger. 
   
  These stories take place inside kitchens and television studios, on farms and even in an abattoir. Leong shares how her dream of being a concert pianist crumbled due to chronic pain, her struggles with racism and identity as a first-generation Singaporean Chinese woman, how blowing up her life to reset her path was maybe (definitely!) worth it, and why going your own way absolutely is. 
   
  Garnished with Leong's favourite recipes, Guts is above all a glorious love letter to food, to choosing the unpredictable path and to believing in yourself even - and especially - when the odds are stacked against you. 
   
  No guts, no glory. Hope you're hungry.

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  And She Got Up - Shattered by...

  Courtney Pray Duke, Shelley...

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  Read by the author.  
  Faced with an unimaginable loss, Courtney Pray Duke invites you to discover that when life knocks you down, Jesus is nearer than ever, reaching out to help you get back up and stand strong. 
  Have you found yourself wondering, Will I ever be able to make sense of the disappointments and disasters I've endured? Can I trust God with my pain? Will my life ever be restored? Perhaps you've done everything you can to rebuild the ruins of your life, but true restoration still seems so far off, if not impossible. And She Got Up is a firsthand account of being knocked down by tragedy and loss while relying on the power and presence of Jesus to rise and heal. 
  After being widowed at twenty-nine, Courtney Pray Duke found herself lying next to her husband's grave feeling like she couldn't go on. But she had three young kids who needed her and a faithful God who she knew could do anything. 
  Told in four sections—The Breaking, The Making, The Rising, and The Sending—Courtney walks readers through her decades long journey from devastation to the abundant life God had in store for her. 
  And She Got Up will help readersfind hope in their greatest devastation through an honest and vulnerable account of Courtney's personal journey, coupled with the reality and the truth of who God is and what He is able to do.move forward amid pain that can be paralyzing, helping them to believe God for their own miracle, no matter how hopeless their circumstance may seem.gain confidence that God is available and able to help anyone get back up and live an abundant life of hope, purpose, and peace. 
    
  God sees you now, right where you are. His heart is for you. It's time to rise, to heal, to find purpose and joy again.

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