Other books that might interest you

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  A Redemptive Path Forward - From...

  Antong Lucky

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  As a child of an incarcerated father, Antong Lucky grew up in an impoverished, crime-ridden neighborhood in East Dallas, Texas, born at the same time as East Dallas experienced an alarming rise in crack cocaine and heroin use. Despite his high grades and passion for learning, Antong is introduced to gang life and its consequences. 
   
   
    
  Eventually, Antong forms the Dallas Bloods gang, inaugurating a period in the 1990s of escalating retaliatory gun violence buoyed by a lucrative illegal drug enterprise until he is ultimately arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison. His journey through the doors of transformation came through the pain of incarceration and introspection that caused him to question the cognitive distortions embedded in him since childhood. 
   
   
    
  Once in prison, Antong denounced his gang affiliation and began working to unite rival gangs, quickly rising to become one of the most respected and sought-after mentors in prison. A spiritual transformation further inspired Antong to return to his old neighborhood after early release, seeking to align with like-minded people dedicated to challenging systemic issues in U.S. communities through collective efforts. A Redemptive Path Forward will take its place among the broadening canon of titles championing and investigating prison reform and societal transformation.

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  21-Hit Wonder - Flopping My Way...

  Sam Hollander

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  As one of the most renowned songwriters and producers in the game, Sam Hollander has had multi-platinum success writing and producing for the likes of Panic! At The Disco, Fitz and the Tantrums, Weezer, Katy Perry, Train, One Direction, Blink-182, Daughtry, Ringo Starr, Carole King, Gym Class Heroes, and many others. 
   
  But rising up the charts seemed, at many points in his career, highly unlikely. This is his story of failing his way to the top. 
   
  Sam Hollander has spent 30 years trudging through the peaks and valleys of a songwriting career. Before he was stacking Billboard hits, he was piling up bad luck, calamitous flops, false starts, and feeling like the world was moving on and up without him while he spun in place. Now he wears his failures like a badge of honor.  
   
  In 21-Hit Wonder, he’s collected anecdotes from his weird waltzes around the banquet of pop to help aspiring songwriters and other creatives learn about survival, endurance, scheming, hustle, and the importance of laughing even on the worst days of the journey. Music lovers spanning generations and genres will find stories about many of their heroes and industry icons.  
   
  21-Hit Wonder is one part chronicle of a songwriter’s storied career and another part love letter to anyone who has been counted out—from no-hit wonders and one-hit wonders to the novelties and the never-beens—and just needs a bit of inspiration to persevere. Sam’s inspiring story is proof that setbacks are just steps on the road to success.

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  The Science of Monsters - The...

  Meg Hafdahl & Kelly Florence

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  A must-have for any fan of horror and fantasy movies—Night of the Living Dead, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Shining (Stephen King), and so many more! 
    
  If you love film that scares, and want to believe that zombies, vampires, and other deadly and terrifying creatures could be real, let Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence, the women behind the Horror Rewind podcast called “the best horror film podcast out there” by Film Daddy, take you to the world where horror and science meet. 
   
  Gothic media moguls Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence revisit the films from their childhood to discover the science behind the fear. Join Kelly and Meg as they unravel the medical mysteries and scientific marvels that inspired the creation of famous monsters like Nosferatu, Norman Bates, Dracula, Frankenstein, and many more. 
    
  An approachable and frightfully fun examination of what goes bump in the night, The Science of Monsters will thrill every horror fan.

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  In the Company of Grace - A...

  Jody Lulich

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  Rising to accept a prestigious award, Jody Lulich wondered what to say. Describe how caring for helpless, voiceless animals in his own shame and pain provided a lifeline, a chance to heal himself as well? Lulich tells his story in In the Company of Grace, a memoir about finding courage in compassion and strength in healing—and power in finally confronting the darkness of his youth. 
   
   
   
  Lulich's white father and Black mother met at a civil rights rally, but love was no defense against their personal demons. His mother's suicide and his sometimes brutal father's subsequent withdrawal set Lulich on a course from the South Side of Chicago to the Tuskegee School of Veterinary Medicine in Alabama to an endowed chair at the University of Minnesota. Though shadowed by troubling secrets, his memoir also features scenes of surprising light and promise. Most consequentially, at Tuskegee Lulich rents a room in the home of a seventy-five-year-old Black woman named Grace, whose wholehearted adoption of him—and her own stories of the Jim Crow era—finally gives him a sense of belonging and possibility. 
   
   
   
  Completing his book amid the furor over George Floyd's murder, Lulich reflects on all the ways that race has shaped his life. In the Company of Grace is a moving testament to the power of compassion in the face of seemingly overwhelming circumstances.

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  Just My Luck - A Humorous...

  Kyle Woodruff

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  Being a human has many painful and embarrassing moments, many of which are funny with the right twist of perspective. Just My Luck nimbly walks the tightrope of comedy and political correctness with a collection of essays that turns frowns right side up again. Observational humor and self-deprecation are the foundation of these stories, relatable at every turn. If you've ever had a childhood, taken a dump, or been to the DMV then this book is for you. Just be prepared to never look at getting your blood drawn the same way again.

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  Victories Never Last - Reading...

  Robert Zaretsky

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  In any time of disruption or grief, many of us seek guidance in the work of great writers who endured similar circumstances. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, historian and biographer Robert Zaretsky did the same while also working as a volunteer in a nursing home in south Texas. In Victories Never Last Zaretsky weaves his reflections on the pandemic siege of his nursing home with the testimony of six writers on their own times of plague: Thucydides, Marcus Aurelius, Michel de Montaigne, Daniel Defoe, Mary Shelley, and Albert Camus, whose novel The Plague provides the title of this book. 
   
   
    
  Zaretsky delves into these writers to uncover lessons that can provide deeper insight into our pandemic era. At the same time, he goes beyond the literature to invoke his own experience of the tragedy that enveloped his Texas nursing home, one which first took the form of chronic loneliness and then, inevitably, the deaths of many residents whom we come to know through Zaretsky's stories. In doing so, Zaretsky shows the power of great literature to connect directly to one's own life in a different moment and time. 
   
   
    
  For all of us still struggling to comprehend this pandemic and its toll, this book serves as a thoughtful and down-to-earth guide to the many ways we can come to know and make peace with human suffering.

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