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  Scratched - A Memoir of...

  Anonymous

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  “Reading Scratched gave me the feeling of standing very close to a blazing fire. It is that brilliant, that intense, and one of the finest explorations I know of what it means to be a woman and an artist.”—Sigrid Nunez, author of The Friend and Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction 
  In a bold and brilliant memoir that reinvents the form, the acclaimed author of the novel Museum Pieces and the collection Mendocino Fire explores the ferocious desire for perfection which has shaped her writing life as well as her rich, dramatic, and constantly surprising personal life. 
   
  Scratched is an intimate account of the uses a child, and the adult she becomes, will find for perfectionism and the role it will play in every part of her life. Elizabeth Tallent’s story begins in a hospital in mid-1950s suburban Washington, D.C., when her mother refuses to hold her newborn daughter, shocking behavior that baffles the nurses. Imagining her own mother’s perfectionist ideal at this critical moment, Elizabeth moves back and forth in time, juxtaposing moments in the past with the present in this innovative and spellbinding narrative. 
  Elizabeth traces her journey from her early years in which she perceived herself as “the child whose flaws let disaster into an otherwise perfect family,” to her adulthood, when perfectionism came to affect everything. In the decade between 27 and 37, she publishes five literary books with Knopf and her short stories appear in The New Yorker. But this extraordinary start to her career is followed by twenty-two years of silence. She wrote, or rather published, nothing at all. Why? Scratched is the remarkable response to that question. 
  Elizabeth’s early publications secure her a coveted teaching job at Stanford University. As she toggles between Palo Alto and the Mendocino coast where she lives, raises her son Gabriel, and pursues an important psychoanalysis, Elizabeth grapples with the perfectionism that has always been home to her. Eventually, she finds love and acceptance in the most unlikely place, and finally accepts an “as is” relationship with herself and others.  
  Her final triumph is the writing of this memoir, filled with wit, humor, and heart, and unlike any other you will find. Scratched is a brave book that repeatedly searches for the emotional truth beneath the conventional surface of existence. 
  Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

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  Getting Here From There - The...

  Clara Atmane

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  Learn to tell your truth from a reflective, honest, nonreactive prospective. 
  Recently retired from a challenging legal career, Clara Atmane was asking the big questions: Who am I now? Why am I here now? Why am I still so lonely? 
  Digging into the first ten years of her life, Atmane uncovered secrets and hidden treasure. Blame and anger turned to wonder and curiosity. Emotions and trauma in those first ten years defined her; yet, her ability to survive and the techniques she developed also came to shape who she had become. In Getting Here From There, Ms. Atmane proves that where you start has no bearing on where you can end up. 
  Born the youngest of six in a farming family, the idyllic backdrop hid a hostile and unwelcoming environment. The messages in those formative years were clear: You are ugly. Your birth caused our mother's mental illness. If you tell, you will not be believed. 
  There was a dark side to her family. 
  There were villains. 
  Thankfully, there was also survival. 
  Getting Here From There will show you how one woman came to forgive and even thank the people who mistreated her.

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  Women Change the World -...

  Michelle Patterson

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  Women Change the World is a collection of world-changing women, from actresses, recording artists, and writers to business women and other high-profile female professionals, on women's unique contributions to society. 
  Women Change the World will be released in conjunction with the California Women's Conference, which offers its attendees inspiration, resources, and connections to take the next steps in their businesses, personal development, or philanthropic endeavors. 2012's conference speakers included Marcia Cross, Donna Karen, Gloria Allred, and many others. 
  Women Change the World aims not only to show how women can be the heart of success, but also to inspire other women to go out and change the world themselves.

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  Captive in Islam

  Arline Westmeier

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  At the age of 8, Urmi was married and divorced. Her mother had her married behind her father's back, who immediately made sure she got divorced. Urmi was taught by her loving father how to be a devout follower of Islam. Her mother, on the other hand, was much less interested in religion but wanted her to marry well. Urmi loved her father, wanted to please him, and agreed that following Allah was most important. But at the age of 17, her mother again had her way. Urmi was married, pregnant and abandoned by the age of 18. She felt there was no hope and decided to end her life. But a still, small voice reminded her that she would kill her baby. This is Urmi's true story of how Jesus walked with her before she knew Him and led her to Himself.

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  The Woman Who Would Be King -...

  Debrah Miceli, Greg Oliver

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  Through four decades of entertaining, in the wrestling ring and on the monster truck circuit, Debrah “Madusa” Miceli never could sit still. But her desire to learn, grow, and inspire legions of followers masked deep secrets … Her upbringing was a lie from the start, and the dark truths of her childhood, revealed here for the first time, are the earliest examples of Debrah’s determination to persevere.
  		 
  Professional wrestling may have been an odd choice for a nursing student, but Madusa went all-in, toughening up in Japan before conquering WWE as Alundra Blayze. She held the WWE Women’s belt … until being fired. In the rival WCW, Madusa infamously tossed the WWE belt in the garbage on live TV.
  		 
  Then, in 1999, Madusa changed lanes and revolutionized the monster truck world. At meet-and-greets, girls in pink “Queen of Carnage” t-shirts would wait alongside ogling fanboys. By 2004, she was the world champion in a sport dominated by men.
  		 
  Only one thing has eluded her: motherhood.
  		 
  This is the spellbinding story of how one woman survived child abuse, financial disaster, death-defying injuries, heartbreak, and chaos to emerge triumphant.

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  Big Men Fear Me - The Fast Life...

  Mark Bourrie

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  The remarkable true story of the rise and fall of one of North America's most influential media moguls. 
  When George McCullagh bought The Globe and The Mail and Empire and merged them into the Globe and Mail, the charismatic 31-year-old high school dropout had already made millions on the stock market. It was just the beginning of the meteoric rise of a man widely expected to one day be prime minister of Canada. But the charismatic McCullagh had a dark side. Dogged by the bipolar disorder that destroyed his political ambitions and eventually killed him, he was all but written out of history. It was a loss so significant that journalist Robert Fulford has called McCullagh’s biography "one of the great unwritten books in Canadian history"—until now.  
  In Big Men Fear Me, award-winning historian Mark Bourrie tells the remarkable story of McCullagh’s inspirational rise and devastating fall, and with it sheds new light on the resurgence of populist politics, challenges to collective action, and attacks on the free press that characterize our own tumultuous era.

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