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  Champion of Choice - The Life...

  Cathleen Miller

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  Not many women can claim to have changed history, but Nafis Sadik set that goal in her youth, and change the world she did. Champion of Choice tells the remarkable story of how Sadik, born into a prominent Indian family in 1929, came to be the world’s foremost advocate for women’s health and reproductive rights, the first female director of a United Nations agency, and “one of the most powerful women in the world” (London Times). 
   
  An obstetrician, wife, mother, and devout Muslim, Sadik has been a courageous and tireless advocate for women, insisting on discussing the difficult issues that impact their lives: education, contraception, abortion, as well as rape and other forms of violence. After Sadik joined the fledgling UN Population Fund in 1971, her groundbreaking strategy for providing females with education and the tools to control their own fertility has dramatically influenced the global birthrate. This book is the first to examine Sadik’s contribution to history and the unconventional methods she has employed to go head-to-head with world leaders to improve millions of women’s lives. 
   
  Interspersed between the chapters recounting Sadik’s life are vignettes of females around the globe who represent her campaign against domestic abuse, child marriage, genital mutilation, and other human rights violations. With its insights into the political, religious, and domestic battles that have dominated women’s destinies, Sadik’s life story is as inspirational as it is dramatic. 
   
  Named one of the American Library Association’s Top Ten 2013 Biographies 
   
  "Extensively researched, Miller’s engrossing biography illuminates Sadik’s formidable passion for [women’s] issues, most notably through crystalline vignettes about women from Kenya to Kosovo whose individual narratives transformed Sadik’s mission into a personal commitment." 
  —Booklist

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  The Woman They Wanted -...

  Shannon Harris

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  As a twenty-three-year-old singer and the soon-to-be wife of youth pastor Joshua Harris, nothing in Shannon Harris's secular upbringing prepared her to enter the world of conservative Christianity. Soon Joshua's bestselling book I Kissed Dating Goodbye helped inspire a national purity movement, and Shannon's identity became "pastor's wife." 
   
   
   
  The Woman They Wanted recounts Shannon's remarkable experience inside Big Church—where she was asked to live within a narrow definition of womanhood for almost two decades—and her subsequent journey out of that world and into a more authentic version of herself. Entering conservative American Christianity was like being drawn out to sea, she writes, inexorable and all consuming. Slowly, her worldview was narrowed, her motivations questioned, her behavior examined, until she had been whittled down to an idealized version of femininity envisioned as an extension of her husband and the church. However, when Sovereign Grace Ministries fell apart due to leadership conflicts and Shannon found herself outside church circles for the first time in years, she heard her intuition calling to her again. As she began to shake off the fog of depression and confusion, that voice grew louder. In honoring it, she awakened to the realities in which she had been trapped and found her truest self.

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  I Spastic - The Autobiography of...

  Neil Marcus, S. H. Chambers

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  While society called his disability an obstacle and limitation, Neil argued that his "flourishing dystonia" allowed him to think, explore, and create art in a way most people cannot. True to his words, Neil embraced every opportunity to experience life to its fullest, from navigating the Alaskan wilderness in a wheelchair to commanding the spotlight on stage. In this deeply personal account, Neil invites readers into his world as he remembers adventures and escapades, triumphs and disappointments. Through it all, Neil's humor and wisdom reminds us to rethink labels and look beyond the obvious.  
  **Includes a radio interview with the author's sister Kendra Marcus and S. H. Chambers on Letters and Politics with Mitch Jeserich on KPFA Berkeley

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  Ernest Shackleton - The...

  Kelly Mass

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  Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish polar explorer whose remarkable journeys cemented his place among the most important figures of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Shackleton's story is one of daring, leadership, and resilience, traits that made him a legendary figure in the annals of exploration. 
  Born in Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland, on February 15, 1874, Shackleton moved to Sydenham, south London, at the age of ten with his Anglo-Irish family. His early life was marked by a sense of adventure that would shape his future endeavors. Shackleton's first significant exposure to the polar regions came in 1901 when he joined Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery expedition as a third officer. Although Shackleton’s time on the expedition was cut short due to health concerns, he had already proven his determination by marching to a new southern record of latitude 82°S, alongside Scott and Edward Adrian Wilson. Despite being sent home early, Shackleton had tasted the allure of the polar regions and was eager for more. 
  The opportunity came in 1907 when Shackleton led the Nimrod expedition to Antarctica. During this journey, he and three companions ventured farther south than any explorer before them, reaching 88°S, just 97 geographical miles from the South Pole. This achievement was monumental, representing the greatest advancement toward the pole at the time. In addition to their groundbreaking southern march, the team also made history by summiting Mount Erebus, Antarctica’s most active volcano. Shackleton returned a hero and was knighted by King Edward VII for his daring exploits.

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  Saved by Hope

  Jenny Lowe

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  Saved By Hope by Jenny Lowe is a gripping memoir about one woman's painful path to motherhood. Born and raised in Utah, Jenny Lowe got married at the age of nineteen. The marriage ended in divorce, and at thirty years old, she married again. Emotionally and financially ready to start a family and with her biological clock ticking, the couple decides to have a child. After months of trying without success, they seek the help of fertility specialists. What follows is a series of unsuccessful attempts to conceive and the discovery that she has ovarian cancer. This book lets the reader accompany her on her emotional journey. Beginning with Chapter 4, QR codes are provided that will direct readers to photos and videos of the topics discussed to tell a story of hope and courage that will surely touch your heart. Jenny Lowe's Saved By Hope is a must-read for couples struggling to get pregnant. The author laments the fact that there is a stigma surrounding infertility, so much so that it's not a topic discussed openly. This book does a great job of creating a compassionate guide to overcoming the humiliation of infertility. With profound honesty, she relates the fear, pain, grief, and hope that springs to life, only to be taken away a few days later. The writing style is casual and informative, with visuals to make the experience more intense. The book opens with Emily Dickinson's "hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul," setting the tone for this well-written and perceptive memoir that should provide comfort to those who need it the most. Highly recommended!

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  The Nightingale and the Rose -...

  Oscar Wilde

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  Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on the 16th October 1854 in Dublin, Ireland.  The son of Dublin intellectuals Oscar proved himself an outstanding classicist at Trinity College and then at Oxford. 
  Wilde then moved to London and its fashionable cultural and social circles.  With his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversation, Wilde became one of the most well-known personalities of his day. 
  His only novel, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ was published in 1890 and he then moved on to writing for the stage with ‘Salome’ in 1891.  His society comedies were enormous hits and turned him into one of the most successful writers of late Victorian London. 
  Whilst his masterpiece, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, was on stage in London, Wilde had the Marquess of Queensberry, the father of his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, prosecuted for libel.  The trial unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and trial for gross indecency. He was convicted and imprisoned for two years hard labour. It was to break him. 
  On release he left for France. There he wrote his last work, ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ in 1898.  He died destitute in Paris at the age of forty-six sipping champagne a friend had brought with the line ‘Alas I am dying beyond my means’.

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