Scott Frank

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Michigan

Novel, essay & philosophical poem, the novel offers a desolate & lucid assessment of totalitarianism, by an author who witnessed its horrors first hand.

Tales from the Geronimo

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Peter Trachtenberg

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

A Memoir in the Flesh

Peter Trachtenberg's Seven Tattoos: A Memoir in the Flesh is much more than the memories of an eloquent writer. It's wild anthropology, eclectic theology, literary observation, and a treatise on the uses of body modification and tattooing. Even Trachtenberg's most harrowing and absurd experiences become universal through his illuminating prose. As a Jew drawn to the ritual of Catholicism, plagued by its guilt and craving its absolution, he gets a tattoo of the wound of Christ. An unfilial son and regretful lover, he marks himself with the Archangel Michael, who drove Adam and Eve from Paradise. "Most tattoos are signifiers of the past, commemorating events that have already transpired. That's how I see most of mine," Trachtenberg explains. "But tattoos may also act upon the future, protect the body from impending danger or consecrate it for some arduous task ahead." Each chapter in Seven Tattoos explores the theme evoked by the corresponding tattoo: death, sacrilege, primitivism, rebellion, atonement, sadomasochism, downfall. Each of Trachtenberg's seven tattoos is a totem, a print the world has left on him that he has chosen to display on his body. Like fresh ink, Seven Tattoos is striking, bold and indelible.

Seven Tattoos

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J. D. Vance

Iowa

A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for more than forty years, has been reported with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck. The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love,” and moved north from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually one of their grandchildren would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of success in achieving generational upward mobility. But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that J.D.'s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, never fully escaping the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. With piercing honesty, Vance shows how he himself still carries around the demons of his chaotic family history. A deeply moving memoir, with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.

Hillbilly Elegy

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Alan Richman

Indiana

The Intrepid Adventures of a Professional Eater

A hilarious series of culinary adventures from GQ's award-winning food critic, ranging from flunking out of the Paul Bocuse school in Lyon to dining and whining with Sharon Stone. Alan Richman has dined in more unlikely locations and devoured more tasting menus than any other restaurant critic alive. He has reviewed restaurants in almost every Communist country (China, Vietnam, Cuba, East Germany) and has recklessly indulged his enduring passion for eight-course dinners (plus cheese). All of this attests to his herculean constitution, and to his dedication to food writing. In Fork It Over, the eight-time winner of the James Beard Award retraces decades of culinary adventuring. In one episode, he reviews a Chicago restaurant owned and operated by Louis Farrakhan (not known to be a fan of Jewish restaurant critics) and completes the assignment by sneaking into services at the Nation of Islam mosque, where no whites are allowed. In Cuba, he defies government regulations by interviewing starving political dissidents, and then he rewards himself with a lobster lunch at the most expensive restaurant in Havana. He chiffonades his way to a failing grade at the Paul Bocuse school in Lyon, politely endures Sharon Stone's notions of fine dining, and explains why you can't get a good meal in Boston, spurred on by the reckless passion for food that made him "the only soldier he knows who gained weight while in Vietnam" and carried him from his neighborhood burger joint to Le Bernardin. Alan Richman, once described as the "Indiana Jones of food writers," has won more major awards than any other food writer alive, including a National Magazine Award, eight James Beard Awards for restaurant reviewing, and two James Beard M.F.K. Fisher distinguished writing awards. The all new cover will emphasize Richman's globetrotting persona and attract a wide audience

Fork It Over

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Barack. Obama

Virginia

Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

The junior senator from Illinois discusses how to transform U.S. politics, calling for a return to America's original ideals and revealing how they can address such issues as globalization and the function of religion in public life.

The Audacity of Hope

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Randy Pausch

Jeffrey Zaslow

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Illinois

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.

The Last Lecture

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Cathy LaGrow

Cindy Coloma

Texas

The True Story of a Lost Child, a Lifetime of Longing, and a Miracle for a Mother Who Never Gave Up

Now with a new afterword! A five star–reviewed, unforgettable story that bestselling author Homer Hickam calls “one of the most eloquent, moving, irresistible true stories” he’s ever read. The Waiting will touch your heart and make you believe in love’s enduring legacy, as well as the power of prayer. In 1928, 16-year-old Minka was on a picnic in the woods when she was assaulted and raped. And suddenly this innocent farm girl—who still thought the stork brought babies—was pregnant. The story that follows has been almost a hundred years in the making. After a lifetime of separation, Minka whispered an impossible prayer for the first time: Lord, I’d like to see Betty Jane before I die. What happened next was a miracle. Written by Cathy LaGrow (Minka’s granddaughter), The Waiting brings three generations of this most unusual family together over the course of a century in a story of faith that triumphs, forgiveness that sets us free, and love that never forgets. (As seen on The Today Show.)

The Waiting

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Malika Oufkir

Michele Fitoussi

Ros Schwartz

The daughter of a former aide to the king of Morocco, who was executed after a failed assassination attempt on the ruler, describes how she, her five siblings, and her mother were imprisoned in a desert penal colony for twenty years.

Ohio

Twenty Days in a Desert Jail

Born in 1953, Malika Oufkir is the eldest daughter of General Oufkir, the closest aide of the king of Morocco. Adopted by the king at the age of five, Malika spent most of her childhood in the seclusion of the court harem. Then, on August 16, 1972, her father was executed after an attempt to assassinate the king. Malika and her family were immediately imprisoned in a desert penal colony. After fifteen years, the last ten of which they spent in solitary cells, the Oufkir children managed to make a courageous escape. Stolen Lives is a heart-rending account of bravery in the face of extreme deprivation and an unforgettable story of a woman's personal journey to freedom.

A huge international best-seller in hardcover, Stolen Lives appeared on many best-seller lists including: the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, BookSense, the New York Post, Publishers Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, and more.

Stolen Lives

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Kathryn Spink

South Carolina

An Authorized Biography





Mother Teresa of Calcutta was the founder of the Missionaries ofCharity and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, but her story is so much moreremarkable. From her childhood in the Balkans to her work in India, from attendingthe victims of war-torn Beirut to pleading with George Bush and Saddam Husseinto choose peace over war, Mother Teresa was driven by a mighty faith.

Newly revised and updated, this edition includes a personal insight into thebeatification and continuing process of canonization for Mother Teresa, theongoing work of the Missionaries of Charity, and her "dark night of the soul."

Mother Teresa consistently claimed that she was simply responding to Christ'sboundless love for her and for all of humanity, bringing to the world a great lessonin joyful and selfless love. This book is a glimpse into her extraordinary faith,work, and life.

Mother Teresa (Revised Edition)

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Washington

The Letters of Julia Child and Avis Devoto

Shares the correspondence between the iconic celebrity chef and her unofficial literary agent from 1952 to 1965, offering insight into Julia's early experiences as a new bride in Paris, her support of her diplomat husband, and her views on period politics.

As Always, Julia

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Frank McCourt

California

"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse y

Angela's Ashes

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Nikki R. Haley

Leadership Lessons from Bold Women

Instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller! Nikki Haley's sharply intimate and inspirational book celebrates the world's most iconic women leaders.

"If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman." --Margaret Thatcher

In the spirit of Thatcher's quote, Ambassador Nikki R. Haley offers inspiring examples of women who worked against obstacles and opposition to get things done--including Haley herself. As a brown girl growing up in Bamberg, South Carolina, no one would have predicted she would become the first minority female governor in America, the first female and the first minority governor in South Carolina, or the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Her journey wasn't an easy one. She faced many people who thought she didn't belong--and who told her so. She was too brown. Too female. Too young. Too conservative. Too principled. Too idealistic. As far as Nikki was concerned, those were not reasons to hold her back. Those were all reasons to forge ahead.

She drew inspiration from other trailblazing women throughout history who summoned the courage to be different and lead. This personal and compelling book celebrates ten remarkable women who dared to be bold, from household names like Margaret Thatcher and Israel's former prime minister Golda Meir, to Jeane Kirkpatrick, the first female U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to lesser-known leaders like human rights activist Cindy Warmbier, education advocate Virginia Walden Ford, civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin, and more. Woven with stories from Haley's own childhood and political career, If You Want Something Done will inspire the next generation of leaders.

If You Want Something Done

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Sheryl Sandberg

Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

The Facebook chief operating officer and Fortune top-ranked businesswoman shares provocative, anecdotal advice for women that urges them to take risks and seek new challenges in order to find work that they can love and engage in passionately.

Lean In

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Danielle Trussoni

Massachusetts

A Love Story

The critically acclaimed, bestselling author of Falling Through the Earth and Angelology returns with this much-anticipated memoir of love and transformation in France. The Fortress is Peter Mayle meets Eat, Pray, Love, a gorgeously written account of one woman’s journey to the other side of the romantic fairytale. "If I had been another woman, I might have been skeptical. But I wasn’t another woman. I was a woman ready to be swept away. I was a woman ready for her story to begin. As a writer, story was all that mattered. Rising action, dramatic complication, heroes and villains and dark plots. I believed I was the author of my life, that I controlled the narration." From their first kiss, twenty-seven-year-old writer Danielle Trussoni is spellbound by a novelist from Bulgaria. The two share a love of jazz and books and travel, passions that intensify their whirlwind romance. Eight years later, hopeful to renew their marriage, Danielle and her husband move to the south of France, to a picturesque medieval village in the Languedoc. It is here, in a haunted stone fortress built by the Knights Templar, that she comes to understand the dark, subterranean forces that have been following her all along. While Danielle and her husband eventually part, Danielle's time in the fortress brings precious wisdom about life and love that she could not have learned otherwise. Ultimately, she finds the strength to overcome her illusions, and start again. An incisive look at romantic love, The Fortress is one woman’s fight to understand the complexities of her own heart, told by one of the best writers of her generation.

The Fortress

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Jenny Lawson

A Funny Book about Horrible Things

#1 New York Times Bestseller In Furiously Happy, a humor memoir tinged with just enough tragedy and pathos to make it worthwhile, Jenny Lawson examines her own experience with severe depression and a host of other conditions, and explains how it has led her to live life to the fullest: "I've often thought that people with severe depression have developed such a well for experiencing extreme emotion that they might be able to experience extreme joy in a way that ‘normal people' also might never understand. And that's what Furiously Happy is all about." Jenny’s readings are standing room only, with fans lining up to have Jenny sign their bottles of Xanax or Prozac as often as they are to have her sign their books. Furiously Happy appeals to Jenny's core fan base but also transcends it. There are so many people out there struggling with depression and mental illness, either themselves or someone in their family—and in Furiously Happy they will find a member of their tribe offering up an uplifting message (via a taxidermied roadkill raccoon). Let's Pretend This Never Happened ostensibly was about embracing your own weirdness, but deep down it was about family. Furiously Happy is about depression and mental illness, but deep down it's about joy—and who doesn't want a bit more of that?

Furiously Happy

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Karen Abbott

The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The epic true crime story of the most successful bootlegger in American history and the murder that shocked the nation, from the New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy

"Gatsby-era noir at its best."--Erik Larson

An ID Book Club Selection * NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST HISTORY BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SMITHSONIAN

In the early days of Prohibition, long before Al Capone became a household name, a German immigrant named George Remus quits practicing law and starts trafficking whiskey. Within two years he's a multi-millionaire. The press calls him "King of the Bootleggers," writing breathless stories about the Gatsby-esque events he and his glamorous second wife, Imogene, host at their Cincinnati mansion, with party favors ranging from diamond jewelry for the men to brand-new cars for the women. By the summer of 1921, Remus owns 35 percent of all the liquor in the United States.

Pioneering prosecutor Mabel Walker Willebrandt is determined to bring him down. Willebrandt's bosses at the Justice Department hired her right out of law school, assuming she'd pose no real threat to the cozy relationship they maintain with Remus. Eager to prove them wrong, she dispatches her best investigator, Franklin Dodge, to look into his empire. It's a decision with deadly consequences. With the fledgling FBI on the case, Remus is quickly imprisoned for violating the Volstead Act. Her husband behind bars, Imogene begins an affair with Dodge. Together, they plot to ruin Remus, sparking a bitter feud that soon reaches the highest levels of government--and that can only end in murder.

Combining deep historical research with novelistic flair, The Ghosts of Eden Park is the unforgettable, stranger-than-fiction story of a rags-to-riches entrepreneur and a long-forgotten heroine, of the excesses and absurdities of the Jazz Age, and of the infinite human capacity to deceive.

Praise for The Ghosts of Eden Park

"An exhaustively researched, hugely entertaining work of popular history that . . . exhumes a colorful crew of once-celebrated characters and restores them to full-blooded life. . . . [Abbott's] métier is narrative nonfiction and--as this vibrant, enormously readable book makes clear--she is one of the masters of the art."--The Wall Street Journal

"Satisfyingly sensational and thoroughly researched."--The Columbus Dispatch

"Absorbing . . . a Prohibition-era page-turner."--Chicago Tribune

The Ghosts of Eden Park - ARC

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Cathy Park Hong

An Asian American Reckoning

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • ONE OF TIME’S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE • A ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged, and utterly original exploration of Asian American consciousness “Brilliant . . . To read this book is to become more human.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen In development as a television series starring and adapted by Greta Lee • One of Time’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, New Statesman, BuzzFeed, Esquire, The New York Public Library, and Book Riot Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, this collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative—and its relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality, will change the way you think about our world. Binding these essays together is Hong’s theory of “minor feelings.” As the daughter of Korean immigrants, Cathy Park Hong grew up steeped in shame, suspicion, and melancholy. She would later understand that these “minor feelings” occur when American optimism contradicts your own reality—when you believe the lies you’re told about your own racial identity. Minor feelings are not small, they’re dissonant—and in their tension Hong finds the key to the questions that haunt her. With sly humor and a poet’s searching mind, Hong uses her own story as a portal into a deeper examination of racial consciousness in America today. This intimate and devastating book traces her relationship to the English language, to shame and depression, to poetry and female friendship. A radically honest work of art, Minor Feelings forms a portrait of one Asian American psyche—and of a writer’s search to both uncover and speak the truth. Praise for Minor Feelings “Hong begins her new book of essays with a bang. . . .The essays wander a variegated terrain of memoir, criticism and polemic, oscillating between smooth proclamations of certainty and twitches of self-doubt. . . . Minor Feelings is studded with moments [of] candor and dark humor shot through with glittering self-awareness.”—The New York Times “Hong uses her own experiences as a jumping off point to examine race and emotion in the United States.”—Newsweek “Powerful . . . [Hong] brings together memoiristic personal essay and reflection, historical accounts and modern reporting, and other works of art and writing, in order to amplify a multitude of voices and capture Asian America as a collection of contradictions. She does so with sharp wit and radical transparency.”—Salon

Minor Feelings

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Donald L. Maggin

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

North Carolina

A Life in Jazz

"Georges Remi's Tintin has long been one of the world's most beloved characters; Frederic Tuten has long been one of the fiction world's best-kept secrets. Their meeting here is nothing short of a literary event: a dazzling, hauntingly lyrical reimagining of the adventure novel." "Tintin has been to the Yucatan and Tibet, to the South Sea Islands and the Great American Plains; he's even traveled to the moon. Until now, however, he has never charted the restless geography of his mind: Averse to self-examination, unschooled in worldly ways, he is forever trapped in the body and psyche of a young teenager, content to combat evil and let his personal demons slumber. Then a summons comes to his home at Marlinspike Hall, and he ventures forth - accompanied by his great-hearted, hard-drinking companion Captain Haddock and his faithful dog, Snowy - to Machu Picchu, where he encounters a cast of characters that includes several from Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain. He will discover among them minds that can create and destroy the world he knew with but a thought, and the woman to whom he will lose his heart for the first - and last - time. He will find in his hands the power to take a life, in his heart the power to feel hatred, and in his soul the power to become one with all living things." "Instantly recognizable as the boy-man first brought to life by the Belgian artist Remi (a.k.a. Herge) over sixty years ago, and familiar to readers in more than thirty languages, Frederic Tuten's Tintin is, nevertheless, completely his own creation. Tintin in the New World, a novel for both the fan and the initiate, places our hero in his most incredible adventure yet."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Stan Getz

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Taya Kyle

Jim DeFelice

The widow of American Sniper Chris Kyle shares their private story: an unforgettable testament to the power of love and faith in the face of war and unimaginable loss—and a moving tribute to a man whose true heroism ran even deeper than the legend.

In early 2013, Taya Kyle and her husband, Chris, were the happiest they ever had been. Their decade-long marriage had survived years of war that took Chris, a U.S. Navy SEAL, away from Taya and their two children for agonizingly long stretches while he put his life on the line in many major battles of the Iraq War. After struggling to readjust to life out of the military, Chris had found new purpose in redirecting his lifelong dedication to service toward supporting veterans and their families. Their love had deepened, and their family was whole, finally.

Then, the unthinkable. On February 2, 2013, Chris and his friend Chad Littlefield were killed while attempting to help a troubled vet. The life Chris and Taya fought so hard to build was shattered. In an instant, Taya became a single parent of two. A widow. A young woman facing the rest of her life without the man she loved.

Chris and Taya's remarkable story has captivated millions through Clint Eastwood's blockbuster Academy Award-winning film American Sniper, starring Bradley Cooper as Chris and Sienna Miller as Taya, and because of Chris's bestselling memoir, in which Taya contributed passages that formed the book's emotional core. Now, with trusted collaborator Jim DeFelice, Taya writes in never-before-told detail about the hours, days, and months after Chris's shocking death when grief threatened to overwhelm her.

And yet throughout, friendship, family, and a deepening faith were lifelines that sustained her and the kids when the sorrow became too much. Two years after her husband's tragic death, Taya has found renewed meaning and connection to Chris by advancing their shared mission of "serving those who serve others," particularly military and first-responder families. She and the children are now embracing a new future, one that honors the past but also looks forward with hope, gratitude, and joy.

American Wife is one of the most remarkable memoirs of the year—a universal chronicle of love and heartbreak, service and sacrifice, faith and purpose that will inspire every reader.

Pennsylvania

Love, War, Faith, and Renewal





In early 2013, Taya Kyle and her husband Chris were the happiest they ever had been. Their decade-long marriage had survived years of war that took Chris, a U.S. Navy SEAL, away from Taya and their two children for agonizingly long stretches while he put his life on the line in many major battles of the Iraq War. Then, the unthinkable. On February 2, 2013, Chris and his friend Chad Littlefield were killed while attempting to help a troubled vet. In an instant, Taya became a single parent of two. A widow. A young woman facing the rest of her life without the man she loved.



Chris and Taya's remarkable story has captivated millions through Clint Eastwood's blockbuster, Academy Award-winning film American Sniper. Now, with trusted collaborator Jim DeFelice, Taya writes in never-before-told detail about the hours, days, and months after his shocking death. And yet throughout, friendship, family, and a deepening faith were lifelines that sustained her and the kids when the sorrow became too much.



American Wife is one of the most remarkable memoirs of the year--a universal chronicle of love and heartbreak, service and sacrifice, faith and purpose that will inspire every reader.

American Wife

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Delaware

Tales from a Neurolinguist's Journal

Fascinating glimpses into the personal change work of a top NLP practitioner and registered nurse, in settings from mental hospitals, emergency rooms, and neurosurgery departments, to individual hypnosis and psychotherapy. Rollicking, creative, lively, funny, outrageous, touching, profound. A must read romp for anyone interested in therapy or personal change.

The Rainbow Machine

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Margaret Durrell

In 1947, returning to the UK with two young children to support, Margaret Durrell starts a boarding house in Bournemouth. But any hopes of respectability are dashed as the tenants reveal themselves to be a host of eccentrics- from a painter of nudes to a pair of glamorous young nurses whose late-night shifts combined with an ever-revolving roster of gentleman callers leading to a neighbourhood rumour that Margo is running a brothel. Margo's own two sons, Gerry and Nicholas, prove to be every bit as mischievous as their famous Uncle Gerald - and he himself returns periodically with weird and wonderful animals, from marmosets to monkeys, that are quite unsuitable for life in a Bournemouth garden.

Whatever Happened to Margo?

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Life in the Rhythm of an Iron Lung

I live with a stable of nightmares, Martha Mason writes, but hope keeps them in harness. Some might wonder how Martha could have clung to hope at all. In 1948, on the day of the funeral of her adored older brother Gaston, a quick victim of the great polio epidemic, Martha was struck with the same dreaded disease. After a year in hospitals, she was sent back to her home in the village of Lattimore in the cotton-growing hills of western North Carolina. She was completely paralyzed, with only her head protruding from an 800-pound yellow metal cylinder that breathed for her. Doctors told her parents that she likely wouldn't live for more than a year. But the doctors hadn't counted on Martha's will, or the hope that drives her still. An avid reader, she dreamed of being a writer, and after finishing high school in her iron lung, she went on to nearby Gardner-Webb College, then to Wake Forest University, where she was graduated first in her class. After college, Martha attempted to begin a career as a writer, dictating to her mother, who had devoted her own life to Martha's care. But her father suffered a massive heart attack, leaving him, too, an invalid. Her mother, caring for both, had little time for Martha's dictation. Technology revived Martha's dream. A voice-activated computer allowed her to write without assistance. She got it early in 1994 in a time of great despair. A devastating stroke had altered her mother's personality, causing her to turn on Martha, and eventually to revert to childhood. Martha had to become her mother's keeper, and to run a household from her iron lung. To help her deal with the crisis, Martha began writing about her mother's selfless love. As she wrote, she found herself telling her own story, without self-pity or sentimentality, and with her usual courage, grace, and humor. Breath will make readers laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. It is a breath-taking memoir, a powerful testament to the human spirit, and it proves Martha Mason to be a writer whose voice is likely to be long remembered.

Breath

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Growing up Kennedy

In this evocative and affectionate memoir, Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, the last surviving child of Joe and Rose Kennedy, offers an intimate and illuminating look at a time long ago when she and her siblings, guided by their parents, laughed and learned a great deal under one roof. Prompted by interesting tidbits in the newspaper, Rose and Joe Kennedy would pose questions to their nine children at the dinner table. "Where could Amelia Earhart have gone?" "How would you address this horrible drought?" "What would you do about the troop movements in Europe?" It was a nightly custom that helped shape the Kennedys into who they would become. Before Joe and Rose’s children emerged as leaders on the world stage, they were a loving circle of brothers and sisters who played football, swam, read, and pursued their interests. They were children inspired by parents who instilled in them a strong work ethic, deep love of country, and intense appreciation for the sacrifices their ancestors made to come to America."No whining in this house!" was their father’s regular refrain. It was his way of reminding them not to complain, to be grateful for what they had, and to give back. In her remarkable memoir, Kennedy Smith—the last surviving sibling—revisits this singular time in their lives. Filled with fascinating anecdotes and vignettes, and illustrated with dozens of family pictures, The Nine of Us vividly depicts this large, close-knit family during a different time in American history. Kennedy Smith offers indelible, elegantly rendered portraits of her larger-than-life siblings and her parents. "They knew how to cure our hurts, bind our wounds, listen to our woes, and help us enjoy life," she writes. "We were lucky children indeed."

The Nine of Us

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Paul Brinkley-Rogers

A Memoir

A beautiful and evocative memoir based on the author's summer-long love affair with a remarkable older Japanese woman in the wake of World War II--"the most romantic memoir you're likely to read in a lifetime" (New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand).

Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Paul Brinkley‑Rogers has lived an adventurous life all over the world. But there is one story he cannot forget: that of his haunting love affair with a mysterious older Japanese woman in 1959. Paul was a sailor aboard the USS Shangri‑La that long‑ago summer when he met Kaji Yukiko in the seaport of Yokosuka. A fierce intellectual, Yukiko shared her astonishing knowledge of literature, film, and poetry with Paul and encouraged, even demanded, that he use his gifts to become the writer he is today.

But theirs was not a quiet love story. When a member of the yakuza, Japan's brutal crime syndicate, attempted to kidnap Yukiko, Paul realized that there was much more to her--and to Japan in the devastating wake of World War II--than he saw at first glance. Through the searing letters that Yukiko wrote to him and Paul's vivid telling of a history made all the more powerful and poignant by the weight of time, Please Enjoy Your Happiness reaches across decades and continents, inviting us all to revisit those loves of our lives that never truly end.

Please Enjoy Your Happiness

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