Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

West Virginia

A Doctor's Life As a Patient

From mortal illness to miraculous recovery, a doctor's moving account of his own experience as a patient At forty-two, Geoffrey Kurland, a pediatric pulmonologist specializing in such deadly diseases as cystic fibrosis, was diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia, a rare cancer with a statistically low survival rate. A remarkably fit man in training for 100-mile "extreme" races whose job is equally high performance, he is forced to confront the challenge of his own mortality. He tries to cope by turning inward in a desperate search for ever-elusive answers. As the doctor becomes a patient and lives through the terror and pain that he had until then only observed at a remove in his young patients, he learns invaluable life lessons that will ultimately make him a better doctor. This is Kurland's memoir of his diagnosis, treatment, and return to health and "normal" life-an unforgettable testament to the resilence of the human spirit.

My Own Medicine

0a560547-8bcb-44bb-94aa-22ec96994bb4-1

Wendy W. Fairey

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Arkansas

Reading My Way from Hollywood to Brooklyn

Wendy Fairey grew up among books. As the shy and studious daughter of famed Hollywood columnist Sheilah Graham—F. Scott Fitzgerald’s lover during the last years of his life—she began as a child reading her way through the library Fitzgerald had assembled for her mother and escaped into the landscape of classic English novels. Their protagonists became her intimates, starting with David Copperfield, whose sensibility and aspirations seemed so akin to her own. She felt as plain as Jane Eyre but craved the panache of Becky Sharp. English novels squired her to adulthood, and Bookmarked is a memoir of that journey. In a series of brilliant chapters that blend the genres of personal memoir and literary criticism, we follow Fairey, refracted through her reading, as student, wife, professor, mother, grandmother, and happily remarried writer. E. M. Forster’s Howards End helps her cope with a failing marriage; Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Ramsay teaches important lessons about love and memory. Like Eliot’s Daniel Deronda, she learns only as an adult of her Jewish heritage (and learns also the identity of her real father, the British philosopher A. J. Ayer). In this intimate and inspiring book, Wendy Fairey shows that her love of reading has been both a source of deep personal pleasure and key to living a fulfilling and richly self-examined life. Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Bookmarked

9d9df2a4-0fbb-420c-804a-f357e2617194-1

A. H. Nazzareno

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Oklahoma

A Memoir

The humor-laced and nostalgia-infused debut memoir follows A. H. Nazzareno in his attempt to make sense of a rare diagnosis. Written in a hospital bed and in the immediate weeks following major surgery, courtesy of Dr. Summeroff, an uncertain yet hopeful future emerges from a villain-riddled past.

The Villains Who Snapped My Spine

69bcabdb-5e2e-42b5-b5e1-23d102cd00e0-1

New Jersey

Nearly True Tales from a Life

With a voice as disarmingly bold, funny, and unsentimental as its author, a thoroughly unconventional memoir that shatters the myth of the tragic disabled life Harriet McBryde Johnson isn't sure, but she thinks one of her earliest memories was learning that she will die. The message came from a maudlin TV commercial for the Muscular Dystrophy Association that featured a boy who looked a lot like her. Then as now, Johnson tended to draw her own conclusions. In secret, she carried the knowledge of her mortality with her and tried to sort out what it meant. By the time she realized she wasn't a dying child, she was living a grown-up life, intensely engaged with people, politics, work, struggle, and community.Due to a congenital neuromuscular disease, Johnson has never been able to walk, dress, or bathe without assistance. With help, however, she manages to take on the world. From the streets of Havana, where she covers an international disability rights conference, to the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, to an auditorium at Princeton, where she defends her right to live against philosopher Peter Singer, she lives a life on her own terms. And along the way, she defies and debunks every popular assumption about disability.This unconventional memoir opens with a lyrical meditation on death and ends with a surprising sermon on pleasure. In between, we get the tales Johnson most enjoys telling from her own life. This is not a book "about disability" but it will surprise anyone who has ever imagined that life with a severe disability is inherently worse than another kind of life.

Too Late to Die Young

a592a67c-c350-4925-b0a4-9123370f7c0b-1

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

The former First Lady recounts the exciting and often poignant events in her life, from her secret engagement to George Bush, to the loss of her three-year-old daughter to leukemia, to daily life at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Barbara Bush: A Memoir

d4fc7d4c-44b6-4a9b-8a03-10e8257602c6-1

#hardcover #memoir #September11 #groundzero #TwinTowers

Maryland

One Woman's Struggle for Survival and Faith in the Ashes of 9/11

A 9/11 survivor tells of her escape from the Twin Towers and her transformation from a career-focused life to a God-focused life. Includes 8 pages b/w photographs.

Between Heaven and Ground Zero

4152f69c-619c-43f4-9001-eb9dda66bf9f-1

Melissa Blake

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Florida

My Thirteen Truths about Disability

Well-known disability activist and social media influencer, Melissa Blake, offers a frank, illuminating memoir and a call to action for disabled people and allies. In the summer of 2019, journalist Melissa Blake penned an op-ed for CNN Opinion. A conservative pundit caught wind of it, mentioning Blake's work in a YouTube video. What happened next is equal parts a searing view into society, how we collectively view and treat disabled people, and the making of an advocate. After a troll said that Blake should be banned from posting pictures of herself, she took to Twitter and defiantly posted three smiling selfies, all taken during a lovely vacation in the Big Apple: I wanted desperately to clap back at these vile trolls in a way that would make a statement, not only about how our society views disabilities, but also about the toxicity of our strict and unrealistic beauty standards. Of course I knew that posting those selfies wasn't going to erase the nasty names I'd been called and, the chances were, they would never even see my tweet, but that didn't matter. I wasn't doing it for them; I was doing it for me and every single disabled person who has been bullied before, online and in real life. When people mock how I look, they're not just insulting me. They're insulting all disabled people. We're constantly told that we're repulsive and ugly and not good enough to be seen. This was me pushing back against that toxic, ableist narrative. For the first time, I felt like I was doing something empowering, taking back my power and changing the story. Her tweet went viral, attracting worldwide media attention and interviews with the BBC, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, PEOPLE magazine, Good Morning America and E! News. Now, in her manifesto, Beautiful People, Blake shares her truths about disability, writing about (among other things): the language we use to describe disabled people ableism, microaggressions, and their pernicious effects what it's like to live in a society that not only isn't designed for you, but actively operates to render you invisible her struggles with self‑image and self‑acceptance the absence of disabled people in popular culture why disabled people aren't tragic heroes Blake also tells the stories of some of the heroes of the disability rights movement in America, in doing so rescuing their incredible achievements from near total obscurity. Highlighting other disabled activists and influencers, Blake's work is the calling card of a powerful voice--one that has sparked new, different, better conversations about disability.

Beautiful People- ARC

a6b5a740-1053-4795-922a-7981e87a4974-1

Tùng Nguyen

Katherine Manning

Lyn Nguyen

Michelle Bernstein

California

A Memoir of Food, an Unlikely Family, and the American Dream

A powerful memoir of resilience, friendship, family, and food from the acclaimed chefs behind the award-winning Hy Vong Vietnamese restaurant in Miami.

Through powerful narrative, archival imagery, and 20 Vietnamese recipes that mirror their story, Mango & Peppercorns is a unique contribution to culinary literature.

In 1975, after narrowly escaping the fall of Saigon, pregnant refugee and gifted cook Tung Nguyen ended up in the Miami home of Kathy Manning, a graduate student and waitress who was taking in displaced Vietnamese refugees. This serendipitous meeting evolved into a decades-long partnership, one that eventually turned strangers into family and a tiny, no-frills eatery into one of the most lauded restaurants in the country.

Tung's fierce practicality often clashed with Kathy's free-spirited nature, but over time, they found a harmony in their contrasts--a harmony embodied in the restaurant's signature mango and peppercorns sauce.

* IMPORTANT, UNIVERSAL STORY: An inspiring memoir peppered with recipes, it is a riveting read that will appeal to fans of Roy Choi, Ed Lee, Ruth Reichl, and Kwame Onwuachi.
* TIMELY TOPIC: This real-life American dream is a welcome reminder of our country's longstanding tradition of welcoming refugees and immigrants. This book adds a touchpoint to that larger conversation, resonating beyond the bookshelf.
* INVENTIVE COOKBOOK: This book is taking genre-bending a step further, focusing on the story first and foremost with 20 complementary recipes.

Perfect for:

* Fans of culinary nonfiction
* Fans of Ruth Reichl, Roy Choi, Kwame Onwuachi, and Anya Von Bremzen
* Home cooks who are interested in Asian food and cooking

Mango and Peppercorns

b66db2d3-1bfe-4636-b8be-5fc5ede3141a-1

Randy Pausch

Jeffrey Zaslow

Utah

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

654d1be9-4983-46e6-813b-cc0a565843e4-1

#RushLimbaugh #conservative #radio  #republican #politics #memoir #jamesgolden #bosnerdly

A Tribute from His Friend and Producer James Golden, Aka Bo Snerdley

The tens of millions of Rush fans will embrace this heartfelt reminiscence from Bo Snerdley that will make you laugh, cry and always remember America's great friend on the radio.

Rush on the Radio

3a536430-df2a-47a2-a5bd-a9fa1b132b32-1

Pennsylvania

A Illustrated Memoir

Now in paperback, the ingenious illustrated memoir that is widely praised:

"Hilarious, hell-raising, and frequently heart-wrenching." --Booklist

"[A] unique tragicomedy of a memoir . . . The author is so likable, even in her darkest hour, that as you applaud her recovery you also realize you'll miss looking after her." --Entertainment Weekly ("A" rating)

"Compelling reading . . . Becker has turned one person's experience into a universal story of family, healing, and the return to creativity." --Library Journal (starred review)

"A wonderful book, funny and touching, harrowing and sweet." --Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird

For years Suzy Becker, author of the New York Times bestseller All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat (1.7 million copies in print), literally lived by her wits. Then brain surgery left her temporarily unable to speak, read, or write. I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse? is a story that grapples with the question "What makes me me?" By turns philosophical and whimsical, rivetingly dramatic and unexpectedly light, it is illustrated with drawings, charts, pseudoserious graphs, real EEGs. The result is a book filled with insights into creativity, identity, love, relationships, family, and that intangible something that gives each of us our spark.

I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse?

2d14d513-4650-4d99-b7fb-592a13c76ab8-1

On an Irish Island is a love letter to a vanished way of life, in which Robert Kanigel, the highly praised author of The Man Who Knew Infinity and The One Best Way, tells the story of the Great Blasket, a wildly beautiful island off the west coast of Ireland, renowned during the early twentieth century for the rich communal life of its residents and the unadulterated Irish they spoke. With the Irish language vanishing all through the rest of Ireland, the Great Blasket became a magnet for scholars and writers drawn there during the Gaelic renaissance--and the scene for a memorable clash of cultures between modern life and an older, sometimes sweeter world slipping away.
 
Kanigel introduces us to the playwright John Millington Synge, some of whose characters in The Playboy of the Western World, were inspired by his time on the isl∧ Carl Marstrander, a Norwegian linguist who gave his place on Norway's Olympic team for a summer on the Blasket; Marie-Louise Sjoestedt, a Celtic studies scholar fresh from the Sorbon≠ and central to the story, George Thomson, a British classicist whose involvement with the island and its people we follow from his first visit as a twenty-year-old to the end of his life.
 
On the island, they met a colorful coterie of men and women with whom they formed lifelong and life-changing friendships. There's Tomás O'Crohan, a stoic fisherman, one of the few islanders who could read and write Irish, who tutored many of the incomers in the language's formidable intricacies and became the Blasket's first published writer; Maurice O'Sullivan, a good-natured prankster and teller of stories, whose memoir, Twenty Years A-Growing, became an Irish classic; and Peig Sayers, whose endless repertoire of earthy tales left listeners spellbound.
 
As we get to know these men and women, we become immersed in the vivid culture of the islanders, their hard lives of fishing and farming matched by their love of singing, dancing, and talk. Yet, sadly, we watch them leave the island, the village becoming uninhabited by 1953. The story of the Great Blasket is one of struggle--between the call of modernity and the tug of Ireland's ancient ways, between the promise of emigration and the peculiar warmth of island life amid its physical isolation. But ultimately it is a tribute to the strength and beauty of a people who, tucked away from the rest of civilization, kept alive a nation's past, and to the newcomers and islanders alike who brought the island's remarkable story to the larger world.

On an Irish Island

b0ddb503-b3b4-4cd6-a541-51bc56778315-1

Walter Cronkite

Louisiana

Overview: He has been called the most trusted man in America. His 60-year-long journalistic career has spanned the Great Depression, several wars, and the extraordinary changes that have engulfed our nation over the last two-thirds of the 20th century. When Walter Cronkite advised his television audience in 1968 that the war in Vietnam could not be won, President Lyndon B. Johnson said: "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America." Now, at the age of eighty, Cronkite has written his life story-the personal and professional odyssey of the original "anchorman" for whom that very word was coined. As a witness to the crucial events of this century-first for the Houston Press, then for the United Press wire service, and finally for CBS in the fledgling medium of television-Cronkite set a standard for integrity, objectivity, enthusiasm, compassion, and insight that is difficult to surpass. He is an overflowing vessel of history, and a direct link with the people and places that have defined our nation and established its unique role in the world. But Walter Cronkite is also the man who loved to drive race cars "for the same reason that others do exhibitionist, dangerous stunts. It sets us apart from the average man; puts us, in our own minds, on a level just a little above the chap who doesn't race." He is also the man whose "softheartedness knows no rational bounds" and who always had "great problems at the theater, tearing up at the slightest offense against animals and people, notably the very old or the very young." He is the man who could barely refrain from spitting on the defendants at the Nuremberg Trials, and who could barely announce President Kennedy's assassination over the air for the sobs in his throat. Walter Cronkite helped launch the juggernaut of television, and tried to imbue it with his own respect for quality and ethics; but now he occupies a ringside seat during the decline of his profession and the ascent of the lowest common denominator. As he aptly observes, "They'd rewrite Exodus to include a car chase." Still, the American people know the difference. They know that for decades they have had the privilege of getting their news from a gentleman of the highest caliber. And they will immensely enjoy A Reporter's Life.

A Reporter's Life

96e5870b-4fbf-42e5-b5c7-a233280c6078-1

J. D. Vance

A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

Hillbilly Elegy

987b31e1-c6e7-4c61-9189-b310865f7e9c-1

Samantha Bee

Bee delivers hilarious essays on everything from her parents' views on religion and sex to her pre-"Daily Show" stint as a Japanese anime character.

I Know I Am, but What Are You?

9ed2873d-2100-487c-84c8-ab76be73f9a6-1

Barack. Obama

Texas

A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making--from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post * Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times * NPR * The Guardian * Marie Claire In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency--a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil. Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation's highest office. Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune's Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden. A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective--the story of one man's bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of "hope and change," and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible. This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama's conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.

A Promised Land

873ab9b7-1688-42d6-a2d5-aaf32a51f858

Michigan

Frank McCourt

"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

27680489-af28-494f-b4dd-c0e4e5802eeb-1

Glennon Doyle

Nevada

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Over two million copies sold! “Packed with incredible insight about what it means to be a woman today.”—Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club Pick) In her most revealing and powerful memoir yet, the activist, speaker, bestselling author, and “patron saint of female empowerment” (People) explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet others’ expectations and start trusting the voice deep within us. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY O: The Oprah Magazine • The Washington Post • Cosmopolitan • Marie Claire • Bloomberg • Parade • “Untamed will liberate women—emotionally, spiritually, and physically. It is phenomenal.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of City of Girls and Eat Pray Love This is how you find yourself. There is a voice of longing inside each woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good partners, daughters, mothers, employees, and friends. We hope all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives and wonder: Wasn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be grateful, hiding our discontent—even from ourselves. For many years, Glennon Doyle denied her own discontent. Then, while speaking at a conference, she looked at a woman across the room and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There She Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high. But she soon realized they had come to her from within. This was her own voice—the one she had buried beneath decades of numbing addictions, cultural conditioning, and institutional allegiances. This was the voice of the girl she had been before the world told her who to be. Glennon decided to quit abandoning herself and to instead abandon the world’s expectations of her. She quit being good so she could be free. She quit pleasing and started living. Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanizing wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is the story of navigating divorce, forming a new blended family, and discovering that the brokenness or wholeness of a family depends not on its structure but on each member’s ability to bring her full self to the table. And it is the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honor our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts so that we become women who can finally look at ourselves and say: There She Is. Untamed shows us how to be brave. As Glennon insists: The braver we are, the luckier we get.

Untamed

ee96ec10-172a-4c38-9693-92fd2e4e6f10-1

Maya Angelou

A couple small bends along dust jacket but otherwise in near perfect new condition! This book was an extra copy so just selling the second one

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A moving memoir about the legendary author’s relationship with her own mother. Emma Watson’s Our Shared Shelf Book Club Pick! The story of Maya Angelou’s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother. For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence—a presence absent during much of Angelou’s early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their California home to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. The subsequent feelings of abandonment stayed with Angelou for years, but their reunion, a decade later, began a story that has never before been told. In Mom & Me & Mom, Angelou dramatizes her years reconciling with the mother she preferred to simply call “Lady,” revealing the profound moments that shifted the balance of love and respect between them. Delving into one of her life’s most rich, rewarding, and fraught relationships, Mom & Me & Mom explores the healing and love that evolved between the two women over the course of their lives, the love that fostered Maya Angelou’s rise from immeasurable depths to reach impossible heights. Praise for Mom & Me & Mom “Mom & Me & Mom is delivered with Angelou’s trademark good humor and fierce optimism. If any resentments linger between these lines, if lives are partially revealed without all the bitter details exposed, well, that is part of Angelou’s forgiving design. As an account of reconciliation, this little book is just revealing enough, and pretty irresistible.”—The Washington Post “Moving . . . a remarkable portrait of two courageous souls.”—People “[The] latest, and most potent, of her serial autobiographies . . . [a] tough-minded, tenderhearted addition to Angelou’s spectacular canon.”—Elle “Mesmerizing . . . Angelou has a way with words that can still dazzle us, and with her mother as a subject, Angelou has a near-perfect muse and mystery woman.”—Essence

Mom and Me and Mom

6aa77654-acbe-4ff4-b62c-ddc160c5129d-1

Chasten Buttigieg

Mississippi

The young adult adaptation of the hopeful and refreshingly candid bestselling memoir by the husband of a former Democratic presidential candidate about growing up gay in his small Midwestern town. Completely rewritten with new stories, including resources for readers, parents, and teachers.

Growing up, Chasten Glezman Buttigieg didn't always fit in. He felt different from his father and brothers, who loved to hunt and go camping, and out of place in the rural, conservative small town where he lived. Back then, blending in was more important than feeling seen.

So, when Chasten realized he was gay, he kept that part of himself hidden away for a long, painful time. With incredible bravery, and the support of his loved ones, Chasten eventually came out--and when he did, he learned that being true to himself was the most rewarding journey of all.

Finding acceptance and self-love can seem like a tremendous challenge, but it's never impossible. With honesty, courage, and warmth, Chasten relays his experience of growing up in America and embracing his identity, while inspiring young people across the country to do the same.

I Have Something to Tell You--For Young Adults

80a91b9e-2946-437d-9d37-ed301eb0a4e8-1

#hardcover #nonfiction #autobiography #queereye #jonathanvanness #jvn #memoir #biography 

Rhode Island

A Raw Journey to Self-Love

Who gave Jonathan Van Ness permission to be the radiant human he is today? No one, honey. The truth is, it hasn't always been gorgeous for this beacon of positivity and joy. Before he stole our hearts as the grooming and self-care expert on Netflix's hit show Queer Eye, Jonathan was growing up in a small Midwestern town that didn't understand why he was so...over the top. From choreographed carpet figure skating routines to the unavoidable fact that he was Just. So. Gay., Jonathan was an easy target and endured years of judgement, ridicule and trauma--yet none of it crushed his uniquely effervescent spirit. Over the Top uncovers the pain and passion it took to end up becoming the model of self-love and acceptance that Jonathan is today. In this revelatory, raw, and rambunctious memoir, Jonathan shares never-before-told secrets and reveals sides of himself that the public has never seen. JVN fans may think they know the man behind the stiletto heels, the crop tops, and the iconic sayings, but there's much more to him than meets the Queer Eye. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll come away knowing that no matter how broken or lost you may be, you're a Kelly Clarkson song, you're strong, and you've got this.

Over the Top

1ec2d02a-f7b5-41d6-b2b8-2c5826ebb32c-1

Passager Books

Joyce Abell

A testament that you can never be too old to try something new, Abell published her first book (this memoir) at age 92.

Literary Nonfiction. California Interest. Memoir. Humor. PRICKLY ROSES: STORIES FROM A LIFE is a collection of high-spirited, often humorous essays spanning the adventurous life of 93- year-old Joyce Abell. Frequently on her own from the age of three, she lived on a dairy farm, a hotel in New Orleans, a transatlantic ocean liner, an Albanian palace, and came of age in a boardinghouse in Berkeley, CA. Among the characters in this book, you'll meet her Communist parents, Paul Robeson, the U.S. ambassador to Albania (her grandfather), and the great loves of her life. "PRICKLY ROSES: STORIES FROM A LIFE may just as well have been called The Unimaginable, Fascinating, and Unspeakably Magical Life of Joyce Abell. Her childhood adventures rival those of Harry Potter, except her stories are better because they're true. The world she recounts is all but lost to us now, and so I am doubly grateful to Joyce Abell for writing her history down."--Ann Patchett

Browse by categories

Save this search

Geoffrey Kurland

My Own Medicine

Wendy W. Fairey

Bookmarked

A. H. Nazzareno

The Villains Who Snapped My Spine

Harriet McBryde Johnson

Too Late to Die Young

Barbara Bush

Barbara Bush: A Memoir

Leslie Haskin

Between Heaven and Ground Zero

Melissa Blake

Beautiful People- ARC

Tùng Nguyen; Katherine Manning; Lyn Nguyen; Michelle Bernstein

Mango and Peppercorns

Randy Pausch; Jeffrey Zaslow

The Last Lecture

James Golden

Rush on the Radio

Suzy Becker

I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse?

Robert Kanigel

On an Irish Island

Walter Cronkite

A Reporter's Life

J. D. Vance

Hillbilly Elegy

Samantha Bee

I Know I Am, but What Are You?

Walter Cronkite

A Reporter's Life

Barack. Obama

A Promised Land

Barack. Obama

A Promised Land

Frank McCourt

Angela's Ashes

Glennon Doyle

Untamed

Maya Angelou

Mom and Me and Mom

Chasten Buttigieg

I Have Something to Tell You--For Young Adults

Jonathan Van Ness

Over the Top

Passager Books; Joyce Abell

Prickly Roses