Safiya Sinclair

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

A Memoir

With echoes of Educated and Born a Crime, How to Say Babylon is the stunning story of the author's struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing, ruled by her father's strict patriarchal views and repressive control of her childhood, to find her own voice as a woman and poet.

Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair's father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home. He worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure, and believed a woman's highest virtue was her obedience.

In an effort to keep Babylon outside the gate, he forbade almost everything. In place of pants, the women in her family were made to wear long skirts and dresses to cover their arms and legs, head wraps to cover their hair, no make-up, no jewelry, no opinions, no friends. Safiya's mother, while loyal to her father, nonetheless gave Safiya and her siblings the gift of books, including poetry, to which Safiya latched on for dear life. And as Safiya watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under housework and the rigidity of her father's beliefs, she increasingly used her education as a sharp tool with which to find her voice and break free. Inevitably, with her rebellion comes clashes with her father, whose rage and paranoia explodes in increasing violence. As Safiya's voice grows, lyrically and poetically, a collision course is set between them.

How to Say Babylon is Sinclair's reckoning with the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her; it is her reckoning with patriarchy and tradition, and the legacy of colonialism in Jamaica. Rich in lyricism and language only a poet could evoke, How to Say Babylon is both a universal story of a woman finding her own power and a unique glimpse into a rarefied world we may know how to name, Rastafari, but one we know little about.

How to Say Babylon

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Jenny Slate

"To see the world through Jenny Slate's eyes is to see it as though for the first time, shimmering with strangeness and possibility. As she will remind you, we live on an ancient ball that rotates around a bigger ball made up of lights and gasses that are science gasses, not farts (don't be immature). Heartbreak, confusion, and misogyny stalk this blue-green sphere, yes, but it is also a place of wild delight and unconstrained vitality, a place where we can start living as soon as we are born, and we can be born at any time. In her dazzling, impossible-to-categorize debut, Slate channels the pain and beauty of life in writing so fresh, so new, and so burstingly alive that we catch her vision like a fever and bring it back out into the bright day with us, and everything has changed"--

Little Weirds

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Jinger Vuolo

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear





Jinger Vuolo, the sixth child in the famous Duggar family of TLC's 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On, recounts how she began to question the unhealthy ideology of her youth and learned to embrace true freedom in Christ.

When Jinger Duggar Vuolo was growing up, she was convinced that obeying the rules was the key to success and God's favor. She zealously promoted the Basic Life Principles of Bill Gothard,

 * fastidiously obeying the modesty guidelines (no shorts or jeans, only dresses),
 * eagerly submitting to the umbrella of authority (any disobedience of parents would place her outside God's protection),
 *  promoting the relationship standard of courtship, and
 * avoiding any music with a worldly beat, among others.

 

Jinger, along with three of her sisters, wrote a New York Times bestseller about their religious convictions. She believed this level of commitment would guarantee God's blessing, even though in private she felt constant fear that she wasn't measuring up to the high standards demanded of her.

In Becoming Free Indeed, Jinger shares how in her early twenties, a new family member--a brother-in-law who didn't grow up in the same tight-knit conservative circle as Jinger--caused her to examine her beliefs. He was committed to the Bible, but he didn't believe many of the things Jinger had always assumed were true. His influence, along with the help of a pastor named Jeremy Vuolo, caused Jinger to see that her life was built on rules, not God's Word.

Jinger committed to studying the Bible--truly understanding it--for the first time. What resulted was an earth-shaking realization: much of what she'd always believed about God, obedience to His Word, and personal holiness wasn't in-line with what the Bible teaches.

Now with a renewed faith of personal conviction, Becoming Free Indeed shares what it was like living under the tenants of Bill Gothard, the Biblical truth that changed her perspective, and how she disentangled her faith with her belief in Jesus intact.

Becoming Free Indeed

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Amy Schumer

Schumer "mines her past for stories about her teenage years, her family, relationships, and sex and shares the experiences that have shaped who she is--a woman with the courage to bare her soul to stand up for what she believes in, all while making us laugh"--Amazon.com.

The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo

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Dan Harris

How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story

Winner of the 2014 Living Now Book Award for Inspirational Memoir After having a nationally televised panic attack, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes. A lifelong nonbeliever, he found himself on a bizarre adventure involving a disgraced pastor, a mysterious self-help guru, and a gaggle of brain scientists. Eventually, Harris realized that the source of his problems was the very thing he always thought was his greatest asset: the incessant, insatiable voice in his head, which had propelled him through the ranks of a hypercompetitive business, but had also led him to make the profoundly stupid decisions that provoked his on-air freak-out. Eventually Harris stumbled upon an effective way to rein in that voice, something he always assumed to be either impossible or useless: meditation, a tool that research suggests can do everything from lower your blood pressure to essentially rewire your brain. 10% Happier takes readers on a ride from the outer reaches of neuroscience to the inner sanctum of network news to the bizarre fringes of America’s spiritual scene, and leaves them with a takeaway that could actually change their lives.

10% Happier

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Torre DeRoche

Love with a Chance of Drowning, A Memoir Novel by Torre DeRoche. Romance, non-fiction book. (5.25”x8”). Based on a true story of the author’s life events. A love story novel about life and love sailing the ocean, between an Australian woman and an Argentinian man. This book has 23 chapters and 333 pages. Like new with minor shelf wear on edges, minor page bind discoloration and minor marks on cover and bind. See all photos. Retails for $14.99.

Rhode Island

New love. Exotic destinations. A once-in-a-lifetime adventure. What could go wrong? City girl Torre DeRoche isn't looking for love, but a chance encounter in a San Francisco bar sparks an instant connection with a soulful Argentinean man who unexpectedly sweeps her off her feet. The problem? He's just about to cast the dock lines and voyage around the world on his small sailboat, and Torre is terrified of deep water. However, lovesick Torre determines that to keep the man of her dreams, she must embark on the voyage of her nightmares, so she waves good-bye to dry land and braces for a life-changing journey that's as exhilarating as it is terrifying. Somewhere mid-Pacific, she finds herself battling to keep the old boat, the new relationship, and her floundering sanity afloat. . . . This sometimes hilarious, often harrowing, and always poignant memoir is set against a backdrop of the world's most beautiful and remote destinations. Equal parts love story and travel memoir, Love with a Chance of Drowning is witty, charming, and proof positive that there are some risks worth taking.

Love with a Chance of Drowning

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Published 1908, early printing of vintage biography - Library Binding - Ex-library copy with typical internal stamps/markings; bookplate pasted to back of front board; part of page 3 torn out; spine covered lengthwise with tape. Oodles of small surface defects on an antique, scarce, serviceable copy of an important classic. Published by The Century Company.

New Jersey

The World I Live In

VINTAGE FIRST EDITION, copyright 1989. Maj. Fawcett joined up with the Marines shortly before Pearl Harbor and served through to the Vietnam era. No writing, no owner name. A few dog-eared pages. The first 20 pages are more tanned than the remaining pages. Edge wear and rubbing to DJ, sunned spine, a few wrinkles and small tears with one larger 1” tear. Please see photos. I find only a few copies for sale, $71-$125. (SW2) (9B)

Their Way  **

Twelve miscellaneous titles - all vintage. Message me which books you’re interested in and I will create a listing. If you select two or more, I can deduct $1 from the total price. “ Silent Miaow” :  $5 (hilariously written by a cat). “St. Gallen” : $3 (B&W photos and German text about St. Gallen, Switzerland. Boards bowed). “Prophetic Years” : $3 (published in 1946, it concerns prophecies for 1947-1953). “Wandering Through Winter” $5 ( a naturalist writes of his journey across the US  with B&W photos). “Yamsi” : $5 (A year at the author’s ranch in the Oregon wilderness). “Molly and the Regicides” : $5 (AUTOGRAPHED first edition, first printing; historical fiction). “All About Christmas” : $3 (Customs, legends and traditions around the world). “Dancing at Lughnasa” : $2 (Olivier Award winning play with some B&W photos). “Muzzy” : $3 (Charles W Thayer’s memoir about his mother; ex-library). “THE FEATHER MERCHANTS” : $4 (Humorous tale about civilians written by a soldier. This copy belonged to the 112th Infantry HQ). “RALLY ROUND THE FLAG BOYS” : $4 (Another humor book by Max Shulman. The army installs a guided missile base in suburban CT. Book Club Edition). “HIGH SPEED DRIVING”: $7 (Rather scarce edition from London). All DJ show varying degrees of wear. Please see photos. I can send additional photos or info for any title(s) of interest. #vintage #bundle #autographed #nonfiction #memoir #cats #humor #Christmas #nature #historicalfiction (Shelf 10F)

Mammoth Hardcover (8 to 10 lbs)

Create Your Own Vintage BUNDLE 

Barack. Obama

Oversized Hardcover (4 to 6 lbs)

California

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

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Sheila E.

Wendy Holden

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Michigan

The Grammy Award-nominated music artist traces four decades of Latin and pop music, sharing intimate details from her tours with fellow artists and her solo career while revealing how her faith has helped her work through her painful experiences with sexual abuse. 75,000 first printing.

The Beat of My Own Drum

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Published 1962, 1st American Edition, ex-library copy with typical internal markings. 

The Hundred Days of LT. MacHorton

Danica Perez

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

The Glow (Signed)

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#history #holocaust #memoir #jewish history 

Florida

On the Vistula Facing East

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Signed edition. #autobiography #biography #kathygriffin #hardcover #nonfiction #signed #signededition #memoir #celebrity 

A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin

The comedian and Emmy-winning self-proclaimed "D-list" star celebrates those who supported her on her rise to fame and also offers intimate details in a humorous look at the funny woman's life.

Official Book Club Selection (Signed)

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Berry Gordy

First Edition, First Printing 1994. Motown Museum sticker on cover. Minor scuffs on dj from reshelving. Book is new and unread! 

The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown

To Be Loved

372e4186-a043-405a-b131-fc4bc5e3e68f-1

Sherman Alexie

Very good clean tight copy. Very good dust jacket. Award winning author. First edition, first printing. Signed.

New York

A searing, deeply moving memoir about family, love, and loss from the critically acclaimed, bestselling National Book Award winner. When his mother passed away at the age of 78, Sherman Alexie responded the only way he knew how: he wrote. The result is this stunning memoir. Featuring 78 poems, 78 essays and intimate family photographs, Alexie shares raw, angry, funny, profane, tender memories of a childhood few can imagine--growing up dirt-poor on an Indian reservation, one of four children raised by alcoholic parents. Throughout, a portrait emerges of his mother as a beautiful, mercurial, abusive, intelligent, complicated woman. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME is a powerful account of a complicated relationship, an unflinching and unforgettable remembrance.

Signed 1st ed./ 1st * You Don't Have to Say You Love Me

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David H. Hackworth

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

The Odyssey of an American Warrior

Chronicles the military career of America's most decorated living soldier, from his enlistment of age fifteen, through his service in Vietnam, where his growing disillusionment with American policies led to his post-war exile in Australia

About Face

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Kat Von D

#hardcover #tattoos #nonfiction #memoir #katvond

The Tattoo Chronicles

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#hardcover #nonfiction #biography #fiction #autobiography #memoir 

Illinois

A Writer's Memoir

Where the Past Begins

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cover jacket has dents. see pic. otherwise unread. 

When Nick Flynn was seven years old, his mother set fire to their house. The event loomed large in his imagination for years, but it's only after having a child of his own that he understands why. He returns with his young daughter to the landscape of his youth, reflecting on how his feral childhood has him still in its reins, and forms his memories into lyrical bedtime stories populated by the both sinister and wounded Mister Mann.With the spare lyricism and dark irony of his classic, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Flynn excavates the terrain of his traumatic upbringing and his mother's suicide. This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire unravels the story of the fire that Flynn had to escape, and the ways in which, as an adult, he has carried that fire with him until it threatens to burn down his own house. Here Nick confronts his failings with fierce candor, even as they threaten to tear his family apart. His marriage in crisis, Flynn seeks answers from his therapist, who tells him he has "the ethics of a drowning man."This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire takes us on the journey of a man struggling to hold himself together in prose that is raw and moving, sharp-edged and wry. Alternating literary analysis and philosophy with intimate memoir, Flynn probes his deepest ethical dilemmas.

This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire

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Diane Keaton

Rare new signed first edition in very fine condition. 

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From Academy Award winner and bestselling author Diane Keaton comes a candid, hilarious, and deeply affecting look at beauty, aging, and the importance of staying true to yourself—no matter what anyone else thinks. Diane Keaton has spent a lifetime coloring outside the lines of the conventional notion of beauty. In Let’s Just Say It Wasn’t Pretty, she shares the wisdom she’s accumulated through the years as a mother, daughter, actress, artist, and international style icon. This is a book only Diane Keaton could write—a smart and funny chronicle of the ups and downs of living and working in a world obsessed with beauty. In her one-of-a-kind voice, Keaton offers up a message of empowerment for anyone who’s ever dreamed of kicking back against the “should”s and “supposed to”s that undermine our pursuit of beauty in all its forms. From a mortifying encounter with a makeup artist who tells her she needs to get her eyes fixed to an awkward excursion to Victoria’s Secret with her teenage daughter, Keaton shares funny and not-so-funny moments from her life in and out of the public eye. For Diane Keaton, being beautiful starts with being true to who you are, and in this book she also offers self-knowing commentary on the bold personal choices she’s made through the years: the wide-brimmed hats, outrageous shoes, and all-weather turtlenecks that have made her an inspiration to anyone who cherishes truly individual style—and catnip to paparazzi worldwide. She recounts her experiences with the many men in her life—including Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, and Sam Shepard—shows how our ideals of beauty change as we age, and explains why a life well lived may be the most beautiful thing of all. Wryly observant and as fiercely original as Diane Keaton herself, Let’s Just Say It Wasn’t Pretty is a head-turner of a book that holds up a mirror to our beauty obsessions—and encourages us to like what we see. Praise for Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty “Behind the sterling movie credits and tomboyish wardrobe, we see a soulful and deep woman contemplating the narrative arc of her own life.”—Newsweek “Delicious writing . . . This book is like a dishy lunch with the movie star you thought you’d never be lucky enough to meet. . . . Diane Keaton is in a class by herself and this book is good for the soul.”—Liz Smith, Chicago Tribune “She’s talented, iconic, quirky . . . and wonderfully blunt. This is just a small sampling of the reasons we love Diane Keaton, and they all permeate the pages of her new memoir.”—Elle “As disarming and personable as the actress herself.”—The Huffington Post “Wise, witty, thoughtful, uplifting, the truth, unvarnished—and very funny.”—Toronto Star

Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty—Signed

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Jhumpa Lahiri

Ann Goldstein

"A series of reflections on the author's experiences learning a new language and living abroad, in a dual-language edition"--

In Other Words—Signed

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Tracy Kidder

Very good clean tight copy, very good dust jacket. First edition, first printing. Awards winno.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Tracy Kidder, author of "The Soul of a New Machine," writes for the first time about himself in an astonishingly honest, comic, and moving memoir of the Vietnam War.

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