Browse by Categories - Memoir
Alex LemonHis freshman year of college, Alex Lemon was supposed to be the star catcher on the Macalester College baseball team. He was the boy getting every girl, the hard-partying kid who everyone called Happy, often without even knowing his real name. In the spring of 1997, he had his first stroke.
Giulia MelucciFrom failure to fusilli, this deliciously hilarious read tells the story of Giulia Melucci's fizzled romances and the mouth-watering recipes she used to seduce her men, smooth over the lumps, and console herself when the relationships flamed out.
From an affectionate alcoholic, to the classic New York City commitment-phobe, to a hipster aged past his sell date, and not one, but two novelists with Peter Pan complexes, Giulia has cooked for them all. She suffers each disappointment with resolute cheer (after a few tears) and a bowl of pastina (recipe included) and has lived to tell the tale so that other women may go out, hopefully with greater success, and if that's not possible, at least have something good to eat.
Peppered throughout Giulia's delightful and often poignant remembrances are fond recollections of her mother's cooking, the recipes she learned from her, and many she invented on her own inspired by the men in her life. Readers will howl at Giulia's boyfriend-littered past and swoon over her irresistable culinary creations.
Jennifer WorthExclusive interview with author Jennifer Worth about her new book The Midwife.
Thomas BuergenthalThomas Buergenthal, now a Judge in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, tells his astonishing experiences as a young boy in his memoir A LUCKY CHILD. He arrived at Auschwitz at age 10 after surviving two ghettos and a labor camp. Separated first from his mother and then his father, Buergenthal managed by his wits and some remarkable strokes of luck to survive on his own. Almost two years after his liberation, Buergenthal was miraculously reunited with his mother and in 1951 arrived in the U.S. to start a new life.
Now dedicated to helping those subjected to tyranny throughout the world, Buergenthal writes his story with a simple clarity that highlights the stark details of unimaginable hardship. A LUCKY CHILD is a book that demands to be read by all.
Simon MajumdarAn internationally popular food savant and blogger chronicles his yearlong journey around the world in search of everything delicious.
Sophia RadayAs an activist, Sophia Raday ran away from cops dressed in riot gear. Then, much to her surprise, she fell in love with one. Barrett was not only an Oakland police officer but a soldier as well: a West Point graduate, an Airborne Ranger, and a major in the Army Reserve. Today, his nightstand holds reading like Terror in Breslan and American Rifleman; hers, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and a printout of the Anusara yoga opening chant.
Kamal SaleemEx-terrorist Kamal Saleem reveals the true inside story of the life and mindset of a radical Muslim terrorist who finally came to renounce his murderous mission and embrace freedom.
John F Baker The Wessyngton Plantation was established in 1796 by Joseph Washington 1770-1848, a cousin of President Washington. By 1860 Wessyngton encompassed more than 15,000 acres and held 274 slaves there. Names associated with the plantation include: Washington, Cheatham, Blow, Green, White, Williams, Terry, Lewis, Scott, and Gardner. John F. Baker extensively traces all of the families from this plantation (descendants of the plantation owners and the enslaved population). He finds the familial connection he felt initially to a photograph in a history book, is tied to his true ancestral heritage.
Colette LivermoreThe searing memoir of an extraordinary woman who served as a nun for eleven years in Mother Teresa's order, Hope Endures is a compelling chronicle of idealistic determination, rigid discipline, and shattering disillusionment.
Carl CapotortoWhat's in a name? For Carl Capotorto, everything is in a name. The literal translation from Italian to English of Capotorto is "twisted head." This is no accident. Carl grew up in the Bronx in the 1960s and ?70s with the Mangialardis ("eat fat") and Mrs. Sabella ("so beautiful"), incessant fryers and a dolled-up glamour queen. Carl's father, Philip Vito Capotorto, was the obsessive, tyrannical head of the family--"I'm not your friend, I'm the father" was a common refrain in their household. The father ran Cappi's Pizza and Sangwheech Shoppe, whose motto was "We Don't Spel Good, Just Cook Nice." It was a time of great upheaval in the Bronx, and Carl's father was right in the middle of it, if not the cause of it, much to the chagrin of his long-suffering mother.
Twisted Head is the comedic story of a hardscrabble, working-class family's life that represents the real legacy of Italian-Americans--labor, not crime. It is also the poignant memoir of the author's struggle to become himself in a world that demanded he act like someone else. Tragic and funny in equal measure, Carl's story is propelled by a cast of only-in-New-York characters: customers at the family pizza shop, public school teachers, nuns and priests at church, shop owners and merchants--all wildly entertaining and sometimes frightening. Somewhere in all the rage and madness that surrounded Carl in his youth, he found the bottom line: he loved his family, but he had to let them go. Twisted Head is an exorcism of sorts. With plenty of laughs.
