“Mom loved adages, quotes, slogans. There were always little reminders pasted on the kitchen wall. For example, the word THINK. I found THINK thumbtacked on a bulletin board in her darkroom. I saw it Scotch-taped on a pencil box she’d collaged. I even found a pamphlet titled THINK on her bedside table. Mom liked to THINK.”
 
So begins Diane Keaton’s unforgettable memoir about her mother and herself. In it you will meet the woman known to tens of millions as Annie Hall, but you will also meet, and fall in love with, her mother, the loving, complicated, always thinking Dorothy Hall. To write about herself, Diane realized she had to write about her mother, too, and how their bond came to define both their lives. And so, in a remarkable act of creation, Diane not only reveals herself to us, she also lets us meet in intimate detail her mother. Throughout her life, Dorothy kept eighty-five journals—literally thousands of pages—in which she wrote about her marriage, her children, and, most probingly, about herself. Dorothy also recorded memorable stories about Diane’s grandparents. Diane has sorted through all these pages to paint an unflinching portrait of her mother—a woman restless with intellectual and creative energy struggling to find an outlet for her talents—as well as her entire family, recounting a story that spans four generations and nearly a hundred years.

More than just the autobiography of a legendary actress, Then Again is a book about a very American family with very American dreams. Diane will remind you of yourself, and her bonds with her family will remind you of your own relationships with those you love the most.

A raw, poignant, and often hilarious look inside the troubled life and mind of an American comic icon

From his harrowing childhood filled with physical and emotional abuse, to a lifetime of alcoholism and self-mutilation, psychiatric hospitalizations and misdiagnoses, to the peak of fame and success as the longest-tenured cast member of Saturday Night Live (where his hilarious dead-on impressions of Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, Chris Matthews, and a hundred other prominent figures ushered him to the peak of stardom), Darrell Hammond delves into the darkest corners of his life, both in front of and behind the camera, with brutal honesty and fierce comic wit.

On an overcast September day in 1993, Jim Abbott took the mound at Yankee Stadium and threw one of the most dramatic no-hitters in major-league history. The game was the crowning achievement in an unlikely success story, unseen in the annals of professional sports. In Imperfect, the one-time big league ace retraces his remarkable journey.
 
Born without a right hand, Jim Abbott as a boy dreamed of being a great athlete. Raised in Flint, Michigan, by parents who saw in his condition not a disability but an extraordinary opportunity, Jim became a two-sport standout in high school, then an ace pitcher for the University of Michigan.
 
But his journey was only beginning.
 
As a nineteen-year-old, Jim beat the vaunted Cuban National Team. By twenty-one, he’d won the gold medal game at the 1988 Olympics andâ??without spending a day in the minor leaguesâ??cracked the starting rotation of the California Angels. In 1991, he would finish third in the voting for the Cy Young Award. Two years later, he would don Yankee pinstripes and deliver a one-of-a-kind no-hitter.
 
It wouldn’t always be so good. After a season full of difficult lossesâ??some of them by football scoresâ??Jim was released, cut off from the game he loved. Unable to say good-bye so soon, Jim tried to come back, pushing himself to the limitâ??and through one of the loneliest experiences an athlete can have.
 
But always, even then, there were children and their parents waiting for him outside the clubhouse doors, many of them with disabilities like his, seeking consolation and advice. These obligations became Jim’s greatest honor.
 
In this honest and insightful memoir, Jim Abbott reveals the insecurities of a life spent as the different one, how he habitually hid his disability in his right front pocket, and why he chose an occupation in which the uniform provided no front pockets. With a riveting pitch-by-pitch account of his no-hitter providing the ideal frame for his story, this unique athlete offers readers an extraordinary and unforgettable memoir.

An awe-inspiring, often hilarious, and unerringly honest story of one mother's exercise in extreme parenting, revealing the rewards-and the costs-of raising her children the Chinese way.

All decent parents want to do what's best for their children. What Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother reveals is that the Chinese just have a totally different idea of how to do that. Western parents try to respect their children's individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions and providing a nurturing environment. The Chinese believe that the best way to protect your children is by preparing them for the future and arming them with skills, strong work habits, and inner confidence. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother chronicles Chua's iron-willed decision to raise her daughters, Sophia and Lulu, her way-the Chinese way-and the remarkable results her choice inspires.

Here are some things Amy Chua would never allow her daughters to do:

• have a playdate

• be in a school play

• complain about not being in a school play

• not be the #1 student in every subject except gym and drama

• play any instrument other than the piano or violin

• not play the piano or violin

The truth is Lulu and Sophia would never have had time for a playdate. They were too busy practicing their instruments (two to three hours a day and double sessions on the weekend) and perfecting their Mandarin.

Of course no one is perfect, including Chua herself. Witness this scene:

"According to Sophia, here are three things I actually said to her at the piano as I supervised her practicing:

1. Oh my God, you're just getting worse and worse.

2. I'm going to count to three, then I want musicality.

3. If the next time's not PERFECT, I'm going to take all your stuffed animals and burn them!"

But Chua demands as much of herself as she does of her daughters. And in her sacrifices-the exacting attention spe...

Sure, he’s an excitable guy.
Sure, he loves to complain.
But Regis Philbin loves life . . . and with the wildly unpredictable one he’s led so far, who wouldn’t? After five decades in show business—and nearly 17,000 unforgettable hours on television—he has a lifetime’s worth of stories to share.

In this entertaining memoir, the irrepressible Reege—consummate talk-show host, man-about-town, loving husband, father, and yes, obsessive sports fan—looks back at his years in show business. How I Got This Way is filled with stories of lessons learned—and elbows rubbed—with extraordinary, and often unsuspecting, teachers: David Letterman; Donald Trump; George Clooney; Howard Stern; Jack Nicholson; legendary Notre Dame coaches Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, and Lou Holtz; and, of course, longtime cohosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Kelly “Pippa” Ripa; as well as his own lovely wife, Joy—to name just a few.

Whether he’s revealing what really drove him “bonkers” on the set of Seinfeld, how he survived the first known bomb scare on live TV, what Jack Nicholson said about his beautiful leading ladies during their guys’ night out together, or poignant memories of his last moments with his idol and dear friend, Jack Paar, Regis packs every page with his signature heart, wit, dynamic energy, and gratitude for everything life has brought him.

Biographies & Memoirs | Memoirs
Biographies & Memoirs | Family & Childhood

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever. Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town -- and the family -- Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home. What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms. For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots. Now she tells her own story. A regular contributor to MSNBC.com, she lives in New York and Long Island and is married to the writer John Taylor.

Wait a minute . . .

. . . there.

I made it to the next moment.

And that’s how you get through a bad moment of grief. You do it one moment at a time.

—from Worth Fighting For

LISA NIEMI and PATRICK SWAYZE were married for thirty-four years. They first met as teenagers at his mother’s dance studio—he was older and just a bit cocky; she was the beautiful waif who refused to worship the ground he walked on. Through the years their marriage strained under the pressures that many do, but it was always a uniquely passionate and creative partnership.

When they first exchanged vows, Lisa promised to be with her husband “till death do us part.” But how many couples stop and think about what that truly means? Worth Fighting For is a remarkably candid look at what losing a partner really entails—how to care for him or her, how to make it through each day without falling into despair, and how to move forward in the second half of your life when the person you spent the first half with is gone.

For the first time, Lisa Niemi Swayze shares the details of Patrick’s twenty-one-month battle with Stage IV pancreatic cancer, and she describes his last days, when she simply tried to keep him comfortable. She writes with heartbreaking honesty about her grief in the aftermath of Patrick’s death, and she openly discusses the challenges that the years without him have posed.

While this is an emotionally honest and un-flinching depiction of illness and loss, it is also a hopeful and life-affirming exploration of the power of the human spirit. Lisa shows that no matter how dark the prospect of another day may seem, there are always reserves of strength to call upon. She writes, “I tell you, I am a different person now. One who has been thrown into the fire and forged.” Like The Year of Magical Thinking and A Widow’s Story, this book is both a tribute to a marriage and a celebration of the healing power that each day holds, even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Biographies & Memoirs | Memoirs
Health, Mind & Body | Relationships | Marriage

At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe--a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who had been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. (Both were survivors of previous bad divorces. Enough said.) But providence intervened one day in the form of the United States government, when Felipe was unexpectedly detained at an American border crossing. The couple was given a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again. Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Gilbert tackled her fears of marriage by delving into this topic completely, trying with all her might to discover through historical research, interviews, and much personal reflection what this stubbornly enduring old institution actually is. Told with Gilbert's trademark wit, intelligence and compassion, Committed attempts to turn on all the lights when it comes to matrimony, frankly examining questions of compatibility, infatuation, fidelity, family tradition, social expectations, divorce risks and humbling responsibilities. Gilbert's memoir is ultimately a clear-eyed celebration of love with all the complexity and consequence that real love, in the real world, actually entails.

Biographies & Memoirs | Memoirs | Personal Memoirs
Biographies & Memoirs | Humanitarians
Asia; Pakistan; Afghanistan; Girl's Schools; Humanitarian assistance from Americans

This is the astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard.

Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson’s quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea  combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit.

Greg Mortenson was born Dec. 27, 1957 to Lutheran missionary parents in St. Cloud, Minnesota (USA).  Through the leadership of the Lutheran Church, Mortenson's father was a fundraiser for and development director of the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, Tanzania's first teaching hospital. Mortenson's mother was the founding principal of International School Moshi. Greg spent his early childhood and adolescence in Tanzania, East Africa, where he learned to speak Swahili fluently.  In the early 1970s, when Greg was 15 years old, the family left Tanzania and moved back to Minnesota. Greg attended high school in Roseville, Minnesota, and after high school served in the United States Army in Germany from 1975 to 1977 as a Medic and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. Following his discharge, Greg attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota from 1977 to 1979 on an athletic (football) scholarship. Greg graduated from the Univ. of South Dakota in 1993 with a Bachelor’s Degree in liberal studies and an associate's degree in nursing. Greg is co-founder and executive director of the non-profit Central Asia Institute as well as the founder of the educational charity Pennies for Peace. He is co-author of  Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time  which remained on the New York Times non-fiction best seller list for four years.  He also is author of Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In his follow-up to the best-selling Ultramarathon Man—which Sports Illustrated called “fascinating” and the New York Times said was “full of euphoric highs”—world-renowned ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes chronicles his unbelievable exploits and explorations in gripping detail. Karnazes runs for days on end without rest, across some of the most exotic and inhospitable places on earth, including the Australian outback, Antarctica, and the Tenderloin District of San Francisco.
From the downright hilarious to the truly profound, the linked stories in Run! create an unforgettable tableau, providing readers with the ultimate escape and offering a rare glimpse into the mind-set and motivation of an extreme athlete. Karnazes addresses the pain and perseverance and also charts his emotional state as he pushes the edges of human achievement. The tales of the friendships he’s cultivated on his many adventures around the world warm the heart and are sure to captivate and inspire readers whether they run great distances, modest distances, or not at all.

Night is Elie Wiesel's masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Weisel, Elie's wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author's original intent. And in the substantive new preface, Elie Wiesel reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man capacity for inhumanity to man.

Night offers much more than a litany of the daily terrors, everyday perversions, and rampant sadism at Auschwitz and Buchenwald; it also eloquently addresses many of the philosophical as well as personal questions implicit in any serious consideration of what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy is and will be.

Biographies & Memoirs | Memoirs
Parenting & Families | Parenting
Nonfiction | True Accounts
Tips on the admission process, Universities & Colleges in the United States

The true story of a parent helping his son choose a college.

In telling of his son's forced march through the anxiety and muck of picking and getting into a college, Andrew Ferguson gives critical analysis of the often absurd, fraudulent, parasitic college admissions process.

The cutthroat competition to get into the perfect college can drive students to the brink of madness and push their parents over the edge--and bury them in an avalanche of books that claim to hold the secret of success. Have no fear,  Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College  is not one of those books. This book is a candid and hilarious chronicle of the journey that millions of parents and their children undertake each year--the journey through the surreal rituals of college admissions. Come along on a rollicking ride from the man Christopher Buckley has called "my all-time favorite writer."

Pummeled by peers, creeped out by counselors, and addled by advice books, Andrew Ferguson comes to believe that a single misstep could cost his son a shot at a happy and fulfilling future. He feels the pressure to get it right from the moment the first color brochures land in his mailbox, sent from colleges soliciting customers as though they were sailors come to port. First is a visit with the most sought-after, most expensive--and surely most intimidating--private college consultant in the nation. Then comes a session with a distracted high school counselor, preparations for the SAT and immersion in its mysteries, unhelpful help from essay coaches and admissions directors, endless campus tours, and finally, as spring arrives, the waiting, oh the waiting, for the envelope bearing news of the future. Meanwhile, Ferguson passes on tips he's picked up during their crash course. For example, tip number 36 is to apply for financial aid after midnight. Ferguson provides a pocket history of higher education in America, recounting the college ranking wars, and casting light on the obscure and not-terribly-seemly world of higher-education marketing. He dares to raise the question that no one--until now--has been able to answer: Why on earth does it all cost so much? Along the way, something unexpected begins to happen: a new relationship grows between father and son, built from humor, loyalty, and yes, more than a little shared anxiety. Because for all its tips and trials, Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College  is also a story about family. It turns out that the quiet boy who pretends not to be worried about college has a lot to teach his father--about what matters in life, about trusting your instincts, about finding your own way.

What would cause an eighteen-year-old old senior class president and homecoming queen from Nashville, Tennessee, to disappoint her parents by forgoing college, break her little brother’s heart, lose all but a handful of her friends (because the rest of them think she has gone off the deep end), and break up with the love of her life, all so she could move to Uganda, where she knew only one person but didn’t know any of the language? A passion to make a difference. Katie Davis left over Christmas break her senior year for a short mission trip to Uganda and her life was turned completely inside out. She found herself so moved by the people and children of Uganda that she knew her calling was to return and care for them. She has given up a relatively comfortable life—at a young age—to care for the less fortunate of this world. She was so moved by the need she witnessed, she's centered her life around meeting that need. Katie, a charismatic and articulate young woman, is in the process of adopting 13 children in Uganda, and she completely trusts God for daily provision for her and her family. 

Despite the rough conditions in which Katie lives, she has found a life of service to God to be one of great joy. Katie's children bring constant delight and help her help others by welcoming whoever comes to their door. As the challenges grow, so does Katie's faith and her certainty that what she's doing in Uganda, one person at a time, will have far-reaching rewards. It isn't the life she planned, but it is the life she loves.

To further her reach into the needs of Ugandans, Katie established Amazima Ministries. The ministry matches orphaned children with sponors worldwide. Each sponsor's $300/year provides schooling, school supplies, three hot meals a day, minor medical care, and spiritual encouragement. Katie expected to have forty children in the program; she had signed up 150 by January 2008; today it sponsors over 400. Another aspect of the ministry is a feeding program created for the displaced Karamojong people—Uganda's poorest citizens. The program feeds lunch to over 1200 children Monday-Friday and sends them home with a plate of food; it also offers basic medical care, Bible study, and general health training.

Katie Davis, now 22, is more than fascinating, she's inspiring, as she has wholeheartedly answered the call to serve. 

"Human beings fear the unknown. So, whatever's freaking you out, grab it by the balls and say hello. Then it ain't the unknown anymore and it ain't scary. Or I guess it could be a shitload scarier."

Fans of the #1 bestseller Sh*t My Dad Says will recognize the always-patient voice of Justin Halpern's dad as it crackles through the pages of this hysterical new book. The story begins when Justin takes his dad out to lunch to announce that he's decided to propose to his girlfriend.

"You've been dating her for four years," his dad replies. "It ain't like you found a parallel fucking universe."

But eventually he gives Justin some advice: that he should take a day off and think back over everything he's learned in life about women, relationships, and himself before making his decision. And that's just what Justin does—revisiting everything from his disastrous childhood crushes to the night he finally lost his virginity while working as a dishwasher at Hooters.

I Suck at Girls is full of his dad's patented brand of wisdom. But it's also full of new characters just as funny as his dad—from his brother, who provides insights into wedding night rituals ("You stand in one corner of the room, and she stands in the other. You each take off one piece of clothing at a time") to his first boss, who warns Justin to man up: "That's what a man does. He takes his shots and then he scrubs the shit out of some dishes." The result is a pilgrim's progress through the landscape of sex and love—by one of the funniest writers at work today.

“Mr. Galaxy—shaved head, arms full of tattoos—seems physically at odds with his gentle voice and gentle approach to animals. . . . But though he may be dealing with humans who have been terrorized and even bloodied by their out-of-control pets, he’s a model of consistency. The cats, not the people, are his No. 1 priority.”—The New York Times “Galaxy is not your average animal behaviorist. He speaks Cat. And cats listen. He works miracles in saving death-row cats in shelters by helping them get over their fears and increase their self-esteem, and coaching them to ‘work it’ with potential adopters.”—mousebreath.com “He’s the kind of magic man who can lull a shelter’s roomful of ferocious felines to sleep.”—Yahoo! “Each of us sheds light on our subject from our own particular point of view. Fortunately for us all Jackson Galaxy’s light is very bright. His success at resolving behavioral difficulties in cats stems from his ability to slide his mind into the cat’s point of view and proceed from there. His insights into both human and cat behavior are right on.”—Anitra Frazier, author of The Natural Cat  Cat behaviorist and star of Animal Planet’s hit television show My Cat from Hell, Jackson Galaxy, a.k.a. “Cat Daddy,” isn’t what you might expect for a cat expert (as The New York Times noted, with his goatee and tattoos he “looks like a Hells Angel”). Yet Galaxy’s ability to connect with even the most troubled felines—not to mention the stressed-out humans living in their wake—is awe-inspiring. In this book, Galaxy tells the poignant story of his thirteen-year relationship with a petite gray-and-white short-haired cat named Benny, and gives singular advice for living with, caring for, and loving the feline in your home.
When Benny arrived in his life, Galaxy was a down-and-out rock musician with not too much more going on than a part-time job at an animal shelter and a drug problem. Benny’s previous owner brought the cat to the shelter in a cardboard box to give him up. Benny had seen better days—his pelvis had just been shattered by the wheels of a car—and his owner insisted he’d been “unbondable” from day one. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
An inspiring account of two broken beings who fixed each other, Cat Daddy is laced throughout with Galaxy’s amazing “Cat Mojo” advice for understanding what cats need most from us humans in order to live happier, healthier lives.