| The Wind in My Hair: My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran by Masih AlinejadWhat it's about: Exiled Iranian journalist and women's rights advocate Masih Alinejad chronicles her life spent resisting the Islamic republic in this captivating and informative memoir. Did you know? Alinejad is the creator of the social media movement My Stealthy Freedom, which encourages women to defy Iran's compulsory hijab laws by sharing photographs of themselves without their head scarves. |
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| There Are No Grown-Ups: A Midlife Coming-of-Age Story by Pamela DruckermanWhat it is: part memoir, part self-help guide, this witty and lighthearted collection of 25 essays explores American expat life in Paris, the realities of aging, and family relationships. Want a taste? "You know you're a fortysomething parent when you've decided that swimming counts as a shower." Chapters include: "How to Have a Midlife Crisis;" "How to Plan a Ménage à Trois;" and "How to Think in French." |
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Every day I'm hustling
by Vivica A. Fox
Inspirational life lessons from the NAACP Image Award-winning actress urge today's businesswomen to take charge of their own luck, sharing stories from her early family life and career, including behind-the-scenes anecdotes from her film work, where she received advice and encouragement from her fellow stars.
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| Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale HurstonWhat it's about: In 1927, author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston interviewed Cudjo Lewis (c. 1841-1935), one of the last known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade; the transcript of their conversation was only recently discovered. Read it for: Hurston's folkloristic preservation of Lewis's West African vernacular and storytelling. Is it for you? Lewis' clear account of his capture and enslavement is both graphic and illuminating. |
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On Leopard Rock : An Adventure in Books by Wilbur A. SmithThe first ever memoir from the Number One global bestselling adventure author. Wilbur Smith has lived an incredible life of adventure, and now he shares the extraordinary true stories that have inspired his fiction. Wilbur Smith tells us the intimate stories of his life that have been the raw material for his fiction. Always candid, sometimes hilarious, and never less than thrillingly entertaining, "On Leopard Rock" is testament to a writer whose life is as rich and eventful as his novels are compellingly unputdownable.
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Focus on: Prison and Captivity |
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Over the wire : a Canadian pilot's memoir of war and survival in a POW camp by Andrew CarswellIn 1943 RAF Bomber Command was losing planes and aircrew at an alarming rate on its nighttime missions over Germany and occupied Europe. Andrew Carswell grew up in Toronto and, shortly after his eighteenth birthday, enlisted and began the training that would soon qualify him to fly a Lancaster bomber. On his fourth operational mission his plane was shot down over Germany. He was taken prisoner, as were four other members of his crew, and spent the next three years as a prisoner of war in German Silesia--now eastern Poland--at Stalag VIIIB. He was finally liberated by Montgomery's Second Army in 1945 and returned to England. This is Andrew's story, but it is also the story of tens of thousands of Canadians of his generation who were proud to serve their country in its hour of greatest need.
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| A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara CorbettWhat it's about: In 2008, 25-year-old Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout was captured by Somali rebels in Mogadishu and held for ransom for 15 months. Don't miss: the urgent and evocative prose. Is it for you? Though the memoir has an upbeat ending, Lindhout's harrowing descriptions of the violence she endured may be too disturbing for some readers. |
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| The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State by Nadia MuradWhat it is: the raw yet inspiring story of Nadia Murad's escape from captivity by the Islamic State, for whom she was forced to serve as a "sabiya" (or sex slave) after her Yazidi village in Iraq was destroyed in 2014. About the author: Nadia Murad is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. |
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| Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould SlahiWhat it is: a riveting and reflective account of the human rights abuses perpetuated at the Guantánamo Bay military prison. What sets it apart: Guantánamo Diary is the first book on the subject to be written by a detainee during his imprisonment. Book buzz: Written in 2005, Guantánamo Diary remained classified for almost ten years; earlier editions of the book were heavily redacted. This Restored Edition reconstructs previously redacted text and includes a new introduction by Slahi. |
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| Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan StevensonWhat it's about: In 1994, lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative, which provides legal representation to inmates on Alabama's death row -- many of whom face miscarriages of justice. Further reading: Stevenson provides the foreword to Anthony Ray Hinton's heartwrenching and hopeful memoir (and Oprah's latest Book Club selection) The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, which chronicles his 30 years of false imprisonment. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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