Share in the childhood tales of A Girl Named Zippy. Hear Kenneth Branagh read Samuel Pepys' exuberant 17th-century diary. Be transformed by the extraordinary women of Half the Sky. You'll find these and other remarkable life stories under biography and memoir.
Annabel Abbs's Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women is a beautifully written meditation on connecting with the outdoors through the simple act of walking. In captivating and elegant prose, Abbs follows in the footsteps of women who boldly reclaimed wild landscapes for themselves, including Georgia O'Keeffe, Nan Shepherd, Gwen John, Daphne du Maurier, and Simone de Beauvoir. Learn More
As much music history as biography, Awop Bop Aloo Mop celebrates "Little" Richard Wayne Penniman, who burst onto the American scene in 1955 with his mega-hit "Tutti Frutti." Learn More
by Natascia Tornetta-Mallin; read by Jean Ann Douglass
A proudly humanist portrayal of sexual impulse and impropriety in the City of Angels, The First 50 is a chronological recapitulation of fifty erotic encounters that take place between the ages of thirteen and thirty-three. Columbine, 9/11, The Iraq War, and The Great Recession set the stage as a young woman navigates the ambient decadence that has long defined Los Angeles. Learn More
by Thomas Huening; foreword by Congresswoman Jackie Speier; read by Mike Chamberlain
The authorized biography of John Joseph Kelly—the quintessential Good Samaritan—who changed the lives of thousands of people in need, first as a devoted Catholic priest; then as a champion of the poor and a father figure to troubled minority youth; and finally, as a one-on-one mentor offering hope and guidance to hardcore San Quentin inmates. Learn More
God of Sperm tells the remarkable story of Dr. Cappy Miles Rothman, the son of notorious gangster Norman "Roughhouse" Rothman, who went on to become a trailblazer in the field of reproductive medicine. Learn More
In this "exquisite and probing narrative" (Publishers Weekly) of life on her small farm in the year leading up to a surprising diagnosis of severe ADHD, Rebecca Schiller pens a vivid rallying cry for anyone wondering if different doesn't have to mean broken. Learn More
A work of unflinching honesty, Autoportrait is a hypnotic memoir of reflection, loss, and everyday joy from one of America's best contemporary novelists. Learn More
A black teenager from Philadelphia describes her experiences in an exclusive New England prep school, first as a student coming to terms with a new and different way of life, and then as a teacher at her alma mater. Learn More
1975: A young Irish-American man joins an elite US Marine unit to get the most intensive military training possible—then joins the Irish Republican Army, during the days of some of the bloodiest fighting ever in the Irish-British conflict. Learn More
Many of the systems built to serve people instead do more harm than good. In Broken, Dr. Paul LeBlanc, president of Southern New Hampshire University, draws on his experience working in one such system—education—to reconnect us to the human facets of serving people. In doing so, he charts a course for rebuilding and reinhabiting better systems across education, healthcare, criminal justice, government, and more. Learn More
by Chelsea Austin Montgomery-Duban Wächter; read by Chelsea Austin Montgomery-Duban Wächter
A hilariously moving and inspirational memoir of a girl with two gay dads, navigating her way through life with joy, love, gratitude, and an excellent sense of humor. Learn More
This National Book Critics Circle Award winner is "an entrancing attempt to catch what falls between: the irreducibly personal, messy, even embarrassing ways reading and living bleed into each other, which neither literary criticism nor autobiography ever quite acknowledges" (The New York Times). Learn More
by Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr.; read by J. Rodney Turner
They say history is written by the victors. In the case of the Civil War, that's largely true. But historian Samuel Mitcham brings the Southern point of view to life in Voices from the Confederacy. Learn More
For the first time, the choreographer of Michael Jackson, Madonna, Björk, and many others reveals stage stories through his extraordinary journey. Learn More
