Animal, Vegetable Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver Follows the author's family's efforts to live on locally - and home-grown foods, an endeavor through which they learned lighthearted truths about food production and the connection between health and diet.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David Eggers A respected magazine editor and founder, a onetime spokesman for Generation X, offers a satiric, eloquent, and thoroughly tradition-shattering memoir that discusses the deaths of his parents from cancer, his raising of his younger brother, and more.
Jesus Land: A Memoir by Julia Scheeres The story of a white girl who was sent from the Midwest to a Christian reform school in the Dominican Republic after she and her black adopted brother fought back against the racism and bullying that was directed toward them.
Little Heathens: hard times and high spirits on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish An evocative memoir of growing up in the heart of the Midwest during the Great Depression describes life on her grandparents' Iowa farm, a time of endless work, resourcefulness, no tolerance for idleness or waste, family, and kinship, in a volume that includes recipes and how-to's for everything from no-fail wart-removal spells to skinning a rabbit.
Madness: A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher A journalist describes the painful impact on her life of bipolar disease, from the initial diagnosis of the ailment, to her efforts to control violently careening mood swings, to her continuing struggle to cope with the ailment in every aspect of her life.
Monsoon Diary: a memoir with recipes by Shoba Narayan Interweaves personal reminiscences with delicious Indian recipes and reflections about Indian and American culture, culinary traditions, and her own eccentric family.
Nim Chimpsky: the chimp who would be human by Elizabeth Hess A chronicle of an experiment designed to transform the way humans think about animals and humans profiles a young chimpanzee, brought up with a large human family and taught to use sign language proficiently, until the funding for the study ended and he spent the next two decades exiled from his "family" and shuttled in and out of various facilities, including a medical lab.
The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama by Pico Iyer An illuminating account of the Dalai Lama explores his diverse roles as a politician, scientist, philosopher, and religious leader; discusses his ideas about religion, Tibet, peace, and world events; and examines his hidden life, often pragmatic messages, and the daily challenges he confronts.
The Other Side of Israel: my journey across the Arab-Jewish divide by Susan Nathan A British-born Jewish woman captures the harsh realities of life for Israel's frequently oppressed and neglected indigenous Arab population, exploring the historical factors and modern-day political and cultural currents that have created the situation and calls for the ending of a divide caused by misunderstanding and prejudice.
Stealing Buddha’s Dinner: a memoir by Bich Minh Nguyen A coming-of-age memoir by a Vietnamese American recounts her struggles for an American identity in the pre-politically correct climate of the Midwest and her passion for American food in the face of her family's Buddhist lifestyle.
Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: the story of an African childhood by Robyn Scott Documents the author's adventures growing up in Botswana with her eccentric family, an upbringing marked by her doctor father's yearnings to be a vet, her holistic and home-schooling mother, and the apartheid mind-set embraced by their white neighbors.
The Woman Who Can’t Forget: the extraordinary story of living with the most remarkable memory known by Jill Price A first-person account of the author's experiences with her extraordinary photographic memory describes her efforts to come to terms with abilities that cause her to remember events and details with complete recall, in a memoir that also relates her participation in extensive scientific studies.
