18 books like Autobiography of a Face
Spirited Women
The acclaimed author of The Secret Women and Things Past Telling returns with an engrossing historical novel about a little known aspect of World War II—the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only Black WACs to serve overseas during the conflict.
In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Dorothy Thom, Spelman graduate, librarian and Francophile, joins the Women’s…
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The Brooklyn Follies
Nathan Glass has come to Brooklyn to die. Divorced, estranged from his only daughter, the retired life insurance salesman seeks only solitude and anonymity. Then Nathan finds his long-lost nephew, Tom Wood, working in a local bookstore - a far cry from the brilliant academic career he'd begun when Nathan saw him last. Tom's boss is the charismatic Harry Brightman, whom fate has also brought to…
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My lobotomy
At twelve, Howard Dully was guilty of the same crimes as other boys his age: he was moody and messy, rambunctious with his brothers, contrary just to prove a point, and perpetually at odds with his parents. Yet somehow, this normal boy became one of the youngest people on whom Dr. Walter Freeman performed his barbaric transorbital--or ice pick--lobotomy.Abandoned by his family within a year of…
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The Rough Riders
"The Rough Riders (1899) is the story of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, the regiment Roosevelt led to enduring fame in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt recounts how the regiment was raised from an unusual mixture of hardened southwestern frontiersmen and privileged northeastern college graduates, and how it trained in Texas and then sailed "southward through the topic seas…
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Relampago
A woman's idyllic life--child, career, successful husband--ends with breast cancer. The protagonist is Alexandra Parker, a New York lawyer who suddenly finds her husband doesn't want a woman who is sick. Fortunately others do, even if she has gone bald from treatment.
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Army Life in a Black Regiment
"Army Life in a Black Regiment has some claim to be the best written narrative to come from the Union [side] during the Civil War," wrote historian Henry Steele Commander. "Higginson's picture of the battle which was the origin of 'praise the Lord and pass the ammunition' and his reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to the black regiment are unsurpassed for eloquence." A Union colonel wrote…
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Days of grace
A remarkable and inspiring memoir by a remarkable and inspiring human being: Arthur Ashe, embodiment of courage and grace in every aspect of his life, from his triumphs as a great tennis champion and his determined social activism to his ordeal in the face of death, a casualty of AIDS. As he brings us into his childhood in Richmond, Virginia, where he was born in 1943, where his mother died when…
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Presidents for Kids
TIME For Kids presents a complete overview of our nation's chief executives from George Washington to the newly elected 45th president!Did you know that James Monroe was the first president to appear without a wig in public? Or that George W. Bush appointed the first African-American secretary of state? Presidents of the United States invites the reader inside the White House to discover…
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Living in the Labyrinth/a Personal Journey Through the Maze of Alzheimers
Living In The Labyrinth is the story of how one woman found the strength and the courage to cope with a devastating disease that has afflicted five million Americans. Far from being an exercise in self-pity or a standard autobiography, this is an unflinching and ultimately uplifting look at a debilitating illness from the inside out. -- From publisher description.
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her…
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Gifted hands
In 1987, Dr. Benjamin Carson gained worldwide recognition for his part in the first successful separation of Siamese twins joined at the back of the head. The extremely complex and delicate operation, five months in the planning and twenty-two hours in the execution, involved a surgical plan that Carson helped initiate. Carson pioneered again in a rare procedure known as hemispherectomy, giving…
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Recollections of an old soldier
As they were in those days, the full title of Capt David Perry's book is its own description:
Recollections of an old soldier. The life of Captain David Perry, a soldier of the French and revolutionary wars, containing many extraordinary occurrences relating to his own private history, and an account of some interesting events in the history of the times in which he lived, no-where else…
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Back on Blossom Street
There's a new shop on Seattle's Blossom Street--a flower store called Susannah's Garden, right next door to A Good Yarn. Susannah Nelson, the owner, has just hired an assistant named Colette Blake, a young widow who's obviously hiding a secret--or two.When Susannah and Colette both join Lydia Goetz's new knitting class, they discover that Lydia and her sister, Margaret, have worries of their own.…
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Terms of Endearment
Aurora is the kind of woman who makes the whole world orbit around her, including a string of devoted suitors. Widowed and overprotective of her daughter, Aurora adapts at her own pace until life sends two enormous challenges her way: Emma’s hasty marriage and subsequent battle with cancer.
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No such thing as a bad day
Former White House chief of staff recounts his bouts with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, melanoma, and prostate cancer.
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Halfway to forever
You wept with them as they were Waiting for MorningYou shared their Moment of WeaknessNow they face the greatest struggles of their lives.Matt and Hannah Bronzan have found a new life in the face of devastating loss.  Together with Hannah’s daughter, Jenny, they are finally moving forward—toward the adoption of a little girl. A younger sister for Jenny, a daughter for them to love and raise…
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Who Moved My Cheese?
Who Moved My Cheese? is a simple parable that reveals profound truths about change. It is an amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a "Maze" and look for "Cheese" to nourish them and make them happy. Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry. And two are "little people" -- beings the size of mice who look and act a lot like people. Their names are Hem and Haw. "Cheese" is a…
Shares: Psychological Adaptation, Psychology
Borrowed Time
This "tender and lyrical" memoir (New York Times Book Review) remains one of the most compelling documents of the AIDS era-"searing, shattering, ultimately hope inspiring account of a great love story" (San Francisco Examiner). A National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and the winner of the PEN Center West literary award.
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