18 books like Days of grace

What to read after Days of grace — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Borrowed Time Paul Monette · 1988 · ★ 4.4 · 342p · ≈ 11h · Moderate 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. Shares: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, AIDS, Patients, Personal narratives

And the Band Played on Randy Shilts · 1987 · ★ 4.5 · 640p · ≈ 21h · Moderate The blueprint of 20th century investigative journalism. Tracing the course of HIV/AIDS through society; from its earliest as then unknown incarnation, to the height of this 1980s hysteria – the death of Rock Hudson: Shilts's book should be in every High School's final academic examinations coursework reading list, as a compulsory item. An unregrettable read. Shares: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, AIDS

Dancer from the Dance Andrew Holleran · 1978 · ★ 4.0 · 256p · ≈ 8h · Moderate One of the most important works of gay literature, this haunting, brilliant novel is a seriocomic remembrance of things past -- and still poignantly present. It depicts the adventures of Malone, a beautiful young man searching for love amid New York's emerging gay scene. From Manhattan's Everard Baths and after-hours discos to Fire Island's deserted parks and lavish orgies, Malone looks high and… Shares: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, AIDS

My lobotomy Howard Dully · 1998 · ★ 4.5 · 287p · ≈ 9h · Moderate 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… Shares: Patients, Personal narratives, United States, Biography & Memoir

Autobiography of a Face Lucy Grealy · 1994 · ★ 4.0 · 230p · ≈ 7h · Moderate Lucy Grealy's ruthless self-examination, rich fantasy life, and great derring-do inform this powerful memoir about the premium we put on beauty and on a woman's face in particular. It took Lucy twenty years of living with a distorted self-image and more than thirty reconstructive procedures before she could come to terms with her appearance after childhood surgery left her jaw disfigured. As a… Shares: Patients, Personal narratives, United States, Biography & Memoir

The Rough Riders Theodore Roosevelt · 1894 · 128p · ≈ 4h · Challenging "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… Shares: Personal narratives, United States, Biography & Memoir

Army Life in a Black Regiment Thomas Wentworth Higginson · 1870 · ★ 3.9 · 232p · ≈ 7h · Challenging "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… Shares: Personal narratives, United States, Biography & Memoir

Presidents for Kids Presidents For Kids · 2025 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… Shares: United States, Biography & Memoir

Living in the Labyrinth/a Personal Journey Through the Maze of Alzheimers Diana Friel McGowin · 1992 · 147p · ≈ 4h · Moderate 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. Shares: Patients, Biography & Memoir

Gifted hands Ben Carson · 1990 · ★ 4.4 · 232p · ≈ 7h · Moderate 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… Shares: Personal narratives, United States, Biography & Memoir

Traveling Light Katrina Kittle · 2000 · ★ 3.5 · 323p · ≈ 10h · Moderate "Travel light and you can sing in the robber's face" was the best advice Summer Zwolenick ever received from her father, though she didn't recognize it at the time. Three years after the accident that ended her career as a ballerina, she is back in the familiar suburbs of Dayton, Ohio, teaching at a local high school. But it wasn't nostalgia that called Summer home. It was her need to spend… Shares: AIDS, Patients

Recollections of an old soldier Capt. David Perry (b. 1741) · 1822 · 64p · ≈ 2h · Challenging 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… Shares: Personal narratives, Biography & Memoir

Stick Figure Lori Gottlieb · 2000 · ★ 3.7 · 230p · ≈ 7h · Moderate After happening upon the diary she kept when she was 11 years old, Gottlieb was moved to publish this chronicle of her struggle with anorexia nearly 20 years after she wrote it. In the late 1970s, she lived with her parents and brother in Beverly Hills, where Gottlieb's loneliness and concern about looking attractive to boys swiftly transformed into an obsession with dieting, although she had… Shares: Patients, Biography & Memoir

Sybil Flora Rheta Schreiber · 1973 · ★ 3.6 · 460p · ≈ 15h · Moderate This is the amazing story of a woman who lived with 16 different personalities. Here is the unbelievable yet true story of Sybil Dorsett, a survivor of terrible childhood abuse who as an adult was a victim of sudden and mysterious blackouts. What happened during those blackouts has made Sybil's experience one of the most famous psychological cases in the world. Shares: Patients, Personal narratives, Biography & Memoir

Domestic manners of the Americans Frances Milton Trollope · 1832 · 366p · ≈ 12h · Challenging When Fanny Trollope set sail for America in 1827 with hopes of joining a Utopian community of emancipated slaves, she took with her three of her children and a young French artist, leaving behind her son Anthony, growing debts and a husband going slowly mad from mercury poisoning. But what followed was a tragicomedy of illness, scandal and failed business ventures. Nevertheless, on her return to… Shares: Personal narratives, United States

The life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African Olaudah Equiano · 1789 · ★ 4.2 · 132p · ≈ 4h · Demanding The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, written in 1789, details its writer's life in slavery, his time spent serving on galleys, the eventual attainment of his own freedom and later success in business. Including a look at how slavery stood in West Africa, the book received favorable reviews and was one of the first slave narratives to be read widely. Shares: Personal narratives, United States, Biography & Memoir

Israel Potter Herman Melville · 1855 · 241p · ≈ 8h · Challenging Melville's eighth book was begun as a simple rewrite of an obscure little narrative entitled Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel R. Potter, in which Israel tells the story of his sad fall from Revolutionary hero to London peddler. Following its opening chapter Melville's novel retells that tale, with close adherence to the language and events of the Life, and then, shaking free of the… Shares: Personal narratives, United States

Down Came the Rain Brooke Shields · 2005 · ★ 3.8 · 226p · ≈ 7h · Moderate When Brooke Shields welcomed her newborn daughter, Rowan Francis, into the world, a crippling depression followed. In DOWN CAME THE RAIN, Brooke writes about the tribulations, depression, and, ultimately, the triumphs that happened before and after the birth. With a knowledgeable voice and a self-deprecating sense of humor, Brooke discusses her battle with postpartum depression, a disorder that… Shares: Patients, Biography & Memoir

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