"Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag." In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure...

"From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen"-- Tucci grew up in an Italian family that put great import on food: the quality of ingredients, the careful preparation, the passing on of family recipes and cultural culinary traditions. He has written cookbooks, become involved in food-related charities, and has probably spent more time focusing on food than he does...

Jahren has built three laboratories in which she's studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. She tells about her childhood in rural Minnesota with an uncompromising mother and a father who encouraged hours of play in his classroom's labs; about how she found a sanctuary in science, and the disappointments, triumphs and exhilarating discoveries of scientific work. Yet at the core of this book is the story of a relationship Jahren forged with Bill, who...

"From the New Yorker staff writer Hua Hsu, a gripping memoir on friendship, grief, the search for self, and the solace that can be found through art. In the eyes of 18-year-old Hua Hsu, the problem with Ken-with his passion for Dave Matthews, Abercrombie & Fitch, and his fraternity-is that he is exactly like everyone else. Ken, whose Japanese American family has been in the United States for generations, is mainstream; for Hua, a first-generation...

The blogger behind the popular Web series Ask a Mortician describes her experiences working at a crematory, including how she sometimes got ashes on her clothes and how she cared for bodies of all shapes and sizes.

"The Way I Heard It presents thirty-five mysteries "for the curious mind with a short attention span." Every one is a trueish tale about someone you know, filled with facts that you don't. Movie stars, presidents, bloody do-gooders, and villains--they're all here, waiting to shake your hand, hoping you'll remember them. Delivered with Mike's signature blend of charm, wit, and ingenuity, their stories are part of a larger mosaic--a memoir full of surprising...

"Candid, insightful, and wildly entertaining essays about life, love, and lessons learned as an actress in Hollywood, from the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and New York Times bestselling author of Talking as Fast as I Can. With her signature sense of humor and down-to-earth storytelling, Lauren Graham opens up about her years working in the entertainment business-from the sublime to the ridiculous-and shares personal stories about everything from...

The author describes how dogs have impacted his life from childhood through the present day, recounting the stories of his first dog, Snowball, in the Philippines; Dirk, who protected him from bullies; and Cookie, who saved his life.

The American Revolution was not inevitable, nor was it a unanimous cause. It pitted neighbors against one another, as loyalists and colonial rebels faced off for their lives and futures. Through the remarkable lives of the first Americans, this book reveals the contentious arguments that turned friends into foes and the land into a war zone. From the riots over a child's murder that led to the Boston Massacre, to the Continental Army's first victory...

An extraordinarily intimate memoir of the near death experiences that have made Maggie O'Farrell the woman and the writer she is today. A childhood illness she was not expected to survive. A teenage yearning to escape that nearly ended in disaster. A terrifying encounter on a remote path. A mismanaged labour in an understaffed hospital. This is a memoir with a difference: seventeen encounters with Maggie at different ages, in different locations,...