Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA

Amaryllis Fox,  2019

Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA by Amaryllis Fox is a fascinating look into the life of a young woman and her time spent training and working in the CIA as an undercover agent.  This memoir tells the story of Fox’s passion for her work in a post 9/11 world.  She describes the sacrifices she made when serving in the CIA and the toll it takes on your personal life.  Fox does a great job in telling her story from childhood to adulthood and the many challenges she faced both personally and professionally.

I loved this book because I learned something new about a subject I knew nothing about and yet I connected with Fox on a human level at the same time.  This would be a great read for anyone interested in the workings of the CIA from a very personal view.

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LC

In Pieces

Sally Field, 2018

This memoir about the multi award winning actress Sally Field was a thought provoking and very interesting read.  Her deeply complicated life is described in great detail that leaves you in awe of what she endured in her childhood, career and personal life.  I picked up this book on a recommendation from a friend and I was not disappointed. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Sally Field and her work.

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LC

The Year of the Monkey

Patty Smith, 2019

Poignant, gorgeous—a picaresque voyage through Patti Smith’s dreams and life, blending fiction and reality, conjured characters and actual ones. She writes of seeing her image reflected on the surface of the toaster: ‘I noticed I looked young and old simultaneously.’ Smith does not rage against her approaching 70th birthday, nor does she turn away from it. She finds art everywhere, and remains a pioneer. She is, as she writes in Year of the Monkey, ‘still going about my business, that of being alive, the best I can

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DL

Heartland

Sarah Smarsh, 2018

With the United States so divided, it is essential to hear views that differ from our own.  Sarah Smarsh’s  Heartland is such a book.  Subtitled  “A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth”, the author tackles the plight of the rural poor.   As a fifth-generation child of Kansas wheat farmers, she illustrates the hard work of farming and the toll that poverty visits on families.

Much as Hillbilly Elegy opened eyes to the troubles of the Appalachian poor, Heartland urges both respect and sympathy for those living off the land.  She identifies the lack of medical care, teen pregnancies and abusive relationships that prevented her family from “getting ahead” and achieving the American Dream. 

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BB

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed

Lori Gottlieb, 2019

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down.  Enter Wendell, the quirky but sseasones therapist where she suddenly lands.  Whith his balding head, cardigan and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting.  Yet he will turn out to be anything but.  As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients lives-- a she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.
 

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MR

You are Here: An Owner's Manual for Dangerous Minds

Jenny Lawson, 2017

Lawson's quirky illustrations, captions and affirmations are inspirational and therapeutic, full of advice and humor. She suffers from mental illness, particularly anxiety and to cope, she doodles. Sometimes you just want to read something to validate that someone feels the way you do when life is happening all around you. This isn't a graphic novel, but fans of this format will enjoy this book, also those who do not need a structured word-only book. You could breeze through this book in one sitting, but it's best enjoyed one illustration at a time. Lawson says of You Are Here: "Some of it is dark. Some is light. Some is silly and profane and irreverent."

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CO

Born a Crime

Trevor Noah, 2016

Noah's path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. He was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother.   At the time such a union was punishable by five years inprisonment. As he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist, his mother is determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life. With an incisive wit and unflinching honesty, Noah weaves together a moving yet funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time.

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MC

M Train

Patti Smith, 2015

Musician, poet and photographer, Ms. Smith, is remarkably attuned to the sound and sorcery of words, and her prose here is both lyrical and radiantly pictorial. Braiding despair with hope and consolation, illustrated with her signature Polaroids, M Train is a meditation on travel, detective shows, literature, and coffee. It is a powerful, deeply moving book by one of the most remarkable multi-platform artists at work today.

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DL

All Who Go Do Not Return

Shulem Deen, 2015

A memoir about growing up in and then leaving one of the most insular Hasidic sects in the U.S., the Skverers.  While growing up, Deen knows little about the outside world--only that it is to be shunned. His marriage at eighteen is arranged and several children soon follow. He begins a feverish inquiry into the tenets of his religious beliefs, until several years later, his faith unravels entirely. Deen bravely traces his harrowing loss of faith, while offering an illuminating look at a highly secretive world.

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MR

The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi, The Woman Who Helped Bring Yoga to The West

Michelle Goldberg, 2015

Goldberg began digging for clues to the connections between the yoga of India and its Americanized version. She learns of 102-year-old Indra Devi (1899-2002), often called the First Lady of Yoga. Her life story, which touches three centuries is a kaleidoscopic journey and explores the underpinnings of her outlook, including a yogic disavowal of attachment, a yearning for freedom, and an unflagging sense of trust and positivity. Devi taught yoga well into her 90s. Though the text will be of particular interest to practitioners and teachers of yoga, this sparkling tale of a remarkable trailblazer should enlighten and inspire every reader.

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DL

After Visiting Friends

Michael Hainey, 2013

Every man wants to understand his father. Michael Hainey's father died when he was six year old, yet had questions about his memory of his father and the circumstances of his death. These questions shape Hainey's life. He takes the reader on his journey to find answers to the questions that have plagued him. Michael Hainey (editor of GQ magazine) writes with honesty and heart. His story demonstrates how our perceptions are a version of truth.  This book will stay with you after completing it.

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DL

Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife

Eban Alexander M.D., 2012

Thousands of people have had near-death experiences, but scientists have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those scientists. Then, Dr. Alexander’s own brain was attacked by a rare illness. The part of the brain that controls thought and emotion shut down completely. For seven days he lay in a coma. During that time, Alexander journeyed beyond this world  where he met and spoke with the Divine source of the universe itself. Today Alexander is a doctor who believes God and the soul are real and that death is not the end of personal existence but only a transition.

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DL

My Mother was Nuts: A Memoir

Penny Marshall, 2012

In this funny and intimate memoir, Penny takes us from the stage of The Jackie Gleason Show in 1955 to Hollywood’s star-studded sets, offering up some hilarious detours along the way. My Mother Was Nuts is a backstage pass to Penny’s personal life, her breakout role on The Odd Couple, her exploits with Cindy Williams and John Belushi, and her travels across Europe with Art Garfunkel on the back of a motorcycle. Bronxites will enjoy the memories.

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MK

Wild: From lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail

 Cheryl Strayed, 2012

 The story of an 1,100 mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe and built her back up again. At 22, Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage destroyed, with nothing more to lose, she made a decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State and to do it alone. Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that ultimately healed her.

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DL

Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots

Deborah Feldman, 2012

This memoir traces the author's upbringing in the Satmar Hasidic community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She describes the strict rules that governed every aspect of her life, including the denial of a traditional education and an arranged marriage at age 17. The author explores her early years growing from an inquisitive little girl into an independent-minded young woman.

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MC

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake : a memoir

Anna Quindlen, 2012

Quindlen begins her memoir with the following paragraph: “It’s odd when I think of the arc of my life, from child to young woman to aging adult, First I was who I was. Then I didn’t know who I was. Then I invented someone and became her. Then I began to like what I’d invented. And finally I was what I was again.” This sets the tone as Quindlen writes about her life, as she considers marriage, girlfriends, our mothers, faith, loss, and more. Written in a  relatable, enjoyable way, where the reader may feel as if they are sitting in conversation, having a cup of coffee with her.

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DL

A Natural Woman : a memoir

Carole King, 2012

Carole King takes us from her early beginnings in Brooklyn, to her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed songwriting and performing talents of all time. A Natural Woman  chronicles King's extraordinary life, drawing readers into her musical world, including her phenomenally successful album Tapestry, and into her journey as a performer, mother, wife and present-day activist. Deeply personal, this memoir offers readers a front-row seat to the woman behind the legend.

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DL

Unmeasured Strength

Lauren Manning, 2011

An inspiring story of the author's 10 year struggle after being burned in the fires of the Twin Towers. Thanks to the help and love of her family and friends, her life has finally returned to normalcy.

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CL

A Mountain of Crumbs

Elena Gorokhova, 2009

A captivating memoir of a young girl growing up in a middle class Soviet family in the 1960's, who discovers her love for the English language along with her country's political deceptions.

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MC

Unbroken

Laura Hillenbrand, 2010

A biography of Louie Zamperini, the champion American runner, who goes from 1936 Olympian to a Japanese POW camp. It is a story of survival, resilience and redemption.

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MSK