Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small-Town Obituary Writer

Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Anne Lamott · 240 pages

Anne Lamott gives her perspective on the art and work of writing. The title comes from a family story when her brother had to complete a report on birds. He put it off until the last minute and was overwhelmed. Her father counseled him saying they would take it, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."

Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons

Tim Russert · 273 pages

After the publication of journalist Russert's book about his father, he received thousands of letters from people who wanted to tell him about their own fathers, ordinary men who were remembered and cherished for some of their best moments-of advice, tenderness, strength, honor, discipline, and occasional eccentricity. Most of these daughters and sons were eager to express the gratitude they had c

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Elizabeth Gilbert · 288 pages

Elizabeth Gilbert digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity, offering insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need i

The Old Man and His God: Discovering the Spirit of India

Sudha Murty · 131 pages

Letter to My Daughter

Maya Angelou · 192 pages

For a world of devoted readers, a much-awaited new volume of absorbing stories and inspirational wisdom from one of our best-loved writers.Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to My Daughter reveals Maya Angelou's path to living well and living a life with meaning. Told in her own inimitable style, this book transcends genres and categories: guidebook, memoir, po

My Life in Dog Years

Gary Paulsen · 137 pages

The author describes some of the dogs that have had special places in his life, including his first dog, Snowball, in the Phillippines; Dirk, who protected him from bullies; and Cookie, who saved his life.

What I Know for Sure

Oprah Winfrey · 240 pages

"After film critic Gene Siskel asked her, "What do you know for sure?" Oprah Winfrey began writing the "What I Know For Sure" column in O, The Oprah Magazine. Saying that the question offered her a way to take "stock of her life," Oprah has penned one column a month over the last fourteen years, years in which she retired The Oprah Winfrey Show (the highest-rated program of its kind in history), l

Chicken Soup For The Girl's Soul: Real Stories By Real Girls About Real Stuff

Jack Canfield · 345 pages

I Thought My Father Was God and Other True Tales from NPR's National Story Project

Paul Auster, Nelly Reifler · 416 pages

A collection of 180 personal, true-life accounts from NPR's National Story Project reflects the work of men and women of all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life and is accompanied by a look at the role of storytelling in our lives.

Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed

Glennon Doyle Melton · 269 pages

A New York Times essayist shares her journey from a self-destructive college student to a devoted family woman and teacher while illuminating the importance of trusting in a higher power and being truthful about life's challenges. "For years Glennon Doyle Melton built a wall between herself and others, hiding inside a bunker of secrets and shame. But one day everything changed: Glennon woke up to

Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad

Firoozeh Dumas · 240 pages

In the bestselling memoir Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas recounted her adventures growing up Iranian American in Southern California. Now she again mines her rich Persian heritage in Laughing Without an Accent, sharing stories both tender and humorous on being a citizen of the world, on her well-meaning family, and on amusing cultural conundrums, all told with insights into the universality of the

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood

Trevor Noah · 297 pages

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often ab

Wildflower

Drew Barrymore · 288 pages

Wildflower is a portrait of Drew's life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges, and incredible experiences of her earlier years. It includes tales of living on her own at 14 (and how laundry may have saved her life), getting stuck in a gas station overhang on a cross country road trip, saying goodbye to her father in a way only he could have understood, and many more adventures

The Moth

Catherine Burns · 407 pages

In the tradition of book anthologies created from public radio programs such as StoryCorps and This I Believe, THE MOTH collects the best storytelling moments--most in print here for the very first time--straight from their archive of more than 3000 shows since the first Moth Evening in 1997.

Survival Lessons

Alice Hoffman · 89 pages

One of America's most beloved writers shares her suggestions for finding beauty in the world even during the toughest times.

A Simple Christmas: Twelve Stories that Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit

Mike Huckabee · 208 pages

The former presidential candidate and current talk-show host shares twelve true and heartwarming stories from his past that help recall the real meaning of Christmas.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen · 480 pages

Perfectly Imperfect: A Life in Progress

Lee Woodruff, Bob Woodruff · 245 pages

"You can tell a woman's whole life story from the possessions in her jewelry box. Like reading a palm, you can trace the points where her life has intersected with memorable events, people, places, and loves. You can speculate on the essence of her personality, all from what she has accumulated in that box."--from Perfectly ImperfectIn her acclaimed first book, In an Instant, Lee Woodruff, along w

Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Amy Krouse Rosenthal · 326 pages

"In the ten years since her beloved, groundbreaking Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, New York Times bestselling author Amy Krouse Rosenthal has been quietly at work on this modest but mighty magnum opus, creating a spectacular literary experience that is unprecedented, unforgettable, and explosively human. Amy Krouse Rosenthal has cultivated a distinct blend of nonlinear memoir, observational hum

The Antelope in the Living Room: The Real Story of Two People Sharing One Life

Melanie Shankle · 262 pages

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Robert Fulghum · 240 pages

Dad Is Fat

Jim Gaffigan · 274 pages

"In Dad is Fat, stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan, who's best known for his legendary riffs on Hot Pockets, bacon, manatees, and McDonald's, expresses all the joys and horrors of life with five young children--everything from cousins ("celebrities for little kids") to toddlers' communication skills ("they always sound like they have traveled by horseback for hours to deliver important news"), to the

I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America after Twenty Years Away

Bill Bryson · 381 pages

After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens--as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss

Why Not Me?

Mindy Kaling · 240 pages

Hollywood starlet Mindy Kaling shares her ongoing, laugh-out-loud journey to find contentment and excitement in her adult life.