305.235 BRU
The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls by Joan Jacobs Brumberg
This thought-provoking social history of the journey to womanhood examines youth’s obsession with looks, as well as attitudes toward feminine hygiene, fashion and sexuality. The author’s research suggests that the media, doctors and parents have helped promote the ideal of physical perfection to the detriment of our daughters’ self-worth.

305.235 DOB
The Only Girl in the Car: A Memoir by Kathy Dobie
Despite the freedom espoused by her late-sixties generation, promiscuous experiences left the author with regret and a bad reputation. Retreating back into her family and her books, she found redemption in writing. Her coming-of-age story perceptively portrays the mixed-message maze generations of women have had to navigate.

305.48 BRO
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks
Journalist Brooks draws the reader into the mysterious and complex world of Islamic women. Tracing the cultural history of Islamic practices across various countries, Brooks eloquently examines the many facets of women and their religion. Interviews with a wide range of women bring their feelings and ideas to the reader with fresh eyes for a new and deeper understanding.

305.569 EHR
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Could you live on minimum wage? Author Ehrenreich wondered if she could after hearing that the 1996 Welfare Reform Act would force “welfare moms” to do just that. So she left her comfortable middle-class existence and spent a year working unskilled jobs that pay $6–7 an hour. What’s it like to work at Wal-Mart, or as a nursing home aide, or as a waitress? How easy is it to survive? Readers have had mixed reactions. What’s yours?

306.461 FAD
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman
A young immigrant girl’s epilepsy becomes the center of miscommunication, frustration, and distrust between California’s Merced County medical system and the local Hmong community in this cautionary tale for the medical world. Beautifully written, the author weaves together the place where medical protocol and cultural understanding can tangle and fray.

333.79 ROB
The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World by Paul Roberts
Within thirty years, we will have burned our way through most of the oil that is easily accessible. How can we break our addiction to oil? Which energy sources will replace oil, who will control them, and how disruptive will the transition from one system to the next be? The author probes these and other timely questions.

345.773 BOG
Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse by Steve Bogira
What actually goes on in a courtroom? Is it really like Law and Order? Does our criminal justice system treat everyone fairly? To answer these questions, journalist Bogira gives us an inside look at the cases that occur over a one year period in Judge Dan Locallo’s courtroom in the Cook County Courthouse. He examines the impact of a case on the accused, the victim and their families, as well as the grim social implications that affect us all.

362.19683 VAN
The House on Beartown Road: A Memoir of Learning and Forgetting by Elizabeth Cohen Van Pelt
Elizabeth cares for her baby Ava and her elderly dad, who has been diagnosed with mid-stage Alzheimer’s disease. The author is candid about the difficulty of the situation, yet conveys love and warmth on every page.

364.1523 LAR
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
In the shadow of the Columbian Exposition’s lavish complex of buildings known as the “White City” lurked a devil masquerading as Dr. H.H. Holmes. Larson interweaves the story of the epic efforts to construct the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair with the sinister tale of Holmes’ murder spree.

364.1523 STE
Death at the Priory: Love, Sex, and Murder in Victorian England by James Ruddick
The 1876 poisoning of Charles Bravo kept Victorians glued to press accounts of the apparent homicide. The widow, her ex-lover, and several members of the household staff were all considered suspects, but the 128-year-old murder remains one of England’s enduring puzzles.

364.1523 STE
Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away with Murder by James Stewart
Even though Illinois doctor Michael Swango was at the center of continued unexpected deaths, he practiced medicine—and murder—for 20 years. This true crime page turner is an indictment of the medical industry that protected one of history’s most prolific serial killers.

364.1532 SEB
Lucky by Alice Sebold
With her incisive wit and literary style, the author of The Lovely Bones details the emotionally charged story of her own rape at age eighteen. From its vivid and violent beginning, Sebold explores her life before the rape and her life after, from her courtroom trial and beyond. Throughout, she captures the emotional intricacies of a life transformed by devastating, intimate violence, but ultimately not defeated by it.

365.45 OUF
Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir
As a child, Oufkir enjoyed an extravagant life of royalty. Then her father was killed for plotting against the king, and her family was ripped from their lavish life and thrown into a prison system where they suffered unfathomable deprivation of body and spirit, and where they depended on each other for the will to survive.

394.1 SCH
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser
Explore the unappetizing side of the fast food industry in this flavorful offering. Schlosser examines the socioeconomic damage wrought in the name of consumer convenience and offers up some savory tidbits about what we ingest on the run.

614.5123 SAL
The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic by Gay Salisbury
When a 1925 diphtheria epidemic threatened icebound Nome, there was a desperate need for lifesaving serum. Twenty intrepid mushers relayed the precious cargo nearly 700 miles in less than 6 days through a seemingly endless wilderness. The story conveys the tension of the events and the heroism of a handful of hardy men and their canine companions.

614.57 PRE
Demon in the Freezer: A True Story by Richard Preston
After its worldwide eradication in the late 1970s, samples of smallpox were frozen in both the US and Russia. This true-life medical thriller warns of hidden virus stockpiles and their catastrophic potential as terrorist weapons. Preston boldly explores the politics of medical research, the scientists who work daily with deadly organisms, and the global effects of scientific decisions.

617 GAW
Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande
Medicine is a complex and imperfect endeavor. Although patients expect scientific certainty, reality finds fallible physicians attempting to balance knowledge and intuition. Gawande’s thoughtful and engaging essays examine compelling cases and highlight the powerful role that instinct and ethics play in treatment choices.

617.95 SCH
Life Line: How One Night Changed Five Lives: A True Story by Mary Zimmeth Schomaker
Donald Mills was declared brain dead after his bicycle was struck by a van. This skillful chronicle portrays the drama that faced Donald’s family and the families of the patients awaiting his donated organs. As we learn of their desperation and their hope, we can feel the clock ticking.

629.45 ACK
Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and the Dream of Space Flight by Martha Ackmann
They dreamed of flying in space. They passed our government’s most rigorous physical and mental tests. They sacrificed jobs, dreams, and marriages to become astronauts. But they weren’t allowed to—because they were women. A tribute to determination, this book spotlights the women in the early space program and their lives after their program was cancelled by the government.


649.22 LAM
Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year by Anne Lamott
A single mother’s journal entries, teetering between maternal bliss and postpartum depression, introduce us to baby Sam and to a crazy quilt of characters that form their unconventional support group.

796.332 BIS
Friday Night Lights: A Team, a Town, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger
In 1988, Bissinger left his newspaper job to spend a year following the Permian High School Panthers football team, pride of Odessa, Texas. What is it like in a town where the “secular religion” is football and both coaches and players feel incredible pressure to win? Why do the hopes and dreams of an entire town ride on the fortunes of these young men? You’ll find this a fascinating read even if you don’t like sports.

798.4 HIL
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
He had knobby knees and crooked forelegs. The men in his life were a down-on-his-luck jockey, a washed-up trainer, and an owner who was mourning the death of his son. How could he beat War Admiral, the best horse of his time? It’s a wonderfully inspirational story of a great horse and the three men who made him.

910.916345 MAA
The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History by Peter Maas
When the USS Squalus suddenly plummeted during a training exercise in 1939, there seemed to be no hope of survival for its crew. But one man was willing to try radical new tactics in a rescue operation never before imagined in history. This is the story of that harrowing rescue and of the man behind the effort.

940.5318 GOL
The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany by Martin Goldsmith
The author’s parents met when they played in an orchestra of Jewish musicians in 1930s Germany. Their courtship, set against the backdrop of an increasingly repressive Third Reich, is a testament to the resilience of love and the power of music.

940.5451 KUR
Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson
Divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler have a fierce, almost reckless, drive to search the deep. In 1991, they discovered a sunken, unidentified U-boat, a find beyond their wildest dreams. The underwater search to reveal the ship’s history lasted six years, and was fraught with danger and even death. Kurson draws the reader into the obsessive world of deep sea diving and weaves a nonfiction thriller of modern grit and wartime history.

951.05 CHA
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
The story of how three generations of women—grandmother, mother and the author herself—survive the many changes in China during the 20th century, including feudalism, war, and revolution. It gives us a glimpse of the female experience in the modern world, and is an inspiring tale of courage and love.

958.1 SEI
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
When Norwegian journalist Seierstad covered the fall of the Taliban she encountered the ardent owner of a well-stocked bookshop, determined to preserve Afghanistan’s history and culture through literature. The patriarch of a large extended clan, he was surprisingly willing to share his stories and his home. Written in a novelistic style, this is a warts-and-all portrayal of a real Afghan family, whose women endure polygamous husbands, cruel discipline, and crippling limitations on their freedoms and dignity.

975.54251 PRI
Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation by David Price
Legend is tamed and history comes alive in this readable history of the first permanent settlement in the New World. Colonists set out to find riches, but instead met with hardship, misery and death. Price engagingly retells their story, and gives us a new understanding to the political dealings between the colonists and the native Americans with whom they lived.

975.8724 BER
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story by John Berendt
This true murder mystery tells of the 1981 shooting of young Danny Hansford by flamboyant antiques dealer and Savannah party-giver Jim Williams. A remarkable cast of characters appears in the telling of the tale. Masterfully written, it holds the record for the longest run on the New York Times bestseller list.

973.099 ANG
First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped the Presidents by Bonnie Angelo
An intimate look at the mother-son relationship of 20th century presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton examines how remarkable women instilled compassion and self-confidence in boys who would grow up to lead.

977.311 COW
To Sleep with the Angels: The Story of a Fire by David Cowan
A school and a neighborhood were destroyed one afternoon in 1958 when a fire broke out at the Our Lady of the Angels school, and 92 students and 3 nuns were killed. This terrible tragedy is recalled through detailed research and interviews with those whose lives it forever changed.

Biography ANDERSON, J.
A Year by the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman by Joan Anderson
When her husband accepts a job out-of-state, Anderson surprises him, and herself, by deciding to stay alone in a cottage on the Cape, to sort out her life and explore her floundering soul. Her thoughts and observations on this personal journey are wonderfully readable, and both author and reader are transformed along the way.

Biography BEARD, J.A.
The Boys of My Youth by Jo Ann Beard
Humorous and heartbreaking by turns, this collection of autobiographical essays is tied together by Beard’s wry point-of-view, and by a sense of herself as daughter, sister, cousin and friend. Despite the title, it is clearly the female relationships in her life that are self-defining.

Biography BRAGG, R.
All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg
This poignant biography has been variously described as a poem disguised as a memoir and as a thank you letter to the author’s mother. Bragg has written a warm remembrance of the woman who helped him escape with honor from poverty in the foothills of the Appalachians.

Biography HICKAM, H.
Rocket Boys: A Memoir by Homer H. Hickam
Fourteen-year-old Homer Hickam lived in a dying West Virginia mining town when he became enthralled with the idea of building and launching his own rockets. This memoir gives an endearing look at small town America, the early years of the space race, and the youthful thrill of aiming for the stars.

Biography MAH, A.
Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah
This compelling memoir is fascinating, both for its dramatic family story and for its glimpse into China’s political history and culture. Because Yen Mah’s mother died at her birth, she is marked as a bad omen. Her father’s marriage to a cruel new wife begins Mah’s long struggle for acceptance and survival. Although love cannot be found at home, she at long last finds freedom.

Biography MCBRIDE, J.
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride
The author’s mother Ruth, the daughter of an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, married a black man in 1942. That was enough for her family to pronounce her “dead” to them. How does she survive to bring up twelve black children, sending all to college? The author alternates chapters of his mother’s story with his own memories of growing up with a wonderful woman.

Biography MCCOURT, F.
Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt
“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived it at all,” writes McCourt on the opening page of this lyrical memoir. You’ll wonder, too, how a boy’s life in Limerick on and off the dole could result in such a moving and eloquent story. McCourt’s natural wit and graceful prose provide the satisfaction you’d expect from a fine novel.

Biography PERRY, M.
Population – 485 by Michael Perry
Vignettes of small-town life in New Auburn, Wisconsin through the eyes of a native son. He left for 12 years, returning to see his childhood hometown in a new light. As an emergency medical technician and volunteer firefighter, he shows us the dramas and dilemmas of everyday life. As a poet, he guides us to the bittersweet heart of what it feels like to be part of a community.

Biography REICHL, R.
Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table by Ruth Reichl
Food critic Ruth Reichl has written a celebration of food as well as a candid and comical memoir. She serves up stories of her childhood in Greenwich Village with a cooking-impaired mother, and continues through a full menu of life experiences that helped define her personality and her passions.

Biography RESCORLA, R.
Heart of a Soldier: A Story of Love, Heroism, and September 11th by James B. Stewart
Decorated soldier Rick Rescorla had survived the battlefields of colonial Africa and the Ia Drang valley in Vietnam. After living an adventure-filled life, he found his soulmate, Susan, and settled down to a civilian job as a security officer at the World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001 he was responsible for 2700 lives. It was in his nature to try to save as many as he could. Award-winning author James Stewart retells his heroic tale.

Prepared November 2006