Summer 2011

Papillon

Henri Charriere

Papillon is a memoir by convicted felon and fugitive Henri Charriere, first published in France in 1969.  It became an instant bestseller.  It was translated into English for the original French for a 1970 edition.  This book is an account of a 14-year period in Papillon's life (October 26, 1931 to October 18, 1945) starting from when he was wrongly convicted of murder in France and sentenced to a life of hard labor at the Devil's Island penal colony.  He escaped from Devil's island, to ultimately settle in Venezuela, where he lived and prospered, free from French justice.  Charriere stated that all events in the book are truthful and accurate, if an allowance is made for minor lapses in memory.

February 2011

Unbearable Lightness

Portia de Rossi

Unbearable Lightness is Portia de Rossi's memoir of a lifetime of starving and bingeing and purging as well as part of a lifetime hiding her sexuality. "Since I was a twelve-year-old girl taking pictures in my front yard to submit to modeling agencies, I'd never known a day when my weight wasn't the determining factor for my self-esteem," she writes with weary honesty.  At her most perilously anorexic, the publicly glamorous TV star weighed 82 pounds.  Ten months later, in the depths of bulimic bingeing, she had doubled in size.  As an autobiographer she reports this with a vivid eye for detail, particularly about foods devoured, foods refused, and the ways a woman can hide her self-destruction, particularly when posing under the searchlights of fame.

The blunt, pity-free matter-of-factness with which de Rossi shares secrets and lies about her eating disorders and her sexuality makes this forthright confessional story at once shocking and instructional, especially for younger women who may be secretly suffering on their own.

March 2010

Gang Leader for a Day

by Sudhir Venkatesh

Gang Leader for a Day written by Sudhir Venkatesh, a graduate student at the University of Chicago opens with Sudhir doing a survey on poverty in the infamous Robert Taylor Homes in South-side Chicago, on poverty in the projects in 1989. Honest and entertaining, Venkatesh, a Columbia University professor, vividly recounts his seven years following and befriending a Chicago crack-dealing gang in a fascinating look into the complex world of the Windy City's urban poor. He became involved with the Black Kings and their gang leader JT. Sent to the projects with a multiple choice test on poverty he was invited to see hot the drug dealers functioned in real life, from their corporate structure to the corporal punishment meted out to traitors and snitches. Venkatesh breaks down common misperceptions (such as all gang members are uneducated and cash rich, when the opposite is often true), the native of India also addresses his shame and subsequent emotional conflicts over collecting research on illegal activities and serving as the Black Kings' primary decision-maker for a day-hardly the actions of a detached sociological observer. But over involved or not, this graduate student turned gang-running rogue sociologist has an intimate and compelling tale to tell.

December 2009 *1

Beautiful Boy

David Sheff

The author, David Sheff, exposes his personal life and his families' life in order to tell his story.

The book chronicled the author's son, Nic, from childhood through adolescence into adulthood. It is an emotional book that is filled with all of the guilt and doubt that a loved one feels when trying to deal with the trauma of watching your child slowly killing themselves through a myriad of drugs. In this case-primarily methamphetamine. This book goes into great detail and uncovers the lies, chaos, and criminal behavior of addiction.

The author examines his role and the impacts on his family. The book is emotional and heartfelt. In the end, it is about accepting that you can't control others including those you love.

July & August 2009

Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope

by Don and Susie Van Ryn, Newell, Colleen and Whitney Cerak, and Mark Tabb

The Stunning true story of two families trading places from graveside to bedside.

Five lives were lost in a tragic accident involving a Taylor University van, and one young woman, severely injured and comatose, was rushed to the hospital. Families, faculty, students and communities grieved their losses and joined in prayer and hope as the one young woman, Laura Van Ryn, fought for her life in a hospital bed. The national news spread the story, and people everywhere shared the grief and the hope.

Five weeks passed for the Cerak family. Believing they had buried their daughter, the Ceraks clung to their faith and worshipped God through their tears, learning to look forward with hope to an eternal reunion with their lovely daughter Whitney. They spent weeks in mourning and grief, slowly moving toward healing.

Five weeks passed for the Van Ryns. Keeping a constant vigil over their precious daughter Laura, they sat and prayed and hoped. They rejoiced at each tiny advance toward recovery. They celebrated each sign of Laura's healing.

And then shock! "Okay, Laura, I would like you to write your name for me," the occupational therapist said. W-H-I-T-N-E-Y.

An event that could be seen as pure tragedy becomes a celebration of life's unfathomable gifts and mysteries.

April 2009

The Zookeeper's Wife

Diane Ackerman

When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw, and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, sookeepers Jan and Antonia Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinski's villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the enephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonia kept her usual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants; otters, badger, hyena pups, lynxes.

With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonia refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her.

June 2008

Hope's Boy: A Memoir

Andrew Bridge

From the moment he was born, Andrew Bridge and his mother Hope shared a love so deep that it felt like nothing else mattered. Trapped in desperate poverty and confronted with unthinkable tragedies, all Andrew ever wanted was to be with his mom. But as her mental health steadily declined, and with no one else left to care for him, authorities arrived and tore Andrew from his screaming mother's arms. In that moment, the life he knew came crashing down around him. He was only seven years old.

Hope was institutionalized, and Andrew was placed in what would be his devastating reality for the next eleven years - foster care. After surviving one of our country's most notorious children's facilities, Andrew was thrust into a savagely loveless foster family that refused to accept him as one of their own. Deprived of the nurturing he needed, Andrew clung to academics and the kindness of teachers. All the while, he refused to surrender the love he held for his mother in his heart.

Ultimately, Andrew earned a scholarship to Wesleyan, went on to Harvard Law School, and became a Fulbright Scholar. Andrew has dedicated his life's work to helping children living in poverty and in the foster care system. He defied the staggering odds set against him, and here in this heartwrenching, brutally honest, and inspirational memior, he reveals who Hope's boy really is.

May 2008

The Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America

Bill Bryson

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America is a book by travel writer Bill Bryson, chronicling his 13,978 mile trip around the United States in the autumn of 1987 and spring 1988. This is the first of Bryson's travel books.

He begins his journey, made almost entirely by car, in his childhood hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, heading from there towards the Mississippi River, often reminiscing about his childhood in Iowa. The journey was made after his father's death, and so is in part a collection of memories of his father in Des Moines while he was growing up.

The book is split into two sections: 'East' and 'West', the former part being considerably longer than the latter. These sections correspond to two separate journeys made in the autumn of 1987 and spring of 1988. The first section covers the Midwest, the Deep South, the East Coast and New England, before returning to Des Moines.

The second section focuses on the Great Plains, the South West, California and the Rocky Mountains.
Bryson's goal in this trip was generally to avoid tourist destinations, instead choosing to experience the real every-day America, stopping at small towns and forgotten points of interest. This book is an overview of the United States from Bryson's point of view. There is less focus on factual insight into the history, geography and culture of the destinations in this book than is found in some of Bryson's later books, but it is still widely regarded as being an exceptionally funny book, and has achieved much critical acclaim.