Top Personal Memoirs eBooks

Confessions of a Video Vixen eBook by Steffans, Karrine

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

Part tell-all, part cautionary tale, this emotionally charged memoir from a former video vixen nicknamed 'Superhead' goes beyond the glamour of celebrity to reveal the inner workings of the hip-hop dancer industry—from the physical and emotional abuse that's rampant in the industry, and which marked her own life—to the excessive use of drugs, sex and bling.

Once the sought-after video girl, this sexy siren has helped multi-platinum artists, such as Jay-Z, R. Kelly and LL Cool J, sell millions of albums with her sensual dancing. In a word, Karrine was H-O-T. So hot that she made as much as $2500 a day in videos and was selected by well-known film director F. Gary Gray to co-star in his film, A Man Apart, starring Vin Diesel. But the film and music video sets, swanky Hollywood and New York restaurants and trysts with the celebrities featured in the pages of People and In Touch magazines only touches the surface of Karrine Steffans' life.

Her journey is filled with physical abuse, rape, drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness and single motherhood—all by the age of 26. By sharing her story, Steffans hopes to shed light on an otherwise romanticised industry and help young women avoid the same pitfalls she encountered. If they're already in danger, she hopes to inspire them to find a way to dig themselves out of what she knows first-hand
to be a cycle of hopelessness and despair.

A Personal Odyssey eBook by Sowell, Thomas

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

This is the powerful story of Thomas Sowell's life-long education in the school of hard knocks, as the journey took him from Harlem to the Marines, the Ivy League, and a career as a controversial writer, teacher, and economist in government and private industry. It is also the story of the dramatically changing times in which this personal odyssey took place.

The vignettes of the people and places that made an impression on Thomas Sowell at various stages of his life range from the poor and the powerless to the mighty and the wealthy, from a home for homeless boys to the White House, as well as ranging across the United States and around the world. It also includes Sowell's startling discovery of his own origins during his teenage years.

More than a story of the life of Sowell himself, this is also a story of the people who gave him their help, their support, and their loyalty, as well as those who demonized him and knifed him in the back. It is a story not just of one life, but of life in general, with all its exhilaration and pain of constant striving, and a shining example of high standards and deserved success.

Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea eBook by Handler, Chelsea

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

THE EAGERLY AWAITED COLLECTION OF PERSONAL ESSAYS FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF MY HORIZONTAL LIFE When Chelsea Handler needs to get a few things off her chest, she appeals to a higher power -- vodka. You would too if you found out that your boyfriend was having an affair with a Peekapoo or if you had to pretend to be honeymooning with your father in order to upgrade to first class. Welcome to Chelsea's world -- a place where absurdity reigns supreme and a quick wit is the best line of defense. In this hilarious, deliciously skewed collection, Chelsea mines her past for stories about her family, relationships, and career that are at once singular and ridiculous. Whether she's convincing her third-grade class that she has been tapped to play Goldie Hawn's daughter in the sequel to Private Benjamin, deciding to be more egalitarian by dating a redhead, or looking out for a foulmouthed, rum-swilling little person who looks just like her...only smaller, Chelsea has a knack for getting herself into the most outrageous situations. Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea showcases the candor and irresistible turns of phrase that have made her one of the freshest voices in comedy today.

Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant eBook by Tammet, Daniel

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

Born on a Blue Day is a journey into one of the most fascinating minds alive today -- guided by its owner himself. Daniel Tammet sees numbers as shapes, colors, and textures, and he can perform extraordinary calculations in his head. He can learn to speak new languages fluently, from scratch, in a week. In 2004, he memorized and recited more than 22,000 digits of pi, setting a record. He has savant syndrome, an extremely rare condition that gives him almost unimaginable mental powers, much like those portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the film Rain Man. Daniel has a compulsive need for order and routine -- he eats the same precise amount of cereal for breakfast every morning and cannot leave the house without counting the number of items of clothing he's wearing. When he gets stressed or is unhappy, he closes his eyes and counts. But in one crucial way Daniel is not at all like the Rain Man: he is virtually unique among people who have sev- ere autistic disorders in that he is capable of living a fully independent life. He has emerged from the "other side" of autism with the ability to function successfully -- he is even able to explain what is happening inside his head. Born on a Blue Day is a triumphant and uplifting story, starting from early childhood, when Daniel was incapable of making friends and prone to tantrums, to young adulthood, when he learned how to control himself and to live independently, fell in love, experienced a religious conversion to Christianity, and most recently, emerged as a celebrity. The world's leading neuroscientists have been studying Daniel's ability to solve complicated math problems in one fell swoop by seeing shapes rather than making step-by-step calculations. Here he explains how he does it, and how he is able to learn new languages so quickly, simply by absorbing their patterns. Fascinating and inspiring, Born on a Blue Day explores what it's like to be special and gives us an insight into what makes us all human -- our minds.

Beachcombing at Miramar: The Quest for an Authentic Life eBook by Bode, Richard

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

Beachcombing at Miramar is the tale of a man who moves into a cottage on a California beach to find out who he is and what he wants out of life.

Slowly, he learns to see as a child sees, and through the ebb and flow of the tides, he gradually gains insight into what makes an authentic life.

With all the lyrical wisdom and passion that moved and delighted readers of Richard Bode's First You Have to Row a Little Boat, Beachcombing at Miramar moves, with surprise, gently and beautifully toward the ultimate goal -- a life well lived.

American on Purpose eBook by Ferguson, Craig

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

In American on Purpose, Craig Ferguson delivers a moving and achingly funny memoir of living the American dream as he journeys from the mean streets of Glasgow, Scotland, to the comedic promised land of Hollywood. Along the way he stumbles through several attempts to make his mark''as a punk rock musician, a construction worker, a bouncer, and, tragically, a modern dancer. To numb the pain of failure, Ferguson found comfort in drugs and alcohol, addictions that eventually led to an aborted suicide attempt. (He forgot to do it when someone offered him a glass of sherry.) But his story has a happy ending: in 1993, the washed-up Ferguson washed up in the United States. Finally sober, Ferguson landed a breakthrough part on the hit sitcom The Drew Carey Show, a success that eventually led to his role as the host of CBS's The Late Late Show. By far Ferguson's greatest triumph was his decision to become a U.S. citizen, a milestone he achieved in early 2008, just before his command performance for the president at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. In American on Purpose, Craig Ferguson talks a red, white, and blue streak about everything our Founding Fathers feared.

Animal Magnetism eBook by Brown, Rita Mae

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

Rita Mae Brown is the bestselling author of the Sister Jane novels–Outfoxed, Hotspur, Full Cry, The Hunt Ball, The Hounds and the Fury, The Tell-Tale Horse, and Hounded to Death–as well as the Sneaky Pie Brown mysteries and Rubyfruit Jungle, In Her Day, Six of One, and The Sand Castle, among many others. An Emmy-nominated screenwriter and a poet, Brown lives in Afton, Virginia.

From the Hardcover edition.

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions eBook by Mezrich, Ben

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

"It's Friday night and you're on a red-eye to the city of sin. Strapped to your chest is half a million dollars; in your overnight bag is another twenty-five thousand in blackjack chips; and your wallet holds ten fake IDs. As soon as you land in Las Vegas, you are positive you are being investigated and followed. To top it all off, the IRS is auditing you, someone has been going through your mail -- and you have a multivariable calculus exam on Monday morning. Welcome to the world of an exclusive group of audacious MIT math geniuses who legally took the casinos for over three million dollars -- while still finding time for college keg parties, football games, and final exams. In the midst of the go-go eighties and nineties, a group of overachieving, anarchistic MIT students joined a decades-old underground blackjack club dedicated to counting cards and beating the system at major casinos around the world. While their classmates were working long hours in labs and libraries, the blackjack team traveled weekly to Las Vegas and other glamorous gambling locales, with hundreds of thousands of dollars duct-taped to their bodies. Underwritten by shady investors they would never meet, these kids bet fifty thousand dollars a hand, enjoyed VIP suites and other upscale treats, and partied with showgirls and celebrities. Handpicked by an eccentric mastermind -- a former MIT professor and an obsessive player who had developed a unique system of verbal cues, body signals, and role-playing -- this one ring of card savants earned more than three million dollars from corporate Vegas, making them the object of the casinos' wrath and eventually targets of revenge. Here is their inside story, revealing their secrets for the first time.

Contrails eBook by Thompson, Roger

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

In the last year of his career as an American Airlines captain, Roger Thompson met a man who claimed military experience identical to his own. The man was an imposter, but the incident inspired Contrails, a collection of aviation stories spanning Mr. Thompson

Catfish and Mandala eBook by Pham, Andrew X.

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

A vibrant, picaresque memoir written with narrative flair and a wonderful, eye-opening sense of adventure

Burned Alive eBook by Souad

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

Souad was a 17-year-old girl living in a small village in Palestine when she had the misfortune of falling in love. It was an emotion that would lead to an unspeakable act of violence-to near-death and to a lifetime of exile from her homeland.This is Souad's true story of a childhood filled with hard labor and physical abuse at the hands of a father humiliated by the birth of many daughters and only one son. Desperate to leave her family home, Souad is enticed into a relationship with a handsome neighbor, but when her short-lived romance leaves her pregnant, marriage is not an option. Firstly, she is forbidden to marry until her older sisters find husbands. Moreover, the shame she has brought to her family is punishable in only one acceptable way: Death.Her family's plot to kill her, the damage they inflict, her harrowing struggle to survive burns over 90% of her body, her dramatic escape from Palestine, and her resolve to build a new life for herself is a tale of heartbreaking drama and remarkable courage.

Children of Dust eBook by Eteraz, Ali

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

Ali Eteraz's Children of Dust is a spellbinding portrayal of a life that few Americans can imagine. From his schooling in a madrassa in Pakistan to his teenage years as a Muslim American in the Bible Belt, and back to Pakistan to find a pious Muslim wife, this lyrical, penetrating saga from a brilliant new literary voice captures the heart of our universal quest for identity. Children of Dust begins in rural Islam at the lowest levels of Pakistani society in the turbulent eighties. This intimate portrayal of rustic village life is revealed through a young boy's eyes as he discovers magic, women, and friendship. After immigrating with his family to the United States, Eteraz struggles to be a normal American teenager under the rules of a strict Muslim household. In 1999, he returns to Pakistan to find the villages of his youth dominated by the ideology of the Taliban, filled with young men spouting militant rhetoric, and his extended family under threat. Eteraz becomes the target of a mysterious abduction plot when he is purported to be a CIA agent, and eventually has to escape under military escort. Back in the United States, with his fundamentalist illusions now shattered, Eteraz tries to find a middle way within American Islam. At each stage of Eteraz's life, he takes on a different identity to signal his evolution. From being pledged to Islam in Mecca as an infant, through Salafi fundamentalism, to liberal reformer, Eteraz desperately struggles to come to terms with being a Pakistani and a Muslim. Astonishingly honest, darkly comic, and beautifully told, Children of Dust is an extraordinary adventure that reveals the diversity of Islamic beliefs, the vastness of the Pakistani diaspora, and the very human search for home.

After the Stroke eBook by McEwen, Mark

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

The intimate, life-affirming journey of recovery and rehabilitation from a major stroke, written by one of morning television's most beloved personalities

Mark McEwen was at the top of his game and enjoying life when he suffered a stroke. After fifteen years on The Early Show, he had moved to Orlando to anchor the local news and spend more time with his family. While traveling, he experienced symptoms that led him to a hospital, where he was misdiagnosed with the flu. Two days later, on an airplane flight just hours before he finally collapsed, flight attendants and airport staff dismissed his slurred speech and heavy sweating. Misinformation not only delayed his treatment, but it also nearly cost him his life.

Now, in a candid and moving memoir, America's beloved morning-show weatherman recalls his harrowing journey of rehabilitation from a massive stroke. After the Stroke traces his recovery in the aftermath of temporarily losing some of his greatest gifts- his talent as a public speaker, and his warm, witty exuberance-while his wife worked valiantly to care for their children as well as her seriously ill husband. Sharing an ultimately triumphant story, McEwen emerges as one of our most dynamic new crusaders for stroke victims and their families.

Blue Rage, Black Redemption: A Memoir eBook by Williams, Stanley Tookie

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

"A gripping tale of personal revolution by a man who went from Crips co-founder to Nobel Peace Prize nominee, author, and antigang activist When his L.A. neighborhood was threatened by gangbangers, Stanley Tookie Williams and a friend formed the Crips, but what began as protection became worse than the original gangs. From deadly street fights with their rivals to drive-by shootings and stealing cars, the Crips' influence -- and Tookie's reputation -- began to spread across L.A. Soon he was regularly under police surveillance, and, as a result, was arrested often, though always released because the charges did not stick. But in 1981, Tookie was convicted of murdering four people and was sent to death row at San Quentin in Marin County, California. Tookie maintained his innocence and began to work in earnest to prevent others from following his path. Whether he was creating nationwide peace protocols, discouraging adolescents from joining gangs, or writing books, Tookie worked tirelessly for the rest of his life to end gang violence. Even after his death, his legacy continues, supported by such individuals as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Snoop Dogg, Jesse Jackson, and many more. This posthumous edition of Blue Rage, Black Redemption features a foreword by Tavis Smiley and an epilogue by Barbara Becnel, which details not only the influence of Tookie's activism but also her eyewitness account of his December 2005 execution, and the inquest that followed. By turns frightening and enlightening, Blue Rage, Black Redemption is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and an invaluable lesson in how rage can be turned into redemption. "

Cautiva (Captive): Testimonio de un secuestro eBook by Rojas, Clara

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 47:11:08 GMT

Freed FARC hostage, kidnapped Clara Rojas, tells the story of her six years of captivity, the birth andsurvival of her son in the jungle