Get New Releases Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs Popular Titles

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Title: Sweet Spot

Subtitle: An Ice Cream Binge Across America

Author: Amy Ettinger

Narrator: Kathleen McInerney

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-27-17

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

A journalist channels her ice cream obsession, scouring the United States for the best artisanal brands and delving into the surprising history of ice cream and frozen treats in America.

For Amy Ettinger, ice cream is not just a delicious snack but a circumstance and a time of year - frozen forever in memory. As the youngest child and only girl, ice cream embodied unstructured summers, freedom from the tyranny of her classmates, and a comforting escape from her chaotic, demanding family.

Now as an adult and journalist, her love of ice cream has led to a fascinating journey to understand ice cream's evolution and enduring power, complete with insight into the surprising history behind America's early obsession with ice cream and her experience in an immersive ice cream boot camp to learn from the masters. From a visit to the one place in the United States that makes real frozen custard in a mammoth machine known as the Iron Lung, to the vicious competition among small ice cream makers and the turf wars among ice cream trucks, to extreme flavors like foie gras and oyster, Ettinger encounters larger-than-life characters and uncovers what's really behind America's favorite frozen treats.

Sweet Spot is a fun and spirited exploration of a treat Americans can't get enough of - one that transports us back to our childhoods and will have you walking to the nearest shop for a cone.

Includes bonus PDF with recipes.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

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Title: The Song and the Silence

Subtitle: A Story About Family, Race, and What Was Revealed in a Small Town in the Mississippi Delta While Searching for Booker Wright

Author: Yvette Johnson

Narrator: Robin Miles

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-02-17

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

"Have to keep that smile," said Booker Wright in the 1966 NBC documentary Mississippi: A Self-Portrait. At the time Wright was a waiter in a whites-only restaurant and a local business owner who would become an unwitting icon of the civil rights movement. For he did the unthinkable: Before a national audience, he described what life was truly like for the black people of Greenwood, Mississippi.

Shortly after these remarks aired on television, life for Booker took a turn for the worse.

And so began the story that has inspired Yvette Johnson to explore her grandfather's life - as well as her own feelings on race - in this fascinating memoir. Born a year after Wright's death and raised in a wealthy San Diego neighborhood, Johnson admits she never had to confront race the way Southern blacks did in the 1960s. Compelled to learn more about her roots, she travels back to Greenwood, Mississippi, a beautiful Southern town steeped in secrets and a scarred past, to interview family members about the real Booker Wright. As she uncovers her grandfather's fascinating story and gets closer to the truth behind his murder, she also confronts her own conflicted feelings surrounding race, family, forgiveness, and faith.

Told with powerful insights and harrowing details of civil rights-era Mississippi, The Song and the Silence is an amazing chronicle of one woman's five-year journey in pursuit of the past - and hope for tomorrow.

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Title: Ma Speaks Up

Subtitle: And a First-Generation Daughter Talks Back

Author: Marianne Leone

Narrator: Marianne Leone

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-25-17

Publisher: Beacon Press

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The acclaimed actress and author of Jesse: A Mother's Story tells the story of her outspoken, frequently outrageous Italian immigrant mother.

Marianne Leone's Ma is in many senses a larger-than-life character, one who might be capable, even from the afterlife, of shattering expectations. Born on a farm in Italy, Linda finds her way to the United States under dark circumstances, having escaped a forced marriage to a much older man, and marries a good Italian boy. She never has full command of English, especially when questioned by authorities, and when she is suddenly widowed with three young children, she has few options. To her daughter's horror and misery, she becomes the school lunch lady.

Ma Speaks Up is a record of growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, with the wrong family, in the wrong religion. Though Marianne's girlhood is flooded with shame, it's equally packed with adventure, love, great cooking, and, above all, humor. The extremely premature birth of Marianne's beloved son, Jesse, bonds mother and daughter in ways she couldn't have imagined. The stories she tells will speak to anyone who has struggled with outsider status in any form and, of course, to mothers and their blemished, cherished girls.

Critic Reviews:

"I can think of few writers, alive or dead, who can make us laugh out loud in one sentence only to wipe the tears off our cheeks in the next. Marianne Leone achieves this brilliantly in this enduring love song to her Italian mother, illuminating themes as wide ranging as social class, immigrant life, the Catholic Church, the agony of adolescence, marital and maternal and paternal love, and far more. And like all of the best memoirs, Ma Speaks Up carries us back to the fragmented and sometimes elusive beauty of our own lives. This is an exquisitely rendered book by an immensely gifted writer, and I cannot recommend it highly enough." (Andre Dubus III)

"In this entertaining and moving memoir, Marianne Leone has crafted an indelible portrait of her immigrant mother. Like her daughter, Ma is a formidable person - salty, tough-minded, funny, and full of unexpected wisdom." (Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers)

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Title: Notes on a Banana

Subtitle: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression

Author: David Leite

Narrator: David Leite

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-11-17

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 30 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The stunning and long-awaited memoir from the beloved founder of the James Beard Award-winning website Leite's Culinaria - a candid, courageous, and at times laugh-out-loud funny story of family, food, mental illness, and sexual identity.

Born into a family of Azorean immigrants, David Leite grew up in the 1960s in a devoutly Catholic blue-collar, food-crazed Portuguese home in Fall River, Massachusetts. A clever and determined dreamer with a vivid imagination and a flair for the dramatic, "Banana", as his mother endearingly called him, obsessed over proper hair care, yearned to live in a middle-class house with a swinging kitchen door like the ones on television, and fell in love with everything French thanks to his Portuguese and French-Canadian godmother. But David also struggled with the emotional devastation of bipolar disorder. Until he was diagnosed in his mid-30s, David found relief from his wild mood swings in cooking, Julia Child, and a Viking stove he named Thor.

Notes on a Banana is his heartfelt, unflinchingly honest, yet tender memoir of growing up, accepting himself, and turning his love of food into an award-winning career. Reminiscing about the people and events that shaped him, David looks back at the highs and lows of his life, from his rejection of being gay and his attempt to "turn straight" through Aesthetic Realism, a cult in downtown Manhattan, to becoming a writer, cookbook author, and web publisher, to his 23-year relationship with Alan, known to millions of David's readers and listeners as "The One", which began with (what else?) food. Woven throughout these stories are the dishes David loves - the tastes that led him to happiness, health, and success.

A blend of Kay Redfield Jamison's An Unquiet Mind; the food memoirs of Ruth Reichl, Anthony Bourdain, and Gabrielle Hamilton; and the character-rich storytelling of Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris, and Jenny Lawson, Notes on a Banana is a feast that dazzles, delights, and ultimately heals.

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Title: Raw Deal: The Untold Story of NYPD's 'Cannibal Cop'

Author: Brian Whitney, Gil Valle

Narrator: Gregg Rizzo

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-15-17

Publisher: WildBlue Press

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

"When, if ever, does a thought cross the line and become a crime?"

Raw Deal is the untold story of former New York City police officer Gil Valle, who in 2012 became known throughout the world as "The Cannibal Cop." It is the controversial saga of a man who was imprisoned for "thought crimes", and a look into a world of dark sexuality and violence that most listeners don't know exists, except maybe in their nightmares.

After Valle's arrest, media coverage exploded in a frenzy of lurid tabloid headlines and stories about the cop charged with planning to kidnap, torture, rape...and eat...women, including his own wife. But here's the fascinating part: There was no such plan in reality. Valle was simply engaging in his own private fantasies, albeit fantasies that are abhorrent and grotesque, and for that he was thrown into prison. Valle faced life in prison for his charges, and served 21 months for nothing more than having online chats about his fantasies. He was finally exonerated of all charges.

Raw Deal raises the question: When does thought become a crime? It will challenge the listener's beliefs about free speech, the right to privacy, and government's role in watching over us.

Warning: This audiobook contains graphic fantasy material of a sexual and violent nature. It is intended for mature audiences.

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Title: Gizelle's Bucket List

Subtitle: My Life with a Very Large Dog

Author: Lauren Fern Watt

Narrator: Lauren Fern Watt

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-07-17

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 25 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The playful, epic adventure of a 160-pound English Mastiff and the 20-something girl who grew up alongside her - Marley & Me for a whole new generation.

Lauren Watt took her 160-pound English Mastiff to college - so of course after graduation, Gizelle followed Lauren to her first, tiny apartment in New York. Because Gizelle wasn't just a dog; she was a roommate, a sister, a confidante, a dining companion, and everything in between.

Together, Gizelle and Lauren went through boyfriends, first jobs, a mother's struggle with addiction, and the ups and downs of becoming an adult in the big city. But when Gizelle got sick and Lauren realized her best friend might not be such a constant after all, she designed an epic bucket list to make the absolute most of the time they had left.

Bursting with charm, this unique coming-of-age story of a girl making her way through life is a testament to the special way pets inspire us to live better, love better, and appreciate the simple pleasures. Gizelle's Bucket List is the humorous, poignant lesson our pets teach us: to embrace adventure, love unconditionally, and grow into the people we want to be.

Critic Reviews:

"As much a story about growing up as about letting go of things that cannot be changed, Watt's book is also a reminder of the profound healing connection that can exist between humans and the pets they love. A tender, heartfelt story." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Gizelle's Bucket List is an extraordinary book - wonderfully moving, beautifully written, and sure to resonate with anyone lucky enough to have loved an animal who changed her life. This one will earn a permanent spot in your library, and in your heart." (Gwen Cooper, New York Times best-selling author of Homer's Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale)

"Gizelle's Bucket List is a story that will be loved by anyone who has ever loved a dog. Lauren Fern Watt poignantly captures the unique joy and heartbreak of sharing one's life with a great dog and how such a dog's love and loyalty can carry us through life's moments big and small." (Teresa Rhyne, New York Times best-selling author of The Dog Lived (and So Will I))

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Title: Rise and Shine

Subtitle: The Path to Life

Author: Simon Lewis

Narrator: Kelsey Grammer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-28-17

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 51 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

"I am proud and humbled to have read Simon's story. It is one of extraordinary suffering and perseverance, tragedy and ultimate triumph. I cannot recommend it enough. While all who suffer in this life search for hope and the strength to go on, few have faced such a mountain of challenges and heartache Simon's story is an inspiration to all. It reminds me of a line from Prometheus Unbound by Shelley 'To suffer woes which hope thinks infinite' surely Simon's story measures up to that description. That he emerged victorious, in the face of such travail, is a testament to his courage, the courage of his family and their love. It is an inspiration to all." (Narrator Kelsey Grammer)

Crushed between a truck and a tree, Simon and his wife were both pronounced dead at the scene of a horrific car accident. Enduring a broken skull, jaw, arms, clavicle and pelvis, followed by a coma, Simon lives to tell his remarkable journey from tragedy to triumph. Highlighting 15 years of cutting-edge treatments and therapies, Rise and Shine doubles as a memoir and medical thriller, with numerous experimental surgeries leading to revolutionary scientific and personal breakthroughs.

Rise and Shine is an inspirational first person account of a medical "miracle" that stems from redefining the true meaning of faith in the mind, body, and spirit. Simon provides practical insight into navigating the treacherous insurance maze and how to differentiate among often conflicting medical opinions. This impassioned tale of survival and recovery also gives testimony to the power of family, resiliency, and self-transformation.

Emmy and Tony Award-winner Kelsey Grammer (Frasier, The Simpsons) delivers a powerful vocal performance that adds emotion and hope to this heart-wrenching, beautiful narrative.

Critic Reviews:

"I loved listening to Rise and Shine written by my friend Simon Lewis and narrated by Kelsey Grammer." (Howie Mandel)

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Title: Say the Wrong Thing

Subtitle: Stories and Strategies for Racial Justice and Authentic Community

Author: Dr. Amanda Kemp

Narrator: Dr. Amanda Kemp

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-22-17

Publisher: Author's Republic

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Part memoir and part social commentary, Amanda Kemp's short book provides insight and strategies for creating racial justice and a strong sense of shared community. Her voice is vulnerable and personal as she reflects on her own interracial relationship, parenting her black teenaged son, and making art in the age of Black Lives Matter. Her short essays leave you cheering and hopeful.

Kemp's searing and tender commentary about herself, life within her interracial family, and racial justice take the listener on a rare journey into an African American boundary crosser. Kemp grew up in poverty in a predominantly black and Latino neighborhood but went on to graduate from Stanford University and earned a PhD from Northwestern University. Now married to her European American husband, Kemp watches the way that race plays out in her family, her work as a performing artist and professor, and in her spiritual journey.

This intimate short collection of essays will leave you pondering deep questions long after you stop listening. A great conversation starter, this short book is a must-listen for people concerned with racial unity, making Black Lives Matter, and educators and youth development professionals.

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Title: Surfacing

Subtitle: From the Depths of Self-Doubt to Winning Big and Living Fearlessly

Author: Siri Lindley

Narrator: Siri Lindley

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-15-17

Publisher: Author's Republic

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 15 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In Surfacing, Siri Lindley opens up about her unique celebrity-dappled early life. When and NFL superstar notices her beautiful mother, her idyllic childhood is upended. Glitzy dinner parties and world travel pull her mother away, and Lindley grows up feeling alone and out of place. As her intense loneliness grows into anger, she lashes out against her New England life of privilege.

Shy and painfully self-aware, Lindley finds solace in sports, playing field hockey, ice hockey, and lacrosse at Brown University. But when she misses the cut for the US lacrosse team after college, she is left directionless - until a friend invites her to watch a triathlon. Lindley's dream is reignited and she never looks back.

Success doesn't come easily. Lindley fails early and often - brutal swim starts, bike equipment failures at key races, grueling workouts - but it's debilitating anxiety that still haunts her. She turns to unconventional Australian coach, Brett Sutton, who helps her tear up her script of self-doubt and transforms her into a world champion.

Lindley retires from the sport at the peak of her success, intent on helping athletes realize their own dreams, and finally finds the courage to step out into her true self and find love as a gay woman.

Surfacing is the breathtakingly honest book that shares Lindley's daring journey. She is proof that it's never too late to rewrite your own story and change the thoughts, habits and behaviors that hold you back. Surfacing will inspire you as it shows you how to stop being your own worst enemy and start uncovering your potential.

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Title: My Heart

Author: Julie Manning

Narrator: Jorjeana Marie

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-06-17

Publisher: christianaudio.com

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

What if you were told there's a possibility you would not be alive to see this afternoon or wake up tomorrow morning? Do you think you would live differently? How would this reality affect every single moment of the life you have been given?

Julie Manning was in the middle of giving birth to her second child when doctors noticed an irregularity in her heartbeat. Within six weeks, tests revealed it was no one-time occurrence. This ultracapable mom, wife, marathon runner, and pediatric nurse practitioner was in active heart failure, finding herself at risk for experiencing a sudden cardiac death. Julie's book, My Heart, is the first-person account of her journey from then to now - from a healthy woman's normal expectations and self-reliance to the surrendering of her dreams, plans, and deepest desires into the hands of our unchanging God. Part retelling and reflection, part in-the-moment prayer journal, her story takes you with honest vulnerability into the jaws of fear and suffering and speaks realistic hope into your own story, leaving you with well-fought, well-placed confidence for the road ahead. It's what her heart would like to say to you...about the faithful, loving, impeccably trustworthy heart of God.

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