Recommendations based on "Building a Life Worth Living: A Memoir"
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By Hanya Yanagihara
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2015.Shortlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction 2016.Finalist for the National Book Awards 2015.The million copy bestseller, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, is an immensely powerful and heartbreaking novel of brotherly love and the limits of human endurance.When four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he'll not only be unable to overcome – but that will define his life forever.
By Chanel Miller
Universally acclaimed, rapturously reviewed, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography, and an instant New York Times bestseller, Chanel Miller's breathtaking memoir gives readers the privilege of knowing her not just as Emily Doe, but as Chanel Miller the writer, the artist, the survivor, the fighter. (The Wrap). I opened Know My Name with the intention to bear witness to the story of a survivor. Instead, I found myself falling into the hands of one of the great writers and thinkers of our time. Chanel Miller is a philosopher, a cultural critic, a deep observer, a writer's writer, a true artist. I could not put this phenomenal book down. --Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love Warrior and Untamed Know My Name is a gut-punch, and in the end, somehow, also blessedly hopeful. --Washington Post She was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter. Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanford's campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral--viewed by eleven million people within four days, it was translated globally and read on the floor of Congress; it inspired changes in California law and the recall of the judge in the case. Thousands wrote to say that she had given them the courage to share their own experiences of assault for the first time. Now she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words. It was the perfect case, in many ways--there were eyewitnesses, Turner ran away, physical evidence was immediately secured. But her struggles with isolation and shame during the aftermath and the trial reveal the oppression victims face in even the best-case scenarios. Her story illuminates a culture biased to protect perpetrators, indicts a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and, ultimately, shines with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life. Know My Name will forever transform the way we think about sexual assault, challenging our beliefs about what is acceptable and speaking truth to the tumultuous reality of healing. It also introduces readers to an extraordinary writer, one whose words have already changed our world. Entwining pain, resilience, and humor, this memoir will stand as a modern classic. Chosen as a BEST BOOK OF 2019 by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, TIME, Elle, Glamour, Parade, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, BookRiot
By Tara Westover
#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER • One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University“Extraordinary . . . an act of courage and self-invention.”—The New York TimesNAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES’S HOLIDAY READING LIST • FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle’s Award In Autobiography and John Leonard Prize For Best First Book • PEN/Jean Stein Book Award • Los Angeles Times Book PrizeBorn to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.“Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover’s] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?”—VogueONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, O: The Oprah Magazine, Time, NPR, Good Morning America, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, The Economist, Financial Times, Newsday, New York Post, theSkimm, Refinery29, Bloomberg, Self, Real Simple, Town & Country, Bustle, Paste, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, LibraryReads, Book Riot, Pamela Paul, KQED, New York Public Library
By Coco Mellors
Three Estranged Siblings Return To Their Family Home In New York After Their Beloved Sister's Death In This Unforgettable Story Of Grief, Identity, And The Complexities Of Family, From The Acclaimed Author Of Cleopatra And Frankenstein. The Three Blue Sisters Are Exceptional - And Exceptionally Different. Avery, The Eldest And A Recovering Heroin Addict Turned Strait-laced Lawyer, Lives With Her Wife In London; Bonnie, A Former Boxer, Works As A Bouncer In Los Angeles Following A Devastating Defeat; And Lucky, The Youngest, Models In Paris While Trying To Outrun Her Hard-partying Ways. They Also Had A Fourth Sister, Nicky, Whose Unexpected Death Left Avery, Bonnie, And Lucky Reeling. A Year Later, As They Each Navigate Grief, Addiction, And Ambition, They Find They Must Return To New York To Stop The Sale Of The Apartment They Were Raised In. But Coming Home Is Never As Easy As It Seems. As The Sisters Reckon With The Disappointments Of Their Childhood And The Loss Of The Only Person Who Held Them Together, They Realize That The Greatest Secrets They've Been Keeping Might Not Have Been From Each Other, But From Themselves. Imbued With Coco Mellors's Signature Combination Of Humor And Heart, Blue Sisters Is A Story Of What It Takes To Keep Living After Loss - And, Ultimately, To Fall In Love With Life Again-- Provided By Publisher.
By Sarah J. Maas
The sexy, action-packed first book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series from Sarah J. Maas.When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.At least, he's not a beast all the time.As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin-and his world-forever.From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.
By Rebecca Yarros
After Nearly Eighteen Months At Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail Knows There's No More Time For Lessons. No More Time For Uncertainty. Because The Battle Has Truly Begun, And With Enemies Closing In From Outside Their Walls And Within Their Ranks, It's Impossible To Know Who To Trust. Now Violet Must Journey Beyond The Failing Aretian Wards To Seek Allies From Unfamiliar Lands To Stand With Navarre. The Trip Will Test Every Bit Of Her Wit, Luck, And Strength, But She Will Do Anything To Save What She Loves--her Dragons, Her Family, Her Home, And Him. Even If It Means Keeping A Secret So Big, It Could Destroy Everything. They Need An Army. They Need Power. They Need Magic. And They Need The One Thing Only Violet Can Find--the Truth. But A Storm Is Coming...and Not Everyone Can Survive Its Wrath-- Publisher Description.
By Madeline Miller
Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia. Here he is just another unwanted boy living in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. Yet one day, Achilles takes the shamed prince under his wing. As they grow into young men their bond blossoms into something far deeper despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother. When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they have learned.
By Rebecca Yarros
Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of dragon riders.But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways graduate or die
By John Green
Now a major motion picture!TIME Magazine's #1 Fiction Book of the Year! -Millions of copies sold-#1 "New York Times" Bestseller#1 "Wall Street Journal" Bestseller#1 "USA Today" Bestseller#1 International Bestseller#1 Indie Bestseller Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten. Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, "The Fault in Our Stars" brilliantly explores the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.