{"title":"Biography \u0026 Memoirs","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"marley-me","title":"Marley \u0026 Me","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe heartwarming and unforgettable story of a family and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life. Now with photos and new material. Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans. John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with not a care in the world. Then they brought home Marley, a wiggly yellow furball of a puppy. Life would never be the same. Marley grew into a barreling, ninety-seven-pound streamroller of a Labrador retriever. He crashed through screen doors, gouged through drywall, and stole women's undergarments. Obedience school did no good -- Marley was expelled. But just as Marley joyfully refused any limits on his behavior, his love and loyalty were boundless, too. Marley remained a model of devotion, even when his family was at its wit's end. Unconditional love, they would learn, comes in many forms. Marley \u0026amp; Me is John Grogan's funny, unforgettable tribute to this wonderful, wildly neurotic Lab and the meaning he brought to their lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42438868107315,"sku":"","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN0641.jpg?v=1719201926"},{"product_id":"into-thin-air-a-personal-account-of-the-mount-everest-disaster","title":"Into thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe epic account of the storm on the summit of Mt. Everest that claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray. A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism. --PEOPLE A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down. He was wrong. By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself. This updated trade paperback edition of Into Thin Air includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy. I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day, writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients. As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters--a prestigious prize intended to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment. According to the Academy's citation, Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42463976947763,"sku":"","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN0771.jpg?v=1719732275"},{"product_id":"survival-in-auschwitz","title":"Survival in Auschwitz","description":"\u003cp\u003eSURVIVAL IN AUSCHWITZ (or If This Is a Man), first published in 1947, is a work by the Italian-Jewish writer, Primo Levi. 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But then he plunges deep, examining the warm yet fraught relationship between mother and son with profound insight and understanding.\" --Alison Bechdel, author of \"Fun Home\" When George Hodgman leaves Manhattan for his hometown of Paris, Missouri, he finds himself--an unlikely caretaker and near-lethal cook--in a head-on collision with his aging mother, Betty, a woman of wit and will. Will George lure her into assisted living? When hell freezes over. He can't bring himself to force her from the home both treasure--the place where his father's voice lingers, the scene of shared jokes, skirmishes, and, behind the dusty antiques, a rarely acknowledged conflict: Betty, who speaks her mind but cannot quite reveal her heart, has never really accepted the fact that her son is gay. As these two unforgettable characters try to bring their different worlds together, Hodgman reveals the challenges of Betty's life and his own struggle for self-respect, moving readers from their small town--crumbling but still colorful--to the star-studded corridors of Vanity Fair. Evocative of \"The End of Your Life Book Club \"and \"The Tender Bar,\" Hodgman's \"New York Times\" bestselling debut is both an indelible portrait of a family and an exquisitely told tale of a prodigal son's return. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42479439216691,"sku":"","price":4.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN1062_486ff160-8ca1-4b6e-a231-f63bb459988a.jpg?v=1720039612"},{"product_id":"tuesdays-with-morrie","title":"Tuesday's With Morrie","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMaybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003cspan\u003eFor Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003cspan\u003eMaybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you once did when you were younger?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003cspan\u003eMitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. 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In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State--and she would do it alone.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTold with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eWild\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42501807210547,"sku":"","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN1016.jpg?v=1720671093"},{"product_id":"i-aint-got-time-to-bleed","title":"I Ain't Got Time to Bleed","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhen he left the Navy SEALs to become a professional wrestler for WWF, fans knew him as \"Jesse The Body.\" When he picked up the microphone as a TV commentator and hard-hitting radio talk-show host, he became \"Jesse The Mouth.\" And now that this big, body-slamming, straight-talking, charismatic hero is in the Minnesota governor''s office, you had better call him \"Jesse The Mind.\" In a brand-new edition of I Ain''t Got Time to Bleed: Reworking the Body Politic from the Bottom Up , the blockbuster hit that spent 13 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, Jesse Ventura has added an exclusive new chapter in which he speaks candidly for the first time about his controversial first year in office and about Campaign 2000. He also reveals the secrets of his stunning electoral success and maps his innovative strategies for pioneering a new era in American government. JESSE THE BODY: \"I broke new ground in wrestling in a lot of different ways. That''s why I can''t work in the business today. 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He tells the wildly colorful story of his six years as part of the Navy''s most formidable elite (\"A SEAL will defy death at least twice a week\"), his nights in the pro-wrestling ring, and his experiences on radio and in films like Predator and Batman and Robin. Born James George Janos in Minneapolis, this towering figure of a man has never forgotten his roots (\"I stand for the common man because I am the common man\") as he journeys through one extraordinary career after another. Ventura holds nothing back (\"If I had told you this story twenty years ago, I could have gotten myself into a world of hurt\"), as he tells the story of his life as only he can. Ventura''s popularity is astounding. 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Born in 1937 in a port city a thousand miles north of Shanghai, Adeline Yen Mah was the youngest child of an affluent Chinese family who enjoyed rare privileges during a time of political and cultural upheaval. But wealth and position could not shield Adeline from a childhood of appalling emotional abuse at the hands of a cruel and manipulative stepmother. Determined to survive through her enduring faith in family unity, Adeline struggled for independence as she moved from Hong Kong to England and eventually to the United States to become a physician and writer. A compelling, painful, and ultimately triumphant story of a girl's journey into adulthood, Adeline's story is a testament to the most basic of human needs: acceptance, love, and understanding. With a powerful voice that speaks of the harsh realities of growing up female in a family and society that kept girls in emotional chains, Falling Leaves is a work of heartfelt intimacy and a rare authentic portrait of twentieth-century China.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42509002965043,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN2319.jpg?v=1733284071"},{"product_id":"mark-twain-the-bachelor-years","title":"Mark Twain: The Bachelor Years","description":"\u003cp\u003eMark Twain: The Bachelor Years by Margaret Sanborn provides an unprecedented look at the formative years of America’s best-known and best-loved writer and humorist, Samuel Langhorne Clemens. This thorough and delightful examination covers Twain’s life from birth in 1835 to his marriage at age thirty-four. These years of wildly varied experiences helped form the bases of his great classics, including The Innocents Abroad, Roughing It, Tom Sawyer, and Huckleberry Finn. Sanborn relies heavily on Twain’s personal letters to give readers insight into the texture of his personality, both its darker and lighter aspects. If you’re interested in Twain’s early life and literary influences, this biography is a fascinating read!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42509015384115,"sku":"","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN1087.jpg?v=1722998398"},{"product_id":"elizabeth-taylor-the-grit-glamour-of-an-icon","title":"Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit \u0026 Glamour of an Icon","description":"\u003cp\u003eNo celebrity rivals Elizabeth Taylor's glamour and guts or her level of fame. She was the last major star to come out of the old Hollywood studio system and she is a legend known for her beauty and her magnetic screen presence in a career that spanned most of the twentieth century and nearly sixty films. But her private life was even more compelling than her Oscar-winning on-screen performances. During her seventy-nine years of rapid-fire love and loss she was married eight times to seven different men. Above all, she was a survivor--by the time she was twenty-six she was twice divorced and once widowed. Her life was a soap opera that ended in a deeply meaningful way when she became the first major celebrity activist to lead the fight against HIV\/AIDS. A co-founder of amfAR, she raised more than $100 million for research and patient care. She was also a shrewd businesswoman who made a fortune as the first celebrity perfumer who always demanded to be paid what she was worth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the first ever authorized biography of the Hollywood icon, Kate Andersen Brower reveals the world through Elizabeth's eyes. Brower uses Elizabeth's unpublished letters, diary entries, and off-the-record interview transcripts as well as interviews with 250 of her closest friends and family to tell the full, unvarnished story of her remarkable career and her explosive private life that made headlines worldwide. Elizabeth Taylor captures this intelligent, empathetic, tenacious, volatile, and complex woman as never before, from her rise to massive fame at age twelve in National Velvet to becoming the first to negotiate a million-dollar salary for a film, from her eight marriages and enduring love affair with Richard Burton to her lifelong battle with addiction and her courageous efforts as an AIDS activist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere is a fascinating and complete portrait worthy of the legendary star and her legacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42526141612083,"sku":"","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN1204.jpg?v=1722996926"},{"product_id":"what-happened","title":"What Happened","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA TIME BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR AND NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK \"In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I've often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net. Now I'm letting my guard down.\" --Hillary Rodham Clinton, from the introduction of What Happened For the first time, Hillary Rodham Clinton reveals what she was thinking and feeling during one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential elections in history. Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules. This is her most personal memoir yet. In these pages, she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterward. With humor and candor, she tells readers what it took to get back on her feet--the rituals, relationships, and reading that got her through, and what the experience has taught her about life. She speaks about the challenges of being a strong woman in the public eye, the criticism over her voice, age, and appearance, and the double standard confronting women in politics. She lays out how the 2016 election was marked by an unprecedented assault on our democracy by a foreign adversary. By analyzing the evidence and connecting the dots, Hillary shows just how dangerous the forces are that shaped the outcome, and why Americans need to understand them to protect our values and our democracy in the future. The election of 2016 was unprecedented and historic. What Happened is the story of that campaign and its aftermath--both a deeply intimate account and a cautionary tale for the nation. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42528892846131,"sku":"","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN1178.jpg?v=1722996736"},{"product_id":"the-kindness-of-strangers-the-life-of-tennessee-williams","title":"The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is the first complete, critical biography of Tennessee Williams (1911-1983), one of America's finest playwrights and the author of (among many important works) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Glass Menagerie, Summer and Smoke, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly Last Summer,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003eand \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Night of the Iguana.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e Award-winning biographer Donald Spoto gives us not only a full and accurate account of Williams's life, he also reveals the intimate connections between the playwright's personal dramas and his remarkably autobiographical art. From his birth into a genteel Southern family, through his success, celebrity, and wealth, to his drug addictions, promiscuity, and creative struggles, Tennessee Williams lived a life as gripping as his plays. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Kindness of Strangers,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003ebased on Williams's own papers, his mother's diaries, and interviews with scores of friends, lovers, and professional associates, is, in the author's words, a portrait of \"a man more disturbing, more dramatic, richer and more wonderful than any character he created.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42528909295667,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN1131.jpg?v=1724123097"},{"product_id":"angelas-ashes","title":"Angela's Ashes","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Pulitzer Prize-winning, #1 New York Times bestseller,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eAngela's Ashes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis Frank McCourt's masterful memoir of his childhood in Ireland.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSo begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank's mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank's father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy--exasperating, irresponsible, and beguiling--does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father's tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePerhaps it is story that accounts for Frank's survival. 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By nineteen, he was dead. This is Danielle Steel's powerful, personal story of the son she lost and the lessons she learned during his courageous battle against darkness. Sharing tender, painful memories and Nick's remarkable journals, Steel brings us a haunting duet between a singular young man and the mother who loved him--and a harrowing portrait of a masked killer called manic depression, which afflicts between two and three million Americans.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42535609499699,"sku":"","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN1308.jpg?v=1724022412"},{"product_id":"a-child-called-it-one-childs-courage-to-survive","title":"A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games--games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an \"it.\"\u003cbr\u003eDave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. 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In \"Sidney Bechet and His Jazz Band Meet Franz Kafka,\" he captivates the legendary jazz man and his band with an unusual reading of The Metamorphosis , during a thunderstorm at a Catskills resort in 1942. Reiner also recalls the highlights of the succeeding decades: his first sweaty audition, impersonating a dog impersonating movie stars; his forays into the theater; his work on Your Show of Shows and The Dick Van Dyke Show during TV's golden days; and his long friendship and collaboration with Mel Brooks which gave birth to the Two Thousand Year Old Man. In \"A Recipe to Remember,\" he recites a recipe for cream cheese cookies to a star-studded audience that includes Paul Newman, Leonard Bernstein, and Barbra Streisand. In \"The Gourmet Eating Club,\" he gives an insider's take on the now-legendary group that included Mario Puzo, Joseph Heller, Zero Mostel, and other luminaries. Mary Tyler Moore, Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney, Johnny Carson, Cary Grant, Dinah Shore, Ann Bancroft, Jean Renoir - the list goes on and on - also appear in what Reiner calls the \"literary variety show\" that captures the highs and lows of his extraordinary life. Through it all, Reiner displays the wit and warmth that have made him one of the most beloved figures in the entertainment business. This charming memoir will delight anyone who wants a behind-the-scenes look at five decades of Hollywood and television history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42539675156531,"sku":"","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN0781.jpg?v=1721963952"},{"product_id":"its-always-something","title":"It's Always Something","description":"\u003cp\u003eTo honor the twentieth anniversary of beloved comedienne Gilda Radner's death from ovarian cancer comes a commemo- rative edition of her memoir, It's Always Something--featuring a newly updated resource guide for people living with cancer and a tribute by Radner's former colleagues at Saturday Night Live.As a cast member on the original Saturday Night Live, Gilda Radner created a compelling character named \"Roseann Rosannadanna\" who habitually ended her routine with the line, \"It's always something,\" which was her father's favorite expression about life. Radner chose the catch- phrase she made famous as the title to her brave, funny, and painfully honest memoir: the story of her struggle against cancer and her determination to continue laughing. Gilda's Club, a network of affiliate clubhouses that seeks to provide a social and emotional support community to people living with cancer, was founded in Radner's memory in 1991. The name of the organization comes from a remark Gilda once made, that cancer gave her \"membership to an elite club I'd rather not belong to.\" In partnership with Gilda's Club, It's Always Something includes valuable information for all whose lives have been touched by cancer and reminds us of the important place laughter has in healing. Told as only Gilda Radner could tell it, It's Always Something is the inspiring story of a courageous, funny woman fighting to enjoy life no matter what the circumstances. She died in 1989. 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Artist, writer, and designer Carolyn Cassady reveals a side of Neal Cassady rarely seen--that of husband and father, a man who craved respectability, yet could not resist the thrills of a wilder, and ultimately more destructive, lifestyle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42542054899763,"sku":"","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN0793.jpg?v=1722097851"},{"product_id":"wilderness-the-lost-writings-of-jim-morrison","title":"Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison","description":"\u003cp\u003eCompiled from the literary estate of the singer who brought a wildly lyrical poetry of the damned to the world of rock 'n' roll. 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Though he grew up in a large Irish-Catholic family, Jim was satisfied with the nomadic, nocturnal life of a standup comedian, and was content to be \"that weird uncle who lives in an apartment by himself in New York that everyone in the family speculates about.\" But all that changed when he married and found out his wife, Jeannie \"is someone who gets pregnant looking at babies.\" Five kids later, the comedian whose riffs on everything from Hot Pockets to Jesus have scored millions of hits on YouTube, started to tweet about the mistakes and victories of his life as a dad. Those tweets struck such a chord that he soon passed the million followers mark. But it turns out 140 characters are not enough to express all the joys and horrors of life with five kids, so he's now sharing it all in Dad Is Fat. From new parents to empty nesters to Jim's twenty-something fans, everyone will recognize their own families in these hilarious takes on everything from cousins (\"celebrities for little kids\") to growing up in a big family (\"I always assumed my father had six children so he could have a sufficient lawn crew\") to changing diapers in the middle of the night (\"like The Hurt Locker but much more dangerous\") to bedtime (aka \"Negotiating with Terrorists\"). Dad is Fat is sharply observed, explosively funny, and a cry for help from a man who has realized he and his wife are outnumbered in their own home. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42542503264307,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN1290.jpg?v=1724020638"},{"product_id":"the-lemon-tree-an-arab-a-jew-and-the-heart-of-the-middle-east","title":"The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe tale of a simple act of faith between two young people, one Israeli and one Palestinian, that symbolizes the hope for peace in the Middle East - with an updated afterword by the author.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn 1967, Bashir Khairi, a twenty-five-year-old Palestinian, journeyed to Israel with the goal of seeing the beloved stone house with the lemon tree behind it that he and his family had fled nineteen years earlier. To his surprise, when he found the house he was greeted by Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student, whose family left Europe for Israel following the Holocaust. On the stoop of their shared home, Dalia and Bashir began a rare friendship, forged in the aftermath of war and tested over the next half century in ways that neither could imagine on that summer day in 1967. Sandy Tolan brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its most human level, demonstrating that even amid the bleakest political realities there exist stories of hope and transformation.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42544838606899,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN0878.jpg?v=1722200449"},{"product_id":"me-talk-pretty-one-day","title":"Me Talk Pretty One Day","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA recent transplant to Paris, humorist David Sedaris, bestselling author of Naked, presents a collection of his strongest work yet, including the title story about his hilarious attempt to learn French. A number one national bestseller now in paperback.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42544840540211,"sku":"","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN0826.jpg?v=1722201357"},{"product_id":"into-the-wild","title":"Into The Wild","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNATIONAL BESTSELLER - In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. This is the unforgettable story of how Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIt may be nonfiction, but\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eInto the Wild\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis a mystery of the highest order.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e--Entertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMcCandess had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Not long after, he was dead. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eInto the Wild\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis the mesmerizing, heartbreaking tale of an enigmatic young man who goes missing in the wild and whose story captured the world's attention.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eImmediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interest that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhen McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naivet?, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity, and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding--and not an ounce of sentimentality. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eInto the Wild\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42545046356019,"sku":"","price":6.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN0815.jpg?v=1722223881"},{"product_id":"how-to-talk-dirty-and-influence-people","title":"How to Talk Dirty and Influence People","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDuring the course of a career that began in the late 1940s, Lenny Bruce challenged the sanctity of organized religion and other societal and political conventions; he widened the boundaries of free speech. Critic Ralph Gleason said, \"So many taboos have been lifted and so many comics have rushed through the doors Lenny opened. 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Filled with comically overwrought childhood agonies, offbeat observations, and revealing celebrity encounters--from Boy George to George Clooney--it delivers a fresh, laugh-out-loud take on Hollywood, fame, addiction, gay culture, and learning to love oneself.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42545786421299,"sku":"","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN0987.jpg?v=1722284163"},{"product_id":"a-higher-loyalty-truth-lies-and-leadership","title":"A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn his book, former FBI director James Comey shares his never-before-told experiences from some of the highest-stakes situations of his career in the past two decades of American government, exploring what good, ethical leadership looks like, and how it drives sound decisions. His journey provides an unprecedented entry into the corridors of power and a remarkable lesson in what makes an effective leader. Mr. Comey served as director of the FBI from 2013 to 2017, appointed to the post by President Barack Obama. He previously served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the U.S. deputy attorney general in the administration of President George W. Bush. From prosecuting the Mafia and Martha Stewart to helping change the Bush administration's policies on torture and electronic surveillance, overseeing the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation as well as ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, Comey has been involved in some of the most consequential cases and policies of recent history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Better Oft Read","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42545951375411,"sku":"","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4085\/0227\/files\/DSCN2079.jpg?v=1726886860"},{"product_id":"decision-points","title":"Decision Points","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGeorge W. Bush served as president of the United States during eight of the most consequential years in American history. 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