memoir

North Korea is an open-air prison from which there is no escape. Only a handful of men and women have succeeded. Jihyun Park is one of these rare survivors. Twice she left the land of the ?socialist miracle? to flee famine and dictatorship.

Lech Blaine was just seventeen when he was in a crash that killed his best friends and changed his life. On an evening in 2009, seven teenage boys piled into a car to go to a party. They never arrived. The driver, who was not drunk or high, made a routine error and then overcorrected. The vehicle flew off the road. One passenger died on impact. Others were flung from the car. Lech walked away uninjured. In the aftermath, two more died in hospital and one was left disabled, in an incident that convulsed their rural community. Crippled by guilt, Lech turned to social media, cultivating a persona as the ultimate 'grateful survivor'. Over time, he spiralled into risk-taking and depression. His public bravado fell away as he tried to accept how an accident, one wretched error of youth and inexperience, had changed the trajectory of so many lives. How do we grieve in an age of social media? How does tragedy shape a community? And how does a boy on the cusp of manhood develop a sense of self when his world has exploded?.

American novelist and poet Patricia Lockwood describes her life, including her upbringing in a household led by her unusual Catholic priest father as well as the time spent living in her parents' home with her husband after a decade of living on their own.

"Married to an evangelical paster's son with a comfortable life, the author describes her reckoning with religious trauma and Midwestern values as she shed years of indoctrination, piety, and repression and came out as queer, and discusses how evangelicalism has undermined American political power structures"--Provided by publisher.

"In 'Hysterical,' Bassist explains how girls and women internalize and perpetuate directives about their voice, making it hard to emote or 'just speak up' and 'burn down the patriarchy.' But her silence hurt more than anything she could ever say. 'Hysterical' is a memoir of a voice lost and found, and a primer on new ways to think about a woman's voice, where it's being squashed and where it needs amplification. Bassist breaks her own silences and calls on others to do the same--to unmute their voice, listen to it above all others, and use it again without regret"--Provided by publisher.

"Anjelah Johnson had two dreams as a kid: to be an actress and to be a chola. You may know Anjelah Johnson for her viral sketch "Nail Salon" (over 30 million views) or her beloved ghetto-fabulous MadTV character Bon Qui Qui, but it's her clean humor and hilarious storytelling that make her one of the most successful stand-up comedians today. In Who Do I Think I Am? Anjeleh shares hilarious stories about her life, from her irrational fear of death ("Please Don't Die, Okay?") to growing up caught between two worlds ("I'm Mexican/Hella American") to her cultural pride ("Chola Wishes & Caviar Dreams"). Of course, like any good Latina, she offers a choice of stories that are mild ("I Love Jesus But I Will Punch A 'Ho), medium ("Chin-checked by Prince") and spicy ("I'm Dating You Cuz I'm Hungry"). The book follows Anjelah's unlikely journey as she transforms from a suburban kid with Aquanet-drenched hair into a conservative Christian who abstains from drinking and premarital sex, into a mall-famous Raider cheerleader, and then an actually famous comedian traveling the world and meeting people from all-walks of life"--Provided by publisher.

"Rex [Ogle] captures and celebrates the powerful presence [of] a woman he could always count on--to give him warm hugs and ear kisses, to teach him precious words in Spanish, to bring him to the library where he could take out as many books as he wanted, and to offer safety when darkness closed in. Throughout a coming of age marked by violence and dysfunction, Abuela's red-brick house in Abilene, Texas, offered Rex the possibility of home, and Abuela herself the possibility for a better life. 'Abuela, Don't Forget Me' is a . . . portrait of the transformative and towering woman who believed in Rex even when he didn't yet know how to believe in himself"--Provided by publisher.

"[A] . . . memoir of defying the odds from Kareem Rosser, captain of the first all-black squad to win the National Interscholastic Polo championship. 'Crossing the Line' will not just leave you with hope, but also ideas on how to make that hope transferable" (New York Times bestselling author Wes Moore). Born and raised in West Philadelphia, Kareem thought he and his siblings would always be stuck in 'The Bottom', a community and neighborhood devastated by poverty and violence. Riding their bicycles through Philly's Fairmount Park, Kareem's brothers discover a barn full of horses"--Provided by publisher.

"A memoir by the highest-ranking covert warrior to lift the veil of secrecy and offer a glimpse into the shadow wars that America has fought since the Vietnam Era. Enrique Prado found himself in his first firefight at age seven. The son of a middle-class Cuban family caught in the midst of the Castro Revolution, his family fled their war-torn home for the hope of a better life in America. Fifty years later, the Cuban refugee retired from the Central Intelligence Agency as the CIA equivalent of a two-star general. [This book] is the story of Ric's legendary career that spanned two eras, the Cold War and the Age of Terrorism"--Adapted from publisher description.

"An unflinching memoir from the six-time NBA Champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and Hall of Famer, revealing how Scottie Pippen, the youngest of twelve, overcame two family tragedies and universal disregard by college scouts to become an essential component of the greatest basketball dynasty of the last fifty years"--Provided by publisher.