Getting to Know You | Mid-Columbia Libraries

Born a crime : stories from a South African childhood

Noah, Trevor, 1984- author.

From the Publisher

Trevor Noah's unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents' indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him...

My Thoughts

A story of growing up under apartheid, illegal simply by being born to a white father and Black mother... but a funny comedian version.

Ghost boy : the miraculous escape of a misdiagnosed boy trapped inside his own body

Pistorius, Martin, author.

From the Publisher

Ghost Boy is the heart-wrenching story of one boy's return to life through the power of love and faith. In these pages, readers see a parent's resilience, the consequences of misdiagnosis, abuse at the hands of cruel caretakers, and the unthinkable duration of Martin's mental alertness betrayed by his lifeless body.

My Thoughts

A story about returning to life after a tragic medical illness.

A long way gone : memoirs of a boy soldier

Beah, Ishmael, 1980-

From the Publisher

In A Long Way Gone , Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.

My Thoughts

The story about a young boy and a war that he never wanted to be a part of.

Two kisses for Maddy : a memoir of loss & love

Logelin, Matthew.

From the Publisher

"Matt Logelin writes a courageous and searingly honest memoir about the first year of his life following the birth of his daughter and the death of his wife"--Provided by the publisher

My Thoughts

A story of love, loss, and a little girl.

I am Nujood, age 10 and divorced

Ali, Nujood.

From the Publisher

Nujood Ali's childhood came to an abrupt end in 2008 when her father arranged for her to be married to a man three times her age. With harrowing directness, Nujood tells of abuse at her husband's hands and of her daring escape.nbsp;With the help of local advocates and the press, Nujood obtained her freedom--an extraordinary achievement in Yemen, where almost half of all girls are married under the legal age. Nujood's courageous defiance of both Yemeni customs and her own family has inspired...

My Thoughts

A story of a little girl in a very different part of our world and what she did to take control of her own life.

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks

Skloot, Rebecca, 1972-

From the Publisher

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells--taken without her knowledge in 1951--became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. Henrietta's cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can't afford health insurance.

My Thoughts

A story of how one poor woman in the 1930s impacted modern medicine.

Cut me loose : sin and salvation after my ultra-Orthodox girlhood

Vincent, Leah.

From the Publisher

Fast-paced, mesmerizing, and brutally honest, Cut Me Loos e tells the story of one woman's harrowing struggle to define herself as an individual. Through Leah's eyes, we confront not only the oppressive world of religious fundamentalism, but also the broader issues that face even the most secular young women as they grapple with sexuality and identity.

My Thoughts

A story of a teen cast out of her ultra-Orthodox Jewish family.

32 yolks : : from my mother's table to working the line

Ripert, Eric, author.

From the Publisher

Even before he knew how to make a proper omelet, Eric Ripert was a young boy in the South of France who felt that his world had come to an end. The only place he felt at home was in the kitchen. His desire to not only cook, but to become the best would lead him into some of the most celebrated and demanding restaurants in Paris and trying to survive the brutal, exacting environment of their kitchens.

My Thoughts

A story of what it took for one French boy to become a celebrity chef.

Brain on fire : my month of madness

Cahalan, Susannah.

From the Publisher

Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman's struggle to recapture her identity and to rediscover herself among the fragments left behind. It is a story about a young New York Post reporter's struggle with a rare and terrifying disease, opening a new window into the fascinating world of brain science. Susannah Cahalan pieces together the story of her "lost month" to write an unforgettable memoir about memory and identity, faith and love. It is an important, profoundly compelling tale of...

My Thoughts

A story of a young woman with a mystery illness.

Three cups of tea : one man's mission to fight terrorism and build nations-- one school at a time

Mortenson, Greg.

From the Publisher

One man's campaign to build schools in the most dangerous, remote, and anti-American reaches of Asia: in 1993 Greg Mortenson was an American mountain-climbing bum wandering emaciated and lost through Pakistan's Karakoram. After he was taken in and nursed back to health by the people of a Pakistani village, he promised to return one day and build them a school. From that rash, earnest promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time--Mortenson's one-man mission to...

My Thoughts

A story about one man's mission to fight the Taliban by building schools to educate the local children (including the girls).

When breath becomes air

Kalanithi, Paul, author.

From the Publisher

On the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. Kalanithi chronicles his transformation from a naive medical student into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

My Thoughts

A story of a neurosurgeon facing his own mortality. Get a box of tissues ready.

A House in the Sky Sara Corbett

Corbett, Sara

From the Publisher

The dramatic and redemptive memoir of a woman whose curiosity led her to the world?s most beautiful and remote places, its most imperiled and perilous countries, and then into fifteen months of harrowing captivity?an exquisitely written story of courage, resilience, and grace As a child, Amanda Lindhout escaped a violent household by paging through issues of National Geographic and imagining herself in its exotic locales. At the age of nineteen, working as a cocktail waitress in Calgary,...

My Thoughts

A story of a traveler in the Middle East held hostage for 460 days and what it took for her to survive.

The last lecture

Pausch, Randy.

From the Publisher

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.

My Thoughts

The story of a man facing a terminal cancer diagnosis.

Columbine

Cullen, David, 1961-

From the Publisher

On April 20, 1999, two boys went to their high school with bombs and guns. Their goal was to leave "a lasting impression on the world." The horror they inflicted left an indelible stamp on the American psyche. In this account, Dave Cullen presents a compelling and utterly human profile of teenage killers. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, he draws on hundreds of interviews, thousands of pages of police files, FBI psychologists, and the boys' tapes and diaries. This...

My Thoughts

A story about two troubled boys and the destruction they caused.

Hillbilly elegy : a memoir of a family and culture in crisis

Vance, J. D., author.

From the Publisher

Shares the story of the author's family and upbringing, describing how they moved from poverty to an upwardly mobile clan that included the author--a Yale Law School graduate--while navigating the demands of middle class life and the collective demons of the past.

My Thoughts

A story about a boy born into a poor working class family, who was able to escape his upbringing and graduate from Yale Law School.

Sigh, Gone

Tran, Phuc

From the Publisher

For anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong, Sigh, Gone shares an irreverent, funny, and moving tale of displacement and assimilation woven together with poignant themes from beloved works of classic literature. In 1975, during the fall of Saigon, Phuc Tran immigrates to America along with his family. By sheer chance they land in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small town where the Trans struggle to assimilate into their new life. In this coming-of-age memoir told through the themes of great...

We have always been here : a queer Muslim memoir

Habib, Samra, author.

From the Publisher

"A queer Muslim searches for the language to express her truest self, making peace with her sexuality, her family, and Islam. Growing up in Pakistan, Samra Habib lacks a blueprint for the life she wants. She has a mother who gave up everything to be a pious, dutiful wife and an overprotective father who seems to conspire against a life of any adventure. Plus, she has to hide the fact that she's Ahmadi to avoid persecution from religious extremists. As the threats against her family increase,...

A Warrior of the People Joe Starita

Starita, Joe

From the Publisher

"An important and riveting story of a 19th-century feminist and change agent. Starita successfully balances the many facts with vivid narrative passages that put the reader inside the very thoughts and emotions of La Flesche." — Chicagco Tribune On March 14, 1889, Susan La Flesche Picotte received her medical degree—becoming the first Native American doctor in U.S. history. She earned her degree thirty-one years before women could vote and thirty-five years before Indians could become...