Coming of Age and Slices of Life
Chatterbox: Stories from a Noisy Life
Barbara Worton
ASIN B0DKH5MRB2
Author statement: “In 2017, my friend Rochelle Udell asked me to help her write her memoir. She told me stories about her life, and I told her stories about my life. Once Rochelle’s memoir was finished, we started a weekly blog. We each wrote and shared stories from all aspects of our lives. Some of those stories gave birth to Chatterbox: Stories from a Noisy Life, and I continued writing about things I remember or felt or observed until I had 43 mini-memoirs that offer a heartfelt and relatable exploration of growing up, navigating relationships, and the beauty, humor, and complexity of life.”
Prince Patrick
Patrick R. Field
ISBN 978-1-365-36197-5
Author statement: “Prince Patrick is a memoir of a little gay boy who was ‘just a little too big for his britches,’ as my loving Southern mother would say. ‘Prince Patrick,’ a nickname given to me as a child by my family, reflected my perceived attitude and desire to be treated in a manner befitting a little prince. I actually never thought of myself as royalty, rather that I was ‘special,’ destined for greatness and fame, and that I should be treated as an incubating celebrity. These stories of my eccentric exploits have made both family and friends smile, giggle, and laugh hysterically, with the words ‘no he did not’ uttered more than once.”
Healing from Trauma
An Otherwise Healthy Person: A Marine’s Story of Going to Fallujah and Fighting to Come Home
Ron Jansen
ISBN 978-1-62586-292-1
Author statement: “Sometimes veterans like me tend to think our experiences are unique to us and that others won’t understand. However, the major elements of the veteran’s experience—duty, love, trauma, betrayal, loss, courage, fear, growth, and healing—are universal to the human experience. We do ourselves a disservice by focusing on what sets us apart from others rather than focusing on the common elements that we all share. This book is an attempt to be real with myself about my own story and then to share it with others.”
Facing the Jaguar
Babs Walters
ISBN 978-1-64742-920-1
Author statement: “I held onto the worst kind of secret for nearly 70 years. Starting at age 11, I suffered sexual abuse at the hands of my father. Telling my story has taken an act of courage. I have learned to respect myself, flaws and all, and honor my promise to make sense out of the confusion and shame of my young life. It’s not easy or comfortable. There can be no far-reaching change without awareness first. We can no longer hide from the truth. As we repair ourselves, we are also repairing other dark corners of the world.”
Travel, History, and Generational Stories
Dandelion Roots Run Deep
Merry Bell Clark and Merrill Ann Clark
ASIN B0D47VR695
Author statement: “The story starts in 1944 and follows the lives of three generations of tenacious Midwestern women. My mother started this book approximately 20 years ago, before she developed Alzheimer’s. It incorporates some of her mother’s writing. I finished it after my mother stopped writing. After growing up and watching my mother fight one battle after another, I knew I would have to finish the story for her if she could not. She saw a connection between her own upbringing and the organic farm that she started with my father, and I saw the roots of tenacity underpinning everything, including the reasons I was able to survive cancer.”
Leap Year Torn Apart
Alex Khayutin
ISBN 978-1-06-886614-2
Author statement: “Leap Year Torn Apart is a bilingual, English/Russian rhymed biographical tale recounting the tragic fate of a Russian-Jewish family devastated by events in Stalin’s final years, during the early 1950s. This book began with the birth of my daughter, who is named after my late mother. This was the emotional catalyst for me to leave my daughter—and future generations—a lasting account of the tragedy that befell our family. It was important to highlight my parents’ determination, resilience, and especially my mother’s unwavering commitment to preserving her cultural and ethnic identity.”
News Was Our Game: Dispatches from the Frontlines of History
Jack V. Fox and Linda Frakes
ASIN B0F8HSFY61
Author statement: “My father was a globetrotting journalist who covered some of the 20th century’s biggest news stories, including the spellbinding trials of Charles Manson and Patty Hearst, the tragic assassinations of Jack and Robert Kennedy, the dramatic missions of the first astronauts, the doomed Bay of Pigs invasion, and many others. Long after his death, I discovered an unfinished memoir among his papers, a compelling portrait of his experiences. His great-niece (and BookLife editor), Matia Madrona Query, helped me assemble this book, which features newspaper clippings of his stories as they first appeared.”
