lives lived

 

The next Reader’s Advisory Roundtable meeting will be on Wednesday, February 8th at 9:30am on Zoom and the topic up for discussion will be romance!

Today, RART met to talk about biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs.

In attendance:

Holley
Nicole
Maura
Holly 
Bridget

The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines

The Magnolia Story is the first book from dynamic husband-and-wife team Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of HGTV’s Fixer Upper. Offering their fans a detailed look at their life together, they share everything from the very first renovation project they ever tackled together to the project that nearly cost them everything; from the childhood memories that shaped them, to the twists and turns that led them to the life they share on the farm today.

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriott

For over forty years, generations of readers have thrilled to Herriot's marvelous tales, deep love of life, and extraordinary storytelling abilities. For decades, Herriot roamed the remote, beautiful Yorkshire Dales, treating every patient that came his way from smallest to largest, and observing animals and humans alike with his keen, loving eye.

Shaken: Discovering Your True Identity in the Midst of Life’sStorms by Tim Tebow and A.J. Gregory

In this powerful book, Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow passionately shares glimpses of his journey staying grounded in the face of disappointment, criticism, and intense media scrutiny.

A Season to Remember: Faith in the Midst of the Storm by Carson Tinker and Tommy Ford

In Tuscaloosa, Alabama the world revolves around one thing: The University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide. But on April 27, 2011 everything changed. An EF4 tornado ripped through the small college town and changed it forever. Carson Tinker, the starting long snapper for the 2011 and 2012 National Champion Crimson Tide, was among those forever changed by the events of April 27.

Creativity, Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand inthe Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace

Creativity, Inc. is a manual for anyone who strives for originality and the first-ever, all-access trip into the nerve center of Pixar Animation—into the meetings, postmortems, and “Braintrust” sessions where some of the most successful films in history are made. It is, at heart, a book about creativity—but it is also, as Pixar co-founder and president Ed Catmull writes, “an expression of the ideas that I believe make the best in us possible.”

Holly recommends all of the books by Lysa Terkeurst.

Lysa TerKeurst is an American speaker and author of Christian non-fiction. She has written more than a dozen books, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely and Forgiving What You Can't Forget. She is president of Proverbs 31 Ministries.

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.

The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair withNature by J. Drew Lanham

"In me, there is the red of miry clay, the brown of spring floods, the gold of ripening tobacco. All of these hues are me; I am, in the deepest sense, colored.” From these fertile soils of love, land, identity, family, and race emerges The Home Place, a big-hearted, unforgettable memoir by ornithologist and professor of ecology J. Drew Lanham.

Claiming Ground by Laura Bell (also an eaudiobook on Hoopla)

In 1977, Laura Bell left her family home in Kentucky for a wild and unexpected adventure: herding sheep in Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin. The only woman in a man’s world, she nevertheless found a home among the strange community of drunks and eccentrics, as well as a shared passion for a life of solitude and hard work. By turns cattle rancher, forest ranger, outfitter, masseuse, wife and mother, Bell vividly recounts her struggle to find solid earth in a memoir that’s as breathtaking as it is singular.

Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout by Philip Connors

For a decade Philip Connors has spent nearly half of each year in a 7' x 7' fire lookout tower, 10,000 feet above sea level, keeping watch over one of the most fire-prone forests in America. Fire Season is his remarkable reflection on work, untamed fire, our place in the wild, and the charms of solitude. Written with narrative verve and startling beauty, and filled with heartfelt reflections on his literary forebears who also served as "freaks on the peaks"—among them Edward Abbey, Jack Kerouac, and Norman Maclean—Fire Season is a book to stand the test of time.

Finding Me by Viola Davis (Bridget notes this book deserves a wide readership and an active book group audience. Remember to mention it to any book groups in your area looking for suggestions!)

Finding Me is a deep reflection, a promise, and a love letter of sorts to self. Viola’s hope is that her story will inspire you to light up your own life with creative expression and rediscover who you were before the world put a label on you.

Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family by Condoleezza Rice

This is the story of Condoleezza Rice that has never been told, not that of an ultra-accomplished world leader, but of a little girl--and a young woman--trying to find her place in a sometimes hostile world, of two exceptional parents, and an extended family and community that made all the difference.

Where I Come From: Stories from the Deep South by Rick Bragg

In this irresistible collection of wide-ranging and endearingly personal columns culled from his best-loved pieces in Southern Living and Garden & Gun, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Rick Bragg muses on everything from his love of Tupperware to the decline of country music; from the legacy of Harper Lee to the metamorphosis of the pickup truck; and from the best way to kill fire ants to why any self-respecting Southern man worth his salt should carry a good knife.

The Most They Ever Had by Rick Bragg

In the spring of 2001, a community of people in the Appalachian foothills of northern Alabama had come to the edge of all they had ever known. Across the South, padlocks and logging chains bound the doors of silent mills, and it seemed a miracle to blue-collar people in Jacksonville that their mill still bit, shook, and roared. This is a mill story—not of bricks, steel, and cotton, but of the people who suffered it to live.

The Speckled Beauty: A Dog and His People by Rick Bragg

From the best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All Over but the Shoutin', the warmhearted and hilarious story of how his life was transformed by his love for a poorly behaved, half-blind stray dog.

Don’t Blow Yourself Up: The Further True Adventures andTravails of the Rocket Boy of October Sky by Homer Hickam (also available in ebook and eaudiobook on Hoopla)

From Homer Hickam, the author of the #1 bestselling RocketBoys adapted into the beloved film October Sky, comes this astonishing memoir of high adventure, war, love, NASA, and his struggle for literary success.

The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and theStruggle to Save the Redwoods by Julia Hill

On December 18, 1999, Julia Butterfly Hill's feet touched the ground for the first time in over two years, as she descended from "Luna," a thousand-year-old redwood in Humboldt County, California. Hill had climbed 180 feet up into the tree high on a mountain on December 10, 1997, for what she thought would be a two- to three-week-long "tree-sit." Over the course of what turned into an historic civil action, Hill endured El Nino storms, helicopter harassment, a ten-day siege by company security guards, and the tremendous sorrow brought about by an old-growth forest's destruction. This story--written while she lived on a tiny platform eighteen stories off the ground--is one that only she can tell.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

Running on Ice: The Overcoming Faith of Vonetta Flowers by Vonetta Flowers and W. Terry Whalin

On February 18, 2002, Vonetta Flowers made Olympic history, becoming the first African-American to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics. Her fellow Olympians chose her to carry the U.S.A. flag in the closing ceremonies. But this historic feat took the faith of a conqueror. 

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is a remarkable journey of survival and resilience, showing us how a small part of the natural world can illuminate our own human existence, while providing an appreciation of what it means to be fully alive. While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. As a result, she discovers the solace and sense of wonder that this mysterious creature brings and comes to a greater understanding of her own place in the world.