Biography & Autobiography : Women

This tragic story of Virginia Reed’s journey west is told through her memoirs of the twelve years old girl, with supplementary accounts based on her father's letters and the diary of another traveller. Given the sensitive nature of aspects of the journey, young readers will find the background notes and explanatory comments helpful. Maps and numerous reproductions included. more...

Price: $6.50

In this edgy, frenetic fictionalized memoir, a small-town girl turned linchpin of the Los Angeles club scene draws on her intoxicating but conflicted years working the door of Hollywood's hottest clubs to pen a striking story of ambition, loss, and love. After growing up in idyllic Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, seventeen-year-old Tobi leaves behind a childhood that was anything but idyllic and chases her dreams of modeling to New York. When the Big Apple turns out to be a bust, Tobi finds her way to L.A. and to the fringes of the film world elite. Hungry for an "in" she gets busy barhopping, party-going, and producer-hunting, eventually falling into a beautiful but complicated relationship with a famous actor. Though her own acting career never takes off, a chance encounter lands her a job working the door of an old friend's club. A whole new world opens up. Raw and revealing, Door to Door is both an unprecedented glimpse into the L.A. club scene and the riveting story of a girl who puts it all on the line for her chance to become somebody. more...

Price: $11.99

Celebrated as the most successful geisha of her generation, Mineko Iwasaki was only five years old when she left her parents' home for the world of the geisha. For the next twenty-five years, she would live a life filled with extraordinary professional demands and rich rewards. She would learn the formal customs and language of the geisha, and study the ancient arts of Japanese dance and music. She would enchant kings and princes, captains of industry, and titans of the entertainment world, some of whom would become her dearest friends. more...

Price: $11.99

She can be funny and sharp-tongued, warm and blunt, empathic and demanding. Who is the woman Barack Obama calls "the boss"? In Michelle, Washington Post writer Liza Mundy paints a revealing and intimate portrait, taking us inside the marriage of the most dynamic couple in politics today. She shows how well they complement each other: Michelle, the highly organized, sometimes intimidating, list-making pragmatist; Barack, the introspective political charmer who won't pick up his socks but shoots for the stars. Their relationship, like those of many couples with two careers and two children, has been so strained at times that he has had to persuade her to support his climb up the political ladder. And you can't blame her for occasionally regretting it: In this campaign, it is Michelle who has absorbed much of the skepticism from voters about Obama. One conservative magazine put her on the cover under the headline "Mrs. Grievance." more...

Price: $17.99

Lynn Smith never wanted to be an addict. It just happened. One day, she was living a so-called normal life, and the next she woke up to reality. In the mirror she saw the face of a grinning skull and, in her head, the world was turned upside down. After a five-month binge on Ecstasy, Smith would never be the same. more...

Price: $11.99