OK2BG is narrative nonfiction, a Memoir about a guy who wants to be a Mentor preferably to a teenager, so they can have a decent & meaningful conversation about stuff & preferably with a kid at-risk, or just otherwise lost, in order to help both the teenager as well as the determined subject of this story realize their unique potential & find or reinforce their place in the world. Overall, a chronicle about the author’s attempt over several years to understand the question of ‘why do I want to be a Mentor’ which eventually helps him become a more insightful person. Subsequently in September, 2010 after a plague of teen suicides, Jack turns his attention to researching gay biographies into optimistically appropriate groups of books for gay kids at-risk, from bullying. After 5 years Jack has categorized 2,000+ books in the form of Memoirs, Biographies & Autobiographies written by or about 1,000+ allegedly gay men. The primary message in OK2BG is to read & reassess before you run asunder!
Out of love, anger, and grief Clifford Chase has crafted a moving and brilliant memoir of loss and family bonds. With startling honesty, he evokes scenes of life in a suburban American family and illuminates the strong ties that are woven between two gay brothers as they become adults. Chase documents how, in turn, the family dynamics change forever when one brother--the elder, the admired, the feared, the loved--weathers AIDS-related illnesses and ultimately dies. This is a searching, unsentimental account of how AIDS steals away loved ones and how the wounds of loss come to be healed.
The National Book Award–winning coming-out memoir. “One of the most complex, moral, personal, and political books to have been written about gay life” (LA Weekly). Paul Monette grew up all-American, Catholic, overachieving . . . and closeted. As a child of the 1950s, a time when a kid suspected of being a “homo” would routinely be beaten up, Monette kept his secret throughout his adolescence. He wrestled with his sexuality for the first thirty years of his life, priding himself on his ability to “pass” for straight. The story of his journey to adulthood and to self-acceptance with grace and honesty, this intimate portrait of a young man’s struggle with his own desires is witty, humorous, and deeply felt. Before his death of complications from AIDS in 1995, Monette was an outspoken activist crusading for gay rights. Becoming a Man shows his courageous path to stand up for his own right to love and be loved. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Paul Monette including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the Paul Monette papers of the UCLA Library Special Collections.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS In this iconic memoir of his early days, Barack Obama “guides us straight to the intersection of the most serious questions of identity, class, and race” (The Washington Post Book World). “Quite extraordinary.”—Toni Morrison In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance. Praise for Dreams from My Father “Beautifully crafted . . . moving and candid . . . This book belongs on the shelf beside works like James McBride’s The Color of Water and Gregory Howard Williams’s Life on the Color Line as a tale of living astride America’s racial categories.”—Scott Turow “Provocative . . . Persuasively describes the phenomenon of belonging to two different worlds, and thus belonging to neither.”—The New York Times Book Review “Obama’s writing is incisive yet forgiving. This is a book worth savoring.”—Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here “One of the most powerful books of self-discovery I’ve ever read, all the more so for its illuminating insights into the problems not only of race, class, and color, but of culture and ethnicity. It is also beautifully written, skillfully layered, and paced like a good novel.”—Charlayne Hunter-Gault, author of In My Place “Dreams from My Father is an exquisite, sensitive study of this wonderful young author’s journey into adulthood, his search for community and his place in it, his quest for an understanding of his roots, and his discovery of the poetry of human life. Perceptive and wise, this book will tell you something about yourself whether you are black or white.”—Marian Wright Edelman
“Neil Patrick Harris’s Choose Your Own Autobiography is one of the best celeb memoirs I’ve ever read.”—The Phoenix News Seeking an exciting read that puts the “u” back in “aUtobiography”? Look no further than Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography! In this entertaining and innovative memoir, Neil Patrick Harris shares intimate and hilarious stories about everything from his early days in LA, life on the How I Met Your Mother set, secrets from backstage at award shows, and family life with David, Harper, and Gideon. In a fresh spin on the typical celebrity narrative, he lets you, the reader, choose which path you want him to follow. All this plus magic tricks, cocktail recipes, embarrassing pictures from his time as a child actor, and even a closing song!
"A gripping true-to-life account of a tragic incident in U.S. history that needs to be read by everyone." Congressman Jack Metcalf, U.S. House of Representatives. THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING On November 26, 1943, one day after Thanksgiving and one day out to sea, one thousand, nine-hundred and eighty one young American soldiers were presented with the most challenging and terrifying experience of their lives. On that day, they became players in what was to become one of the greatest at-sea tragedies in United States history. More than half of them never survived to tell their story. On that day, two of the WWIIs least known but historic incidents occurred. The United States suffered its greatest loss of troops at-sea in its history when the HMT ROHNA a British transport was sunk by a guided missile launched from a German bomber over the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of North Africa. The ship, with officers and crew of one hundred ninety five was transporting American troops and Red Cross workers to the China-Burma-India Theater of war One thousand and fifteen American troops, three Red Cross workers and one hundred and twenty ships officers and crewmen perished, a loss second only to that of the Arizona at Pearl Harbor. In addition to the record number of casualties that were incurred, the bombing itself was historic because it was the first ever, successful "hit" by a remote-controlled rocket-boosted bomb, launched in the air from a German bomber, on a merchant vessel chartered for military use in war time. This incident was, in effect, the dawning of the missile age. The ship, badly in disrepair, was part of Convoy KMF-26 en-route to Bombay, India with men and supplies needed for the little known China - Burma -India theater of WWII. It was a noteworthy historic event that received little notice and still has not been acknowledged by the United States government. Understandably, for security reasons, the War Department immediately suppressed news of this catastrophe. Compounding this tragedy, no details were ever provided to the grieving fathers and mothers. Parents went to their graves never to learn the fate of their sons. Families still do not know how their loved ones died and this disaster continues to remain virtually unknown to the public. Over eight hundred bodies were never recovered, and their remains are scattered over hundreds of miles at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. THE ROHNA DISASTER (227P) describes that tragic, but little known incident at sea. Each chapter presents electrifying eyewitness accounts of the inhumane shipboard conditions, the actual bombing and sinking, and the struggles to survive and be rescued in heavy seas at night. Accounts of heroism and courage are woven through each chapter, and the anquish of families, as they waited fifty years in an emotional void, is poignantly told. THE ROHNA DISASTER is, in many respects, told by the people who played their different roles as survivors, rescuers and family members. Every survivor was willing, if not anxious, to share his experience, painful though it often was, some because they wanted to help the author in his search for information about his brother, most, because they felt very strongly that this story should be told and that the casualties should be given an honored place in American history. It is important that history be chronicled, and that this story, an important part of our history, be told, heard, taught and remembered. It is also important that those who played roles in this incredible drama, the survivors, rescuers and casualties, be given their due honor and recognition, and that the families of those who perished, who have a right to know what happened to their loved ones, be given an opportunity to learn that truth. This book was written for those reasons. "We are slowly losing a unique breed of people, the likes of which we will never s
It's the thick of the mid-1990s boom, and David M. Gross is racking up billable hours for a Manhattan corporate law firm and thinking that there must be more to life. Out of the blue, a friend calls with a tantalizing and risky proposal: How would he feel about moving to Bologna to help turn around a legendary, down-on-its-luck Italian motorcycle company, known for its dominance on the track and its inability to turn a profit? After a brief soul-search and popping his first (unintentional) wheelie during his maiden ride on the company's monstrous superbike, he signs on. And so Gross heads to Bologna, fabled home of marbled meats, radical leftist politics, and bespoke shoes, diving into his new life as the "corporate image consultant" to gearheads and learning to navigate the giddy mores of Bolognese society. He meets the CEO, who can relax only on planes between meetings; the manic, bellicose bike designer, convinced that only his genius can save the company; and the director of the museum, obsessed by the factory's role in World War II. Gross sparks the business's "spectacularization" with sexy ad campaigns starring factory workers who, when not on strike, strut to the espresso machine clad in Versace. Above all, he falls in love with motorcycles, seduced by speed, and realizes that becoming a better rider means tapping into dormant parts of his self that, as it turns out, were just waiting to be unleashed. And when he picks up a handsome, young—and closeted—skinhead, things really get interesting . . . In sensuous, hilarious, and wildly entertaining prose, Gross pens a wry yet ecstatic love letter to an uproarious city and its style-obsessed denizens, and to the motorcycle that gave him the freedom to live life at its very fastest.
A confessional, uplifting memoir from the beloved YouTube personality. It’s not where you begin that matters. It's where you end up. Twenty-three year old Joey Graceffa has captured the hearts of millions of teens and young adults through his playful, sweet, and inspirational YouTube presence (not to mention his sparkling eyes and perfect hair). Yet, Joey wasn’t always comfortable in his skin, and in this candid memoir, he thoughtfully looks back on his journey from pain to pride, self-doubt to self-acceptance. To his fans, Joey is that best friend who always captures the brighter side of life but also isn’t afraid to get real. In the pages of his first book, he opens up about his years of struggling with family hardships and troubles at school, with cruel bullying and the sting of rejection. He tells of first loves and losses, embarrassing moments and surprising discoveries, loneliness, laughter, and life-changing forks in the road, showing us the incalculable value of finally finding and following your true passion in this world. Funny, warm-hearted, and inspiring, Joey Graceffa’s story is a welcome reminder that it’s not where you begin that matters, but where you end up.
