Book picks similar to
The Narrow Way: A Memoir of Coming Out, Getting Clean and Finding Buddha by Chris Lemig
non-fiction
spirituality
memoir
lgbt
The Diva Rules
Michelle Visage - 2015
Powerful, positive, and polished, this diva's not only glamorous, she's a savvy businesswoman with serious credentials who works her tail off. From her days vogueing in the downtown Manhattan clubs in the '90s to her successful career in radio and her ultimate cult status as a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race, Michelle has achieved her dreams and then some! In The Diva Rules, Visage shares her rules and advice for living life to the fullest and finding success no matter the hand you're dealt. With her no-nonsense style and super sassy voice, Michelle tells readers to "Keep Your Shit Together," "Give Good Face," and "Be Thankful You're a Misfit," in addition to 22 other invaluable life lessons on finding your power and sparkling your way to the top.
The Son and Heir: A Memoir
Alexander Münninghoff - 2014
This shameful memento came to symbolize not only his father’s tragically misguided allegiance but also a shattered marriage and ultimately the unconscionable separation of a mother and son.In this revelatory memoir, the author confronts his parents’ complex past as he reconstructs the fortunes and disillusions of an entire family upheaved during the changes of twentieth-century Europe. The Münninghoffs were driven by greed, rebellion, and rage. An embattled dynasty, they were torn between the right and the wrong side of history. Their saga haunted Alexander’s life for the next seventy years.Only in reconciling with them can this man find the courage to move forward as son and heir to the startling legacy of a flawed yet grand tradition.
Lucky Man
Michael J. Fox - 2002
Fox stunned the world by announcing he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease -- a degenerative neurological condition. In fact, he had been secretly fighting it for seven years. The worldwide response was staggering. Fortunately, he had accepted the diagnosis, and by the time the public started grieving for him, he had stopped grieving for himself. Now, with the same passion, humor, and energy, that Fox has invested in his dozens of performances over the last 18 years, he tells the story of his life, his career, and his campaign, to find a cure for Parkinson's.Combining his trademark ironic sensibility, and keen sense of the absurd, he recounts his life -- from his childhood in a small town in western Canada, to his meteoric rise in film and television which made him a worldwide celebrity. Most importantly however, he writes of the last 10 years, during which -- with the unswerving support of his wife, family, and friends -- he has dealt with his illness. He talks about what Parkinson's has given him: the chance to appreciate a wonderful life and career, and the opportunity to help search for a cure, and spread public awareness of the disease. He is a very lucky man, indeed.
Boyhood with Gurdjieff
Fritz Peters - 1972
Long out of print, this special hardcover reissue of Fritz Peters' account of his five years with G.I. Gurdjieff ranks among the classics of Gurdjieffian literature. Only 11 years old when his aunt, Margaret Anderson, brought him to the Prieuré in June 1924, he immediately became devoted to Gurdjieff. Within weeks, however, Gurdjieff suffered a near fatal car crash. During his recovery the young boy became his "chair carrier." Other tasks included mowing the château's great lawns, kitchen boy, waiter and gatekeeper. He also was to clean Gurdjieff's room, no small task as Gurdjieff delighted in wrecking it. Peters was among the few to whom Gurdjieff gave individual lessons on the teaching. An acute observer and talented writer, Peters' crisp images and scenes, often hilarious, give a rare look at what life was like at Gurdjieff's Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. Peters' interactions with Miss Madison (Ethel Merston), Rachmilevitch, and Gurdjieff's dog Philos, as well as A. R. Orage and Gertrude Stein are quite telling. Said the writer Henry Miller of Peters' book, "It's full of amazing anecdotes and the wisdom of life."
The Hell I Carry: An Autobiography
Lucas Derion - 2019
We are then forced to re-live the moments we have spent decades burying beneath amicable smiles and a false sense of security. This is my story; one shrouded in as much truth as my mind can tolerate. My story may mean nothing to you, but I believe, that if these words were to fall into the right hands, then they could have the potential to change someone’s life, someone’s mind. At a young age I learned what it meant to carry the scorching secrets of a fiery hell. For years I allowed the flames to consume my mind as I proceeded to live a life devoted to destruction and chaos. I blamed my mother. I blamed the men that raped me. I blamed the woman that refused to love me back. But when the smoke cleared, the mirror on the wall only painted a single reflection, that of myself. So, when the big bad wolf no longer blows, yet the house still falls, who will I have to blame then? Only me.
Miracles from Heaven: A Little Girl, Her Journey to Heaven, and Her Amazing Story of Healing
Christy Wilson Beam - 2015
One sunny day when she was able to go outside and play with her sisters, she fell three stories headfirst inside an old, hollowed-out tree, a fall that may well have caused death or paralysis. Implausibly, she survived without a scratch. While unconscious inside the tree, with rescue workers struggling to get to her, she visited heaven. After being released from the hospital, she defied science and was inexplicably cured of her chronic ailment. MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN will change how we look at the world around us and reinforce our belief in God and the afterlife.
Without the Mask: Coming Out and Coming Into God's Light
Charlie Bird - 2020
Now, in Without the Mask, Bird reflects on how his identity has strengthened his testimony and how he views his sexual orientation in conjunction with his faith in Jesus Christ.Alternating between memoir and teaching chapters, Bird's touching and authentic prose chronicles his decision to openly share that he is gay and to remain active in the faith. Highlighting the challenges Bird has faced along the way, the book also shares the blessings he's learned to recognize through his sexual orientation. Charlie feels deeply the importance of maintaining a relationship with God and hopes this message will "spark healing, bridge gaps of understanding and inspire hope" for other LGBTQ readers and those who love them.
From Survival to Recovery
Al-Anon Family Groups - 1994
As adults they tended to behave as though they still were living in an alcoholic home - desperately seeking attention, yearning for affection, trying to be incredibly good, and miserably failing. They were not free to do otherwise - until they came to Al-Anon.
Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption
William Cope Moyers - 2006
In 1994, he lay on the floor of an Atlanta crack house. His father had put together a search party. His worried family waited at home where Moyers had left them when he embarked on yet another binge. From that lowly, drug-hazed night, Moyers went on to become an executive at the Hazelden Foundation and travels far and wide to talk about addiction and treatment. Broken tells the story of what happened between then and now—from growing up the privileged son of Bill Moyers to his descent into alcoholism and drug addiction, his numerous stabs at getting clean, his many relapses, and how he managed to survive. Harrowing and wrenching, Broken paints a picture of a man with every advantage who nonetheless found himself spiraling into a dark and life-threatening abyss. But unlike other memoirs of its kind, Broken emerges into the clear light of Moyers’s recovery as he dedicates his life to changing the politics of addiction. Beautifully written with a deep underlying spirituality, this is a missive of hope for the scores of Americans struggling with addiction—and an honest and inspiring account that proves the spiritual insight that we are strongest at the broken places.
Party Monster: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland
James St. James - 1999
Nominated for the Edgar Award for best true-crime book of the year, it also marked the debut of an audaciously talented writer, James St. James, who himself had been a club kid and close friend and confidant of Michael Alig, the young man convicted of killing the drug dealer known as Angel. Now the book has been brought to the screen as Party Monster, with Macaulay Culkin playing killer Michael Alig and Seth Green as author/celebutante James St. James.