Before the World Wakes


Estelle Laure
    They marvel at the dance of the snails and the birdsong that surrounds them. And then they join in, reveling in the early morning—and their time together before the rest of the world wakes.With lyrical language and beautiful art, this book captures the magic of daybreak, the importance of small moments, and the special bond between siblings.

Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God


Kaitlin B. Curtice - 2020
    As both a member of the Potawatomi Nation and a Christian, Kaitlin Curtice offers a unique perspective on these topics. In this book, she shows how reconnecting with her Native American roots both informs and challenges her Christian faith.Drawing on the narrative of her personal journey and the poetry, imagery, and stories of the Potawatomi people, Curtice addresses themes at the forefront of today's discussions of faith and culture in a positive and constructive way. She encourages us to embrace our own origins and to share and listen to each other's stories so we can build a more inclusive and diverse future for the church. Each of our stories matters for the church to be truly whole. As Curtice shares what it means to experience her faith through the lens of her Indigenous heritage, she reveals that a vibrant spirituality has its origins in identity, belonging, and a sense of place.

The Fallen Stones: Chasing Blue Butterflies, Mayan Secrets, and Happily Ever After in Belize


Diana Marcum - 2022
    Before long Diana and her partner, Jack Moody—new to being a couple—have moved into a long-empty jungle house, cohabitating with bats, scorpions, toucans, iguanas, and the vulnerable but resilient butterflies. She comes to be obsessed with the array of iridescent creatures.Just ahead, although they don’t know it, are a hurricane and a global pandemic.This warm, funny tale of finding a way forward when the world seems to be falling apart is filled with the beauty of the natural world and a heartfelt cry to protect it—beginning with butterflies.

Hungry Hearts: Essays on Courage, Desire, and Belonging


Jennifer Rudolph WalshConnie (Milck) Lim - 2021
    Well-known womxn (and the occasional man) from all walks of life shared their most vulnerable truths in a radical act of love, paving the way for healing in the face of adversity.Now, off the stage and on the pages of Hungry Hearts, sixteen of these beloved speakers offer moving, inspiring, deeply personal essays as a reminder that we can heal from grief and that divisions can be repaired. Bozoma Saint John opens herself up to love after loss; Cameron Esposito confronts the limits of self-reliance in the wake of divorce; Ashley C. Ford learns to trust herself for the first time. A heartfelt anthology of transformation, self-discovery, and courage that also includes essays by Luvvie Ajayi Jones, Amena Brown, Austin Channing Brown, Natalie Guerrero, Sue Monk Kidd, Connie Lim (MILCK), Nkosingiphile Mabaso, Jillian Mercado, Priya Parker, Geena Rocero, Michael Trotter and Tanya-Blount Trotter of The War and Treaty, and Maysoon Zayid, Hungry Hearts shows how reconnecting with our own burning, undeniable intuition points us toward our unique purpose and the communities where we most belong.

The Chaos of Longing


K.Y. Robinson - 2016
    This revised and expanded edition contains over 50 pages of all-new material.Organized in four sections – Inception, Longing, Chaos, and Epiphany – K.Y. Robinson's debut poetry collection explores what it is to want in spite of trauma, shame, injustice, and mental illness. It is one survivor's powerful testimony, and a love letter "to those who lie awake burning."

John Lennon, My Brother


Julia Baird - 1988
    

Moth


Melody Razak
    Fourteen-year-old Alma is soon to be married despite her parents' fear that she is far too young. But times are perilous in India, where the country's long-awaited independence from the British empire heralds a new era of hope--and danger. In its wake, political unrest ripples across the subcontinent, marked by violent confrontations between Hindus and Muslims. The conflict threatens to unravel the rich tapestry of Delhi--a city where different cultures, religions, and traditions have co-existed for centuries. The solution is partition, which will create a new, wholly Muslim, sovereign nation--Pakistan--carved from India's northwestern shoulder. Given the uncertain times, Alma's parents, intellectuals who teach at the local university, pray that marriage will provide Alma with stability and safety.Precocious and headstrong, Alma's excitement over the wedding rivals only her joy in spinning wild stories about evil spirits for her younger sister Roop. But when Alma's grandmother--a woman determined to protect the family's honor no matter the cost--interferes with the engagement, her meddling sets off a chain of events that will wrench the family apart, forcing its members to find new and increasingly desperate ways to survive in the wake of partition.Set during the most tumultuous years in modern Indian history, Melody Razak recreates the painful turmoil of a rupturing nation and its reverberations across the fates of a single family. Powerfully evocative and atmospheric, Moth is a testament to survival and a celebration of the beauty and resiliency of the human spirit.

Denial: My 25 Years Without a Soul


Jonathan Rauch - 2013
    A memoir...

After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love


Alexandra ElleAlexandra Elle - 2020
    Downs, and anything written by Brené Brown, Rupi Kaur, Rachel Hollis, and Elizabeth Gilbert

52 Little Lessons from It's a Wonderful Life


Bob Welch - 2012
    But what can this Christmas classic teach us about our everyday lives?52 Little Lessons from It's a Wonderful Life will change the way you think about this holiday staple, from the lightheartedness of George and Mary's floor-parting dance to the poignancy of a community that rallies to save a desperate man, Bob Welch's 52 Little Lessons from It's a Wonderful Life will inspire you to live for the things that matter most.Welch invites us to revisit the defining lessons in Frank Capra's 1946 classic and discover new dimensions of the film you've seen time and again, including:What can we all learn from Mary's quiet contentedness?Can George's selflessness make you rethink your own priorities?What impact do we have on the people around us?Join Welch for a close-up of the characters and themes that shape this timeless story of resilience and redemption. You'll be reminded that life's most important work is often the work we never planned to do, that God can use the most unlikely among us to get the job done, and that grace is the greatest gift we can possibly give.Discover why It's a Wonderful Life is more than just a holiday tradition--it's an inspiration for us to lead better lives, to become people of honor and integrity, and to recognize what really matters.

Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal


Amy Krouse Rosenthal - 2016
     In the ten years since the publication of her beloved, groundbreaking Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, #1 New York Times bestselling author Amy Krouse Rosenthal has been quietly tinkering away. Using her distinct blend of nonlinear narrative, wistful reflections, and insightful wit, she has created a modest but mighty new work.Why the title T​extbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal?​ • Because the book is organized into chapters with classic subject headings such as Social Studies, Music, Language Arts, Math, etc. • Because textbook ​is an expression meaning “quintessential,” as in, Oh, that wordplay and unconventional format is so typical of her, so textbook Amy. • Because for the first time ever, readers can further engage with a book via text messaging. • Because if an author’s previous book has E​ncyclopedia i​n the title, following it up with a ​Textbook would be rather nice.Not exactly a memoir, not just a collection of observations, Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal is an exploration into the many ways we are connected on this planet and speaks to the awe, bewilderment, and poignancy of being alive.

The Making of a Stand-Up Guy


Charlie Murphy - 2009
    Celebrated in particular for his “Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories” skits, featuring hilarious renditions of Rick James and Prince, Murphy now recounts many of the actual stories that inspired these popular sketches in vivid and comical detail in Doing Time: The Making of a Stand-Up Guy. With his flare for storytelling and his distinctive and fearless voice, it’s no wonder that Charlie Murphy has been the subject of many featured stories in numerous magazines, including GQ, Essence, Rolling Stone, and he was recently listed as one of the Hottest People to Watch in Entertainment Weekly’s “Must List.” Featuring outrageous misadventures as part of his younger brother Eddie’s entourage, and hysterical encounters with numerous celebrities, Doing Time: The Making of a Stand-Up Guy is a fascinating and wildly funny chronicle from one of the most talented comedians today.

True Crime Stories Volume 8: 12 Shocking True Crime Murder Cases (True Crime Anthology)


Jack Rosewood - 2017
    From tragic cases of spousal murder to tragic cases of child murder, this true crime book will surely keep your attention. Three cases of spousal homicide are among the many murder stories in this volume that will keep you captivated. Read about how two wives, Larissa Schuster and Susan Wright, decided to kill their husbands for greed and about how a husband and father, John Sharpe, decided he did not want to be married anymore, so he killed his wife and daughter. For different reasons, these killers thought that they would get away with their crimes, but the ensuing criminal investigations revealed their evil plans for the world to see. This volume also features a number of child abduction cases that unfortunately ended in tragedy. Follow the course of these true murder cases and learn how the investigators worked tirelessly to put these monsters behind bars. You will also be introduced to cases that can only be described as strange or weird, such as the case of Donald Webb, who was a master of multiple identities and Vlado Taneski, a journalist who created his own scoops through murder. This may be a true crime book, but you are guaranteed to be at the edge of your seat and will probably think at times that you are actually reading a true crime novel.

The Con Man's Daughter: A Story of Lies, Desperation, and Finding God


Candice Curry - 2017
    Little did she know that as she followed him, he was plying his trade: conning people. Her family drove stolen cars, lived in stolen houses, and shopped with stolen credit cards. Drug use was regular, as were visits from strange people who were trying to track her father down. Though she eventually cut ties with her father, Candice could not ignore the scars that were left from her childhood.This is her story, one steeped in secrets but one that, ultimately, led her to a place of forgiveness and freedom. As she struggles to understand her criminal father, as well as her own imperfect life, Candice comes to realize that we are not defined by our circumstances but rather by how we react to those circumstances. She's found peace in the knowledge that God doesn't love us because we're perfect--but because he is.

Relentless - An Immigrant Story


Wudasie Nayzgi - 2018
    But her desperate attempts to find help elsewhere are abruptly thwarted by a new outbreak of fighting initiated by an untested government determined to win at any cost. With her husband forced into conscription, her time and options running out, she must make a fateful decision - remain where she is and jeopardize the life of one child, or flee her beloved homeland, leaving her husband and second daughter behind... possibly forever. Relentless is the powerful and inspiring story of an Eritrean woman who faced incredible obstacles, defied a ruthless regime, and became an American immigrant success story, all while never giving up fighting for the only thing that really ever mattered: family. "There is a proverb in my native Tigrinya language,both warning and admonishment.It goes like this:Haki tseraba mot keraba.It means, if you speak the truth, you will gather many enemies." The Dreams of Freedom stories One family, two powerful accounts of love, heartbreak, and determination from one of the world's most isolated and abusive governments in modern history. It's 1991, and a bloody thirty-year conflict with Ethiopia has just ended, earning Eritrea its first taste of freedom in over a century. But peace is a delicate flower, and power is all-too easily corrupting. Soon, the small Horn-of-African nation will find itself at war once again, back in the familiar stranglehold of despotism, except this time it will be at the hands of its own beloved leader and war hero. Families are torn apart, suspicion and desperation grow. Human rights are violated. In the midst of worsening oppression, one man and one woman will risk everything to save their children from this life of violence and give them the future they once imagined for themselves.. ~ Relentless - An Immigrant Story by Wudasi Nayzgi and Kenneth James Howe ~ I Will Not Grow Downward - Memoir Of An Eritrean Refugee by Yikealo Neab and Kenneth James Howe I WILL NOT GROW DOWNWARD - MEMOIR OF AN ERITREAN REFUGEE ONE MAN'S LONG AND PERILOUS FLIGHT FROM AFRICA'S HERMIT KINGDOMTHIRTY YEARS OF BLOODY CONFLICT with a powerful enemy never broke the spirit of the Eritrean people. After winning their freedom from Ethiopia, a young man dreams of starting a new life, building a home, and teaching his children what it means to be the masters of their own fate. But all-too soon, the fighting resumes. Rounded up and forced into conscription, subjected to inhumane treatment, made to serve a despotic leader in an army fighting a war nobody wants, he will have to sacrifice much just for a chance to get back what he lost - his family, his freedom, his birthright. But will it be worth it? Or will he simply lose everything in the end? I Will Not Grow Downward offers an exceedingly rare glimpse inside the highly secretive and brutally repressive regime known as Africa's North Korea.