Poular Books from Alibris
Four Must Read Books
Four Must Read Books
Book 1: When Breath Becomes Air; Paul Kalanithi
"Finishing this book and then forgetting about it is simply not an option...Unmissable' New York Times"
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor making a living treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. Just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air, which features a Foreword by Dr. Abraham Verghese and an Epilogue by Kalanithi’s wife, Lucy, chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a young neurosurgeon at Stanford, guiding patients toward a deeper understanding of death and illness, and finally into a patient and a new father to a baby girl, confronting his own mortality.
What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.
Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing mortality and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a gifted writer who became both.
What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.
Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing mortality and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a gifted writer who became both.
Book 2: The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo; Amy Schumer
The Emmy Award-winning comedian, actress, writer, and star of Inside Amy Schumer and the acclaimed film Trainwreck has taken the entertainment world by storm with her winning blend of smart, satirical humor. Now, Amy Schumer has written a refreshingly candid and uproariously funny collection of personal and observational essays.
In The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, Amy mines her past for stories about her teenage years, her family, relationships, and sex and shares the experiences that have shaped who she is—a woman with the courage to bare her soul to stand up for what she believes in, all while making us laugh.
Ranging from the raucous to the romantic, the heartfelt to the harrowing, this highly entertaining and universally appealing collection is the literary equivalent of a night out with your best friend—an unforgettable and fun adventure that you wish could last forever. Whether she’s experiencing lust-at-first-sight while in the airport security line, sharing her own views on love and marriage, admitting to being an introvert, or discovering her cross-fit instructor’s secret bad habit, Amy Schumer proves to be a bighearted, brave, and thoughtful storyteller that will leave you nodding your head in recognition, laughing out loud, and sobbing uncontrollably—but only because it’s over. She brings a twinkle in the eyes even when she is recounting serious events. I think this is one of those books that bring joy and happiness to you even when the world is tumbling.
In The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, Amy mines her past for stories about her teenage years, her family, relationships, and sex and shares the experiences that have shaped who she is—a woman with the courage to bare her soul to stand up for what she believes in, all while making us laugh.
Ranging from the raucous to the romantic, the heartfelt to the harrowing, this highly entertaining and universally appealing collection is the literary equivalent of a night out with your best friend—an unforgettable and fun adventure that you wish could last forever. Whether she’s experiencing lust-at-first-sight while in the airport security line, sharing her own views on love and marriage, admitting to being an introvert, or discovering her cross-fit instructor’s secret bad habit, Amy Schumer proves to be a bighearted, brave, and thoughtful storyteller that will leave you nodding your head in recognition, laughing out loud, and sobbing uncontrollably—but only because it’s over. She brings a twinkle in the eyes even when she is recounting serious events. I think this is one of those books that bring joy and happiness to you even when the world is tumbling.
Book 3: The Fall of Heaven; Andrew Scott Cooper
It almost seems as if Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi , aka the Shah of Iran , wasn’t ruling a great nation so much as auditioning for a blockbuster miniseries. He had it all: a beautiful queen, mistresses galore, absolute power, corrupt kin, and a hedonistic daughter turned Islamic fanatic.
The archvillain in this drama, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini , made Lex Luthor look like a milquetoast.
In reality, the Shah, who fled Iran in 1979 and died the following year, was a serious ruler whose successes and failures have had a profound effect on the world right up to the present. He was instrumental in turning oil into a geopolitical weapon and bringing the bugaboo of nuclear power to Iran. Had he staved off Khomeini, the Middle East might be far less tumultuous today.
In The Fall of Heaven, Andrew Scott Cooper brings the Shah, along with his colorful retinue and turbulent times, back to life. It is revisionist history in parts — and mostly sympathetic to the king and his queen Farah. She was among the many people the author interviewed for this thoroughly researched and richly detailed account.
The Shah, according to Cooper, was nothing like the blood-soaked tyrant portrayed by the Western media in the 1970s. Rather he was a predominantly beneficent autocrat whose White Revolution raised his people’s incomes and expanded literacy and women’s rights.
There clearly were abuses, including the torture and death of political opponents, but they were substantially less than were claimed by regime opponents and reported by many journalists. The author cites investigations by the Red Cross and the Islamic Republic of Iran itself to support his thesis. He also points out that the ruthless Khomeini made the Shah look like a piker when it came to human rights violations.
In fact, the Shah was something of an old softy according to many observers: reluctant to unleash his security forces on violent protesters not just before his fall, but also during previous uprisings in 1953 and 1963. He repeatedly offered concessions to Khomeini and his rampaging mobs.
In late 1978, King Hussein of Jordan flew to Iran to buck up his fellow royal, even volunteering to lead the fight against Khomeini’s followers. The Shah politely declined the offer. He would not slaughter his people to save his throne.
Earlier, in August, an even more astounding offer came from none other than Saddam Hussein , a true tyrant if there ever was one. He told the Shah to just give him the word and he would kill Khomeini, then in exile in Iraq. The Shah said no thanks.
Two years hence, Saddam’s Iraq and Khomeini’s Iran would fight a brutal eight-year war that killed an estimated 1 million people on both sides.
America was largely clueless about Iran. The CIA had not listened to the tapes of Khomeini’s virulent sermons that were on sale in Tehran . “The Americans were sure that Khomeini was a moderating influence over the leftists and radicals in his entourage,” Cooper writes.
Compounding this intelligence failure was President Jimmy Carter ’s preoccupation with brokering peace between Israel and Egypt and the Shah’s reluctance to use the overwhelming power of his security forces to stay in power.
Book 4: Harmony; Carolyn Parkhurst
How far will a mother go to save her family? The Hammond family is living in Washington DC, where everything seems to be going just fine, until it becomes clear that the oldest daughter, Tilly - a mix of off-the-charts genius and social incompetence - is on the autistic spectrum. Once Tilly is kicked out of the last school in the area, her mother Alexandra is at her wits' end. The family turns to Camp Harmony and the wisdom of child behaviour guru Scott Bean for a solution. But what they discover in the woods of New Hampshire will push them to the very limit. Told from the alternating perspectives of Alexandra and her younger daughter, eleven-year-old Iris, this is an un-putdownable story about the strength of love, the bonds of family, and how you survive the unthinkable
Prabir
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