Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

This "bold . . . extraordinary . . . blockbuster . . ". (Newsweek) begins with a birth in 1750, in an African village; it ends seven generations later at the Arkansas funeral of a black professor whose children are a teacher, a Navy architect, an assistant director of the U.S. Information Agency, and an author. The author is Alex Haley.

Mao's Last Dancer

by Li Cunxin

From a desperately poor village in northeast China, at age eleven, Li Cunxin was chosen by Madame Mao's cultural delegates to be taken from his rural home and brought to Beijing, where he would study ballet. In 1979, the young dancer arrived in Texas as part of a cultural exchange, only to fall in love with America-and with an American woman. Two years later, through a series of events worthy of the most exciting... (more)

Lucky Man: A Memoir

by Michael J. Fox

The remarkable memoir of film star Michael J. Fox and his first ten years living with Parkinson's Disease. Diagnosed in 1991, Michael eventually lost his balance, his grace, his spontaneity, and the ability to read the morning newspaper. Even so, he realizes that, in fact, he is a lucky man.

Diana: 1961-1997 Her True Story

by Andrew Morton

The sudden and tragic death of Princess Diana has caused the entire world to reflect on how much this singular woman meant to us all. From her fairy-tale courtship, her wedding to Prince Charles, and the birth of her two wonderful boys to the stunning collapse of her marriage and the revelation of her psychological and physical trauma, we witnessed and shared in the wide range of emotions in her life. In the last... (more)

Maus: A Survivor's Tale: Book 2

And Here My Troubles Began

by Art Spiegelman

MAUS was the first half of the tale of survival of the author's parents, charting their desperate progress from prewar Poland Auschwitz. Here is the continuation, in which the father survives the camp and is at last reunited with his wife.

The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family

The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family

by Mary S. Lovell

"The Mitford girls were probably the most spectacular sister act of the twentieth century."— Vogue This is the story of a close, loving family splintered by the violent ideologies of Europe between the wars. Jessica was a Communist; Debo became the Duchess of Devonshire; Nancy was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; the ethereally beautiful Diana was the most hated woman in England; and Unity... (more)

Mommie Dearest

by Christina Crawford

With the 20th Anniversary Edition of Mommie Dearest, Christina Crawford becomes one of the only authors in publishing history to re-issue a number one best-seller. "The new edition is published as I intended it. More than 100 pages - mostly that delve into my adult relationship with Mother - that were left out of the original version are back in," said Ms. Crawford. "I've also added eyewitness accounts from... (more)

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation

by Sheila Weller

A groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America's most important musical artists -- Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon -- charts their lives as women at a magical moment in time. Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct. Carole King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City;... (more)

Zelda: A Biography

by Nancy Milford, Johanna Ward

Zelda Sayre began as a Southern beauty, became an international wonder, and died by fire in a madhouse. With her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, she moved in a golden aura of excitement, romance, and promise. The epitome of the Jazz Age, together they rode the crest of the era: to its collapse and their own. From years of exhaustive research, Nancy Milford brings alive the tormented, elusive personality of Zelda... (more)

Mein Kampf

by Ralph Manhein, Adolf Hitler

Hitler's infamous prison writings, a manifesto of hatred and a plan for a program of bloodshed and terror.

Peter the Great

His Life and World

by Robert K. Massie

"Enthralling...As fascinating as any novel and more so than most!" THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW Against the monumental canvas of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe and Russia, unfolds the magnificent story of Peter the Great. He brought Russia from the darkness of its own Middle Ages into the Enlightenment and transformed it into the power that has its legacy in the Russia of our own century.

Going Rogue: An American Life

by Sarah Palin

From her humble beginnings to her time in the spotlight as the first female Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin has led an extraordinary life. Going Rogue will recount her political experiences, her time as Mayor of Wasilla and as the first female governor of Alaska, as well as her rapid rise on the national stage during the 2008 campaign. Additionally, she’ll share insights into the personal... (more)

The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin

The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin

by H. W. Brands

He was the foremost American of his day, yet today he is little more than a mythic caricature in the public imagination. Benjamin Franklin, perhaps the pivotal figure in colonial and revolutionary America, comes vividly to life in this masterly biography. Wit, diplomat, scientist, philosopher, businessman, inventor, and bon vivant, Benjamin Franklin was in every respect America’s first Renaissance man. From... (more)

The River of Doubt

Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

by Candice Millard

At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth. The River of Doubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows;... (more)

Eat, Pray, Love

One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

by Elizabeth Gilbert

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert... (more)

Living History

by Hillary Rodham Clinton

The Phenomenal #1 Worldwide Bestseller WITH A NEW AFTERWORD Hillary Rodham Clinton is known to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Yet few beyond her close friends and family have ever heard her account of her extraordinary journey. She writes with candor, humor and passion about her upbringing in suburban, middle-class America in the 1950s and her transformation from Goldwater Girl to student... (more)

Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

by Roland Herbert Bainton

Available for the first time in trade paperback, this authoritative biography of the great religious leader was hailed by Time magazine as "the most readable Luther biography in English." This edition showcases the intricate woodcuts and engravings that enhance the text and give the flavor of the era in which Martin Luther lived. More than 100 woodcuts and engravings.

Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens (Vintage)

Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens (Vintage)

by Jane Dunn

The political and religious conflicts between Queen Elizabeth I and the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots, have for centuries captured our imagination and inspired memorable dramas played out on stage, screen, and in opera. But few books have brought to life more vividly than Jane Dunn’s Elizabeth and Mary the exquisite texture of two women’s rivalry, spurred on by the ambitions and machinations of the forceful men... (more)

Madame Curie: A Biography

by Eve Curie, Curie, Eve

The professional triumphs and personal struggles of a pioneering woman scientist. This account of the remarkable life and astonishing mind of one of the greatest scientists of the century, written by her daughter, it remains a landmark and an inspiration for students, scientists, and young women everywhere.

Kate Remembered (Unabridged)

by A. Scott Berg

In 1983, Katharine Hepburn met Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer A. Scott Berg. Over the next twenty years he became her confidant, recording for posterity her thoughts and feelings on a remarkable life and career. Here are the candid and surprising stories from those intimate conversations.

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by Alex Haley