Showing titles in Biographies & Memoirs

In the summers of the early 1970s, Morris Ardoin and his siblings helped run their family's roadside motel in a hot, buggy, bayou town in Cajun Louisiana. The stifling, sticky heat inspired them to find creative ways to stay cool and out of trouble. When they were not doing their chores — handling a colorful cast of customers, scrubbing motel-room toilets, plucking chicken bones and used condoms from under the beds — they played canasta, an old ladies’ game that provided them with a refuge from the sun and helped them avoid their violent, troubled father.

The decision to write my life story began as an exercise to make sense out of it all. But it moved quickly to being a tool that would help me put it all in order. My life has been punctuated by some pretty dramatic events. I wanted to recall stories that had been forgotten or buried. I wanted it all out there. For some, the adage "Change is the only thing constant in life" may relate primarily to the weather or one's outfit. Those have not been my changes, although I do worry about both. Joys and tragedies have steered my direction.

Boys’ Secrets and Men’s Loves is the memoir of a law professor who has written over 20 books on the basic rights of American constitutionalism. He has been a prominent advocate of gay rights and feminism, which joins men and women in resistance.

In 1980s America, coming out as gay as a father and husband was a significant journey for anyone to make. Coming out as gay as a priest guaranteed immersion into controversy, contradiction, and challenge. This audiobook tells of the Reverend Canon Ted Karpf's navigation of new social and romantic journeys, all within the context of his priestly vocation in the Episcopal Church.

Martin Milnes was born in the wrong era or at least that's how it seemed. As a child, he wore jazz-shoes to his junior school disco, expecting eight-year-olds to Mambo like the dancers in West Side Story.... But his childhood and school days were no Broadway musical. Martin was different: the cat who walked alone. Birthdays, stingingly empty, held a horrific reminder that he possessed no talent for friendship. Yet once Martin emerged on stage, the jeering turned to cheering; the lonely void was filled by Hollywood stars of yesteryear, worshiped from afar.  

From the 1950s through the 1970s, downtown Manhattan was a hotbed of creative life where artists and writers were free to explore ideas and push boundaries. As a young man, celebrated author and playwright Joseph Caldwell arrived from Milwaukee to become one of the original pioneers of New York's gay bohemian community. In this charming, brutally candid memoir, Caldwell describes his tenure working at the venerated classical music station WQXR, marching in civil protests and being arrested, his evolution as a writer, and his many accomplished acquaintances.

On her journey to near stardom in the music business, Monica Madrid wound up a broke, demoralized alcoholic. Through the twists and turns of a colorful life, she rubbed elbows with Prince, Rick James, and other artists and was in a musical battle with Tupac Shakur. She came close to fulfilling her childhood dream, but once it was stripped from her grasp, her path led to money, prestige - and broken relationships. Monica's story is one of loss, love, and redemption.

[Contains explicit content] Susie talks to writer Steven Gaines. His memoir One of These Things First is about growing up gay in Brooklyn and his time in the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic. And then, it's on Audible: The Cigar Factory, a story of two families in South Carolina during the world wars. 

In a true story, the author writes of a brutal childhood interrupted by occasional spurts of Disneyland and ponies. After a fumbled ax attack by her mother, she takes to the streets at 14 years old. She is a prey looking for a predator. Predators she finds, as well as the unlikeliest of heroes. There is no “road less traveled”. There is no road. She makes her way through back alleys that are dark and mesmerizing. Occasionally brutal, occasionally flat out funny.

Willa Cather had a secret. She called it "the thing not named" and did her best to take the details to her grave when she died in 1947. Her last will and testament stated that her letters could not be published or quoted. You'll love this new and personal look at the world-famous author because it brings into focus the tremendous struggle it took for a confused little kid and a cross-dressing adolescent to become the one and only Willa Cather. 

This is a story of three magical years. Magical because they house immense personal growth and some of my best and worst times. This is a coming together of two stories, one of coming out, embracing your inner self, and the other managing your mental health and the strain and stress that come with University. Relationships and coming to terms with this newfound self. It is a journey, of emotions, fun, heartache, romance, and sheer determination. 

Cory Calvin is a successful New York City corporate executive-turned-entrepreneur. His story reveals a difficult childhood as a closeted teen with a stern father, school bullies, and a strict religious upbringing in a rural town. But Cory’s story is more than his struggle - it is a story of self-discovery, self-acceptance, and success. For Cory, leaving behind his small town and climbing the corporate ladder was empowering, until he realized that there are many more closets in this world.

After contracting polio as a child, Sandra Gail Lambert progressed from braces and crutches to a manual wheelchair to a power wheelchair - but loneliness has remained a constant, from the wild claustrophobia of a child in body casts to just yesterday, trapped at home, gasping from pain. A Certain Loneliness is a meditative and engaging memoir-in-essays that explores the intersection of disability, queerness, and female desire with frankness and humor.

The year is 1957. Four-year-old Paul Ecke sits timidly at a foreign kitchen table, eating the first inferior meal of many in a foster home. Longing for his beloved mother, he sees her only on short weekend visits that grow more infrequent over time, as she tries unsuccessfully to hide a nervous breakdown along with yet another growing pregnancy. Despite - or perhaps because of - the emotional angst, complicated sexual identity issues, and deep loss he experiences, Paul cultivates a profound gift of creative genius.

Er ist Musikgenie, Paradiesvogel und einer der erfolgreichsten Künstler aller Zeiten. "Your Song", "Tiny Dancer" und "Candle in the Wind" sind nur einige von unzähligen Hits seiner beispiellosen Karriere. Erstmals erzählt Pop-Legende Elton John jetzt die Geschichte seines wechselhaften Lebens. Von seinen Anfängen als Musikstudent und seinem Coming-out, vom Höhepunkt seiner Karriere in den 70ern, von seiner Freundschaft zu John Lennon und Prinzessin Diana, von seiner jahrelangen Drogensucht und vom lang ersehnten persönlichen Glück.

Just a tiny flap of pig tissue, but such an influence in Diana’s life. She began by sewing the tissue into heart valves, moved on to engineering a new concept modifying the orifice of the valve, and finally founded a medical device manufacturing company. Her childhood on a farm, with its exposure to incessant hard work and the pain of childhood sexual abuse, instilled in her the strength and determination necessary to conquer a mystifying and debilitating illness, her husband’s attempt to take over her company, and her desires so forceful they pose threats to her very identity.

Dual Citizen records the true story of how a boy navigated this world after he met the Tall Shiny Silver Figure when he was three years old. Read by the authors, the engaging narrative chronicles Tracy’s journey through childhood, Tracy’s intimate relationship with Him through his career and personal life as a black man, and ultimately answers the question, "How did you get here?" from guests checking in to the Black Walnut Point Inn.

Meet. Love. Break. Recover. That’s been the routine of Staceyann Chin’s romantic life. But at 35, after yet another devasting breakup and overcome by an urgent and all-consuming desire to have a child, Chin realizes she’s running out of time. So she sets her sights on a single target: motherhood.

Retired US Air Force captain Mark David Gibson makes his debut as an author with his memoir, Served in Silence. Join Mark as he takes you on his journey before, during, and after the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Walk right alongside Mark as he shares his story of guilt, shame, and secrecy, and draw inspiration as you witness him create a new life grounded in love, authenticity, and purpose. Served in Silence speaks to the heart of anyone struggling to live authentically and aims to inspire listeners to be brave and live firmly in their truth. 

Not just another transgender person's "transition" story. Mandy Goodhandy aka Amanda Taylor considers this a story of her completion as a human being. She was a little girl born in Scotland. Mainstream society's rude awakening forced her to live as a boy for survival. This is a journey of discovery and survival told with sometimes shocking honesty while including humour during some disturbingly touching life events.