Featured Reads

By his longtime friend and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, the definitive biography of Larry McMurtry, the legendary author and screenwriter of Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, and Brokeback Mountain, who transformed our vision of the West.

Before Larry McMurtry became one of the most celebrated writers of the twentieth century, he worked on his family's ranch in rural Texas. At night he heard vivid stories of his cowboy uncles driving herds of cattle across the plains where there once were bison and Native Americans. "McMurtry Means Beef," as one ranching magazine put it. By the time he died in 2021, McMurtry had published forty books, won a Pulitzer for Lonesome Dove and an Oscar for his cowritten adaptation of Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain, and seen his work made into such classic films as Hud and Terms of Endearment. Now, McMurtry means great stories.

For all his fame, McMurtry was an elusive figure. He loved women but was married to his typewriter; he was wary of critics and distrustful of other men--except David Streitfeld. When McMurtry gave the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist the keys to his past, Streitfeld dug into every archive and interviewed everyone who would talk. He found that, even as McMurtry's work criticized the old cowboy myths, he loved making up stories about himself.

Western Star reveals the real and complicated life of a storyteller who was both an icon and critic of Texas, the favorite of presidents, confidant to movie stars like Diane Keaton and Cybill Shepherd, friend to Ken Kesey and husband to his widow Faye, an obsessive bookseller, and the most enduring voice of the American West.

THE SEQUEL TO THE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLER THE OBESITY CODE BY ACCLAIMED NEPHROLOGIST JASON FUNG, MD

"Jason Fung nails it again in The Hunger Code. This book clearly and compellingly explains why most Americans are overweight and gives us a concise, evidence-based way to manage our weight with as little hunger as possible."--Dan Buettner, New York Times bestselling author of The Blue Zones

The Obesity Code helped thousands of people lose weight naturally.

The Hunger Code will help thousands more lose weight--and keep it off--in an era of weight‑loss drugs and ultra-processed foods...without counting calories.

For generations, we've accepted the story that weight loss can never last--that as soon as we go off the diet or stop taking the medication, we revert to our old habits, regain the weight, and the calorie-counting journey starts all over again. Traditional medicine continues to treat the symptom of weight gain rather than addressing its root causes. Too often, healthcare systems intervene with quick fixes and short-term solutions, ignoring the factors that lead to sustainable weight loss that can last a lifetime.

What if the secret to long-term weight maintenance and better health isn't just about what you eat--or even when you eat--but why you eat?

With the food industry's reliance on ultra-processed foods and the popularity of Ozempic and Mounjaro, understanding the forces behind why we eat is more important than ever before.

In The Hunger Code, New York Times bestselling author Dr. Jason Fung reveals the three powerful forces that drive us to eat:
 

• Physical Hunger
• Emotional Hunger
• Social Hunger

Dr. Fung also introduces the concept of the body's "fat thermostat"--a biological "set point" that regulates how much fat your body tries to maintain. Guided by hormones and metabolism, this internal system drives hunger and energy use, explaining why lasting weight loss requires more than just willpower ...

With three Golden Rules and 50 actionable tips, The Hunger Code empowers you to recognize and respond to hunger appropriately. Learn how to slow digestion, break emotional eating cycles, and overcome social pressures to eat constantly, so you can maintain a healthy weight--from scratch, after fasting, or after using weight‑loss drugs.

 

From a preeminent King scholar, the origin story of the man, minister, and civil rights hero who would lead the nation and change the world.

We know who Martin Luther King, Jr. became, but who was he at the beginning of his life? How did his youth inform his outlook and his approach to activism and service?

Before Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights leader, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and a global hero, he was an emotional boy, and a middling high school student devoted to fashion, dancing, and dating. As he headed to college, he left the Jim Crow South for a summer job that would test his oratory skills preaching in the tobacco fields of Connecticut and ultimately give him a sense of hope for a life of racial peace and harmony.

Lerone A. Martin, Centennial Professor at Stanford University and the Faculty Director of the Martin Luther King Institute, traces the youthful roots of this legendary American to reveal the makings of a mighty force. Filled with revelations and written with compassion, Young King offers a new understanding of the influential preacher and activist's emotional life, his youthful confusion about his future and career direction, his inspiration to fight for justice, his teenage missteps, and his first revelations of courage. As America undergoes another era of turmoil and change, this powerful biography offers encouragement for readers at a similar moment of life and provides an understanding of how greatness comes to light.

Martin illuminates both King's weaknesses and the social failures that shaped him, including the brutal racism he endured growing up. This vital and essential work is a testament to how history shapes a leader.

Young King includes rarely seen black-and-white photographs of an adolescent MLK from his high school days and college years.

The iconic, multiplatinum, Grammy Award®-winning performer Brandy brings us a raw, intimate portrait of her life, charting her growth to stardom from Mississippi churches to Hollywood spotlights



From the moment she first sang at church in McComb, Mississippi, Brandy knew her voice was special. At fourteen she landed her first record deal. At fifteen her album went platinum. At sixteen she was starring in the hit sitcom Moesha and became the first Black actress to play Cinderella on screen alongside fairy godmother, Whitney Houston.



Yet as the accolades piled up, so too did the pressure to maintain a flawless image. To onlookers, she had crafted the blueprint for the teenage "it" girl. But behind closed doors "The Vocal Bible" as she was known, was struggling.



Now, for the first time, Brandy reveals the real story behind her life in the spotlight, the stratospheric highs and the unimaginable lows, the groundbreaking moments and the relatable journey she had to take to discover her authentic self--as a woman, a mother, an artist--as Brandy.



Brandy's debut memoir is a fearless and remarkable story of hope, resilience and the strength it takes to make peace with the past.

"From Grammy-nominated singer, actress, and advocate Demi Lovato, a deeply personal cookbook focused on finding healing and nourishment in the kitchen Demi Lovato might not be the first name that comes to mind for a celebrity cookbook. In her own words: "You may be wondering, Who the heck does this girl think she is, writing a cookbook? Isn't she famous for having issues around food? Does she even know how to cook?" And yet, it is precisely this struggle that inspired One Plate at a Time. Because for Demi, learning to find joy in the kitchen was lifesaving. And now she wants to share that joy with everyone. Demi's cooking journey started when she almost thirty, after years spent in recovery from anorexia and bulimia. Getting comfortable behind the stove and preparing simple yet wholesome meals has been critical to her healing and has allowed her to connect with her creativity in a new way. In One Plate at a Time, Demi offers eighty recipes meant to inspire comfort and confidence in the kitchen. While many cookbooks can feel overwhelming-filled with a dizzying array of choices and unfamiliar ingredients-One Plate at a Time is made up of a simple, manageable selection of recipes that emphasize enjoyment over perfection. Covering everything from breakfasts to snacks to mains to desserts, Demi shares her "top five" of every dish, including five satisfying soups, five sturdy salads, five perfect pastas, five fifteen-minute dinners, five surefire comfort foods, five desserts that wow, and more. Filled with beautiful food and lifestyle photography, deeply personal anecdotes, pantry tips, cooking hacks, and reliably foolproof, satisfying recipes, this is a cookbook for Demi Lovato fans, for people who struggle to enjoy food without guilt, and for anyone looking for a gentler, more grounded approach to cooking. One Plate at a Time is Demi's set list for a delicious new way of thinking about food and how it fits into our lives"-- Provided by publisher.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of From Strength to Strength, the definitive account of how the modern world makes meaning so hard to find—and a plan to discover your life’s deepest purpose.

If you struggle to discern life’s meaning, you’re not alone. Millions today describe a growing sense of emptiness, a lack of purpose and significance. And there’s a reason: Rapid cultural, economic, and technological changes have rewired our brains, reducing their ability to perceive depth and purpose. 

In The Meaning of Your Life, social scientist and happiness expert Arthur C. Brooks shows you how to push back against these changes and find the meaning you need to live a happy, fulfilling life. Relying on cutting-edge science, he offers practical, evidence-based strategies for breaking free of the powerful trends and personal habits that dull your focus on the why of your life. Drawing on the great philosophers and the world’s faith traditions, he shows how everyone can—and must—approach life’s most important and mysterious questions and provides a blueprint that will help even the most skeptical person find a life of spiritual transcendence, passionate love, and true calling. 

“What is the meaning of my life?” is not an unanswerable question, but rather the start of a pilgrimage into unexplored corners of your consciousness. The Meaning of Your Life is your handbook for this journey.

Love is humankind's supreme gift. Paulo Coelho, the internationally bestselling author of The Alchemist, teaches us how to embrace it.

"I thought that I had already thought about everything you could think about Love when Henry Drummond's sermon fell into my hands. My life changed a lot from the moment I read the words in this book and tried to put his teaching into practice."--Paulo Coelho

What is love In the 19th century, the young missionary Henry Drummond defined love as the culmination of nine elements:

• patience,
• kindness,
• generosity,
• humility,
• gentleness,
• dedication,
• tolerance,
• sincerity, and
• innocence.

He laid this out in his sermon, "The Greatest Thing in the World," which has become a classic and is, without doubt, one of the most beautiful texts ever written on love. Reflecting on this sermon and its subject, St. Paul's Letter to the Corinthians, the admired spiritual teacher Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist, a fable of following your dream and one of Oprah's "Best Self-Help Books of a Generation," brings us on his own journey of deepening his practice of Love.

Contrary to what we are used to hearing, the greatest treasure in the spiritual life is not faith, but love. No matter what your religious beliefs are, this feeling is, without doubt, the most rewarding way to live. In The Supreme Gift, Paulo Coelho adapts Henry Drummond's text, offering a real and powerful message that will help us incorporate love into our daily life and experience all its transformational power in our lives.

Freely adapted from the text by Henry Drummond

Unflinchingly honest and darkly funny, You with the Sad Eyes unveils a side of Christina Applegate we've never seen, forever cementing her formidable and iconoclastic legacy. 



Christina Applegate came of age on sets and stages, expected to be on time, with lines learned, ready for lights-camera-action. What started as a financial necessity soon became an emotional escape from a tumultuous home life in the infamous Laurel Canyon scene of the 70s and 80s. She rocketed to stardom on the sitcom Married...with Children and went on to captivate audiences in classics like Don't Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead..., Anchorman, and Dead to Me in her five-decade long career.



Then it all stopped. A Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis in 2021 confined her to a king-sized bed and the company of memories she'd rather forget: memories of the self-doubt and body dysmorphia that stalked her meteoric rise, of her mother's fight against addiction and abuse after her father left, and of the tax life had taken on her body and mind that was suddenly coming due. 



Now, at her most intimate and vulnerable, she unveils a story not even those closest to her fully know. She returns to the diaries she kept her whole life, finding the pain matched by joy, the losses mitigated by the extraordinary, and the weight of life lifted by her unrelenting belief that something greater lay ahead. No longer willing to lock herself away and with the perspective only our own mortality can bring, she knew it was imperative to tell it all. 



You with the Sad Eyes presents a remarkable woman and her legacy. In her own words, "I truly believe that books can make people feel less alone. That's why I'm doing this. You with the Sad Eyes won't be some big violin scratching for my life. But it will be real. It will be filled with the ups and downs, the humor and grief of life.



So here I am.



Real me.



Lots to say."

A psychiatrist who has dedicated her life to treating global survivors of unspeakable horrors shares the three keys to resilience that we can use to weather stress, loss, and trauma in our own lives.

“This book is a gift of empathy and lived wisdom—rare, real, and deeply human.”—Dr. Koen Sevenants, former global lead for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergencies for UNICEF’s Child Protection Area of Responsibility

In her debut book, Dr. Suzan Song draws from patient stories, humanitarian research, and her own life to help readers release their unrealistic longing for stability and open them up to a new, healthier mindset. As uncomfortable as it is, instability, Dr. Song suggests, is what ultimately invites us into transformation.

From her clinical practice in the United States to her global work over two decades with survivors of human rights violations, Dr. Song has uncovered three keys to resilience: Narrative, Ritual, and Purpose. Western therapy teaches that we heal by examining our influences, inner conflicts, and goals. This is vital work, but insight alone does not lead to lasting change. 

Song has found that rituals, whether private or community-based, create the bridge from insight to change. She brought this observation back to her clinical work along with the third potent source of healing: Purpose. Whatever you're going through, these three tools can help you not only weather the winters of life but thrive through them.

Profoundly insightful and beautifully written, Why We Suffer and How We Heal offers a groundbreaking new path to deep healing and finally feeling alive again.

From the author of the “insightful and well-crafted” (The Wall Street Journal) Kennedy and King comes a heart-wrenching and sensitive examination of the tragic loss of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s premature son, Patrick, and how their shared grief brought them closer together in the months leading up to his assassination. 

In April 1963, President Kennedy and the First Lady announced the pregnancy of their third child—joyful news after years of miscarriages and the stillborn birth of a daughter in 1956. But on August 7th, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy was born six weeks premature and died less than two days later.

In this probing, soulful account of the struggle to save Patrick, Steven Levingston takes us inside the long-troubled relationship of Jack and Jackie as they faced one of the most difficult experiences of their marriage. With a “perceptive and eloquent” (The Christian Science Monitor) voice, Levingston reveals how Patrick’s death, tragic as it was, ultimately brought the couple closer together and set the President on a trajectory to be a better husband and father in the months leading up to their fateful campaign trip to Dallas.

For his definitive account of Patrick’s brief but influential life, Levingston draws on first-ever interviews with doctors who treated Jackie and Patrick, in-depth revelations of the Secret Service agent in whose speeding car Jackie nearly gave birth prematurely, and on new archival documents. Twilight of Camelot is a fresh and humanizing portrait of one of the most famous and complicated couples of the 20th century, and a pulsating drama that illuminates one of the least-known periods in Kennedy family history.

Global icon Liza Minnelli shares her inspiring story: stepping out from the long shadow of a mega-star mother and legendary film director father, fighting a lifetime battle with addiction, and emerging from it all to become a once-in-a-lifetime artist.



Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! is the autobiography of EGOT icon Liza Minnelli. This fascinating, untold story reveals the intimate truth of the only child born to Hollywood legends Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland. For the first time, here is Liza up close: Raw, strong, sexy, hilarious and heartbreaking.



Liza decided at the age of 16 that "sympathy is my mother's business. I give people joy." That veil of joy, however, masks a lifelong struggle with Substance Use Disorder ("SUD," which Liza inherited from her mother's branch of her family), boundless love to give and an equal need to receive it, broken marriages, multiple miscarriages, and hospitalizations--the highs and lows of unparalleled artistic success and lifelong friendships, as well as chronic anxiety and the threat of financial ruin. 



Despite every challenge, Liza's is a life wrapped in laughter and her tremendous capacity to give and receive love. Today at nearly 80, she opens her heart, mind and memories, sharing secrets we never knew. Liza's book celebrates supreme artistry and, more importantly, her human rights activism.



"It's time to tell the truth," Liza says, "and help people heal, as I have, one day at a time."

The highly anticipated biography of one of the world’s most treasured literary voices, showcasing a life as triumphant and inspiring as the stories she crafted.

To know the name Judy Blume is to know and love literature. Her influential novels turned classics—including Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret; Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing; Deenie; and Summer Sisters—touched the lives of tens of millions of readers. For more than fifty-five years her work has done something revolutionary: it rewired the world’s expectations of what literature for young people can be—frank, candid, earthy, and unafraid to show the messier sides of humanity. But little is known about the real woman behind the iconic persona, and the unlikely journey of her literary ascension, until now.

In Judy Blume, journalist, historian, and longtime Blume aficionado Mark Oppenheimer pens a beautiful, multidimensional portrait of the acclaimed author through extensive interviews with Blume herself, invaluable access to her papers and correspondence, and thoughtful analysis of Blume’s beloved novels, including early, unpublished works that shed light on the pathbreaking writer she would become. Oppenheimer goes deep, exploring Blume’s middle-class 1950s upbringing, complicated childhood, varied relationships and marriages, unabashed sexual experiences, bouts of heartache and loss, and enduring legacy as a champion of free speech and contemporary literature. Oppenheimer peels back the curtain to reveal the woman behind the literary empire in all her complex, multifaceted glory—a true gift for anyone who grew up reading and loving these extraordinary books.

The moving follow-up to Susan Lucci's New York Times bestseller, All My Life, this stunning new memoir includes nearly one hundred never-before-seen photos.

The long-running Queen of Daytime television, Susan Lucci--who has gone by the endearment, La Lucci, since her earliest days on the set of All My Children--knows a thing or two about life, love, joy, adventure, and remaking oneself after loss, both personally and professionally.

While Erica Kane, her character on the daytime drama All My Children, had married eleven times during her forty-one years on air, Susan had been married only once--to the love of her life, Helmut Huber. When Helmut passed away unexpectedly in March of 2022, she faced one of the greatest challenges of her life--overcoming grief and striving to live with hope and joy again while still honoring her memories.

This is a book that celebrates love, friendships, those we admire up close or from afar, the influential teachers in our lives, the wonder of family, parenting and grandparenting, the magic of theatre, fulfilled dreams, grace, freshly baked apples, Alpine cheese, home renovations, modern medicine, faith, miracles large and small, mending one's heart, and moving forward. But most of all, this is a book written with gratitude.

It is with a tender mix of candor, humor, and vulnerability that Lucci reflects on both her many life blessings and her biggest hurdles. At turns entertaining, funny, sad, healing, and genuinely informative, her stories are not just about mourning loss, they are about grabbing and living life with gusto at every stage ... on every stage.

The star of classic television series, including The Jeffersons and 227, reveals her difficult journey from a tempestuous childhood to becoming a confident Hollywood powerbroker and groundbreaker who paved the way for today's superstar talents.

Marla Gibbs has been a Hollywood icon for generations of fans. Now, at ninety-three, she chronicles her climb from a difficult youth in which she yearned for safety and love, to the high-stakes world of Hollywood where she became a confident powerbroker learning to work behind the scenes for fair pay, access, and more creative control for herself and her colleagues.

Told in her forthright voice, It's Never Too Late illuminates Gibbs' daring move to Los Angeles to rebuild her life after an abusive marriage, how she became an actor, and how she eventually learned to balance acting with show running. She was a "Boss Bae" decades before the term would become entertainment industry shorthand for a power flex. While developing 227 her lawyer won her "all rights, courtesies and privileges of an executive producer without the credit." Though the authority she wielded behind the scenes created deep tensions on and off the set, her hard-luck young life had prepared her to succeed even as her tenacity was put to the test. Her experiences laid the groundwork for powerbrokers like Shonda Rhimes and Issa Rae.

An inspiring personal portrait of triumph and Hollywood that reminds us we can leave the past behind, It's Never Too Late is the true tale of a remarkable life and a wise guidebook for aspiring artists, entrepreneurs, and entertainment fans.

New York Times bestselling author Rachel Held Evans inspired a generation of questioning and evolving believers. This book offers a collection of her most impactful essays--in print for the first time.

For a generation finding their footing in life after evangelicalism, Rachel Held Evans was one of the most trusted and beloved voices of our time. Stubborn in her hope, courageous in her questions, and devoted to inclusivity, her online writing was a sanctuary to the millions who read her words daily. Her death to a sudden illness in 2019 invoked a global outpouring of stories of her legacy and influence.
Today, her words still speak, and now for the first time, fans old and new can experience her most viral and enduring essays in print. Braving the Truth is an anthology and keepsake collection letting readers borrow the bravery Rachel was best known for. Edited by New York Times bestselling author and Rachel's dear friend Sarah Bessey, and interspersed with reflections from Matthew Paul Turner, Shauna Niequist, Lisa Sharon Harper, Glennon Doyle, and more, this special volume tackles topics such as:

• "An Evolving Faith: " On doubt, asking questions, and liberation from certainty
• "That Unholy American Trinity: " On patriarchy, white supremacy, and religious nationalism
• "Casseroles and Kingdom of the Hungry: " On the church
• "All right, then, I'll go to hell: " On gender and sexuality
• "Still a Bible Nerd: " On Scripture, biblical literalism, and a better way
• and more

"If you want to understand the Church today, you need to understand Rachel Held Evans," so writes Sarah Bessey. Thoughtful yet down-to-earth, immediate and timeless, this essay collection is a gift from the past to bring into the future--a treasury to revitalize, validate, embolden, and return to again and again.