Twitch and shout

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Terese Marie Mailhot

"Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder; Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father-an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist-who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame. Mailhot trusts the reader to understand that memory isn't exact, but melded to imagination, pain, and what we can bring ourselves to accept. Her unique and at times unsettling voice graphically illustrates her mental state. As she writes, she discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story, and, in so doing, reestablishes her connection to her family, to her people, and to her place in the world."--

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Marc Elliot

The author, an inspirational speaker who voices a message of tolerance, further illustrates his perspective in this autobiography, sharing his experiences growing up with Hirschsprung's disease as well as being diagnosed at age 9 with Tourette syndrome.

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Sandeep Jauhar

"A memoir-expose of the health-care system by a cardiologist and much-praised author"--Provided by publisher. In his memoir Intern, Sandeep Jauhar chronicled the formative years of his residency at a prestigious New York City hospital. Doctored, his harrowing follow-up, observes the crisis of American medicine through the eyes of an attending cardiologist. Hoping for the stability he needs to start a family, Jauhar accepts a position at a massive teaching hospital. With a decade's worth of elite medical training behind him, he is eager to settle down and reap the rewards of countless sleepless nights. Instead, he is confronted with sobering truths. Doctors' morale is getting lower. Cronyism determines referrals, corporate ties distort medical decisions, and unnecessary tests are routinely performed to generate income. Meanwhile, a single patient might see fifteen specialists and still fail to receive a full picture of his actual condition. Jauhar has written an introspective memoir that is also an impassioned plea for reform.--From publisher description.

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Michael Howell and Peter Ford

The touching story of Joseph Merrick, a ninteenth-century cripple, who became the most famous "professional freak" in history.