National Network for Equitable Library Service

"Ma vie... Est-ce qu'on m'a choisie ou est-ce moi qui ai choisi? Va savoir! Dans mon ciel, je n'ai suivi que les bonnes étoiles, celles qui m'ont toujours tendu la main, en laissant derrière moi les revers."

A raw, beautiful memoir of a girl born missing an ear, a medical system insistent on saving her from herself, and our culture's desire to "fix" bodies. When Kate Gies was four years old, a plastic surgeon pressed a synthetic ear to the right side of her head and pulled out a mirror. He told her he could make her "whole" - could make her "right" - and she believed him. From the age of four to thirteen, she underwent fourteen surgeries, including skin and bone grafts, to craft the appearance of an outer ear.

A beloved culinary historian's short takes on six famous women through the lens of food and cooking-what they ate and how their attitudes toward food offer surprising new insights into their lives. "Establishes Laura Shapiro as the founder of a delectable new literary genre: the culinary biography."--Megan Marshall, Pulitzer-prize winning biographer Everyone eats, and food touches on every aspect of our lives-social and cultural, personal and political.