The Guinness Book of Me: A Memoir of Record by Steven Church

Steven Church bought a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records when he was a kid and the records became a lifelong obsession for him. In this completely unusual memoir, Church uses the strange records from Guinness – the heaviest twins, fastest demolition of a piano and the longest fingernails, for example – as a framework to tell his story of growing up with a father and brother that in every way were larger than life. At times hilarious, sad and just plain bizarre, Church weaves together a tremendous story about a very interesting life. I loved the Guinness Book as a kid, too, and I can recall spending hours pouring through it, trying to think of some record I might be capable of breaking. Never came up with one.

 Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus

It only takes a small act to change the world. That’s the moral – and the example – offered up in Yunus’ compelling memoir. Yunus was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the efforts he details in this book about how he basically originated the concept of micro-lending to the poor and has turned it into a billion dollar industry. When Yunus lent $27 to a group of poor women who simply needed money for supplies, he saw the possibilities of affecting a change in the cycle of poverty. This story is absolutely amazing as it moves from a man handing out money from his pocket to turning it into something that has had a decided effect on impoverished countries around the world. One of the best books – about anything – that I have ever read.

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis

Don’t let the title or the jacket cover fool you – this book is barely about football. This book is about Michael Oher – a fifteen year old African American boy who is nearly illiterate and homeless – being taken in by a rich, white family in Memphis. The family, astonished at the circumstances that have led Oher to this point in his life, decide to give him a life to be proud of. Yes, he ends up being a football star and one of the most sought after players in the country, but this story is about one family and their determination to give a kid a chance when no else will, in a portion of the country where a black child living with a white family raises many uncomfortable issues.

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