Gina Welch goes undercover into the land of believers in this honest and fair-minded chronicle of the two years she spent attending an evangelical megachurch in Virginia among Christian conservatives.

When the FBI arrested five-year-old Jennifer Mascia's father in 1983, a family friend soothed her. "It's not real," he purred. "They're making a movie."

Punk-rock poet Patti Smith's life story could probably fill a Proustian number of volumes. But in this slim, richly realized memoir, she focuses on 1967 to 1989--the years that spanned her friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, before his life was cut short by AIDS.

One day, mulling over possible job options, college student Melissa Febos had a chat with her neighbor, a professional dominatrix. And so began a long journey of self-discovery.

Crystal Renn's memoir of surviving an eating disorder to become a top model. After years of struggling to make it as a "straight" model, Renn found herself on top as a plus-size model, landing in Vogue, Dolce & Gabbana ads, and Elle.