Autobiography of a face by Lucy Grealy

Sensitive Lucy deals with disfigurement and rejection.

Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne: from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest by Stephen Ambrose 

The saga of Easy Company, an elite fighting company during World War II.

Black Hawk down: a story of modern war by Mark Bowden 

Ninety nine elite American soldiers are trapped in the hostile city of Mogadishu in 1993.

For the love of a child by Betty Mahmoody

Tells how Betty Mahmoody and her daughter escape from Iran into Turkey in 1986.

Heavier than heaven: a biography of Kurt Cobain by Charles Cross

An in depth biography of a tormented rock star.

Into thin air: a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster by Jon Krakauer

A gripping account of climbers trapped in a snowstorm on Mount Everest in 1996.

I want to live: the diary of a young girl in Stalin’s Russia by Nina Lugovskaya 

A rare insight into the life of a teenage girl in Stalin’s Russia where fear of arrest was a daily fact of life.

The last dive: a father and son’s fatal descent in the ocean’s depths by Bernie Chowdhury 

The tragic story of a father/son dive team trying to reach a German U-Boat off the coast of New York in 1992.

A lion called Christian by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall

We were two young travellers from Australia who had just arrived in London, and unexpectedly bought a lion cub from Harrods department store. We lived with him in London, then in the country, until it was arranged for him to be returned to Kenya and rehabilitated by George Adamson of Born Free fame. An amazing tale of love between man and animal.

Marley and me: life and love with the world’s worst dog by John Grogan 

A family learns important life lesson from their adorable but naughty dog.