Moonface / Angela Balcita

Thousands of feet up in the air, smack dab in the middle of the most violent turbulence I have yet to experience, I realized how bad it had gotten only when the elderly woman next to me actually yelped out loud in fear. Though a nervous flyer, I had been too engrossed in Moonface (Harper Perennial, $13.99) to notice. That’s how visceral the plight of the young couple who star in this beautiful, lyrical memoir is—your own real life woes will seem silly by comparison, perilous ice storms and supernatural wind gusts included.

This is not to suggest that this is one of those woe-is-me self-indulgence feasts that so often characterize the contemporary memoir. Though the narrative covers the writer’s battle with kidney disease (she goes through three kidney transplants in 220 pages), there is never a doubt from the first page to the last that this is, at its heart, a love story (pun intended). The author’s husband, Charlie, gives her his kidney early in their courtship, and while this is a true knight-in-shining move, the couple’s playful banter, fierce loyalty, and a shared sense of adventure that takes them across the country prove even more remarkable in the end.

Yes, this is a memoir about living with an illness and overcoming obstacles, but it’s also a stunning portrait of true, fairytale-esque love in the twenty-first century, complete with all the quirks, pitfalls, and empowering trends that define our twenty-something generation.

Buy it here: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Borders • IndieBound • Harper Perennial

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks / Rebecca Skloot

In December, Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Crown, $26.00) made almost every best-of-the-year list I looked at, and has maintained a healthy presence on the New York Times bestseller list for months and months. It’s unavoidable—despite its aggressively psychedelic jacket and somewhat depressing story, this book has legs.

I first saw the book in bound galley form. In an attempt to drum up internal publicity for Henrietta, a stack had been placed in our office kitchen, free for the taking. I was intrigued. I grabbed one. It stayed on my list well after its publication, beckoning but as yet unread, until I finally gave it to my sister for a flight home. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll get another.”

I did, and am I ever glad. Skloot’s account isn’t perfect—her writing feels a little too loose at times, and the reader is in for a couple of upsetting surprises at the book’s close—but I couldn’t put it down. Often extremely moving, Henrietta is a story of injustice whose greatest payoff comes in small moments of generosity to the Lacks family. Doctors who explain, in simplified and accessible terms, what a gene is; an archivist moved nearly to tears by the family's plight: these are the people who deal with the Lackses on human terms. In scenes like this, Skloot almost restores our faith in the kindness of strangers.

Buy it here: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Borders • IndieBound • Crown