By the time she won the Booker Prize for her debut novel, The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy had already lived several lives. Here, she recounts experiences as a poet, activist, architecture student, and award-winning novelist, but the real magic is in Roy’s reflections on the complex and ever-changing dynamics of family, relationships, and ambition. You needn’t know a thing about her career to find inspiration and intellectual delight in these pages. —Rebecca Joines Schinsky

When you promise to love your partner “in good times and in bad,” you’re probably not imagining that the bad times will include 117 days lost at sea in a tiny lifeboat with a dwindling food supply and no way to call for help. In 1973, Maurice and Maralyn Bailey accidentally put their vows to the test when a whale rammed a hole into the yacht they were sailing from England to New Zealand. This is the gripping and unforgettable tale of how they endured illness, dehydration, near-starvation, and every emotion on the spectrum and managed to stay married for decades after. It’s an unbelievable story masterfully told. —Rebecca Joines Schinsky