Biography and Memoir
January 2023
Recent Releases
So help me God
by Mike Pence

Focusing on his faith and his public service, the former Vice President recounts his journey to the White House, providing the inside story of the Trump Administration and how their relationship was severed when he kept his oath to the Constitution
Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat & Family
by Rabia Chaudry

What it's about: attorney and Undisclosed podcast host Rabia Chaudry's fraught relationship with food and her body, spurred by her Pakistani Muslim family's immigration to America shortly after her birth.

Read it for: Chaudry's candid, hard-fought journey toward self-love, peppered with wry musings on fad diets, workout woes, family expectations, and the limitations of fat acceptance.

Featuring: mouthwatering recipes for chaat, ghee, roti, and more. 
The stories we tell / : Every Piece of Your Story Matters
by Joanna Gaines

"I thought I'd found myself in a world that, in order for me to fit into it, I had to fold myself up and break myself down. But it's a tight squeeze in a box that's only good for hiding"--Joanna Gaines"
Novelist as a Vocation
by Haruki Murakami

What it is: beloved novelist Haruki Murakami's (IQ84) engaging guide to the craft of writing.

What's inside: 11 conversational and self-deprecating essays revealing the author's origins as a writer, creative process, and sources of motivation and inspiration.

Book buzz: Novelist as a Vocation was named a Most Anticipated Book by Esquire, LitHub, The New York Observer, and Vulture.
Focus on: Travel Memoirs
Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States
by Samantha Allen

What it's about: trans reporter Samantha Allen's 2017 road trip spent exploring queer communities in conservative parts of the United States.

Places visited: bathroom bill protests in Texas; a youth center in Provo, UT; a drag bar in Jackson, MS; the Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, IN, and more. 

Reviewers say: Allen's Lambda Literary Award finalist "is a soothing and motivating balm" (Library Journal).
Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land
by Noé Álvarez

What it is: a lyrical memoir by the son of Mexican immigrants that chronicles his working-class Washington State upbringing and his 2004 participation in the four-month, 6,000-mile Indigenous people's Peace and Dignity Journey, a relay-style run from Canada to South America.

What's inside: dangers (a mountain lion, unfriendly motorists, injuries); tensions between the runners; gatherings with Native American and First Nations groups; thoughtful musings about running and place.
Dirt: Adventures in Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and Sleuth Looking for the Secret of...
by Bill Buford

What it's about: New Yorker writer Bill Buford worked in the kitchen at Washington, D.C.'s famed Citronelle restaurant to learn about French cooking before moving to Lyon in 2008 with his wife and three-year-old twins to really dig into the subject, and stayed for almost five years.

Who it's for: readers who appreciate haute cuisine, stories of families abroad, or vibrant foodie travelogues with amiable guides. 

About the author: Buford also wrote about living and cooking in Italy in 2006's Heat.
To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia and a Quest for a Life...
by Jedidiah Jenkins

What it is: a thought-provoking and inspirational memoir of Jedidiah Jenkins' 14,000-mile bike trip, which he took shortly after his 30th birthday.

What's inside: big-picture reflections on family, faith, and sexuality.

For fans of: 1979 travel classic A Walk Across America, written by Jenkins' father, Peter Jenkins. 
Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots
by Morgan Jerkins

What it's about: Bestselling author Morgan Jerkins, who lives in New York and was raised in New Jersey, traveled to Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and California for insight as she thoughtfully explored how the Great Migration affected families, especially her own.

Further reading: For more on the Great Migration, pick up Isabel Wilkerson's award-winning history The Warmth of Other Suns; for another book combining family memoir, travelogue, and modern Black history, try Candacy Taylor's Overground Railroad. 
Winter Pasture: One Woman's Journey with China's Kazakh Herders
by Li Juan

What it is: an award-winning memoir that combines nature and travel writing; an eye-opening look at a disappearing way of life; the lyrical English-language debut of a Chinese journalist.

The starting point: Though Li Juan had trouble finding a nomadic group who would take an unmarried 30-something Han Chinese woman along on their winter migration, a small Kazakh family of herders agreed.

What happened: Working with the father, mother, and teen daughter, Juan built a home using manure, gathered snow for water, endured nights with temps below zero, and took care of camel, sheep, and cattle.
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