|
|
Biography and Memoir May 2025 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spitfires : The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger During World War II
by Becky Aikman
In 1942, a few months after the United States entered the second world war, a trailblazing band of 25 American women traveled to England to ferry planes for the British Royal Air Force. Despite their skill, these women were not permitted to fly for the United States military. But Great Britain, desperate for a steady supply of warplanes in a fight for survival, accepted ferry pilots regardless of gender, race, or nationality. These "spitfires" were risking their lives in one of the deadliest jobs of the war. Becky Aikman follows the stories of nine of the captivating women who served, drawing on intimate unpublished diaries, letters, and records, along with her own interviews, to bring these forgotten heroines fully to life.
|
|
|
|
Uptown Girl : A Memoir
by Christie Brinkley
In 1974, a twenty-year-old Christie Brinkley was "discovered" outside a Paris phone booth, which set off a meteoric modeling career that would land her on the covers of hundreds of magazines and cement her legacy as an All-American icon. Although she's lived more than fifty years in the public eye, the full story of her roller-coaster life has never been told.
|
|
| When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of... by Graydon CarterJournalist and former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter dishes on his 25 years working for the iconic periodical in this gossipy and self-deprecating "paean to the big, glossy, influential magazines of yore" (Booklist). For fans of: Dilettante: True Tales of Excess, Triumph, and Disaster by former Vanity Fair deputy editor Dana Brown. |
|
| The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward by Melinda French GatesIn her bestselling blend of memoir and self-help, Melinda French Gates candidly reflects on some of the major transitions in her life (including becoming a parent and leaving the Gates Foundation) and offers guidance on how readers can navigate change and thrive. For fans of: What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey. |
|
| Matriarch by Tina KnowlesIn her intimate and empowering debut, Tina Knowles, the mother of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Solange Knowles, recounts her coming of age in 1950s and '60s Texas, raising and influencing two Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriters, navigating love and heartbreak, and more. Try this next: Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou. |
|
|
|
The Snag : A Mother, a Forest, and Wild Grief
by Tessa McWatt
Every day, we hear about and experience griefs, large and small, in our families, friendships, communities, and worldwide. The grief of a loved one passing. The grief of a way of life ceasing to exist. The grief of global pandemic, war, climate collapse. As her mother's dementia advances and she can no longer live independently, Tessa McWatt confronts griefs personal and political, and finds herself wandering in a forest asking, how do we grieve? And what can we learn from nature and those whose communities are rooted in nature about not only how to grieve but also how to live? From the newest seedling, to the oldest snag in the forest, there is meaning to be found in every stage of a tree's life, all of which contribute to a thriving forest community. In this forest thinking, Tessa begins to find answers to her questions about how to live (for each other), how to grieve (radically), and how to die (with love and connection).
|
|
| Yoko by David SheffDavid Sheff (Beautiful Boy) draws on decades' worth of his interviews with Yoko Ono, including a 1980 interview for Playboy conducted shortly before John Lennon's murder, to deliver a nuanced portrait of the often misunderstood artist and activist. Further reading: We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me by Elliot Mintz. |
|
Focus on: Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
|
|
| Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve by Drew AfualoIn her debut memoir/manifesto, influencer and podcaster Drew Afualo offers an impassioned and inspiring takedown of the patriarchy that's an "unapologetically energizing reading experience" (Kirkus Reviews). Try this next: Foolish: Tales of Assimilation, Determination, and Humiliation by Sarah Cooper. |
|
| My Life: Growing Up Asian in America by CAPE with an introduction by SuChin PakFeaturing poetry, comics, essays, monologues, and more, this thought-provoking and intimate anthology compiled by the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) offers 30 diverse firsthand accounts of the Asian American experience. Further reading: Asian American Histories of the United States by Catherine Ceniza Choy; Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now by Jeff Yang, Phil Yu, and Philip Wang. |
|
| Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park HongWinner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, Korean American poet Cathy Park Hong's candid and thought-provoking essay collection blends memoir with cultural criticism and explores her complicated relationship with her identity. Try this next: Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl by Hyeseung Song; I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying by Youngmi Mayer. |
|
| Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit in by Phuc TranAfter the fall of Saigon in 1975, author Phuc Tran and his family immigrated to America, winding up in a predominantly white small town in Pennsylvania. An outsider among his classmates, Tran found solace in punk music, classic literature, and skateboarding. Equal parts funny and affecting, Tran's coming-of-age memoir will resonate with fans of The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere by James Spooner, and anyone who has ever struggled to fit in. |
|
|
|
|
|
|