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Biography and Memoir April 2026 |
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Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found
by Andrew Graham-Dixon
One spring day in 1683, a notary's clerk in Delft entered the home of the late Magdalena Pieters van Ruijven and stumbled upon one of the wonders of the seventeenth-century world: twenty paintings by Johannes Vermeer.
Rather than dispel the mysteries of Vermeer's life, this discovery merely gave rise to more questions: How had this one Dutchwoman come to possess the majority of the master's work? And why have these images--among the most beautiful, even sublime, in the history of art--defied explanation for so long?
Following new leads and drawing on freshly uncovered evidence from Dutch archives, acclaimed art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon fills these long-standing gaps in art history, presenting a dramatic and transformative new interpretation of Vermeer's life and work.
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Homesick Nomad: Settling Into an Untethered Life
by Brianna Madia
Brianna Madia is renowned for her honest and enthralling accounts of life in the wilderness, finding her own way by rejecting society's expectations, so what happens when she falls in love and has to reset the boundaries of her fierce independence?
Homesick Nomad finds Bri splitting her time between her beloved wild desert in Utah and her boyfriend's cozy suburban home in the Pacific Northwest, reckoning with: a new urge to soften into the embrace of the comforts of home defining her purpose and direction in life, including the big decision facing women, the question of motherhood, and the fear that committing to others means sacrificing independence.
She's not only defying convention to prove something to herself or to others--a simpler way of life out in the desert actually brings her peace, as she realizes when resisting upgrades to her trailer like running water. Balancing the liberation of the wilderness with the natural compromises of love, Bri navigates these familiar tensions by embracing her life in its wholeness, richer for both the stability of home and the profundity of wide open spaces.
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| The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg, and the Battle for the Soul of... by Paul FischerDocumentarian Paul Fischer’s collective biography charts the early careers of Hollywood titans Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg, whose rise coincided with the fall of the old studio system and ushered in the era of the blockbuster. Though each director has his own style and vision, Fischer’s gossipy, novelistic narrative shows the influence they had on each other as friends, competitors, and co-conspirators while changing the way movies are made. |
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Rasputin: The Downfall of the Romanovs
by Antony Beevor
From one of our most acclaimed historians, a major new biography of one of history's most disturbing, dubious masterminds, showing how a Siberian peasant, through his seduction of the imperial household, contributed to the collapse of the greatest autocracy in the world. Through extensive use of previously unpublished reports, interviews, and interrogations, Beevor shows the truth of Rasputin's rampant lust and opportunism, victimization of poor and vulnerable women, and deep hypocrisy and corruption. Part political thriller, part gothic mystery, Rasputin is a fascinating story of human perversity.
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| La Lucci by Susan Lucci with Laura MortonActress Susan Lucci opens up in her “vivid and engaging” (Kirkus Reviews) second memoir about her life and career highs and lows. With unsentimental candor, the soap icon recounts continuing to work in film and Broadway in her late seventies and goes deep into her inspirations, disappointments, and her motivation to keep going despite some painful losses, notably the death of her husband of 53 years, Helmut Huber, of a stroke in 2022. |
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Small Town Girls: A Writer's Memoir
by Jayne Anne Phillips
Appalachia-a distinctly American landscape, dense with forests and small churches, rich in history and misunderstandings-has been the great setting for Jayne Anne Phillips's work. She grew up in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia and has always kept it close, even as she and her boundless imagination have traveled.
From the local beauty salon to the legendary Hatfield-McCoy feud, from Jean Shrimpton and Barbara Stanwyck to Stephen Crane and Breece D'J Pancake, Jayne Anne ponders her relationship with inspiration, religion, culture, and the troubled annals of the last American centuries. Tender, inviting, sparkling with wisdom and open-heartedness, Small Town Girls is a portrait of an inimitable artist as well as a love letter to the place and the people who have made her who she is-- Provided by publisher.
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| Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery by Gavin NewsomCalifornia governor and potential 2028 presidential candidate Gavin Newsom’s book briskly lays out his rise in the Democratic party, reveals some of the struggles early in his life that propelled him into politics, and talks about some key achievements of his tenure, including overseeing California’s legalization of same-sex marriage seven years prior to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Try this next: The Deeper the Roots by Michael Tubbs. |
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| Judy Blume: A Life by Mark OppenheimerHistorian and journalist Mark Oppenheimer’s “fitting tribute” (Booklist) to author Judy Blume provides a detailed, chronological view of an ambitious, talented woman seeking something beyond the strictures of her early marriage and motherhood. Though her work was sometimes controversial, Oppenheimer pinpoints the secret of Blume’s success: she was able to produce children’s stories with a keen sense of realism in which young readers could actually see themselves. |
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| Freedom Lost, Freedom Won: A Personal History of America by Eugene RobinsonJournalist Eugene Robinson, who spent COVID-imposed downtime unearthing documentation of his Black family’s history, relates the two centuries of struggle that family endured to simply be American. Though the stories of Robinson’s ancestors’ accomplishments inspire, his impressively researched book reveals a sobering theme: throughout its history, the United States has repeatedly found insidious ways to claw back hard-won African American liberties. Read-alike: The Stained Glass Window by David Levering Lewis. |
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| Bonfire of the Murdochs: How the Epic Fight to Control the Last Great Media Dynasty Broke... by Gabriel ShermanIn media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s winner-takes-all worldview, his four children -- Lachlan, Liz, James, and Prudence -- become little more than negotiators across the conference table vying for control of his mega-corporation. Biographer Gabriel Sherman documents the family drama, cynicism, and ruthlessness of all concerned in Bonfire of the Murdochs. For fans of: Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy by James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams; the HBO dramedy series Succession. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Carrollton Public Library 1700 Keller Springs Road, Carrollton Texas 75006 4220 North Josey Lane, Carrollton Texas 75010 |
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