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Biography and Memoir June 2020
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| Officer Clemmons by Dr. François S. ClemmonsWhat it is: a heartwarming memoir from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood cast member François S. Clemmons, who famously broke down racial barriers by sharing a foot bath with Rogers in a 1969 episode.
Topics include: Clemmons' Grammy Award-winning music career, which began at Oberlin College in the 1960s; his life-affirming 30-year friendship with Rogers, which was tested when the latter advised the openly gay Clemmons to repress his sexuality to avoid scandal.
Did you know? Clemmons was the first African American performer to have a recurring role on a children's TV program. |
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| Hollywood Park by Mikel JollettWhat it's about: indie musician Mikel Jollett's traumatic 1970s childhood in the Synanon cult; after escaping, his family battled poverty, mental illness, addiction, and abuse, and Jollett later found solace in music.
Read it for: Jollett's richly detailed account of self-discovery and healing.
For fans of: candid memoirs of surviving cults (like Ruth Wariner's The Sound of Gravel) and family dysfunction (like Tara Westover's Educated). |
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Books You Might Have Missed
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| The Toni Morrison Book Club by Juda Bennett, Winnifred Brown-Glaude, Cassandra Jackson, and Piper Kendrix Williams Starring: a diverse quartet of College of New Jersey English professors who formed a book club to discuss the enduring relevance of beloved novelist Toni Morrison's works.
On the reading list: The Bluest Eye; Song of Solomon; Beloved; A Mercy.
Read it for: the authors' intimate musings on how the themes in Morrison's novels (including racism, xenophobia, police brutality, and the fetishization of black bodies) relate to their own lives. |
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Dave Brubeck : a life in time
by Philip Clark
Draws on a landmark interview and the author’s time spent touring with the Dave Brubeck Quartet to share insights into Brubeck’s creative approaches to jazz, the controversies that shaped his career and his encounters with jazz legends.
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| American Queenmaker: How Missy Meloney Brought Women Into Politics by Julie Des JardinsWho it's about: influential early 20th-century journalist and social reformer Marie "Missy" Mattingly Meloney, who championed causes that advanced women's roles in society.
What sets it apart: This first-ever biography of Meloney offers an engaging and evenhanded appraisal of an overlooked political powerhouse "who should be a household name" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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Phantom lady : Hollywood producer Joan Harrison, the forgotten woman behind Hitchcock
by Christina Lane
Phantom Lady chronicles the untold story of Joan Harrison, Hollywood’s most powerful female writer-producer of the 1940’s. Alfred Hitchcock’s confidante and the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of his first American film, Rebecca, she was one of his closest collaborators, critically shaping his brand as the “master of suspense.” Forging an image as “the female Hitchcock,” Harrison went on to produce numerous Hollywood features before becoming a television pioneer as the producer of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
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| The House of Yan: A Family at the Heart of a Century in Chinese History by Lan YanWhat it's about: how three generations of Lan Yan's well-to-do family navigated the tumultuous changes of 20th-century China, including the Cultural Revolution that led to their persecution.
Reviewers say: "a deeply personal, accessible, and worthy introduction to modern Chinese history" (Booklist).
Try this next: Jung Chang's Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China. |
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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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