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Biography and Memoir June 2026 |
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| Labor: One Woman's Work by Dr. Mary Fariba AfsariMary Farib Afsari is an Iranian American OB/GYN physician who practices out of an RV, partly so that she can bring her services to transgender patients and others who have justified fears of coming to hospitals and medical offices. Afsari movingly tells the story of her Iranian grandmother, whose preventable death during pregnancy played a major role in motivating Mary to go into reproductive care. For another impassioned physician-authored book, try Renegade M.D.: A Doctor’s Stories from the Streets by Susan Partovi, M.D. |
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| Rasputin: The Downfall of the Romanovs by Antony BeevorRussian peasant turned mystic Grigori Rasputin was surrounded by dark rumors while serving the court of Nicholas II and Alexandra in pre-revolution St. Petersburg. People whispered that he had superhuman healing powers and conducted orgies with women of the court. Historian Antony Beevor separates myth from fact, concluding that Rasputin’s abuse of the Tsar’s trust coupled with his well-known corruption and lechery likely helped undermine public faith in the Russian royal house, eventually leading to his murder. |
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| American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed by Isaac FitzgeraldMemoirist Isaac Fitzgerald (Dirtbag, Massachusetts) combines a love of walking and a fascination with pioneer Johnny Appleseed (aka John Chapman) in his traveling tale, in which he attempts to walk along Chapman’s historic route from Massachusetts to Indiana. Along his journey, Fitzgerald shares his curiosity about the Appleseed legend, myth-making, his own history, and small-town America in a “stirring, singular” (Publishers Weekly) memoir. Read-alike: This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History by Beverly Gage. |
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| Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay by Mary Lisa GavenasMary Kay Ash, born Mary Kathlyn Wagner, was married with children by age sixteen, and began selling goods to housewives door-to-door to help make ends meet in Depression-era Texas. Decades later, she founded Mary Kay Cosmetics and recruited a sales army of her own. Former Glamour editor Mary Lisa Gavenas reveals the key to Ash’s success: selling the idea of financial independence to ambitious American women like herself. Read-alike: Becoming Elizabeth Arden: The Woman Behind the Global Beauty Empire by Stacy A. Cordery. |
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| This Dark Night: Emily Brontë, a Life by Deborah LutzEnglish professor Deborah Lutz has taken what little is known of Wuthering Heights author Emily Brontë and created a richly imagined extrapolation of her inner world. Famously reclusive and resistant to the expectations imposed upon Victorian women, Emily was most inspired by her fantasy life, nourished by her wanderings in the moors surrounding her family home in Yorkshire, where she spent most of her tragically short life. Lush, atmospheric, and “rigorously researched” (Publishers Weekly), Lutz’s book shines new light on a beloved literary figure. |
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Remembrance: Selected Correspondence of Ray Bradbury
by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury was one of the best-known writers and creative dreamers of our time. Remembrance offers the first sustained look at his life in letters from his late teens to his ninth decade. Bradbury's correspondence was far-reaching--he interacted with a rich cross section of 20th-century cultural figures, writers, film directors, editors, and others who simply wanted insights or encouragement from a writer who had enriched their lives through his stories and novels. Bradbury scholar and biographer Jonathan R. Eller organizes this volume into categories of correspondents, showing Bradbury's progression through life as he knew it, and not necessarily as the public perceived him.
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The Letters of Emily Dickinson
by Emily Dickinson
The Letters of Emily Dickinson collects, redates, and recontextualizes all of the poet's extant letters, including dozens newly discovered or never before anthologized. Insightful annotations emphasize not the reclusive poet of myth but rather an artist firmly embedded in the political and literary currents of her time.
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| Notes to John by Joan DidionAfter author Joan Didion died in 2021, a journal was found among her papers addressed to her husband John Gregory Dunne, written in the early 2000s and concerning psychotherapy treatment that she received at the behest of her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne. Readers will empathize with Didion as she gives a detailed account of these intimate but painful talk-therapy sessions, which cover fraught family dynamics, alcoholism, guilt, and emotional distance. Recommended for people who were moved by I Will Do Better by Charles Bock. |
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Dear Papa: The Letters of Patrick and Ernest Hemingway
by Ernest Hemingway
In the public imagination, Ernest Hemingway looms larger than life. But the actual person behind the legend has long remained elusive. Now, his son Patrick shares the letters they exchanged over two decades, offering a glimpse into how one of America's most iconic writers interacted with his children. These letters reveal a father who wished for his children to share his interests--hunting, fishing, travel--and a son who was receptive to the experiences his father offered. Edited by and including an introduction by Patrick Hemingway's nephew Brendan Hemingway and his grandson Stephen Adams, and featuring a prologue and epilogue by Patrick reflecting on his father's legacy, Dear Papa is a loving and collaborative family project and a nuanced portrait of a father and son.
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| Letters by Oliver Sacks; edited by Kate EdgarIn this highly readable collection of letters from neurologist Oliver Sacks (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat), readers are treated to the author’s familiar charm, curiosity, and warmth, whether he is communicating with colleagues about innovative forms of therapy or pleading with the California DMV not to suspend his driver’s license. These “very enjoyable” (Kirkus Reviews) selections were compiled by Sacks’ longtime assistant, Kate Edgar. For more about the author, try And How Are You, Dr. Sacks? by Lawrence Weschler. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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