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Biography and Memoir April 2018
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| Renoir's Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon by Catherine HewittWhat it's about: A famous muse to Auguste Renoir and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, model Suzanne Valadon was an unconventional painter in her own right. Headstrong, impoverished and with no formal training, Valadon rejected the confines of the male-dominated art world, becoming the first woman painter to have her work accepted into the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.
Reviewers say: "A must for art lovers and scholars, it will also appeal to readers of serious historical biographies" (Library Journal). |
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Breaking Cover : My Secret Life in the CIA and What It Taught Me About What's Worth Fighting for
by Michele Rigby Assad
The CIA is looking for walking contradictions. Recruiters seek out potential agents who can keep a secret yet pull classified information out of others; who love their country but are willing to leave it behind for dangerous places; who live double lives, but can be trusted with some of the nation’s most highly sensitive tasks.
Michele Rigby Assad was one of those people.
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| Without Precedent: Chief Justice John Marshall and His Times by Joel Richard PaulWhat it is: an absorbing and comprehensive biography of Founding Father John Marshall, chronicling his professional triumphs as a soldier, statesman, and our longest serving Chief Justice.
Why you should read it: Author Joel Richard Paul humanizes Marshall's legacy by detailing Marshall's strained relationships with cousin Thomas Jefferson and a wife who disliked his workaholic ways.
Further reading: Jean Edward Smith's John Marshall: Definer of a Nation. |
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The Seminarian : Martin Luther King Jr. Comes of Age
by Patrick Parr
Based on dozens of revealing interviews with the men and women who knew him then,The Seminarian is the first definitive, full-length account of King’s years as a divinity student at Crozer Theological Seminary. Long passed over by biographers and historians, this period in King’s life is vital to understanding the historical figure he soon became.
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| Eat the Apple: A Memoir by Matt YoungWhat it's about: In his bold debut, Matt Young recounts his experiences as a Marine, from his enlistment at age 18 to his three tours in Iraq. At turns darkly humorous and shocking, Eat the Apple frankly reflects Young's transformation from rebellious teen to damaged man.
What's inside: Now a creative writing professor, Young puts his considerable skills to use in fragmenting the narrative: short chapters are punctuated by drawings, conversations between past and present selves, switching points of view, screenplays, and even an apology letter. |
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Hell's Princess : The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men
by Harold Schechter
In the pantheon of serial killers, Belle Gunness stands alone. She was the rarest of female psychopaths, a woman who engaged in wholesale slaughter, partly out of greed but mostly for the sheer joy of it. Between 1902 and 1908, she lured a succession of unsuspecting victims to her Indiana “murder farm.” Some were hired hands. Others were well-to-do bachelors. All of them vanished without a trace. When their bodies were dug up, they hadn’t merely been poisoned, like victims of other female killers. They’d been butchered. Hell’s Princess is a riveting account of one of the most sensational killing sprees in the annals of American crime: the shocking series of murders committed by the woman who came to be known as Lady Bluebeard. The only definitive book on this notorious case and the first to reveal previously unknown information about its subject, Harold Schechter’s gripping, suspenseful narrative has all the elements of a classic mystery—and all the gruesome twists of a nightmare.
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Have Dog, Will Travel : A Poet's Journey
by Stephen Kuusisto
A blind poet describes how being laid off from his job as a small college town professor led him into acquiring his first guide dog and how it changed his life and gave him a newfound appreciation for travel and independence.
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| Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty CopelandWhat is it: a page-turning and inspirational account of Misty Copeland's rise to ballet stardom, candidly recounting how she overcame bias, self-doubt, and family troubles to become the first African American soloist in the American Ballet Theatre.
Why you should read it: Copeland's prose is as graceful and as self-assured as her dancing.
You might also like: Mallaria Tallchief's self-titled memoir about becoming America's first Native American prima ballerina. |
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| My Fight, Your Fight by Ronda RouseyWhat it is: a fiery and engrossing autobiography in which mixed martial artist champion Ronda Rousey recounts her rocky path to stardom, dispensing advice and encouragement to readers along the way.
Did you know? Rousey was the first American woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo.
Reviewers say: "Rousey is a fierce yet endearing role model -- and a woman possessed" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| Sum It Up: 1,098 Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective by Pat SummittWhat it's about: In the wake of her Alzheimer's diagnosis, Pat Summitt, the NCAA's winningest basketball coach, reveals her triumphs, both personal (raising a son, a drive instilled in her by her father) and professional (eight national championships, a 100% graduation rate of her players).
Is it for you? Summitt's humorous anecdotes about players and recollections of strategies from key games make this a must-read for any sports fan; readers whose lives have been touched by illness will appreciate Summitt's candor in confronting her disease. |
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On the line
by Serena Williams
The Grand Slam and Olympic champion traces her rise from a disadvantaged childhood to one of the world's top women tennis players, sharing frank coverage of subjects ranging from her battles with racism and the injuries that threatened her career to her current roles as a philanthropist and media personality.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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