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Biography and Memoir July 2025 |
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In Yer's Kitchen
by Yia Vang
"What sets this memoir apart is its masterful interweaving of the personal and the political. Vang doesn’t just share recipes; she reveals how food becomes a lifeline for displaced communities. Her mother’s kitchen wisdom—emphasizing simplicity, seasonality, and connection to the earth—stands in stark contrast to the processed abundance of American supermarkets. Through this lens, we witness how Hmong refugees navigated their new world while holding on to their cultural essence." —Nonfiction Book Awards
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Across Yosemite’s Wilderness: A Trailblazing Woman’s Career Protecting the Park’s Backcountry
by Laurel Munson Boyers
The life and career of Laurel Boyers—the first woman to serve as the Wilderness Manager in the park’s history, and also the first woman to do full-time mounted backcountry patrol throughout the almost 95% of the park that is the Yosemite wilderness. The narrative is interspersed with park history, stories from her career, descriptions of the geography and vegetation, and Laurel’s reflections on her over 30 years of service.
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On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports
by Christine Brennan
Drawing on dozens of extensive interviews and exclusive, behind-the-scenes reporting, a veteran journalist narrates Clark's rise-including the formative experiences that led to her scoring more points than any woman or man in major college basketball history.
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| How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir by Molly Jong-FastMolly Jong-Fast, the daughter of Fear of Flying author Erica Jong, chronicles her "wildly conflicted" relationship with her mother, whose neglect spurred Jong-Fast's battles with addiction and whose dementia diagnosis in 2023 helped the two reconnect. For fans of: Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden. |
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| Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America by Sam TanenhausFormer New York Times Book Review editor Sam Tanenhaus' incisive and richly detailed biography surveys the life and legacy of public intellectual William F. Buckley, Jr., whose philosophies shaped the modern conservatism movement. Further reading: Buckley: William F. Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism by Carl T. Bogus. |
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| Joy Goddess: A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance by A'Lelia BundlesA'Lelia Bundles "brings vibrant life" (Publishers Weekly) to her great-grandmother A'Lelia Walker (trailblazing entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker's daughter), who parlayed her status as the United States' first high-profile Black heiress to become a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance and a prolific patron of the arts. Try this next: Madam C.J. Walker: The Making of an American Icon by Erica L. Ball. |
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Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses
by Peter Wolf
From the legendary musical figure and former vocalist of the J. Geils Band, whose career spans more than six decades, a treasure trove of revealing vignettes, all told with gentle humor and heartrending poignancy. Waiting on the Moon provides a revealing glimpse of both iconic and lesser-known creative giants as they work--the forces that drive them to achievement, the demons they battle, the patterns of their human relationships.
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Books You Might Have Missed
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| Bibliophobia by Sarah ChihayaBook critic and essayist Sarah Chihaya plumbs her bookish obsessions in this thought-provoking memoir exploring how literature shaped her identity as a Japanese American in a predominantly white Ohio suburb, helped her navigate mental health woes and destructive relationships, and bolstered her career as an academic. Try these next: Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me by Glory Edim; Asian/Other: Life, Poems, and the Problem of Memoir by Vidyan Ravinthiran. |
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| The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe by Marlene L. DautYale University professor Marlene L. Daut's scholarly and nuanced biography explores the complex legacy of Henry Chrisophe (1767-1820), Haiti's only king, whose evolution from revolutionary leader to despot shaped the country during its fight for independence and the decades that followed. Further reading: Haiti: The Aftershocks of History by Laurent Dubois. |
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| Mainline Mama by Keeonna HarrisPEN America Writing for Justice Fellow Keeonna Harris debuts with a searing account of her experiences navigating the prison industrial complex after her partner was sentenced to 22 years in prison following their son's birth. Try this next: Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford. |
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| Pure Innocent Fun by Ira Madison IIIIn his funny and nostalgic blend of memoir and cultural criticism, TV writer and Keep It! podcast co-host Ira Madison III shares his formative pop culture influences. For fans of: Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me by Aisha Harris. |
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| Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood's First South Asian Star by Mayukh SenMayukh Sen's thought-provoking biography of British South Asian actress Merle Oberon (1911-1979) poignantly illuminates how the star navigated passing as a white woman within the Golden Age of Hollywood's racist and classic system, becoming the first actor of color nominated for an Academy Award while disguising her heritage. For fans of: Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang. |
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Contact your library for more great books! |
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