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Biography and Memoir January 2026 |
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Bread of Angels
by Patti Smith
Poet, musician, author, and all-around artist Patti Smith impresses with a life-spanning memoir. Smith’s writing is always lyrical, dreamlike, and filled with literary references, but here she uses it to reveal snippets of her restless, sickly childhood and intimate fragments of her marriage to the late Fred “Sonic” Smith. Somewhat of a return to form from her recent work, Bread of Angels is highly recommended for fans of Smith’s National Book Award-winning autobiography Just Kids.
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Joyride
by Susan Orlean
Celebrated nonfiction author Susan Orlean chooses her own life as subject in Joyride. Orlean openly reveals her bumpy road through the often challenging life of a professional writer, including her years developing a strong journalistic voice, and as a bonus provides indispensable advice to aspiring writers throughout. For another work-centered memoir from a writer of nonfiction, try Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing by Robert A. Caro.
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Hostage
by Eli Sharabi
On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists stormed Kibbutz Be'eri, shattering the peaceful life Eli Sharabi had built with his British wife, Lianne, and their teenage daughters, Noiya and Yahel. Dragged barefoot out his front door while his family watched in horror, Sharabi was plunged deep into the suffocating darkness of Gaza's tunnels. As war raged above him, he endured a grueling 491 days in captivity, all the while holding onto the hope that he would one day be reunited with his loved ones. Eli Sharabi's story is one of hunger and heartache, of physical pain, longing, loneliness and a helplessness that threatens to destroy the soul. But it is also a story of strength, of resilience, and of the human spirit's refusal to surrender. It is about the camaraderie forged in captivity, the quiet power of faith, and one man's unrelenting decision to choose life, time and time again.
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Echo Maker: Craig MacDonald and the Lives That Produced One of Canada's Most Significant Historical Maps
by James Raffan
In an example of truth and reconciliation put into practice, Craig Macdonald spent decades creating a unique map of Temagami, developed through trust and experience, in partnership with the Teme-Augama Anishnabai. James Raffan's biography of Craig Macdonald and how the Historical Map of Temagami came to be is a remarkable tale. In the mid-1960s, Macdonald began interviewing and travelling with Indigenous trappers and travellers. He became familiar with Anishinaabemowin and built a lasting bond with the traditional knowledge holders. Returning year after year to map the land, Macdonald painstakingly plotted traditional placenames, original shorelines, elevations, and traditional summer and winter travel routes - including the documentation of more than twelve hundred canoe portages and winter snowshoe trails. His map is unique in the Canadian cartographic canon, and its genesis is a story that has never been told, until now.
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Critical Conditions: My Diary of the Syrian Revolution
by Hadi Abdullah
As seen and heard on 60 Minutes, This American Life, and in The New York Times -- a frontline eyewitness account of the Syrian Revolution from prizewinning journalist and activist Hadi Abdullah.This is Hadi al-Abdullah. A few years ago, he was studying to be a nurse. But when war broke out in Syria, he took a different path. He chose to join antigovernment protests and tell the world the story of an uprising that became a civil war. Years of conflict turned him from an eyewitness into a frontline war reporter. This new role of his brought added risk, for himself, and for his friends and colleagues. Sometimes they would go towards the bombs, sometimes the bombs would come towards them.
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Howie Morenz: The Greatest Season in the Life of Hockey's First Legend
by Donald Murray
The Greatest Season of Hockey's Original LegendHowie Morenz was hockey's first superstar, a dazzling skater and prolific goal scorer who electrified crowds while leading the Montreal Canadiens to three Stanley Cups. The 1930-31 season finds Morenz at the peak of his powers. His Canadiens dominate the NHL and Morenz is leading the league in scoring while earning his second Hart trophy as most valuable player in hockey. Following him game by game through this remarkable season, author Donald Murray weaves in the backstory of how Morenz became the most exciting and successful hockey player of professional hockey's first half century. With keen insight and gripping prose, he describes Morenz's unparalleled agility, his ferocious will, and brilliant leadership, among other elements of what made him the league's most extraordinary talent - one the whole hockey world would mourn when he died at age 34 of a broken leg suffered in his final game.
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"This Is My Story": Narratives of Talent and Triumph from Curve Lake First Nation
by Lynda Taneda Dickinson
This book shares stories of 22 individuals striving to preserve their culture and identity, while rising to their full potentials within a Western-dominated society. Be inspired by their journeys - how they endured unspeakable horrors, transformed hardship into strength, and filled their lives with balance, resilience and meaning. Their endurance, wisdom, and creativity will move you, while their stories will capture your heart and stay with you long after the last page.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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