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Biography and Memoir October 2019
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| Alexander the Great: His Life and His Mysterious Death by Anthony EverittWhat it is: a riveting, richly contextualized biography of the Macedonian conqueror's life that de-mythologizes history's prior depictions of him.
Chapters include: "First Blood;" "The Empire Strikes Back;" "Show Me the Way to Go Home."
Book buzz: In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews says Alexander the Great is "a story for everyone" that "reads as easily as a novel." |
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Travel light, move fast
by Alexandra Fuller
What it's about: The unforgettable story of Tim Fuller, a self-exiled black sheep who moved to Africa to fight in the Rhodesian Bush War before settling as a banana farmer in Zambia. A man who preferred chaos to predictability, to revel in promise rather than wallow in regret, and who was more afraid of becoming bored than of getting lost, he taught his daughters to live as if everything needed to happen all together, all at once—or not at all. This is the story of his family remembering his life after his passing, and how they honored his life.
Book Buzz: “Travel Light, Move Fast is a sensitive, meticulously wrought portrait of one family’s sometimes-challenging dynamics, set against an unforgiving African backdrop. Fuller’s beautiful prose juxtaposes the grieving process with the lessons she learned from the man whose adventures shaped her.” - BookPage
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| The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina NayeriWhat it's about: In 1988, eight-year-old Dina Nayeri and her family fled Iran, eventually finding asylum in the United States. Now an award-winning novelist, Nayeri grapples with living as an immigrant in a world that often diminishes her humanity.
Don't miss: "Camp," a chapter of eye-opening interviews Nayeri conducted with refugees from Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria at a camp in Greece. |
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| And How Are You, Dr. Sacks?: A Biographical Memoir of Oliver Sacks by Lawrence WeschlerThen: In the early 1980s, journalist Lawrence Weschler met with Oliver Sacks to write a New Yorker profile on the renowned neurologist, though the project was eventually scrapped due to the then-closeted Sacks' concerns about his privacy.
Now: In this immersive blend of biography and memoir, Weschler revisits that period and discusses his friendship with Sacks, who in his final years of life urged Weschler to publish the profile. |
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| Prince Albert: The Man Who Saved the Monarchy by A.N. WilsonWhat it is: a lively and accessible portrait of Queen Victoria's German-born Prince Consort, published to commemorate his 200th birthday.
Read it for: Albert's successful efforts to define his role and influence in his adopted homeland (such as spearheading the Great Exhibition of 1851), despite facing significant prejudice.
Book buzz: Prince Albert is the companion biography to A.N. Wilson's award-winning Victoria: A Life, the basis for the PBS series Victoria. |
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Good talk : a memoir in conversations
by Mira Jacob
What it's about: A bold, wry, and intimate graphic memoir about American identity, interracial families, and the realities that divide us.
Book buzz: “By turns hilarious and heart-rending, it’s exactly the book America needs at this moment.”—Celeste Ng
Who should read it: Anyone that needs to have their own formative conversations about race, color, sexuality, and, of course, love.
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| Super Late Bloomer: My Early Days in Transition: An Up and Out Collection by Julia KayeWhat it's about: transgender cartoonist Julia Kaye's fraught first year undergoing hormone replacement therapy.
Art alert: This collection of black and white strips from Kaye's candid webcomic Up and Out features simple yet expressive snapshot-style illustrations that will endear her to readers. |
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They called us enemy
by George Takei
What it is: A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon -- and America itself -- in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love.
Who it's for: Those pondering the questions - What does it mean to be American? Who gets to decide? When the world is against you, what can one person do?
Book buzz: "They Called Us Enemy is truly beautiful — moving, thoughtful, important, engaging, and stunningly rendered. I am so excited to see this book's impact on the world." — Jacqueline Woodson, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming
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| Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home by Nora KrugWhat it's about: German artist Nora Krug's affecting journey to learn the truth about her family's Nazi ties.
Art alert: Krug intimately conveys her fractured relationship to her homeland by combining mixed-media illustrations, letters, and photographs in fragmented or superimposed arrangements.
Book buzz: Belonging is the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times. |
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Rosalie Lightning
by Tom Hart
What it's about: In this "beautiful and gut-wrenching" (Library Journal) memoir, acclaimed comics artist Tom Hart reveals his grief and despair at the death of his almost-two-year-old daughter Rosalie. Using a simple drawing style in emotive panels that range from bright and well-defined to gloomy and vague to nearly black, Hart evokes the wonder of Rosalie's short life and expresses his and his wife's dismay at her unexpected death.
Book buzz: "AMAZING, MOVING, BRILLIANT ... I am truly blown away... Honestly, it has been a very long time since a piece of art slayed me. Thank you." ―Jill Ciment, author of Heroic Measures
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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