Now Read This!
AUGUST 2025
 
Our Now Read This! newsletters offer suggestions for your next favorite read, from hidden gems to the latest hot pick. In this issue, you will find a featured book of the month, a special event worth checking out, a curated selection of newly acquired and upcoming biographies and memoirs, and booklists for further reading. Whether you prefer reading about the lives of historical figures or the rich and famous, your friendly BPL Reader Services Librarians have recommendations for every reader.
 
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Book of the Month
Nothing More of This Land: Community, Power, and the Search for Indigenous Identity
by Joseph Lee

Lee weaves his own story and that of his family into a panoramic narrative of Indigenous life around the world, from the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard to the icy Alaskan tundra, the smoky forests of Northern California to the halls of the United Nations, and beyond.
Event Spotlight
Author Talk: Michael Ansara - The Hard Work of Hope
Wednesday, September 10, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
 
Michael Ansara discusses his 2025 book, The Hard Work of Hope: A Memoir. Ansara was on the front lines in the eventful heady days of the 1960s and 1970s, and chronicles the hopes and strategies of the young people who created the movements that rocked the country. He traces an arc of discovery: from the hope and moral clarity of the civil rights movement to the ten-year struggle to end the war in Vietnam, with its sit-ins, marches, confrontations, and antiwar riots and takes us into the minds of the activists detailing their successes as well as their mistakes.
 
New and Upcoming Titles
The Wanderer's Curse: A Memoir
Jennifer Hope Choi
 
“Choi, ‘cursed’ with yeokmasal—an allegedly inheritable affliction causing one to roam farther and farther from home, shares her life’s journey through her many forever homes.”
 
The Allure of Elsewhere: A Memoir of Going Solo
Karen Babine
 
“Babine traces a solo road trip from Minnesota to Nova Scotia, examining identity, belonging and the power of storytelling through reflections on ancestry, travel and self-discovery.”
 
Baddest Man: The Making of Mike Tyson
Mark Kriegel
 
“Kriegel offers a noir epic about fame, race, greed, criminality, trauma, and the creation of the most feared and mesmerizing fighter in boxing history.”
 
Angelica: For Love and Country in a Time of Revolution
Molly Beer
 
“Through the life of Angelica Schuyler Church, Beer reveals how women shaped early American history through diplomacy, personal networks and a strategic presence in key revolutionary moments.”
 
The Way Around: A Field Guide to Going Nowhere
Nicholas Triolo
 
  
“Through transformative pilgrimages around sacred and scarred landscapes in Tibet, California, and Montana, Triolo explores the spiritual and emotional potential of circular walking.”
 
Chief Rondo: Securing Justice for the Murder of George Floyd
Medaria Arradondo
 
“Upon the fifth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd comes an account of leadership, justice, and race by Medaria "Rondo" Arradondo, the first Black police chief of Minnesota.”
 
Nice Girls Don't Win: How I Burned It All Down to Claim My Power
Parvati Shallow
 
“Being in the public eye after winning Survivor along with a series of painful events forced Shallow on a path of healing that would awaken her true power and reset her life.”
 
Wildfire Days: A Woman, a Hotshot Crew, and the Burning American West
Kelly Ramsey
 
“Ramsey shares her struggle to succeed as a wildland firefighter on an elite, male-dominated crew as they battle some of the fiercest wildfires in the West.”
 
Rebel Queen: The Cold War, Misogyny, and the Making of a Grandmaster
 Susan Polgar
 
“Polgar, a chess grandmaster, took on a sexist establishment, stood up to an authoritarian empire and rewrote the rules of what women could achieve.”
 
Find Your Next Great Read
Life Lessons: 14 Memoirs Written by Teachers
Teachers are some of the most important people in our lives, whether they're teaching math at the front of a large classroom, coping with difficult situations and students, or teaching one-on-one. Borrow one of these memoirs and experience the teaching life.
 
 
 
   

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