Now Read This!
MARCH 2026
 
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
A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls: Margaret C. Anderson, Book Bans, and the Fight to Modernize Literature by Adam Morgan
A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls: Margaret C. Anderson, Book Bans, and the Fight to Modernize Literature
by Adam Morgan

The life and times of literary pioneer and queer icon Margaret C. Anderson (1886-1973), whose cutting-edge magazine The Little Review was a bastion of progressive politics and boundary-pushing writing until she found herself on trial in 1921, labeled a danger to the minds of young girls by a government seeking to shut her down.
Event Spotlight
Writing Your Own Declaration: A Writing Workshop
Lower Mills Branch: Tuesday, April 7, 2026 | 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Brighton Branch: Thursday, April 23, 2026 | 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
 
Join the Boston Public Library community to write your own declaration! What is in a declaration? How do we declare our own values, thoughts, and ideas and share them with others? This workshop invites patrons into a deep dive of self-exploration and public writing. Join us for an active learning environment where we read, discuss, and draw inspiration from several pieces of declarative writing that emerged over the course of history. Patrons will then be led in a writing session that asks you to reflect on your own values and compose your own “declaration of self.”
 
If you can't make it to a workshop, you are more than welcome to write your declaration on your own using our self-paced guide. You may also submit your declaration to be considered for our summer 2026 exhibition on revolutionary writing and printmaking.  
 
New and Upcoming Titles
Homeschooled: A New York Times Bestselling Memoir and Read with Jenna Pick by Stefan Merrill Block
Nonviolent: A Memoir of Resistance, Agitation, and Love by Jr. Lawson, James
Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane by Lindy West
Homeschooled: A Memoir
Stefan Merrill Block
 
 
 
“Block shares his perilous quest to discover the world beyond the front door and the unregulated homeschool system that impacts millions like him.”
 
Nonviolent: A Memoir of Resistance, Agitation, and Love
Reverend James Lawson Jr.
 
“Lawson shares how he studied and worked to dismantle racial, social, and economic injustice with Martin Luther King Jr. and others, throughout his long life.”
 
Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane
Lindy West
 
 
“West takes readers along on a cross-country road trip as she unpacks her last few tumultuous years, rediscovers herself, and reinvents her marriage.”
 
City Lights: Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Biography of a Bookstore by Gioia Woods
Who's Watching Shorty?: Reclaiming Myself from the Shame of R. Kelly's Abuse by Reshona Landfair
Rough House: A Father, a Son, and the Pursuit of Pro Wrestling Glory by Alison Lyn Miller
City Lights: Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Biography of a Bookstore
Gioia Woods
 
 
“City Lights Bookstore and Press was started in 1953 San Francisco by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and continues to shape the way literature is produced and consumed.”
 
Who's Watching Shorty?: Reclaiming Myself from the Shame of R. Kelly's Abuse
Reshona Landfair
 
“Landfair, formerly known as Jane Doe, opens up about the experience of being preyed upon by R&B superstar R. Kelly and the failure of our society to protect victims.”
 
Rough House: A Father, a Son, and the Pursuit of Pro Wrestling Glory
Alison Lyn Miller
 
 
“Miller introduces Hunter, an aspiring star born into a family of wrestlers in Georgia and shows what happens when he enters the bruising world of indie wrestling.”
 
Not Your Founding Father: How a Nonbinary Minister Became America's Most Radical Revolutionary by Nina Sankovitch
Bonfire of the Murdochs: How the Epic Fight to Control the Last Great Media Dynasty Broke a Family -- And the World by Gabriel Sherman
The Game Changer: How Harry Reid Remade the Rules and Showed Democrats How to Fight by Jon Ralston
Not Your Founding Father: How a Nonbinary Minister Became America's Most Radical Revolutionary
Nina Sankovitch
 
 
“In 1776 Jemima Wilkinson died, and the Public Universal Friend was born, embodying the possibilities offered by the new nation, especially the right to total self-determination.”
 
Bonfire of the Murdochs: How the Epic Fight to Control the Last Great Media Dynasty Broke a Family –– and the World
Gabriel Sherman
 
“Sherman shares the inside story of how Rupert Murdoch, with foresight and dealmaking, built a media empire whose outlets have shaped the news that created the world we live in.”
 
The Game Changer: How Harry Reid Remade the Rules and Showed Democrats How to Fight
Jon Ralston
 
 
“Ralston explores the life of Harry Reid, the senator whose game-changing leadership carved the path to groundbreaking legislation that changed the course of history.”
 
Find Your Next Great Read
Life is Funny: 16 Memoirs From Comedians
There's never a dull moment in the life of a comedian. Borrow one of these titles today for a laugh-out-loud good time.
 
 
 
   

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