Now Read This!
DECEMBER 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
Hope in Action: A Memoir about the Courage to Lead by Sanna Marin
Hope in Action: A Memoir about the Courage to Lead
by Sanna Marin

When she became prime minister of Finland at just thirty-four years old, Marin was the youngest world leader at the time, captivating international attention with her progressive ideas and decisive action in a crisis. Marin's story is one of resilience and hope as she was the first in her family to attend university and broke barriers to become a highly respected role model for many young girls and women. 
Event Spotlight
Ilyon Woo - Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom
Wednesday, December 10, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Union Church - 485 Columbus Ave., Boston, MA 02118
 
Bestselling author Ilyon Woo discusses Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom, for which she won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. Master Slave Husband Wife relates the true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled White man and William posing as “his” slave.
 
New and Upcoming Titles
Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist by Daniel Pollack-Pelzner
Still Bobbi: A Master Class in Resilience and Reinvention by Bobbi Brown
Scar Tissue: A Tale of American Armor by Shannon Frison
Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist
Daniel Pollack-Pelzner
 
 
“Pollack-Pelzner traces Miranda's path from a friendly but isolated child to the award-winning creator of Broadway hits and chart-topping songs for Disney.”
 
Still Bobbi: A Master Class in Resilience and Reinvention
Bobbi Brown
  
“Brown, beauty mogul and visionary, opens up in her first memoir about the true story: her reinvention, resilience, and the power of staying real.”
 
Scar Tissue: A Tale of American Armor
Shannon Frison
 
 
“Frison, a Black lesbian Marine, shares her life path from the South Side of Chicago to the bench of the Massachusetts Superior Court.”
 
The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir by Roy Wood
I'm Not Trying to Be Difficult: Stories from the Restaurant Trenches by Drew Nieporent
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris
The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir
Roy Wood Jr.
 
“In the wake of his son’s birth, Wood recollects the advice he’s gathered throughout his life after his own father’s passing.”
 
I'm Not Trying To Be Difficult: Stories from the Restaurant Trenches
Drew Nieporent
 
“Nieporent has spent decades in the New York dining scene. Here he shares his life story starting at a McDonald’s grill as well as the story of an evolving food industry.”
 
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler
Susana M. Morris
 
“Butler was a science fiction trailblazer and Morris shares the cultural, social, and historical context that shaped her life and her writing.”
 
Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City by Lashawn Harris
Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time: How Mamie Fish, Queen of the Gilded Age, Partied Her Way to Power by Jennifer Wright
Eat, Drink, and Remarry: Memories from a Lifetime of Art, Class, and Southern Charm by Patricia Altschul
Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City
LaShawn Harris
 
 
“Harris’s portrait of Eleanor Bumpurs's life and legacy highlights how one Black grandmother's brutal police murder galvanized an entire city and is still relevant today.”
 
Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time: How Mamie Fish, Queen of the Gilded Age, Partied Her Way to Power
Jennifer Wright
 
“To ensure people would remember what she had to say, Fish, an Gilded Age icon, became famous by letting her demanding, bitchy, hilarious, dramatic freak flag fly.”
 
Eat, Drink, and Remarry: Memories from a Lifetime of Art, Class, and Southern Charm
Patricia Altschul
 
 
"Altschul reveals her life of glamor, romance, and intrigue as a private art dealer before she became a fan-favorite on Bravo's Southern Charm."
 
Find Your Next Great Read
We Built This City on Rock and Roll: 14 Rock Memoirs
We built the city on it and history was made with it. Check out one of these rock and roll memoirs from some of the greatest artists in the genre and jump into a little bit of music life
 
 
 
   

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