Now Read This!
September 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.
 
Want more suggestions? Need fewer emails? 
Manage what newsletters you get in the future.
 
Book of the Month
After Shock: Learning to Reinhabit My Body After Illness by Rana Awdish
After Shock: Learning to Reinhabit My Body After Illness
by Rana Awdish

Medicine has conditioned her to view sick bodies as broken objects, not as sites of meaning, mystery, and quiet wisdom. So, when her own body warns her that she'll be dead in five years, Awdish is unsure whether to trust it enough to follow where it leads. Allowing for this kind of innate, bodily wisdom would require her to dismantle and reconfigure her entire belief system. What emerges is a profound and vulnerable meditation on the true nature of healing. 

Borrow Awdish's first memoir here: In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope.
Event Spotlight
Author Talk: Ric Calleja
Saturday, September 19, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
 
Local Brighton author Ric Calleja has written a book: Making Dinner Con Amor: Stories, Poems and Recipes about Food, Cooking and Family. Join us at this author event in which Ric will read passages from the book and discuss his family's culinary traditions.
 
New and Upcoming Titles
Tending to Our Wounds: A Diasporic Memoir by Edna Bonhomme
Rise Above: A Memoir by Matthew Schnipper
Ghost Girl: Surviving the Black Swan Murder--A Memoir by Eva Benefield
Tending to Our Wounds: A Diasporic Memoir
Edna Bonhomme
  
“Bonhomme outlines a personal and political history of life in the US, Haiti, and Germany, discovering what it means to be Black at home and abroad.”
 
Rise Above: A Memoir
Matthew Schnipper
 
 
“Schnipper shares his journey from the shock and freefall following his son’s death, to the desperate struggle to remember and honor Renzo’s life.”
 
Ghost Girl: Surviving the Black Swan Murder
Eva Benefield
 
“Benefield, the daughter of the victim of the viral ‘Black Swan Murder’, tells her story about coming of age amid grief, violence and a true-crime spectacle.”
Mahalia Jackson, Moving on Up a Little Higher: The Story of an American Civil Rights Pioneer by Timothy B. Tyson
What (Tf) Do I Do Now?: Reclaiming Myself, One Piece at a Time by Tareasa Reesateesa Johnson
A Guide to Open Water Lifesaving: Lessons on Love, Care, and Survival: A Memoir by Virginia Eubanks
Mahalia Jackson, Moving On Up a Little Higher: The Story of an American Civil Rights Pioneer
Timothy B. Tyson
 
“Tyson and singer Williams bring the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson back to soaring life by restoring her status as a major civil rights figure.”
 
What (TF) Do I Do Now?: Reclaiming Myself, One Piece at a Time
Tareasa Johnson
 
 
“Johnson shares how she reclaimed herself, fought through toxic relationships, and regained her foundation through healing and deep self-reflection.”
 
A Guide to Open Water Lifesaving: Lessons on Love, Care, and Survival: A Memoir
Virginia Eubanks
 
“Eubanks shares her efforts to survive caregiving, trauma, love, and the systems seemingly set up to fail us using practical advice from a lifesaving manual.”
 
Tryhard: A Cautionary Tale of Clocking in and Spinning Out by Laura Mayer
Every Inch a Lady: My Amazing Journey from Dear Harlem to Haute Couture and Beyond by Audrey Smaltz
The California Pizza Kitchen Story: How Two Federal Prosecutors Changed the Way America Eats Pizza by Rick Rosenfield
Tryhard: A Cautionary Tale of Clocking In and Spinning Out – A Memoir and Satire of Workplace Culture
Laura Mayer
 
“Mayer invites us to examine our delusional obsessions with work and dissect the emotional ties that bind us to our desks in this part-memoir, part-guide.”
 
Every Inch a Lady: My Amazing Journey from Dear Harlem to Haute Couture and Beyond
Audrey Smaltz
 
 
“Smaltz details her colorful journey as a model, Wall Street broker, department store dynamo, fashion coordinator, commentator, editor, and entrepreneur.”
 
The California Pizza Kitchen Story: How Two Federal Prosecutors Changed the Way America Eats Pizza
Rick Rosenfield
 
“Rosenfield traces his unlikely journey from federal courtrooms to the creation of one of the most influential brands in modern casual dining.”
 
Find Your Next Great Read
From Cults to Consciousness: 20 Stories of People Leaving their High-Control Groups to Find True Freedom
Inspired by the YouTube channel Cults to Consciousness, which shares the stories of people who have left high-control groups and organizations, this list features memoirs and other firsthand accounts from survivors who tell their own stories of leaving, healing, and rebuilding their lives.
 
 
 
   

Support the BPL 
    Boston Public Library
    700 Boylston St.
      Boston, MA 02116 | 617.536.5400
      www.bpl.org/ | Shelf Service | BPL Newsletters