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Biography and Memoir December 2025 |
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| Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts by Margaret AtwoodIn Book of Lives, Canadian author Margaret Atwood brings readers a long-awaited, “marvelously witty” (Kirkus Reviews) memoir. Writing as much about her craft as her life story, Atwood reveals how both have influenced one another, for instance explaining how the dystopian setting for The Handmaid’s Tale was in part inspired by a stint in 1980s Berlin. For another memoir that ruminates on the writing life, try Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami. |
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Bread of Angels: A Memoir
by Patti Smith
The most intimate of Smith's memoirs, Bread of Angels takes us through her teenage years when the first glimmers of art and romance take hold. Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan emerge as creative heroes and role models as Smith starts to write poetry, then lyrics, merging both into the iconic recordings and songs such as Horses and Easter, 'Dancing Barefoot' and 'Because the Night.' She leaves it all behind to marry her one true love, Fred 'Sonic' Smith, with whom she creates a life of devotion and adventure on a canal in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. ... She builds a room of her own, furnished with a pillow of Moroccan silk, a Persian cup, inkwell and fountain pen. The couple spend nights in their landlocked Chris-Craft studying nautical maps and charting new adventures as they start their family. As Smith suffers profound losses, grief and gratitude are braided through years of caring for her children, rebuilding her life, and, finally, writing again--
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Star of the Show: My Life on Stage
by Dolly Parton
A stunning celebration of Dolly Parton's iconic career as a performer, featuring entertaining personal stories alongside 350 full-color photographs, including exclusive images and ephemera from her archive, and an 8-page gatefold listing her performances-- Provided by publisher. Includes discography (pages 326-329) and videography (page 330).
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| The Uncool by Cameron CroweIn the 1970s, writer/director Cameron Crowe was an up-and-coming teenaged rock journalist, writing for Rolling Stone and touring with the likes of Led Zeppelin and the Allman Brothers. Although peppered with upbeat road stories, Crowe’s memoir seamlessly weaves in more emotional passages about close relationships, his older sister’s suicide, and his later fame as a filmmaker. For fans of: Going into the City: Portrait of a Critic as a Young Man by Robert Christgau; the Crowe-directed film Almost Famous. |
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| Coyote: The Dramatic Lives of Sam Shepard by Robert M. DowlingRobert M. Dowling’s well-researched biography of actor, playwright, and filmmaker Sam Shepard is an ode to restlessness. Dowling mines gossipy details from Shepard’s gritty, colorful, adventurous life while divulging the angst, trauma, and addiction that goaded him, keeping this creative, troubled soul from ever sitting still for long. For another haunting performing arts biography, try William J. Mann’s The Contender: The Story of Marlon Brando. |
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Winning the Earthquake: How Jeannette Rankin Defied All Odds to Become the First Woman in Congress
by Lorissa Rinehart
The first major biography of Jeannette Rankin, a groundbreaking suffragist, activist, and the first American woman to hold federal office. Born on a Montana ranch in 1880, Jeannette Rankin knew how to ride a horse, make a fire, and read the sky for weather. But, most of all, she knew how to talk to people and unite them around a shared vision for America. It was this rare skill that led her to become the first woman ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. As her first act, Rankin put forth the legislation that would become the Nineteenth Amendment. During her two terms, beginning in 1917 and in 1941, she introduced and lobbied for legislation strengthening women's rights, protecting workers, supporting democratic electoral reform, and promoting peace through disarmament. As Congress's fiercest pacifist, she used her vote to oppose the declaration of war against the German Empire in 1917 and the Japanese Empire in 1941, holding fast to her belief that you can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake. A suffragist, peace activist, workers' rights advocate, and champion of democratic reform who ran as a Republican, Rankin remained ever faithful to her beliefs, no matter the price she had to pay personally. Despite overcoming the entrenched boys' club of oligarchic capitalists and career politicians to make enormous strides for women in politics, Rankin has been largely overlooked. In Winning the Earthquake, Lorissa Rinehart expertly recovers the compelling history behind this singular American hero, bringing her story back to life.
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| We Did OK, Kid by Anthony HopkinsOscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins delights with a memoir that is “quiet and restrained but with some darker stuff going on underneath” (Booklist). The introverted only son of working-class Welsh parents who worried about his apparent aimlessness, Hopkins eventually found his way to amateur theater and then the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, all to his own great surprise. For such a venerated artist, his writing is as humble, candid, and thoughtful as the book’s title would suggest. Try this next: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man by Paul Newman. |
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| John Candy: A Life in Comedy by Paul MyersPop culture writer Paul Myers documents beloved comedian and actor John Candy’s life and career, moving through his tenure on the cult classic program SCTV, his film appearances (Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; Uncle Buck), and his “lifelong struggle with anxiety, panic attacks, and body image” (Publishers Weekly). Candy broke countless hearts upon his death by heart failure at age 43, but Myers’ book is a life-affirming, heartwarming tribute. |
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Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America
by Jeff Chang
Bruce Lee’s arrival on the big screen was seismic, as recounted here by Asian American author Jeff Chang. Lee leveraged a potent mix of “magnetism and physical talents” (Kirkus Reviews) to gain renown as a martial arts teacher and later as an actor in Hong Kong and Hollywood, soon becoming the original Asian megastar. For fans of: The Golden Screen: The Movies That Made Asian America by Jeff Yang.
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| The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir by Roy Wood, Jr.Comedian and television personality Roy Wood, Jr.’s memoir is filled with lessons he learned the hard way from various “father” figures, including his real father, who played a peripatetic but influential role in his son’s life. Some of these figures offered Wood wisdom and advice, while others gave him examples not to follow, but they all made enough of an impression to become comedy gold in a debut that is also “refreshingly earnest” (Kirkus Reviews). If you like this, check out Being Henry: The Fonz…and Beyond by Henry Winkler. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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