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Biography and Memoir May 2018
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Agatha Christie : A Mysterious Life
by Laura Thompson
The award-winning author of The Six offers a portrait of the iconic mystery writer that shares insights into her Edwardian youth, her marriages, her relationship with her daughter and her mysterious 11-day disappearance in 1926.
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| Patriot Number One: American Dreams in Chinatown by Lauren HilgersWhat it's about: After attracting powerful enemies in his home village of Wukan, Chinese dissident Zhang Liehong immigrated to New York City in 2014, finding solace among fellow Chinese exiles and activists.
Why you should read it: Timely and nuanced, Patriot Number One thoughtfully explores the struggles of modern immigration.
Reviewers say: "This book is hard to put down" (Library Journal). |
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Eunice : the Kennedy who Changed the World
by Eileen McNamara
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist examines the life and times of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, covering her Stanford education, her inspirational relationship with her sister Rosemary, her advocacy on behalf of disabled citizens and the solutions she envisioned that helped engineer one of the greatest civil rights movements of the modern world.
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| The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath by Leslie JamisonWhat it is: a candid and galvanizing memoir of Leslie Jamison's recovery from the alcohol addiction that dominated her 20s.
What's inside: perceptive profiles of famous alcoholics throughout history -- including writer Raymond Carver and singer Billie Holiday -- that explore the link between addiction and creativity.
Try this next: Olivia Laing's The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking. |
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The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s
by William I. Hitchcock
What it is: a measured reevaluation of the "do-nothing" president that demonstrates the extent of his accomplishments in office.
About the author: William I. Hitchcock is a history professor at the University of Virginia and the author of The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe, for which he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Further reading: Jean Edward Smith's Eisenhower: In War and Peace.
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When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
What it's about: Artist and social justice activist Patrisse Khan-Cullors divulges the story of her life, from her 1980s childhood in suburban Los Angeles to her involvement in founding the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Is it for you? This passionate and candid coming-of-age memoir is for readers with a strong interest in social activism, LGBT issues, and human rights.
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| The Accidental Life: An Editor's Notes on Writing and Writers by Terry McDonellWhat it's about: Magazine editor Terry McDonell, who's worked for Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Sports Illustrated, reflects on his 40-year career and the luminaries (Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe, among others) whose careers he helped shape along the way.
Want a taste? McDonell likens his friendship with Thompson to the plot of Treasure Island: "Adventurous boy kidnapped by pirates; joins pirates."
Don't miss: Word counts accompany McDonell's short, witty chapters. |
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Meghan : A Hollywood Princess
by Andrew Morton
"When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were set up by a mutual friend on a blind date in July 2016, little did they know that the resulting whirlwind romance would lead to their engagement in November 2017 and marriage in May 2018. Since then, our fascination with the woman who has smashed the royal mold has rocketed. So different from those coy brides of recent history, Meghan is confident, charismatic, and poised; her warm and affectionate engagement interview won the hearts of the world. In this first-ever biography of the duchess-to-be, acclaimed royal biographer Andrew Morton goes back to Meghan's roots to uncover the story of her childhood growing up in The Valley in Los Angeles, her studies at an all-girls Catholic school, and her fraught family life-a painful experience mirrored by Harry's own background. Morton also delves into her previous marriage and divorce in 2013, her struggles in Hollywood as her mixed heritage was time and again used against her, her big break in the hit TV show Suits, and her work for a humanitarian ambassador-the latter so reminiscent of Princess Diana's passions..."-- Provided by publisher.B
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| Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir by Amy TanWhat it is: a captivating, nonlinear chronicle of the forces that have shaped Amy Tan's writing, including her tumultuous upbringing and her love of music and drawing.
Featuring: Tan's difficult mother, in whom her fiction fans will recognize a familiar character type.
For fans of: reflective literary memoirs like Richard Ford's Between Them. |
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Educated: A Memoir
by Tara Westover
What it's about: Raised in a fundamentalist Mormon family who prepped for the "end of days," Tara Westover grew up without an education. Hungering for knowledge, she began educating herself, eventually pursuing an elite academic career at Harvard and Cambridge.
Why you might like it: "With no real comparison memoir" (Library Journal), Educated stands in a class all its own, though fans of The Glass Castle and Hillbilly Elegy should appreciate it.
Read it for: Westover's wrenching, vivid exploration of her family history, rendered in evocative and unsparing prose.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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