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Biography and Memoir November 2025 |
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Growing Up Urkel: A Memoir
by Jaleel White
An incisive and insightful celebrity memoir by Jaleel White, one of the most beloved icons of nineties pop culture and TV history, renowned for his portrayal of Steven Urkel on the hit sitcom Family Matters. At the tender age of twelve, Jaleel White auditioned for the role of Steve Urkel, the socially inept genius, who was in love with his next-door neighbor, Laura. Though Steven Urkel was intended to be in only one episode, Jaleel's indelible performance as a child actor catapulted Urkel into the pantheon of American pop culture. But success can cost as much as it pays. After nine years on the popular sitcom Family Matters, Jaleel is twenty-one, a UCLA undergrad, and adjusting to a world and industry that sees him as the nasally nerd in high water pants, suspenders, and coke bottle glasses. In this wise and witty memoir, Growing Up Urkel takes you on a memorable journey through peaks, valleys, and plateaus of fame and fortune. Join Jaleel as he invites you to relive the unforgettable ride of nineties nostalgia, while uncovering the personal growth behind the iconic suspenders and the lasting impact of his journey as one of America's favorite sitcom stars.
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The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir
by Neko Case
Neko Case has long been revered as one of music's most influential artists, whose authenticity, lyrical storytelling, and sly wit have endeared her to a legion of critics, musicians, and lifelong fans. In [this autobiography], Case brings her trademark candor and precision to a memoir that traces her evolution from an invisible girl 'raised by two dogs and a space heater' in rural Washington state to her improbable emergence as an internationally-acclaimed talent. ... Case shows readers what it's like to be left alone for hours and hours as a child, to take refuge in the woods around her home, and to channel the monotony and loneliness and joy that comes from music, camaraderie, and shared experience into art--
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Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education
by Stephanie Land
Stephanie Land follows up her bestselling memoir Maid with a compelling exploration of the intersections between poverty and higher education, chronicling her attempts to attain a college degree (and financial stability) in her mid-30s. Try this next: Acceptance by Emi Nietfeld.
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The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
by Twyla Tharp
One of the world's leading creative artists, choreographers, and creator of the smash-hit Broadway show, Movin' Out, shares her secrets for developing and honing your creative talents--at once prescriptive and inspirational, a book to stand alongside The Artist's Way and Bird by Bird. All it takes to make creativity a part of your life is the willingness to make it a habit. It is the product of preparation and effort, and it is within reach of everyone. Whether you are a painter, musician, businessperson, or simply an individual yearning to put your creativity to use, The Creative Habit provides you with thirty-two practical exercises based on the lessons Twyla Tharp has learned in her remarkable thirty-five-year career. In Where's Your Pencil? Tharp reminds you to observe the world--and get it down on paper. In Coins and Chaos, she gives you an easy way to restore order and peace. In Do a Verb, she turns your mind and body into coworkers. In Build a Bridge to the Next Day, she shows you how to clean the clutter from your mind overnight. Tharp leads you through the painful first steps of scratching for ideas, finding the spine of your work, and getting out of ruts and into productive grooves. The wide-open realm of possibilities can be energizing, and Twyla Tharp explains how to take a deep breath and begin.
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The Speckled Beauty: A Dog and His People
by Rick Bragg
Speck is not a good boy. He is a terrible boy, a defiant self-destructive, often malodorous boy, a grave robber and a screen-door muncher who spends his days playing chicken with the FedEx man, picking up livestock, and rolling in donkey manure, and his nights howling at the moon. He has been that way since the moment he appeared on the ridgeline behind Rick Bragg's house, a starved and half-dead creature, seventy-six pound of wet hair and poor decisions. Speck arrived in Rick's life at a moment of looming uncertainty. A cancer diagnosis, chemo, kidney failure, and recurring pneumonia had left Rick lethargic and melancholy. Speck helped, and he is helping, still, when he is not peeing on the rose of Sharon. Written with Bragg's inimitable blend of tenderness and sorrow, humor and grit, The Speckled Beauty captures the extraordinary, sustaining devotion between two damaged creatures who need each other to heal.--
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Under Siege: My Family's Fight to Save Our Nation
by Eric Trump
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NATIONAL BESTSELLER In this eye-opening memoir, Eric Trump relays surprising and gripping moments throughout his life and career as part of one of America's most prominent families. From his earliest memories of growing up as part of the Trump family to pivotal roles in the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections, spearheading strategies to combat lawfare, and leading the Trump Organization, Eric has been deeply invested in all aspects of his family's legacy. As one of his father's original apprentices, Eric has always strived to build on that foundation. As the Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization since 2015, Eric has navigated the dual worlds of politics and business, growing the company, while battling unprecedented opposition from the media, Democrats, and ongoing legal challenges. From raids on his childhood home, Mar-a-Lago, to near assassination attempts, from Russiagate to cold and corrupt court rooms, the fake news media, censorship, and character smears--this wasn't just an attack on a president, or even his family. America itself was under siege. In this book, Eric offers an unfiltered look at the highs and lows of life in the Trump world; how he took the reins of a multibillion-dollar empire at thirty-three years old; enlightening stories from real estate to the boardroom of The Celebrity Apprentice, and the chaos of the campaign trail.
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Focus on: Native American Heritage Month
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| Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie DiazMojave poet Natalie Diaz’s second volume of poetry draws details from her own life as an Indigenous American and spotlights themes and sentiments rooted in the Indigenous experience. Diaz employs sensual images to invoke American imperialism, Indigenous protest, assimilation, and desire, the latter of which she explores in numerous love poems that “buzz with erotic energy” (Booklist). For fans of: the socially aware poetry of Ada Limón.
*If you'd like to request this book, please visit your library and ask for assistance! |
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The Indian Card: Who Gets to Be Native in America
by Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz
Who is Indian enough? To be Native American is to live in a world of contradictions. At the same time that the number of people in the U.S. who claim Native identity has exploded--increasing 85 percent in just ten years--the number of people formally enrolled in Tribes has not. While the federal government recognizes Tribal sovereignty, being a member of a Tribe requires navigating blood quantum laws and rolls that the federal government created with the intention of wiping out Native people altogether. Over two million Native people are tribally enrolled, yet there are Native people who will never be. ... Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz grapples with these contradictions. Through in-depth interviews, she shares the stories of people caught in the mire of identity-formation, trying to define themselves outside of bureaucratic processes--
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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