|
|
Biography and Memoir April 2022 |
|
|
|
|
| In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy BloomWhat it is: novelist Amy Bloom's account of her husband Brian's experience with Alzheimer's disease and his decision to end his life at Dignitas, an organization in Switzerland offering "accompanied suicide."
What's inside: reflections on the couple's love story that are equal parts heartwrenching and darkly humorous.
Reviewers say: "a stunning portrayal of how love can reveal itself in life's most difficult moments" (Publishers Weekly). |
|
| I Was Better Last Night by Harvey FiersteinWhat it is: a witty memoir from four-time Tony Award-winning actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein.
Topics include: Fierstein's coming out and commitment to gay rights activism; his creative process and artistic coming of age; working on Broadway hits including Torch Song Trilogy, La Cage aux Folles, and Kinky Boots.
Don't miss: evocative glimpses of gay New York in the 1970s and '80s. |
|
| Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us by Colleen Kinder (editor); foreword by Leslie JamisonWhat's inside: an anthology of 65 poignant second-person essays written to strangers who have had a lasting impact on the authors' lives.
Sections include: "Symmetry;" "Mystery;" "Chemistry;" "Gratitude;" "Wonder;" "Remorse;" Farewell."
Try this next: Conversations with People Who Hate Me by Dylan Marron, based on his podcast of the same name. |
|
| Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation by Erika KrouseWhat it's about: novelist and private investigator Erika Krouse's time spent working on a landmark Title IX case involving a sexual assault at a Big 12 university.
Read it for: a candid and compelling blend of memoir and true crime.
Is it for you? Krouse's sobering nonfiction debut doesn't shy away from the complexities of the case, including how it affected her as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. |
|
| Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama by Bob OdenkirkWhat it's about: Emmy Award-winning actor Bob Odenkirk's career, from his sketch comedy origins in Chicago and his time as a Saturday Night Live writer to his acclaimed dramatic turns in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
Why you might like it: Odenkirk's irreverent memoir offers dishy behind-the-scenes tales and self-deprecating insights on his path to fame.
Want a taste? "I promise that if I can ascertain a pithy truism, I'll cough it up onto these pages so you can append it to your secret success journal." |
|
| The First Kennedys: The Humble Roots of an American Dynasty by Neal ThompsonWhat it's about: the mid-19th century origins of the Kennedy family in America.
Why you should read it: This illuminating family history offers a new perspective on the Kennedy dynasty by spotlighting its lesser-known descendants and centering their experiences as Irish immigrants.
Reviewers say: "an engrossing, real-life rags to riches tale" (Publishers Weekly). |
|
Books You Might Have Missed
|
|
| Always Remember Your Name: A True Story of Family and Survival in Auschwitz by Andra & Tatiana Bucci; translated by Ann Goldstein; with a foreword by Ruth FranklinWhat it's about: In 1944, Jewish Italian sisters Tatiana (age six) and Andra (age four) were deported to Auschwitz; after their liberation in early 1945, they were among only a few dozen (and the youngest) of the camp's child survivors.
What it is: a plainspoken account, told from both sisters' perspectives, that bears sobering witness to the horrors of the Holocaust. |
|
| High-Risk Homosexual by Edgar GomezWhat it is: a witty and moving coming-of-age memoir from Florida-born debut author Edgar Gomez.
Topics include: Gomez learning to embrace his identity as a gay Latinx man without resorting to machismo; navigating hookup culture and STD anxiety; grieving the victims of 2016's Pulse nightclub massacre, many of whom were friends.
For fans of: John Paul Brammer's Hola Papi: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot. |
|
| Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School by Kendra JamesWhat it's about: former Shondaland editor Kendra James' experiences as the first Black legacy student at the prestigious college preparatory Taft School, from which she graduated in 2006, and her later experiences working in diversity recruitment for private schools.
Read it for: "an eye-opening examination of race, class, and privilege in America" (Publishers Weekly); "a peek behind the curtain of private-school education" (Booklist). |
|
| Home in the World by Amartya SenWhat it's about: Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen's childhood in colonial India, his coming of age during Partition, and his intellectual pursuits.
For fans of: travelogues, the social sciences, and heartfelt remembrances of home and the search for belonging.
Try this next: For another incisive memoir written by a Nobel laureate who grew up under British colonialism, check out Nigerian author Wole Soyinka's Aké: The Years of Childhood. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
Atlantic County Library System | 40 Farragut Avenue, Mays Landing, NJ 08330
Phone: (609) 625-2776 | www.atlanticlibrary.org
   |
|  | Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson
Atlantic County Board of Commissioners, Maureen Kern, Chairwoman |
|
|
|