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Biography and Memoir April 2019
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| The Pianist from Syria by Aeham AhmadWhat it's about: Born a second-generation Palestinian refugee in Syria, accomplished pianist Aeham Ahmad sought solace in music as the ongoing Syrian civil war tore his adopted homeland apart.
Author alert: Readers may remember Ahmad from the widely-circulated videos of him playing piano in a rubble-strewn Damascus; in 2015, he won the International Beethoven Prize for Human Rights.
Is it for you? This day-to-day account of the conflict -- and Ahmad's eventual immigration to Germany -- is both wrenching and inspiring. |
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| Sounds Like Titanic by Jessica Chiccehitto HindmanWhat it is: the surreal stranger-than-fiction chronicle of Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman's four years spent working as a fake violinist for a famous and eccentric unnamed composer.
Wait, what? Hindman and her fellow musicians played their instruments to packed houses across America, even performing on PBS -- but the music audiences heard blared from hidden CD players.
Reviewers say: "tricky, unnerving, consistently fascinating" (Kirkus Reviews); "far-reaching, insightful, and unputdownable" (Booklist). |
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| The Bold World: A Memoir of Family and Transformation by Jodie PattersonWhat it's about: Activist Jodie Patterson finds her mettle tested when her third child, three-year-old Penelope, announces, "I'm a boy."
Read it for: Patterson's candid reflections on black womanhood and parenting a transgender child.
For fans of: Nishta J. Mehra's Brown White Black and other moving family memoirs that address issues of intersectionality. |
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| First: Sandra Day O'Connor, An Intimate Portrait of the First Woman Supreme Court... by Evan ThomasWhat it is: a deeply researched biography of Sandra Day O'Connor, who in 1981 became the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Don't miss: gossipy tidbits of Court intrigue (O'Connor and her fellow justice Antonin Scalia couldn't stand each other).
Did you know? In 1973, O'Connor also became the first female Senate Majority Leader when she was elected to lead the Arizona state Senate. |
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| The Master Plan: My Journey from Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose by Chris Wilson with Bret WitterWhat it's about: At 17, Chris Wilson was sentenced to life in prison after killing a man in self-defense. Though his sentence was commuted after 10 years, he spent the intervening time working on his "Master Plan" for success, completing an Associate's Degree and learning new languages.
A fresh start: Once released, Wilson started a business that hires ex-convicts and found fulfillment as a motivational speaker.
Who it's for: readers who enjoy uplifting stories of second chances. |
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| Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia BairdWhat it is: a lively and sympathetic portrait of Queen Victoria, Britain's second-longest reigning monarch (after Elizabeth II).
Read it for: journalist Julia Baird's thoughtful myth-debunking -- contrary to popular belief, Victoria did not shirk her royal duties following the death of her beloved husband Prince Albert.
Reviewers say: "readers will feel as though the story of the famous British queen is being told for the first time" (Booklist). |
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The Romanovs : 1613-1918
by Simon Sebag Montefiore
The acclaimed author of Young Stalin and Jerusalem gives readers an accessible, lively account--based in part on new archival material--of the extraordinary men and women who ruled Russia for three centuries.
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The royal Stuarts : a history of the family that shaped Britain
by Allan Massie
"The Royal Stuarts ruled for over 300 years in Scotland and for a century as the Royal Family of Britain and Ireland. They were leading actors in the foremost political dramas of British history - the Scottish Wars of Independence, the Union of the Crowns, the English Civil War and the Restoration - and remain the most controversial and divisive of royal families. Drawing on the accounts of historians past and present, novels and plays, Allan Massie tells the family's full story, from the salt marshes ofBrittany to the thrones of Scotland and England, and then eventual exile. A book which gets beyond the received generalisations, The Royal Stuarts takes us deep into the lives of figures like Mary Queen of Scots, Charles I and Bonnie Prince Charlie, uncovering a family of strong affections and fierce rivalries, the brave and capable, the weak and foolish."--Publisher's description
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| Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions... by John Julius NorwichWhat it is: a sweeping group biography of four long-reigning 16th-century monarchs who dramatically shaped the era's politics and culture.
Want a taste? "Sometimes friends, more often enemies, always rivals, the four of them together held Europe in the hollow of their hands."
About the author: The late John Julius Norwich was a popular historian and the author of Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy. |
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Mary Tudor : princess, bastard, queen
by Anna Whitelock
An engrossing, unadulterated look at "Bloody Mary"--elder daughter of Henry VIII, Catholic zealot and England's first and most murderous queen--argues that history has unfairly treated the much-maligned monarch. 25,000 first printing.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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