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Biography and Memoir May 2025 |
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| When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of... by Graydon CarterWhat it's about: Journalist and former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter dishes on his 25 years working for the iconic periodical in this gossipy and self-deprecating "paean to the big, glossy, influential magazines of yore" (Booklist).
For fans of: Dilettante: True Tales of Excess, Triumph, and Disaster by former Vanity Fair deputy editor Dana Brown. |
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| The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward by Melinda French GatesWhat it's about: In her bestselling blend of memoir and self-help, Melinda French Gates candidly reflects on some of the major transitions in her life (including becoming a parent and leaving the Gates Foundation) and offers guidance on how readers can navigate change and thrive.
For fans of: What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey. |
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| Matriarch by Tina KnowlesWhat it's about: In her intimate and empowering debut, Tina Knowles, the mother of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Solange Knowles, recounts her coming of age in 1950s and '60s Texas, raising and influencing two Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriters, navigating love and heartbreak, and more.
Try this next: Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou. |
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| Yoko by David SheffWhat it's about: David Sheff (Beautiful Boy) draws on decades' worth of his interviews with Yoko Ono, including a 1980 interview for Playboy conducted shortly before John Lennon's murder, to deliver a nuanced portrait of the often misunderstood artist and activist.
Further reading: We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me by Elliot Mintz. |
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Focus on: Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
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| Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve by Drew AfualoWhat it's about: In her debut memoir/manifesto, influencer and podcaster Drew Afualo offers an impassioned and inspiring takedown of the patriarchy that's an "unapologetically energizing reading experience" (Kirkus Reviews).
Try this next: Foolish: Tales of Assimilation, Determination, and Humiliation by Sarah Cooper. |
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| My Life: Growing Up Asian in America by CAPE with an introduction by SuChin PakWhat it's about: Featuring poetry, comics, essays, monologues, and more, this thought-provoking and intimate anthology compiled by the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) offers 30 diverse firsthand accounts of the Asian American experience.
Further reading: Asian American Histories of the United States by Catherine Ceniza Choy; Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now by Jeff Yang, Phil Yu, and Philip Wang. |
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| Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park HongWhat it's about: Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, Korean American poet Cathy Park Hong's candid and thought-provoking essay collection blends memoir with cultural criticism and explores her complicated relationship with her identity.
Try this next: Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl by Hyeseung Song; I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying by Youngmi Mayer. |
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| Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit in by Phuc TranWhat it's about: After the fall of Saigon in 1975, author Phuc Tran and his family immigrated to America, winding up in a predominantly white small town in Pennsylvania. An outsider among his classmates, Tran found solace in punk music, classic literature, and skateboarding. Equal parts funny and affecting,
Tran's coming-of-age memoir will resonate with: fans of The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere by James Spooner, and anyone who has ever struggled to fit in. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Longwood Public Library800 Middle Country RoadMiddle Island, New York 11953
(631) 924-6400
longwoodlibrary.org |
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