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Biography and Memoir April 2026 |
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| The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg, and the Battle for the Soul of... by Paul FischerWhat it is: Documentarian Paul Fischer’s collective biography charts the early careers of Hollywood titans Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg, whose rise coincided with the fall of the old studio system and ushered in the era of the blockbuster.
Read it for: Though each director has his own style and vision, Fischer’s gossipy, novelistic narrative shows the influence they had on each other as friends, competitors, and co-conspirators while changing the way movies are made. |
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Raising Brows: My Story of Building a Billion-Dollar Beauty Empire
by Anastasia Soare
What it is: Anastasia Soare risked her life escaping communist Romania to come to America. Raising Brows tells the remarkable story of how she built a billion-dollar beauty brand.
What's inside: She shares her extraordinary journey, putting her Romanian values of hard work, persistence, and optimism to the test in Los Angeles, ignoring the landlords and bank managers who laughed when she tried to open a salon focusing on brows.
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| La Lucci by Susan Lucci with Laura MortonWhat it is: Actress Susan Lucci opens up in her “vivid and engaging” (Kirkus Reviews) second memoir about her life and career highs and lows.
Read it for: With unsentimental candor, the soap icon recounts continuing to work in film and Broadway in her late seventies and goes deep into her inspirations, disappointments, and her motivation to keep going despite some painful losses, notably the death of her husband of 53 years, Helmut Huber, of a stroke in 2022. |
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| Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery by Gavin NewsomWhat it's about: California governor and potential 2028 presidential candidate Gavin Newsom’s book briskly lays out his rise in the Democratic party, reveals some of the struggles early in his life that propelled him into politics, and talks about some key achievements of his tenure, including overseeing California’s legalization of same-sex marriage seven years prior to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Try this next: The Deeper the Roots by Michael Tubbs. |
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| Judy Blume: A Life by Mark OppenheimerWhat it is: Historian and journalist Mark Oppenheimer’s “fitting tribute” (Booklist) to author Judy Blume provides a detailed, chronological view of an ambitious, talented woman seeking something beyond the strictures of her early marriage and motherhood.
Read it for: Though her work was sometimes controversial, Oppenheimer pinpoints the secret of Blume’s success: she was able to produce children’s stories with a keen sense of realism in which young readers could actually see themselves. |
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The Guy You Loved to Hate: Confessions from a Reality TV Villain
by Spencer Pratt
What it's about: In this explosive, wildly entertaining memoir, Spencer Pratt charts his rise and fall as America's most notorious reality TV villain on The Hills--and how, from the ashes of the Pacific Palisades fires, he's finally ready for his redemption arc.
Read it for: Now, for the first time, Spencer reveals the untold truth behind the spectacle--a darkly comedic, unflinching, and often surreal confessional from a TV villain who's finally broken character for good.
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| Bonfire of the Murdochs: How the Epic Fight to Control the Last Great Media Dynasty Broke... by Gabriel ShermanWhat it is: In media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s winner-takes-all worldview, his four children -- Lachlan, Liz, James, and Prudence -- become little more than negotiators across the conference table vying for control of his mega-corporation. Biographer Gabriel Sherman documents the family drama, cynicism, and ruthlessness of all concerned in Bonfire of the Murdochs.
For fans of: Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy by James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams; the HBO dramedy series Succession. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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