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Biography and Memoir July 2020
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Miracle country : a memoir
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Kendra Atleework
What it is: Describes how the author's thriving childhood in the natural desert landscape of the Eastern Sierra Nevada was upended by her mother's tragic early death and how the region of her youth has been ravaged by climate change. 30,000 first printing.
Reviewers say: "[A] shimmering memoir . . . A bittersweet tribute to home and family in breathtaking prose that will appeal to lovers of memoirs and history, as well as anyone who enjoys beautifully crafted writing."
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Places I've Taken My Body: Essays by Molly McCully Brown What it is: poet Molly McCully Brown's heartwrenching and lyrical memoir in essays exploring the challenges of living with cerebral palsy.
Topics include: sexuality; spirituality; isolation.
Want a taste? "...in poetry, I found a form that not only mirrored my own slowness, but rewarded the careful attention with which I had to move through the world." | | The Dragons, the Giant, the Women by Wayétu Moore What it's about: In 1990, shortly after her fifth birthday, Wayétu Moore and her family fled the First Liberian Civil War, eventually settling in Texas, where Moore grappled with her identity as a black immigrant and feelings of displacement.
For fans of: heartrending and reflective immigration stories like Thi Bui's illustrated memoir The Best We Could Do.
About the author: Moore is the author of She Would Be King, a Booklist Editors' Choice Best Fiction Book of 2018. | | The Book of Rosy: A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border by Rosayra Pablo Cruz and Julie Schwietert Collazo What it is: a haunting exploration of the Trump administration's family separation policy, as experienced by one Guatemalan family.
What happened: Fleeing Guatemala after her husband's murder, asylum seeker Rosayra Pablo Cruz and her two sons traveled more than 2,000 miles to the southern U.S. border. Once they arrived, Pablo Cruz spent 80 days detained in an Arizona facility, and her children were placed with a foster family in the Bronx.
Read it for: a searing account of the lingering effects of separation. | |
Save me the plums : my Gourmet memoir
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Ruth Reichl
What it is: The six-time James Beard Award-winning journalist and best-selling author of My Kitchen Year chronicles her groundbreaking tenure as editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine and her work with legendary fellow epicureans to transform how America thinks about food
Reviewers say: "A must for any food lover . . . Reichl is a warm, intimate writer. She peels back the curtain to a glamorous time of magazine-making. You'll tear through this memoir."--Refinery29
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Mostly sunny : how I learned to keep smiling through the rainiest days
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Janice Dean
What it's about: The "Fox & Friends" meteorologist discusses her marriage to a 9/11 firefighter, her battle with multiple sclerosis, and the impact of sexism on her career, revealing the strength of deliberate optimism in the face of any challenge.
Read it because: The funny, sweet, and wise Janice Dean you see on TV is now the real Janice Dean, and she's on every page of her book, sharing her secrets and making your own forecast a little brighter.
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Autism in Heels: The Untold Story of a Female Life on the Spectrum by Jennifer Cook O'Toole What it is: an inspirational guide that urges readers -- and the medical establishment -- to reevaluate stereotypical ideas about what autism looks like, especially the ways gender can affect the expression of autistic traits.
Why it's important: Author Jennifer Cook O'Toole encourages readers to view autism as more of a difference than a "disease," and reveals how her diagnosis at age 34 came as a relief instead of something negative. | | Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting by Anna Quindlen What it's about: Anna Quindlen's examination of her changing family dynamics as she goes from parent to grandparent and must recalibrate her relationship with her child and her own understanding of herself.
Want a taste? "Those who make their opinions sound like the Ten Commandments see their grandchildren only on major holidays and in photographs."
About the author: Pulitzer Prize winner Quindlen is also known for her fiction, including Still Life with Breadcrumbs and Object Lessons. | |
24 : life stories and lessons from the Say Hey Kid
by
Willie Mays
What it's about: A man widely regarded as one the greatest all-around players in baseball history reflects on his lifetime of experience meeting challenges with positivity, integrity and triumph.
Why it's important: At a time when the color barrier in Major League Baseball had just been broken by Jackie Robinson, Mr. Mays triumphed against still-pervasive bigotry, not just with his enormous talents on the field, but by also adhering to the type of life plan and philosophy that he lays out in this important new book.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Grand Ledge Area District Library 131 E Jefferson St Grand Ledge, Michigan 48837 (517) 627-7014https://gladl.org |
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