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Biography and Memoir May 2026 |
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The Confessions of Samuel Pepys: Private Revelations from Britain's Most Famed Diarist
by Guy de la Bédoyère
A remarkable collection of the most personal aspects of Samuel Pepys' diaries, in celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of their publication. The Diary of Samuel Pepys is the most celebrated personal journal in the English language. Pepys's candid revelations as he forged his career as a civilian naval official in Restoration London have fascinated readers ever since the first selection was published in 1825. This book focuses on Pepys's controversial private life and is geared for a contemporary readership by charting his varied and complex relationships with women. These included his wife, Elizabeth--whom he both loved and treated abominably--their domestic servants, the mistresses whom he secretly visited in Westminster and Deptford, the great ladies of the court whom he ogled, and the actresses and other female friends whose company he delighted in and combined with casual flirting. All these he recounted in shorthand, often disguising the more salacious occasions in his own cryptic Franco-Latino polyglot or with a primitive system of extraneous consonants. Most of these controversial entries were excised from nineteenth century editions, but all are featured here in completely new transcriptions--with Pepys's secret code translated--following fresh forensic examination from the original shorthand diary. The Confessions of Samuel Pepys also reveals how all previous transcribers of the diary, as well as many of his biographers, have deliberately avoided this controversial element of Pepys's reputation.
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| Cosmic Music: The Life, Art, and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane by Andy BetaJazz pianist and harpist Alice Coltrane has always labored in the long shadow of her more famous husband, John. But music journalist Andy Beta’s new biography gives Alice her due. Her unique solo recordings meld elements of jazz, gospel, and eastern and western classical musics into a dreamlike, meditative tapestry that speaks to the composer’s strong spiritual foundation. For fans of: Billie Holiday: the Musician and the Myth by John Szwed. |
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| This Is Not About Running by Mary CainWhen she was a teenager, Mary Cain’s talent as a middle-distance runner secured her a coveted position in Nike’s Oregon Project youth training program, headed by running legend Alberto Salazar. But when Cain’s performance started to slip, it became clear that she had been harming and starving herself as a result of Salazar’s cruel treatment and other abuse allowed by the program. Cain tells all in her “powerful and haunting” (Publisher’s Weekly) debut. Read-alike: Abused: Surviving Sexual Assault and a Toxic Gymnastics Culture by Rachel Haines. |
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| Shut Up and Read: A Memoir from Harriett's Bookshop by Jeannine A. CookJeannine A. Cook’s Philadelphia bookstore -- named in honor of Harriet Tubman -- opened barely a month before the COVID-19 lockdown. Yet Cook remained determined. She punctuates her memoir with letters that she wrote to Tubman, Phillis Wheatley, Josephine Baker, and others -- determined Black women of the past whose spirits were beacons of hope and resistance that would see her through the tough times ahead. Six years later, Harriet’s Bookshop is thriving! Try Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller by Nadia Wassef for a similarly inspiring tale. |
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| Kutchinsky's Egg: A Family's Story of Obsession, Love, and Loss by Serena KutchinskySerena Kutchinsky grew up in an affluent Jewish British family famous for its high-end jewelry firm, House of Kutchinsky. When her father Paul took over the business in the 1980s, he hatched an ambitious and risky plan to create and sell the world’s largest jewel-encrusted egg, which went so spectacularly wrong that it bankrupted the century-old firm. For the Kutchinskys, the seized, missing egg became a reviled symbol of hubris and failure. Decades later, Serena’s search for the cursed object would lead her into a web of family secrets in this “riveting” (Publishers Weekly) generational saga. |
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| Heartland: A Forgotten Place, an Impossible Dream, and the Miracle of Larry Bird by Keith O'BrienLarry Bird was just a poor kid from a broken home in French Lick who thought his college basketball career was over when he quit the University of Indiana after an overwhelming first semester. In an unlikely turn, Bird was re-recruited by Bob King of Indiana State (a school with zero hoops cred), leading to a trip to the Final Four in 1979 and a storied NBA career. Biographer Keith O’Brien (Charlie Hustle) spins a “smart, well-paced” (Kirkus Reviews) tale of Bird beginning to take flight. |
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| Stephen Sondheim: Art Isn't Easy by Daniel OkrentComposer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s devoted fandom speaks to his huge impact on modern musical theater, and a short list of his hits -- Sweeney Todd, Company, Into the Woods -- leaves little doubt. Author Daniel Okrent’s concise, perceptive biography foregrounds aspects of Sondheim’s personal life, like how notoriously difficult he could be to work with, relentlessly pursuing perfection and sometimes displaying a vengeful streak. For fans of: Ira Gerhswin: A Life in Words by Michael Owen. |
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| Small Town Girls: A Writer's Memoir by Jayne Anne PhillipsNovelist Jayne Anne Phillips’ Small Town Girls is not strictly a memoir. Yet this collection of previously published essays includes many fragments from the author’s memories of growing up in her troubled, enchanted homeland of West Virginia. Whether pondering the Hatfield-McCoy feud or revisiting sense memories of her hometown’s beauty shop, Phillips’ incisive and lyrical observations give life to a time gone by. For more autobiographical snippets set in the Mountain State, try Crapalachia by Scott McClanahan. |
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| The Last Titans: How Churchill and de Gaulle Saved Their Nations and Transformed the... by Richard VinenHistorian Richard Vinen’s (1968) dual biography of world leaders and WWII allies Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle engagingly charts the paths of both men from soldier to author to heroic symbol of a nation beset by war. Although the postwar years would see de Gaulle’s political star rise while Churchill’s career was in decline, Vinen makes the inarguable point that both figures shaped 20th-century Europe in their image. For fans of: Neville Thompson's The Third Man: Churchill, Roosevelt, Mackenzie King, and the Untold Friendships That Won WWII. |
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 Contact your librarian for more great books! |
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