Biography and Memoir
May 2025
Recent Releases
When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of...
by Graydon Carter

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).
The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward
by Melinda French Gates

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.
Matriarch
by Tina Knowles

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.
Yoko
by David Sheff

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.
Focus on: Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve
by Drew Afualo

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).
My Life: Growing Up Asian in America
by CAPE with an introduction by SuChin Pak

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.
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
by Cathy Park Hong

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: I'm Laughing Because I'm Crying by Youngmi Mayer.
Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit in
by Phuc Tran

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 anyone who has ever struggled to fit in.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Forsyth County Public Library
770-781-9840 | ForsythPL.org