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Biography and Memoir November 2025 |
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Guinness: A Family Succession: The True Story of the Struggle to Create the World's Largest Brewery
by Arthur Edward Guinness
Growing up at Farmleigh, the country house outside Dublin, Arthur Edward Guinness – Ned for short – was fascinated by the secrets and legends that surrounded the early generations of his famous family of brewers. Against the backdrop of epic and convulsive times in Ireland and Britain, he explores the struggles and passions of his ancestors, who went from obscurity in Kildare to the pinnacle of Irish and British society. Each generation confronted new challenges until the dramatic events when the author’s great-great-grandfather bought out his glamorous older brother and floated Guinness on the stock exchange. Overnight Edward Cecil Guinness became Ireland’s richest man.
This is a tale in which brewing genius, sibling rivalry, bounteous philanthropy, and astonishing social mobility are interwoven with historic national events, including the Act of Union, Catholic Emancipation, the Famine, the Home Rule movement, the Dublin Lockout, and ultimately Irish independence. It is the inside story, as told by Ned Guinness.
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Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, a Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism
by Leland Vittert
Leland was a socially awkward boy who didn’t speak for years, and when he finally did, teachers and leaders declared him “weird.” His unique behavior and inability to connect with his peers made him a frequent target for bullying and exclusion. In one particularly harsh moment, a school principal bluntly told his parents, “The people here think Leland is pretty weird. I guess I do, too.”
From a young age, Leland showed signs of being Autistic, a term rarely used at the time, struggling with social cues, communication, and behavioral norms that came naturally to other kids. The diagnosis didn't deter his father, Mark. He knew the world wouldn't change for Leland, so he quit his job and began changing Leland for the world. He became a full-time parent-coach, from hundreds of pushups at age 7 to toughen him against bullies, to coaching him through complex social interactions, Mark’s relentless dedication changed the trajectory of Leland’s life.
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Poems & Prayers
by Matthew McConaughey
An inspiring, faith-filled, and often hilarious collection of personal poetry and prayers about navigating the rodeo of life and chasing down the original dream: belief. Written by Academy Award-winning actor and #1 New York Times bestselling author Matthew McConaughey who is also a husband and a father, an eternal optimist, a hopeful skeptic, and a man of faith who believes that we should all start sellin' Sunday morning like a Saturday night.
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Told You So
by Mayci Neeley
Mayci Neeley and the women of MomTok burst into the center of pop culture when Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives took the world by storm. But the show barely scratched the surface of Mayci’s personal story. From becoming a mom at twenty, to losing her son’s father in a tragic car accident, to going back to college as a single mother, she’s only ever given us glimpses of the challenging things she’s been through. Now, finally, she’s ready to tell us everything.
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Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis
by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley with Mary Jane Ross
More than 50 years after her divorce from the King of Rock and Roll, Priscilla Beaulieu Presley candidly recalls finding her independence after her relationship with Elvis, which had dominated her life since she was 14. Presley is frank about her triumphs (success as an actor) and tragedies (the deaths of her daughter and grandson), as well as the grief she felt after her ex-husband’s death.
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Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home
by Stephen Starring Grant
Steve Grant was laid off in March of 2020. He was fifty and had cancer, so he needed health insurance, fast. Which is how he found himself a rural letter carrier in Appalachia, back in his old hometown of Blacksburg, Virginia. Suddenly, he was the guy with the goods, delivering dog food and respirators and lube and heirloom tomato seeds and Lord of the Rings replica swords. He transported chicken feed to grandmothers living alone in the mountains and forded a creek with a refrigerator on his back. But while he carried the mail, he also carried a whole lot more than just the mail, including a family legacy of rage and the anxiety of having lost his identity along with his corporate job. And yet, slowly, surrounded by a ragtag but devoted band of letter carriers, working this different kind of job, Grant found himself becoming a different kind of person. He became a lifeline for lonely people, providing fleeting moments of human contact and the assurance that our government still cares.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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