LibraryAware July 2025

Medicine River : a story of survival and the legacy of Indian boarding schools
by Mary Annette Pember

Through searing interviews and assiduous historical reporting on Native American boarding schools from the mid-19th century to the 1930s, the author traces the evolution and continued rebirth of a culture whose country has been seemingly intent upon destroying it.

Karen: A Brother Remembers
by Kelsey Grammer

Actor Kelsey Grammer reflects on the 1975 kidnapping, rape, and murder of his teenage sister Karen in this affecting account of grief and healing. Try this next: The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir by Griffin Dunne.

Big dumb eyes : stories from a simpler mind
by Nate Bargatze

"Nate Bargatze used to be a genius. That is, until the summer after seventh grade when he slipped, fell off a cliff, hit his head on a rock, and "my skull got, like, dented or something." Before this accident, he dreamed of being "an electric engineer, or a doctor that does brain stuff, or a math teacher who teaches the hardest math on earth." Afterwards, all he could do was stand-up comedy.* But the "brain stuff" industry's loss is everyone else's gain because Nate went on to become one of today's top-grossing comedians, breaking both attendance and streaming records. BIG DUMB EYES is full of heart. It will make readers laugh out loud and nod in recognition, but it probably won't make them think too much"

Joy Goddess: A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance
by A'Lelia Bundles

A'Lelia Bundles "brings vibrant life" (Publishers Weekly) to her great-grandmother A'Lelia Walker (trailblazing entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker's daughter), who parlayed her status as the United States' first high-profile Black heiress to become a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance and a prolific patron of the arts. Try this next: Madam C.J. Walker: The Making of an American Icon by Erica L. Ball.

Books You Might Have Missed

Memorial Days
by Geraldine Brooks

In her spare and lyrical memoir, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks (March) details her delayed grieving process after the sudden death of her husband in 2019. For fans of: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion; In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom.

Boat baby : a memoir
by Vicky Nguyen

"In a memoir where heroism meets humor, NBC News anchor and correspondent Vicky Nguyen tells the story of her family's daring escape from communist Vietnam and her unlikely journey from refugee to reporter with laughter and fierce love"

Contact your librarian for more great books!

Cardington-Lincoln Public Library