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Biography and Memoir June 2024
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| Did I Ever Tell You? by Genevieve KingstonGenevieve Kingston expands on her 2021 "Modern Love" essay in her affecting debut memoir about the milestone-themed letters and gifts her mother left behind after dying from cancer when the author was 11. For fans of: My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me by Jason B. Rosenthal. |
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And Then? And Then? What Else?
by Daniel Handler
Writing as Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler has led several generations of young readers into that special and curious space of being hopelessly lost, and joyfully finding yourself, in the essential strangeness of literature. The wondrous and perilous journey of the Baudelaire orphans sprung from the author's own path, from his childhood discovery of Baudelaire's poetry through the countless peculiarities of his pursuit of a literary life- abject failure and startling success, breakthrough and breakdown, concordance and controversy-lit along the way by the books and culture he loved best. At once a personal memoir and a literary exploration, a how-to book and a critical inquiry, a sequence of stories and a series of events, And Then? And Then? What Else? is a book not just for anyone curious about the creator of Lemony Snicket, but for anyone who loved books when they were a child, and still loves them now.
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First, Best
by Steven L Reed
The first Black mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, shares his story of making his way in a world that wasn't built for him, drawing on his rich heritage as the son of a civil rights leader. As a proud son of a civil rights leader, Steven L. Reed grew up hearing stories about how his father integrated Montgomery lunch counters and took advice directly from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverend Ralph Abernathy. However, it wasn't until Reed was in the fourth grade and received a death threat against his father that he began to understand more fully the importance of the lessons his father was trying to impart. At this pivotal moment, his father explained, "My job is to prepare you to be a cross-bearer and not just a crown-wearer. Bigotry has no place in our household. It will only hold you down and make you small." First, Best is an essential antidote to the perpetual dehumanization and distortions of Black men in our culture and media. By sharing the story of forging his own path, Reed offers an alternative narrative to Black men coming of age, catalyzing their hope and sense of possibility. Although Reed took a circuitous path to the office of mayor that began by forging his identity at Morehouse College, pursuing entrepreneurship and exploring the wider world, and serving as a probate judge, each step was guided by the values of his father's generation. First, Best is not just about assuming the mantle of manhood or leadership, nor is it only about the expectation of greatness. Fundamentally, it's about responsibility and preparation, serving others, and being willing to pay the price of leadership by carrying the weight of each decision. First, Best affirms the next generation of Black men and women by showing, through story and example, their power and potential in a world that doesn't always root for them.
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But Everyone Feels This Way: How an Autism Diagnosis Saved My Life
by Paige Layle
Paige Layle was normal. She lived in the countryside with her mom, dad, and brother Graham. She went to school, hung out with friends, and all the while everything seemed so much harder than it needed to be. A break in routine threw off the whole day. If her teacher couldn't answer "why" in class, she dissolved into tears, unable to articulate her own confusion or explain her lack of control. But Paige was normal. She smiled in photos, picked her feet up when her mom needed to vacuum instead of fleeing the room, and earned high grades. She had friends and loved to perform in local theater productions. It wasn't until a psychiatrist said she wasn't doing okay, that anyone believed her. In But Everyone Feels This Way, Paige Layle shares her story as an autistic woman diagnosed late. Armed with the phrase "Autism Spectrum Disorder", Paige challenges stigmas, taboos, and stereotypes while learning how to live her authentic, autistic life.
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The Many Lives of Mama Love
by Lara Love Hardin
No one expects the police to knock on the door of the million-dollar two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady secret: she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors' credit cards. Lara is convicted of thirty-two felonies and becomes inmate S32179. She finds that jail is a class system with a power structure that is somewhere between an adolescent sleepover party and Lord of the Flies. But Lara quickly learns the rules and brings love and healing to her fellow inmates as she climbs the social ladder and acquires the nickname "Mama Love". When she's released, she reinvents herself as a ghostwriter. Now, she's getting to meet Oprah, meditate with the Dalai Lama, and have dinner with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But the shadow of her past follows her. Shame is a poison worse than heroin-there is no way to detox. Lara must learn how to forgive herself and others, navigate life as a felon on probation, and prove to herself that she is more good than bad, among other essential lessons.
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The Way of the Hermit: My Incredible 40 Years Living in the Wilderness
by Smith, Ken
Subconsciously, I pressed myself into the loch's banks as that summer inched forward. We'd got off to a rocky beginning, but I started to see Treig in a different way. There was something about this land that told me just to hold on a while longer. It might've been just a whisper at the time, but I knew it was definitely worth heeding. I just knew that was it. This was the place. Seventy-four-year-old Ken Smith has spent the past four decades in the Scottish Highlands. His home is a log cabin nestled near Loch Treig, known as "the lonely loch," where he lives off the land. He fishes for his supper, chops his own wood and even brews his own tipple. He is, in the truest sense of the word, a hermit. From his working-class origins in Derbyshire, Ken always sensed that there was more to life than an empty nine to five. Then one day in 1974, an attack from a group of drunken men left him for dead. Determined to change his prospects, Ken quit his job and spent his formative years traveling in the Yukon. It was here, in the vast wilderness of northwestern Canada, that he honed his survival skills and grew closer to nature. Returning to Britain, he continued his nomadic lifestyle, wandering north and living in huts until he finally reached Loch Treig. Ken decided to lay his roots amongst the dense woodland and Highland air, and has lived there ever since. In The Way of the Hermit, Ken shares the remarkable story of his life for the very first time. Told with humor and compassion, his unique insights allow us to glimpse the awe and wonder of a life lived in nature and offer wisdom on how each of us can escape the pressures and stresses of modern life
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Our Fight
by Rousey, Rhonda
From the moment she burst onto the MMA scene, Ronda Rousey was unbeatable. She repeatedly strung together back-to-back flawless victories, racking up a collection of records and forever changing the face of sports as the UFC's first female champion. A superstar in her sport, she transcended athletics, appearing in blockbuster films and becoming a role model for women everywhere. Then, on November 15, 2015, it all came crashing down. In Our Fight, Rousey explores the greatest challenge of her life and, ultimately, how she rebuilt her life into something better in the aftermath. She recounts how she replaced her pursuit of perfection with the pursuit of happiness and found an opportunity in disguise amongst the wreckage. Following Rousey's relatable journey, Our Fight is a courageous narrative of career changes, marriage, motherhood, and facing your fears.
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Joyful Recollections of Trauma
by Paul Scheer
From award-winning actor and comedian Paul Scheer, a candid and hilarious memoir-in-essays on coming to terms with childhood trauma and finding the joy in embracing your authentic self. Paul Scheer has entertained countless fans and podcast listeners with stories about the odd, wild, and absurd details of his life. Yet these tales have pointed to deeper, more difficult truths that the actor and comedian has kept to himself. Now, he is finally ready to share those truths for the first time--but, of course, with a healthy dose of humor. Blending the confident, affable voice that has won him a dedicated following with a refreshing level of candor, Joyful Recollections of Trauma chronicles Paul's often shocking, admittedly tumultuous childhood and how the experiences of his youth have reverberated throughout his life. In his comedy, Paul has always been unafraid to "go there," to play naïve, cringeworthy characters, imbuing them with disarming charm and humanity. That daring openness is on display in the pages of this memoir, but in true Paul fashion, it is also surprising, eye-opening, and side-splitting. Throughout, Paul shares both the hard-fought lessons and the laughter that can be found in the darkest parts of life, and reminds us that what matters is not what you've been through but who you are becoming. If you loved recent memoirs by Molly Shannon, Maria Bamford, RuPaul, and Jennette McCurdy-or any book that moves you to both laughter and tears-Joyful Recollections of Trauma is the perfect read for you.
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Playin' Possum
by Nancy Jones
Married for more than thirty years to the greatest country music singer who ever lived, the man Frank Sinatra had whimsically referred to as "the second-greatest singer in America," Nancy Jones knew George Jones better than anyone else on earth-the good George and the bad George, the horrendous, and the hilarious. George and Nancy married March 4, 1983, and with her help and encouragement, he quit his wild and wicked ways-for a while. But Nancy Jones is a tenacious fighter, and most people who knew "the Possum," credit Nancy with saving his life and rebuilding his career. For the first time, in Playin' Possum, Nancy Jones reveals the true "insider" perspectives and little known poignant and as well as humorous stories about the country music icon- his battles with cocaine, alcohol, abusive behavior toward her and others, his battles with himself, and most of all, his battles against the demons that sought to control him and ultimately destroy him.
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Fire in the Hole!
by Bob Parsons
Born in the tough town of East Baltimore to parents who were inveterate gamblers, billionaire philanthropist Bob Parsons' early years were marked by hardship and financial struggle. While he vowed his own children would never lack for anything, never did he imagine the wealth he would one day amass as the founder of Parsons Technology, GoDaddy, PXG Golf, and YAM Worldwide. In his literary debut, Fire in the Hole!, this extraordinary entrepreneur recounts the exploits of his youth, his hellish days at the mercy of Catholic school nuns, his harrowing tour of combat duty in Vietnam as a US Marine, his pioneering contributions to the software and internet industries, and his latest ventures in power sports, golf, real estate, and marketing. He strongly supports veterans organizations, and believing in the concept of paying it forward, has awarded grants to more than ninety-six charities and organizations worldwide through the Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation. Perhaps the only thing that has come easy to Parsons is his gift for storytelling. His reflections are at turns heartbreaking, heartwarming, hilarious, and inspiring. If ever there were a story about a self-made man whose wealth can be measured as much by the contents of his heart as by the contents of his bank account, this is it.
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| In the Form of a Question: The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life by Amy SchneiderJeopardy! contestant Amy Schneider, the show's most decorated woman champion, shares her unlikely path toward becoming a "Famous Celebrity Trans Person" in this funny and nonlinear memoir-in-essays featuring chapter titles styled like Jeopardy! questions. Try this next: Form of a Question by Andrew Rostan. |
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The Family Outing
by Jessi Hempel
Jessi Hempel was raised in a seemingly picture-perfect, middle-class American family. Growing up, Jessi and her two siblings struggled to make sense of their family, their world, their changing bodies, and the emotional turmoil each was experiencing. And each, in their own way, was hiding their true self from the world. By the time Jessi reached adulthood, everyone in her family had come out: Jessi as gay, her sister as bisexual, her father as gay, her brother as transgender, and her mother as a survivor of a traumatic experience with an alleged serial killer. Yet coming out was just the beginning, starting a chain reaction of other personal revelations and reckonings that caused each of them to question their place in the world in new and ultimately liberating ways.
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The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation
by Raquel Willis
Journalist and trans activist Raquel Willis chronicles her journey toward self-empowerment in this affecting and life-affirming memoir. For fans of: Redefining Realness by Janet Mock; I Have Always Been Me by Precious Brady-Davis.
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Space Between
by Nico Tortorella
Nico Tortorella is a seeker. Raised on a steady regimen of Ram Dass and raw food, they have always been interested in the more spiritual aspects of life. That is, until the desire for fame and fortune eclipsed their journey toward enlightenment and sent Nico on a downward spiral of addiction and self-destructive behavior. It wasn't until they dug deep and began to examine the fluidity of both their sexuality and gender identity that they became more comfortable in their own skin, got sober from alcohol, entered into an unconventional marriage with the love of their life, and fully embraced a queer lifestyle that afforded them the opportunity to explore life outside the gender binary. It was precisely in that space between that Nico encountered the diverse community of open-minded, supportive peers they'd always dreamed of having.
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I Was Better Last Night
by Harvey Fierstein
This autobiography from the cultural icon, gay rights activist and four-time Tony Award–winning actor and playwright looks back on his legendary career, from community theater in Brooklyn to the excesses of Hollywood.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Michigan City Public Library 100 E. 4th Street Michigan City, Indiana 46360 219-873-3044mclib.org/ |
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