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Biography and Memoir May 2026 |
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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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| Project Tiger: The Birth of Genius and the Price of Greatness by Gavin NewshamAs soon as Tiger Woods began showing golfing talent as a toddler, his father Earl embarked on “Project Tiger,” his mission to turn his son into the greatest golfer the world had ever seen. The racism that Earl was trying to help Tiger withstand was real, but in golf journalist Gavin Newsham’s telling, it was Earl’s obsessed guidance that would enable both Tiger’s astonishing dominance and the entitlement that would almost destroy him. For another darkness-tinged sports biography, try Baddest Man: The Making of Mike Tyson by Mark Kriegel. |
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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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| Western Star: The Life and Legends of Larry McMurtry by David StreitfeldNovelist and screenwriter Larry McMurtry is perhaps best remembered for his western novel Lonesome Dove and his screenplay adaptation of Annie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain, as well as for making his home state of Texas a minor character in most of his writing. Before his death in 2021, McMurtry entrusted his friend and Pulitzer-winning journalist David Streitfeld with writing this biography, a “revealing portrait” (Kirkus Reviews) of a complicated man who remained an enigma to all but his closest associates. |
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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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Delia Municipal Library
Box 236, 205 3 Ave. N.
Delia, Alberta T0J 0W0403-364-3777
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