| A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Mark DawidziakWhat it is: a nuanced biography of formative mystery author Edgar Allan Poe, whose greatest mystery of all -- his sudden death at age 40 -- continues to fascinate fans of his work.
What's inside: a suspenseful dual timeline structure, with one narrative chronicling Poe's life while the other investigates the possible causes of his death (including tuberculosis, rabies, carbon monoxide poisoning, and more). |
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The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir
by Karen Cheung
What it is: a lyrical memoir of journalist Karen Cheung's fraught coming of age against the backdrop of a Hong Kong newly under Chinese control.
Read it for: a compelling insider's look at the city, from its alternative music scene to its stratified society and protests for democracy.
Try this next: Louisa Lim's Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong or Mark Clifford's Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow the World.
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| The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph by Oksana MastersHow it began: Born with multiple health issues due to her mother's radiation exposure from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Oksana Masters was adopted at age seven and relocated to the United States.
What happened next: Masters endured multiple surgeries, including a double leg amputation; as a teen, she found solace in adaptive athletics and later became the United States' most decorated Winter Paralympian.
For fans of: triumphant sports stories and inspiring tales of overcoming adversity. |
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| Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient... by Lynne OlsonStarring: French archaeologist Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, who launched campaigns in the 1950s and '60s to rescue a dozen Egyptian temples from flooding caused by the Aswan Dam reservoir.
Author alert: Historian Lynne Olson is the bestselling author of Madame Fourcade's Secret War.
Reviewers say: "a captivating account of a pathbreaking woman" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| A Stone Is Most Precious Where it Belongs: A Memoir of Uyghur Exile, Hope, and Survival by Gulchehra HojaWhat it's about: In 2001, Uyghur journalist Gulchehra Hoja fled her home in East Turkestan to the United States, where she began publishing stories about China's oppression of the Uyghur people. In retaliation, the Chinese government put her family in internment camps.
Read it for: a moving firsthand account of the Chinese government's ongoing persecution of the Uyghur community.
Further reading: How I Survived a Chinese "Reeducation" Camp by Gulbahar Haitiwaji; No Escape by Nury Turkel. |
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| The Education of Kendrick Perkins by Kendrick Perkins with Seth RogoffWhat it is: the impassioned debut memoir of ESPN analyst and former NBA player Kendrick Perkins.
Topics include: how Perkins turned to basketball to navigate his fraught childhood; his path to NBA stardom and his 2008 championship season as a player for the Boston Celtics; family and fatherhood.
Don't miss: Perkins' incisive commentary on the intersection of sports and social justice. |
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How it began: What starts out as the worst vacation ever turns into a quest to learn more about the first-of-its-kind farm when journalist Diana Marcum inadvertently discovers this wildlife sanctuary. Who you meet: Clive, the whimsical British millionaire whose childhood passion created an industry. |
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| Sink by Joseph Earl ThomasWhat it is: a compelling coming-of-age memoir that chronicles author Joseph Earl Thomas' fraught 1990s Philadelphia childhood spent navigating poverty, abuse, neglect, and homophobia and finding respite in geek culture.
What sets it apart: Thomas' lyrical and unflinching debut is written in the third person and includes a rotating cast of characters both real and fictional (including Dragon Ball Z protagonist Goku).
Awards buzz: An unpublished excerpt of Sink won the 2020 Chautauqua Janus Prize. |
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| The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science by Kate ZernikeWhat it's about: In 1999, 16 MIT women scientists, led by molecular biologist Nancy Hopkins, fought to make the university acknowledge its longtime discrimination against its women faculty.
Author alert: New York Times correspondent Kate Zernike is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who first broke this story in 1999 for the Boston Sunday Globe.
Reviewers say: "Zernike's profile of Nancy Hopkins provides brilliant inspiration" (Booklist Reviews). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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