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Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
by Belle Burden
The speed of our beginning and the speed of our ending felt like matching bookends. They both came out of nowhere. In March 2020, Belle Burden was safe and secure with her family at their house on Martha's Vineyard, building fires in the late afternoons, drinking whisky sours, making roast chicken. Then, with no warning or explanation, her husband of twenty years announced that he was leaving her. Overnight, her caring, steady partner became a man she hardly recognized. He exited his life with her like an actor shrugging off a costume. In Strangers, Burden revisits her marriage, searching for clues that her husband was not who she always thought he was. As she examines her relationship through a new lens, she reckons with her own family history and the lessons she intuited about how a woman should behave in the face of betrayal. The discreet, compliant woman she once was, someone nicknamed Belle the Good, gives way to someone braver, someone determined to use her voice. With unflinching honesty and profound grace, Burden charts a path through heartbreak to show the power of a woman who refuses to give up on love.
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| All That's Unseen: An Appalachian Memoir by Emilee HackneyAfter a devastating betrayal that called her Pentecostal faith into question, debut memoirist Emilee Hackney left her small Appalachian town in Virginia for Harvard. Amidst the culture shock, Hackney realized that leaving home was the right move for her. But it also made her see that home in a new light, and she found herself defending the land of her birth against those quick to dismiss it. |
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Real enough: the unlikely story of Doug and the Slugs
by Chapman, Aaron
Doug and the Slugs carved out a unique spot in the North American music scene after first appearing in Vancouver BC in 1977. Too polished to be punk and too irreverent to be slick radio rock and roll, they quickly became hometown favourites. Through a hard-won, rigorous touring schedule, a bar band suddenly found themselves with a gold record. With a sense of humour never too far from their approach, it thrust lead singer Doug Bennett to become the clown prince of Canadian rock and roll. Featuring unpublished photos, posters, personal diaries, ticket stubs, and music ephemera, Real Enough is at its heart, a celebration of Doug and the Slugs, the music, the memories, and a lifetime of playing together.
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Leaving Home: A Memoir in Full Colour
by Mark Haddon
An unflinching, brilliantly written, darkly funny, lavishly illustrated memoir by the acclaimed author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night. Leaving Home is a portrait of the artist both as a child and as an adult. His parents, not really the care giving type, were better at designing abattoirs and keeping a pathologically clean and tidy house. At least he had the consolations. Leaving Home, is about knickerbocker glories and heart surgery, about papier mache and mental breakdown and great white sharks. It is about how art, in all its varied forms, provides a way of understanding and coming to terms with the mess of human life. Illustrated throughout with images from the author's childhood. Leaving Home is about escaping a place that never felt like home and learning to create somewhere that does feel like home.
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Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest
by James Martin
This coming-of-age story is set in the 1960s and 1970s, a lighthearted tale for readers who enjoy personal narratives. Each chapter features photos of memories and milestones throughout Father Martin's young life. He is not the hero of these stories, more a hapless teenager who learns in each job, even the ones he loathes, something about the value of work, about what it means to be an adult, about people, and about life. Work in Progress, teaches us small but important life lessons such as work hard and be on time, don't be mean, apologize when you need to, and forgive frequently, ask if you don't know something, don't misuse power, pay attention to those who are struggling, listen and, above all, be kind.
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Focus on: Hispanic Heritage Month
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| Devout: Losing My Faith to Find Myself by David ArchuletaBy the time David Archuleta was 17, he had become the first runner-up on American Idol and was ready to parlay his newfound fame into a singing career. Except, he experienced persistent feelings of same-sex attraction. David’s long journey toward self-acceptance involved deciding whether he wanted to come out and risk alienating his fans, his Honduran American family, and his Latter-Day Saints church. |
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| Keeper of My Kin: Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter by Ada FerrerPulitzer Prize-winning historian, Ada Ferrer (Cuba: An American History) relates the toll that emigrating from Cuba to the United States took on her family, especially her older half-brother Poly. When 10-month-old Ada and her mother left for New York City in 1963, a dispute with Poly’s father meant the boy had to be left behind, a heartbreaking turn that the author believes cast a shadow over the rest of Poly’s troubled life. |
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The Book of Awesome Latinas: Inspiring Stories and BIOS of Hispanic and Latin Women Throughout History
by Mirtle Peña-Calderón
From the foremothers who blazed trails and broke barriers, to today's women warriors across a wide range of fields like medicine, literature, politics, civil rights, space exploration, and the arts, “The Book of Awesome Latinas,” presents seventy-four portraits of powerful and inspiring role models for chichas poised to become the superwomen of the future.
Each person featured in this book has broken barriers, defied expectations, and made a lasting impact within their communities. Through their courage, resilience, and steadfast determination, they will serve as powerful role models for the next generation, proving that when representation is lacking, we must be brave and bold enough to be the first.
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In the Shadow of the Mountain: A Memoir of Courage
by Silvia Vasquez-Lavado
Grappling with alcoholism and memories of childhood sexual abuse, Peruvian-born Silicon Valley executive Silvia Vasquez-Lavado began climbing mountains, eventually starting a nonprofit to help girls heal through adventure and becoming the first openly gay woman to climb the Seven Summits.
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