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Biography and Memoir July 2024 |
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| Rise of a Killah by Ghostface KillahA founding member of iconic hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, Ghostface Killah charts his fraught path to stardom in this free-flowing memoir surveying his life through 15 of his songs. For fans of: Raw: My Journey into the Wu-Tang by Lamont "U-God" Hawkins. |
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| The Uptown Local: Joy, Death, and Joan Didion by Cory LeadbeaterCory Leadbeater's moving debut chronicles the transformative decade the author spent working as a personal assistant to writer Joan Didion as she neared the end of her life. Further reading: Joan Didion: The Last Interview and Other Conversations by Joan Didion with an introduction by Patricia Lockwood. |
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| I've Tried Being Nice: Essays by Ann LearyBestselling novelist Ann Leary's (The Foundling) debut essay collection offers a witty and self-deprecating account of the author's attempts to stop being a self-proclaimed "people pleaser," with varying (and relatable) degrees of success. For fans of: Well, This Is Exhausting: Essays by Sophia Benoit. |
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| Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People by Tiya MilesNational Book Award-winning author Tiya Miles' (All That She Carried) nuanced and demythologizing biography of abolitionist Harriet Tubman offers fresh insights on her life, particularly how her religious faith and ecological knowledge informed her work as an Underground Railroad conductor. Try this next: Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War by Edda L. Fields-Black. |
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| Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell by Ann PowersNPR music critic Ann Powers plumbs the life and career of legendary singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell in this thoughtful and lyrical portrait named one of Observer's Best New Biographies of 2024. Further reading: Joni: The Anthology edited by Barney Hoskyns. |
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Books You Might Have Missed
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| Zodiac: A Graphic Memoir by Ai Weiwei; illustrated by Gianluca CostantiniChinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei's debut graphic memoir offers autobiographical sketches and folktales centered around the 12 animal signs of the Chinese zodiac. Italian cartoonist Gianluca Costantini's expressive black-and-white illustrations complement Weiwei's intimate prose. For more insights on the author's life, check out his 2021 memoir 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows. |
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| Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring by Brad GoochBrad Gooch's engaging biography of pop art pioneer and activist Keith Haring (1958-1990) draws upon hundreds of interviews with Haring's loved ones and colleagues to present a "thorough, intricately detailed, and enthralling portrait of a singular artist" (Booklist Reviews). Try this next: I've Seen the Future and I'm Not Going: The Art Scene and Downtown New York in the 1980s by Peter McGough. |
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| How to Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir by Shayla LawsonPoet and journalist Shayla Lawson follows up their National Book Critics Circle finalist This Is Major with a lyrical memoir-in-essays exploring how travel shaped their worldview and quest for liberation. For fans of: The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation by Raquel Willis. |
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| The Other Fab Four: The Remarkable True Story of the Liverbirds, Britain's First Female Rock... by Mary McGlory and Sylvia SaundersMary McGlory and Sylvia Saunders co-wrote this upbeat chronicle of their life as members of the Liverbirds, one of the first all-women rock bands in the world, which they co-founded alongside Valerie Gell and Pamela Birch in 1963. The quartet's working-class Liverpudlian origins earned them comparisons to the Beatles, with whom they were briefly acquainted. Try this next: Parachute Women: Marianne Faithfull, Marsha Hunt, Bianca Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, and the Women Behind the Rolling Stones by Elizabeth Winder. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Atlantic County Library System | 40 Farragut Avenue, Mays Landing, NJ 08330
Phone: (609) 625-2776 | www.atlanticlibrary.org
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|  | Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson
Atlantic County Board of Commissioners, Maureen Kern, Chairwoman |
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