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Biography and Memoir August 2024 |
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Entrances and exits
by Michael Richards
The three-time Emmy Award-winning actor best known for playing the beloved Cosmo Kramer on the TV series Seinfeld looks back on his long comedy career and the challenges he faced along his road to stardom.
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The lucky ones : a memoir
by Zara Zaheer Chowdhary
"A moving memoir by a survivor of anti-Muslim violence in contemporary India that delicately weaves political and family histories in a tribute to India's vibrant multiethnic society and the resilience of its women and minorities, especially in the face of growing religious extremism. In 2002, Zara Chowdhary was sixteen years old and living with her family in Ahmedabad, one of India's fastest-growing metropolises, when a gruesome anti-Muslim pogrom upended her world. Instead of taking her school exams, she is put under a three-month lockdown with thousands of others, fearing for their community and their lives. The chief minister in the state at the time Narendra Modi, accused of fomenting anti-Muslim violence, would become prime minister of India and lead a government committed to eroding the rights of India's 220 million Muslims. In The Lucky Ones, Chowdhary weaves the past and the present of her multigenerational Muslim family, juxtaposing the horrific violence of rising fascistic forces on the streets with the more mundane violence of patriarchal Indian joint families at the dinner table. Through the stories of sisters, daughters, and mothers raising each other, Chowdhary shows how women hold this world together with their ability to forgive, find laughter, and offer grace even as the world they know, and their place in it, is falling apart. With lyrical clarity and intimacy, The Lucky Ones is a poetic remembrance of how a country's promise of a multi-ethnic secular democracy can so easily dissolve and descend into extremism. Chowdhary's story is a protest against the erasure of India's Muslims, a testimony of a lost girlhood, and a testament to her family and country's entwined lives"
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Just add water : my swimming life
by Katie Ledecky
In this candid and inspiring memoir of a true competitor, a three-time Olympian, a seven-time gold medalist and a world record-holder in individual swimming events charts her life in swimming, from discovering the joy of the pool to developing a champion's mindset that has allowed her to persevere.
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Loud : accept nothing less than the life you deserve
by Drew Afualo
In this part manual, part manifesto, part memoir that smashes the patriarchy, the content creator and women's rights advocate shows that behind her fearsome laugh is a mission and a life philosophy, a strategy for self-confidence from the inside out and a call to rid the internet?—?and our hearts, minds and lives?—?of“terrible men.”
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Broadway Butterfly: Vivian Gordon : The Lady Gangster of Jazz Age New York
by Anthony M. DeStefano
An Emmy Award-winning journalist describes the tumultuous life and sensational 1931 bludgeoning murder of red-haired chorus girl who became a speakeasy owner, blackmailer, high-end escort and extortionist and the detailed diary she left behind implicating hundreds of suspects.
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The color of everything : a journey to quiet the chaos within
by Cory Richards
Sharing his incredible adventures and breathtaking photos, a renowned climber and National Geographic photographer recounts the catastrophic avalanche that changed everything, forcing him to confront the trauma of his past, evaluate his own mental health and learn to rewrite his own story. Illustrations.
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Sharks don't sink : adventures of a rogue shark scientist
by Jasmin Graham
A marine biologist and co-founder of Minorities in Shark Sciences shares how she flourished outside of academia by remembering the important lesson she learned from sharks: keep moving forward, in this guidebook to respecting and protecting some of nature's most misunderstood and vulnerable creatures—and grant the same grace to ourselves. Illustrations.
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Viewfinder : a memoir of seeing and being seen
by Jon M. Chu
"Long before he directed Wicked, In The Heights, or the groundbreaking film Crazy Rich Asians, Jon M. Chu was a movie-obsessed first-generation Chinese American, helping at his parents' Chinese restaurant in Silicon Valley and forever facing the culturalidentity crisis endemic to children of immigrants. Growing up on the cutting edge of 21st-century technology gave Chu the tools he needed to make his mark at USC film school, and to be discovered by Steven Spielberg, but he soon found himself struggling to understand who he was. In this book, for the first time, Chu dives deep into his life and work, telling the universal story of questioning what it means when your dreams collide with your circumstances, and showing how it's possible to succeed even when the world changes beyond all recognition. With striking candor and unrivalled insights, Chu offers a firsthand account of the collision of Silicon Valley and Hollywood--what it's been like to watch his old world shatter and reshape his new one. Ultimately, Viewfinder is about reckoning with your own story, becoming your most creative self, and finding a path all your own"
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Feh : a memoir
by Shalom Auslander
"A memoir of the author's attempt to escape the biblical story he'd been raised on and his struggle to construct a new story for himself and his family"
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The uptown local : joy, death, and Joan Didion : a memoir
by Cory Leadbeater
A former personal assistant to Joan Didion, the author, in this brilliant debut memoir that doubles as a love letter to a cultural icon, shares his secret struggles with depression, addiction and family issues during a decade of working with the woman whose generous friendship and mentorship changed his life.
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Life's too short : a memoir
by Darius Rucker
The three-time Grammy award-winning, Diamond-album-selling lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish and country music star tells the story of his life through the music that made him and his own music with Hootie and as a solo artist, sharing stories of his road-hardened life that are raw, real, funny and deeply emotional.
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The Friday afternoon club : a family memoir
by Griffin Dunne
"A memoir and coming-of-age story chronicling the successes and disappointments, wit and wildness of Dunne and his multigenerational family of larger-than-life characters"
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Get honest or die lying : why small talk sucks
by Charlamagne Tha God
Embracing his life roles as a cultural curator, social commentator, job creator and Girl Dad, the cohost of the nationally syndicated morning radio institution The Breakfast Club shares his thoughts on growth, empowerment and evolution in our fast-changing world—in short, it's time to stop lying to each other, and ourselves.
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On Elizabeth Taylor : An Opinionated Guide
by Matthew Kennedy
The book invites the reader to access and contemplate the work of Elizabeth Taylor, the great and the not so great, alongside the author. Such engagement makes On Elizabeth Taylor fun to pick up and explore. It's valuable to anyone who wants to understand what made Elizabeth Taylor such a big and enduring film star"--
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Night flyer : Harriet Tubman and the faith dreams of a free people
by Tiya Miles
Written with her characteristic tenderness and imaginative genius, a National Book Award-winning author weaves Tubman's life into the fabric of her world, probing the ecological reality of Tubman's surroundings and examining her kindship with other enslaved women, revealing a story of powerful inspiration for our own time of troubles. Illustrations.
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Catherine de Medici : The Life and Times of the Serpent Queen
by Mary Hollingsworth
This authoritative biography of the most powerful woman in 16th-century Europe and mother to three French kings examines her role in religion and the arts and participation in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of Protestants in 1572. Illustrations.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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