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Biography and Memoir November 2025 |
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| Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America by Jeff ChangBruce Lee’s arrival on the big screen was seismic, as recounted here by Asian American author Jeff Chang. Lee leveraged a potent mix of “magnetism and physical talents” (Kirkus Reviews) to gain renown as a martial arts teacher and later as an actor in Hong Kong and Hollywood, soon becoming the original Asian megastar. For fans of: The Golden Screen: The Movies That Made Asian America by Jeff Yang. |
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| Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age by Joy HarjoFormer United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s latest book is equal parts memoir and inspirational guide addressed to young Native women. Accordingly, her story is imbued with lyricism, spirituality, and a call to embrace one’s creativity even in the face of the pain, despair, and injustice that many young Indigenous people frequently encounter. For another inspiring memoir that incorporates ethnic identity and creativity, try Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu. |
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| Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America by Beth MacyAuthor Beth Macy tells her life story framed within a recent visit to her hardscrabble Midwestern hometown. Although Macy’s childhood was marked by trauma, she remembers Urbana, Ohio, as a place where neighbors had each other’s backs, a situation since compromised by declining opportunities, opioid addiction, and social polarization. Try this next: Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild. |
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| Joyride by Susan OrleanCelebrated nonfiction author Susan Orlean chooses her own life as subject in Joyride. Orlean openly reveals her bumpy road through the often challenging life of a professional writer, including her years developing a strong journalistic voice, and as a bonus provides indispensable advice to aspiring writers throughout. For another work-centered memoir from a writer of nonfiction, try Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing by Robert A. Caro. |
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Focus on: Native American Heritage Month
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| Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie DiazMojave poet Natalie Diaz’s second volume of poetry draws details from her own life as an Indigenous American and spotlights themes and sentiments rooted in the Indigenous experience. Diaz employs sensual images to invoke American imperialism, Indigenous protest, assimilation, and desire, the latter of which she explores in numerous love poems that “buzz with erotic energy” (Booklist). For fans of: the socially aware poetry of Ada Limón. |
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| Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian's Journey Home by Chris La TrayMontana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray’s story is one of self-discovery in the face of resistance from one’s own family: La Tray’s father denied his Indigenous ancestry and refused to discuss it with his son. La Tray has spent the years since his father’s death as an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa and advocating for young people curious about where they come from. Try this next: From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle. |
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Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe
by David Maraniss
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Maraniss' well-researched and insightful biography of multi-hyphenate athlete Jim Thorpe, the first Indigenous American to win Olympic gold for the United States, looks at the man beyond the myth, exploring how Thorpe grappled with racist treatment, poverty and alcoholism, and fraught family relationships amid his career triumphs. Further reading: Native American Son: The Life and Sporting Legend of Jim Thorpe by Kate Buford.
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Whiskey Tender
by Deborah Jackson Taffa
In her thought-provoking debut named a Most Anticipated Book by Elle, The New York Times, and San Francisco Chronicle, Deborah Jackson Taffa, a member of the Quechan (Yuma) and Laguna Pueblo, recounts her fraught coming of age in the 1980s as a "Native girl in a northwestern New Mexico town where cowboys still hated Indians." Try this next: Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land by Toni Jensen.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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