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Biography and Memoir July 2026 |
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| True Crime by Patricia CornwellKay Scarpetta series author Patricia Cornwell’s autobiography reads like a gritty, dramatic backstory for one of her characters. She talks plainly but captivatingly about her dysfunctional childhood, the multiple incidents of sexual violence she endured, her early journalism career, and the real-life female medical examiner who served as inspiration for Scarpetta. This chatty, candid memoir has “more action and drama than many novels” (Kirkus Reviews). |
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I Belong to Me: A Survivor's Guide to Recovery and Hope After Religious Trauma
by Tia Levings
Indoctrinated from early childhood to obey, conform, and want what others wanted for her, Tia Levings learned love and acceptance meant being someone other than herself. After years of abuse in a violent marriage and high-control religion, she escaped with her children (a story told in her memoir, A Well-Trained Wife) and thought the hardest was behind her. But leaving was just the beginning. Through a series of personal stories, therapeutic stages, and resources, Tia guides readers through the journey that helped her leave abuse, rediscover selfhood, and heal her mind, soul, and body after religious trauma --so that you can too.
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The Hero Next Door: Stories of Patriotism and Purpose
by Martha Raddatz
An inspiring portrait of a dozen men and women who serve in our nation's military that captures their courage and profound sacrifice, by the Emmy Award-winning ABC News anchor, Martha Raddatz. Every one of them has shown awe-inspiring strength of character, creativity, and drive, faced daunting odds, and come out stronger.
Take Kevin Shaeffer, a naval officer working at the Pentagon on 9/11, whose life-changing experience on that day fueled his determination to hunt down Osama bin Laden. Or Mark Little, who made it his mission, after an IED blew up his convoy in Iraq, to help veterans rebuild their lives when they were down. Or Josh Webster, who dangled by a rope under enemy fire to rescue a fallen officer in the mountains of Afghanistan.
Life can turn on a moment, and who's to say what we'll do? That, we learn, is when you spot the real heroes: when no one is watching. Individually, their stories are deeply inspiring, Raddatz writes. Together, they offer something beyond inspiration: insight into what it means to live with a life-defining courage and sense of purpose.
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London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth
by Patrick Radden Keefe
From the bestselling, prizewinning author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, a spellbinding account of a family devastated by the sudden death of their nineteen-year-old son, only to discover that he had created a secret life which drew him into the dangerous criminal underworld that lies beneath London's glittering surface. In a bravura feat of reporting and writing, Patrick Radden Keefe chronicles the Brettlers' quest, peeling back layers of mystery and exposing the seedy truths behind the glamorous London of posh mansions and private nightclubs, a city in which everything is for sale, and aspirational fantasies are underwritten by dirty money and corruption. London Falling is a mesmerizing investigation of an inexplicable death, an intimate and deeply poignant inquiry into the nature of parental love and the challenges of being a parent today, and a portrait of a family trying to solve the riddle not just of how their son died, but of who he really was in life.
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Mother Tongue: A Memoir
by Sara Novic
Sara Novic's early years were steeped in music, Bible study, and a strong desire to fit in. But when she failed her school's mandated hearing test, her worldview was thrown into chaos. Desperate not to be marked as different, she told no one, staying in the hearing world for as long as she could by brute force. Eventually unable to ignore the fact that she was deaf, Novic sought out other deaf people and was welcomed into a tight knit community rooted in the beauty and joy of American Sign Language. Novic realized that rather than maintaining the facade of her old life or trying to straddle two worlds, she would need to cultivate an existence in the space between. Novic's clear, bold voice is one readers will hold onto, learn from, argue with, and be inspired by, as she asks us to recognize difference as a source of opportunity rather than fear, as a chance to draw families and communities together, and to build something new.
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Don't Look in the Freezer: The Very Strange Life of a Veterinarian's Wife
by Patti Eddington
For James Herriot fans and pet lovers, a modern-day, funny-yet-poignant memoir about what it is like to be the only person in a small family not employed in the veterinary profession. Don't Look in the Freezer is a humorous, loving look into the sometimes strange, mostly unglamorous, life of a veterinarian's wife. Patti's little family is not at all like that of famous veterinarian James Herriot's--but is still absolutely filled with compassion and love for animals and the people who adore them.
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Famesick: A Memoir
by Lena Dunham
In this rowdy, frank reflection on illness, fame, sex, and everything in between, Dunham tracks her rise to fame--from selling the pilot of Girls to the present--in three acts, and it becomes clear that the spotlight casts long shadows, distorting the relationships she once held dear and isolating everyone in its glare. Dunham asks herself what the cost of fulfilling her dreams has really been, and whether it was worth it. What she finds is deeper than physical relief, and more lasting, as she learns to live with what she can't change and turn her regrets into wisdom that can carry her forward, as she reconnects to what, and who, she loves.
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Driven
by Susie Wolff
An inside look at the competitive world of Formula One and trailblazer Susie Wolff's 20-year career, taking readers from the driver's seat and the F1 paddock all the way to the future of the sport. Driven is a thrilling story about the highest levels of driving--but more than that, it's a story of perseverance bound to inspire anyone on or off the track.
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The Rolling Stones: The Biography
by Bob Spitz
Bob Spitz has brought his indefatigable energy and five decades of experiences in the fields and hollows of rock 'n' roll to bear on his five-year journey to reexamine one of popular music's greatest stories. At its heart the story is about two boys, Mick and Keith, and their unique, fraught, alchemical bond, often tested, never sundered. This is a story with many dark corners, including a surprising number of deaths. But whether Jagger and Richards sold their souls to the devil or just squeezed their heroes for every drop of inspiration, in the end their connection to their music and to each other put them in a category of one, where they very much remain.
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This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark
by Craig Fehrman
The success of Lewis and Clark depended on much more than just Lewis and Clark. We all know Sacajawea, and some of us know York, the Black man Clark enslaved. But here we meet John Ordway, a working-class soldier who fought grizzlies and towed the captains' hulking barge. We hear from Wolf Calf, a Blackfoot teenager who watched his friend die in a battle with Lewis and his men. In the end, the captains are men who needed help--from Sacajawea, from the Corps, and from each other. Mile after mile, the expedition pushes on through hailstorms and flash floods, frostbite and infections, rattlesnakes and rabid wolves, with the Spanish cavalry in fierce pursuit. Fehrman balances the story's adventure with the humanity of its protagonists. The result is a thrilling reminder that even the most familiar moments in history can still surprise us.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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