|
|
Biography and Memoir February 2021
|
|
|
|
Walking with ghosts : a memoir by Gabriel ByrneWhat it is: The award-winning stage and screen actor documents his working-class Dublin childhood, his failed ambition to become a priest, the role of street life in shaping his characters and his experiences in Hollywood and on Broadway. Why you might like it: Moving between sensual recollection of childhood in a now almost vanished Ireland and reflections on stardom in Hollywood and Broadway, Byrne also courageously recounts his battle with addiction and the ambivalence of fame. Walking with Ghosts is by turns hilarious and heartbreaking as well as a lyrical homage to the people and landscapes that ultimately shape our destinies
|
|
|
The beautiful struggle by Ta-Nehisi CoatesWhat it is: Adapted for teen readers, a father-son memoir documents the National Book Award-winning author’s youth. What it's about: Set in the “murder capital” of 1980s Baltimore and his relationship with his father, Vietnam veteran Paul Coates, Ta-Nehisi discusses the latter’s activism as a Black Panther and Afrocentric scholar. Reviews say: This title would be a great read for parent and child bonding, but it would also make a great leisure read for the young person who finds solace in understanding the diversity of humanity of those around them. –Booklist
|
|
| All the Young Men: A Memoir of Love, AIDS, and Chosen Family in the American South by Ruth Coker Burks with Kevin Carr O'LearyWhat it's about: In 1980s Hot Springs, Arkansas, young single mom Ruth Coker Burks became an outcast in her conservative community when she began caring for dying AIDS patients.
Why you should read it: Coker Burks' candid account of her life in activism offers a bittersweet front-line perspective on the AIDS crisis.
Don't miss: The author burying men in her family's cemetery after their own families wouldn't claim them, eventually earning the moniker "Cemetery Angel" for her efforts. |
|
|
I came as a shadow : an autobiography by John ThompsonWhat it is: The autobiography of the legendary coach of the Georgetown Hoyas, whose achievements on and off the basketball court reflect America's unresolved struggle with racial justice. What's inside: After five decades at the center of race and sports in America, Thompson was ready to make the private public, and he completed this autobiography shortly before his death. His book drives us through his childhood under JIm Crow segregation to our current moment of racial reckoning.
|
|
|
Just as I am : a memoir by Cicely TysonWhat it is: The Academy, Tony, and three-time Emmy Award-winning actor and trailblazer tells her stunning story, looking back at her six-decade career and life. The story in her own words: "Just As I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside. In these pages, I am indeed Cicely, the actress who has been blessed to grace the stage and screen for six decades. Yet I am also the church girl who once rarely spoke a word. I am the teenager who sought solace in the verses of the old hymn for which this book is named. I am a daughter and mother, a sister, and a friend. I am an observer of human nature and the dreamer of audacious dreams. I am a woman who has hurt as immeasurably as I have loved, a child of God divinely guided by His hand. And here in my ninth decade, I am a woman who, at long last, has something meaningful to say." -Cicely Tyson
|
|
Focus on: Black History Month |
|
| Black Is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother's Time, My Mother's Time, and... by Emily BernardWhat it is: a lyrical memoir in essays that examines author Emily Bernard's relationship to her Blackness and her Southern heritage.
Topics include: Bernard's interracial marriage and her adoption of twin girls from Ethiopia; her grandmother's Jim Crow-era Mississippi childhood.
Want a taste? "I am black -- and brown, too. Brown is the body I was born into. Black is the body of the stories I tell." |
|
| The Book of Delights by Ross GayWhat it is: National Book Critics Circle Award-winning poet Ross Gay's wide-ranging collection of 102 "essayettes" celebrating life's big and small joys.
Why it matters: Gay's engaging reflections on everything from race and masculinity to hobbies and popular culture offer a thought-provoking rejoinder to narratives that center on Black suffering. |
|
| This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist... by Morgan JerkinsWhat it is: the debut essay collection from ZORA editor Morgan Jerkins exploring the trials and triumphs of contemporary Black womanhood.
Why you should read it: Jerkins' thoughtful memoir offers a much-needed perspective on misogynoir in mainstream feminist spaces.
Try this next: Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper. |
|
|
The Black history of the White House by Clarence LusaneWhat it is: Presents a history of the White House from an African American perspective, with information on such topics as slavery, the abolitionist movement, and African-American White House staff. What's inside: Juxtaposing significant events in White House history with the ongoing struggle for civil rights, the book makes plain that the White House has always been a prism through which to view the social struggles.
|
|
|
Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man's Education
by Mychal Denzel Smith
What it is: Mychal Denzel Smith (who writes for The Nation) details the story of his life as a young black man coming of age in the United States, from his birth in 1980s Washington, D.C., to his time at the historically black Hampton University, to his life as a social activist.
Read it with: Ta-Nehisi Coates’ National Book Award-winning Between the World and Me, which also provides cultural commentary and probes the issue of race in America.
|
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|