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Biography and Memoir June 2017
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| Anatomy of Innocence: Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted by Laura Caldwell and Leslie S. Klinger, editorsIn this anthology, well-known mystery writers relate the experiences of 15 innocent people who were convicted of serious crimes and served time in prison before being exonerated. The short "as told to" biographies by authors such as Lee Child, Sara Paretsky, and S.J. Rozan vividly detail the perversion of justice in each case; the book's editors add contextual information. For a full-length memoir recounting a similar experience, try Damien Echols' Life after Death. |
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Free Days With George : Learning Life's Little Lessons from One Very Big Dog
by Colin Campbell
After Colin Campbell went on a short business trip abroad, he returned home to discover his wife of many years had moved out. Shocked and heartbroken, Colin fell into a spiral of depression and loneliness. Soon after, a friend told Colin about a dog in need of rescue—a neglected 140-pound Newfoundland Landseer, a breed renowned for its friendly nature and remarkable swimming abilities. Colin adopted the traumatized dog, brought him home and named him George. Both man and dog were heartbroken and lacking trust, but together, they learned how to share a space, how to socialize, and most of all, how to overcome their bad experiences. Colin headed to the beach to rekindle his love for surfing, but when George encountered the ocean and a surfboard for the first time, he did a surprising thing: he jumped right on the board. Through surfing, George and Colin began a life-altering adventure and a deep healing process that brought them back to life.
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| Captain Fantastic: Elton John's Stellar Trip Through the '70s by Tom DoyleIn time for Elton John's 70th birthday, author Tom Doyle presents a thoroughly researched biography, covering the rock star's glittering successes, his difficulties with drugs, struggles with his homosexuality, and spectacular conflicts with collaborators. Captain Fantastic capitalizes on interviews with John and his long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin to create a vivid and insightful portrait of the man inside the elaborate costumes. |
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Otis Redding : An Unfinished Life
by Jonathan Gould
Otis Redding remains an immortal presence in the canon of American music on the strength of such classic hits as “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “Try a Little Tenderness,” and “Respect,” a song he wrote and recorded before Aretha Franklin made it her own. As the architect of the distinctly southern, gospel-inflected style of rhythm & blues associated with Stax Records in Memphis, Redding made music that has long served as the gold standard of 1960s soul. Yet an aura of myth and mystery has always surrounded his life, which was tragically cut short at the height of his career by a plane crash in December 1967.
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| The Outrun by Amy LiptrotAfter a decade of desolate work weeks and long-lasting hangovers in London, author Amy Liptrot, a native of the Orkney Islands off Scotland's coast, completes addiction rehab and returns to the severe landscape of her childhood. In this lyrical memoir, she describes finding peace in a place where the winds are so strong that they can move tons of rock. Fans of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea will be enthralled. |
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| Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage by Dani ShapiroHourglass presents a thoughtful, intimate consideration of novelist Dani Shapiro's marriage. Having grown tired of making up stories, she looks for truth in the minutiae of her life: her husband's new rifle; the clutter and dilapidation of their house; the diary (which she had completely forgotten) from their honeymoon. Drawing the reader irresistibly into her world, she reveals the universality of individual experience. |
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My Glory Was I Had Such Friends : A Memoir
by Amy Silverstein
Nearly twenty-six years after receiving her first heart transplant, Amy Silverstein’s donor heart plummeted into failure. If she wanted to live, she had to take on the grueling quest for a new heart—immediately. A shot at survival meant uprooting her life and moving across the country to California. When her friends heard of her plans, there was only one reaction: “I’m there.” Nine remarkable women—Joy, Jill, Leja, Jody, Lauren, Robin, Valerie, Ann, and Jane—put demanding jobs and pressing family obligations on hold to fly across the country and be by Amy’s side. Creating a calendar spreadsheet, the women passed the baton of friendship, one to the next, and headed straight and strong into the battle to help save Amy’s life. Empowered by the kind of empathy that can only grow with age, these women, each knowing Amy from different stages of her life, banded together to provide her with something that medicine alone could not. Sleeping on a cot beside her bed, they rubbed her back and feet when the pain was unbearable, adorned her room with death-distracting decorations, and engaged in their “best talks ever.” They saw the true measure of their friend’s strength, and they each responded in kind.
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| Born Both: An Intersex Life by Hida ViloriaIn Born Both, author Hida Viloria provides an up-close account of he/r life as an intersex person and a chronicle of he/r activism. Although s/he was raised as a girl, s/he learned at age 20 that he/r genitalia were not typically female, eventually discovering the intersex community. This courageous memoir offers affirmation for intersex people and their friends and family, as well as information for intersex advocates. |
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The Cake and the Rain : An Autobiography
by Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Webb’s words have been sung to his music by a rich roster of pop artists, including Glen Campbell, Art Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra, Donna Summer and Linda Ronstadt. He’s the only artist ever to win Grammy Awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration, and his chart-topping career has, so far, lasted fifty years, most recently with a Kanye West rap hit and a new classical nocturne. Now, in his first memoir, Webb delivers a snapshot of his life from 1955 to 1970, from simple and sere Oklahoma to fast and fantastical Los Angeles, from the crucible of his family to the top of his longed-for profession. Classics such as “Up, Up and Away”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, “Wichita Lineman”, “Galveston”, “The Worst that Could Happen”, “All I Know”, and “MacArthur Park” were all recorded by some of the most important voices in pop before Webb’s twenty-fifth birthday. Webb was at the center of the Sixties, whipsawed from the proverbial humble beginnings into a moneyed international world of beautiful women, drugs, cars and planes. That stew almost took him down, but Webb survived, his passion for music and work among his lifelines.
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They Left Their Homelands
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| The Perfect Gentleman: A Muslim Boy Meets the West by Imran AhmadFrom an early age, Pakistani immigrant Imran Ahmad had to struggle to fit in to English culture. In The Perfect Gentleman, Ahmad chronicles his family's immigration, his coming of age, and his eventual success in international business consulting. His low-key, self-deprecating humor provides a light tone as he discusses serious matters, making this a charming as well as enlightening account of cultural accommodation. |
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| Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard CarlsonScientific genius Nikola Tesla emigrated to the U.S. from his native Serbia in 1884. Known as a leading innovator in electronics and telephony, Tesla was regarded by many as an eccentric. In this well-researched biography author Bernard Carlson balances Tesla's showmanship with his scientific brilliance. Those curious about his achievements and intrigued by science history will find this to be an engaging and informative portrait. |
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| Love, Loss, and What We Ate by Padma LakshmiBest-known for her work as a judge on television's Top Chef, Padma Lakshmi, originally from Madras, India, portrays her sense of taste as an aspect of navigating a complex world. While on camera, she's a woman of few words, but this candid memoir includes details of her marriage to (and divorce from) Salman Rushdie, her love affair with billionaire Teddy Forstmann, her health struggles, and her joy in her daughter. |
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