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Biography and Memoir February 2021
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Walk in my combat boots : true stories from America's bravest warriors
by James Patterson
What it's about: The decorated war hero who inspired the movie, Black Hawk Down, shares firsthand wartime accounts describing the courageous battlefield sacrifices of men and women from every branch and operational specialty of the U.S. military.
Why you should read it: Readers who next thank a military member for their service will finally have a true understanding of what that thanks is for.
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| Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of... by Leslie BrodyWhat it is: an engrossing and well-researched biography of Harriet the Spy author Louise Fitzhugh (1928-1974).
Read it for: a compelling portrait of a woman who rejected mid-century social and gender norms -- Fitzhugh lived openly as a lesbian among the Greenwich Village set and created a queer-coded heroine who has resonated with LGBTQIA readers for more than 50 years.
About the author: Leslie Brody is an award-winning playwright who adapted Harriet the Spy for the stage. |
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| 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. |
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| Aftershocks by Nadia OwusuWhat it's about: Abandoned by her Armenian American mother as a toddler, Nadia Owusu spent her childhood globetrotting due to her Ghanaian father's United Nations career, never feeling like she fit in anywhere: "I have perpetually been a them rather than an us."
Read it for: a moving account of reckoning with trauma and finding a second chance at happiness.
Try this next: For another coming-of-age memoir by a woman navigating biracial identity and family dysfunction, check out T Kira Madden's Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls. |
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Focus on: Black History Month
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| I Don't Want to Die Poor: Essays by Michael ArceneauxWhat it is: the sardonic latest essay collection from New York Times bestselling author Michael Arceneaux (I Can't Date Jesus) that chronicles the author's post-college financial woes.
Who it's for: Readers who've navigated college loan debt will commiserate with Arceneaux as he candidly details how the debt from his Howard University education has impacted his life.
Reviewers say: "unflinchingly smart and wickedly funny" (Booklist). |
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| 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." |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street's First... by Shane White(Re)introducing: Jeremiah Hamilton, Haiti-born Wall Street broker and America's richest Black man at the time of his death in 1875.
Read it for: a rags-to-riches tale largely forgotten by history.
Book buzz: Employing "superb scholarship and sprightly style" (Kirkus Reviews), Australian historian Shane White vividly depicts Hamilton and the cutthroat circles in which he operated. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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