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Popular Culture July 2019
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| No Walls and the Recurring Dream by Ani DiFrancoWhat it is: the freewheeling debut memoir from Grammy Award-winning musician and activist Ani DiFranco.
Topics include: DiFranco's creation of her independent label Righteous Babe Records (on which she has released all her studio albums); her bouts of homelessness after leaving home at age 15.
Read it for: snippets of the author's original poetry and her candid musings on politics and feminism. |
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| Don't Let Me Down by Erin HosierWhat it's about: how the music of the Beatles shaped author Erin Hosier's complicated relationship with her evangelical father, Jack, during her fraught coming-of-age in 1980s small-town Ohio.
What sets it apart: This evocative two-part memoir, structured as sides of a record (Side One is about Jack, while Side Two is about the author herself), includes chapter headings named after Beatles songs.
Reviewers say: "A vividly rhythmic chronicle of reconciliation couched with a 1960s rock-'n'-roll soundtrack" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy
by Jill Soloway
What it's about: In this candid and eye-opening memoir, Transparent creator Jill Soloway (who is nonbinary) reckons with their place in male-dominated Hollywood, offering insights on gender, sexuality, and the #metoo movement.
Did you know? Soloway was inspired to create Transparent after their own parent came out as transgender.
Book buzz: She Wants It is a New York Times Editors' Choice pick.
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Feel Free: Essays
by Zadie Smith
What it is: a collection of essays from novelist Zadie Smith, on topics from social media and British politics to pop culture and American race relations. She also writes about books, paintings, and people (like singer Billie Holliday, comedy duo Key and Peele, and author J.G. Ballard).
Why you might like it: Conversational and perceptive, Smith reveals the creative processes behind her well-received novels.
You might also like: the analytical essays of fellow novelist Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist.
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Ghostbuster's Daughter: Life with My Dad, Harold Ramis
by Violet Ramis Stiel
What it is: a heartfelt and intimate memoir from Violet Ramis Stiel chronicling her close relationship with her father, comedy legend Harold Ramis.
Why you might like it: By balancing candid reflections of family dynamics with behind-the-scenes anecdotes of her father's career in Hollywood, Ramis Stiel "renders a three-dimensional image of her father as an emblematic figure in comedy" (Publishers Weekly). You might also like: Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever by Nick de Semlyen; The Tao of Bill Murray: Real-Life Stories of Joy, Enlightenment, and Party Crashing by Gavin Edwards.
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Summer Reading: A Universe of Stories
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Almost heaven : the story of women in space
by Bettyann Kevles
Traces the contributions of forty space-faring women, from the unsuccessful 1962 case of three accomplished female pilots and the unique challenges presented to women astronauts to the heroic achievements of Valentina Tereshkov, Kalpana Chawla, and others.
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The Mercury 13 : the untold story of thirteen American women and the dream of space flight
by Martha Ackmann
Profiles the thirteen extraordinary women, all pilots who passed the same battery of tests as the Mercury 7 astronauts, who were chosen as America's first female astronauts but who were refused the opportunity to participate, in a fascinating study that includes interviews with the surviving candidates, space program insiders, and other notables.
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The calculating stars
by Mary Robinette Kowal
On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space. Elma York's experience as a pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn't take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can't go into space, too. Elma's drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.
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LEVEL UP: ADULT GAMER SOCIETY Bring your friends, bring your games, & bring yourself to Forsyth Central Library every other Tuesday night for an 18+ gamer society. Socialize with other game lovers while you play an array of games including RPG's, console gaming, board games, card games, and more. Each meeting holds new games to play and new games to discuss for the next time.
The first Level Up meeting will be Tuesday, July 16 from 4-8 p.m.
For more information, please call 336-703-3052 |
Contact your library for more great books!
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Forsyth County Public Library 660 W 5th Street Winston Salem, North Carolina 27101 336-703-3030www.forsythlibrary.org |
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