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Biography and Memoir June 2018
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Summer Reading Program
Our Summer Reading Program (June 1-July 31) is open to ALL ages, from pre-readers to adults. Sign up today for a chance to win some great prizes this summer!
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Mango Languages
Learn one of over five dozen languages, including over a dozen ESL courses, using real-life situations and conversations with Mango. This program is self-paced and helps you to learn by first listening to, and then repeating, words and phrases.
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Bring some of your favorite memories and together with different scent-based activities explore just how much smells can lead your brain to a memory. Maybe honeysuckle reminds you of being on your grandparents' farm, or a pear-scented candle reminds you when you first discovered your favorite book series. You'll get the opportunity to discover the scientific principals behind why smells are tied so deeply to memories in our brains, and you'll get the hands-on chance to create (and maybe even eat!) some new scent-based experiences. This event is held at multiple libraries.
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Genealogy Database Tutorial Saturday, June 23, 10:00 am Downtown Library, Route 66 Computer LabReady to learn about Metro Library's digital resources? Stumped by database? This one hour overview will introduce you to some of the most popular and useful database we offer! Space is limited, so please register today.
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| Digital Editions: Available as an Overdrive ebook and audiobook. What it's about: In his signature stylish prose, Pulitzer Prize winner (and father of four) Michael Chabon reflects on parenting and his relationship with his own father in this breezy collection of essays.
Don't miss: "Adventures in Euphemism," about how Chabon grappled with racial epithets during bedtime readings of Mark Twain.
Want a taste? "You are born into a family and those are your people, and they know you and they love you, and if you are lucky, they even on occasion manage to understand you." |
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| Digital Editions: Available as an Overdrive ebook. What it's about: In 1829, conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker immigrated from Thailand to America, making careers as "human oddities" in sideshow attractions around the world. Their lives offstage were just as sensational: they married white sisters (inciting racist tabloid gossip) and fathered 21 children between the two of them.
Read it for: Yunte Huang's timely examination of "otherness" as inseparable from American identity and history -- much like the Bunkers' own conjoined existence. |
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| Digital Editions: Available as an Overdrive ebook and audiobook.What it is: a bawdy and intimate collection of essays from actor Christine Lahti, touching on her fractious childhood, her feminist awakening in college, parenthood and aging, and career highs and lows.
Did you know? Lahti is an Academy, Emmy, and Golden Globe Award winner, and was famously in the bathroom when she was awarded the Golden Globe in 1998.
Chapters include: "What I Wish I'd Known About Love Scenes;" "Dear Pregnant Women of a Certain Age." |
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| Digital Editions: Available as an Overdrive ebook. What it is: an insightful portrait of the Stanford-educated Kennedy -- the 5th of Joseph and Rose's nine children -- whose efforts helped advance the disability rights movement.
About the author: Eileen McNamara is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and director of the Journalism Program at Brandeis University.
Why it's significant: Shining a light on an overlooked member of the Kennedy dynasty, McNamara argues that Eunice's political legacy rivals that of her more famous brothers.
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| Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men by Harold SchechterWhat it's about: In early 1900s Indiana, Norwegian American widow Belle Gunness lured as many as 40 men to their deaths at her "murder farm," becoming one of the most prolific female serial killers in history.
What's in a name? Newspapers at the time described Gunness as "a modern Lady Macbeth," "Lady Bluebeard," and "Indiana Ogress."
Reviewers say: "A fascinating and dramatic page-turner that will be a new favorite among true-crime fans" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| Digital Editions: Available as an Overdrive ebook and always available as a hoopla audiobook. What it is: a moving, suspenseful account of the plaintiffs and legal teams involved in the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.
About the authors: Debbie Cenziper is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist; Jim Obergefell was the plaintiff in the landmark case.
Why you might like it: Love Wins' timely, empowering narrative makes it an ideal book club selection.
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| Digital Editions: Always available as a hoopla audiobook. What it's about: In this sharp and engaging memoir, former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank candidly reflects on his four-decade political career, including his decision in 1987 to come out as gay (becoming the first member of Congress to do so).
Topics include: Frank's role in voting rights campaigns in the 1960s and the 2010 repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell;" his reflections on the Iraq War and the fight for marriage equality. |
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| Digital Editions: Available as an Overdrive ebook and audiobook.What it's about: After brief stints in law school and the military, beloved author Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City) eschewed his conservative Southern upbringing for the freewheeling San Francisco of the 1970s, finding a community in the burgeoning LGBTQ rights movement.
Is it for you? With a nonlinear yet nuanced narrative, Logical Family will appeal to Maupin's fans and general readers alike.
Want a taste? "Sooner or later, we have to venture beyond our biological family to find our logical one, the one that actually makes sense for us." |
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| Digital Editions: Available as an Overdrive ebook and audiobook, and is always available as a hoopla audiobook.What it is: a courageous memoir from trans activist Janet Mock, foregrounding her transition and coming-of-age against the larger societal plight of trans women of color.
Reviewers say: "An enlightening, much-needed perspective on transgender identity" (Kirkus Reviews).
Further reading: Mock published a follow-up memoir, Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me, in 2017. |
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| Digital Editions: Available as an Overdrive ebook and always available as a hoopla audiobook. What it is: an intimate biography of the astronaut and icon, whose heavily guarded personal life remained a secret until her death in 2012, when her obituary revealed her as a lesbian survived by her partner of 27 years.
What sets it apart: Written with the cooperation of Ride's partner, family, and colleagues, journalist (and longtime friend of Ride) Lynn Sherr's sensitive, thoroughly researched portrait celebrates Ride's life and legacy.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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