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Biography and Memoir October 2020
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| A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom by Brittany K. BarnettWhat it is: lawyer and Buried Alive Project co-founder Brittany K. Barnett's impassioned memoir of the cases that helped define her career as a criminal justice reform advocate.
Read it for: an intimate and galvanizing narrative exploring racial bias in the American criminal justice system.
For fans of: Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy. |
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| Eat a Peach by David ChangWhat it's about: chef, Momofuku restaurateur, and Ugly Delicious host David Chang's path to culinary stardom.
Topics include: Chang's upbringing in a religious Korean American family; his battles with bipolar disorder and suicidal ideation; career triumphs and missteps; his friendship with the late Anthony Bourdain.
Don't miss: the author's self-deprecating sense of humor, which he reveals in playful prose, cheeky footnotes, and rules for becoming a chef. |
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| The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara PayneWhat it is: a richly detailed revisionist biography of Malcolm X that reveals previously unexplored aspects of his life and legacy.
What's inside: interviews with Malcolm X's colleagues, adversaries, family, and friends; archival materials from the FBI and NYPD.
Author alert: Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Les Payne spent nearly three decades working on The Dead Are Arising before his death in 2018; his daughter and co-researcher Tamara finished his work. |
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| Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez CastilloWhat it's about: the author's traumatic coming of age as an undocumented immigrant, which was compounded by frequent ICE raids, his father's deportation back to Mexico, and the rigidity of the U.S. immigration system.
Want a taste? "We were still trying to cross, still moving in maddening helplessness, a revolving door without an exit."
Awards buzz: Children of the Land is a 2020 International Latino Book Award finalist. |
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| Priestdaddy by Patricia LockwoodWhat it's about: When lapsed Catholic and prize-winning poet Patricia Lockwood and her husband fell on hard times, they moved back into the Kansas City rectory where Patricia grew up.
Featuring: Patricia's gun-toting, married priest father, content to live life wearing only his boxers; and her sweet but scatterbrained mother, whose devotion to the church doesn't keep her from making lewd jokes.
Is it for you? Lockwood's irreverent memoir of religion, family, and identity offers racy humor and eloquent reflections in equal measure. |
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| The Argonauts by Maggie NelsonWhat it is: a 2015 New York Times Notable Book that offers a thought-provoking exploration of gender, sexuality, and parenthood.
What sets it apart: Poet Maggie Nelson's genre-defying, fourth-wall breaking memoir unfolds in fragments and incorporates poetry and quotes from noted gender theorists, philosophers, and psychologists.
Reviewers say: "A book that will challenge readers as much as the author has challenged herself" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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