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Biography and Memoir May 2019
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All the lives we ever lived : seeking solace in Virginia Woolf
by Katharine Smyth
An intimate work of memoir and literary criticism describes how the author found literary solace and insights in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse while mourning a beloved parent's death.
"A stunningly well-written, exquisitely intelligent and moving book, which deepens with each turn of the screw."--Phillip Lopate
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| Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen by Mary NorrisWhat it's about: New Yorker copy editor Mary Norris' passion for Greek language, history, and culture, which began in unlikely earnest after she saw the science fiction film Time Bandits, partially set in ancient Greece. Immersive study: Norris traveled solo to remote Mediterranean locales, performed in Greek-language productions of Elektra and The Trojan Women, and convinced her employers to subsidize Greek language courses to aid her in her copy editing work. Read it for: a lively and upbeat blend of memoir and travelogue. |
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| Gray Day: My Undercover Mission to Expose America's First Cyber Spy by Eric O'NeillA cybersecurity expert and former FBI "ghost" tells the thrilling story of how he helped take down notorious FBI mole Robert Hanssen, the first Russian cyberspy. A tension-packed stew of power, paranoia, and psychological manipulation, Gray Day is also a cautionary tale of how the U.S. allowed Russia to become dominant in cyberespionage--and how it might begin to catch up. |
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| A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win WWII by Sonia PurnellIn 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her." The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill's "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare." She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and--despite her prosthetic leg--helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it. Movie buzz: Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley is set to play Hall in a forthcoming film adaptation. |
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| What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays by Damon YoungWhat it is: a candid collection of humorous and bittersweet musings on contemporary black manhood. Topics include: gentrification's impact on author Damon Young's Pittsburgh neighbourhood; the relationships forged in barbershops and on basketball courts; the use (and misuse) of racial epithets.
"His essays are pointed, ruminative, often barbed and funny reflections on how the fact of his skin colour has posed particular lifelong challenges, questions, and anxieties."--NPR, Morning Edition
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| Driving Miss Norma: One Family's Journey Saying "Yes" to Living by Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle When Miss Norma was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she was advised to undergo surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But instead of confining herself to a hospital bed for what could be her last stay, Miss Norma--newly widowed after nearly seven decades of marriage--rose to her full height of five feet and told the doctor, "I'm ninety years old. I'm hitting the road!" And so Miss Norma took off on an unforgettable around-the-country journey in a thirty-six-foot motor home with her retired son Tim, his wife Ramie, and their dog Ringo.
"An uplifting and life-affirming memoir."--Kirkus
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| To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life... by Jedidiah JenkinsWhat it is: a thought-provoking and inspirational memoir of Jedidiah Jenkins' 14,000-mile bike trip, which he decided to take shortly after his 30th birthday. What's inside: big-picture reflections on family, faith, and sexuality. For fans of: 1979 travel classic A Walk Across America, written by Jenkins' father, Peter Jenkins.
"Thrilling, tender, utterly absorbing...Every chapter shimmered with truth."--Cheryl Strayed |
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| In Other Words by Jhumpa LahiriWhat it is: Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri's bilingual memoir of how her love of Italian prompted her to move her family to Rome, where she made surprising discoveries about her identity as a writer. Want a taste? "Writing in another language represents an act of demolition, a new beginning." Did you know? A national bestseller, In Other Words is Lahiri's first foray into nonfiction and was originally published in Italian.
"[A] hauntingly tender, beautiful read."--The American Bazaar |
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The road is how : a prairie pilgrimage through nature, desire and soul
by Trevor Herriot
Prairie naturalist Trevor Herriot decided 'the road is how.' Recovering from a misstep that could have been his last, he decides to go for a three-day walk to sort through questions that rushed in upon the enforced stillness as he waited for his body to heal. Each step takes him further into a territory where imagination and experience carry us beyond the psychological imprint of our transgressions to the the soul's reconnection with a broken land.
"Trevor Herriot's writing flows from the universal to the particular, from keen observation to wisdom, with an effortlessness that can only be described as grace."--Wayne Grady
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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