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Biography and Memoir February 2019
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The truths we hold : an American journey
by Kamala D Harris
What it's about: From one of America's most inspiring political leaders, a book about the core truths that unite us, and the long struggle to discern what those truths are and how best to act upon them, in her own life and across the life of our country. By reckoning with the big challenges we face together, drawing on the hard-won wisdom and insight from her own career and the work of those who have most inspired her, Kamala Harris offers in The Truths We Hold a master class in problem solving, in crisis management, and leadership in challenging times. Through the arc of her own life, on into the great work of our day, she communicates a vision of shared struggle, shared purpose, and shared values.
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Queen Victoria : twenty-four days that changed her life
by Lucy Worsley
What it's about? The BBC historian presenter and best-selling author of Courtiers explores the life and myriad roles of Queen Victoria as they reflected her defiance of gender conventions and defining position in a time of extraordinary change and political resistance.
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| Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie LandWhat it's about: Single mom Stephanie Land struggles to make a living as a housecleaner and dreams of attending college to become a writer. Though it does not speak to the impact of poverty on marginalized communities, Land's memoir is intimate and affecting.
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| Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani ShapiroWhat it's about: After submitting her DNA for analysis on a whim, Dani Shapiro discovered that her long-deceased dad was not her biological father. Grappling with the consequences of this shocking family secret, she set out to uncover the true story of her parentage.
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| The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After by Julie Yip-WilliamsWhat it's about: A poignant and page-turning memoir of Julie Yip-Williams' five-year battle with Stage IV colon cancer... Moving anecdotes of the author's early life; born with congenital cataracts to an impoverished Chinese family in Vietnam, she barely survived infancy after her grandmother suggested a potion to help her "sleep forever.".
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| The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss by Anderson Cooper & Gloria VanderbiltWhat it is: an intimate year-long email correspondence between journalist Anderson Cooper and his fashion designer mother Gloria Vanderbilt, which began after Vanderbilt became gravely ill in 2015.
Read it for: the growing closeness that develops between the pair.
Further reading: Will Schwalbe's reflective memoir The End of Your Life Book Club similarly explores a relationship with an ailing parent. |
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| Mockingbird Songs: My Friendship with Harper Lee by Wayne FlyntWhat it's about: historian Wayne Flynt's 20-year-long, late-in-life friendship with author Harper Lee, nurtured primarily via their witty and admiring letters to each other.
What sets it apart: This concise and touching work arranges the duo's letters thematically as well as chronologically.
Chapters include: "Celebrity, Kinship, and Calamity;" "Imperfect Fathers, Imperfect Towns;" "An Author Shapes Her Own Identity" |
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| Autumn by Karl Ove KnausgaardWhat it is: Written as a "Letter to an Unborn Daughter," each section of this perceptive free-association memoir eschews traditional storytelling conventions to find the extraordinary in the mundane.
Want a taste? "The little tooth, sharply white, dark red with blood at the root, is thrown into almost obscenely sharp relief against my pinkish palm."
Series alert: Autumn is the first volume in award-winning Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard's Seasons Quartet. |
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| Dear Mr. You by Mary-Louise ParkerWhat it is: a lyrical and nostalgic collection of letters addressed (but never sent) to the men (both real and hypothetical) who have impacted Mary-Louise Parker's life.
Author alert: Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress Parker is best known for her starring role in the television series Weeds.
Don't miss: Parker's touching letter to her deceased father: "To convey in any existing language how much I miss you isn't possible. It would be like blue trying to describe the ocean." |
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| Love, Nina: A Nanny Writes Home by Nina StibbeWhat it's about: While working as a 20-year-old nanny in early 1980s London, Nina Stibbe wrote gossipy letters home detailing life with her charges and their famous parents.
Featuring: Stibbe's employers, London Review of Books editor Mary-Kay Wilmers and film director Stephen Frears; playwright Alan Bennett, a frequent dinner guest.
For fans of: quirky British humor and snappy dialogue. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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