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Popular Culture September 2019
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| Dottir: My Journey to Becoming a Two-Time CrossFit Games Champion by Katrin Davidsdottir with Rory McKernan Who it's about: Icelandic athlete Katrin Davidsdottir, a former gymnast and track star who earned the title "Fittest Woman on Earth" after winning the CrossFit Games championship two years in a row.
Is it for you? Davidsdottir's inspiring story will resonate with readers hoping to up their fitness game or overcome daunting challenges.
Don't miss: insights into Icelandic culture and the world of CrossFit. |
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| Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem by Daniel R. DayWhat it is: a moving memoir by groundbreaking fashion designer Daniel Day, who parlayed the hustling skills he acquired as an impoverished Harlem youth into a successful career designing street wear.
Why it matters: Day's designs, popularized by hip-hop artists and athletes, have left an indelible mark on black culture since the 1980s.
Want a taste? "Fashion for me wasn't about expression. Fashion was about power." |
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| Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl's Love Letter to the Power of Fashion by Tanisha C. FordWhat it is: a thoughtful, engaging coming-of-age memoir that explores the history and politics of the fashions that have come to define author Tanisha C. Ford's evolving sense of style.
Chapters include: "Dashiki;" "Jheri Curl;" "Bamboo Earrings;" "Hoodie"
About the author: Ford is a professor of Africana Studies and History at the University of Delaware and the author of Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of the Soul. |
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| The Sixth Man by Andre Iguodala with Carvell WallaceWhat it's about: NBA swingman, 2012 All-Star, and 2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala's remarkable life both on and off the court.
Topics include: Iguodala's gold medal win in the 2012 Summer Olympics, his three NBA championship wins with the Golden State Warriors, and his success as a Silicon Valley investor.
Reviewers say: "the best basketball memoir since Bill Russell's Go Up for Glory...a sports memoir for the ages" (Booklist). |
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| Elvis in Vegas: The Heyday and Reinvention of the Las Vegas Show by Richard ZoglinWhat it's about: how Elvis Presley's 1969 career comeback revitalized the out-of-touch Las Vegas entertainment industry and made a lasting impact on the city's music scene.
Read it for: an upbeat, richly contextualized portrait of the fruitful relationship between performer and city.
For fans of: Rat Pack Confidential and other rousing Sin City showbiz chronicles. |
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| Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie BrownsteinWhat it is: a vivid, occasionally dishy memoir from the co-founder of the pioneering riot grrrl trio Sleater-Kinney.
What's inside: candid musings on Brownstein's fraught upbringing and chaotic coming-of-age, the sexism she's faced in the music industry, and Sleater-Kinney's squabbles and eventual breakup (though the band famously reunited to much fanfare in 2014).
Is it for you? Portlandia fans looking for scoop on Brownstein's Emmy-nominated work on the series won't find it here. |
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| Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot by Masha GessenWhat it's about: In 2012, three members of the feminist punk collective Pussy Riot were imprisoned for hooliganism following an anti-Putin protest and performance at Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Try this next: founding member Nadya Tolokonnikova's unapologetic call-to-action Read & Riot: A Pussy Riot Guide to Activism, which she wrote after spending 18 months in prison.
Author alert: Russian American journalist and activist Masha Gessen is the National Book Award-winning author of The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia. |
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| Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace with Dan OzziWhat it is: an intimate memoir from the lead singer of Against Me! chronicling her lifelong struggles with gender dysphoria and addiction prior to coming out as transgender in 2012.
Why you might like it: Supplemented with years' worth of never-before-seen journal entries dating back to Grace's childhood, this resonant search for self is a candid ode to survival and embracing your identity. |
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| Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall by Tim MohrWhat it's about: the underground East German punk movement whose political activism contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Featuring: 15-year-old "Major," the self-proclaimed first punk in East Germany, known for her safety pin-adorned jackets.
Book buzz: Longlisted for the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, Burning Down the Haus was also named one of the Best Music Books of 2018 by Rolling Stone. |
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| Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone by Marky Ramone with Rich HerschlagWhat it is: a revealing memoir from drummer Marky Ramone (born Marc Bell), the last surviving member of 1970s New York band the Ramones.
Read it for: Ramone's insights on his bandmates, including Joey's battles with obsessive compulsive disorder, Johnny's buttoned-up political conservatism, and DeeDee's addiction woes.
Who it's for: Ramones devotees; punk and New Wave enthusiasts. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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