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Biography and Memoir January 2021
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Like Crazy: Life with My Mother and Her Invisible Friends
by Dan Mathews
What it is: a witty and moving chronicle of author Dan Mathews' time spent caring for his aging mother, Perry.
What happened: Worried that his gay bachelor lifestyle would be off-putting to Perry, Dan was instead shocked by the septuagenarian's zest for life. But Perry's increasingly erratic behavior revealed something neither of them would expect -- a long-undiagnosed mental illness.
Read it for: a thoughtful exploration of the ways parent-child relationships evolve.
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An Onion In My Pocket : My Life With Vegetablesby Deborah MadisonA memoir from the award-winning author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, who is not actually a vegetarian, describes how she spent twenty years as an ordained Buddhist priest and came of age in the counterculture movement in San Francisco.
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Happiness Will Follow : A Graphic Novel Memoirby Mike HawthorneMike Hawthorne's mother is left alone to raise her son in New York City, a city that torments them both with its unforgiving nature. But when Mike falls victim to an old world Santeria death curse, a haunting sign from the old country of something his mother could never truly escape --she begins a series of events that drive him away both physically and emotionally.
For the first time ever, Eisner Award-nominated artist Mike Hawthorne (Superior Spider-Man) tells the true and tragic story of enduring abuse, discovering a love of art, and a passion that helped him to build the home he never had in this graphic novel memoir about family, survival, and what it means to be Puerto Rican in America.
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Spotlight on: Healthcare Professionals
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| In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope by Dr. Rana AwdishWhat it's about: how critical care physician Rana Awdish coped after an unknown illness hospitalized her seven months into her first pregnancy.
Is it for you? The author's heartwrenching account chronicles her miscarriage, near-death experiences, and the years it took to recover from her maladies.
What sets it apart: Awdish's patient experience prompted her to reflect on how physicians should be more empathetic while providing care. |
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| Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery by Henry MarshWhat it is: British neurosurgeon Henry Marsh's affecting and occasionally gruesome account of his three decades in the field.
Who it's for: Readers who prefer their bedside manner with a dose of brutal honesty will appreciate Marsh's blunt and darkly humorous debut.
Want a taste? "I often have to cut into the brain and it is something I hate doing." |
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| Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine by Damon Tweedy, M.D.What it's about: Damon Tweedy discusses his experience as a Black physician in the world of medicine, from his education at Duke University Medical School to his work as a psychiatrist in North Carolina.
Why you should read it: Tweedy's intimate memoir also looks critically at disparities in health care for Black and white Americans.
Reviewers say: “An arresting memoir that personalizes the enduring racial divide in contemporary American medicine” (Kirkus Reviews). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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