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Biography and Memoir September 2017
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| I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad by Souad MekhennetWashington Post national security correspondent Souad Mekhennet is a Muslim who grew up in Germany. Viewed by Muslims as an interviewer they can trust, she often has access to significant newsmakers who won't meet with other Western journalists. In I Was Told to Come Alone, Mekhennet traces her life and career, offering insight into the experiences of Arabs and Muslims living in Europe. Mekhennet also vividly portrays the people she's interviewed (including several jihadis) and the places of conflict she's visited as a reporter. |
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| Memory's Last Breath: Field Notes on My Dementia by Gerda SaundersIn Memory's Last Breath, retired gender studies professor Gerda Saunders recounts her life, reports on her exploration of neurological science in relation to her memory loss, and provides notes -- presented in sidebars -- on her experience of advancing dementia. Her lyrical descriptions of growing up in South Africa, immigrating to the U.S., and receiving acclaim for her academic achievements contrast starkly with her candid depiction of losing memory and other intellectual functions. For another engrossing first-person account of dementia's effects, pick up Thomas DiBaggio's Losing My Mind. |
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Priestdaddy
by Patricia Lockwood
The author of Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals presents a darkly comic memoir about her relationship with her unconventional married Catholic priest father, describing emblematic moments from her youth and the crisis that led the author and her non-religious husband to briefly live in her parents' rectory.
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Jane Austen at home
by Lucy Worsley
A profile of the life and times of Jane Austen by the best-selling author of Courtiers tours the classic author's childhood home, schools, holiday accommodations and grand and small family estates to reveal lesser-known aspects of Austen's character and inspirations.
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| Henry David Thoreau: A Life by Laura Dassow WallsIn time for the 200th anniversary of Henry David Thoreau's birth, Notre Dame University professor of English Laura Dassow Walls offers a lively portrait of the Transcendentalist writer and philosopher. Setting Thoreau and his friends in the context of early 19th-century America, Walls examines Ralph Waldo Emerson's influence on the younger man, describes Thoreau's then-experimental educational venture, and details the background to his most famous work, Walden. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly says this displays a "merger of comprehensiveness in content with pleasure in reading." |
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Mademoiselle Chanel
by C. W Gortner
A creative reimagining of the life of iconic fashion designer Coco Chanel traces the development of her exceptional sewing skills in an orphanage, her transformation into a couturier and the private struggles behind her subsequent fame. 75,000 first printing.
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| The Face That Changed It All: A Memoir by Beverly JohnsonAs a teenager, honors student Beverly Johnson never wanted to be a model, but with encouragement (especially from her mother), luck, and some useful connections, she made it all the way to the cover of American Vogue, the first African American to do so. But as her professional star rose, her personal life fell apart. In her memoir, she writes of the racism she encountered in the modeling industry, her struggles with drug addiction, her difficult personal relationships, and her eventual successful efforts to move past these obstacles. |
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Alexander McQueen : savage beauty
by Andrew Bolton
Features garments made by the designer throughout his career, accompanied by quotes from the designer, an essay about his fashion career, and an interview with his long-time design assistant
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| The Woman I Wanted to Be by Diane von FurstenbergOpening with a moving description of her mother, a concentration camp survivor who had been arrested by the Nazis for her activities in the Belgian Resistance, Diane von Furstenburg's memoir details the kind of woman she wanted to be (independent and self-sufficient) and relates how she achieved her objectives. Emphasizing the importance of her children and also providing details of her love life, von Furstenberg recounts her successes -- and some failures -- on the frontlines of couture. Readers interested in fashion or in the lives of powerful and creative women shouldn't miss this life story. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Keene Public Library
60 Winter St.
Keene, New Hampshire 03431
603-352-0157
http://www.keenepubliclibrary.org/
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