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Biography and Memoir October 2018
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| Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-JobsWhat it is: a poignant memoir about the complicated family dynamics between the author and her father, Apple founder Steve Jobs.
What sets it apart: the pair's lifelong rocky relationship was instigated by Jobs' denial of paternity, a claim later rebuked by DNA testing.
Further reading: Artist Chrisann Brennan (Brennan-Jobs' mother) wrote the 2013 memoir The Bite in the Apple, also about her relationship with Jobs. |
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| The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell KingWhat it's about: This admiring biography of children's television icon Fred Rogers celebrates his cultural impact while also plumbing the hidden depths and contradictions of his work.
Did you know? "The man who conveyed a Zen-like calm on television saw a psychiatrist for decades."
Author alert: Maxwell King is a former Philadelphia Inquirer editor who knew Rogers. |
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| Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton by Tilar J. MazzeoWhat it is: the first biography written about philanthropist Eliza Hamilton, the devoted wife of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.
Is it for you? Fans of Broadway sensation Hamilton will be captivated by this charming cradle-to-grave account of Eliza's remarkable life.
Don't miss: Author Tilar J. Mazzeo posits that Alexander's scandalous affair with Maria Reynolds was a ruse to mask his financial misdeeds -- and that Eliza protected his secrets. |
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| Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli SaslowWhat it's about: Derek Black grew up espousing white nationalist views under the tutelage of his father, Stormfront founder Don Black, and his godfather, Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Everything changed when he enrolled in college, meeting classmates from all walks of life who challenged and transformed his beliefs.
About the author: Eli Saslow is a Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter for the Washington Post and the author of Ten Letters: The Stories Americans Tell Their President. |
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| Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio VargasWhat it's about: In a stirring narrative bookended by removal proceedings, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas chronicles his journey as an undocumented immigrant in America "as if to dare the attorney general to come find him" (Kirkus Reviews).
Want a taste? "After 25 years of living illegally in a country that does not consider me one of its own, this book is the closest thing I have to freedom." |
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Books You Might Have Missed
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Brain on fire : my month of madness
by Susannah Cahalan
A dramatic account of a young New York Post reporter's struggle with a rare brain-attacking autoimmune disease traces how she woke up in a hospital room under guard with no memory of baffling psychotic symptoms, describing the last-minute intervention by a brilliant doctor who identifies the source of her illness. 75,000 first printing
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| I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'FarrellWhat it is: a contemplative, nonlinear collection of 17 essays detailing novelist Maggie O'Farrell's near-death experiences, accompanied by her intense, awe-inspiring will to survive.
Essays include: "Neck (1990);" "Baby and Bloodstream (2005);" "Cause Unknown (2003)"
For fans of: Cheryl Strayed's Wild and Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. |
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| The Last Man Who Knew Everything: The Life and Times of Enrico Fermi, Father of the... by David N. SchwartzWho it's about: Italian physicist and Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi, whose scientific breakthroughs included building the first atomic reactor that would be used in the Manhattan Project.
Reviewers say: "a rewarding, expert biography" (Kirkus Reviews); "scrupulously researched and lovingly crafted" (Publishers Weekly).
Further reading: Bettina Hoerlin and Gino Segrè's The Pope of Physics: Enrico Fermi and the Birth of the Atomic Age. |
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Robin
by Dave Itzkoff
"From New York Times culture reporter Dave Itzkoff, the definitive biography of Robin Williams - a compelling portrait of one of America's most beloved and misunderstood entertainers. From his rapidfire stand up comedy riffs to his breakout role in Mork& Mindy and his Academy Award-winning performance in Good Will Hunting, Robin Williams was a singularly innovative and beloved entertainer. He often came across as a man possessed, holding forth on culture and politics while mixing in personal revelations - all with mercurial, tongue-twisting intensity as he inhabited and shed one character after another with lightning speed. But as Dave Itzkoff shows in this revelatory biography, Williams's comic brilliance masked a deep well of conflicting emotions and self-doubt, which he drew upon in his comedy and in celebrated films like Dead Poets Society; Good Morning, Vietnam; The Fisher King; Aladdin; and Mrs. Doubtfire, where he showcased his limitless gift for improvisation to bring to life a wide range of characters. And in Good Will Hunting he gave an intense and controlled performance that revealed the true range of his talent. Itzkoff also shows how Williams struggled mightily with addiction and depression - topics he discussed openly while performing and during interviews - and with a debilitating condition at the end of his life that affected him in ways his fans never knew. Drawing on more than a hundred original interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, as well as extensive archival research,Robin is a fresh and original look at a man whose work touched so many lives. "
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Chatham Public Library 11 Woodbridge Ave. Chatham, New York 12037 518.392.3666chatham.lib.ny.us |
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