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Biography and Memoir May 2018
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Bad jobs and poor decisions : dispatches from the working class
by J. R. Helton
The author discusses a low point of his life when, during the 1980s, a cocaine addiction and a troubled marriage led to him holding a string of manual-labor jobs, in a memoir that showcases not only the author's rough life in the Midwest but also the disparate people whom he worked with while painting houses, delivering firewood, hauling railroad ties and more.
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I am, I am, I am : seventeen brushes with death
by Maggie O'Farrell
The award-winning author of The Hand That First Held Mine presents a memoir told entirely in 17 near-death experiences stemming from a dangerous childhood illness, accidents, an encounter with a disturbed person and the author's daily efforts to protect her daughter from the vulnerabilities of a high-risk condition.
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The New Negro : The Life of Alain Locke
by Jeffrey C. Stewart
A biography of the father of the Harlem Renaissance describes him becoming the first African American Rhodes Scholar and earning a PhD at Harvard University and promoting the work of young artists including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Jacob Lawrence.
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Jefferson's daughters : three sisters, white and black, in a young America
by Catherine Kerrison
A portrait of the divergent lives of Thomas Jefferson's three daughters shares insights into how, in spite of privilege and education, his white daughters struggled with the realities of lives they were ill-prepared to manage, while the daughter he fathered with a slave did not achieve freedom until adulthood and endured a mysterious and highly ironic existence.
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The faith of Donald J. Trump : a spiritual biography
by David Brody
Two conservative Christian writers—one a journalist specializing in issues of faith and politics, the other a Baptist minister and columnist—explore the 45th president’s connection to the Christian faith and the evangelical right, despite being married three times.
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| Publishing: A Writer's Memoir by Gail GodwinWhat it's about: novelist Gail Godwin's 50-year career as a writer, during which she navigated the evolving corporatization of the publishing industry.
What's inside: Black and white line drawings by architect Frances Halsband complement Godwin's illuminating prose.
Further reading: Godwin previously published her journals from 1961-1969 in the two-volume The Making of a Writer.
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| The Accidental Life: An Editor's Notes on Writing and Writers by Terry McDonellWhat it's about: Magazine editor Terry McDonell, who's worked for Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Sports Illustrated, reflects on his 40-year career and the luminaries (Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe, among others) whose careers he helped shape along the way.
Want a taste? McDonell likens his friendship with Thompson to the plot of Treasure Island: "Adventurous boy kidnapped by pirates; joins pirates."
Don't miss: Word counts accompany McDonell's short, witty chapters. |
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| Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir by Amy TanWhat it is: a captivating, nonlinear chronicle of the forces that have shaped Amy Tan's writing, including her tumultuous upbringing and her love of music and drawing.
Featuring: Tan's difficult mother, in whom her fiction fans will recognize a familiar character type.
For fans of: reflective literary memoirs like Richard Ford's Between Them. |
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| Sailor and Fiddler: Reflections of a 100-Year-Old Author by Herman WoukWhat it's about: In this engaging memoir, centenarian Herman Wouk reveals the stories behind his 16 published works with humor and clarity.
About the author: Wouk is a Pulitzer Prize winner (for 1951's The Caine Mutiny) whose works have been published in 27 languages.
To be continued? The author teases a posthumous publication of "the whole Herman Wouk story" -- his diary. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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