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Biography and Memoir October 2020
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| A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom by Brittany K. BarnettWhat it is: lawyer and Buried Alive Project co-founder Brittany K. Barnett's impassioned memoir of the cases that helped define her career as a criminal justice reform advocate.
Read it for: an intimate and galvanizing narrative exploring racial bias in the American criminal justice system.
For fans of: Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy. |
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Horse crazy : the story of a woman and a world in love with an animal
by Sarah Maslin Nir
"In the bestselling tradition of works by such authors as Susan Orlean and Mary Roach, a New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist explores why so many people-including herself-are obsessed with horses. It may surprise you to learn that there are over seven million horses in America-even more than when they were the only means of transportation-and nearly two million horse owners. Acclaimed journalist and avid equestrian Sarah Maslin Nir is one of them; she began riding horses when she was justtwo years old and hasn't stopped since. Horse Crazy is a fascinating, funny, and moving love letter to these graceful animals and the people who-like her-are obsessed with them. It is also a coming-of-age story of Nir growing up an outsider within the world's most elite inner circles, and finding her true north in horses. Nir takes us into the lesser-known corners of the riding world and profiles some of its most captivating figures. We meet Monty Roberts, the California trainer whose prowess earned him the nickname "the man who listens to horses"; George and Ann Blair, the African-American husband and wife who run a riding academy for inner city youth on a tiny island in the middle of Manhattan's East River; and Francesca Kelly, a wealthy London socialite whose love for an Indian nobleman shaped her life's mission: to rescue an endangered Indian breed of horse and bring them-illegally-to America. Woven into these compelling character studies, Nir shares her own moving personal narrative. She details her father's harrowing tale of surviving the Holocaust, and describes an enchanted but deeply lonely upbringing in Manhattan, where horses became her family. She found them even in the middle of the city, in a stable disguised in an old townhouse and in Central Park, when she chased down truants as an auxiliary mounted patrol officer. And she speaks candidly of how horses have helped her overcome heartbreak and loss. Infused with heart and wit, and with each chapter named after a horse Nir has loved, Horse Crazy is an unforgettable blend of beautifully written memoir and first-rate reporting"
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The mystery of Charles Dickens
by A. N. Wilson
Charles Dickens was a superb public performer, a great orator and one of the most famous of the Eminent Victorians. Slight of build, with a frenzied, hyper-energetic personality, Dickens looked much older than his fifty-eight years when he died--an occasion marked by a crowded funeral at Westminster Abbey, despite his waking wishes for a small affair. Experiencing the worst and best of life during the Victorian Age, Dickens was not merely the conduit through whom some of the most beloved characters in literature came into the world. He was one of them. Filled with the twists, pathos, and unusual characters that sprang from this novelist's extraordinary imagination, The Mystery of Charles Dickens looks back from the legendary writer's death to recall the key events in his life. In doing so, he seeks to understand Dickens' creative genius and enduring popularity. Following his life from cradle to grave, it becomes clear that Dickens's fiction drew from his life--a fact he acknowledged. Like Oliver Twist, Dickens suffered a wretched childhood, then grew up to become not only a respectable gentleman but an artist of prodigious popularity. Dickens knew firsthand the poverty and pain his characters endured, including the scandal of a failed marriage. Going beyond standard narrative biography, A. N. Wilson brilliantly revisits the wellspring of Dickens's vast and wild imagination, to reveal at long last why his novels captured the hearts of nineteenth century readers--and why they continue to resonate today.
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The happily ever after : a memoir of an unlikely romance novelist
by Avi Steinberg
"A journalist's rollicking journey into the heart of the romance industry, and a heartfelt and hilarious memoir of restoring faith in romantic love When his own romantic life was on the rocks, Avi Steinberg wondered if classical ideas about love still applied. As a compulsive reader, literary giants would be his guide; he went to Richardson and Austen, Tolstoy and Flaubert. But novels about relationships didn't go out of fashion after the nineteenth century, and Steinberg quickly realized he had to investigate the booming romance industry of today. As a writer as well as a reader, what better way to do that than to try his hand at writing romance himself? The Happily Ever After chronicles Steinberg's travels through a brave new world of books. He offers a grand tour of romance, from major industry conferences to writing groups at the local bar. He gives the inside scoop from a major romance publishing house, follows a fan fiction writer on her quest to meet megastar Sylvia Day, and analyzes the epic rivalry between cover hunks Fabio and CJ Hollenbach. And along the way he meets many romance readers, each of whom sheds light on why we are so fascinated by romance fiction and what the vitality of this genre has to say about us. With quirky wit and disarming honesty, Steinberg captures and elevates a literary culture often relegated to the margins, while also coming to better understand himself and realizing the possibility of loving again"
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Losing My Voice to Find It : How a Rock Star Discovered His Greatest Purpose
by Mark Stuart
Mark Stuart was the front man of popular Christian rock band, Audio Adrenaline, at a time when the Christian music scene exploded. Advancing from garage band to global success, the group sold out stadiums all over the world, won Grammy Awards, and even celebrated an album going certified Gold. But after almost twenty years, Mark's voice began to give out. When doctors diagnosed him with a debilitating disease, the career with the band he'd founded and dedicated his life to building was gone. Then to his shock, his wife ended their marriage, and Mark believed he'd lost everything. Unsure of his future, Mark traveled to Haiti to help with the band's ministry, the Hands and Feet Project. When the devastating 2010 earthquake hit, media learned he was present and sought him out for interviews. Ironically, Mark became the scratchy voice for the struggling Haitians, drawing the world's attention to their dire circumstances. In the process, Mark found a greater purpose than he'd ever known before. In this gripping, compelling new book, Mark Stuart overlays his story with passages from the gospel of John, urging his readers to listen for God's voice and to embrace his big love that calls us into a big life.
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Let's never talk about this again : a memoir
by Sara Faith Alterman
The producer of the Mortified series describes the innocence of her youth in suburban New England before her discovery that her father was a campy sex writer whose career she assumed when he developed early onset Alzheimer’s.
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Shuttle, Houston : my life in the center seat of Mission Control
by Paul Dye
NASA's longest-serving flight director explores how the high-stakes work of Mission Control and the Space Shuttle program has redefined humanity's relationship with the universe, describing the global impact of split-second decisions in dozens of high-risk missions.
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George Harrison on George Harrison : interviews and encounters
by Ashley Kahn
"George Harrison on George Harrison is an authoritative, chronologically arranged anthology of Harrison's most revealing and illuminating interviews, personal correspondence, and writings, spanning the years 1962 to 2001. Though known as the "Quiet Beatle," Harrison was arguably the most thoughtful and certainly the most outspoken of the famous four. This compendium of his words and ideas proves that point repeatedly, revealing his passion for music, his focus on spirituality, and his responsibility as acelebrity, as well as a sense of deep commitment and humor"
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A very punchable face : a memoir
by Colin Jost
In a collection of humorous essays, the Saturday Night Live head writer and Weekend Update co-anchor tells the story of his life so far. Illustrations.
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Notes on a silencing : a memoir
by Lacy Crawford
The author traces her healing journey after a traumatizing sexual assault at infamous St. Paul's boarding school, describing how she helped police uncover proof of the school's institutionalized mandate of silence.
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My life as a villainess : essays
by Laura Lippman
A first non-fiction compilation by the award-winning author of The Lady in the Lake features original and previously published essays on subjects ranging from her childhood and education to her achievements as a reporter and crime-fiction author.
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Austen years : a memoir in five novels
by Rachel Cohen
With unusual depth and fresh insight in Jane Austen’s life and literature, the author examines her own life through the works of Austen, in this volume that weaves tighter memoir, criticism and biographical and historical material about Austen herself. Bibliography. Appendix.
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Finding freedom : Harry and Meghan and the making of a modern royal family
by Omid Scobie
With unique access and written with the participation of those closest to the couple, the insider authors offer an honest, up-close and disarming portrait of a confident, influential and forward-thinking couple who are unafraid to break with tradition, determined to create a new path away from the spotlight, and dedicated to building a humanitarian legacy that will make a profound difference in the world.
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The art of her deal : the untold story of Melania Trump
by Mary Jordan
Traces Melania's journey from Slovenia, where her family stood out for their nonconformity, to her days as a fledgling model known for steering clear of the industry's hard-partying scene, to a tiny living space in Manhattan she shared platonically with a male photographer, to the long, complicated dating dance that finally resulted in her marriage to Trump.
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| Crazy Brave by Joy HarjoWhat it is: a reflective memoir from Muscogee poet, musician, and Native Writers' Circle Lifetime Achievement Award winner Joy Harjo.
Topics include: the author's fraught family dynamics and single teenage motherhood; her schooling at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.
What sets it apart: Harjo's candid, lyrical writing conveys the "intricate and metaphorical language of my ancestors." |
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Love unknown : the life and worlds of Elizabeth Bishop
by Thomas J. Travisano
Shedding new light on one of the greatest American poets of the 20th century, this biography shows how she was able to marry her talent for life with her talent for writing in order to create a brilliant array of poems, prose and letters. Illustrations.
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| Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez CastilloWhat it's about: the author's traumatic coming of age as an undocumented immigrant, which was compounded by frequent ICE raids, his father's deportation back to Mexico, and the rigidity of the U.S. immigration system.
Want a taste? "We were still trying to cross, still moving in maddening helplessness, a revolving door without an exit."
Awards buzz: Children of the Land is a 2020 International Latino Book Award finalist. |
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Holding on upside down : the life and work of Marianne Moore
by Linda Leavell
A portrait of the modernist poet, written with the support of the Moore estate, goes beyond popularized depictions to reveal her passionate and canny nature as well as her struggles between her devotion to family and desire for freedom, providing coverage of her Greenwich Village artist influences and her later-in-life personal transformation. 20,000 first printing.
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Mad girl's love song : Sylvia Plath and life before Ted
by Andrew Wilson
Draws on exclusive interviews with friends and lovers as well as previously unavailable archives and papers to illuminate the famous writer's life outside of her relationship with Ted Hughes, offering insight into her lesser-known poetry and prose while revealing the origins of her unique style. By the award-winning author of Beautiful Shadow
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| The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father by Kao Kalia YangWhat it is: author Kao Kalia Yang's tribute to her father, Bee Yang, a Hmong song poet who passed on the traditions and culture of his Laotian homeland to his children through his kwv txhiaj (storytelling songs).
Why you might like it: the first half of Yang's moving memoir is written in the voice of her father; the second is told from her own perspective.
Author alert: Yang chronicled her family's immigration to America in her debut memoir The Latehomecomer. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Iredell County Public Library 201 North Tradd Street Statesville, North Carolina 28677 704-878-3090www.iredell.lib.nc.us/ |
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