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Biography and Memoir June 2017 |
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| Anatomy of Innocence: Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted by Laura Caldwell and Leslie S. Klinger, editorsIn this anthology, well-known mystery writers relate the experiences of 15 innocent people who were convicted of serious crimes and served time in prison before being exonerated. The short "as told to" biographies by authors such as Lee Child, Sara Paretsky, and S.J. Rozan vividly detail the perversion of justice in each case; the book's editors add contextual information. For a full-length memoir recounting a similar experience, try Damien Echols' Life after Death. |
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| Captain Fantastic: Elton John's Stellar Trip Through the '70s by Tom DoyleIn time for Elton John's 70th birthday, author Tom Doyle presents a thoroughly researched biography, covering the rock star's glittering successes, his difficulties with drugs, struggles with his homosexuality, and spectacular conflicts with collaborators. Captain Fantastic capitalizes on interviews with John and his long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin to create a vivid and insightful portrait of the man inside the elaborate costumes. |
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| The Outrun by Amy LiptrotAfter a decade of desolate work weeks and long-lasting hangovers in London, author Amy Liptrot, a native of the Orkney Islands off Scotland's coast, completes addiction rehab and returns to the severe landscape of her childhood. In this lyrical memoir, she describes finding peace in a place where the winds are so strong that they can move tons of rock. Fans of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea will be enthralled. |
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| Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage by Dani ShapiroHourglass presents a thoughtful, intimate consideration of novelist Dani Shapiro's marriage. Having grown tired of making up stories, she looks for truth in the minutiae of her life: her husband's new rifle; the clutter and dilapidation of their house; the diary (which she had completely forgotten) from their honeymoon. Drawing the reader irresistibly into her world, she reveals the universality of individual experience. |
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| Born Both: An Intersex Life by Hida ViloriaIn Born Both, author Hida Viloria provides an up-close account of he/r life as an intersex person and a chronicle of he/r activism. Although s/he was raised as a girl, s/he learned at age 20 that he/r genitalia were not typically female, eventually discovering the intersex community. This courageous memoir offers affirmation for intersex people and their friends and family, as well as information for intersex advocates. |
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They Left Their Homelands
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| Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard CarlsonScientific genius Nikola Tesla emigrated to the U.S. from his native Serbia in 1884. Known as a leading innovator in electronics and telephony, Tesla was regarded by many as an eccentric. In this well-researched biography author Bernard Carlson balances Tesla's showmanship with his scientific brilliance. Those curious about his achievements and intrigued by science history will find this to be an engaging and informative portrait. |
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| The Distance Between Us: A Memoir by Reyna GrandeIn The Distance Between Us, award-winning novelist Reyna Grande chronicles her childhood in Mexico and eventual emigration to the U.S. Becoming the first person in her family to graduate from college, Grande achieved success that's light-years away from the deprivation and abandonment that characterized her early years. Her memoir brings to life her traumas and triumphs, recapitulating themes from her novels, Across a Hundred Mountains and Dancing with Butterflies. |
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| Love, Loss, and What We Ate by Padma LakshmiBest-known for her work as a judge on television's Top Chef, Padma Lakshmi, originally from Madras, India, portrays her sense of taste as an aspect of navigating a complex world. While on camera, she's a woman of few words, but this candid memoir includes details of her marriage to (and divorce from) Salman Rushdie, her love affair with billionaire Teddy Forstmann, her health struggles, and her joy in her daughter. |
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Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey from a Homeless Shelter to the...
by Dan-el Padilla Peralta
At age four, author Dan-el Padilla Peralta came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic with his parents. After their visas expired and his father returned to the D.R., his mother struggled to provide for Padilla Peralta and his younger, U.S.-born brother. In Undocumented, Padilla Peralta chronicles his youth, divided between his tough Harlem neighborhood and the elite high school he attended on scholarship; he went on to excel at Princeton. His engaging memoir vividly portrays the challenges undocumented immigrants face and their potential for remarkable success.
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Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
by Rosemary Sullivan
Born in 1926, Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva spent most of her youth sheltered from the ravages of Stalin's oppressive Soviet regime. Though her mother and several other family members died relatively young, Svetlana Alliluyeva didn't realize the full significance of the Soviet dictatorship and the Cold War until the 1960s. In 1967 she created an international sensation when she defected to the United States. In this thoroughly researched biography, author Rosemary Sullivan sensitively explores the historical complexities that conspired to make Svetlana Alliluyeva's life difficult no matter which way she turned. Stalin's Daughter presents a fascinating chronicle of one woman's life and of the world throughout most of the 20th century.
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