| Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon by Kate Andersen BrowerWhat it is: the first authorized biography of silver screen legend Elizabeth Taylor, written by the bestselling author of The Residence. Only available in eAudio.
Why you might like it: As nuanced as it is gossipy, this well-researched portrait captures Taylor's indomitable spirit and legacy "like one of her own epic screen adventures" (Booklist). |
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My Life as a Locomotive Engineer
by Kevin Tasker
New Zealand engine driver Kevin Tasker's 55-year career spans an interesting period of railway operation that makes a fascinating read.
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Constructing a Nervous System : a Memoir
by Margo Jefferson
Margo Jefferson was a theatre and book critic for Newsweek and the New York Times. Her writing has appeared in, among other publications, Vogue, New York magazine and New Republic.
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| Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat & Family by Rabia Chaudry What it's about: attorney and Undisclosed podcast host Rabia Chaudry's fraught relationship with food and her body, spurred by her Pakistani Muslim family's immigration to America shortly after her birth. Only available in eAudio.
Read it for: Chaudry's candid, hard-fought journey toward self-love, peppered with wry musings on fad diets, workout woes, family expectations, and the limitations of fat acceptance.
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Alice Guy : first lady of film
by José-Louis Bocquet
"In 1895 the Lumière brothers invented the cinematograph. Less than a year later, 23-year-old Alice Guy, the first female filmmaker in cinema history, made The Cabbage Fairy, a 60-second movie, for Léon Gaumont, and would go on to direct more than 300 films before 1922. A free and independent woman who rubbed shoulders with masters such as Georges Méliès and the Lumières, she was the first to define the professions of screenwriter and producer. She directed the first feminist satire, then the first sword-and-sandal epic, before crossing the Atlantic in 1907 to the United States and becoming the first woman to found her own production company"
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| Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki MurakamiWhat it is: beloved novelist Haruki Murakami's (IQ84) engaging guide to the craft of writing. Also available in Large Print.
What's inside: 11 conversational and self-deprecating essays revealing the author's origins as a writer, creative process, and sources of motivation and inspiration.
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Letters to Lilburn : Douglas MacDiarmid's Conversations From the Heart
by Douglas MacDiarmid
Douglas MacDiarmid is remembered as one of our great expat artists, and this book coincides with the 100th anniversary of his birth in Taihape. Douglas died from Covid-19 in Paris in August 2020. His niece and biographer Anna Cahill has spent years transcribing hundreds of Douglas' handwritten letters to his first great love, composer Douglas Lilburn.
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The Break : Life As a Cycling Maverick
by Steve Cummings
Steve Cummings was a track rider for Team GB from 2001-2007 before racing for top pro teams including Team Sky, BMC and MTN-Qhubeka-Dimension Data. He completed two of the most spectacular stage race victories in recent Tour de France history: at the mountain-top finish in Mende in 2015 and through the Pyrenees in 2016, as well as a stage at the Tour of Spain. He was crowned both British Time Trial and Road-Race National Champion in 2017.
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Firebrand : A Tobacco Lawyer's Journey
by Joshua Knelman
"You'll inhale this tell-all book about the tobacco industry and never look at a No Smoking sign the same way again!" -Margaret Atwood. Also available in eBook.
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| Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States by Samantha AllenWhat it's about: trans reporter Samantha Allen's 2017 road trip spent exploring queer communities in conservative parts of the United States.
Places visited: bathroom bill protests in Texas; a youth center in Provo, UT; a drag bar in Jackson, MS; the Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, IN, and more.
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| Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land by Noé ÁlvarezWhat it is: a lyrical memoir by the son of Mexican immigrants that chronicles his working-class Washington State upbringing and his 2004 participation in the four-month, 6,000-mile Indigenous people's Peace and Dignity Journey, a relay-style run from Canada to South America. Also available in Large Print.
What's inside: dangers (a mountain lion, unfriendly motorists, injuries); tensions between the runners; gatherings with Native American and First Nations groups; thoughtful musings about running and place. |
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| Dirt: Adventures in Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and Sleuth Looking for the Secret of... by Bill BufordWhat it's about: New Yorker writer Bill Buford worked in the kitchen at Washington, D.C.'s famed Citronelle restaurant to learn about French cooking before moving to Lyon in 2008 with his wife and three-year-old twins to really dig into the subject, and stayed for almost five years. Only available in eBook.
Who it's for: readers who appreciate haute cuisine, stories of families abroad, or vibrant foodie travelogues with amiable guides.
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| Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots by Morgan JerkinsWhat it's about: Bestselling author Morgan Jerkins, who lives in New York and was raised in New Jersey, traveled to Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and California for insight as she thoughtfully explored how the Great Migration affected families, especially her own. Also available in eBook.
Further reading: For more on the Great Migration, pick up Isabel Wilkerson's award-winning history The Warmth of Other Suns; for another book combining family memoir, travelogue, and modern Black history, try Candacy Taylor's Overground Railroad. |
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| Winter Pasture: One Woman's Journey with China's Kazakh Herders by Li JuanWhat it is: an award-winning memoir that combines nature and travel writing; an eye-opening look at a disappearing way of life; the lyrical English-language debut of a Chinese journalist. Also available in eBook.
The starting point: Though Li Juan had trouble finding a nomadic group who would take an unmarried 30-something Han Chinese woman along on their winter migration, a small Kazakh family of herders agreed.
What happened: Working with the father, mother, and teen daughter, Juan built a home using manure, gathered snow for water, endured nights with temps below zero, and took care of camel, sheep, and cattle. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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