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Biography and Memoir May 2020
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| Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Finney BoylanWhat it is: a funny and moving ode to the dogs that have helped author Jennifer Finney Boylan navigate pivotal moments in her life, including the death of her father and her gender transition.
Want a taste? "Everything I know about love I learned from dogs."
Is it for you? Readers unfamiliar with Boylan's life and work may want to start with her bestselling memoir She's Not There, which chronicles her transition in greater depth. |
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| I Want You to Know We're Still Here: A Post-Holocaust Memoir by Esther Safran FoerWhat it's about: As the child of Holocaust survivors reticent to discuss their experiences, Esther Safran Foer grew up with lingering questions about her family history. After learning that her father's first family (including Esther's half-sister) had been killed by Nazis, Esther traveled to Ukraine in search of answers -- and catharsis.
Read it if: you liked Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, a fictionalization of his mother's heartwrenching journey to Ukraine. |
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| Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert KolkerWhat it is: a haunting and compassionate family biography that explores the relationship between biology and mental illness.
Starring: the Galvins, a Colorado family with 12 children, six of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia in the 1970s.
Book buzz: This "exceptional, unforgettable, and significant work" (Booklist) was recently named an Oprah's Book Club Pick. |
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Crystal Eastman : a revolutionary life
by Amy Aronson
"Crystal Eastman was a central figure in many of the defining social movements of the twentieth century -- labor, feminism, internationalism, free speech, peace. She drafted America's first serious workers' compensation law. She helped found the NationalWoman's Party and is credited as co-author of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
She engineered the founding of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
This first full-length biography recovers the revealing story of a woman who attained rare political influence and left a thought-provoking legacy in ongoing struggles.
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Living in color : what's funny about me
by Tommy Davidson
The popular performer and standup comedian describes his life growing up black in a loving white family and the racial barriers he helped to break down on In Living Color alongside Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx and the Wayans brothers.
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| Jefferson's Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black, in a Young America by Catherine KerrisonWhat it is: a richly detailed portrait of Thomas Jefferson's daughters and the tumultuous times in which they lived.
Reviewers say: "Incisive and elegant, Kerrison's book is at once a fabulous family story and a stellar work of historical scholarship" (Publishers Weekly).
You might also like: Virginia Scharff's The Women Jefferson Loved, which explores how Jefferson was shaped by the women in his life. |
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| Ray & Joan: The Man Who Made the McDonald's Fortune and the Woman Who... by Lisa NapoliStarring: McDonald's founder Ray Kroc and his third wife, Joan, a philanthropist who supported his entrepreneurial efforts and donated $3 billion to various charitable causes after Ray's death.
Why you might like it: This well-researched portrait of a complicated yet loving partnership will "cause readers to never look at McDonald's the same way again" (Library Journal). |
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| Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know: The Fathers of Wilde, Yeats and Joyce by Colm TóibínWhat it's about: how 19th-century Irish authors Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, and James Joyce grappled with their respective daddy issues in their lives and work.
Book buzz: Written by the award-winning author of Brooklyn, this concise group biography of three bad dads was originally a series of lectures presented at Emory University. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Carrollton Public Library 1700 Keller Springs Road, Carrollton Texas 75006 4220 North Josey Lane, Carrollton Texas 75010 |
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