Reader's Corner: Biographies & Memoirs
Looking for a good book to read but don't know where to start? This guide covers popular, award-winning, and just plain great nonfiction and fiction genres and books.
Staff Picks
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by
"An exceptionally beautiful book about loneliness, labor, and survival."--Carmen Maria Machado Before there was Kate Beaton, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of Hark! A Vagrant, there was Katie Beaton of the Cape Breton Beaton, specifically Mabou, a tight-knit seaside community where the lobster is as abundant as beaches, fiddles, and Gaelic folk songs. With the singular goal of paying off her student loans, Katie heads out west to take advantage of Alberta's oil rush--part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can't find it in the homeland they love so much. Katie encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands, where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet is never discussed. Beaton's natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, northern lights, and boreal forest. Her first full length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.
Call Number: GRAPHIC PN6733.B33 D83 2022xPublication Date: 2022-09-13
Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by
From the magical moments on set as Draco Malfoy to the challenges of growing up in the spotlight, get a backstage pass into Tom Felton's life on and off the big screen. Tom Felton's adolescence was anything but ordinary. His early rise to fame in beloved films like The Borrowers catapulted him into the limelight, but nothing could prepare him for what was to come after he landed the iconic role of the Draco Malfoy, the bleached blonde villain of the Harry Potter movies. For the next ten years, he was at the center of a huge pop culture phenomenon and yet, in between filming, he would go back to being a normal teenager trying to fit into a normal school. Speaking with great candor and his signature humor, Tom shares his experience growing up as part of the wizarding world while also trying to navigate the muggle world. He tells stories from his early days in the business like his first acting gig where he was mistaken for fellow blonde child actor Macaulay Culkin and his Harry Potter audition where, in a very Draco-like move, he fudged how well he knew the books the series was based on (not at all). He reflects on his experiences working with cinematic greats such as Alan Rickman, Sir Michael Gambon, Dame Maggie Smith, and Ralph Fiennes (including that awkward Voldemort hug). And, perhaps most poignantly, he discusses the lasting relationships he made over that decade of filming, including with Emma Watson, who started out as a pesky nine-year-old whom he mocked for not knowing what a boom mic was but who soon grew into one of his dearest friends. Then, of course, there are the highs and lows of fame and navigating life after such a momentous and life-changing experience. Tom Felton's Beyond the Wand is an entertaining, funny, and poignant must-read for any Harry Potter fan. Prepare to meet a real-life wizard.
Call Number: BIOG PN2287.F45 B49 2022xPublication Date: 2022-10-18
Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships by
Celebrated NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg delivers an extraordinary memoir of her personal successes, struggles, and life-affirming relationships, including her beautiful friendship of nearly fifty years with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Four years before Nina Totenberg was hired at NPR, where she cemented her legacy as a prizewinning reporter, and nearly twenty-two years before Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court, Nina called Ruth. A reporter for The National Observer, Nina was curious about Ruth's legal brief, asking the Supreme Court to do something revolutionary: declare a law that discriminated "on the basis of sex" to be unconstitutional. In a time when women were fired for becoming pregnant, often could not apply for credit cards or get a mortgage in their own names, Ruth patiently explained her argument. That call launched a remarkable, nearly fifty-year friendship. Dinners with Ruth is an extraordinary account of two women who paved the way for future generations by tearing down professional and legal barriers. It is also an intimate memoir of the power of friendships as women began to pry open career doors and transform the workplace. At the story's heart is one, special relationship: Ruth and Nina saw each other not only through personal joys, but also illness, loss, and widowhood. During the devastating illness and eventual death of Nina's first husband, Ruth drew her out of grief; twelve years later, Nina would reciprocate when Ruth's beloved husband died. They shared not only a love of opera, but also of shopping, as they instinctively understood that clothes were armor for women who wanted to be taken seriously in a workplace dominated by men. During Ruth's last year, they shared so many small dinners that Saturdays were "reserved for Ruth" in Nina's house. Dinners with Ruth also weaves together compelling, personal portraits of other fascinating women and men from Nina's life, including her cherished NPR colleagues Cokie Roberts and Linda Wertheimer; her beloved husbands; her friendships with multiple Supreme Court Justices, including Lewis Powell, William Brennan, and Antonin Scalia, and Nina's own family--her father, the legendary violinist Roman Totenberg, and her "best friends," her sisters. Inspiring and revelatory, Dinners with Ruth is a moving story of the joy and true meaning of friendship.
Call Number: BIOG PN4874.T6248 A3 2022xPublication Date: 2022-09-13
Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional by
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER USA TODAY BESTSELLER Winner of the New England Book Award for Nonfiction "The best of what memoir can accomplish... pulling no punches on the path to truth, but it always finds the capacity for grace and joy." -Esquire, "Best Memoirs of the Year" A TIME Best Book of the Season* A Rolling Stone Top Culture Pick * A Publishers Weekly Best Memoir of the Season * A Buzzfeed Book Pick * A Goodreads Readers' Most Anticipated Book * A Chicago Tribune Book Pick * A Boston.com Book You Should Read * A Los Angeles Times Book to Add to Your Reading List * An Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Month Isaac Fitzgerald has lived many lives. He's been an altar boy, a bartender, a fat kid, a smuggler, a biker, a prince of New England. But before all that, he was a bomb that exploded his parents' lives--or so he was told. In Dirtbag, Massachusetts, Fitzgerald, with warmth and humor, recounts his ongoing search for forgiveness, a more far-reaching vision of masculinity, and a more expansive definition of family and self. Fitzgerald's memoir-in-essays begins with a childhood that moves at breakneck speed from safety to violence, recounting an extraordinary pilgrimage through trauma to self-understanding and, ultimately, acceptance. From growing up in a Boston homeless shelter to bartending in San Francisco, from smuggling medical supplies into Burma to his lifelong struggle to make peace with his body, Fitzgerald strives to take control of his own story: one that aims to put aside anger, isolation, and entitlement to embrace the idea that one can be generous to oneself by being generous to others. Gritty and clear-eyed, loud-hearted and beautiful, Dirtbag, Massachusetts is a rollicking book that might also be a lifeline.
Call Number: BIOG PS3606.I8789 Z46 2022xPublication Date: 2022-07-19
I'm Glad My Mom Died by
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor--including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother--and how she retook control of her life. Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother's dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called "calorie restriction," eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, "Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn't tint hers?" She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income. In I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail--just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi ("Hi Gale!"), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants. Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I'm Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.
Call Number: BIOG PN2287.M54547 A2 2022xPublication Date: 2022-08-09
Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story by
Bono--artist, activist, and the lead singer of Irish rock band U2--has written a memoir: honest and irreverent, intimate and profound, Surrender is the story of the remarkable life he's lived, the challenges he's faced, and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him. "When I started to write this book, I was hoping to draw in detail what I'd previously only sketched in songs. The people, places, and possibilities in my life. Surrender is a word freighted with meaning for me. Growing up in Ireland in the seventies with my fists up (musically speaking), it was not a natural concept. A word I only circled until I gathered my thoughts for the book. I am still grappling with this most humbling of commands. In the band, in my marriage, in my faith, in my life as an activist. Surrender is the story of one pilgrim's lack of progress ... With a fair amount of fun along the way." --Bono As one of the music world's most iconic artists and the cofounder of the organizations ONE and (RED), Bono's career has been written about extensively. But in Surrender, it's Bono who picks up the pen, writing for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. In his unique voice, Bono takes us from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was fourteen, to U2's unlikely journey to become one of the world's most influential rock bands, to his more than twenty years of activism dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. Writing with candor, self-reflection, and humor, Bono opens the aperture on his life--and the family, friends, and faith that have sustained, challenged, and shaped him. Surrender's subtitle, 40 Songs, One Story, is a nod to the book's forty chapters, which are each named after a U2 song. Bono has also created forty original drawings for Surrender, which appear throughout the book.
Call Number: BIOGPublication Date: 2022-11-01
Solito: A Memoir by
At nine years old, all Javier can imagine is rushing into his parents' arms, snuggling in bed between them, and living under the same roof again. He cannot foresee the perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and deceptions that await him; nor can he know that those two weeks will expand into two life-altering months alongside fellow migrants who will come to encircle him like an unexpected family. A memoir as gripping as it is moving, Solito provides an immediate and intimate account not only of a treacherous and near-impossible journey, but also of the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments. Solito is Javier Zamora's story, but it's also the story of millions of others who had no choice but to leave home.
Call Number: BIOG E184.S15 Z36 2022xPublication Date: 2022-09-06
Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain by
A groundbreaking, candid, well-sourced--but definitely unauthorized--biography of the celebrity chef and TV star Anthony Bourdain, based on extensive interviews with those who knew him intimately. Anthony Bourdain's death by suicide in June, 2018 shocked people around the world. Bourdain seemed to have it all: an irresistible personality, a dream job, a beautiful family, and international fame. The reality, though, was more complicated than it seemed. Bourdain became a celebrity with his bestselling book Kitchen Confidential. He parlayed it into a series of hit television shows, including the Food Channel's Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and CNN's Parts Unknown. But his charisma belied a troubled spirit. Addiction and an obsession with perfection and personal integrity ruined two marriages and turned him into a boss from hell, even as millions became intrigued by the ever-curious and genuinely empathetic traveler they saw on TV. Bourdain was already running out of steam, physically and emotionally, when he fell hard for an Italian actress who could be even colder to him than he sometimes was to others, and who effectively drove a wedge between him and his young daughter. Down and Out in Paradise is the first book to tell the true and full Bourdain story, relating the highs and lows of an extraordinary life. Leerhsen shows how Bourdain's never-before-reported childhood traumas fueled both his creativity and the insecurities that would lead him to a place of despair.
Call Number: BIOG TX649.B58 L44 2022xPublication Date: 2022-10-11
Biography & Memoir Booklists in the BPL Online Catalog
- Military Memoirs: 17 First Hand Accountsn honor of those who have served and who are currently serving in our nation's Armed Forces, check out one of these military memoirs today!
- From Kurt Cobain to Mark Twain: 14 Journals of Writers, Artists, & OthersEver wondered what your favorite artists were thinking or how their works were formed? What about the man inside the body of King Kong? Or one of the explorer's to the arctic who never made it back? Check out one of these journals today and get inside the heads of writers, artists, and others!
- Graphic Memoirs: 18 Personal Stories in PicturesFrom arranged marriages and spirit monsters to childhood and old age, these graphic memoirs tell true stories that will stay with you long after you've reached the last page. Check one out today!
- Wonder Women: Female "Superheroes" from Past to PresentForget Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel! History is filled with real life "superheroes" -- women who have changed the world with their intellect, bravery, and resourcefulness. Some are household names, while others are unsung heroes. Broaden your horizons today by picking up one of these biographies about women who have performed selfless and courageous acts, from the distant past to the present day.
- Crafty Memoirs: 13 Books From People Who Create for A LivingWhether it's music or photography, food or illustrations, these folks have lived interesting lives. Borrow one of these memoirs today and see where their creativity has taken them... and perhaps find out where it might take you!
- 12 Must-Read Contemporary Memoirs & BiographiesWhether you’re participating in the Boston Public Library’s summer reading Book Bingo, or just looking for a great new read, here’s a list of some of our favorite memoirs and biographies to add to your summer reading list.
- Adventurous Women: Explorers and TravelersWant to read about adventurous women traveling, exploring, and general doing awe-inspiring things? Take a look at this list of fearless ladies!
- Reading Our ChampionsWhat makes someone a champion? It's a very subjective and personal definition. While any of these books can be used to fill the "By or about someone you consider a champion" square in Book Bingo, you shouldn't feel limited by our choices! A civil rights leader, an athlete, an artist, a teacher, a parent -- they are all champions in different ways. Celebrate the legacy of whatever champion is most meaningful to you!
- Culinary Memoirs: 10 Books to Whet Your AppetiteCulinary memoirs by chefs from the United States and abroad.
- America's First LadiesWant to know more about the ladies behind the great leaders of the United States? Take a look at this list of books either about, or written by, America's First Ladies.
- The Doctor Is In: 7 Compelling Books by Health Care ProvidersMemoirs by health care providers with a focus on those with a Boston connection.
- Famous Women, Fascinating LivesBooks by and about women who, through their individual roles, whether as activists, entertainers, scientists, politicians, or writers, had an impact on the world.
- I Was There, This Is My Story: 10 Police and Military Memoirs and True Story CollectionsGet arrested by a good book. Memoirs and true story collections by police officers and military personnel.
- The Lives of ScientistsCheck out these autobiographies and biographies of scientists of all types, from medicine to physics to computer science, and everything in between.
- Musicians and Their Music: 16 Books to Get You Bopping to Your Favorite SongsCheck out one of these books to learn more about your favorite musician or even why you like the music you like.
- If you liked Bossypants...If you enjoyed Tina Fey's memoir entitled "Bossypants" check out these similar titles compiled by Books and Authors.
- If you liked Unbroken...There are many things to like about Laura Hillenbrand's book "Unbroken". Was it the survival story that you enjoyed or was it the story of a great athlete? Was it the setting of World War II or the compelling writing? Find similar titles on this list for every one of those reasons that you may have enjoyed "Unbroken".
- If you liked Wild...Did you enjoy the story of addiction, healing, and adventure in Cheryl Strayed's "Wild"? If so, try one of these memoirs with similar themes.