Memoir

Really Good, Actually

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Really Good, Actually: A Novel By Monica Heisey Cover Image
$27.99
ISBN: 9780063235410
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Published: William Morrow - January 17th, 2023

Actually, this book is really F’ing great. It is funny as hell, smart, poignant, painful and relatable. There is nothing romantic about divorce, and Monica Heisey captures the messy search for meaning (and joy?) with hilarity and tenderness. Too bad this book wasn’t around years ago because some of us would have clutched it to their chest as they cried in a heap in their closet over their failed marriage (or any failure for that matter) and thanked God Monica came into their life and was now their BFF. But don’t you worry - even if you are one of those happy, well-adjusted, non-single people (goodie for you) you will still ADORE this book and not be able to put it down!

Babbie


Feelings: A Story in Seasons

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Feelings: A Story in Seasons By Manjit Thapp Cover Image
$21.99
ISBN: 9780593129753
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Published: Random House - March 2nd, 2021

With her stunningly beautiful artwork, Manjit Thapp conveys her emotional journey through a year in seasons. What better way to start a new year than to take inspiration from nature’s cyclicality and ground yourself with awareness of what’s to come?

Manasa


The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir

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The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir By Paul Newman, David Rosenthal (Editor), Melissa Newman (Foreword by), Clea Newman Soderlund (Afterword by) Cover Image
By Paul Newman, David Rosenthal (Editor), Melissa Newman (Foreword by), Clea Newman Soderlund (Afterword by)
$32.00
ISBN: 9780593534502
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Published: Knopf - October 18th, 2022

Actor, philanthropist, husband, father, race car driver, film director, superstar Paul Newman (1925 –2008), was a conflicted man, who with self-deprecating humor, extraordinary good looks and abundant talent became one of the most iconic movie stars of the past 75 years. This revealing, candid and honest memoir tells his life story in his own words – and those of his family and friends - revealing a somber and introspective man, and yet one who counted his many blessings with true appreciation.

Nathan


One Hundred Saturdays

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One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World By Michael Frank, Maira Kalman (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Michael Frank, Maira Kalman (Illustrator)
$28.00
ISBN: 9781982167226
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Published: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster - September 6th, 2022

Over the course of six years Frank, with much kindness and patience, elicits from Stella Levi her profoundly moving story of the Juderia of Rhodes, a community of Jews who lived on the island for hundreds of years and were brutally deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz in 1943. Frank’s loving portrait of Levi is luminescent.

Dale


None of this Rocks

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None of This Rocks: A Memoir By Joe Trohman Cover Image
$29.00
ISBN: 9780306847356
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Published: Hachette Books - September 13th, 2022

Trohman provides a deep look into the alternative music scene of the early 2000s as well as into his own life navigating within and beyond it. A comedic and important memoir, super enjoyable even if you're not a Fall Out Boy fan!

Hannah


Girlhood

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Girlhood By Melissa Febos Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781635579314
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Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - May 24th, 2022

For devotees of Machado's In the Dream House and Nelson's The Argonauts, Febos's coming-of-age memoir is also an interpolation of myth, psychoanalysis, and other women's stories. Focusing on the aggressions (against herself and others) that all too often lead to internalized patriarchal values, shame, and learned passivity, she also tells a story of empowerment as she finds herself as a queer woman, dominatrix, and fierce defender of her own sense of agency.

Rachael


Messy Roots

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Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American By Laura Gao, Laura Gao (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Laura Gao, Laura Gao (Illustrator)
$14.99
ISBN: 9780063067769
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Published: Balzer + Bray - March 8th, 2022

This graphic memoir about Laura Gao's experience as a queer immigrant from Wuhan to Texas is great — funny, infuriating, and heart wrenching in turns, with a really smart and compelling approach to rendering bilingual conversation. Throw in Laura Gao and Weiwei Xu's expressive lines, gorgeous palettes, and energetic composition, and you've got a really lovely comic!

Piera


The Liar's Club

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The Liars' Club: A Memoir By Mary Karr Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9780143035749
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Published: Penguin Books - May 31st, 2005

As someone who’s been a skeptic of memoirs, The Liar’s Club helped remind me of the power that they can carry. Mary Karr wrote it beautifully and with an often dark sense of humor.  Reading her work was a simultaneously heavy and uplifting experience, that I highly recommend.

Seamus


Red Paint

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Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk By Sasha LaPointe Cover Image
$25.00
ISBN: 9781640094147
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Published: Counterpoint - March 8th, 2022

There are as many ways to heal as there are to be broken, as many ways to be strong as there are challenges to face. Lapointe's memoir of trauma, relationships, punk rock, and heritage is the powerful story of a woman defining and redefining herself into the person whose life would honor her ancestors, thrive in her present, and stride strongly into her future.

Josh


In the Dream House

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In the Dream House: A Memoir By Carmen Maria Machado Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781644450383
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Published: Graywolf Press - December 1st, 2020

In terms of form this is one of the most unique memoirs that I've read. In terms of content, Machado addresses queer domestic abuse in all of its totality and nuance while holding the reader in the palm of her hand.

Jane


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