Biographies and Memoirs are very popular nowadays, and this little store that is bigger on the inside has a number of new (and older) biographies that run the gambit from funny and light-hearted to very heartwarming and tear-jerking. It always is interesting to find out that some of your favorite celebrities actually came from dysfunctional, horrible families, and it is even more interesting to learn how they were able to escape their terrible environments. Biographies make great gifts, especially if you know who your loved one has an interest in.
The first biographies I’d like to mention are of people who have led hard lives, or have had awful things happen in their lives, and who worked hard to overcome their problems. Ian Manual was given a life sentence with no chance of parole at the age of 14 for a non-homicidal crime. Trevor Noah was the son of a white man and a South African black woman in South Africa, when a bi-racial child was considered a crime. Hua Hsu never really fit in with US culture, and neither did his only friend. Then his friend was killed in a carjacking. J. Michael Straczynski, now a very well known author of Marvel and DC television/movie fame came from a very dysfunctional family, which included murder and a large secret.
Another hardship memoir, and one that has been very well received is Solito, about a 9-year-old boy’s three-thousand-mile adventure with strangers from El Salvador to the US border to meet his mother who left four years before and father he hardly remembers. The other book is Black Birds in the Sky, about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
On the lighter side, we have Afro-Latina Adiba Nelson’s Ain’t That a Mother, about Parenthood. We also have #Not Your Princess, Voices of Native American women with over 50 artists revealing hurt from the past and celebrating hope for the future.
Some of the more well-known personalities that have newly released memoirs or biographies are William Shatner, Paul Newman, Bono, and Jann S. Wenner, Rolling Stone founder, Editor and Publisher.
Following those great bios, there is an interesting book by Bill O’Reilly, Killing Legends, The Lethal Danger of Celebrity. I also put the book about Diana, William and Harry in this category, since celebrity I’m sure did play a lethal part in their lives.
The last two biographies are for two people who need no real introduction – Their names are enough to give you an idea of their contributions to this world. One, the literary world, and the other, to the world in general.
As always, thank you for making our shelves your destination.
Annie's Book Stop of Worcester 