Memoir Archives - Page 9 of 26

One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter: Essays by Scaachi Koul [in Library Journal]

28 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Indian American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

Certain authors are their own best narrators – even more true for memoirs (think Roxane Gay, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Luvvie Ajayi). Here, Scaachi Koul’s accomplished reading comes with the bonus of regular vocal interjections from her father. With this first book, a collection of smart, sassy, revealing...

You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir by Sherman Alexie [in Library Journal]

26 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Memoir, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW With his uniquely sing-songy cadence, almost-chuckles, and uncontainable tears, Sherman Alexie (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian) gives a raw, superb performance. No one else could have narrated the stories of his difficult youth, his lifesaving education, his struggles between familial obligations...

Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve by Lenora Chu [in Christian Science Monitor]

21 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese, Chinese American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

'Little Soldiers' examines the Chinese education system from the inside Born in Philadelphia, reared in a Houston suburb, Stanford- and Columbia-educated, journalist Lenora Chu has a resume that – at first glance – looks very American. But her “connection to China came by birthright”: she’s “a...

Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy by Anne Lamott [in Library Journal]

19 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Most of Anne Lamott’s nonfiction titles are generally variations on a theme: be kind – to yourself, to others – and you’ll make the world a better place. Somehow, though, each book arrives sounding fresh and new – and effective. That Lamott narrates almost all...

Letters to Memory by Karen Tei Yamashita [in Christian Science Monitor]

13 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Japanese American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

'Letters to Memory' tells the story of author Karen Tei Yamashita's World War II internment “I have no formed definition of this project except an intuition that you would listen and be attentive and somehow understand,” Karen Tei Yamashita writes in Letters to Memory, her sagacious follow-up...

Tell Me Everything You Don’t Remember: The Stroke That Changed My Life by Christine Hyung-Oak Lee [in Library Journal]

29 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Korean American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

Ten years ago, Lee was married to her college boyfriend, living in Berkeley, and working as the human resources director at a small company. On New Year’s Eve 2006, Lee suffered a stroke. She was 33. She would spend the better part of a decade...

Beyond Books: Memoirs That Reckon with Death [in The Booklist Reader]

16 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Lists, Memoir, Repost

Being part of the "sandwich generation" caught between aging parents and almost-adult children means that mortality begins to loom heavier as the years pass. Sharing the burden of tragedy with thoughtful, wise, and gentle others through books is certainly one of the most readily-available balms....

Once We Were Sisters: A Memoir by Sheila Kohler [in Library Journal]

14 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

Sheila Kohler’s crisp, clipped voice is ideal for her memoir, which begins with references to Nelson Mandela, Afrikaners, and various family members that all announce her South African heritage. Although she left her birth country at 17, Kohler (Cracks; Crossways) has retained her clear, concise...

This Is Not a Border: Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature, edited by Ahdaf Soueif and Omar Robert Hamilton [in Booklist]

11 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Memoir, Middle Eastern, Nonfiction, Palestinian, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Commemorating 10 extraordinary years of PalFest, the Palestine Festival of Literature, mother-son cofounders Soueif (Cairo: Memoir of a City Transformed, 2014) and Hamilton (The City Always Wins, 2017) gathered 47 literary luminaries to create this essential testimony, including Suad Amiry, J. M. Coetzee, Teju...

Reading with Patrick: A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship by Michelle Kuo [in Christian Science Monitor]

10 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Chinese American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

'Reading with Patrick' tells of a teacher's extraordinary journey Pontificating with superlatives only halfway through the calendar year might prove short-sighted, but risking humiliated inaccuracy seems to be a negligible consequence for claiming that Reading with Patrick could be the most affecting book you’ll read this...

Letters to a Young Muslim by Omar Saif Ghobash [in Library Journal]

07 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Arab, Arab American, Audio, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Now older than his 43-year-old father was when he died in a 1977 terrorist attack, Omar Saif Ghobash writes his Letters to his two young sons as a matter of permanent record. As the United Arab Emirates' ambassador to Russia (Ghobash's father was Arab, his...

Where the Line Is Drawn: A Tale of Crossings, Friendships, and Fifty Years of Occupation in Israel-Palestine by Raja Shehadeh [in Booklist]

29 Jun, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Memoir, Nonfiction, Palestinian

With the publication of Palestinian Walks (2008), Shehadeh recognized Henry Abramovitch as an important “walking companion” in his lyrical, bittersweet record of the encroaching Israeli occupation of his Palestinian homeland. That mention becomes the focus of Shehadeh’s newest title, in which he chronicles a half-century...

Books for Living by Will Schwalbe [in Library Journal]

09 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

“Throughout my life I’ve looked to books for all sorts of reasons,” Will Schwalbe reveals, “to comfort me, to amuse me, to distract me, and to educate me.” Reading, discussing, and exalting books eased him and his late mother through the final months of her...

A Palestine Reader, Part II: Adult Books [in The Booklist Reader]

03 May, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Arab, Arab American, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Lists, Memoir, Middle Eastern, Nonfiction, Palestinian, Palestinian American, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

The unrelenting conflict between Palestine and Israel keeps the Middle East in the news. But for a fuller picture of the Palestinian and Palestinian-American experience than what the media can provide, here’s a starter reading list. For a list of recommended titles about Palestine for young, middle-grade,...

A Palestine Reader, Part I: Books for Youth [in The Booklist Reader]

28 Apr, by SIBookDragon in Arab, Arab American, British, Canadian, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Lists, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Palestinian, Palestinian American, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

The unrelenting conflict between Palestine and Israel keeps the Middle East in the news. But for a fuller picture of the Palestinian and Palestinian American experience than what the media can provide, here's a starter reading list for young people. Stay tuned for our list of titles about...

Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age by Amani Al-Khatahtbeh [in Library Journal]

25 Apr, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Arab American, Audio, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

On September 11, 2001, 9-year-old Amani Al-Khatahtbeh should have been enjoying Yearbook Day at her New Jersey elementary school. Instead, “[t]hat day has become crystallized in my memory,” Al-Kahatahtbeh writes – and narrates, “not just for how harrowingly scary it [was] – how we didn’t...

You Will Not Have My Hate by Antoine Leiris, translated by Sam Taylor [in Library Journal]

19 Apr, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, European, French, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW With elegant control, narrator Gildart Jackson embodies the words of French journalist Antoine Leiris, who bears witness to the murder of his wife, Hélène Muyal-Leiris, one of the victims of the November 13, 2015, terrorist attack at Paris's Bataclan Theatre. Three days later, Leiris...

The Refugee Experience for Middle Grade and YA Readers [in The Booklist Reader]

13 Apr, by SIBookDragon in Afghan, African, Arab, Biography, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Caribbean, Cuban, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Iranian, Iranian American, Iraqi, Italian, Lists, Memoir, Middle Eastern, Middle Grade Readers, Myanmarese (Burmese), Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Poetry, Repost, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Vietnamese, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

This is the second in a two-part series of recommended books for youth about the refugee experience. For a list of picture books, click here. Canada, with her groovin' President, functional healthcare system, and more welcoming borders, is currently in the throes of "Month 13," the first month following...

City Gate, Open Up by Bei Dao, translated by Jeffrey Yang [in Booklist]

04 Apr, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

Bei Dao is considered the most prominent of China’s “Misty Poets,” named for the abstract, opaque nature of their compositions written predominantly during the oppressive Cultural Revolution. In contrast, the language of Bei Dao’s memoir, seamlessly translated by fellow poet Yang, is elegantly simple and...

A Trans* and Gender Nonconforming Reading List for All Ages [in The Booklist Reader]

28 Mar, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Lists, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

News about the transgender community – including banned books, bathroom laws, hockey, wrestlers, models, parades, Jackie and Juliet Evancho, and, most tragically, a horrifying murder caught on cellphone video – have all made recent headlines. Books can be helpful, entertaining, illuminating portals into the trans*/gender nonconforming (GNC)...

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