Must-Read Memoir & Biography Books | October 2021

08 Oct 2021

Must-Read Memoir & Biography Books | October 2021

Looking for your next non-fiction read? Check out these incredible true stories written by Nadija Mujagic, Anita Hill, Sophie Santos, Derecka Purnell, Sarah Ruhl, and Andrea Elliott! Enjoy your new must-read memoir and biography books.

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Immigrated (Teenage War Survival)

by Nadija Mujagic

Release Date: September 21, 2021

From the author of one of the best Bosnian War books of all time, Nadija Mujagic, comes an inspiring, poignant, and occasionally humorous story of one young woman’s determination to achieve the happiness she deserves in the wake of a doubly devastating past…At the age of 19 and newly married, fleeing from her native country and still haunted by her demons from the Bosnian War, Nadija struggles to adapt to the completely different culture of the USA. Immigrant life cannot protect her from her abusive marriage, which magnifies and extends her war trauma. Isolated and lonely, she learns new life lessons, making many mistakes along the way. Can she face her war demons head on and rise above the horrors of her past to start afresh?

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Smile: The Story of a Face

by Sarah Ruhl

Release Date: October 5, 2021

The extraordinary story of one woman’s ten-year medical and metaphysical odyssey that brought her physical, creative, emotional, and spiritual healing, by a MacArthur genius and two-time Pulitzer finalist…Brimming with insight, humility, and levity, Smile is a triumph by one of America’s leading playwrights. It is an intimate examination of loss and reconciliation, and above all else, the importance of perseverance and hope in the face of adversity.

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Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City

by Andrea Elliott

Release Date: October 5, 2021

Invisible Child follows eight dramatic years in the life of a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter…By turns heartbreaking and inspiring, Invisible Child tells an astonishing story about the power of resilience, the importance of family, and the cost of inequality. Based on nearly a decade of reporting, Invisible Child illuminates some of the most critical issues in contemporary America through the life of one remarkable girl.

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The One You Want to Marry (And Other Identities I’ve Had)

by Sophie Santos

Release Date: October 1, 2021

A hilarious and heartfelt memoir about finding your true voice by Sophie Santos, the fearless comic and host of The Lesbian Agenda…From the self-proclaimed Queen of the Stunted Late Bloomers and one of the most exciting emerging voices in comedy comes an honestly funny memoir about the awkward, cringeworthy, hilarious, and longest possible journey of coming of age and into her own.

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Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom

by Derecka Purnell

Release Date: October 5, 2021

Derecka Purnell draws from her experiences as a lawyer, writer, and organizer initially skeptical about police abolition. She saw too much sexual violence and buried too many friends to consider getting rid of police in her hometown of St. Louis, let alone the nation. But the police were a placebo. Purnell details how multi-racial social movements rooted in rebellion, risk-taking, and revolutionary love pushed her and a generation of activists toward abolition. The book offers lessons that activists have learned from Ferguson to South Africa, from Reconstruction to contemporary protests against police shootings. Here, Purnell argues that police can not be reformed and invites readers to envision new systems that work to address the root causes of violence.

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Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence

by Anita Hill

Release Date: September 28, 2021

A combination of memoir, personal accounts, law, and social analysis, and a powerful call to arms from one of our most prominent survivors, Anita Hill draws on her years as a teacher, legal scholar, and advocate, and on the experiences of the thousands of individuals, to trace the pipeline of behavior that follows individuals from place to place: from home to school to work and back home. In measured, clear, blunt terms, she demonstrates the impact it has on every aspect of our lives, including our physical and mental wellbeing, housing stability, political participation, economy and community safety, and how our descriptive language undermines progress toward solutions. And she is uncompromising in her demands that our laws must address the issue concretely.

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