What’s On the Shelf? Biographies!

If your reading habits lean toward fiction with compelling protagonists, get ready to discover a new genre. Biographies!

Biographies can satisfy your craving for larger-than-life characters who celebrate amazing triumphs, or suffer spectacular downfalls. They can deliver page-turning reads that are both entertaining and educational.

At AAPLD, Biographies have a special section all their own. You’ll find it on the last two shelves of the Main Library’s Adult fiction section, facing the Adult Services desk. Right now, there’s also a special display near New Non-Fiction.  Whether your interests run toward Classic Hollywood, Amazing Athletes, Rock Stars, Memoirs, Supreme Court, Royalty, or Presidents, you’re sure to discover a great story.

Here’s a taste of what you’ll find in our biography section. Click the link to place a hold.

Behind the Glamour

Marilyn in Manhattan, Her Year of Joy – In the fall of 1954, desperate to escape a bad divorce and growing frustration with the Hollywood studio system, Marilyn Monroe fled to New York City.  Her year in Manhattan allowed Monroe to rediscover herself, both as an actor, and a woman determined to be seen as more than a glamour queen.

Growing Up Again, Life, Loves and Oh Yeah, Diabetes – The story of another iconic actress, this one from the small screen. Mary Tyler Moore shares career highlights, her life managing Type 1 diabetes, and her later work as an activist, raising awareness and helping others.

 

 

 

 

 

Great American Stories

 The Restless Wave: Good Times Just Causes, Great Fights and Other Appreciations – The late Senator John McCain, a war hero and presidential candidate, reflects on his life in public service and today’s polarized politics, offering a vision and hope for America’s healing.

Sonia Sotomayor: The True American Dream – Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s biography recounts her childhood as a Puerto Rican girl growing up in the South Bronx, whose drive and intellect took her to Ivy League universities, a successful career legal career, and humanitarian work, to become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice.

 

 

 

 

 

Play Ball! 

Teammate: My Journey in Baseball and a World Series for the Ages – Just in time for the MLB playoffs, relive the Cubs’ thrilling 2016 season, as told by former Cubs catcher David “Grandpa Rossy” Ross, a journeyman catcher who became a hero, and is now in his first season as the team’s manager.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives

 Morgue: A Life in Death – During his forty-year career, forensic scientist Dr. Vincent Di Maio worked on some of the some of the nation’s most compelling cases, from the exhumation of JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, to the murder of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. He shares stories, and insider details from his career in this fascinating, but little-known field of criminal investigation.

Her: a memoir – Identical twins Christa and Cara Parravani overcame poverty to attend college, and launch successful careers. But Cara’s downward spiral into heroin addiction, which ended in her death from overdose, caused Christa to unravel as well. Her fight back to mental and physical wholeness, and look at the mysterious bond that unites twins, makes for a compelling memoir.