Books & Reading

PageTurners - Biographies & Memoirs

By clicking on titles, you can go directly to the catalog to reserve these books.

Angell, Jeannette, Callgirl

(2004) After earning countless degrees, 34-year-old Angell's live-in boyfriend wipes out her life savings. Now, she tells the story of how, for several years, she resorts to a dual life to survive: university lecturer by day and callgirl by night. It's an amazing story.
Call Number:306.74092 An436c

Burroughs, Augusten, Magical Thinking

(2004) The author's writing style is irresistibly raunchy, mean, hilarious-a engaging wild ride that makes him one of our best memoirists.
Call Number: 818.603 B945m

Clinton, Bill, My Life

(2004) Clinton's autobiography is overly long, so skim to the best parts and you'll be engrossed by his candid accounting of both successes and failures. The abridged audio CD version, which the ex-President reads perfectly, is a great accessory to any car trip.
Call Number: 92 C617

Dylan, Bob, Chronicles, Vol. I

(2004) A remarkable memoir exploring the critical junctures of Dylan's life and career, this book made all the 2004 "best book" lists.
Call Number: 92 D992

Eszterhaus, Joe, Hollywood Animal, a Memoir

(2004) Love him or hate him, you have to admire screenwriter (Flashdance, Showgirls) Eszterhaus' raw and unrelenting autiobiography. It will alternately make you mad and amaze you from one paragraph to the next.
Call Number: 92 Es 99

Flynn, Nick, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City

(2004) Why are all the best memoirs about dysfunctional families? Poet Flynn writes a mesmerizing account of life with his alcoholic, con artist father who eventually becomes homeless and shows up at a shelter where his grownwup son now works. (A homeless man's assessment of life on the streets provides the unforgettable title).
Call Number: 92 F6796

Gonnerman, Jennifer, Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett

(2004) The book tells the story of Elaine Bartlett, who spent sixteen years in prison for a single sale of cocaine-a consequence of New York State's controversial Rockefeller drug laws. When released, the 42-year-old woman struggles against all odds-no money, no job, no real home.
Call Number: 364.8092 G588L

Greenblatt, Stephen, Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare

(2004) A young man from the provinces-a man without wealth, connections, or university education-moves to London. In a remarkably short time he becomes the greatest playwright not just of his age but of all time. How did he do it?
Call Number: 92 Sh156g

Hendra, Tony, Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul

(2004) At 14 years old, Tony began an affair with a married woman that ended when the jilted husband, a devout Roman Catholic, sent Tony to a Benedictine abbey. There, Tony met the remarkably kind and compassionate Father Joe. For the next four decades, Father Joe's guidance never faltered, even as Tony failed in marriage, fought substance abuse, and struggled to find meaning.
Call Number: 282.09 h3841f

Land, Brad, Goat: A Memoir

(2004) Pledging a fraternity at Clemson University introduces the author to the horrors of hazing that causes a rift with his brother.
Call Number: 305.235092 L2293g

Oz, Amos, A Tale of Love and Darkness

(2004) The celebrated international writer engages the reader with the complex story of his fascinating family history and often harrowing Jerusalem boyhood.
Call Number: 92 Oz1

Shapiro, Susan, Lighting Up: How I Stopped Smoking, Drinking, and Everything Else I loved in Life Except Sex

(2005) After a 27-year two-packs-a-day smoking habit (from age 13 to 40), journalist Susan Shapiro decides it's time to quit once and for all. She turns to a brilliant therapist who convinced her husband to propose. Nicotine, however, turns out to be the tip of the iceberg. Soon, all of the things Susan loves-gum, alcohol, candy, etc., are off limits. But will leaving her shrink be the hardest addiction she's ever had to break?
Call Number: 362.29092 Sh228L

Silverstein, Ken, The Radioactive Boy Scout: The True Story of a Boy and His Backyard Nuclear Reactor

(2004) While working on his Atomic Energy badge for the Boy Scouts, David Hahn's obsessive attention turned to building a nuclear breeder reactor in his backyard garden shed. His project sparked a EPA crisis and put 40,000 residents at risk. The central question: where were his parents?
Call Number: 621.483092 Si397r

Vogel, Jennifer, Flim Flam Man, a True Family History

(2004) One morning, Jennifer Vogel opened the newspaper and read that her father had gone on the run after being released pending trial for single-handedly counterfeiting nearly $20 million in U.S. currency-the fourth-largest sum ever seized by federal agents. What is a loving daughter to do?
Call Number: 364.1092 V8625f

Walls, Jeannette, The Glass Castle, a Memoir

(2005) Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. This excellent memoir follows the family's eccentricities during the nomadic years of wandering through many familiar Southwest desert towns and their return home to a gritty West Virginian mining town.
Call Number: 362.82092 W159g

Return to top