Biography & Memoir

Lamya H details their life from early childhood through adulthood in juxtaposition to stories in the Quran. In doing so, they deliver a profound and masterfully crafted memoir with nuances about their immigrant and queer identity. Hijab Butch Blues is such a beautiful memoir that from the opening chapter felt like a story demanding to be heard tenderly and vulnerably. I won’t stop thinking about it for a long time. —Andrea

Dyscalculia is a face in front of a mirror, eyes closed, explaining its looks from memory. This genre-defying book is a poetic, self-critical, and internal meditation on mistakes made in love and their repercussions; a tracery of the wounds of later life back to the cracks of origin in early childhood. This slim tale transfixed me, and as it went on, revealed more and more to me about the nature of causation and about myself. I implore everyone to read this book, but especially those fans of Jenny Offill and In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. —Brooks

Crux is a singular, stunning memoir. Beautifully written, carefully researched, and topically relevant, it is a work of art and a testimony to the challenge of borders, between countries, within families, by race, class, mental health, and a system that seeks strongholds, not nuance, in these divides. Guerrero’s Mexican-American father is a pulling, enigmatic, fleeting force throughout her life, and her need to understand him sends her across these borders and deep into her family’s history. What follows is a lyrical, loving, fascinating truth-telling—you haven’t read anything like this. —Melinda

Reading Ari Shapiro’s new book—a mix of memoir, travelogue essays, and testament to the importance of journalism and inquiry—has quadrupled (and then some!) my appreciation of and fondness for the host of NPR’s All Things Considered. With candor, astute humor, and a dedication to the importance of finding humanity across all environments, Shapiro has written a book that hits all the marks—I laughed, I teared, and I came away filled with hope as he reminded me that as fragmented as the world may seem, with the right listening perspective, the commonality for connection is a universal bond that cannot be broken. —S.M.C.

Like the best of memoir, Stay True contains multitudes; it’s a coming-of-age story, a grief narrative, an ode to friendship, a history lesson, a musical tribute, a capture of a moment and an awakening to it. In the mid-’90s, Hua Hsu started at UC Berkeley and became friends with Ken, both of them Asian but a study in opposites—beautiful, inseparable ones whose time together ended too quickly with Ken’s violent death. What follows is their story, both finite and all-encompassing. I loved it.

—MELINDA

Lucille Ball once said, “If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.” It is no surprise that two dynamic, influential women, Nina Totenberg and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, found ways to show up for each other professionally and personally over the course of their busy lives. In this memoir, Totenberg shows us how female friendships are key to both making it through life’s challenges and to opening up the possibility for women to live the professional life that they desire. This is a powerful and heartfelt account of one extraordinary friendship that also changed the world.

—CASEY

As someone who has been meaning to read Deborah Miranda’s book (“memoir” is perhaps not quite the right word) for literally the last decade, I am so, so glad I took the plunge. The topics Miranda grapples with are hard, but she works through them with as much care and humor as one could ask for, embedding her writing always with admiration for her ancestors and hope for the future.

—JAX

Calling all millennials nerds! Do you remember Saturday morning cartoons? Did Toonami set the rhythm of your afterschool hours? Do you wax nostalgic about your first anime or have strong opinions about the MCU? Maya Phillips does and, with the love and knowledge of a true fan, uses her wickedly sharp intellect to dive deep into the craft, meaning, and impact of these pieces of culture that used to be fringe and are now mainstream.   

—JOCELYN

Our ability to preserve the memories and lives of the Old World only exists if we listen to the history to be told. Stella Levi does just that by, over the course of one hundred Saturdays, recounting her remarkable life to author Michael Frank. Frank then shares her phenomenal story, of Levi’s life in the Juderia of Rhodes, an island housing Jews, Italians, Greeks, and Turks in harmony until World War II; through Auschwitz; and finally in America. Along with Maira Kalman’s poignant illustrations, One Hundred Saturdays reminds us of the vibrancy of the Jewish community and of the lifelong longing and fight to remember.

—CASEY

Concepcion by Albert Samaha is a perfect book for anyone interested in the Philippines and its people. In it, Samaha traces his family’s life from precolonial times to the diaspora of today. It is a well-researched, comprehensive history, a story of familial bonds, and an exploration of what it means to be a hyphenated American.

—IAN