The biography is the culmination of five years of research and writing—the first-ever biography of the life of Kurt Vonnegut.
The New York Times recently published their annual 100 Notable Books list. Below is just a sampling of the 100 books deemed worthy of inclusion for 2011 (both fiction and non-fiction.) Check out the list, and then check out some books from the library!
Honest, intelligent, and deeply moving, The Boy in the Moon explores the value of a single human life.
In the early 1950s, an 11-year-old boy in Colombo boards a ship bound for England. As the narrative moves between the decks and holds of the ship and the boy’s adult years, it tells a spellbinding story about the magical, often forbidden discoveries of childhood and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage.
A masterpiece of narrative biography, this is the extraordinary story of an obscure young German princess who traveled to Russia at fourteen and rose to become one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history.
Clarence Darrow is the lawyer every law school student dreams of being. His days-long closing arguments delivered without notes won miraculous reprieves for men doomed to hang. This book offers a candid account of Darrow’s personal life: his divorce, affairs, and disastrous finances.
Matthew Zapruder's third book mixes humor and invention with love and loss.
For a century Harlem has been celebrated as the capital of black America, a thriving center of cultural achievement and political action. At a crucial moment in Harlem's history, as gentrification encroaches, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts untangles the myth and meaning of Harlem's legacy.
One last full moon - then it will all be over. Jacob Marlowe has lost the will to live. For two hundred years he has wandered the world. Now, the last of his kind, he knows he cannot go on. But as Jake counts down to suicide, he is plunged straight back into the desperate pursuit of life - and love.
When the writer heard of the mysterious loss of thousands of bath toys at sea, he figured he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, and read up on Arctic science and geography. But questions can be like ocean currents: wade in too far, and they carry you away.
Set in the aftermath of 9/11, it offers a vivid, darkly humorous, bitingly real portrait of a particular moment in history, when a nation's dreams and ideals gave way to a culture of cynicism, lies, and fear.
A jury gathers in Manhattan to select a memorial for the victims of a devastating terrorist attack. Their deliberations complete, the jurors open the envelope containing the anonymous winner’s name—and discover he is an American Muslim. Instantly they, and the country, are cast into roiling debate about the claims of grief, the ambiguities of art, and the meaning of Islam.
They were teachers, students, chemists, writers, and housewives; a singer at the Paris Opera, a midwife, a dental surgeon. Eventually, the Gestapo hunted down 230 of these women and imprisoned them. Sent to Auschwitz, only 49 returned after the war. This is their story.
