By Frank McCourt

Continues the sometimes harrowing tale of the author's youth as he immigrates from Ireland to the United States, joins the Army, goes to college, and begins building a life.

By Solomon Northup

A memoir describing the life of Solomon Northup, a free Black man from Saratoga, N.Y., who was kidnapped in 1841 and forced into slavery in Louisiana for twelve years.

Became the movie: 12 Years a Slave.

By John Higham

After more than a decade of planning, John Higham and his wife leave their jobs and suburban lives and pack up their home and set out with their two young children to travel around the world. In the course of the next 52 weeks, they crossed 24 time zones, visited 28 countries and experience a lifetime of adventures.

By Yangzom Brauen
Recommended By Neela Vass, Head of Acquisitions

Author Yangzom Brauen shares details about her life and the lives of her mother and grandmother, who lived in Tibet during Chinese rule and were forced to find ways to preserve their identity and culture while in exile.

By Helen Fremont

The author tells how she discovered that her parents were Jews who survived the Holocaust and explores the elaborate deceptions her parents concocted to preserve her and her sister.

By Sara Benincasa

The comedian and radio host recollects her experiences with agoraphobia and how she, with the help of her friends and family who drew her back from the edge, broke free from fear to live in the life she was meant to live.

By Ali Wentworth
Recommended By Amy B., Children's Librarian

The best-selling author, actress, podcaster and producer takes humorous look at the absurd, trying, and hysterical things her family experienced during the global pandemic and reveals how she learned, grew and found comfort in unexpected places.

By Elie Wiesel

The memoirs of the Nobel Peace Laureate chronicle his prewar childhood, suffering in Auschwitz, adult struggles with faith, literary endeavors, and relationships with such figures as Golda Meir.

By Amy Elizabeth Smith
Recommended By Sue Ann R., Head of Children's Services

“Details the author's yearlong journey organizing book clubs devoted to Jane Austen novels in six Central and South American countries, during which she discovered friendship and love, and learned about life and the power of Austen (From the Publisher).”

By Donald Stratton
Recommended By Neela Vass, Head of Acquisitions

A memoir by a USS Arizona survivor describes his experience of the attacks that left him with burns over more than sixty-five percent of his body, his resolve to reenter service after a grueling recovery, and his contributions to some of the Pacific's most violent battles.

By Shulem Deen

A former Skverer Hasid and the founding editor of Unpious openly documents his harrowing loss of faith, which forced him into a life of deception, while providing a thought–provoking look at one of the most insular Hasidic sects in the U.S. Genres: Biography/Memoir; Autobiography; Religion & Spirituality

By Nicole Chung
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian

A Korean adoptee who grew up with a white family in Oregon discusses her journey to find her identity as an Asian American woman and a writer after becoming curious about her true origins.

By Martin Sheen

A dual memoir of the film legend and his actor/director son, shares fifty years of family history, covering their Northern Spanish heritage, careers, and individual spiritual lives.

By Matthew Polly

This is the story of the childhood dream that led Polly to study martial arts at China’s famed Shaolin Temple, his initial disenchantement that turned into respect for the instructors, and the training that eventually led him to represent the Temple in international competitions.

By Chris Kyle
With Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian

Tuesday, November 10, 2015. 7:30 PM.

American Sniper is the astonishing autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, who is the record-holding sniper in U.S. military history. Kyle has more than 150 officially confirmed kills (the previous American record was 109), though his remarkable career total has not been made public by the Pentagon.

By Taya Kyle with Jim DeFelice

The widow of American Sniper Chris Kyle shares their private journey, a moving and universal chronicle of love and family, service and patriotism, grief and sacrifice, faith and purpose.

By Frank McCourt

The author recounts his childhood in Depression-era Brooklyn as the child of Irish immigrants who decide to return to worse poverty in Ireland when his infant sister dies.

By Frank McCourt
Recommended By Jackie, Head of Readers' Services

“The McCourts began their family in poverty in Brooklyn, yet when Angela slipped into depression after the death of her only daughter, the family reversed the tide of emigration and returned to Ireland, living on public assistance in Limerick. McCourts’ story is laced with the pain of extreme poverty, aggravated by an alcoholic father who abandoned the family during World War II. Given the burdens of grief and starvation, it's a tribute to his skill that he can serve the reader a tale of love, some sadness, but at least as much laughter as the McCourts' "Yankee" children knew growing up in the streets of Limerick (Library Journal).”

Became the movie: Angela’s Ashes

By Anne Frank
With Jackie Ranaldo, Head of Readers' Services

Tuesday, March 10, 2020. 7:30 PM.

Commemorating the 75th anniversary of Anne Frank's death

Teens Welcome

The autobiographical reminiscences of a young Jewish girl coming of age during World War II describes her life in hiding from the Nazis and offers a poignant study of the tragedy of the Holocaust.

By Alex Trebek
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian

Longtime Jeopardy! host and television icon Alex Trebek reflects on his life and career.

By Kang Chol-Hwan

The memoirs of a survivor of a North Korean communist prison describes the harsh conditions in a gulag, his life in North Korea, and his daring escape.

By Alison Bechdel

Depicts the author's mother as a voracious reader, music lover, and passionate amateur actress who quietly suffers as the wife of a closeted gay artist and withdraws from her young daughter, who searches for answers to the separation later in life.

By Lucette Lagnado

An autobiography of Lagnado's early years as an immigrant from Cairo to Brooklyn, reflecting on her own mother's story as she makes her own choices.

By Lucy Grealy

A memoir in which award–winning poet Lucy Grealy recalls her experiences with a potentially terminal cancer that required she have a third of her jaw removed when she was nine years old, and discusses the suffering she endured as she was growing up from classmates, strangers, and other people because of her looks.

By Keiji Nakazawa

In this graphic depiction of nuclear devastation, three survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima - Gen, his mother, and his baby sister - face rejection, hunger, and humiliation in their search for a place to live.

By John Elder Robison

The author of Look Me in the Eye presents an anecdotal guide to individuals with Asperger's and their families that offers insight into the Aspergian mind while outlining recommendations for improving communication skills and embracing differences.

By Qian Julie Wang
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian, Audrey Honigman, Library Clerk

This memoir from a Chinese woman who arrived in New York City at age 7 examines how her family lived in poverty out of fear of being discovered as undocumented immigrants and how she was able to find success.

By Allison Pataki
Recommended By Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian

Recounts how the author's healthy thirty-year-old husband suffered a life-threatening stroke that placed everything they had worked for in jeopardy, a struggle she navigated by writing daily letters to her husband that helped her make sense of the challenges they faced.

By Michelle Obama
Recommended By Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian, Megan Kass, Systems Manager, Pam Strudler, Programming & Arts Librarian

An intimate and uplifting memoir by the former First Lady chronicles the experiences that have shaped her remarkable life, from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago through her setbacks and achievements in the White House.

By Sarah Silverman
Recommended By Pam Martin, Assistant Library Director

From the outrageously filthy and oddly innocent comedienne who has her own show on Comedy Central comes a memoir that is at once personal, poignant and laugh-out-loud funny and includes humorous essays, embarrassing photos, mortifying childhood diary entries and truly humiliating e-mails to and from her comedian friends.

By Eileen Rockefeller

The great-granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller describes what it was like growing up in the privileged, wealthy family known as American royalty, with her five siblings and twenty two cousins and discusses her yearning for a normal life.

By Margaret Powell

Chronicles the experiences of a 1920s maid working in the great houses of England, detailing the disparate lives of the upper class and their servants, the class struggles inherent in the relationship, and daily life as a servant.

By Allen Rucker

A humor-tinged account by a man who was suddenly rendered a paraplegic by the rare condition transverse myelitis describes how his changed circumstances forced him to reevaluate his life and the larger questions of human existence.

By Betty White
Recommended By Stacey Mencher, Technology and Applications Manager

“The popular actress and animal welfare advocate offers personal stories of the zoo animals she has known and loved through the years... (From the Publisher).”

By Pat Benatar
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian

The singer of such 1980s hits as "Heartbreaker" and "Love Is a Battlefield" discusses her rock 'n' roll life--including concert tours, MTV videos, and adoring fans -- and the marriage that kept her away from the pitfalls of fame.

By Jenna Miscavige Hill

The niece of the Church of Scientology's commander–in– chief reveals the strange and disturbing details of her childhood, piercing the veil of secrecy that has shrouded this religion and exposing the inner workings of Scientology's celebrity culture.

By Mariatu Kamara with Susan McClelland

When Mariatu set out for a neighborhood village in Sierra Leone, she was kidnapped and tortured, and both of her hands cut off. She turned to begging to survive. This heart-rending memoir is a testament to her courage and resilience. Today she is a UNICEF Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.

By Charlamagne Tha God

An instant New York Times bestseller! Charlamagne Tha God—the self–proclaimed “Prince of Pissing People Off,” cohost of Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club, and “the most important voice in hip-hop”—shares his eight principles for unlocking your God–given privilege.

By Rebecca Walker

Describes the personal journey of a woman born to a black mother and Jewish father, including her struggle with drugs and complicated friendships, and culminating in her endeavor to find her own identity.

By Edward Conlon

A richly textured, anecdotal portrait of life as a police officer in the NYPD chronicles one man's life as a cop, from growing up with a police officer father and his education at Harvard, to his first day on the beat in the South Bronx and to his rise to detective, capturing the complex life on the street of the city.

By Joan Didion

Shares the author's frank observations about her daughter as well as her own thoughts and fears about having children and growing old, in a personal account that discusses her daughter's wedding and her feelings of failure as a parent.

By Kate Christensen
Recommended By Audrey Honigman, Library Clerk

“Builds on the author’s popular food-centric blog to recount her unconventional upbringing and her unusually happy and occasionally sorrowful life of literary and culinary sensuality (From the Publisher).”

By Trevor Noah
Recommended By Stacey Mencher, Technology and Applications Manager, Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian

The host of The Daily Show With Trevor Noah traces his wild coming of age during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed, offering insight into the farcical aspects of the political and social systems of today's world.

By Daniel Tammet

Tuesday, April 24. 1 PM & 7:30 PM.

In honor of National Autism Awareness Month

"Traces the inspiring story of an autistic savant with genius-level mathematical talents, describing how he was eschewed by his classmates in spite of his near-photographic memory and super-human capacity for math and language, in a firsthand account that offers insight into how he experiences the world (From the Publisher)."

By Bruce Springsteen
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian

Traces the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s life from his childhood in a Catholic New Jersey family and the musical experiences that prompted his career to the rise of the E Street Band and the stories behind some of his most famous songs.

By Tina Fey
Recommended By Megan Kass, Systems Manager, Jackie, Head of Readers' Services, Rosemarie Germaine, Senior Library Clerk, Pam Martin, Assistant Library Director, Amy B., Children's Librarian

Actress Tina Fey recounts her life, sharing how she managed to fulfill her dream of one day becoming a comedian on television and discussing her childhood, marriage, career, and views on beauty, politics, motherhood, and relationships.

By Carly Simon
Recommended By Alisa Fogel, Librarian-Programming, Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian

The successful singer-songwriter describes her life growing up amidst the glamour of literary New York with her father who co-founded Simon & Schuster, her path to art and music, her marriage to James Taylor and her famously cryptic song lyrics.

By Ron Howard & Clint Howard
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian

By turns confessional, nostalgic, heartwarming and harrowing, the award-winning filmmaker and his brother, an audience-favorite actor, share their unusual family story of navigating and surviving life as sibling child actors.

By Susannah Cahalan

An account of the author's struggle with a rare brain-attacking autoimmune disease traces how she woke up in a hospital room with no memory of baffling psychotic symptoms, describing the last-minute intervention by a doctor who identified the source of her illness.

By Rachel Jeffs
Recommended By Neela Vass, Head of Acquisitions

The daughter of the self-proclaimed prophet of the FLDS Church describes the abusive patriarchal culture in which she was raised by sister wives and dominating men and discusses how her father remains a powerful influence on his followers.