Welcome back, Unshelved readers!
Once again, the Library Services Team at Random House has selected four books that we think you must know about, if you don’t already! So without further ado, here is our Spring 2011 Essentials list. They are all biographies/memoirs this time around:
Endgame: Bobby Fischer’s Remarkable Rise and Fall – from America’s Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness by Frank Brady
From a respected biographer who was a longtime friend of Bobby Fischer and who secured unique access to the champion’s papers and family archives, comes the first-ever, full-scale biography of Fischer–one that captures his dizzying journey from precocity to madness. It will finally answer the question: “Who was Bobby Fischer?”
I Love a Broad Margin to My Life by Maxine Hong Kingston
An energetic and beautiful memoir on the occasion of Maxine’s entering old age: she takes us back to China and forward into a new era in her own life, sharing with us her joys, her sense of reckoning, and even a last look at her most beloved fictional characters.
Pink Boots and a Machete by Mireya Mayor
Compellingly written by the woman the New York Times exclaims has “the spirit of a female Indiana Jones,” Pink Boots and a Machete is the story of a self-professed former “girly girl” and daughter of overprotective Cuban immigrants who blossomed from NFL cheerleader to Fulbright Scholar to field scientist and ultimately, quintessential adventurer.
Vietnamerica by GB Tran
A superb new graphic memoir in which an inspired artist/storyteller reveals the road that brought his family to where they are today: Vietnamerica. GB Tran is a young Vietnamese American artist who grew up distant from (and largely indifferent to) his family’s history. Born and raised in South Carolina as a son of immigrants, he knew that his parents had fled Vietnam during the fall of Saigon. It was only in his late twenties that GB began to learn their extraordinary story.
We do have a limited quantity of Advance Readers Copies available! For your chance to win one, e-mail library@randomhouse.com specifying which book you are interested in and your library’s mailing address. Winners will be chosen at random next week.
Happy Reading,
RH Library Team