Must READ memoirs of 2021 and what to expect of 2022!
You Got Anything Stronger?: Gabrielle Union £20 (Hardback)
“Remember when we hit it off so well that we decided We’re Going to Need More Wine? Well, this time you and I are going to turn to our friend the bartender and ask, You Got Anything Stronger? I promise to continue to make you laugh, but with this round, the stakes get higher as the conversation goes deeper…”
So. Where were we?
Right, you and I left off in October 2017, when my first book came out. The weeks before were filled with dreams of loss. Pets dying. My husband leaving me. Babies not being born. My therapist told me it was my soul preparing for my true self to emerge after letting go of my grief. I had finally spoken openly about my fertility journey. I was having second thoughts-in fact, so many thoughts they were organizing to go on strike. But I knew I had to be honest because I didn’t want other women going through IVF to feel as alone as I did…
You Got Anything Stronger? is me at my most vulnerable. I have recently found true strength in that vulnerability, and I want to share that power with you here, through this book.
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Number of pages: 256
Published: 30/09/2021
For more information click here
Punch Me Up to the Gods: Brian Broome £20 (Hardback, Paperback, Ebook, Audio Download)
Brian Broome shares the story of his life in his memoir; a life that reflects on his childhood as a dark-skinned Black boy who finds himself crushing on other boys. The book takes off from there, and we watch the ways Broome’s understandings of himself have an impact on his relationships with those closest to him. We watch as he grapples with addiction, abuse and ultimately finding his way. Broome is reflective and vulnerable and in doing so, creates sentences that beg to be read.
Indiscriminate sex and escalating drug use help to soothe his hurt, young psyche, usually to uproarious and devastating effect. A no-nonsense mother and broken father play crucial roles in our misfit’s origin story. But it is Brian’s voice in the retelling that shows the true depth of vulnerability for young Black boys that is often quietly near to bursting at the seams.
Cleverly framed around Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool,” the iconic and loving ode to Black boyhood, Punch Me Up to the Gods is at once playful, poignant, and wholly original. Broome’s writing brims with swagger and sensitivity, bringing an exquisite and fresh voice to ongoing cultural conversations about Blackness in America.
Number of pages: 250
Published May 18th, 2021, by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
For more information click here
Just As I Am: Cicely Tyson £20 (Hardback)
Long-time actress Cicely Tyson gives her thoughts and dreams a voice in this enriching memoir, offering a present into her life as a church girl, a curious teenager, and her life on stage. This memoir details a lifetime of truth and discovery and what it takes to find the purpose in one’s life.
“In her long and extraordinary career, Cicely Tyson has not only succeeded as an actor, but she has also shaped the course of history.” – President Barack Obama, 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony
Just As I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside.
In these pages, I am indeed Cicely, the actress who has been blessed to grace the stage and screen for six decades. Yet I am also the church girl who once rarely spoke a word. I am the teenager who sought solace in the verses of the old hymn for which this book is named. I am a daughter and mother, a sister, and a friend. I am an observer of human nature and the dreamer of audacious dreams. I am a woman who has hurt as immeasurably as I have loved, a child of God divinely guided by His hand. And here in my ninth decade, I am a woman who, at long last, has something meaningful to say.
Published: 04/02/2021
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Number of pages: 432
For more information click here
Will: Will Smith & Mark Manson £20 (Hardback)
Tracing the incredible career of one of the biggest music and film stars of all time, Will Smith’s inspirational memoir also homes in on the emotional toll that stardom can exact and provides sound advice to all those who think they have mastered life only to find themselves unfulfilled.
One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had.
Will Smith’s transformation from a fearful child in a tense West Philadelphia home to one of the biggest pop stars of his era and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, with a string of box office successes that will likely never be broken, is an epic tale of inner transformation and outer triumph, and Will tells it astonishingly well. But it’s only half the story.
Will Smith thought, with good reason, that he had won at life: not only was his own success unparalleled, but his whole family was also at the pinnacle of the entertainment world.
Published: 09/11/2021
Publisher: Cornerstone
Number of pages: 432
For more information click here
Finding Me: Viola Davis (Hardback)
Viola Davis Is Writing A Memoir About Her Rise to Stardom
Academy Award-winning actress and philanthropist Viola Davis will publish a memoir, titled Finding Me, on April 26, 2022.
The autobiography will chart her course from an impoverished childhood beginning in South Carolina, where she and her family lived in a one-room shack before relocating to Rhode Island, where they remained desperately poor.
Finding Me is Viola Davis’ story, in her own words, and spans her incredible, inspiring life, from her coming-of-age in Rhode Island to her present day. Hers is a story of overcoming, a true hero’s journey. Deeply personal, brutally honest, and riveting, Finding Me is a timeless and spellbinding memoir that will capture hearts and minds around the globe.
Publishing: April 26th 2022
Publishing by HarperOne
Pages: 304
Fo more information click here
