Spring 2006 Trade Paperbacks: Biography & Memoir

by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 1/23/2006

ADAMS MEDIA

'Til the Fat Girl Sings: From Overweight Nobody to a Broadway Somebody—A Memoir (June, $14.95) by Sharon Wheatley takes a personal look at the damaging effects of childhood obesity.

AK PRESS

Clandestines: The Pirate Journals of an Irish Exile (June, $14.95) by Ramor Ryan undertakes a global journey through today's battle zones, bars and social bonds. Author tour.

ALLEN UNWIN (dist. by IPG)

Big Twitch: One Man, One Continent and a Race Against Time—A True Story About Birdwatching (Aug., $16.95) by Sean Dooley. A birder spends his inheritance hoping to break the record for birds seen in one year.

AMBER BOOKS

Great African American Female Writers: The Power of the Pen—Sixty Years of Phenomenal Storytelling (June, $14.95) by Heather Covington compiles biographies.

BLUE SNAKE BOOKS

Remembering the Master: Bruce Lee, James Yimm Lee and the Creation of Jeet Kune Do (Mar., $19.95) by Sid Campbell provides intimate glimpses into the lives of the two Lees.

CONTINUUM

Like a Fiery Elephant: The Story of B.S. Johnson (Mar., $16.95) by Jonathan Coe recalls one of Britain's most controversial writers of the '60s and '70s.

DISINFORMATION COMPANY

Green Day: American Idiots & The New Punk Explosion (Apr., $19.95) by Ben Myers is the first biography of this punk group.

DOWN EAST BOOKS

Vineyard Confidential: 150 Years of Scandals, Eccentrics and Strange Occurrences (June, $12.95) by Holly Nadler dishes Martha's Vineyard gossip involving such notables as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bill Clinton and JFK Jr.

5 SPOT

Dating Amy: 50 True Confessions of a Serial Dater (June, $12.95) by Amy DeZellar is both an irreverent dating diary and a self-help book. Ad/promo.

GALLAUDET UNIV. PRESS

Deaf in Delhi: A Memoir (Mar., $29.95) by Madan Vasishta. A young cattle herder in India becomes a teacher in Delhi and then a student at Gallaudet University.

GEORGETOWN UNIV. PRESS

Loyal Dissent: Memoir of a Catholic Theologian (May, $26.95) by Charles E. Curran. A priest clings to the Catholic church though the Vatican forbids him to teach. Ad/promo.

HANGING LOOSE PRESS

What We Deserved: A New York Life (May; $15, cloth $25) by Steven Schrader (Arriving at Work) recalls growing up on the Upper West Side.

HARPER PAPERBACKS

Queen of the Oddballs: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan (May, $13.95) by Hillary Carlip. A young woman defies all conventions in star-studded Los Angeles. 50,000 first printing.

HARVARD UNIV. PRESS

Berlin Childhood Around 1900 (Apr., $14.95) by Walter Benjamin. Begun in 1932, the author's recollections, recently translated, went unpublished during his lifetime.

HAUS PUBLISHING (dist. by IPM)

Napoleon (May, $15.95) by Timothy Wilson-Smith acknowledges the legendary emperor's legacy.

INNER OCEAN (dist. by PGW)

Mortician Diaries: What Death Has to Teach Us About Fully Living Life (Aug., $12.95) by June Nadle. The author, a 79-year-old grandmother, was a mortician for more than 50 years.

LAST GASP PRESS

Who Killed Hunter S. Thompson? (June, $19.95), edited by Warren Hinckle, assesses the writer through the eyes of his friends and peers.

MANIC D PRESS

Fast Forward: Confessions of a Porn Screenwriter (Mar., $13.95) by Eric Spitznagel opens the door on the adult film industry. Author tour.

MARLOWE CO.

Finding Magic Mountain: Life with Five Glorious Kids and a Rogue Gene Called FOP (Apr., $14.95) by Carol Zapata-Whelan. A mother turns a medical curse into a blessing.

NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY

Bitter Is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office (Mar., $13.95) by Jen Lancaster follows a swaggering sorority girl's descent into destitution.

NORTH ATLANTIC/FROG, LTD.

Cutting Remarks: Insights and Recollections of a Surgeon (Apr., $18.95) by Sidney M. Schwab, M.D., charts the author's training at a San Francisco hospital in the '70s.

OVERLOOK

Hans Christian Andersen: A New Life (Apr., $22.95) by Jens Andersen goes beyond the subject's storytelling to discuss his novels, his passion for science and more.

W.W. NORTON/PEACE HILL PRESS

Who in the World Was the Acrobatic Empress? The Story of Theodora (Apr., $9.50) by Robin Phillips is a junior-level biography of Justinian's wife.

POCKET BOOKS/MTV BOOKS

Maroon (May, $18.95) by Maroon 5 is a pictorial autobiography of the Grammy-winning band.

PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

A Year in Japan (Mar., $19.95) by Kate T. Williamson reflects on the lesser-known aspects of her adopted home.

RIO NUEVO

A Taco Testimony: Meditations on Family, Food & Culture (May, $16.95) by Denise Chávez connects literature with culture and food along the Mexican-American border.

SECOND STORY PRESS

Between Friends: A Year in Letters (Mar., $12.95) by Oonagh Berry and Helen Levine follows a correspondence project involving frequent handwritten letters by two women.

SOURCEBOOKS MEDIAFUSION

Beethoven: His Life & Music (June, $24.95) by Jeremy Siepmann portrays the troubled composer; includes two CDs.

TALONBOOKS (dist. by Northwestern Univ. Press)

Baseball Love (Mar., $17.95) by George Bowering undertakes a road trip through storied ballparks.

TASCHEN

Ali Rap (June, $29.99) by George Lois collects wisdom and wisecracks from Muhammad Ali.

TILBURY HOUSE

While You're Here, Doc: Farmyard Adventures of a Maine Veterinarian (Mar., $15) by Bradford B. Brown gathers this vet's rollicking stories.

TYNDALE HOUSE

Fighting for David (Mar., $14.99) by Leone Nunley. The author's son, thought by some to be in a vegetative state, experienced a remarkable recovery.

UNIV. OF MISSOURI PRESS

Sailing with Noah: Stories from the World of Zoos (Apr., $19.95) by Jeffrey P. Bonner goes behind the scenes at modern zoos.

UNIV. OF NEW MEXICO PRESS

Sandra Day O'Connor: Justice in the Balance (Mar., $21.95) by Ann Carey McFeatters profiles the first woman Supreme Court Justice.

UNIV. PRESS OF KENTUCKY

Eating as I Go: Scenes from America and Abroad (July, $25) by Doris Friedensohn explains how strangers maintain their differences yet come together through food.

VILLARD

Mixed: My Life in Black and White (Mar., $12.95) by Angela Nissel discloses what it's like growing up biracial in America.

WALKER CO.

Comrade Rockstar: The Life and Mystery of Dean Reed, the All-American Boy Who Brought Rock 'n' Roll to the Soviet Union (June, $14.95) by Reggie Nadelson recalls the émigré American singer.

NEIL WILSON PRESS (dist. by Interlink)

My Mother Wore a Yellow Dress: An Irish Childhood in the 1960s (Mar., $15) by Christina McKenna is a humorous and compassionate account of two generations.

WORDCRAFT OF OREGON