Briefly Noted

The NFL champion whose life inspired the hit movie The Blind Side is back with an inspiring and motivating book on overcoming any obstacle, no matter how tough the odds… Oher’s life has had a lot of unexpected highs: a college degree; four beautiful, healthy children and a happy marriage; drafted in the first round; a Super Bowl victory; and a second chance to play in the “big game.” He’s also run up against quite a few walls: poverty, hunger, homelessness, struggles in school, bullying, job loss, brain injury, anxiety, and depression. What he knows now is that your wall can be your opportunity. 

“It’s a story of grief, of a dangerous mountain with a dark history, of corruption and greed, of ecoterrorism . . . and of a vulnerable woman with hearing loss, an injured dog and a broken heart, who’ll stop at nothing to uncover the truth.”

“As glittering as their name, The Diamonds were on the brink of 1990s pop music stardom—until betrayal tore them apart. Now these four very different women are getting a second shot at success. But will reuniting mend their rift—or will lasting secrets, unspoken betrayals, new temptations, and the hard-knocks of today’s music industry destroy them, and their dreams, for good?”

“Disunion Among Ourselves is a most timely book. With detective-like research and deft storytelling, Eli Merritt rescues important conflicts and compromises occurring in the earliest years of the nation’s history from both the shadow of later sectional crises and the glare of founding generation worship.”

“A timely and essential book. Jackson is a world-renowned expert on the effects of illness on cognitive functioning, and he seamlessly weaves together patient narratives, his own personal struggles, and cutting-edge research to create a uniquely empowering and insightful book.” 

“This lyrical and affecting memoir focuses on a unit of three: the author; her wife Annie, who’s white; and Cecilia, the Black daughter they adopt as a couple in their forties and fifties. Choosing Family chronicles this journey to motherhood while examining the messiness and complexity of adoption and parenthood from a Black, queer, and feminist perspective.”