Biography & Memoirs Book Discussion Group

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The Biography and Memoirs Book Group meets the 1st Thursday of each month.

Please call Katy Geissert Library Staff at 310-618-5959 for more information.

Solito by Javier Zamora
Thursday, September 3, 2026 at 10:30 a.m.

Zamora recounts his childhood journey from El Salvador through Guatemala and Mexico to reunite with his parents in the United States. What was expected to be a two-week trip became a two-month journey, forcing nine-year-old Zamora to rely on “coyotes” and the kindness of strangers to survive. Told with honesty and vivid detail, the memoir captures the desperation, resilience, and hope that shaped his experience

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel
Thursday, October 1, 2026 at 10:30 a.m.

Finkel presents a roller-coaster read of hubris and romance, contradiction and despair. French art thief Stéphane Breitwieser's story is full of epic highs that seem never-ending and crucial questions regarding his mental state and motivation. Finkel examines the circumstances that fed Breitwieser's obsession and led to his downfall. – Booklist Review

Notes to John by Joan Didion
Thursday, November 5, 2026 at 10:30 a.m.

This intimate posthumous volume brings together notes from the early 2000s that Didion addressed to her husband, John Gregory Dunne, on her sessions with psychiatrist Roger MacKinnon, whom she started seeing at the behest of her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, in an effort to repair their relationship. – Publishers Weekly Review

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
Thursday, December 3, 2026 at 10:30 a.m.

Lawson's memoir is about her determination to embrace life-to be "furiously happy"-despite her lifelong struggles with anxiety and depression. It's enthusiastically profane, consistently hilarious, and often surprisingly heartfelt and vulnerable. Lawson talks frankly about how mental illness hurts the quality of her life but also how it's taught her to value and take joy in new and unexpected aspects of living. – Library Journal Review

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