Autobiographies and biographies are always popular reading. They allow the reader to delve into the lives of the famous and not so famous. Biographies can inform, entertain and inspire. This collection of new biographies and autobiographies will provide reading enjoyment for all tastes.

Taking the Hill, From Philly to Baghdad to the United States Congress by Patrick J. Murphy is the story of the first and only Iraq War veteran to be elected to the U.S. congress. With $322 in his personal bank account, Murphy launched a campaign to represent Pennsylvania's eighth district. He took on a popular Republican incumbent and won the hotly contested race by less than 1 percent of the vote. His philosophy of service is to change the U.S. course in Iraq and honor the memory of his 19 fellow paratroopers killed during his tour of Iraq.

At 82 years old, Cloris Leachman is still as spunky as ever. She recounts the high points and low of her life in an honest and breezy manner in Chloris. The book, written with the assistance of her son, George Englund, reads like a who's who of the rich and famous Leachman has met during her career on Broadway, television and film.

Leachman's co-star on the "Mary Tyler Moore Show," has a new autobiography out also. Growing Up Again is the story of Moore's 40-year struggle with Type 1 diabetes. Moore talks about her evolution from an actress to activist working to educate people about Diabetes. She covers her successes and failures as an actress, mother, businesswoman and fund raiser. She talks frankly of her vision impairment due to diabetes and the new research and treatments that can make life easier.

Another powerful Washington woman, Frances Perkins, is featured in The Woman Behind the New Deal, the Life of Frances Perkins FDR's Secretary of Labor and his Moral Conscience. Perkins was one of the most influential woman of the 20th century. As the first female Cabinet secretary she fought to improve the lives of America's working people while juggling her own family responsibilities. The mother of the Works Progress Administration programs transformed labor during the Great Depression.

Paula Deen is known as the queen of southern cooking, but her life has not been a bed of roses. Her memoir It Ain't All About the Cooking is an inspirational tale of a woman beset with bad luck and adversity who turned her life around in order to make a better life for her two sons. The good, bad and ugly of Deen's life are featured in this readable biography that also features down home cooking recipes.

In American Prince, Tony Curtis, one of Hollywood's most popular leading men, honestly recounts his life in the brash style for which he is known. Curtis moved to Hollywood at 23 after an unhappy poverty-stricken childhood. His Hollywood career spans almost 60 years. In this memoir, he explains the highs and the lows in his life, and his developed a new career as an artist and about assisting his wife Jill with her horse rescue ranch.

- Pam Christensen

Library Director