Achon, Julius & Brant, John. The Boy Who Runs: The Odyssey of Julius Achon. Ballantine. Aug. 2016. 272p. ISBN 9780553392159. $27; ebk. ISBN 9780553392166. Downloadable: Random Audio. BIOGRAPHY
Born into poverty in Uganda, Achon was forced into the horrific Lord’s Resistance Army at age 12 
but escaped to become a gifted local runner. He was offered a scholarship to study in America, where he set an American Collegiate record in the 800m that still stands today. He subsequently competed in the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics and went on to found the Achon Uganda Children’s Fund. Yes, it’s a true story, told with inspirational flair by Achon and regular Runner’s World contributor Brant. Not just for the fleet of foot.
Arlen, Alice & Michael J. Arlen. The Huntress: The Adventures, Escapades, and Triumphs of Alicia Patterson; Aviatrix, Sportswoman, Journalist, Publisher. Pantheon. Aug. 2106. 336p. ISBN 9781101871133. $27.95. ebk. ISBN 9781101871140. Downloadable: Random Audio. BIOGRAPHY
A pampered childhood as part of the Patterson-Medill Chicago publishing dynasty and a couple of lousy marriages arranged by her father didn’t keep down Alicia Patterson, who earned a transport pilot’s license and hunted in Asia before finally marrying Harry Guggenheim and helping to found and direct Newsday in 1940. Academy Award–nominated screenwriter Alice Arlen is Patterson’s niece, while husband Michael, a longtime staff writer at The New Yorker, authored the National Book Award–winning Passage to Ararat. Rumored to be a luscious read.
Bogle, Donald. Elizabeth and Michael: The Queen of Hollywood and the King of Pop—A Love Story. Atria. Aug. 2016. 320p. ISBN 9781451676976. $26; ebk. ISBN 9781451676990. BIOGRAPHY
Pop culture scholar Bogle, the author of best sellers like Dorothy Dandridge and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, offers a portrait of the enduring friendship between Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson—legendary performers both, whose fans will flock.
Fenn, Lisa. Carry On: A Story of Resilience, Redemption, and an Unlikely Family. Harper Wave. Aug. 2016. 256p. ISBN 9780062427830. $25.99. BIOGRAPHY/SPORTS
When she filmed the story of two talented high school wrestlers in her hometown, Cleveland, multi-
award-winning ESPN producer Fenn didn’t just end up with a feature (also called Carry On) that USA Today and Sports Illustrated called the best story ESPN had ever aired. She also became, in effect, family to the two closely bonded young men, both struggling with poverty and homelessness and both disabled: Leroy Sutton lost his legs at 11 when he was run over by a train, and Dartanyon Crockett, who eventually became a member of the U.S. Judo team at the London Olympics and is gearing up for Brazil, is legally blind. Inspirational and humbling; with a 50,000-copy first printing.
Gaines, Steven. One of These Things First. Delphinium: HarperCollins. Aug. 2016. 272p. ISBN 9781883285692. $24.95. MEMOIR
A journalist, public radio show host, and New York Times best-selling author perhaps best known for Philistines at the Hedgerow, Gaines turns his observational talents on himself in a memoir that begins in March 1962 with a near-successful suicide attempt. He was nearly committed to a state hospital but persuaded his grandfather to support his stay at the exclusive Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where he acknowledged his homosexuality, attempted a conversion cure, and met a lot of celebrities. Reputedly blackly funny; with a 40,000-copy first printing.
Giraldi, William. The Hero’s Body. Liveright: Norton. Aug. 2016. 288p. ISBN 9780871406668. $25.95. MEMOIR
Giraldi, who’s much admired for the novels Busy Monsters and Hold the Dark, here recalls the 
death of his father at age 47 while racing his motorcycle on a country road. He depicts not only life-shifting grief but a pervasive culture of hypermasculinity in his family and his working-class New Jersey town, which extended to bodybuilding as well. Expect fine writing: Giraldi’s essay on his father’s death was a finalist for the 2011 National Magazine Award, an essay on bodybuilding received a Pushcart Prize, and both were short-listed for Best American Essays.
Janowitz, Tama. Scream: A Memoir of Glamour and Dysfunction. Dey Street: Harper. Aug. 2016. 288p. ISBN 9780062391322. $25.99. MEMOIR
Three decades after the publication of her story collection Slaves of New York, Janowitz remains as smart, sharp-edged, and socially astute as ever. Here, instead of fiction, she turns out a memoir recalling downtown literary New York in the 1980s (forever associated with the likes of Bret Easton Ellis and Jay McInerney, as well as Janowitz herself) and her subsequent tussles with fame, growing older, and walking that knife’s edge between managing a teenage daughter and a mother with dementia. With a 75,000-copy first printing; originally scheduled for Jan. 2016.
Rosenthal, Amy Krouse. Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Dutton. Aug. 2016. 368p. ISBN 9781101984543. $27; ebk. ISBN 9781101985021. MEMOIR
It’s hardly surprising that Rosenthal’s new memoir is organized in textbook fashion according to subjects like social studies and language arts. Her Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, named one of the top ten memoirs of the decade by Amazon, is presented alphabetically. Since then, she’s published a pile of children’s books and created videos that have gone viral. This book was bought in a heated-up auction and will include an interactive element involving texting. Not your mama’s memoir; with a five-city tour.
Schulman, Andrew & Marvin A. McMillen. Waking the Spirit: A Musician’s Journey Healing Body, Mind, and Soul. Picador. Aug. 2016. 304p. ISBN 9781250055774. $25; ebk. ISBN 
9781250055781. MEMOIR
A professional guitarist whose venues have ranged from Carnegie Hall to the Improv Comedy Club, Schulman was pulled back from death in July 2009 by a medical miracle and decided it was give-back time. He’s now the resident musician in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at New York’s Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital in New York, where he brings music—and hence joy and healing—to critically ill patients. If, for instance, a patient’s heart is pit-a-patting too fast, he helps lower the rate by playing a gentle adagio. Interested readers may have seen Josh Aronson’s related documentary short, “Andrew & Wendy,” which made the festival circuit and aired on PBS last year. Look for library marketing.