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Field notes from an unintentional birder : a memoir / by Zarankin, Julia,1974-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."When Julia Zarankin saw her first red-winged blackbird at the age of thirty-five, she didn't expect that it would change her life. Recently divorced and auditioning hobbies during a stressful career transition, she stumbled on birdwatching, initially out of curiosity for the strange breed of humans who wear multi-pocketed vests, carry spotting scopes and discuss the finer points of optics with disturbing fervour. What she never could have predicted was that she would become one of them. Not only would she come to identify proudly as a birder, but birding would ultimately lead her to find love, uncover a new language and lay down her roots. Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder tells the story of finding meaning in midlife through birds. The book follows the peregrinations of a narrator who learns more from birds than she ever anticipated, as she begins to realize that she herself is a migratory species: born in the former Soviet Union, growing up in Vancouver and Toronto, studying and working in the United States and living in Paris. Coming from a Russian immigrant family of concert pianists who believed that the outdoors were for "other people," Julia Zarankin recounts the challenges and joys of unexpectedly discovering one's wild side and finding one's tribe in the unlikeliest of places. Zarankin's thoughtful and witty anecdotes illuminate the joyful experience of a new discovery and the surprising pleasure to be found while standing still on the edge of a lake at six a.m. In addition to confirmed nature enthusiasts, this book will appeal to readers of literary memoir, offering keen insight on what it takes to find one's place in the world."--
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Zarankin, Julia, 1974-; Bird watchers; Bird watching;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Stalin's daughter : the extraordinary and tumultuous life of Svetlana Alliluyeva / by Sullivan, Rosemary,1947-;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The award-winning author of Villa Air-Bel returns with a painstakingly researched, revelatory biography of Svetlana Stalin, a woman fated to live her life in the shadow of one of history's most monstrous dictators--her father, Josef Stalin. Born in the early years of the Soviet Union, Svetlana Stalin spent her youth inside the walls of the Kremlin. Communist Party privilege protected her from the mass starvation and purges that haunted Russia, but she did not escape tragedy--the loss of everyone she loved, including her mother, two brothers, aunts and uncles, and a lover twice her age, deliberately exiled to Siberia by her father. As she gradually learned about the extent of her father's brutality after his death, Svetlana could no longer keep quiet and in 1967 shocked the world by defecting to the United States--leaving her two children behind. But although she was never a part of her father's regime, she could not escape his legacy. Her life in America was fractured; she moved frequently, married disastrously, shunned other Russian exiles, and ultimately died in poverty in Spring Green, Wisconsin. With access to KGB, CIA, and Soviet government archives, as well as the close cooperation of Svetlana's daughter, Rosemary Sullivan pieces together Svetlana's incredible life in a masterful account of unprecedented intimacy. Epic in scope, it's a revolutionary biography of a woman doomed to be a political prisoner of her father's name. Sullivan explores a complicated character in her broader context without ever losing sight of her powerfully human story, in the process opening a closed, brutal world that continues to fascinate us. Illustrated with photographs"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Allilueva, Svetlana, 1926-2011.; Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953; Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953; Children of heads of state; Defectors; Immigrants;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The second ending : a novel / by Hoffman, Michelle,author.;
"A former prodigy refuses to believe her best years are behind her in this sparkling debut about second chances, unexpected joys, and the miraculous healing power of art and connection. It's a lot of pressure being compared to Mozart. Especially when you're only five. Prudence Childs was once the most famous kindergartner on the planet. She played at the White House, appeared on talk shows, and inspired a generation of children to take up piano. But as adolescence closed in, Prudence began to see that she was just another exploited child star, pushed to unnatural limits by her attention-hungry grandmother. Convinced that her "genius" was mostly a scam, Prudence ran away--both from performing and from her greedy handlers--as soon as she was old enough to vote. This one act of rebellion came with a cost--soon, Prudence was flat broke and utterly alone. Desperate for cash, she took a job writing commercial jingles, which earned her a fortune, but left her creatively adrift. Now forty-eight, after decades of questioning her talent, Prudence is determined to prove she's never lost her musical genius by competing on a wildly popular TV show. Her on-air rival is virtuoso pianist Alexei Petrov, a stunning young Internet sensation with a massive audience and a dreamy Russian accent. But Alexei's many charms are near the end of Prudence's long list of problems. The biggest threat to her comeback--aside from her own wavering confidence--is her terrible ex-husband, Bobby, who has evidence that she plagiarized her first and most iconic commercial jingle. If Prudence doesn't give Bobby the money he wants, he swears he'll use her new spotlight to take her down for good. But throughout the course of this novel brimming with quirky magic, humor, and emotional depth, Prudence might just defy the breathtaking odds and her overwhelming self-doubt--and find that her star still burns bright"--
Subjects: Novels.; Contests; Extortion; Pianists; Reality television programs;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A beautiful spy / by Hore, Rachel,author.;
"Minnie Gray is an ordinary young woman. She is also a spy for the British government. It all began in the summer of 1928 ... Minnie is supposed to find a nice man, get married and have children. The problem is it doesn't appeal to her at all. She is working as a secretary, but longs to make a difference. Then, one day, she gets her chance. She is recruited by the British government as a spy. Under strict instructions not to tell anyone, not even her family, she moves to London and begins her mission - to infiltrate the Communist movement. She soon gains the trust of important leaders. But as she grows more and more entangled in the workings of the movement, her job becomes increasingly dangerous. Leading a double life is starting to take its toll on her relationships and, feeling more isolated than ever, she starts to wonder how this is all going to end. The Russians are notorious for ruthlessly disposing of people given the slightest suspicion. What if they find out?"--Publisher.
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Historical fiction.; Spy fiction.; Great Britain. MI5; Communism; Suspicion; Undercover operations; Women intelligence officers; Women spies;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The golden doves : a novel / by Kelly, Martha Hall,author.;
"Two former female spies, bound by their past, risk everything to hunt down an infamous Nazi doctor in the aftermath of World War II-an extraordinary, propulsive historical novel inspired by true events from the New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls. The year is 1952. It's been over a decade since American Sofie Anderson and Frechwoman Arlette LaRue were imprisoned at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. As a pair of spies known as the Golden Doves, the two were arrested for working with the Resistance and were bound forever when they lost everything-including Arlette's son, Willie. It was here, in the darkest of places, that they created a makeshift family to endure: Sofie, Arlette, and a little orphan they took in as their own, Fleur. Now thirty and supposedly working for the U.S. Army to bring Nazi scientists to America in a quest to outpace the Russians, Sofie nurtures an undying ember of anger in her heart. She is searching for Dr. Snow: The infamous, enigmatic doctor who did unspeakable things to her mother. Arlette is trying to make ends meet in Paris. She's exhausted all of her finances to find her stolen son and works tirelessly to care for shellshocked Fleur. Then, the charming Luc Bouchard arrives in her cafe. The son of a famous philanthropic family, he invites her to their compound in French Guiana with the promised hope she might find Willie at the orphanage. And yet ... rumor is that it's also filled with absconding Nazis. When Arlette arrives at the secluded Cove House, she finds herself barred from the outside. Soon, she has to rely on her old techniques as a spy to uncover a deep deception that hits close to home. In the meantime, Sofie's quest for Dr. Snow leads her from Strasbourg to the Vatican to Brazil, and finally back to Arlette in French Guiana, where the two discover that their lives, and the ones they love, are in grave danger. Martha Hall Kelly has garnered acclaim for her stunning combination of empathy and research into terrors of Ravensbrück. With The Golden Doves, she has once again crafted an unforgettable story about the fates of the Nazi doctors in the wake of WWII, and the unsung females spies who risked it all to fight for justice"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Missing children; Nazi hunters; War criminals; Women spies;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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The Moscow deception / by Robards, Karen,author.;
Clever, cunning and highly skilled--there's only one Bianca St. Ives and don't you dare forget it. Bianca St. Ives was recently put through the wringer, but she came out the same way she always does--the way her father trained her to--hungry for a fight. Still navigating the fallout from a shocking revelation that's left a network of assassins' crosshairs trained on her, Bianca's ready to take fate into her own hands. It's kill or be killed, and she's got her finger flush against the trigger. But as Bianca races to outmaneuver her tireless pursuers, her father loops her in on a job that might just do the trick: recover King Priam's Treasure, a collection of heavily guarded, priceless artifacts stolen by the Russians during World War II, and return it to Germany. Impossible? Maybe for some, but a high-risk heist is all in a day's work for Bianca St. Ives, especially when there's intel on the line--intel that could finally bring down the shadowy forces seeking to bury Bianca for good. Faced with threats that circle closer with every move she makes, she knows the stakes have never been higher, but when you're already living on borrowed time, you have to hustle if you want to live to see tomorrow.
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Private security services; Assassins; Antiquities; Swindlers and swindling;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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The hype machine : how social media disrupts our elections, our economy, and our health - and how we must adapt / by Aral, Sinan,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Social media connected the world--and gave rise to fake news and increasing polarization. Now a leading researcher at MIT draws on 20 years of research to show how these trends threaten our political, economic, and emotional health in this eye-opening exploration of the dark side of technological progress. Today we have the ability, unprecedented in human history, to amplify our interactions with each other through social media. It is paramount, MIT social media expert Sinan Aral says, that we recognize the outsized impact social media has on our culture, our democracy, and our lives in order to steer today's social technology toward good, while avoiding the ways it can pull us apart. Otherwise, we could fall victim to what Aral calls "The Hype Machine." As a senior researcher of the longest-running study of fake news ever conducted, Aral found that lies spread online farther and faster than the truth--a harrowing conclusion that was featured on the cover of Science magazine. Among the questions Aral explores following twenty years of field research: Did Russian interference change the 2016 election? And how is it affecting the vote in 2020? Why does fake news travel faster than the truth online? How do social ratings and automated sharing determine which products succeed and fail? How does social media affect our kids? First, Aral links alarming data and statistics to three accelerating social media shifts: hyper-socialization, personalized mass persuasion, and the tyranny of trends. Next, he grapples with the consequences of the Hype Machine for elections, businesses, dating, and health. Finally, he maps out strategies for navigating the Hype Machine, offering his singular guidance for managing social media to fulfill its promise going forward. Rarely has a book so directly wrestled with the secret forces that drive the news cycle every day"--
Subjects: Information society.; Common fallacies.; Propaganda.; Social interaction.; Social media;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The last politician : inside Joe Biden's White House and the struggle for America's future / by Foer, Franklin,author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 379-397) and index."On January 20, 2021, standing where only two weeks earlier police officers had battled with right-wing paramilitaries, Joe Biden took his oath of office. The American people were still sick with COVID-19, his economists were already warning him of an imminent financial crisis, and his party, the Democrats, had the barest of majorities in the Senate. Yet, faced with an unprecedented set of crises, Joe Biden decided he would not play defense. Instead, he set out to transform the nation. He proposed the most ambitious domestic spending bills since the 1960s and vowed to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan, ending the nation's longest war and reorienting it toward a looming competition with China. With unparalleled access to the tight inner circle of advisers who have surrounded Biden for decades, Franklin Foer dramatizes in forensic detail the first two years of the Biden presidency, concluding with the historic midterm elections. The result is a gripping and high-definition portrait of a major president at a time when democracy itself seems imperiled. With his back to the wall, Biden resorted to old-fashioned politics: deal-making and compromise. It was a gamble that seemed at first disastrously anachronistic, as he struggled to rally even the support of his own party. Yet, as the midterms drew near, via a series of bills with banal names, Biden somehow found a way to invest trillions of dollars in clean energy, the domestic semiconductor industry, and new infrastructure. Had he done the impossible-breaking decisively with the old Washington consensus to achieve progressive goals? The Last Politician is a landmark work of political reporting-which includes thrilling, blow-by-blow insider reports of the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and the White House's swift response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine-that is destined to shape history's view of a president in the eye of the storm."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Political culture; Presidents;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Out in the cold / by Urszenyi, Steve,author.;
"Special Agent Alex Martel is thrown back into a deadly world of deception when a series of attacks threaten to incite World War III in this action-packed thriller. While sailing across the Mediterranean, the megayacht Aurora is rocked with explosions, taken under siege by unknown assailants. On board are some of Europe's wealthiest and most powerful political players, including the secretary general of Interpol, a high-ranking Finnish diplomat, and Special Agent Alex Martel-whose lethal sniper skills kick in to bring them safely to shore. Someone is waging a ruthless campaign of attacks against Finland, one of NATO's newest members, in an attempt to throw the Alliance into turmoil. Teaming back up with CIA agent Caleb, Alex is thrust into the middle of the fray, pursuing the villains from the waters off of Monaco to the Baltic Sea and home to American soil. As the US is pulled deeper into the conflict, a global catastrophe seems inevitable. But who is really responsible for these escalating attacks on Finland? The Russians, or someone much closer to home? As new allies surface and old enemies reappear, Alex has no way of knowing who to trust-and she might only have one last shot to keep the world from going to war"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Novels.; United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation; North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Conspiracies; Man-woman relationships; Snipers; Women veterans;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The golden doves [sound recording] : a novel / by Kelly, Martha Hall,author,narrator.; Maarleveld, Saskia,narrator.; Parker, Jeremy Carlisle,narrator.; Random House Audio Publishing,publisher.;
Read by Martha Hall Kelly, Jeremy Carlisle Parker, Saskia Maarleveld."Two former female spies, bound by their past, risk everything to hunt down an infamous Nazi doctor in the aftermath of World War II-an extraordinary, propulsive historical novel inspired by true events from the New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls. The year is 1952. It's been over a decade since American Sofie Anderson and Frechwoman Arlette LaRue were imprisoned at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. As a pair of spies known as the Golden Doves, the two were arrested for working with the Resistance and were bound forever when they lost everything-including Arlette's son, Willie. It was here, in the darkest of places, that they created a makeshift family to endure: Sofie, Arlette, and a little orphan they took in as their own, Fleur. Now thirty and supposedly working for the U.S. Army to bring Nazi scientists to America in a quest to outpace the Russians, Sofie nurtures an undying ember of anger in her heart. She is searching for Dr. Snow: The infamous, enigmatic doctor who did unspeakable things to her mother. Arlette is trying to make ends meet in Paris. She's exhausted all of her finances to find her stolen son and works tirelessly to care for shellshocked Fleur. Then, the charming Luc Bouchard arrives in her cafe. The son of a famous philanthropic family, he invites her to their compound in French Guiana with the promised hope she might find Willie at the orphanage. And yet ... rumor is that it's also filled with absconding Nazis. When Arlette arrives at the secluded Cove House, she finds herself barred from the outside. Soon, she has to rely on her old techniques as a spy to uncover a deep deception that hits close to home. In the meantime, Sofie's quest for Dr. Snow leads her from Strasbourg to the Vatican to Brazil, and finally back to Arlette in French Guiana, where the two discover that their lives, and the ones they love, are in grave danger. Martha Hall Kelly has garnered acclaim for her stunning combination of empathy and research into terrors of Ravensbrück. With The Golden Doves, she has once again crafted an unforgettable story about the fates of the Nazi doctors in the wake of WWII, and the unsung females spies who risked it all to fight for justice"--
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Missing children; Nazi hunters; War criminals; Women spies;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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