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Languages of truth : essays 2003-2020 / by Rushdie, Salman,author.;
"Salman Rushdie is celebrated as a storyteller of the highest order, illuminating deep truths about our society and culture through his gorgeous, often searing, prose. Now, in his latest collection of nonfiction, he brings together insightful and inspiring essays, criticism, and speeches that focus on his relationship with the written word, and solidify his place as one of the most original thinkers of our time. Gathering pieces written between 2003 and 2019, Languages of Truth chronicles Rushdie's own intellectual engagement with a period of momentous cultural shifts. Immersing the reader in a wide variety of subjects, he delves into the nature of storytelling as a deeply human need, and what emerges is, in myriad ways, a love letter to literature itself. Rushdie explores what the work of authors from Shakespeare and Cervantes to Samuel Beckett, Eudora Welty, and Toni Morrison mean to him, often by telling vivid, sometimes humorous stories of his own personal encounters with them, whether on the page or in person. He delves deeper than ever before into the nature of "truth," revels in the vibrant malleability of language, and the creative lines that can join art and life, and he looks anew at migration, multiculturalism and censorship. The ideas, true stories and arguments presented here are at once revelatory, funny and eye-opening, enlivened on every page by Rushdie's signature wit and dazzling voice, making this volume a genuine pleasure to read"--
Subjects: Essays.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The bright sword [sound recording] : a novel of King Arthur / by Grossman, Lev,author,narrator.; Smith, Nicholas Guy,narrator.; Allsbrook, Wesley,illustrator.; Penguin Audio (Firm),publisher.;
Read by Lev Grossman, Nicholas Guy Smith."Collum, a brilliantly gifted young knight from the provinces, arrives at Camelot two weeks after the Battle of Camlann, hoping to compete for a spot on the Round Table. But he finds the city empty, King Arthur dead, and the Table destroyed. The remaining six knights aren't the mighty heroes, the legends, like Lancelot and Gawain and Tristram and Galahad. These are the survivors, a grab-bag of minor oddball knights from the margins-Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight; Sir Bedivere, Arthur's one-handed longtime companion; Sir Dagonet, Arthur's fool, knighted as a joke; Sir Dinadan, a cutting wit who's hiding a deep secret. Arthur's death has exposed the splinters of his kingdom, and a void has opened in the heart of Britain. As power-hungry lords from the north descend on Camelot to seize control of the land, Collum is thrust into the front lines. Here lies the battlefield between pagans and Christians, fantasy and empire, power and destiny. Monsters and fairies are reawakening, the moral center is gone, and the fragile alliances that held Britain together are breaking. It is up to the surviving knights, the rebellious sorceress Nimue, and young Collum to avenge Arthur's murder and save Camelot. Can they re-build the Table and bring back the glory that was Camelot? Should they even try? The first major Arthurian epic of the new millennium, full of duels and quests, battles and tournaments, magic swords and Fisher Kings, The Bright Sword is a story about power and hope, and the struggle for the soul of England between the new Christian God and the old gods of fairy. But most of all it's a story about flawed men and women full of strength and pain who are looking for a way to reforge a broken land, in spite of being broken themselves"--
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Arthur, King; Knights and knighthood;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Girls and their monsters : the Genain quadruplets and the making of madness in America / by Farley, Audrey Clare,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."In 1954, researchers at the newly formed National Institute of Mental Health set out to study the genetics of schizophrenia. When they got word that four 24-year-old identical quadruplets in Lansing, Michigan, had all been diagnosed with the mental illness, they could hardly believe their ears. Here was incontrovertible proof of hereditary transmission and, thus, a chance to bring international fame to their fledgling institution. The case of the pseudonymous Genain quadruplets, they soon found, was hardly so straightforward. Contrary to fawning media portrayals of a picture-perfect Christian family, the sisters had endured the stuff of nightmares. Behind closed doors, their parents had taken shocking measures to preserve their innocence while sowing fears of sex and the outside world. In public, the quadruplets were treated as communal property, as townsfolk and members of the press had long ago projected their own paranoid fantasies about the rapidly diversifying American landscape onto the fair-skinned, ribbon-wearing quartet who danced and sang about Christopher Columbus. Even as the sisters' erratic behaviors became impossible to ignore and the NIMH whisked the women off for study, their sterling image did not falter. Girls and Their Monsters chronicles the extraordinary lives of the quadruplets and the lead psychologist who studied them, asking questions that speak directly to our times: How do delusions come to take root, both in individuals and in nations? Why does society profess to be "saving the children" when it readily exploits them? What are the authoritarian ends of innocence myths? And how do people, particularly those with serious mental illness, go on after enduring the unspeakable? Can the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood help the deeply wounded heal?"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Mental health; Quadruplets; Schizophrenia;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Be joyful : 50 days to defeat the things that try to defeat you / by Meyer, Joyce,1943-author.;
"Joy is not just a "happy feeling" based on our circumstances or on things we possess-it is an unshakable stability in our spirit that comes from the strength of the Lord. The apostle Paul has been called the apostle of joy. In his letter to the Philippians-widely considered to be the most joyful book in all of scripture-Paul uses the Greek words for joy and rejoicing 13 times in only 11 verses! Paul talks about experiencing joy in all circumstances, even during times of struggle. In this unique book, Joyce Meyer distills Paul's teaching on joy into 50 lessons that equip us to overcome the greatest challenges we face to a joyful life. Through daily readings, we are encouraged to embrace the truths God has given us that allow us to overcome the emotions, attitudes, and experiences that rob us of our joy. When we learn to Be Joyful in our journey, we begin to experience the wonderful, abundant life that the Lord has in store for us"--
Subjects: Bible.; Joy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Like every form of love : a memoir of friendship and true crime / by Viswanathan, Padma,1968-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Padma Viswanathan was staying on a houseboat on Vancouver Island when she struck up a friendship with a warm-hearted, working-class queer man named Phillip. Their lives were so different it seemed unlikely to Padma that their relationship would last after she returned to her usual life. But, that week, Phillip told her a story from his childhood that kept them connected for more than twenty years. Phillip was the son of a severe, abusive man named Harvey, a miner, farmer and communist. After Phillip's mother left the family, Harvey advertised for a housekeeper-with-benefits. And so Del, the most glamorous and loving of stepmothers, stepped into Phillip's life. Del had hung out with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Mexico City before the Cuban revolution; she was also a convicted bank robber who had violated her parole and was suspected in her ex-husband's murder. Phillip had long since lost track of Del, but when Padma said she'd like to write about her and about his own young life, he eagerly agreed. Quickly, though, Padma's research uncovered hidden truths about these larger-than-real-life characters. Watching the effects on Phillip as these secrets, evasions and traumas came to light, she increasingly feared that when it came to the book or the friendship, only one of them would get out of this process alive. In this unforgettable memoir, Padma reflects on the joys and frictions of this strange journey with grace, humour and poetry, including original readings of Hans Christian Andersen fairytales and other stories that beautifully echo her characters' adventures and her own. Like Every Form of Love is that rare thing: an irresistible literary page-turner that twists and turns, delivering powerful revelations, right to the very end."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Viswanathan, Padma, 1968-; Family secrets.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The candy house [sound recording] : a novel / by Egan, Jennifer,author.; Simon & Schuster Audio (Firm),publisher.;
Read by Michael Boatman, Nicole Lewis, Thomas Sadoski, Colin Donnell, Griffin Newman, Rebecca Lowman, Jackie Sanders, Lucy Liu, Christian Barillas, Tara Lynne Barr, Alex Allwine, Emily Tremaine, Kyle Beltran, Dan Bittner, Chris Henry Coffey."The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is "one of those tech demi-gods with whom we're all on a first name basis." Bix is 40, with four kids, restless, desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or "externalizing" memory. It's 2010. Within a decade, Bix's new technology, "Own Your Unconscious"-that allows you access to every memory you've ever had, and to share every memory in exchange for access to the memories of others-has seduced multitudes. But not everyone. In spellbinding interlocking narratives, Egan spins out the consequences of Own Your Unconscious through the lives of multiple characters whose paths intersect over several decades. Intellectually dazzling, The Candy House is also extraordinarily moving, a testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for real connection, love, family, privacy and redemption. In the world of Egan's spectacular imagination, there are "counters" who track and exploit desires and there are "eluders," those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of narrative styles-from omniscient to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter and a chapter of tweets. If Goon Squad was organized like a concept album, The Candy House incorporates Electronic Dance Music's more disjunctive approach. The parts are titled: Build, Break, Drop. With an emphasis on gaming, portals, and alternate worlds, its structure also suggests the experience of moving among dimensions in a role-playing game. The Candy House is a bold, brilliant imagining of a world that is moments away. Egan takes to stunning new heights her "deeply intuitive forays into the darker aspects of our technology-driven, image-saturated culture" (Vogue). The Candy House delivers an absolutely extraordinary combination of fierce, exhilarating intelligence and heart"--
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Novels.; Psychological fiction.; Memory; Social media; Technology;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The map of knowledge : a thousand-year history of how classical ideas were lost and found / by Moller, Violet,author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-290) and index."The foundations of modern knowledge--philosophy, math, astronomy, geography--were laid by the Greeks, whose ideas were written on scrolls and stored in libraries across the Mediterranean and beyond. But as the vast Roman Empire disintegrated, so did appreciation of these precious texts. Christianity cast a shadow over so-called pagan thought, books were burned, and the library of Alexandria, the greatest repository of classical knowledge, was destroyed. Yet some texts did survive and The Map of Knowledge explores the role played by seven cities around the Mediterranean--rare centers of knowledge in a dark world, where scholars supported by enlightened heads of state collected, translated and shared manuscripts. In 8th century Baghdad, Arab discoveries augmented Greek learning. Exchange within the thriving Muslim world brought that knowledge to Cordoba, Spain. Toledo became a famous center of translation from Arabic into Latin, a portal through which Greek and Arab ideas reached Western Europe. Salerno, on the Italian coast, was the great center of medical studies, and Sicily, ancient colony of the Greeks, was one of the few places in the West to retain contact with Greek culture and language. Scholars in these cities helped classical ideas make their way to Venice in the 15th century, where printers thrived and the Renaissance took root. The Map of Knowledge follows three key texts--Euclid's Elements, Ptolemy's The Almagest, and Galen's writings on medicine--on a perilous journey driven by insatiable curiosity about the world"--
Subjects: Learning and scholarship; East and West.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Be joyful [text (large print)] : 50 days to defeat the things that try to defeat you / by Meyer, Joyce,1943-author.;
"Joy is not just a "happy feeling" based on our circumstances or on things we possess-it is an unshakable stability in our spirit that comes from the strength of the Lord. The apostle Paul has been called the apostle of joy. In his letter to the Philippians-widely considered to be the most joyful book in all of scripture-Paul uses the Greek words for joy and rejoicing 13 times in only 11 verses! Paul talks about experiencing joy in all circumstances, even during times of struggle. In this unique book, Joyce Meyer distills Paul's teaching on joy into 50 lessons that equip us to overcome the greatest challenges we face to a joyful life. Through daily readings, we are encouraged to embrace the truths God has given us that allow us to overcome the emotions, attitudes, and experiences that rob us of our joy. When we learn to Be Joyful in our journey, we begin to experience the wonderful, abundant life that the Lord has in store for us"--
Subjects: Large type books.; Bible.; Joy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Warsaw protocol / by Berry, Steve,1955-author.;
"One by one the seven precious relics of the Arma Christi, the weapons of Christ, are disappearing from sanctuaries across the world. After former Justice Department agent, Cotton Malone, witnesses the theft of one of them, he learns from his old boss, Stephanie Nelle, that a private auction is about to be held where incriminating information on the president of Poland will be offered to the highest bidder--blackmail that both the United States and Russia want, but for vastly different reasons. The price of admission to that auction is one of the relics, so Malone is first sent to a castle in Poland to steal the Holy Lance, a thousand-year-old spear sacred to not only Christians but to the Polish people, and then on to the auction itself. But nothing goes as planned and Malone is thrust into a bloody battle between three nations over information that, if exposed, could change the balance of power in Europe. From the tranquil canals of Bruges, to the elegant rooms of Wawel Castle, to deep beneath the earth into an ancient Polish salt mine, Malone is caught in the middle of a deadly war--the outcome of which turns on a secret known as the Warsaw Protocol"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Spy fiction.; Political fiction.; Malone, Cotton (Fictitious character);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Born a crime : stories from a South African childhood / by Noah, Trevor,1984-author.;
"One of the comedy world's fastest-rising stars tells his wild coming of age story during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed. Noah provides something deeper than traditional memorists: powerfully funny observations about how farcical political and social systems play out in our lives. Trevor Noah is the host of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, where he gleefully provides America with its nightly dose of serrated satire. He is a light-footed but cutting observer of the relentless absurdities of politics, nationalism and race--and in particular the craziness of his own young life, which he's lived at the intersections of culture and history. In his first book, Noah tells his coming of age story with his larger-than-life mother during the last gasps of apartheid-era South Africa and the turbulent years that followed. Noah was born illegal--the son of a white, Dutch father and a black Xhosa mother, who had to pretend to be his nanny or his father's servant in the brief moments when the family came together. His brilliantly eccentric mother loomed over his life--a comically zealous Christian (they went to church six days a week and three times on Sunday), a savvy hustler who kept food on their table during rough times, and an aggressively involved, if often seriously misguided, parent who set Noah on his bumpy path to stardom. The stories Noah tells are sometimes dark, occasionally bizarre, frequently tender, and always hilarious--whether he's subsisting on caterpillars during months of extreme poverty or making comically pitiful attempts at teenage romance in a color-obsessed world; whether's he's being thrown into jail as the hapless fall guy for a crime he didn't commit or being thrown by his mother from a speeding car driven by murderous gangsters."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Noah, Trevor, 1984-; Apartheid; Comedians; South African wit and humor.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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