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Christmas presents : a novella / by Unger, Lisa,1970-author.;
"Instead of presents this Christmas, a true crime podcaster is opening up a cold case ... Madeline Martin has built a life for herself as the young owner of a thriving business, The Next Chapter Bookshop, despite her tragic childhood and now needing to care for her infirm father. When Harley Granger, a failed novelist turned true crime podcaster, drifts into her shop in the days before Christmas, he seems intent on digging up events that Madeline would much rather forget. She's the only surviving victim of Evan Handy, the man who was convicted of murdering her best friend Steph, and is suspected in the disappearance of two sisters, also good friends of Madeline's, who have been missing for nearly a decade. It's an investigation that has obsessed her father Sheriff James Martin right up until his stroke took his faculties. Harley Granger has a gift for seeing things that others miss. He wasn't much of a novelist, but his work as a true crime author and podcaster has earned him fame and wealth--and some serious criticism for his various unethical practices. Still, visiting Little Valley to be closer to his dying father has caused him to look into a case that many people think is closed--and some want reopened. And he has a lot of questions about the night Stephanie Cramer was killed, Ainsley and Sam Wallace disappeared, and Madeline Martin was left for dead, bleeding out on a riverbank. Since Evan Handy went to jail, three other young women have gone missing, most recently a young college dropout named Lolly. Five young women missing in the same area in a decade. Are they connected? Was Evan Handy innocent after all? Or was there some else there that night? Someone who is still satisfying his dark appetites? As Christmas approaches and a blizzard bears down, Madeline and her childhood friend Badger return to a past they both hoped was dead--to find the missing Lolly and to answer questions that have haunted them both, discovering that the truth is more terrible and much closer to home than they think. Coupling a picturesque, cozy setting with a deeply unsettling suspenseful plot, Christmas Presents is a chilling seasonal novella that can be enjoyed all year long"--
Subjects: Christmas fiction.; Thrillers (Fiction); Novellas.; Psychological fiction.; Christmas stories; Bookstore owners; Cold cases (Criminal investigation); Missing persons; Murder; Podcasters; Victims of violent crimes; Women booksellers;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Let's talk : make effective feedback your superpower / by Huston, Therese,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A game-changing model for giving great feedback that employees hear and take to heart. Recent studies have revealed 44% of managers dread giving feedback, and 65% of employees wish their managers gave more feedback. But fear of hurt feelings leads managers to bite back valuable insights. Or they rehearse feedback conversations obsessively in advance--only to find the interchange still doesn't go as planned. However, critical feedback, delivered skillfully and frequently, can be a game-changer. For managers, feedback can turn average performers into the hardest workers and stars into superstars. Dr. Therese Huston, the founding director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Seattle University, argues that the key to being listened to is to listen. First, find out what kind of feedback an employee wants most: do they want to be appreciated, coached, or evaluated? All three are vital, but if an employee craves one, they'll listen better once they've been heard. Then Huston lays out counterintuitive strategies for delivering each type of feedback successfully: Start by saying your good intentions out loud: it may feel unnecessary, but it makes all the difference. Side with the person, not the problem: a bad habit or behavior probably is probably less entrenched than you think. Give reports a chance to correct inaccurate feedback: they want a good listener more than they want a good talker. This handbook will make a once-awkward chore feel natural, and, by greasing the wheels of regular feedback conversations, help managers improve performance, trust, and mutual understanding"--
Subjects: Employee motivation.; Employees; Feedback (Psychology); Supervision of employees.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Near abroad : Putin, the West, and the contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus / by Toal, Gerard,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Vladimir Putin's intervention into the Georgia/South Ossetia conflict in summer 2008 was quickly recognized by Western critics as an attempt by Russia to increase its presence and power in the "near abroad", or the independent states of the former Soviet Union that Russia still regards as its wards. Though the global economic recession that began in 2008 moved the incident to the back of the world's mind, Russia surged to the forefront again six years later when they invaded the heavily Russian Crimea in Ukraine and annexed it. In contrast to the earlier Georgia episode, this new conflict has generated a crisis of global proportions, forcing European countries to rethink their relationship with Russia and their reliance on it for energy supplies, as Russia was now squeezing natural gas from what is technically Ukraine. In Near Abroad, the eminent political geographer Gerard Toal analyzes Russia's recent offensive actions in the near abroad, focusing in particular on the ways in which both the West and Russia have relied on Cold War-era rhetorical and emotional tropes that distort as much as they clarify. In response to Russian aggression, US critics quickly turned to tried-and-true concepts like "spheres of influence" to condemn the Kremlin. Russia in turn has brought back its long tradition of criticizing western liberalism and degeneracy to grandly rationalize its behavior in what are essentially local border skirmishes. It is this tendency to resort to the frames of earlier eras that has led the conflicts to "jump scales," moving from the regional to the global level in short order. The ambiguities and contradictions that result when nations marshal traditional geopolitical arguments-rooted in geography, territory, and old understandings of distance-further contributes to the escalation of these conflicts. Indeed, Russia's belligerence toward Georgia stemmed from concern about its possible entry into NATO, an organization of states thousands of miles away. American hawks also strained credulity by portraying Georgia as a nearby ally in need of assistance. Similarly, the threat of NATO to the Ukraine looms large in the Kremlin's thinking, and many Ukrainians themselves self-identify with the West despite their location in Eastern Europe."--
Subjects: Geopolitics; Geopolitics; Geopolitics; South Ossetia War, 2008.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The new rules of attachment : how to heal your relationships, reparent your inner child, and secure your life vision / by Ho, Judy(Psychologist),author.;
Includes bibliographical references.Did you know that attachment style impacts more than romantic relationships? As it turns out, most of us are thinking about Attachment Theory all wrong, and triple board-certified clinical and forensic neuropsychologist Dr. Judy Ho is here to set the record straight. Grounded in the science of attachment, Dr. Judy's game-changing approach shows that our attachment style impacts every aspect of our lives: friendships, career, goal setting, and, critically, our sense of self. Moreover, we can all learn to become securely attached-no matter what attachment style we developed in childhood-meaning that we can reclaim our ability to feel safe, loved, and capable of achieving the life we've always wanted. Through Dr. Judy's innovative program, readers will learn to identify their attachment style, recognize their core needs and wounds, and implement evidence-based practical tools to heal their inner child as they develop the secure attachment we all need to thrive. Readers will also benefit from: a new attachment style quiz to identify your attachment style in all areas of life, a personalized approach that allows you to start making positive change today, and more than two dozen transformative exercises to support your journey to healing. With warmth, authority, and a bias to action, 'The New Rules of Attachment' is a call to achieving unconditional self-love and a meaningful, joyful life.
Subjects: Self-help publications.; Assertiveness (Psychology); Interpersonal relations.; Self-actualization (Psychology); Self-realization.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Battle of the Atlantic : gauntlet to victory / by Barris, Ted,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.The Battle of the Atlantic, Canada's longest continuous military engagement of the Second World War, lasted 2,074 days, claiming the lives of more than 4,000 men and women in the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian merchant navy The years 2019 to 2025 mark the eightieth anniversary of the longest battle of the Second World War, the Battle of the Atlantic. It also proved to be the war's most critical and dramatic battle of attrition. For five and a half years, German surface warships and submarines attempted to destroy Allied trans-Atlantic convoys, most of which were escorted by Royal Canadian destroyers and corvettes, as well as aircraft of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Throwing deadly U-boat "wolf packs" in the paths of the convoys, the German Kriegsmarine almost succeeded in cutting off this vital lifeline to a beleaguered Great Britain. In 1939, the Royal Canadian Navy went to war with exactly thirteen warships and about 3,500 regular servicemen and reservists. During the desperate days and nights of the Battle of the Atlantic, the RCN grew to 400 fighting ships and over 100,000 men and women in uniform. By V-E Day in 1945, it had become the fourth largest navy in the world. The story of Canada's naval awakening from the dark, bloody winters of 1939-1942, to be "ready, aye, ready" to challenge the U-boats and drive them to defeat, is a Canadian wartime saga for the ages. While Canadians think of the Great War battle of Vimy Ridge as the country's coming of age, it was the Battle of the Atlantic that proved Canada's gauntlet to victory and a nation-building milestone.
Subjects: Canada. Royal Canadian Navy; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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This is so awkward : modern puberty explained / by Natterson, Cara,1970-author.; Bennett, Vanessa Kroll,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Almost everything about puberty has changed since today's adults went through it. It starts, on average, two years earlier and stretches through high school ... and for some, beyond. Gens Z and Alpha are also contending with a whole host of thorny issues that parents didn't experience in their own youth but nonetheless need to understand: everything from social media and easy-access pornography to gender identities and new or newly-potent drugs. Talking about any of this is like puberty itself: Awkward! But it's also critical for the health, happiness, and safety of today's kids. Bewildered adults have begged for reliable and relatable information about the modern adolescent experience. This Is So Awkward answers their call. Written by a pediatrician and a puberty educator--together the hosts of a lively and popular podcast on puberty, and moms to six teens between them--this is the handbook everyone has been searching for, and includes: Pointed advice about how to talk to kids about almost anything: acne, body odor, growth spurts, eating disorders, mood swings, sexuality, and more. Science-based explanations for all of puberty's physical, emotional, and social changes, including the many ways hormones affect kids both above and below the neck. What adults needs to know about today's teen culture: their mental health drivers, the un-gendering of body image issues, the ways they think about sexual orientation, and more. Invaluable commentary straight from young adults just out the other side of adolescence that highlights what they wish the adults in their lives had known or done differently. Eye-opening and reassuring, This Is So Awkward will help adults understand the turbulent pubescent decade and become confident guides for today's kids"--
Subjects: Adolescence.; Puberty.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The great wave : the era of radical disruption and the rise of the outsider / by Kakutani, Michiko,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."An urgent examination of how disruptive politics, technology, and art are capsizing old assumptions in a great wave of change breaking over today's world, creating both opportunity and peril-from the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and author of the New York Times bestseller The Death of Truth. The twenty-first century is experiencing a watershed moment defined by chaos and uncertainty, as one emergency cascades into another, underscoring the larger dynamics of change that are fueling instability across the world. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, people have increasingly lost trust in institutions and elites, while seizing upon new digital tools to sidestep traditional gatekeepers. As a result, powerful new voices-once regarded as radical, unorthodox or marginal-are disrupting the status quo in politics, business and culture. Meanwhile, social and economic inequalities are stoking populist rage across the world, toxic partisanship is undermining democratic ideals, and the internet and AI have become high-speed vectors for the spread of misinformation. Writing with a critic's understanding of cultural trends and a journalist's eye for historical detail, Michiko Kakutani looks at the consequences of these new asymmetries of power. She maps the migration of ideas from the margins to the mainstream and explores the growing influence of outsiders-those who have sown anger and fear (like Donald Trump), and those who have provided inspirational leadership (like Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky). At the same time, she situates today's multiplying crises in context with those that defined earlier hinge moments in history, from the waning of the Middle Ages, to the transition between the Gilded Age and Progressive era at the end of the nineteenth century. Kakutani argues that today's crises are not only signs of an interconnected globe's profound vulnerabilities, but stress tests pointing to the essential changes needed to survive this tumultuous era and build a more sustainable future"--
Subjects: Civilization, Modern; Elite (Social sciences); Globalization.; Political culture.; Power (Social sciences); Uncertainty.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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By any other name : a novel / by Picoult, Jodi,1966-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A captivating novel about two women, centuries apart, fighting to be heard -- one of whom may be the real author of Shakespeare's plays -- from the New York Times bestselling author of Wish You Were Here. As an undergraduate, Melina Green had a rare opportunity to have one of her first plays judged by famous theater critic Jasper Tolle, only to be publicly humiliated by a harsh and biased critique. Ten years later, her confidence as a playwright has never recovered, although she has just completed a work that she thinks is her best yet. It is based on the life of her ancestor Emilia Bassano, the first published female poet in England -- and rumored to be the "Dark Lady" of Shakespeare's sonnets -- but whom some scholars suspect may be the real author of a number of his plays. Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, and then her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits it to a festival under a male pseudonym. In 1581, the young orphan Emilia Bassano is being raised in the ways of English aristocracy by the Baron Willoughby and his sister. Her lessons on languages, reading, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling. But like most women of her day, she has no control over her fate, and is ripped from her old life and forced to become a courtesan to Lord Hunsdon, a man knighted by Queen Elizabeth as the Lord Chamberlain in charge of all theater in London. Though she has no other freedoms, and inspired by the work of the most brilliant playwrights of the time, she pseudonymously sets her own pen to paper to tell a story. Told in dual intertwining timelines, this sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. As Emilia alters the course of her life and therefore the course of the world, she blazes a trail. Centuries later, will Melina face the same terrible fate -- to have her work celebrated, but only at the price of letting another take credit?"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Biographical fiction.; Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Lanyer, Aemilia; Women dramatists; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 5
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Salvage : readings from the wreck / by Brand, Dionne,1953-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."In her first full-length non-fiction since A Map to the Door of No Return, Dionne Brand examines "classic" books from her earlier life, exposing implications both personal and political. A bracing look at reading, life, and what remains in the wreck of empire. "The geopolitics of empire had already prepared me for this ... [the fact that] coloniality constructs outsides and insides -- worlds to be chosen, disturbed, interpreted, and navigated -- in order to live something like a real self." So writes internationally acclaimed poet and novelist Dionne Brand, as she reflects on her early reading, growing up as an avid bookworm in Trinidad and Tobago, and the dawning realization of how the books she devoured, and sometimes loved, also made Black being inanimate. Uniquely and powerfully blending memoir with rigorous and expansive thinking, Brand explores her encounters with colonial, imperialist, and racist tropes in famous and familiar books, looking particularly at the extraordinary implications and modern-day reverberations of stories such as Dafoe's Robinson Crusoe; the ways that practices of reading and writing are shaped by those narrative structures; and the challenges of writing a narrative of Black life that attends to its own expression and consciousness. Much more than a memoir, and much more than a literary examination, this is gripping, revelatory and essential reading by one of our most powerful and brilliant writers."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Literary criticism.; Personal narratives.; Brand, Dionne, 1953-; Black people in literature.; Colonies in literature.; Imperialism in literature.; Racism in literature.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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By any other name [text (large print)] : a novel / by Picoult, Jodi,1966-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."A captivating novel about two women, centuries apart, fighting to be heard -- one of whom may be the real author of Shakespeare's plays -- from the New York Times bestselling author of Wish You Were Here. As an undergraduate, Melina Green had a rare opportunity to have one of her first plays judged by famous theater critic Jasper Tolle, only to be publicly humiliated by a harsh and biased critique. Ten years later, her confidence as a playwright has never recovered, although she has just completed a work that she thinks is her best yet. It is based on the life of her ancestor Emilia Bassano, the first published female poet in England -- and rumored to be the "Dark Lady" of Shakespeare's sonnets -- but whom some scholars suspect may be the real author of a number of his plays. Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, and then her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits it to a festival under a male pseudonym. In 1581, the young orphan Emilia Bassano is being raised in the ways of English aristocracy by the Baron Willoughby and his sister. Her lessons on languages, reading, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling. But like most women of her day, she has no control over her fate, and is ripped from her old life and forced to become a courtesan to Lord Hunsdon, a man knighted by Queen Elizabeth as the Lord Chamberlain in charge of all theater in London. Though she has no other freedoms, and inspired by the work of the most brilliant playwrights of the time, she pseudonymously sets her own pen to paper to tell a story. Told in dual intertwining timelines, this sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. As Emilia alters the course of her life and therefore the course of the world, she blazes a trail. Centuries later, will Melina face the same terrible fate -- to have her work celebrated, but only at the price of letting another take credit?"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Biographical fiction.; Domestic fiction.; Large print books.; Novels.; Lanyer, Aemilia; Women dramatists; Women;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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