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Ghost dogs : on killers and kin / by Dubus, Andre,III,1959-author.;
"During childhood summers in Louisiana, Andre Dubus III's grandfather taught him that men's work is hard. As an adult, whether tracking down a drug lord in Mexico as a bounty hunter or grappling with privilege while living with a rich girlfriend in New York City, Dubus worked--at being a better worker and a better human being. In Ghost Dogs, Dubus's nonfiction prowess is on full display in his retelling of his own successes, failures, triumphs, and pain. In his longest essay, "If I Owned a Gun," Dubus reflects on the empowerment and shame he felt in keeping a gun, and his decision, ultimately, to give it up. Elsewhere, he writes of a violent youth and of settled domesticity and fatherhood, about the omnipresent expectations and contradictions of masculinity, about the things writers remember and those they forget. Drawing upon kindred literary spirits from Rilke to Rumi to Tim O'Brien, Ghost Dogs renders moments of personal revelation with emotional generosity and stylistic grace, ultimately standing as essential witness and testimony to the art of the essay"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Essays.; Personal narratives.; Dubus, Andre, III, 1959-; Authors, American; Masculinity.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The paper birds : a novel / by Lynes, Jeanette,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Set in the sweltering summer of 1943 in Toronto, The Paper Birds, is a novel about Gemma Sullivan, who works in a top-secret government codebreaking unit in Mimico, Ontario, during World War II. Gemma is an orphan, who was raised by her elderly aunt Wren after the death of her parents. Her aunt harbors of a deep love of crosswords and Tarot cards and an equally passionate hatred for war since the death of her own fiancée in WWI. While they are barely making ends meet, the last thing Wren would want for her niece is a job that involves anything to do with the war. It's a good thing then that Gemma's new job is top secret. Gemma is hired to work at The Cottage, where she and her female colleagues labour under a lifelong oath of secrecy, breaking codes and administering top secret information during the war. On the shores of Lake Ontario, close to Gemma's workplace, there is also a POW camp where Gemma encounters a prisoner named Tobias. She talks to Tobias through the fence even though she's at risk of losing her job, or worse, if she's caught fraternizing with the enemy. After several weeks of risky conversations, Tobias disappears from the camp. As Gemma is pulled deeper into her cryptology work, she becomes an integral part of the codebreakers' circle. While she loves her work, Gem didn't anticipate the tremendous psychological strain it would take. The job threatens to drive a wedge between Gem and her beloved aunt, as she struggles with the burden of secrecy. When Gemma unexpectedly runs into Tobias outside of the prison, Gemma's world is turned upside down and they are both forced to confront the secrets they've been keeping from each other. The Paper Birds is a love story that reveals the struggles and sacrifices of every day working women during the war and highlights the previously unknown codebreaking work undertaken by women in Canada during WWII."--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Cryptographers; Cryptography; Interpersonal relations; Man-woman relationships; Secrecy; World War, 1939-1945; Young women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A Short Walk Through a Wide World A Novel [electronic resource] : by Westerbeke, Douglas.aut; cloudLibrary;
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets Life of Pi in this dazzlingly epic debut that charts the incredible, adventurous life of one woman as she journeys the globe trying to outrun a mysterious curse that will destroy her if she stops moving. Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the fence, only to find it in her backpack that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she starts to bleed to death. When medical treatment only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realizes that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her lifelong journey on the run from her condition, which won’t allow her to stay anywhere for longer than a few days nor return to a place where she’s already been. From the scorched dunes of the Calashino Sand Sea to the snow-packed peaks of the Himalayas; from a bottomless well in a Parisian courtyard, to the shelves of an infinite underground library, we follow Aubry as she learns what it takes to survive and ultimately, to truly live. But the longer Aubry wanders and the more desperate she is to share her life with others, the clearer it becomes that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else’s... Fiercely independent and hopeful, yet full of longing, Aubry Tourvel is an unforgettable character fighting her way through a world of wonders to find a place she can call home. A spellbinding and inspiring story about discovering meaning in a life that seems otherwise impossible, A Short Walk Through a Wide World reminds us that it’s not the destination, but rather the journey—no matter how long it lasts—that makes us who we are.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Magical Realism; Coming of Age; Action & Adventure;
© 2024., Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster,
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Harlem shuffle / by Whitehead, Colson,1969-author.;
""Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked ..." To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably-priced furniture, making a life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger and bigger all the time. See, cash is tight, especially with all those installment plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace at the furniture store, Ray doesn't see the need to ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who also doesn't ask questions. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa--the "Waldorf of Harlem"--and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do, after all. Now Ray has to cater to a new clientele, one made up of shady cops on the take, vicious minions of the local crime lord, and numerous other Harlem lowlifes. Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he starts to see the truth about who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs? Harlem Shuffle is driven by an ingeniously intricate plot that plays out in a beautifully recreated Harlem of the early 1960s. It's a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem. But mostly, it's a joy to read, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Sales personnel; Receiving stolen goods; Theft;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Harlem shuffle [sound recording] / by Whitehead, Colson,1969-author.; Graham, Dion,narrator.; Random House Audio Publishing,publisher.;
Read by Dion Graham."Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked ..." To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably-priced furniture, making a life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger and bigger all the time. See, cash is tight, especially with all those installment plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace at the furniture store, Ray doesn't see the need to ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who also doesn't ask questions. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa--the "Waldorf of Harlem"--and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do, after all. Now Ray has to cater to a new clientele, one made up of shady cops on the take, vicious minions of the local crime lord, and numerous other Harlem lowlifes. Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he starts to see the truth about who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs? Harlem Shuffle is driven by an ingeniously intricate plot that plays out in a beautifully recreated Harlem of the early 1960s. It's a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem. But mostly, it's a joy to read, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead"--
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Historical fiction.; Receiving stolen goods; Sales personnel; Theft;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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This is your mind on plants / by Pollan, Michael,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Pollan, a radical challenge to how we think about drugs, and an exploration into the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants -- and the equally powerful taboos Of all the things humans rely on plants for--sustenance, beauty, fragrance, flavor, fiber--surely the most curious is our use of them is to change consciousness: to stimulate or calm, fiddle with or completely alter, the qualities of our mental experience. Take coffee and tea: people around the world rely on caffeine to sharpen their minds. We don't usually think of caffeine as a drug, or our daily use as an addiction, because it is legal and socially acceptable. So then what is a "drug?" And why, for example, is making tea from the leaves of a tea plant acceptable, but making tea from a seed head of an opium poppy a federal crime? In THIS IS YOUR MIND ON PLANTS, Michael Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs -- opium, caffeine, and mescaline -- and throws the fundamental strangeness, and arbitrariness, of our thinking about them into sharp relief. Exploring and participating in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs, while consuming (or in the case of caffeine, trying not to consume) them, Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants, and the equally powerful taboos with which we surround them. Why do we go to such great lengths to seek these shifts in consciousness, and then why do we fence that universal desire with laws and customs and such fraught feelings? A unique blend of history, science, memoir, as well as participatory journalism, Pollan examines and experiences these plants from several very different angles and contexts, and shines a fresh light on a subject that is all too often treated reductively -- as a drug, whether licit or illicit. But that's one of the least interesting things you can say about these plants, Pollan shows, for when we take them into our bodies and let them change our minds, we are engaging with nature in one of the most profound ways we can. Based in part on an essay written more than 25 years ago, this groundbreaking and singular consideration of psychoactive plants, and our attraction to them through time, holds up a mirror to our fundamental human needs and aspirations, the operations of our minds, and our entanglement with the natural world"--
Subjects: Psychotropic plants.; Opium.; Mescaline.; Caffeine.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Grand slam romance. [graphic novel] / by Hicks, Ollie,author.; Oosterhous, Emma,illustrator.;
"In Grand slam romance: Farewell to babes, softball's favorite throuple, Mickey, Astra, and Wolfgang have finally given in to their undeniable attraction: but it is true love or just temporary lust? Wolfgang's ready to go public with the relationship, Mickey's still sorting out their feelings, and Astra has conveniently peaced out on a mysterious Eurotrip that she neglected to inform her partners about. Between Berlin and Belle City, magic and havoc follow these lovebirds wherever they go-but in pursuit of love, they're going to swing for the fences. With the supercharged doses of magic and mayhem from creative power-couple Ollie Hicks and Emma Oosterhous, the Grand Slam Romance trilogy comes to a heartfelt and hilarious conclusion!"--
Subjects: Lesbian comics.; Queer comics.; Romance comics.; Sports comics.; Graphic novels.; Lesbians; Softball players; Softball; Women softball players;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The bad daughter : a novel / by Fielding, Joy,author.;
"What first appears to be a random home invasion reveals a family's dark secrets in this domestic ticking-clock suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of See Jane run. A hostile relationship with her sister and a complicated past with her father's second wife have kept Robin estranged from her family for many years. But when her father's new family is attacked in their house, with her father and his wife in critical condition in the hospital, she returns home determined to put her experience as a therapist to use to help mend fences and care for her young stepsister, who survived the attack relatively unscathed. It looks like a random robbery gone awry, but as Robin spends more time with her family members, she learns they all had their secrets--and one of those secrets may have put them all in horrible danger."--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Family therapists; Families; Dysfunctional families; Home invasion; Assault and battery; Secrets;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Dream town / by Goldberg, Lee,1962-author.;
"Hidden Hills is a private celebrity enclave of white picket fences and horse trails that seems to exist in a dreamworld. But when reality superstar Kitty Winslow is killed within their gates and corpses are found in the vast state park outside them, LASD detective Eve Ronin realizes there is a deadly, razor-thin line between what's real and what's imagined. Eve discovers that Kitty's surreal on-and off-camera life, a blur of fact and fantasy, shockingly mirrors her own as she struggles to investigate the killings, wade into a music industry war, and battle a vicious Chilean gang-all while her life is being turned into a fictional cop show directed by her estranged father. Eve's grip on reality and the case is strained to the breaking point as the slayings continue, the media frenzy reaches a fever pitch, and the only inescapable truth she can see is death ... and it's coming for her."--
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Novels.; Los Angeles County (Calif.). Sheriff's Department; Celebrities; Fathers and daughters; Gangs; Gated communities; Murder; Reality television programs; Rich people; Women detectives;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Sustainable garden : projects, insights and advice for the eco-conscious gardener / by Boswall, Marian,author.; Ingram, Jason(Photographer),photographer.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Sustainable gardener Marian Boswall walks us through the process of creating and maintaining a sustainable outdoor space, offering tips, guidance and step-by-step projects designed to help you lead a more low-impact lifestyle. Whether it's by making your own fertilisers, converting to peat-free compost, reducing your consumption of plastic, saving your own seeds or creating raised beds with reused timber, there are numerous ways, both big and small, to make a difference. Entries cover every aspect of the garden, from how to create a space and draw up a plan for your sustainable garden from scratch, to advice on boundaries and fences, and guidance on how to ethically source materials to make sure your garden is as environmentally friendly as it is beautiful. This book also contains several projects with easy-to-follow instructions that you can replicate at home, such as creating a frame for succulents to grow in out of recycled materials. Sustainable Garden will guide anyone hoping to take informed and intelligent decisions to make a difference, but who perhaps don't know where to begin.
Subjects: Gardening; Gardening.; Organic gardening.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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