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Walking in my joy : stories from on my way to happy / by Lewis, Jenifer,1957-author.; Guerrero, Natalie,author.; Petok, Laurie,author.;
"A new offering from the author of the hugely successful Mother of Black Hollywood. Walking in My Joy is a collection of electric stories by the one and only, super hilarious Jenifer Lewis. Her commentary on what's happening in the world today, told through her outrageous real-life adventures, will have you laughing out loud, while her insightful messages touch your soul. A self-described "traveling fool and nature freak," Jenifer takes readers with her all over the world, from Cape Town to Bali; Washington, DC, to the Serengeti; Mongolia to St. Petersburg; and Argentina to Antarctica to demonstrate how she walks in her joy by seeking pleasure in everyday encounters. Every step of the way you'll be doubled over with laughter as she faints at the Obamas' holiday party; awakens to a swollen face and has to go to the hospital during the height of the Covid pandemic; an alien visitation; a successful takedown of a conman; as well as meeting a handsome Maasai warrior and being chased by a Cape buffalo. An actress, activist, and mental health advocate, Jenifer Lewis imparts ways to love yourself that will allow you to deflect negative energy and keep people who may come to take your joy in check. She stresses the importance of fully living to your greatest ambitions and taking the time to admire the world's natural gifts. She also encourages embracing each other's uniqueness as a way of finding societal healing. Walking in My Joy is a riveting and enthralling journey"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Lewis, Jenifer, 1957-; African American actresses; Manic-depressive persons;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The splendid and the vile : a saga of Churchill, family, and defiance during the blitz / by Larson, Erik,1954-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers a fresh and compelling portrait of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold the country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally-and willing to fight to the end. In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people "the art of being fearless." It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it's also an intimate domestic drama set against the backdrop of Churchill's prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports-some released only recently-Larson provides a new lens on London's darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents' wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela's illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the cadre of close advisers who comprised Churchill's "Secret Circle," including his lovestruck private secretary, John Colville; newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook; and the Rasputin-like Frederick Lindemann. The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today's political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when-in the face of unrelenting horror-Churchill's eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965.; Prime ministers; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Don't think, dear : on loving & leaving ballet / by Robb, Alice,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."An incisive exploration of ballet's role in the modern world, told through the experience of the author and her classmates at the most elite ballet school in the country: the School of American Ballet. Ballet is an art full of hyper-feminine trappings, but beneath the ornate costumes and exaggerated stage makeup, traits like thinness, stoicism, and submission are valued above all else. Journalist Alice Robb spent years immersed in that universe as a child, but as an adult, she couldn't shake the feeling that the same laws that governed the dance world still applied in the regular one. Certain bodies hold more value than others, and men oftentimes hold the most power of all. Pain is best left concealed, along with sexuality, in all of its messiness. Obedience and conformity are rewarded, while standing out comes at a cost. Profound, nuanced, and obsessively researched, Don't Think, Dear, is Robb's excavation of her adolescent years as a dancer, and an exploration of how those days informed her life for years to come. As she grapples with the pressure she faced as a student at the storied School of American Ballet, she explores the fates of her former classmates as well. From sweet and shy Emily--whose body was deemed "thin enough" only when she was too ill to eat--to the precocious and talented Meiying--who despite her success, had to contend with the fact that she was the only Vietnamese-American in the school. Altogether, their stories are ones of heartbreak and resilience, of reinvention and regret. Along the way, Robb weaves in the myths of famous ballerinas past and present, from the groundbreaking Misty Copeland, to the controversial George Balanchine. Ballet does not exist in a vacuum, it is a laboratory of womanhood, a test-tube world in which traditional femininity is exaggerated. By exploring the psyche of a dancer, Don't Think, Dear grapples with the contradictions and challenges of being a woman today. It's also a story about chasing your dreams, however complicated, and learning when to let them go"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Robb, Alice.; School of American Ballet; Ballerinas; Ballerinas; Ballet;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The cursed moon / by Cervantes, Angela.;
"Rafael Fuentes isn't easily scared. He loves writing ghost stories, reading scary books, and entertaining his friends with terrifying tales he creates on the spot. Rafa has come up against enough real-life scary situations that fictional hauntings seem like no big deal. Rafa's incarcerated mom is being released from jail soon, and will be coming to live with him, his sister, and their grandparents. For the first time in a while, Rafa feels a pit of fear growing in his stomach. To take his mind off his mom's return, Rafa spends an evening crafting the scariest ghost story he's ever told. As an eerie blood moon hangs in the sky, Rafa tells a group of friends about The Caretaker. The Caretaker is an evil ghost who lures unsuspecting kids into the neighborhood pond...and they don't ever come out. Rafa is really proud of his latest creation, until strange things start to happen around him. With a sinking feeling, Rafa realizes the Caretaker is real. Rafa has brought the ghost to life--and only he can stop him"--
Subjects: Paranormal fiction.; Horror fiction.; Mexican Americans; Ghosts; Storytelling; Children of prisoners; Families;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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From Here to the Great Unknown: Oprah's Book Club A Memoir [electronic resource] : by Presley, Lisa Marie.aut; Keough, Riley.aut; cloudLibrary;
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • Born to an American myth and raised in the wilds of Graceland, Lisa Marie Presley tells her whole story for the first time in this raw, riveting, one-of-a-kind memoir faithfully completed by her daughter, Riley Keough.   In 2022, Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter to help finally finish her long-gestating memoir. A month later, Lisa Marie was dead, and the world would never know her story in her own words, never know the passionate, joyful, caring, and complicated woman that Riley loved and now grieved.   Riley got the tapes that her mother had recorded for the book, lay in her bed, and listened as Lisa Marie told story after story about smashing golf carts together in the yards of Graceland, about the unconditional love she felt from her father, about being upstairs, just the two of them. About getting dragged screaming out of the bathroom as she ran toward his body on the floor. About living in Los Angeles with her mother, getting sent to school after school, always kicked out, always in trouble. About her singular, lifelong relationship with Danny Keough, about being married to Michael Jackson, what they had in common. About motherhood. About deep addiction. About ever-present grief. Riley knew she had to fulfill her mother’s wish to reveal these memories, incandescent and painful, to the world.   To make her mother known.   This extraordinary book is written in both Lisa Marie’s and Riley’s voices, a mother and daughter communicating—from this world to the one beyond—as they try to heal each other. Profoundly moving and deeply revealing, From Here to the Great Unknown is a book like no other—the last words of the only child of an American icon.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Personal Memoirs; Entertainment & Performing Arts; Death, Grief, Bereavement;
© 2024., Random House Publishing Group,
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Good night, Irene / by Urrea, Luis Alberto,author.;
"In 1943, Irene Woodward abandons an abusive fiancé in New York to enlist with the Red Cross and head to Europe. She makes fast friends in training with Dorothy Dunford, a towering Midwesterner with a ferocious wit. Together they are part of an elite group of women, nicknamed Donut Dollies, who command military buses called Clubmobiles at the front line, providing camaraderie and a taste of home that may be the only solace before troops head into battle. After D-Day, these two intrepid friends join the Allied soldiers streaming into France. Their time in Europe will see them embroiled in danger, from the Battle of the Bulge to the liberation of Buchenwald. Through her friendship with Dorothy, and a love affair with a gallant American fighter pilot named Hans, Irene learns to trust again. Her most fervent hope, which becomes more precarious by the day, is for all three of them to survive the war intact. Taking as inspiration his mother's own Red Cross service, Luis Alberto Urrea has delivered an overlooked story of women's heroism in World War II. With its affecting and uplifting portrait of friendship and valor in harrowing circumstances, Good Night, Irene powerfully demonstrates yet again that Urrea's "gifts as a storyteller are prodigious" (NPR)"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; War fiction.; Novels.; Female friendship; Man-woman relationships; Red Cross and Red Crescent; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Small victories : spotting improbable moments of grace / by Lamott, Anne.;
"Anne Lamott writes about community, family and faith in essays that are wise, irreverent, funny and poignant - a style that has become her trademark. Now in Small Victories, Lamott has once again written a brilliant and insightful book that offers a message of hope that celebrates the triumph of light over the darkness in our lives. Our victories over hardships and pain may be small, they may be infrequent, but they keep us going and they often come from the most unexpected places: within ourselves. Lamott shows how we can forgive thoughtless family members; spotlights the value of turning toward love even in the most hopeless situations (the death of a loved one, a cancer diagnosis), and shows how to find the joy in getting lost in traffic while racing to the aid of a sick friend. Insightful and irreverent, the stories in Small Victories are proof that the human spirit is resilient and irrepressible"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Lamott, Anne; Christian biography; Grace.; Hope.; Joy.; Life; Novelists, American; Spiritual life.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Finding Freedom : a cook's story : remaking a life from scratch / by French, Erin(Chef),author.;
"Long before The Lost Kitchen became a world dining destination with every seating filled the day the reservation book opens each spring, Erin French was a girl roaming barefoot on a 25-acre farm, a teenager falling in love with food while working the line at her dad's diner and a young woman finding her calling as a professional chef at her tiny restaurant tucked into a 19th century mill. This singular memoir-a classic American story-invites readers to Erin's corner of her beloved Maine to share the real person behind the "girl from Freedom" fairytale, and the not-so-picture-perfect struggles that have taken every ounce of her strength to overcome, and that make Erin's life triumphant. In Finding Freedom, Erin opens up to the challenges, stumbles, and victories that have led her to the exact place she was ever meant to be, telling stories of multiple rock-bottoms, of darkness and anxiety, of survival as a jobless single mother, of pills that promised release but delivered addiction, of a man who seemed to offer salvation but in the end ripped away her very sense of self. And of the beautiful son who was her guiding light as she slowly rebuilt her personal and culinary life around the solace she found in food-as a source of comfort, a sense of place, as a way of bringing goodness into the world. Erin's experiences with deep loss and abiding hope, told with both honesty and humor, will resonate with women everywhere who are determined to find their voices, create community, grow stronger and discover their best-selves despite seemingly impossible odds. Set against the backdrop of rural Maine and its lushly intense, bountiful seasons, Erin reveals the passion and courage needed to invent oneself anew, and the poignant, timeless connections between food and generosity, renewal and freedom"--
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; French, Erin.; Women cooks; Cooks;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The war came to us : life and death in Ukraine / by Miller, Christopher,author.;
"A breathtaking exploration of Ukraine's past, present, and future, and a heartbreaking account of the war against Russia, written by the leading journalist of the conflict. When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine just before dawn on 24 February 2022, it marked his latest and most overt attempt to brutally conquer the country, and reshaped the world order. Christopher Miller, the Ukraine correspondent for the Financial Times and the foremost journalist covering the country, was there on the ground when the first Russian missiles struck and troops stormed over the border. But the seeds of Russia's war against Ukraine and the West were sown more than a decade earlier. This is the definitive, inside story of its long fight for freedom. Told through Miller's personal experiences, vivid front-line dispatches and illuminating interviews with unforgettable characters, The War Came To Us takes readers on a riveting journey through the key locales and pivotal events of Ukraine's modern history. From the coal-dusted, sunflower-covered steppe of the Donbas in the far east to the heart of the Euromaidan revolution camp in Kyiv; from the Black Sea shores of Crimea, where Russian troops stealthily annexed Ukraine's peninsula, to the bloody battlefields where Cossacks roamed before the Kremlin's warlords ruled with iron fists; and through the horror and destruction wrought by Russian forces in Bucha, Bakhmut, Mariupol, and beyond. With candor, wit and sensitivity, Miller captures Ukraine in all its glory: vast, defiant, resilient, and full of wonder. A breathtaking narrative that is at times both poignant and inspiring, The War Came To Us is the story of an American who fell in love with a foreign place and its people--and witnessed them do extraordinary things to escape the long shadow of their former imperial ruler and preserve their independence."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Miller, Christopher; Ukraine Conflict, 2014-;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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From Here to the Great Unknown: Oprah's Book Club A Memoir [electronic resource] : by Presley, Lisa Marie.aut; Keough, Riley.aut; Keough, Riley.nrt; Roberts, Julia.nrt; cloudLibrary;
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • Born to an American myth and raised in the wilds of Graceland, Lisa Marie Presley tells her whole story for the first time in this raw, riveting, one-of-a-kind memoir faithfully completed by her daughter, Riley Keough.   In 2022, Lisa Marie Presley asked her daughter to help finally finish her long-gestating memoir. A month later, Lisa Marie was dead, and the world would never know her story in her own words, never know the passionate, joyful, caring, and complicated woman that Riley loved and now grieved.   Riley got the tapes that her mother had recorded for the book, lay in her bed, and listened as Lisa Marie told story after story about smashing golf carts together in the yards of Graceland, about the unconditional love she felt from her father, about being upstairs, just the two of them. About getting dragged screaming out of the bathroom as she ran toward his body on the floor. About living in Los Angeles with her mother, getting sent to school after school, always kicked out, always in trouble. About her singular, lifelong relationship with Danny Keough, about being married to Michael Jackson, what they had in common. About motherhood. About deep addiction. About ever-present grief. Riley knew she had to fulfill her mother’s wish to reveal these memories, incandescent and painful, to the world.   To make her mother known.   This extraordinary book is written in both Lisa Marie’s and Riley’s voices, a mother and daughter communicating—from this world to the one beyond—as they try to heal each other. Profoundly moving and deeply revealing, From Here to the Great Unknown is a book like no other—the last words of the only child of an American icon.
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Personal Memoirs; Entertainment & Performing Arts; Death, Grief, Bereavement;
© 2024., Penguin Random House,
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