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Long shot : the inside story of the snipers who broke ISIS / by Azad,1983-author.;
"A gripping narrative by an Iran-born Kurdish journalist who joined the ranks of the Kurdish army as a sniper in the fight against ISIS. In 2002, at the age of nineteen, Azad, a young Iranian-Kurdish man, was conscripted into Iran's army and forced to fight against his own people. Refusing to go to war against his fellow Kurds, Azad deserted and smuggled himself to the United Kingdom, where he was granted asylum, became a citizen, and learned English. But more than a decade later, having returned to the Middle East as a social worker in the wake of the Syrian civil war, Azad found that he would have to pick up a weapon once again. In September 2014, after twenty-four days of intensive training as a sniper, Azad became one of seventeen volunteer marksmen deployed by the Kurdish army when ISIS besieged the city of Kobani in Rojava, the newly autonomous region of the Kurds. In Long Shot, Azad tells the inside story of how the Kurdish forces fought nine months of bloody street battles against the Islamic State. Vastly outnumbered, the Kurds would have to kill the jihadis one by one, and Azad takes readers on a harrowing journey behind rebel frontlines to reveal the sniper unit's essential role in fighting, and eventually defeating, ISIS. Weaving the brutal events of war with personal and political reflection, Azad meditates on the incalculable price of victory--the permanent effects of war on the body and mind; the devastating death of two of his closest comrades; the loss of hundreds of volunteers who died in battle. But as Azad explains, these were sacrifices that saved not only a city but a people and their land. Rojava was freed, and ISIS, which once threatened the world, never fully recovered"--
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; Azad, 1983-; People's Protection Units (Organization); IS (Organization); Snipers; Kurds;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Coexistence : stories / by Belcourt, Billy-Ray,author.; Belcourt, Billy-Ray.Short stories.Selections.;
"A collection of intersecting stories about Indigenous love and loneliness from a Giller-longlisted author and one of contemporary literature's most boundless minds. Across the prairies and Canada's west coast, on reservations and university campuses, at literary festivals and existential crossroads, the characters in Coexistence are searching for connection. They're learning to live with and understand one another, to see beauty and terror side by side, and to accept that the past, present, and future can inhabit a single moment. An aging mother confides in her son about an intimate friendship from her distant girlhood. A middling poet is haunted by the cliché his life has become. A chorus of anonymous gay men dispense unvarnished truths about their sex lives. A man freshly released from prison finds that life on the outside has sinister strictures of its own. A PhD student dog-sits for his parents at what was once a lodging for nuns operating a residential school -- a house where the spectre of Catholicism comes to feel eerily literal. Bearing the compression, crystalline sentences, and emotional potency that have characterized his earlier books, Coexistence is a testament to Belcourt's mastery of and playfulness in any literary form. A vital addition to an already rich catalogue, this is a must-read collection and the work of an author at the height of his powers."--
Subjects: Short stories.; Indigenous peoples; Interpersonal relations; Loneliness; Love;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The good samaritan : a novel / by Halleen, Toni,author.;
"A college professor is offered a chance at redemption-if he can figure out the right thing to do in this thoughtful psychological thriller from the author of The Surrogate. Sociology professor Matthew Larkin is barely holding on. After the death of his toddler son, his wife divorced him, his teenage daughter abandoned him, and he lost a job he loved. Landing a rare tenure track position at a small college in southern Minnesota, he's trying to cope with the disaster his life has become. While driving down an empty highway in the middle of nowhere one gloomy Sunday evening, Matthew gets caught in a hailstorm. Pulling off the road to find shelter, he spies a disturbing sight. Caught in the car's headlights is a child curled up beneath a plastic tarp. The boy is alive but unconscious, soaked to the bone and possibly hypothermic. Knowing an ambulance would take too long to reach them, Matthew impulsively puts the boy in his car, intending to get medical help. On the way, the boy awakens and becomes agitated, begging Matthew not to take him to a hospital or to call the police. Matthew sympathizes with the panicked boy, who looks to be the same age his son would have been. Overcome by longing, grief, and a need to make sense of everything that's happened to him, Matthew makes a dangerous choice-risking everything for a chance to face his past, move on from the pain, and forgive both his family and himself"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Bereavement; Choice (Psychology); College teachers; Helping behavior; Redemption;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Horse crazy : the story of a woman and a world in love with an animal / by Nir, Sarah Maslin,1983-author.;
"In the bestselling tradition of works by such authors as Susan Orlean and Mary Roach, a New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist explores why so many people--including herself--are obsessed with horses. It may surprise you to learn that there are over seven million horses in America--even more than when they were the only means of transportation--and nearly two million horse owners. Acclaimed journalist and avid equestrian Sarah Maslin Nir is one of them; she began riding horses when she was just two years old and hasn't stopped since. Horse Crazy is a fascinating, funny, and moving love letter to these graceful animals and the people who--like her--are obsessed with them. It is also a coming-of-age story of Nir growing up an outsider within the world's most elite inner circles, and finding her true north in horses. Nir takes us into the lesser-known corners of the riding world and profiles some of its most captivating figures. We meet Monty Roberts, the California trainer whose prowess earned him the nickname "the man who listens to horses"; George and Ann Blair, the African-American husband and wife who run a riding academy for inner city youth on a tiny island in the middle of Manhattan's East River; and Francesca Kelly, a wealthy London socialite whose love for an Indian nobleman shaped her life's mission: to rescue an endangered Indian breed of horse and bring them--illegally--to America. Woven into these compelling character studies, Nir shares her own moving personal narrative. She details her father's harrowing tale of surviving the Holocaust, and describes an enchanted but deeply lonely upbringing in Manhattan, where horses became her family. She found them even in the middle of the city, in a stable disguised in an old townhouse and in Central Park, when she chased down truants as an auxiliary mounted patrol officer. And she speaks candidly of how horses have helped her overcome heartbreak and loss. Infused with heart and wit, and with each chapter named after a horse Nir has loved, Horse Crazy is an unforgettable blend of beautifully written memoir and first-rate reporting"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Nir, Sarah Maslin, 1983-; Horse owners; Horsemen and horsewomen; Human-animal relationships.; Women journalists; Horsemanship;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Good boys [videorecording] / by Retta,actor.; Adams, Enid-Raye,actor.; Caras, Josh,actor.; Davis, Millie,actor.; Eisenberg, Lee,screenwriter.; Forte, Will,actor.; Gordon, Molly,1994-actor.; Hurstfield, Chance,actor.; Noon, Brady,actor.; Renna, Lina,actor.; Stupnitsky, Gene,screenwriter,film director.; Tremblay, Jacob,actor.; Williams, Keith L.,actor.; Good Universe (Firm),production company.; Point Grey Pictures (United States),production company.; Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (Firm),film distributor.;
Music by Lyle Workman; director of photography, Jonathan Furmanski.Jacob Tremblay, Molly Gordon, Will Forte, Lina Renna, Retta, Keith L. Williams, Brady Noon, Millie Davis, Enid-Raye Adams, Chance Hurstfield, Josh Caras.After being invited to his first kissing party, twelve-year-old Max is panicking because he doesn't know how to kiss. Eager for some pointers, Max and his best friends Thor and Lucas decide to use Max's dad's drone to spy on a teenage couple making out next door. But when things go ridiculously wrong, the drone is destroyed. Desperate to replace it before Max's dad gets home, the boys skip school and set off on an odyssey of epically bad decisions.Canadian Home Video Rating: 14A.MPAA rating: R.DVD ; widescreen presentation ; Dolby Digital 5.1, 2.0 DVS.
Subjects: Comedy films.; Feature films.; Coming-of-age films.; Video recordings for people with visual disabilities.; Video recordings for the hearing impaired.; Best friends; Kissing; Middle school boys;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The ice at the end of the world : an epic journey into Greenland's buried past and our perilous future / by Gertner, Jon,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Greenland: remote, mysterious, ice-covered rock, population 56,000, in the middle of the North Atlantic. Why do we care so much about it? Because locked within the the vast and frozen "white desert"--the nickname early explorers gave it--that covers eighty percent of the land are some of the most profound secrets of our planet--clues about where we've been, and where we might be headed. And now, with the ice sheet melting at an unprecedented rate, we are able, for the first time, to understand the story that lies within it, and what it can tell us about our future. In The Ice at the End of the World, Jon Gertner reconstructs in vivid, thrilling detail the heroic efforts of the scientists and explorers who have visited Greenland over the past 150 years--first on skis, then on sleds, and now, with planes and satellites, utilizing every technological tool available to uncover the secrets in the ice before it's too late. Much as he did with his depiction of solid-state engineers and laser scientists in his bestselling book The Idea Factory, Gertner chronicles the amazing advances, almost unfathomable hardships, technological leaps, and scientific achievements of Arctic researchers with a rich, transporting, deeply intelligent style that melds the compelling stories of a small cast of brilliant and eccentric individuals, with a keen, analytical eye toward what this work means for the rest of us"--
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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How civil wars start : and how to stop them / by Walter, Barbara F.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A leading political scientist examines the dramatic rise in violent extremism around the globe and sounds the alarm on the increasing likelihood of a second civil war in the United States. Political violence rips apart several towns in southwest Texas. A far-right militia plots to kidnap the governor of Michigan and try her for treason. An armed mob of Trump supporters and conspiracy theorists storms the U.S. Capitol. Are these isolated incidents? Or is this the start of something bigger? Barbara F. Walter has spent her career studying civil conflict in places like Iraq and Sri Lanka, but now she has become increasingly worried about her own country. Perhaps surprisingly, both autocracies and healthy democracies are largely immune from civil war; it's the countries in the middle ground that are most vulnerable. And this is where more and more countries, including the United States, are finding themselves today. Over the last two decades, the number of active civil wars around the world has almost doubled. Walter reveals the warning signs-where wars tend to start, who initiates them, what triggers them-and why some countries tip over into conflict while others remain stable. Drawing on the latest international research and lessons from over twenty countries, Walter identifies the crucial risk factors, from democratic backsliding to factionalization and the politics of resentment. A civil war today won't look like America in the 1860s, Russia in the 1920s, or Spain in the 1930s. It will begin with sporadic acts of violence and terror, accelerated by social media. It will sneak up on us and leave us wondering how we could have been so blind. In this urgent and insightful book, Walter redefines civil war for a new age, providing the framework we need to confront the danger we now face-and the knowledge to stop it before it's too late"--
Subjects: Civil war.; Democratization.; Domestic terrorism.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Better luck next time : a novel / by Hilton, Kate,1972-author.;
"It isn't easy being related to a feminist icon, especially when she's celebrating the greatest moment of her storied career. Just ask the daughters of Lydia Hennessey, who could have it all if only they'd stop self-destructing. Mariana, the eldest, is on the verge of throwing away a distinguished reputation in journalism, along with her marriage. Nina, the middle daughter, has returned from a medical mission overseas as a changed woman but won't discuss it with anyone. And Beata, the youngest, has a hostile teenaged son who just discovered the existence of a father who didn't know about him either. Meanwhile, their cousin Zoe is making divorce look like a death match, while her brother, Zack, is grappling with the fallout from his popular television dramedy, which is based far too closely on Lydia herself. It might be easier to find their paths if they could step out of Lydia's shadow--but the biggest women's march in history is underway, and Lydia and her family are at the centre of it. Over the course of an eventful year, the Hennessey children contend with the big struggles of midlife: aging parents, raging teens, crumbling marriages and bodies, new loves and the choice between playing it safe or taking life-altering risks. And as they inch toward a new definition of happiness, they might even persuade their parents--and themselves--that they're all grown up"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Feminists; Women journalists; Dysfunctional families; Mothers and daughters;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The housekeeper : a novel / by Fielding, Joy,author.;
"A woman hires a housekeeper to care for her aging parents--only to watch as she takes over their lives in this riveting novel of suspense from the New York Times bestselling author called "an ingenious master of domestic suspense" (Samantha M. Bailey). In the end, I have only myself to blame. I'm the one who let her in. Jodi Bishop knows success. She's the breadwinner, a top-notch real estate agent. Her husband, Harrison ... not so much. Once, he had big dreams. But now, he's a middling writer who resents his wife's success. Jodi's father, Vic, now seventy-nine and retired, is a very controlling man. His wife, Audrey, was herself no shrinking violet. But things changed when Audrey developed Parkinson's eight years ago, and Vic retired to devote himself to her care. But while still reasonably spry and rakishly handsome, Vic is worn down by his wife's deteriorating condition. Exhausted from trying to be all things to all people, Jodi finally decides she's had enough and starts interviewing housekeepers to help care for her parents. She settles on Elyse Woodley, an energetic and attractive widow in her early sixties, who seems perfect for the job. While Vic is initially resistant, he soon warms to Elyse's sunny personality and engaging ways. And Jodi is pleased to have an ally, someone she can talk to and occasionally even confide in. Until ... she shuts Jodi out. And Audrey's condition worsens-rapidly. Who is this woman suddenly wearing her mother's jewelry? What is she after? And how far will she go to get it?"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Families; Housekeepers; Parkinson's disease; Widows; Women real estate agents;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 3
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Just once, no more : on fathers, sons, and who we are until we are no longer / by Foran, Charles,1960-author.;
"In this vulnerable, honest, beautiful memoir, award-winning writer Charles Foran offers a brief and powerful meditation on fathers and sons, love and loss, even as his own father approaches the end of life. Dave Foran was a formidable man of few words, seemingly from a different era than his sensitive, literary son, Charlie. Among other adventures, Dave had lived in the bush, been snow-blinded, hauled a dead body across a frozen lake on a dog sled, dodged a bullet during a bar fight, and gone toe to toe with a bear. Aspects of his life were like tall tales while others were more somber and enigmatic. A decent father to Charlie and his siblings, and a devoted husband to Charlie's mother, Dave was a tough, emotionally distant man, prone to gruff cynicism and a changeable mood. As Charlie writes: "He struggled most days of his life with wounds he could not readily identify, let alone heal ... Not only did my father never get over what had happened to him as a boy, he didn't try. Men usually didn't try back then. And we just had to deal." When Charlie turned 55, his father began a slow and, as it turned out, final decline. And Charlie felt something he'd never imagined before: a mysterious desire to write about his relationship with his father. On the surface, the motivation was to help lift an inchoate burden from his father's shoulders, to reassure him that he was loved. But there was also another, more personal motivation. "Late into the middle of my own lifespan," Charlie writes, "sadness took hold of my being ... I wanted to say so frankly, never mind how glib it sounded, how uncomfortable it made me." In spare, haunting prose, Just Once pulls on these threads--unravelling a fascinating personal story but also revealing its universal context (suggested by the title "Just Once, No More," a quote from a poem by Rilke that applies to all of our brief lives). With its skillful prose, humour, affecting intimacy, and love of life even in the shadow of death and uncertainty, this short but very full book presents a nuanced, moving portrait of a fond but distant father grappling with the end of life as his son acts as witness, solace, and would-be guide while shakily facing his own decline. What story can we tell ourselves and those we love, this memoir asks, to withstand the insecurities of self and the inexorable passage of time?"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Foran, Charles, 1960-; Foran, Dave.; Aging parents; Fathers and sons; Fathers; Parent and adult child;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 391 to 400 of 406 | « previous |