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The Dream Hotel: A Read with Jenna Pick A Novel [electronic resource] : by Lalami, Laila.aut; CloudLibrary;
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ● READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY ● From Laila Lalami—the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a “maestra of literary fiction” (NPR)—comes a riveting and utterly original novel about one woman’s fight for freedom, set in a near future where even dreams are under surveillance. Sara has just landed at LAX, returning home from a conference abroad, when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside and inform her that she will soon commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, the RAA’s algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most: her husband. For his safety, she must be kept under observation for twenty-one days. The agents transfer Sara to a retention center, where she is held with other dreamers, all of them women trying to prove their innocence from different crimes. With every deviation from the strict and ever-shifting rules of the facility, their stay is extended. Months pass and Sara seems no closer to release. Then one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and leading Sara on a collision course with the very companies that have deprived her of her freedom. Eerie, urgent, and ceaselessly clear-eyed, The Dream Hotel artfully explores the seductive nature of technology, which puts us in shackles even as it makes our lives easier. Lalami asks how much of ourselves must remain private if we are to remain free, and whether even the most invasive forms of surveillance can ever capture who we really are.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Literary; Dystopian; Political;
© 2025., Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group,
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New kid / by Craft, Jerry,author,illustrator.; Callahan, Jim,colorist.;
This book is part of our Book Sanctuary collection. A Book Sanctuary is a physical or digital space that actively protects the freedom to read. It provides shelter and access to endangered books. Launched by Chicago Public Library in 2022, The Book Sanctuary initiative brings attention to challenged titles, and commits to making these books accessible. Innisfil ideaLAB & Library's Book Sanctuary Collection represents books that have been challenged, censored or removed from a public library or school in North America. More than 50 adult, teen, and children's books are in our collection and are available for browsing and borrowing in our branches and online. Explore the collection to learn more about why these books were challenged.Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds--and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?
Subjects: Graphic novels.; Comic books, strips, etc.; Comics (Graphic works).; Graphic books.; Banned book sanctuary.; Schools; Private schools; Parent and child; Race; Cartoonists; African American artists;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 5
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An indiscreet princess : a novel of Queen Victoria's defiant daughter / by Blalock, Georgie,1974-author.;
As the fourth daughter of the perpetually in-mourning Queen Victoria, Princess Louise's life is more a gilded prison than a fairy tale. Expected to sit quietly next to her mother with down-cast eyes, Louise vows to escape the stultifying royal court. Blessed with beauty, artistic talent, and a common touch, she creates a life outside the walled-in existence of the palace grounds by attending the National Art Training School--where she shockingly learns to sculpt nude models while falling passionately in love with famed sculptor Joseph Edgar Boehm.But even as Louise cultivates a life outside the palace, she is constantly reminded that even royal rebels must heed the call of duty--and for a princess that means marriage. Refusing to leave England, she agrees to a match with the Duke of Argyll, and although her heart belongs to another, she is determined to act out her public role perfectly, even if her private life teeters on the brink of scandal. But when a near fatal accident forces Louise back under her mother's iron rule, she realizes she must choose: give in to the grief of lost love or find the strength to fight for her unconventional life.
Subjects: Biographical fiction.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Louise, Princess, Duchess of Argyll, 1848-1939; Courts and courtiers; Man-woman relationships; Nobility; Princesses;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Better living through birding : notes from a Black man in the natural world / by Cooper, Christian,author.;
"Christian Cooper is a self-described Blerd (Black nerd), an avid comics fan, and an expert birder who devotes every spring to gazing upon the migratory birds that stop to rest in Central Park, just a subway ride away from where he lives in New York City. When birdwatching in the park one morning in May 2020, Cooper was engaged in the ritual that had been a part of his life since he was ten years old. But when a routine encounter with a dog-walker escalates age old racial tensions, Cooper's viral video of the incident would send shockwaves through the nation. In Better Living Through Birding, Cooper tells the story of his extraordinary life leading up to the now-infamous encounter in Central Park and shows how a life spent looking up at the birds prepared him, in the most uncanny of ways, to be a gay, Black man in American today. From sharpened senses that work just as well in a protest as in a park, to what a bird like the Common Grackle can teach us about self-acceptance, Better Living Through Birding exults in the pleasures of a life lived in pursuit of the natural world and invites you to discover your own. Equal parts memoir, travelogue, and primer on the art of birding, this is Cooper's story of learning to claim and defend space for himself and others like him, from his days as a writer for Marvel Comics, where Cooper introduced the first gay storyline, to vivid and life-changing birding expeditions through Africa, Australia, the Americas and the Himalayas. Better Living Through Birding is Cooper's invitation into the wonderful world of birds, and what they can teach us about life, if only we would stop and listen"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Cooper, Christian; Cooper, Christian.; African American men; Authors; Bird watchers; Gay men;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The island of extraordinary captives : a painter, a poet, an heiress, and a spy in a World War II British internment camp / by Parkin, Simon,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Following the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, Peter Fleischmann evaded the Gestapo's midnight roundups in Berlin by way of a perilous journey to England via the Kindertransport train. But he could not escape the British police, who came for him in the early hours and shipped him off to Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, under suspicion of being a spy for the very regime he had fled. Peter's story was no isolated incident. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, tens of thousands of German and Austrian Jews escaped and found refuge in Britain. Once war broke out in 1939, the nation turned against them, fearing that Nazis had planted spies posing as refugees. Innocent asylum seekers thus were labeled "enemy aliens" and ultimately sentenced to an indefinite period of internment. When Peter arrived at Hutchinson Camp, he found one of history's most astounding prison populations: renowned professors, composers, journalists, and artists. Together, they created a thriving cultural community, complete with art exhibitions, lectures, musical performances, and poetry readings. The artists welcomed Peter as their pupil and forever changed the course of his life. Meanwhile, suspicions grew that a real spy was hiding among them--one connected to a vivacious heiress from Peter's past. Drawing from unpublished first-person accounts and newly declassified documents from the British government, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin tells the story of this unlikely group of internees. The Island of Extraordinary Captives brings history to life in vivid detail, revealing the hidden truth of Britain's grave wartime mistake and showcasing how hope and creativity can flourish in even the darkest of circumstances"--
Subjects: Midgley, Peter, 1921-1991.; Hutchinson Internment Camp (Douglas, Isle of Man); Germans; Jewish refugees; Noncitizens; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The masterpiece : a novel / by Davis, Fiona,1966-author.;
"In her latest captivating novel, nationally bestselling author Fiona Davis takes readers into the glamorous lost art school within Grand Central Terminal, where two very different women, fifty years apart, strive to make their mark on a world set against them. For the nearly nine million people who live in New York City, Grand Central Terminal is a crown jewel, a masterpiece of design. But for Clara Darden and Virginia Clay, it represents something quite different. For Clara, the terminal is the stepping stone to her future, which she is certain will shine as the brightly as the constellations on the main concourse ceiling. It is 1928, and twenty-five-year-old Clara is teaching at the lauded Grand Central School of Art. A talented illustrator, she has dreams of creating cover art for Vogue, but not even the prestige of the school can override the public's disdain for a "woman artist." Brash, fiery, confident, and single-minded--even while juggling the affections of two men, a wealthy would-be poet and a brilliant experimental painter--Clara is determined to achieve every creative success. But she and her bohemian friends have no idea that they'll soon be blindsided by the looming Great Depression, an insatiable monster with the power to destroy the entire art scene. And even poverty and hunger will do little to prepare Clara for the greater tragedy yet to come. Nearly fifty years later, in 1974, the terminal has declined almost as sharply as Virginia Clay's life. Full of grime and danger, from the smoke-blackened ceiling to the pickpockets and drug dealers who roam the floor, Grand Central is at the center of a fierce lawsuit: Is the once-grand building a landmark to be preserved, or a cancer to be demolished? For Virginia, it is simply her last resort. Recently divorced, she has just accepted a job in the information booth in order to support herself and her college-age daughter, Ruby. But when Virginia stumbles upon an abandoned art school within the terminal and discovers a striking watercolor hidden under the dust, her eyes are opened to the elegance beneath the decay. She embarks on a quest to find the artist of the unsigned masterpiece--an impassioned chase that draws Virginia not only into the battle to save Grand Central but deep into the mystery of Clara Darden, the famed 1920s illustrator who disappeared from history in 1931"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Grand Central Terminal (New York, N.Y.);
Available copies: 3 / Total copies: 3
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This Much We Know. by Frances, L.,film director.; Oscilloscope Laboratories (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Originally produced by Oscilloscope Laboratories in 2022.Grieving the suicide of a friend, L. Frances Henderson heads to Las Vegas, the suicide capitol of the nation, to seek answers. There she learns about the shocking death of a local teenager who leaped from the roof of the city’s tallest casino. While investigating the suicide epidemic further, she finds that the city is also burdened by a national problem scrambling to bury decades of nuclear excess in a nearby mountain. Artfully maneuvering between two stories burgeoning with existential questions, THIS MUCH WE KNOW masterfully links these seemingly disparate subjects of self-annihilation and environmental issues into something supernatural, unforgettable, and transcendent.Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Documentary films.; Social sciences.; History, Modern.; Sociology.; Documentary films.; History.;
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Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat. by Grimonprez, Johan,film director.; Lincoln, Abbey,actor.; Blouin, Andrée,actor.; Gillespie, Dizzy,actor.; Coltrane, John,actor.; Armstrong, Louis,actor.; Simone, Nina,actor.; Films We Like (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Abbey Lincoln, Andrée Blouin, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, Nina SimoneOriginally produced by Films We Like in 2024.United Nations, 1960: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, jazz musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe, and the U.S. State Department swings into action, sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to Congo to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup. Director Johan Grimonprez captures the moment when African politics and American jazz collided in this magnificent essay film, a riveting historical rollercoaster that illuminates the political machinations behind the 1961 assassination of Congo’s leader Patrice Lumumba. Richly illustrated by eyewitness accounts, official government memos, testimonies from mercenaries and CIA operatives, speeches from Lumumba himself, and a veritable canon of jazz icons, SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D'ETAT interrogates colonial history to tell an urgent and timely story of precedent that resonates more than ever in today’s geopolitical climate.Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Documentary films.; Political science.; Social sciences.; Arts.; African studies.; Foreign study.; Music.; History, Modern.; Documentary films.; Artists.; Current affairs.; History.; Jazz.; United States. Central Intelligence Agency.; Congo (Democratic Republic).; United Nations.; Assassination.; Performing arts.;
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I'm finding my talk / by Thomas, Rebecca(Poet); Young, Pauline,1965-;
A response to Rita Joe's iconic poem "I Lost My Talk," and published simultaneously with the new children's book edition illustrated by Pauline Young, comes a companion picture book by award-winning spoken-word artist and Mi'kmaw activist Rebecca Thomas. A second-generation residential school survivor, Thomas writes this response poem openly and honestly, reflecting on the process of working through the destructive effects of colonialism. From sewing regalia to dancing at powow to learning traditional language, I'm Finding My Talk is about rediscovering her community, and finding culture. Features stunning, vibrant illustrations by Mi'kmaw artist Pauline Young.LSC
Subjects: Identity (Philosophical concept); Indians of North America; Native children; Children's poetry, Canadian (English); Residential schools; First Nations children;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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James A Novel [electronic resource] : by Everett, Percival.aut; CloudLibrary;
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER  • A LOS ANGELES TIMES BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE LAST 30 YEARS In development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg •  A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, LA Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, TIME, and more. "Genius"—The Atlantic • "A masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own."—Chicago Tribune • "A provocative, enlightening literary work of art."—The Boston Globe • "Everett’s most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful."—The New York Times When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.   Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature. 
Subjects: Electronic books.; Literary; Satire; Historical;
© 2024., Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group,
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