Search:

The Eleventh Hour A Quintet of Stories [electronic resource] : by Rushdie, Salman.aut; CloudLibrary;
From internationally renowned, award-winning author Salman Rushdie, an inventive collection of fiction that explores life, death, and what comes into focus at the proverbial eleventh hour of life Rushdie turns his extraordinary imagination to life’s final act with a quintet of stories that span the three countries in which he has made his work—India, England, and America—and feature an unforgettable cast of characters. “In the South” introduces a pair of quarrelsome old men—Junior and Senior—and their private tragedy at a moment of national calamity. In “The Musician of Kahani,” a musical prodigy from the Mumbai neighborhood featured in Midnight’s Children uses her magical gifts to wreak devastation on the wealthy family she marries into. In “Late,” the ghost of a Cambridge don enlists the help of a lonely student to enact revenge upon the tormentor of his lifetime. “Oklahoma” plunges a young writer into a web of deceit and lies as he tries to figure out whether his mentor killed himself or faked his own death. And “The Old Man in the Piazza” is a powerful parable for our times about freedom of speech. Do we accommodate ourselves to death, or rail against it? Do we spend our “eleventh hour” in serenity or in rage? And how do we achieve fulfillment with our lives if we don’t know the end of our own stories? The Eleventh Hour probes life and death, legacy and identity, with wit, creativity, and keen insight.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Literary; Magical Realism; Sagas;
© 2025., Knopf Canada,
unAPI

All the water in the world : a novel / by Caffall, Eiren,author.;
"In the tradition of Station Eleven, a literary thriller set partly on the roof of New York's Museum of Natural History in a flooded future. All the Water in the World is told in the voice of a girl gifted with a deep feeling for water. In the years after the glaciers melt, Nonie, her older sister and her parents and their researcher friends have stayed behind in an almost deserted New York City, creating a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History. The rule: Take from the exhibits only in dire need. They hunt and grow their food in Central Park as they work to save the collections of human history and science. When a superstorm breaches the city's flood walls, Nonie and her family must escape north on the Hudson. They carry with them a book that holds their records of the lost collections. Racing on the swollen river towards what may be safety, they encounter communities that have adapted in very different and sometimes frightening ways to the new reality. But they are determined to find a way to make a new world that honors all they've saved. Inspired by the stories of the curators in Iraq and Leningrad who worked to protect their collections from war, All the Water in the World is both a meditation on what we save from collapse and an adventure story -- with danger, storms, and a fight for survival. In the spirit of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Parable of the Sower, this wild journey offers the hope that what matters most -- love and work, community and knowledge -- will survive"--
Subjects: Science fiction.; Apocalyptic fiction.; Novels.; Floods; Survival; Knowledge and learning; Rivers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Radical inclusion : seven steps to help you create a more just workplace, home, and world / by Sengeh, David Moinina,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."An inspiring young leader's moving call to action for anyone who seeks to make the world a better place-and the first title from Melinda French Gates's Moment of Lift Books. As the newly appointed minister of education in Sierra Leone, David Moinina Sengeh assumed that the administration he served-not to mention his family and friends-shared his conviction that all girls belong in the classroom. So he was shocked to learn that many of those closest to him, including a member of his own family, were against lifting a long-standing policy banning pregnant girls from school. Radical Inclusion is the dramatic narrative of Sengeh's crusade to guarantee pregnant girls' right to an education. His story functions as a parable that can help us all advocate for change by reimagining the systems that perpetuate exclusion in our own lives. The specifics of his efforts in Sierra Leone are captivating; the lessons Sengeh shares are universal. In addition to his candid account of his quest for reform, he offers stories and perspective from other parts of his life, drawing on his experiences encountering racial profiling as a Harvard student, developing cutting-edge prosthetic limbs at MIT, and working to combat algorithmic bias as a data scientist. Ultimately, Sengeh offers readers a roadmap for pursuing radical inclusion in their own work-from identifying exclusions, to building coalitions, to adapting to a new normal. His book is essential reading for modern leaders or anyone who hopes to help unleash the power of a world that is truly, radically inclusive"--
Subjects: Educational change; Girls; Pregnant teenagers; Right to education; Social justice and education;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Counterweight / by Tyuna,author.; Hur, Anton,translator.; translation of:Tyuna.P'yŏnghyŏngch'u.English.;
"For fans of the worlds of Philip K. Dick, Squid Game, and Severance: An absorbing tale of corporate intrigue, political unrest, unsolved mysteries, and the havoc wreaked by one company's monomaniacal endeavor to build the world's first space elevator-from one of South Korea's most revered science fiction writers, whose identity remains unknown. On the fictional island of Patusan-and much to the ire of the Patusan natives-the Korean conglomerate LK is constructing an elevator into Earth's orbit, gradually turning this one-time tropical resort town into a teeming travel hub: a gateway to and from our planet. Up in space, holding the elevator's "spider cable" taut, is a mass of space junk known as the counterweight. And it's here that lies the key-a trove of personal data left by LK's former CEO, of dire consequence to the company's, and humanity's, future. Racing up the elevator to retrieve the data is a host of rival forces: Mac, the novel's narrator and LK's Chief of External Affairs, increasingly disillusioned with his employer; the everyman Choi Gangwu, unwittingly at the center of Mac's investigations; the former CEO's brilliant niece and his power-hungry son; and a violent officer from LK's Security Division, Rex Tamaki-all caught in a labyrinth of fake identities, neuro-implant "Worms," and old political grievances held by the Patusan Liberation Front, the army of island natives determined to protect their sovereignty. Conceived by Djuna as a low-budget science fiction film, with literary references as wide-ranging as Joseph Conrad and the Marquis de Sade, The Counterweight is part cyberpunk, part hardboiled detective fiction, and part parable of Korea's neocolonial ambition and its rippling effects"--
Subjects: Science fiction.; Novels.; Artificial intelligence; Corporations; Indigenous peoples;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The future : a novel / by Alderman, Naomi,author.;
"The bestselling, award-winning author of The Power delivers a dazzling tour de force where a handful of friends plot a daring heist to save the world from the tech giants whose greed threatens life as we know it. When Martha Einkorn fled her father's isolated compound in Oregon, she never expected to find herself working for a powerful social media mogul hell-bent on controlling everything. Now, she's surrounded by mega-rich companies designing private weather, predictive analytics, and covert weaponry, while spouting technological prophecy. Martha may have left the cult, but if the apocalyptic warnings in her father's fox and rabbit sermon--once a parable to her--are starting to come true, how much future is actually left? Across the world, in a mall in Singapore, Lai Zhen, an internet-famous survivalist, flees from an assassin. She's cornered, desperate and--worst of all--might die without ever knowing what's going on. Suddenly, a remarkable piece of software appears on her phone telling her exactly how to escape. Who made it? What is it really for? And if those behind it can save her from danger, what do they want from her, and what else do they know about the future? Martha and Zhen's worlds are about to collide. An explosive chain of events is set in motion. While a few billionaires assured of their own safety lead the world to destruction, Martha's relentless drive and Zhen's insatiable curiosity could lead to something beautiful or the cataclysmic end of civilization. By turns thrilling, hilarious, tender, and always piercingly brilliant, The Future unfolds at a breakneck speed, highlighting how power corrupts the few who have it and what it means to stand up to them. The future is coming. The Future is here."--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Dystopian fiction.; Novels.; Billionaires; Conspiracies; End of the world; Future, The; Survival; Technology;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Dogs and monsters : stories / by Haddon, Mark,1962-author.;
"Greek myths have fascinated people for millennia, seeing in them lessons about fate and hubris and the contingency of existence. Mark Haddon digs into the heart of these ancient fables and sees them anew. The dawn goddess Eos asked asks Zeus to give her lover Tithonus eternal life, but forgets to ask for eternal youth. In "The Quiet Limit of the World" Haddon imagines Tithonus' life as he slowly ages over thousands of years, turning the cautionary tale of tempting the gods into a spellbinding meditation on witnessing death from the outside, and ultimately, how carnal love evolves into something richer and more poignant with time. In "The Mother's Story," Haddon takes the myth of the minotaur in his labyrinth, in which the beast is the spawn of the monstrous lust of the king's wife Pasiphae, and turns it into a wrenching parable of maternal love for a damaged child, and the more real monstrosities of patriarchy. In "D.O.G.Z." the story of Actaeon, who was turned into a stag after glimpsing the naked goddess Diana and torn to pieces by his hunting dogs, becomes a visceral metaphor about the continuum of human and animal behavior. Other stories play with contemporary mythic tropes - genetic engineering, trying to escape the future, the viciousness of adolescent ostracism - to showcase how modern humans are subject to the same capriciousness that obsessed the Greeks. Haddon's tales cover a vast range, from the mythic to the domestic, from ancient Greece to the present day, from stories about love to stories about cruelty, from battlefields to bed and breakfasts, from dogs in space to doors between worlds, all of them bound together by a profound sympathy and an understanding of how human beings act and think and feel when pushed to the very edge. Throughout Haddon's supple prose showcases his astonishing powers of observation, of both the physical world and the workings of the psyche. His vision is clear-eyed, but always resolutely empathetic"--
Subjects: Short stories.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 3
unAPI

Maktub : an inspirational companion to The alchemist / by Coelho, Paulo,author.; Costa, Margaret Jull,translator.; translation of:Coelho, Paulo.Maktub.English.;
From one of the greatest writers of our age comes a collection of stories and parables unlocking the mysteries of the human condition. Gathered from Paulo Coelhos daily column of the same name, 'Maktub' invites seekers on a journey of faith, self-reflection, and transformation. As Paulo Coelho explains, Maktub is not a book of advice - but an exchange of experiences.
Subjects: Short stories.; Conduct of life; God; Life; Spiritual life;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Every little scrap and wonder : a small-town childhood / by Funk, Carla,1974-author.;
Carla Funk grew up in a place of logging trucks and God, pellet guns and parables. Every Sunday, she sat with her mother and brother in the same pew at the Mennonite church while her dad stayed home with his cigarettes and a fridge full of whiskey. In these tender, humorous stories, Funk stitches together the wondrous and the mundane: making snow angels and carrying sacks of potatoes, tossing pig bladders like footballs, and vying for the Christmas pageant spotlight. Part ode to childhood, part love letter to rural life, Every Little Scrap and Wonder offers an original take on the memories, stories, and traditions we all carry within ourselves, whether we planned to or not.
Subjects: Biographies.; Funk, Carla, 1974-; Women poets, Canadian; Poets, Canadian;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Manuscript found in Accra / by Coelho, Paulo.; Coelho, Paulo.Manuscrito encontrado em Accra.English.; Costa, Margaret Jull.;
"The latest novel from #1 internationally best-selling author Paulo Coelho is a classic of inspiration and reflection, a meditation on life, love, and the significance of change. A novel of philosophical reflection set in Jerusalem during the time of the Crusades. Here a community of Christians, Arabs, and Jews who have long lived together harmoniously have been warned of an imminent attack and certain destruction. Contemplating their demise, the community assembles to seek the wise counsel of a Greek Copt, who imparts comforting and guiding wisdom on the enduring attributes of human character. The novel unfolds as a sequence of parables on love, faith, sex, friendship, beauty, bravery, loyalty, and success."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Crusades;
© c2013., Alfred A. Knopf,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Bunns Rabbit / by Barillaro, Alan.;
"When Bunns is born with small but perfectly functional rabbit ears, the warren is abuzz with auguries. Surely such short ears spell bad luck for the community. Sheltered in her family's burrow, Bunns listens to the rhythm of her mother's heartbeat-Thump, thump, thump-a song of home and belonging. Her father explains that unlike a rabbit's words or thumping feet, a heartsong cannot lie. But the unknown world of the meadow, the sounds and smells above, call to Bunns. When at last she's ready to brave the staring and whispering of neighbors who fear her because she's different, and the disapproving elders who threaten to banish her family, she finds a world beyond the warren where myths and riddles, magic voyages, and important new friends await. Can the "bad omen bunny" follow her own heartsong to a destiny-a wish-meant just for her? Academy Award-winning director, writer, and animator Alan Barillaro's graceful storytelling, warm illustrations, and dramatic graphic panels weave light and dark into a seamless tapestry to enchant children and adults alike"--
Subjects: Animal fiction.; Action and adventure fiction.; Magic realist fiction.; Parables.; Rabbits; Individual differences; Meadows; Quests (Expeditions); Forests and forestry; Friendship;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
unAPI