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The teacher of Auschwitz : a novel / by Holden, Wendy,1961-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."From the bestselling author of Born Survivors, a novel inspired by the powerful true story of a man who risked everything to protect children in Auschwitz. Fredy built a wall against suffering in their hearts ... Amid the brutality of the Holocaust, one bright spot shone inside the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz. In the shadows of the smokestacks was a wooden hut where children sang, staged plays, wrote poetry, and learned about the world. Within those four walls, brightly adorned with hand-painted cartoons, the youngest prisoners were kept vermin-free, received better food, and were even taught to imagine having full stomachs and a day without fear. Their guiding light was a twenty-seven-year-old gay, Jewish athlete: Fredy Hirsch. Being a teacher in a brutal concentration camp was no mean feat. Forced to beg senior SS officers for better provisions, Fredy risked his life every day to protect his beloved children from mortal danger. But time was running out for Fredy and the hundreds in his care. Could this kind, compassionate, and brave man find a way to teach them the one lesson they really needed to know: how to survive? The Teacher of Auschwitz shines a light on a truly remarkable individual and tells the inspiring story of how he fought to protect innocence and hope amid depravity and despair"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Biographical fiction.; Novels.; Hirsch, Fredy, 1916-1944; Auschwitz (Concentration camp); Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Away from the dead / by Bergen, David,1957-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Away from the Dead is set in the chaotic times of the Russian revolution, and traces the lives of various characters connected through love and family and loyalty. The novel follows the lives of a bookseller south of Kiev who deserts the army and writes poetry to his lover back home; an adopted Mennonite/Ukrainian peasant who runs with the anarchists only to discover that love and the planting of crops is preferable to killing; and in which a Mennonite estate owner steals a young mother's child. Bookseller Julius Lehn is drawn by his first wife into the patriarchal world of a Mennonite colony beside the Dnieper River, where he learns that pacifists can be as vicious as those who fight. After his wife dies, he gains affection for Inna, who has been cast away from her adopted family's estate, and is the sister of Sablin, the peasant who fights with the anarchists and discovers that violence is the domain of both the rich and the poor. By late 1919, Lehn's bookshop in Ekaterinoslav (modern day Dnipro) has been destroyed, and he has returned to be with Inna, whose child is gone, and with the colony under attack. The anarchists, the Bolsheviks, the Whites -- all come and go, each claiming freedom and justice. In a violent world with no end, Sablin and Lehn and Inna choose love, hoping that one can, against all odds, turn away from the dead"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Anarchists; Booksellers and bookselling; Bookstore owners; Mennonites; War victims;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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A history of my brief body : a memoir / by Belcourt, Billy-Ray,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."A profound meditation on queerness and indigeneity from the youngest ever winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize. Billy-Ray Belcourt begins A History of My Brief Body with a letter to his nohkom, his grandmother. "In the world-to-come," he writes, "everyone is loved by an NDN woman like you whose soft voice reminds us that we can stop running now." What follows is a charting of the distance between the world he was born into and the world he wants--a book as beautiful as it is devastating. Reflecting on his personal history, Belcourt maps his "un-Canadian and otherworldly" desire to love at all costs. We're taken to his birthplace in Joussard, in northern Alberta, where he and his twin brother come to exemplify opposites: hard and soft, masculine and feminine. To his high school graduation, where a hug from his father teaches him how to hold and be held. To a hotel room in Edmonton, where destroying the photographic evidence of his adolescence is an act of self-abolition and of making himself anew. Blending memoir and essay, and with a poet's delight in language, A History of My Brief Body is both a grappling with a legacy of trauma and a record of the joy that flourishes in spite of it."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Essays.; Belcourt, Billy-Ray.; Belcourt, Billy-Ray; Gay men; Sexual minorities; Indigenous peoples; Poets, Canadian (English);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Unsolaced : along the way to all that is / by Ehrlich, Gretel,author.;
"From one of our most intrepid and eloquent adventurers of the natural world: an account of her search for home--experiences traveling in Greenland, the North Pole, the Channel Islands of California, Japan; of herding animals in Wyoming and Montana, and her embrace of the balance between the ordinary and celestial. In The Solace of Open Spaces, Gretel Ehrlich announced her aspiration as a writer to assign the physical qualities of the earth--weather, light and wind--to our contemporary age. In Unsolaced, thirty-five years later, Ehrlich shows us how these forces have shaped her experience and her understanding as she recalls the split-end strands of friendships spliced to new loves, houses built and lived in, conversations that shifted outlooks, as she tries to catch a glimpse of herself and the places she has sought as an anchor for her spirit. Ehrlich's quest is not for the comfort of permanence, but for transience, the need to be unsettled--to find stillness in the disquiet of engagement, to find in the landscapes of earth, ice, climate, genetic mayhem, and shifting canvas of memory--the possibility of longing. Ehrlich's voice is a unique amalgam of poetry and science, her attention held fast by the vegetation and animals she cares for, the lyric exaltation of insight that gives both her and her readers an intimation of a greater whole"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Ehrlich, Gretel; Ehrlich, Gretel; Authors, American;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Nishga / by Abel, Jordan,1985-author.;
"From Griffin Poetry Prize winner Jordan Abel comes a groundbreaking and emotionally devastating autobiographical meditation on the complicated legacies that Canada's reservation school system has cast on his grandparents', his parents' and his own generation. NISHGA is a deeply personal and autobiographical book that attempts to address the complications of contemporary Indigenous existence. As a Nisga'a writer, Jordan Abel often finds himself in a position where he is asked to explain his relationship to Nisga'a language, Nisga'a community, and Nisga'a cultural knowledge. However, as an intergenerational survivor of residential school--both of his grandparents attended the same residential school in Chilliwack, British Columbia--his relationship to his own Indigenous identity is complicated to say the least. NISHGA explores those complications and is invested in understanding how the colonial violence originating at the Coqualeetza Indian Residential School impacted his grandparents' generation, then his father's generation, and ultimately his own. The project is rooted in a desire to illuminate the realities of intergenerational survivors of residential school, but sheds light on Indigenous experiences that may not seem to be immediately (or inherently) Indigenous. Drawing on autobiography, a series of interconnected documents (including pieces of memoir, transcriptions of talks, and photography), NISHGA is a book about confronting difficult truths and it is about how both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples engage with a history of colonial violence that is quite often rendered invisible."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Abel, Jordan, 1985-; Indigenous authors; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous children; Indigenous children; Indigenous peoples;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Why fathers cry at night : a memoir in love poems, letters, recipes, and remembrances / by Alexander, Kwame,author.;
"This powerful memoir from a #1 New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Medalist features poetry, letters, recipes, and other personal artifacts that provide an intimate look into his life and the loved ones he shares it with. In an intimate and non-traditional (or "new-fashioned") memoir, Kwame Alexander shares snapshots of a man learning how to love. He takes us through stories of his parents: from being awkward newlyweds in the sticky Chicago summer of 1967, to the sometimes-confusing ways they showed their love to each other, and for him. He explores his own relationships--his difficulties as a newly wedded, 22-year-old father, and the precariousness of his early marriage working in a jazz club with his second wife. Alexander attempts to deal with the unravelling of his marriage and the grief of his mother's recent passing while sharing the solace he found in learning how to perfect her famous fried chicken dish. With an open heart, Alexander weaves together memories of his past to try and understand his greatest love: his daughters. Full of heartfelt reminisces, family recipes, love poems, and personal letters, Why Fathers Cry at Night inspires bravery and vulnerability in every reader who has experienced the reckless passion, heartbreak, failure, and joy that define the whirlwind woes and wonders of love."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Recipes.; Personal narratives.; Alexander, Kwame.; African American authors; Authors, American;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Nerd : adventures in fandom from this universe to the multiverse / by Phillips, Maya,1990-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."In the vein of You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) and Black Nerd Problems, this witty, incisive essay collection from New York Times critic at large Maya Phillips explores race, religion, sexuality, and more through the lens of her favorite pop culture fandoms. From the moment Maya Phillips saw the opening scroll of Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, her childhood changed forever. Her formative years were spent loving not just the Star Wars saga, but superhero cartoons, anime, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, Tolkien, and Doctor Who--to name just a few. As a critic at large at The New York Times, Phillips has written extensively on theater, poetry, and the latest blockbusters--with her love of some of the most popular and nerdy fandoms informing her career. Now, she analyzes the mark these beloved intellectual properties leave on young and adult minds, and what they teach us about race, gender expression, religion, and more--especially as fandom becomes more and more mainstream. Spanning from the 90s through to today, Nerd is a collection of cultural criticism essays through the lens of fandom for everyone from the casual Marvel movie watcher to the hardcore Star Wars expanded universe connoisseur. It's for anyone who's ever wondered where they fit into the narrative or if they can be seen as a hero--even of their own story"--
Subjects: Essays.; Fans (Persons); Popular culture; Television;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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People watching : a novel / by Bonam-Young, Hannah,author.;
"Prudence Welch has found solace in her introverted life in Baysville, a charming tourist town in Northern Ontario. Despite once dreaming of a life beyond its borders, she now finds contentment in her routines: working at her fathers gas station, writing poetry, and caring for her mother, who was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimers shortly after Prues nineteenth birthday. But as her mothers condition worsens and her fathers concerns about her future intensify, Prue feels her world slipping further out of control. Enter Milo Kablukov, an enigmatic wanderer whose beat-up van covered with ill-advised bumper stickers rolls into town just when Prue needs a change. Its all too easy to let go with him, and Prue cant help but strike up an unlikely friendship with Milo, which leads to a wild and sexy agreement between them. Milo, a man of many adventures and countless stories, is not one to settle down. However, his brothers urgent need for help has brought him to Baysville, and now the intriguing Prue has given him more reason to stay. Especially once they start spending more time together, their chemistry intensifying, and casual-sex lessons start at Prues request. But as their temporary arrangement blossoms into something deeper, Prue and Milo discover that getting out of their comfort zones is one thing ... taking that leap together is something else entirely."--
Subjects: Romance fiction.; Novels.; Alzheimer's disease; Fathers and daughters; Man-woman relationships;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Black futures / by Drew, Kimberly,1990-editor.; Wortham, Jenna,1981-editor.;
"Black Futures is a collection of work--art, photos, essays, memes, dialogues, recipes, tweets, poetry, and more--that tells the story of the radical, imaginative, bold, and beautiful world that black artists, high and low, are producing today. The book presents a succession of brilliant and provocative pieces--from both emerging and renowned creators of all kinds--that generates an entrancing rhythm: Readers will go from conversations with hackers and street artists to memes and Instagram posts, from powerful prose to dazzling paintings and insightful infographics. A generational document that captures this fast-moving generation in its own dynamic and exspansive language. While shaped in the tradition of other generational statements, from The New Negro to Black Fire to Toni Morrison's landmark The Black Book, Black Futures does not have a retrospective air. It showcases the present, but points to the future. We live at a time when black culture--whether it's created by Ava DuVernay or Donald Glover, Kendrick Lamar or Cardi B, meme-makers or YouTubers--is opening our imaginations and offering new paths forward, a multi-voiced, utopian alternative to a world of walls and white nationalism. Black Futures captures this expansive vision and energy and makes it available to any reader, of any color, who wants to explore this exciting cultural moment and see the next one coming"--
Subjects: Blacks.; Arts and society;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Adam & Evie's matchmaking tour : a novel / by Nguyen, Nora,author.;
Evie Lang's life is in shambles. On the heels of losing her beloved aunt, she's unceremoniously fired from her poetry professorship by her secret boyfriend. Lacking income and inspiration, she's stuck in Ohio with no idea how to move forward--until hope arrives in a surprising letter. Auntie Hảo left Evie the deed to her San Francisco row house, a place full of Evie's happiest memories. The catch? To inherit, she must go on a pre-arranged matchmaking tour in Việt Nam. The last thing Evie wants is to spend time with a group of strangers looking for love. But she can't resist the chance to finally visit her family's native home. A world away, Adam Quyền has a chip on his shoulder. He's working around the clock as CMO for his sister's elite matchmaking business, a job complicated by her insistence that he knows nothing about love. He's desperate to prove himself, so when she challenges him to join the inaugural tour, he reluctantly agrees. Adam thinks Evie is chaotic and unpredictable. Evie thinks Adam is grumpy and uptight. But from the bustling streets of Hồ Chí Minh City to the soaring waterfalls in Đà Lạt, they keep getting thrown together, their animosity charged with attraction...and they discover that true love may be out there, if they are willing to take a leap.
Subjects: Romance fiction.; Humorous fiction.; Novels.; Dating (Social customs); Dating services; Inheritance and succession; Interpersonal relations; Man-woman relationships; Tours; Women poets;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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