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Pain killer : a memoir of big league addiction / by Myhres, Brantt,1974-author.;
"From the only player to be banned for life from the NHL, a harrowing tale of addiction, and an astonishing path to recovery. Brantt Myhres wasn't around for the birth of his daughter. Myhres had played for seven different NHL teams, and had made millions. But he'd been suspended four times, all for drug use, and he had partied his way out of the league. By the time his daughter was born, he was penniless, sleeping on a friend's couch. He'd just been released from police custody. He had a choice between sticking around for the birth, and showing up for league-mandated rehab. He went to rehab. For the fifth time. This is his story, in his own words, of how he fought his way out of minor hockey into the big league, but never left behind the ghosts of a bleak and troubled childhood. He tells the story of discovering booze as a way of handling the anxiety of fighting, and of the thrill of cocaine. In the raw language of the locker room, he tells of how substance abuse poisoned the love he had in his life, and sabotaged a great career. Full of stories of week-long benders and stripper-filled hot tubs, motorcycle crashes and barroom brawls, Playing Guilty is at its most powerful when Myhres acknowledges how he let himself down, and betrayed those who trusted him. Again and again, he fools the executives and doctors who tried to give him a second chance, then a third, then a fourth, and with each betrayal, he spirals further downward. But finally, on the eve of his daughter's birth, when all the money was gone, every bridge burnt, and every opportunity squandered, he was given a last chance. And this time, it worked. It worked so well, that not only has he been around for his daughter for the past eleven years, he was signed by the LA Kings as a "sober coach": a guy who'd been there, a guy who could recognize and help solve problems before they ruined lives and made headlines (as the Kings had seen happen three times that one season). Not only did Myhres save himself, he saved others. Unpolished, unpretentious, and unflinching, Myhres tells it like it is, acknowledging every mistake, and painting a portrait of an angry, violent, dangerous man caught in the vice of something he couldn't control, and didn't understand. If Brantt Myhres can pull himself together, anyone can. And he does, convincingly, and inspiringly."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Myhres, Brantt, 1974-; Myhres, Brantt, 1974-; Myhres, Brantt, 1974-; Hockey players; Recovering addicts;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Olga : a novel / by Schlink, Bernhard,author.; Collins, Charlotte,1967-translator.; translation of:Schlink, Bernhard.Olga.English.;
"Abandoned by her parents, Olga is raised by her grandmother in a Prussian village around the turn of the 20th century. Smart and precocious, endearing but uncompromising, she fights against the prejudices of the time to find her place in a world that sees women as second-best. When Olga falls in love with Herbert, a local aristocrat obsessed with gaining all the power, glory and greatness the modern age can provide, her life is irremediably changed. Their love goes against all odds and encounters many obstacles, entwined with the twisting paths of German history, leading us from the late 19th to the early 21st century, from Germany to Africa and the Arctic, from the Baltic Sea to the German south-west. Unfolding across centuries, Olga is an epic romance, and a wrenching tale of devotion to a restless man in a fateful moment of great rebellion. Though Olga lives her life within the margins of others, her magnetic presence breathes vivid life into these pages. Told in three distinct parts-which brilliantly shift from different points of view to the epistolary form-Schlink paints a full portrait of a singular woman's complex life"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Friendship; Man-woman relationships; Teachers; Travelers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The missing millionaire : the true story of Ambrose Small and the city obsessed with finding him / by Daubs, Katie,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The gripping true crime story of the disappearance of a millionaire from Toronto in 1919, one hundred years ago, which captivated the city and remains one of the great unsolved mysteries. For readers of Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City and Charlotte Gray's The Massey Murder. In 1919, Ambrose Small was another ghost in the city of the missing. Thousands hadn't come home from the First World War, but it was the disappearance of Ambrose Small that captivated Toronto's attention. In this brilliant new book, Katie Daubs unwinds the story of the mercurial Small, who assembled an Ontario theatre empire in the dawn of the twentieth century, sold it for an unbelievable $1.75 million, and disappeared before he could spend a cent. Weaving together a remarkable true crime narrative with social and cultural history, Daubs masterfully tells the story of Ambrose's sensational disappearance. She examines the wild lives of the cast of characters who surrounded him and became prime suspects: his independent, powerful wife, Theresa Small; his longtime personal secretary Jack Doughty, charged with theft and kidnapping; his two unmarried sisters; Patrick Sullivan, a lawless policeman; and Austin Mitchell, a hapless detective. As the years passed, a series of sensational trials exposed the relationships and resentments of Ambrose and his inner circle; allegations of sexual impropriety, murder plots, and confessions swirled; and an explosive OPP report revealed the incompetence of the police. But as the main players died off, nobody would be found guilty, and their secrets were buried for good: Ambrose Small would forever be missing. Drawing on extensive research, from police investigations to political dossiers, private correspondence, and press reports, and her own interviews with surviving descendants of key figures, Katie Daubs masterfully recreates Toronto as it was following the First World War, painting a rich portrait of a city undergoing immense cultural and social change, which protected its elite and was just as hard then as it is now."--
Subjects: True crime stories.; Small, Ambrose, 1866-1919.; Missing persons; Cold cases (Criminal investigation);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Alphonso Davies : a new hope / by Devji, Farhan,author.;
"Built on years of interviews with friends, family, teachers, coaches, and teammates, the first biography of Alphonso Davies, the new face of Canadian men's soccer. Arguably the most famous Canadian athlete on the planet, Alphonso Davies has been the subject of global attention after bursting onto the scene as a 15-year-old soccer sensation. Since then, he's landed a multimillion dollar deal with German giant FC Bayern Munich and helped Canada reach the men's World Cup for the first time in 36 years. Based on years of original reporting and extensive interviews with his friends, family members, teachers, coaches, teammates, and others from his inner circle, Alphonso Davies: A New Hope paints a complete portrait of the soccer star. The first biography about "Phonzie" covers every angle of his life and career--from the harsh realities of growing up in a refugee camp amidst the Liberian civil war, to the unique challenges of starting a new life in a foreign country, twice, to his trailblazing path as a Canadian megastar in the world's most popular sport. Bringing together intimate details and never-before-told stories, author Farhan Devji pulls back the curtain on a person and player who has captured the hearts of a nation and become a shining light for refugees everywhere"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Davies, Alphonso.; Refugees; Soccer players;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A Daughter's Place A Novel [electronic resource] : by Bátiz, Martha.aut; CloudLibrary;
A sweeping historical romance inspired by the real-life daughter of Miguel de Cervantes, celebrated author of Don Quixote Madrid, 1599. Following her mother’s sudden death, fifteen-year-old Isabel goes to live in the family home of her father, the poet and war hero Miguel de Cervantes, a man she has never met. Forced to pose as a maid to conceal her illegitimate status, Isabel must adapt to a new way of life with her jealous cousin and protective aunts while she waits for her father to return from Seville. Meanwhile, in the nearby town of Esquivias, Miguel’s pious and faithful wife Catalina similarly awaits his return, blissfully unaware of Isabel’s existence. As Miguel works on the manuscript that will become his masterpiece, Don Quixote, the years pass and Isabel grows into womanhood, falling in and out love, uncovering family secrets, and yearning for the legitimacy denied her by a rigid and callous society. Capturing two tumultuous decades of Golden Age Spain in rich historical detail, Martha Bátiz paints a compassionate portrait of a family on the precipice of great change—and the fiercely independent woman at its centre striving to make a life of her own.General adult.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Contemporary Women; Family Life;
© 2025., House of Anansi Press Inc,
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This is Jessica [videorecording] / by Bass, Sandy,on-screen participant.; Booker, Cory,on-screen participant.; Cho, Margaret,on-screen participant.; Dixon, Jennifer Stevenson,on-screen participant.; Meyerson, Andrea,film director.; Freestyle Digital Media,film distributor.;
Ashlynne Bair, Christian Bair, Lauren E. Bair, Matthew Bair, Stephen Bair, Sandy Bass, Cory Booker, Margaret Cho, Jennifer Stevenson Dixon, Jessica M. Bair.From her earliest years, when Jessica Bair was being raised as a boy named Jonathan, she knew she was a girl. But born into the Mormon church, she also knew that saying so out loud could cause her to lose everything her family, her faith, her life on earth, and her eternal soul. Terrified to reveal her true self, young Jessica / Jonathan instead set about creating the perfect life of a young Mormon man, becoming a missionary, marrying young, and starting a family. Serving in the Army, flouting the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy even as she enforced it as a military policeman, Jessica / Jonathan grew despondent about the chasm between who she was and who she was merely pretending to be. This is Jessica paints an intimate, emotional portrait of a woman forced to make a heart-wrenching decision to save herself. This is the story of a woman faced with an impossible choice between the life into which she was born, and the one she was born to live.E.Closed-captioned for the hearing impaired.DVD ; wide screen presentation ; Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0.
Subjects: Biographical films.; Documentary films.; Video recordings for the hearing impaired.; Bair, Jessica M.; Human rights workers; Transgender women; Mormons;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Out of the darkness : the Germans, 1942-2022 / by Trentmann, Frank,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.In 1945, Germany lay in ruins, morally and materially. Its citizens stood condemned by history, responsible for a horrifying genocide and war of extermination. But by the end of Angela Merkel's tenure in 2021, Germany appeared to be the moral voice of Europe, welcoming more than one million refugees, holding together the tenuous threads of the European Union, and making military restraint the center of its foreign policy. Frank Trentmann paints a remarkable and surprising portrait spanning eighty years of the conflicted people at the center of Europe, showing how the Germans became who they are today. 'Out of the Darkness' is a gripping and nuanced history of the German people from WWII to the present day, including hugely revealing new primary source material on every aspect of its transformation.
Subjects: Collective memory; Group identity; National characteristics, German.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Ocean state / by O'Nan, Stewart,1961-author.;
"In the first line of Ocean State, we learn that a high school student was murdered, and we find out who did it. The story that unfolds from there with incredible momentum is thus one of the build-up to and fall-out from the murder, told through the alternating perspectives of the four women at its heart. Angel, the murderer, Carol, her mother, and Birdy, the victim, all come alive on the page as they converge in a climax both tragic and inevitable. Watching over it all is the retrospective testimony of Angel's younger sister Marie, who reflects on that doomed autumn of 2009 with all the wisdom of hindsight. Angel and Birdy love the same teenage boy, frantically and single mindedly, and are moved by the intensity of their feelings to extremes neither could have anticipated. O'Nan's expert hand paints a fully realized portrait of these women, but also weaves a compelling and heartbreaking story of working-class life in Ashaway, Rhode Island. Propulsive, haunting, and deeply rendered, Ocean State is a masterful novel by one of our greatest storytellers"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; City and town life; Mothers and daughters; Murder; Sibling rivalry; Sisters;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Last call : a true story of love, lust, and murder in queer New York / by Green, Elon,author.;
Includes bibliographical references.""In this astonishing and powerful work of nonfiction, Green meticulously reports on a series of baffling and brutal crimes targeting gay men. It is an investigation filled with twists and turns, but this is much more than a compelling true crime story. Green has shed light on those whose lives for too long have been forgotten, and rescued an important part of American history." -David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon The gripping true story, told here for the first time, of the Last Call Killer and the gay community of New York City that he preyed upon. The Townhouse Bar, midtown, July 1992: The piano player seems to know every song ever written, the crowd belts out the lyrics to their favorites, and a man standing nearby is drinking a Scotch and water. The man strikes the piano player as forgettable. He looks bland and inconspicuous. Not at all what you think a serial killer looks like. But that's what he is, and tonight, he has his sights set on a gray haired man. He will not be his first victim. Nor will he be his last. The Last Call Killer preyed upon gay men in New York in the '80s and '90s and had all the hallmarks of the most notorious serial killers. Yet because of the sexuality of his victims, the skyhigh murder rates, and the AIDS epidemic, his murders have been almost entirely forgotten. This gripping true-crime narrative tells the story of the Last Call Killer and the decades-long chase to find him. And at the same time, it paints a portrait of his victims and a vibrant community navigating threat and resilience"--
Subjects: Anderson, Peter Stickney.; Serial murderers; Murder; Trials (Murder); Gay men;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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This shining life : a novel / by Kline, Harriet,author.;
"Meet Ollie. He's eleven years old. He loves rules, has memorized every world capital and every soccer player in the Premier League, and hasn't yet met a Killer Sodoku puzzle he can't solve. He hates being asked two questions at once, or when grown-ups use words with double meanings. He loves his family fiercely, but sometimes he cannot control his temper. And now, he must face a sudden tragedy for which there is no solution. When Ollie's happy-go-lucky, larger-than-life father, Rich, dies of brain cancer, Ollie's life is thrown into disarray. His mother, Ruth, won't get out of bed. His aunt Nessa, Rich's best friend, tries to take charge in her forceful, no-nonsense way, but to no avail. His eccentric grandmother, who lives in a ramshackle cottage in the woods, wants them to move in with her. His other grandparents are struggling with their own health issues as they mourn the loss of their only son. The only thing that makes sense to Ollie is the puzzle he's convinced his dad left behind for him to solve: six gifts, one for each member of the family, that will spell out the secret he's sure his dad figured out right before he died: what it means to be alive. Alternating between Ollie's point of view and the five other members of his family, this beautiful, touching novel paints a portrait of a family who must learn to come together in their grief. How these six characters each undertake this journey of healing is at the heart of this deeply poignant yet ultimately uplifting read"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Families; Bereavement;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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