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Jay-Z : made in America / by Dyson, Michael Eric,author.; Dyson, Everett,illustrator.; Williams, Pharrell,writer of foreword.;
Includes bibliographical references.JAY-Z: Made in America is the fruit of Michael Eric Dyson's decade of teaching the work of one of the greatest poets this nation has produced, as gifted a wordsmith as Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Rita Dove. But as a rapper, he's sometimes not given the credit he deserves for just how great an artist he's been for so long. This book wrestles with the biggest themes of JAY-Z's career, including hustling, and it recognizes the way that he's always weaved politics into his music, making important statements about race, criminal justice, black wealth and social injustice. As he enters his fifties, and to mark his thirty years as a recording artist, this is the perfect time to take a look at JAY-Z's career and his role in making this nation what it is today. In many ways, this is JAY-Z's America as much as it's Pelosi's America, or Trump's America, or Martin Luther King's America. JAY-Z has given this country a language to think with and words to live by.
Subjects: Biographies.; Jay-Z, 1969-; Rap musicians; Rap (Music);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Until the last of me / by Neuvel, Sylvain,1973-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and discography."Showing that truth is stranger than fiction, Sylvain Neuvel weaves a scifi thriller reminiscent of Blake Crouch and Andy Weir in Until the Last of Me, blending a fast moving, darkly satirical look at the 1960s space race with an exploration of the amorality of progress and the nature of violence. The First Rule is the most important: "Always run, never fight." Over 100 generations, Mia's family has shaped Earth's history to push humanity to the stars, making brutal, wrenching choices along the way. And now Mia finds herself about to help launch the first people into space. She can't take them to the stars, not quite yet. But with her adversary almost upon her, and with the future of the planet at stake it's becoming clearer that obeying the First Rule is no longer an option. For the first time since her line's first generation, Mia will have to choose to stand her ground, knowing that the overwhelming odds mean that she risks not only her bloodline, but also the future of the human race"--
Subjects: Science fiction.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Extraterrestrial beings; Mothers and daughters; Rocketry; Space flight; Space race;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Spring rain : a life lived in gardens / by Hamer, Marc,author,illustrator.;
"From the beloved author of How to Catch a Mole and Seed to Dust comes a highly original memoir of childhood, old age, and the restorative power of the garden. In this restorative little book, best enjoyed in a single sitting under a tree, an adventurous young boy who traveled the world in his mind meets the old man he becomes, and together they build a new garden from a neglected plot behind his house on the edge of town. Alternate chapters follow author and professional gardener Marc Hamer as a child and his current life as a 65 year old. Hamer weaves practical gardening knowledge through these two memoir strands as he describes the planning and planting of his new small garden near Cardiff, Wales. In the words of Hamer, "Spring Rain is about the joy of your own back garden. It is a story about the joy of small things, the world in a grain of sand, a universe in a small garden, with love for all the insects and slugs and flowers and weeds and seeds and roots and boundaries and shade and weather that the garden contains.""--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Hamer, Marc.; Gardeners; Gardens; Human ecology.;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Babylonia / by Casati, Costanza,1995-author.;
"From the author of the bestselling Clytemnestra comes another intoxicating excursion into ancient history, as Casati reimagines the rise to power of the Assyrian empire's only female ruler, Semiramis. When kings fall, queens rise. Nothing about Semiramis's upbringing could have foretold her legacy or the power she would come to wield. A female ruler, once an orphan raised on the outskirts of an empire - certainly no one in Ancient Assyria would bend to her command willingly. Semiramis was a woman who knew if she wanted power, she would have to claim it. There are whispers of her fame in Mesopotamian myth- Semiramis was a queen, an ambitious warrior, a commander whose reputation reaches the majestic proportions of Alexander the Great. Historical record, on the other hand, falls eerily quiet. In her second novel, Costanza Casati brilliantly weaves myth and ancient history together to give Semiramis a voice, charting her captivating ascent to a throne no one promised her. The world Casati expertly builds is rich with dazzling detail and will transport her readers to the heat of the Assyrian Empire and a world long gone"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Mythological fiction.; Novels.; Semiramis, Queen, consort of Shamshi-Adad V, King of Assyria, active 9th century B.C.; Gods; Orphans; Princes; Soldiers; Triangles (Interpersonal relations);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Story of your mother / by Braganza, Chantal,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."What if we consider motherhood an organizing principle instead of a genre or subject? In her debut book of essays, Chantal Braganza explores the space where identity and motherhood meet. How do we tell our children who they are when we're still struggling to find that language to describe ourselves? Journalist Chantal Braganza, who once thought of herself as "an assemblage of parts," reflects on her upbringing as a daughter of Mexican and Indian immigrants while raising her own multiracial sons. She explores what shapes identity, and the things we reach for as we search for our family's place in the world. Engaging with a unique structural style, Braganza weaves dreamlike memoir sections of her childhood -- some memories, some myths passed down from her family in Vallarta, Mombasa, London, and Toronto -- with urgent essays about identity. She wrangles with the limits of language -- finding that even fluency doesn't guarantee the ability to translate something for your children. The questions that emerges are: Can we believe the people who have given us the story of who we are? And how do we, responsibly, craft that story for our own children?"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Essays.; Personal narratives.; Braganza, Chantal.; Motherhood.; Women;
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: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Ice ghosts : the epic hunt for the lost Franklin Expedition / by Watson, Paul,1959-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The true story of the greatest mystery of Arctic exploration and the rare mix of marine science and Inuit knowledge that led to the shipwreck's recent discovery. Ice Ghosts weaves together the epic story of the Franklin Expedition--whose two ships and crew of 129 were lost to the Arctic ice--with the modern tale of the scientists, divers, and local Inuit behind the incredible discovery of the flagship's wreck in 2014. Paul Watson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was on the icebreaker that led the discovery expedition, tells a fast-paced historical adventure story: Sir John Franklin and the crew of the HMS Erebus and Terror setting off in search of the fabled Northwest Passage, the hazards they encountered and the reasons they were forced to abandon ship hundreds of miles from the nearest outpost of Western civilization, and the decades of searching that turned up only rumours of cannibalism and a few scattered papers and bones until a combination of faith in Inuit lore and the latest science yielded a discovery for the ages."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Franklin, John, Sir, 1786-1847.; Erebus (Ship); Terror (Ship); Inuit;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The ones we loved / by Ngangura, Tarisai,author.;
On a bus moving across a rural landscape, from town to dusty town, two young people are escaping with their lives. She has committed a crime for which there will be retribution. He is staggering from a sudden loss. These two will find each other and attempt a new way forward. But the talons of the past have dug deep, and the wounds have not yet healed. Moving back and forth in time, from the fragile bonds of this new relationship to the lives they lived before, The Ones We Loved tenderly weaves both myth and memory. It's a story about generational living written in the rhythms of oral retellings practiced by Zimbabwe's Shona ethnic group, where the soundscape of a ngano (story) -- its melodies, pauses, lifts and stops -- creates a call-and-response interaction with the listener. The novel also pulls from literary stewards of Black Americana such as Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston, shaping characters whose way of loving is inherited and channelled into the lands they inhabit, the people they care for and the present they cling to.
Subjects: Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Generational trauma; Love; Man-woman relationships; Refugees; Zimbabweans;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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An American story : everyone's invited / by Valderrama, Wilmer,1980-author.;
Includes bibliographical references.An American Story is the stirring memoir by actor, producer, and activist Wilmer Valderrama, delving into his upbringing in Venezuela. Following countless auditions and frequent criticisms of his accent, he created the personality that would eventually land him the role as Fez on the hit series That 70s Show, which catapulted him to stardom. Over the coming years, he would create the smash show, Yo Mamma, voice the lead character in Disney's Encanto, and so much more, culminating in his joining the cast of the hit show NCIS in 2016. Through his work, Valderrama hopes to demonstrate his love and gratitude for the country that changed his life. An American Story weaves Valderrama's personal stories with those of the remarkable people he's met along his philanthropic journey. This isn't just Valderrama's story, though. It's a view of America through an immigrant's eyes, in both its stunning unmatched wonders and all its native challenges. It is the profound and gripping story of someone who found the way and is now inviting as many as possible to join him on the adventure.
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Valderrama, Wilmer, 1980-; Immigrants; Television actors and actresses; Venezuelans;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A number of things : stories of Canada told through fifty objects / by Urquhart, Jane,1949-author.;
From one of our nation's most beloved and iconic authors comes a lyrical 150th birthday gift to Canada. Jane Urquhart chooses 50 Canadian objects and weaves a rich and surprising narrative that speaks to our collective experience as a nation. Each object is beautifully illustrated by the noted artist Scott McKowen, with Jane Urquhart conjuring and distilling meaning and magic from these unexpected facets of our history. The fifty artifacts range from a Nobel Peace Prize medal, a literary cherry tree, a royal cowcatcher, a Beothuk legging, a famous skull and an iconic artist's shoe, as well as an Innu tea doll, a Sikh RCMP turban, a Cree basket, a Massey-Harris tractor and a hanging rope, among an array of unexpected and intriguing objects. Bringing the curiosity of the novelist and the eloquence of the poet to her task, Jane Urquhart composes a symphonic memory bank with objects that resonate with symbolic significance. In this compelling portrait of a completely original country called Canada, a master novelist has given all of us a national birthday bouquet like no other.
Subjects: National characteristics, Canadian.; Material culture;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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