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Showing 14661 - 14680 of 25273 items
By Helene Stapinski. 2001
'The night my grandfather tried to kill us, I was five years old, the age I stopped believing in Santa…
Claus . . . ' Helene Stapinski had been playing in the family's apartment above the Majestic Tavern in Jersey City when, in the bar downstairs, Grandpa - an ex-con and armed robber - pointed his loaded gun and bragged he had a bullet for each of them. But news travelled fast and within minutes Helene was watching a handcuffed Grandpa go to jail for the last time. The Stapinski's have a knack for breaking the law. Helene's daily bread was stolen by her father from the cold storage company where he worked and the books on her shelves were swiped from the local bookbinding company. In her own generation, her first cousin embezzled a quarter of a million dollars, tearing the clan apart. All these stories are part of Helene's unbelievable heritage and of FIVE FINGER DISCOUNT, a raucous and heartbreaking tale.By Peter Heller. 2010
Author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Dog Stars With grit, poetry, and humor, Peter Heller, acclaimed author…
of The Whale Warriors recounts his remarkable journey of discovery--of surfing, an entirely new challenge; of the ocean's beauty and power; of the strange surf subculture; of love; and, most of all, of how to seek adventure while crafting a meaningful life. Having resolved to master a big-hollow wave-- that is, to go from kook (surfese for beginner) to shredder--in a single year, Heller travels from Southern California down the coast of Mexico in the company of his girlfriend and the eccentric surfers they meet. Exuberant and fearless, Heller explores the technique and science of surfing the secrets of its culture, and the environmental ravages to the stunning coastline he visits. As Heller plumbs the working of his own heart and finds joy in both love and surfing, he affords readers vivid insight into this fascinating world, with all of its perils and pleasures, its absurdity and wonder. Exhilarating, entertaining, and moving, Kook is a love story between a man and his surfboard, a man and his girlfriend, a not-so-old man and the sea.By Joyce Carol Oates. 1973
A momentous memoir of childhood and adolescence from one of our finest and most beloved writers, as we've never seen…
her beforeIn The Lost Landscape, Joyce Carol Oates vividly re-creates the early years of her life in western New York State, powerfully evoking the romance of childhood and the way it colors everything that comes after. From early memories of her relatives to remembrances of a particularly poignant friendship with a red hen, from her first friendships to her first experiences with death, The Lost Landscape is an arresting account of the ways in which Oates's life (and her life as a writer) was shaped by early childhood and how her later work was influenced by a hardscrabble rural upbringing.In this exceptionally candid, moving, and richly reflective recounting of her early years, Oates explores the world through the eyes of her younger self and reveals her nascent experiences of wanting to tell stories about the world and the people she meets. If Alice in Wonderland was the book that changed a young Joyce forever and inspired her to look at life as offering end-less adventures, she describes just as unforgettably the harsh lessons of growing up on a farm. With searing detail and an acutely perceptive eye, Oates renders her memories and emotions with exquisite precision to truly transport the reader to a bygone place and time, to the lost landscape of the writer's past but also to the lost landscapes of our own earliest, and most essential, lives.By Scott D Shipman, Frederick de la Fosse. 2004
Farming in the Canadian backwoods in the late 1800s was a prospect that enticed many young Englishmen to cross the…
Atlantic. One such fellow was Frederick de la Fosse, whose well-meaning uncle paid £100 per annum for his young nephew to serve as a farm pupil in the northern reaches of Muskoka. Some years later, de la Fosse, under the pseudonym of Roger Vardon, wrote an illuminating and humorous biographical account of the trials and tribulations of the "English Bloods," the local epithet attached to these young lads attempting to hone farming skills in a land never intended to be agricultural. And, in so doing, de la Fosse chronicles the realities of pioneer life in the area.In the original text, published in 1930, a number of names were changed to conceal identities of the local people. Editor Scott D. Shipman has spent over eight years researching the authentic names and overall background for this new augmented edition of English Bloods. The richly descriptive text written by the keenly observant and erudite de la Fosse is complemented by archival visuals and annotations for today’s reader.Frederick de la Fosse went on to become a public librarian in Peterborough in 1910.By Elizabeth Mcneill Galvin. 1994
Considered one of the finest of Canada’s early poets, the raw intellect and emotional appeal of Isabella Valancy Crawford’s poetry…
drew author Elizabeth McNeill Galvin on a personal journey that traced Isabella’s life which began in Dublin, Ireland, and ended in Toronto, Canada.Isabella emigrated to Canada with her family around the year of 1858. After settling first in Paisley, Ontario, the family later lived in Lakefield and Peterborough. As a young woman, Isabella became fascinated by backwoods life and Indian legends. Following her father’s death, she and her mother moved to Toronto where Isabella took on another pioneering role, that of a "modern working woman," by earning meager wages from light verse and "formula fiction" that appeared in Canadian and American newspapers.Not afraid to approach social criticism often deemed the domain of male poets, her poetic sensitivity quivers with imagery and is admired for its evocative portrayal of life in its entirety. Isabella’s work symbolizes the emerging of Canadian maturity as its population was shifting from life in the wilderness, to the creation of urban centres such as Toronto."A good sense of the social background of Crawford’s life."- Gordon Johnston, Master of Otonabee College at Trent University and Professor of Canadian Literature.By John Humphrys. 2010
'This is an important book. It needs to be ... we are coming to realise that a life well lived…
might decently conclude with a death well and timely died' TERRY PRATCHETT'Impassioned and impressive' SUNDAY TIMES'A powerful, compassionate book' FT ON SUNDAY* * * * * * *From presenter of Radio 4's Today & national treasure John Humphrys, one of the first books to deal unflinchingly with death and dying well, written in conjunction with a high-profile GP.Death is a subject modern society shies away from. Even doctors avoid the word. But if we regard death as a failure in our desire to prolong life, can we ever arrive at a humane approach to those whose lives have lost meaning? Are we keeping people alive simply because we can?Inspired by his own experience with his father's death from Alzheimer's, John Humphrys and co-author Dr Sarah Jarvis take a wider look at how our attitudes to death have changed as doctors have learned how to prolong life beyond anything that could have been imagined only a few generations ago, and confront one of the great challenges facing the western world today. There are no easy answers but the first step must surely be to accept that death can be as welcome as it is inevitable.The Welcome Visitor is a book which brings genuine knowledge and insight to a taboo subject, while asking the difficult questions that need to be asked about our attitudes and approach to the realities of end-of-life care.By Mahmoud Darwish, Sinan Antoon, Ibrahim Muhawi. 2013
One of the Arab world's greatest poets uses the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the shelling of Beirut as…
the setting for this sequence of prose poems. Mahmoud Darwish vividly recreates the sights and sounds of a city under terrible siege. As fighter jets scream overhead, he explores the war-ravaged streets of Beirut on August 6th (Hiroshima Day). Memory for Forgetfulness is an extended reflection on the invasion and its political and historical dimensions. It is also a journey into personal and collective memory. What is the meaning of exile? What is the role of the writer in time of war? What is the relationship of writing (memory) to history (forgetfulness)? In raising these questions, Darwish implicitly connects writing, homeland, meaning, and resistance in an ironic, condensed work that combines wit with rage. Ibrahim Muhawi's translation beautifully renders Darwish's testament to the heroism of a people under siege, and to Palestinian creativity and continuity. Sinan Antoon's foreword, written expressly for this edition, sets Darwish's work in the context of changes in the Middle East in the past thirty years.By Jim Poling. 2007
A woman from Northern Ontario is buried; her earthly papers reveal a mystery. Veteran Canadian journalist Jim Poling took on…
the most important assignment of his career: Just who was his mother? Why did she take a lifelong secret to her grave?In his search for clues throughout his childhood years in Northern Ontario, the author goes to Chapleau, the railway town where the people he believed were his ancestors played out their roles in building the railway. It ends in the Prairie village of Innisfree, Alberta, home to Joe LaRose, convicted horse thief and father of a girl destined for trouble.A search that began in anger at his mother’s secrecy concludes with an understanding of her actions. In the process, he explores the place of families within Canadian society and reveals the shameful ongoing discrimination against Native Peoples and the abusive treatment of illegitimacy. Throughout, glimpses of working life in newsrooms add insider perspectives on the "handling" of our daily news.A former Indian Affairs reporter, Poling shares insights into the ongoing plight of Canada’s First Nations people. He observes that Canada will never realize its true potential until positive steps are taken to resolve longstanding issues.By Chrissie Hynde. 2015
From Chrissie Hynde, one of rock's most iconic, alluring, kick-ass, and (let's face it) sexy women, a brilliant, no-holds barred…
memoir of a rock life lived to the hilt. Chrissie Hynde, the songwriter and frontwoman of The Pretenders in its various incarnations, has for 35 years been one of the most admired and adored and imitated figures in rock. This long-awaited memoir tells her life story in full and utterly fascinating detail, from her fifties childhood in Akron, Ohio, to her classic baby boomer seduction by the rock of the sixties to her sojourn in the crucible of punk that was seventies London to her instant emergence with her band The Pretenders in 1980 into stardom as a frontwoman and songwriter. She brings a fantastic eye for detail, a withering and sardonic sense of humor and a fearless and sometimes naked emotional honesty to her memoir, and every line, every word of it, is unmistakably hers. It is sure to be recognized as a classic of rock literature--and man, is it fun to read.By William A Harshaw. 2001
At the age of 37, Bill Harshaw was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. The news changed his life forever,bringing forth a…
saga that will give hope to not only Parkinsonians, but to people with chronic disease everywhere. My Second Life is not a detailed road map or a set of instructions. Instead, it is an account of his changing state of mind over the two decades that he has had Parkinson’s Disease.Beginning with his diagnosis at the age of 37, this twenty-year journey covers diagnosis, denial, coping with work, early retirement, experimental neurosurgery, and taking a major leadership role in The Parkinson Foundation of Canada. Bill’s account of the two neurosurgical procedures is the first by a patient of the operations that gave him a second chance at life."They say adversity draws out our deepest human qualities. To read Bill Harshaw’s story is to confirm that truth. From the scrap heap of neurogeneration at the same age as Michael J. Fox, to guinea pig for risky brain surgery and then to resurgence and rejoicing, Bill’s exemplary journey is a metaphor for the vast and positive capabilities of the human spirit." -David C. Simmonds, Chair, Parkinson Foundation of CanadaBy Mary Helen Hensley. 2015
A moving and inspirational memoir of love, loss, and renewal, Promised by Heaven tells the amazing story of how one…
woman's near-death experience and glimpse of heaven led her to discover her gifts of healing and share them with the world.In December of 1991, Mary Helen Hensley was involved in a car accident that changed her life forever. Upon impact, traveling at more than seventy-five miles per hour, she felt time stall and temporarily left her body. In those moments, Mary Helen was consumed with a sudden clarity. She realized she had the choice to either remain in her body or exit from the earth, allowing the remainder of the scene to unfold without feeling any pain. She chose to depart from her body--and enter heaven. In heaven, Mary Helen was welcomed by two angels who walked her through the place of light and encouraged her to go back to earth and help others. When she returned to earth, Mary Helen was suddenly struck with a desire to live a life of service and quickly set out on a journey into metaphysical healing. Her adventures took her to Ireland, where she went on to become a chiropractor, find love and new friendships, become a mother, and help numerous people with her gifts of communicating with the dead and seeing into the future. Promised by Heaven is a remarkable spiritual journey that questions everything we understand to be true. Describing in great detail her experience in heaven, meeting angels, and returning to earth a changed woman, Mary Helen Hensley offers an unforgettable account of her path to find her true calling.By Gerard Kenney. 2008
Lake of the Old Uncles recounts a trip that began three-quarters of a century ago in a small village inn…
nestled in the Laurentian hills of French-speaking Quebec One day the trip will end at the village cemetery just one kilometre from the inn The traveller is the author The trip is not long but is rich in rural and natural experiences along the way Gerard Kenney takes us along the route that led him to build the lone log cabin on the small and inaccessible Lake of the Old Uncles No roads reach the pond only a footpath The hours spent in the quietude of the forest cabin have had an effect on the author that has resulted in a personal philosophy both rural and natural inspired by his hero Henry David Thoreau Gerard Kenney shares with his readers the evolution of his philosophy through his personal experiences with people and with the wilderness flora and fauna he has encountered on his life s journeyBy Kimberly Allison. 2011
Dr. Kimberly Allison diagnoses breast cancer for a living. But as a 33-year-old healthy new mother, she never expected to…
find herself looking at her own malignant cells under the microscope. Like many others diagnosed with cancer, Dr. Allison was starving for stories of other survivors. She wanted to hear someone's tale, to feel their experiences and look for hidden clues to what her own future might hold. Ultimately, the story that Dr. Allison was looking for was found in her own life.Red Sunshine is a memoir about Dr. Allison's sudden journey from physician to patient and her attempt to make the most of this terrifying and unexpected ordeal. Her experience reflects the incredible power of the bonds of friendship and family. It is about paying attention to the magic that is waiting to be uncovered in everyday life.Red Sunshine is an uplifting story of survival in which Dr. Allison shares all the intimate details of her emotional journey with both humor and honesty.By Diane Mew, Amelia Hall. 1989
By the time Amelia Hall died suddenly in December 1984 she had become one of Canada’s most respected and well-loved…
actresses. In this book she has left an incomparable record of her early years in the professional theatre in Canada. In particular, these memoirs chronicle the history of the Canadian Repertory Theatre of Ottawa, one of the first professional repertory theatres in Canada. Under Amelia Hall’s direction in the late forties and early fifties, the CRT gave a start to the careers of such notable Canadian actors as Christopher Plummer, Eric House, William Hutt, Ted Follows and William Shatner. In these days of long-running corporate subsidized extravaganzas, it is instructive to read of the struggles and accomplishments of these pioneers of theatre in Canada, performing weekly repertory on a shoestring budget, with few facilities adn minuscule salaries. Yet it was these enthusiasts who provided the basis for the flowering of the Canadian theatrical scene in the 1960s and 1970s. It is appropriate that these memoirs should culminate in Amelia Hall’s portrayal of the Lady Anne in Richard III opposite Alec Guinness at the first Stratford Festival in 1953, making her the first Canadian and the first woman to speak on the Stratford stage. This book is lavishly illustrated with photographs from Amelia Hall’s personal collection, now housed at the National Archives of Canada.By Malachy Mccourt, Brian Mcdonald. 2017
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min-height: 16.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Geneva; min-height: 16.0px} Before he runs out of time, Irish bon vivant MALACHY MCCOURT shares his views on death - sometimes hilarious and often poignant - and on what will or won't happen after his last breath is drawn. During the course of his life, Malachy McCourt practically invented the single's bar; was a pioneer in talk radio, a soap opera star, a best-selling author; a gold smuggler, a political activist, and a candidate for governor of the state of New York. It seems that the only two things he hasn't done are stick his head into a lion's mouth and die. Since he is allergic to cats, he decided to write about the great hereafter and answer the question on most minds: What's so great about it anyhow? In Death Need Not Be Fatal, McCourt also trains a sober eye on the tragedies that have shaped his life: the deaths of his sister and twin brothers; the real story behind Angela's famous ashes; and a poignant account of the death of the man who left his mother, brothers, and him to nearly die in squalor. McCourt writes with deep emotion of the staggering losses of all three of his brothers, Frank, Mike, and Alphie. In his inimitable way, McCourt takes the grim reaper by the lapels and shakes the truth out of him. As he rides the final blocks on his Rascal scooter, he looks too at the prospect of his own demise with emotional clarity and insight. In this beautifully rendered memoir, McCourt shows us how to live life to its fullest, how to grow old without acting old, and how to die without regret.By Jack Donoghue. 1993
In PR: Fifty Years in the Field, Jack Donoghue brings together the results of a lifetime in public relations —…
in the military, public, and private sectors. Each chapter focuses on a different public relations problem, so that the collection as a whole reflects the full spectrum of challenges that PR officers face. The book documents the strategies applied to and the lessons learned from public relations exercises involving such divergent events as the Hong Kong Courts Martial, the Manitoba flood of 1950, the Manitoba polio epidemic of 1953, and the National Energy Program. It also describes the PR problems presented by the Alberta nurses’ strike of 1977 and the fiasco of Information Canada. Jack Donoghue’s memoirs provide a different and instructive view on significant events in Canada’s history.By William A. Noguera. 2018
An ABA Indies Introduce Top Ten Title for Winter 2018William A. Noguera has spent thirty-four years at the notorious San…
Quentin Prison, home to the nation’s largest and deadliest death row. Each day, men plot against you and your life rests on a razor’s edge. In Escape Artist, he describes his personal growth as a man and artist and shares his insights into daily life and the fight to survive in the underworld of prison culture. After being sentenced to death, he arrived at San Quentin Prison and was thrown into a rat-infested cell—it was there that he discovered the key to his escape: art. Over the next three decades, Noguera rebelled against conventional prison behavior, and instead forged the code he lives by today—accepting responsibility for his actions, and a self-imposed discipline of rehabilitation. In the process, he has explored his capacity to bring focus and clarity to his artistic vision. Escape Artist exposes the violence, politics and everyday existence within the underbelly of society that is prison life. In an unprecedented narrative, Noguera reveals the emotional and heart-wrenching loss that landed him on death row and the journey he has taken to become an award-winning artist, speaker, and author—a tale of one man’s transformation through tragedy.By Mark Frutkin. 2008
In geology an erratic is a "boulder or rock formation transported some distance from its original source, as by a…
glacier." In award-winning novelist Mark Frutkin’s case, his movement from his native Cleveland. Ohio, was instigated by his wish to protest and resist the U.S. military draft during the Vietnam War, and his destination was Canada.An estimated 50,000 to 100,000 American Vietnam War draft resisters sought sanctuary in Canada. Many of these men stayed, became Canadian citizens, and have made significant contributions to the country, including writers such as William Gibson, George Fetherling, Keith Maillard, and Jay Scott; musicians Jesse Winchester and Jim Byrnes; children’s performer Eric Nagler; and radio personality Andy Barrie.Although this first nonfiction work by Mark Frutkin looks back at the circumstances and culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s that prompted the author to relocate to Canada, Erratic Northis about many other things. It’s also a lyrical meditation about "returning to nature" in the bush country of Quebec and an account of the crucible that forged one writer. Tying everything together, though, is the overarching theme of the book: a contemplation of humanity’s embrace of war and violence and the countervailing impulse to resist that embrace, specifically as seen in the experience of Frutkin himself; his grandfather Simon, who escaped Tsarist Russia and its military in the 1890s; and Louis Drouin, the Quebec farmer Frutkin bought his original farm from and who resisted conscription in World War II.By Marilyn Noell. 1992
Marilyn Noell looks back over the past forty-three years of her life as a quadriplegic. Her struggles have been many…
– fear, depression, surgery, learning to use what "moving parts" remained after her diving accident when she was just nineteen. But perhaps her toughest challenge has been to be and be seen as a useful, active individual.By Curtis Fahey, Barney Danson. 2002
Barney Danson began as a twenty-one-year-old sergeant in the Canadian army and rose to the lofty heights of parliamentary secretary…
to Pierre Trudeau and, eventually, Minister of National Defence. In these positions, he gained insights into previously unknown facts about this remarkable prime minister, and he gives an insider’s view of Canadian politicians and world leaders. Danson’s own story, told in a touching and often humorous tone, is also the story of a generation of Canadians who faced the hardships of the Depression, the reality of war, and the many changes that followed.