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Undisputed: A Champion's Life
By Donovan Bailey. 2023
A memoir of Olympic glory, the value of mentorship and the courage to champion your own excellence, from the long-reigning…
world's fastest man, Canadian sprinting legend Donovan Bailey.From the lush fields of his boyhood in Jamaica, to the basketball courts of Oakville, where he came of age in one of Canada’s most thriving cultural mosaics, to his sprint toward double Olympic gold for Canada in Atlanta in 1996, Donovan Bailey got a long way on natural talent. But he also learned that in the bureaucratic world of Canadian sports, an athlete who didn't come up in the system needed to take charge of his fate if he was going to become the world’s best. As he ascended from outsider to dominant athlete, others didn’t always understand the rigour at work behind Bailey’s confident demeanour. He’d learned from watching Muhammad Ali that a champion needed to act like a champion. But media grew fixated on the sprinter’s immodesty, the likes of which they never saw from Canadian athletes, especially track athletes in the wake of the Ben Johnson doping scandal at Seoul in 1988. Bailey was having none of it, and when he called out Canada's subtle racism and contradicted the prevailing idea most Canadians had of their country, he left in his wake a media uproar and cracked wide open the nation’s moral complacency. In addition to his unforgettable 100-metre and 4x100 relay gold-medal sprints in Atlanta, Bailey's track career was a litany of records and rare accomplishments, including his audacious 1997 race in Toronto's SkyDome against American 200-metre Olympic champion Michael Johnson to determine who was really the world’s fastest man. There was no disputing the result. Bailey had been coached in success before he was seriously coached in athletics. Following the lead of his father, a machinist-turned-real estate investor, Bailey became a millionaire by the age of 21, an experience he continues to draw on as an entrepreneur and philanthropist. Frank about his dominance on the track and unapologetic for expecting as much of those around him as he expects of himself, Undisputed is an athlete's story that refuses to settle for second best.The Utility of Boredom: Baseball Essays
By Andrew Forbes. 2016
Spitball literary essays on the off-kilter joys, sorrows and wonder of North America’s national pastime. A collection of essays for…
ardent seamheads and casual baseball fans alike, The Utility of Boredom is a book about finding respite and comfort in the order, traditions, and rituals of baseball. It’s a sport that shows us what a human being might be capable of, with extreme dedication—whether we’re eating hot dogs in the stands, waiting out a rain delay in our living rooms, or practising the lost art of catching a stray radio signal from an out-of-market broadcast. From learning about America through ball-diamond visits to the most famous triple play that never happened on Canadian soil, Forbes invites us to witness the adult conversing with the O-Pee-Chee baseball cards of his youth. Tender, insightful, and with the slow heartbreak familiar to anyone who’s cheered on a losing team, The Utility of Boredom tells us a thing or two about the sport, and how a seemingly trivial game might help us make sense of our messy lives.The Road Years: A Memoir, Continued . . .
By Rick Mercer. 2023
THE INSTANT #1 BESTSELLERRick Mercer is back—again!—with the eagerly awaited sequel to his bestselling memoirAt the end of his memoir…
Talking to Canadians, Rick Mercer was poised to make the biggest leap yet in his extraordinary career. Having overcome a serious lack of promise as a schoolboy and risen through the showbiz ranks—as an aspiring actor, star of a surprisingly successful one-man show about the Meech Lake Accord, co-founder of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, creator and star of the dark-comedy sitcom Made in Canada—he was about to tackle his biggest opportunity yet. The Road Years picks up the story at that exciting point, with the greenlighting of what would become Rick Mercer Report. Plans for the show, of course, included political satire and Rick’s patented rants. But Rick and his partner, Gerald Lunz, were also determined to do something that comedy tends to avoid as too challenging: they would emphasize the positive. Rick would travel from coast to coast to coast in search of everything that’s best about Canada, especially its people. He found a lot to celebrate, naturally, and was rewarded with a huge audience and a run of 15 seasons. The Road Years tells the inside story of that stupendous success. A time when Rick was heading to another town—or military base, sports centre, national park—to try dogsledding, chainsaw carving, and bear tagging; hang from a harness (a lot); ride the “Train of Death;” plus countless other joyous and/or reckless assignments. Added to the mix were encounters with the country’s great. Every living prime minister. Rock and roll royalty from Rush to Randy Bachman. Olympians and Paralympians. A skinny-dipping Bob Rae. And Jann Arden, of course, who gets a chapter to herself. Along the way he even found the time to visit several countries in Africa and co-found and champion the charity Spread the Net, which has gone on to protect the lives of millions. Join the celebration, and revive a wealth of happy memories, with what is Rick Mercer’s funniest, most fascinating book yet.There Is No Blue
By Martha Baillie. 2023
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: BOOKS TO READ IN FALL 2023Martha Baillie’s richly layered response to her mother’s passing, her father's…
life, and her sister’s suicide is an exploration of how the body, the rooms we inhabit, and our languages offer the psyche a home, if only for a time. Three essays, three deaths. The first is the death of the author’s mother, a protracted disappearance, leaving space for thoughtfulness and ritual: the washing of her body, the making of a death mask. The second considers the author’s father, his remoteness, his charm, a lacuna at the centre of the family even before his death, earlier than her mother’s. And then, the shocking death of the author’s sister, a visual artist and writer living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, who writes three reasons to die on her bedroom wall and then takes her life."Martha Baillie’s novels are thrillingly, joyously singular, that rare combination of sui generis and just plain generous. That There Is No Blue, her memoir, is all of those things too, is no surprise; still, she has gone somewhere extraordinary. This triptych of essays, which exquisitely unfolds the “disobedient tale” of the lives and deaths of her mother, her father, and her sister, is a meditation on the mystery and wonder of grief and art making and home and memory itself. It made me think of kintsugi, the Japanese art of repair, in which the mending is not hidden but featured and beautifully illuminated. Baillie’s variety of attention, carved out of language, is tenderness, is love." – Maud Casey, author of City of Incurable Women"This is a stunning memoir, intense and meticulous in its observations of family life. Baillie subtly interrogates and conveys the devastating mistranslations that take place in childhood, the antagonism and porousness of siblings, and the tragedy of schizophrenia as it unfolds. I couldn’t put it down." – Dr. Lisa Appignanesi, author of Mad, Bad and Sad and Everyday Madness"Exquisite." – Souvankham Thammavongsa, author of How to Pronounce Knife"I am grateful for this profound meditation on family and loss.” – Charlie Kaufman, filmmaker"This strange, unsettling memoir of outer life and inner life and their bizarre twining captures the author’s identity by way of her mother’s death, her sister’s failing battle with mental illness, and the mysterious figure of her father. It combines anguished guilt, deep tenderness, and bemused affection in highly evocative, often disturbing prose. Its brave honesty is amplified by a persistent lyricism; its undercurrent of fear is uplifted by a surprising, resilient hopefulness. It is both a plea for exoneration and an act of exoneration, an authentic meditation on the terrible difficulty of being human." – Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday DemonRevolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet (California Studies in Food and Culture #7)
By Harvey Levenstein. 2023
Over the Ocean: A Wartime Story of Exile and Enduring Love
By Erica Fischer, Andrew Brown. 2014
From the author of Aimée and Jaguar comes the extraordinary true love story of a couple who were separated during…
a shameful and fascinating chapter of British historyErica Fischer tells her own parents' astonishing story and at the same time sheds light on a little-known, little-discussed chapter in British history. Fischer's parents met in Austria in the early 1930s. Her mother, Irka, was a Polish Jew and her father, Erich, was a Viennese lapsed Catholic. In 1938, Irka fled to the United Kingdom, to be followed the year after by her husband. By no means a rarity as refugees, they found work in southern England. However at the outbreak of war, Erich was arrested as an "enemy alien," which was then common practice in time of war. After being interned, he was transported to Australia in July 1940, along with 2,500 other deportees. The conditions were appalling on board the Dunera: the men were locked up below decks with overflowing latrines and only seawater to clean themselves. Faced with unimaginable hardships, the deportees banded together in solidarity to face their new life. Erich and Irka struggled to maintain a correspondence to try to ensure that they would be able to find each other when the war came to an end. Amazingly crafted, this biography reads like fiction and vividly evokes a chapter in history with which few people are familiar.Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey: Recipes from My Three Favorite Food Groups and Then Some
By John Currence. 2013
The James Beard Award-winning chef shares stories of Southern life and recipes from his renowned Mississippi restaurants in this illustrated…
cookbook.In this irreverent yet serious look at contemporary Southern food, Chef John Currence shares 130 recipes organized by 10 different techniques, such as Simmering, Slathering, Pickling, and Smoking, just to name a few. Then John spices things up with colorful stories of his upbringing in New Orleans, his time living in Europe, and more—plus insightful reflections on today’s Southern culinary landscape.Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey features John’s one-of-a-kind recipes for Pickled Sweet Potatoes, Whole Grain Guinness Mustard, Deep South “Ramen” with a Fried Poached Egg, Rabbit Cacciatore, Smoked Endive, Fire-Roasted Cauliflower, and Kitchen Sink Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches. Each recipe is paired with a song and the complete playlist can be downloaded at spotify.com. The book also features more than 100 color photographs by Angie Mosier.Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince
By Budd Schulberg. 1981
The Oscar-winning screenwriter of On the Waterfront recounts his life, his career, and &“how Hollywood became the dream factory it…
still is today&” (Kirkus Reviews). When Seymour Wilson &“Budd&” Schulberg moved from New York to Los Angeles as a child, Hollywood&’s filmmaking industry was just getting started. To some, the region was still more famous for its citrus farms than its movie studios. In this iconic memoir, Schulberg, the son of one of Tinseltown&’s most influential producers, recounts the rise of the studios, the machinations of the studio heads, and the lives of some of cinema&’s earliest and greatest stars. Even as Hollywood grew to become one of the country&’s most powerful cultural and economic engines, it retained the feel of a company town for decades. Schulberg&’s sparkling recollections offer a unique insider view of both the glitter and dark side of the dream factory&’s early years. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Budd Schulberg including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author&’s estate.Brief Lives: Charlotte Brontë (Brief Lives)
By Jessica Cox. 2011
Charlotte Brontë is one of the world's best-loved writers. Her extraordinary literary talent manifested itself at an early age when…
she penned a series of imaginative and entertaining tales. Before her untimely death at the age of 38 she produced the masterpieces Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Vilette. Superb and meticulously researched, Jessica Cox's biography provides a beautifully drawn portrait of the creator of some of the world's most remarkable novels.Brief Lives: Marquis De Sade (Brief Lives)
By David Carter. 2011
As explicit in his prose as he was in his private life, the Marquis de Sade remains one of the…
most controversial writers of all time. This new biography, by the acclaimed translator and author David Carter, promises to shock as much as it informs. Arrested many times for sexual misdemeanors, the Marquis de Sade was imprisoned in the Bastille, where he was writing 120 Days of Sodom and The Misfortunes of Virtue at the time that it was stormed in 1789. After the French Revolution he was again imprisoned and sent to an asylum, where he wrote diaries and plays. This concise biography offers a fresh look at a relentlessly compelling figure with a fascinating life of scandal and imprisonment.Brief Lives: Wilkie Collins (Brief Lives)
By Melisa Klimaszewski. 2009
Author of the first detective novel in English, Wilkie Collins was one of the most popular authors in Victorian England.…
In this illuminating biography, Melisa Klimaszewski situates the writer within his own milieu and demonstrates how his work sparks new understandings of Victorian life and letters. A close friend and collaborator of Charles Dickens, Collins secured his own fame with sensational novels that feature intricate legal plots, mistaken identities, and complex crimes. Boldly challenging the mores of Victorian society by maintaining two families and shunning the institution of marriage, Collins was also one of the most unconventional public figures of his day. His life story, succinctly told in this elegant biography, promises to instruct and to entertain.Yo confieso: 45 años de espía
By Fernando Rueda, Mikel Lejarza. 2019
1974: Mikel Lejarza es captado por el servicio secreto para infiltrarse en ETA con el alias de El Lobo. 2019:…
Con otro nombre, Mikel Lejarza sigue trabajando para el CNI. Esta es su vida. Esta es la historia. Mikel Lejarza ha guardado silencio sobre su vida hasta este momento. Ahora ha decidido desvelar en primera persona en el libro Yo confiesotodo lo que ha hecho y todo por lo que ha pasado. Ha escrito, con la ayuda del periodista Fernando Rueda, unas memorias duras, sinceras, en las que por primera vez cuenta todo lo que ha sido su vida, sin olvidarse de los momentos amargos, de su éxitos e, incluso, de aquellas actuaciones de las que no está especialmente satisfecho. Yo confieso es un libro humano en el que Mikel ha querido que Mamen, su mujer, confidente y compañera en algunas de sus misiones, aporte su visión personal sobre los hechos, recordando los momentos vividos en una relación complicada, como no podía ser otra que la vivida por una mujer que ha compartido 40 años con el agente más antiguo que tienen los servicios secretos españoles. La crítica ha dicho...«405 páginas que te dejan sin aliento. Estas confesiones de El Lobo son imprescindibles para conocer esa parte que ha permanecido oculta de nuestra historia reciente.»Julia Navarro «Un trabajo espléndido.»Nieves Herrero «La genteencontrará muchas informaciones que le gustará, le apasionarán, en este libro.»Bruno Cardeñosa, La rosa de los vientos, Onda Cero «Lejarza y Rueda cuentan todo lo que le ha pasado al agente de los servicios secretos españoles desde aquella primera misión que supuso un enorme golpe para la banda terrorista.»eldiario.es «Un estremecedor relato en el que aparece por primera vez Mamen, la mujer de El Lobo, que narra una historia humana y personal sobre los sufrimientos que entraña estar durante 40 años con alguien que vive en la clandestinidad.»El Español «Duro, inmisericorde, Mikel Lejarza revela en Yo Confieso, a través de la pluma de Fernando Rueda, lo que jamás había contado.»El ojo crítico«Detrás de ese libro, claramente, hay alguien que maneja fenomenalmente la pluma.»Adolfo Arjona, COPE «Yo confieso es, además de unas memorias, el resultado de un excelente trabajo editorial.»Jot Down «Un libro valiente, estremecedor, avalado por un héroe que cuenta de primera manomucho de lo que realmente pasó dentro de la organización terrorista que contribuyó a derrotar.»El Periódico de Aragón «Hay libros que enganchan más que una serie, se convierten en adición deseada y buscada. Puede pasar un tiempo pero volvemos a su llamada. El género del confidente informador es el de los observadores en la vida que vienen a poner luz en el otro lado de la luna.»Pilar Falcón, El Correo GallegoChoosing Family: A Memoir of Queer Motherhood and Black Resistance
By Francesca T. Royster. 2022
Choosing Family: A Memoir of Queer Motherhood and Black Resistance is a brilliant literary memoir of chosen family and chosen…
heritage, told against the backdrop of Chicago’s North and South Sides. As a multiracial household in Chicago’s North Side community of Rogers Park, race is at the core of Francesca T. Royster and her family’s world, influencing everyday acts of parenting and the conception of what family truly means. Like Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, this lyrical and affecting memoir focuses on a unit of three: the author; her wife, Annie, who’s white; and Cecilia, the Black daughter they adopt as a couple in their 40s and 50s. Choosing Family chronicles this journey to motherhood while examining the messiness and complexity of adoption and parenthood from a Black, queer, and feminist perspective. Royster also explores her memories of the matriarchs of her childhood and the homes these women created in Chicago’s South Side—itself a dynamic character in the memoir—where “family” was fluid, inclusive, and not necessarily defined by marriage or other socially recognized contracts. Calling upon the work of some of her favorite queer thinkers, including José Esteban Muñoz and Audre Lorde, Royster interweaves her experiences and memories with queer and gender theory to argue that many Black families, certainly her own, have historically had a “queer” attitude toward family: configurations that sit outside the white normative experience and are the richer for their flexibility and generosity of spirit. A powerful, genre-bending memoir of family, identity, and acceptance, Choosing Family, ultimately, is about joy—about claiming the joy that society did not intend to assign to you, or to those like you.Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life
By Brigitta Olubas. 2007
The first biography of Shirley Hazzard, the author of The Transit of Venus and a writer of “shocking wisdom” and…
“intellectual thrill” (The New Yorker).Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life tells the extraordinary story of a great modern novelist. Brigitta Olubas, Hazzard’s authorized biographer, has drawn, with great subtlety and understanding, on her fiction; on an extensive archive of letters, diaries, and notebooks; and on the memories of surviving friends and colleagues to create this resonant portrait of an exceptional woman. This biography explores the distinctive times of Hazzard’s life, from her youth and middle age to her widowhood and years of decline, and traces the complex and intricate processes of self-fashioning that lay beneath Hazzard’s formidable, beguiling presence. Olubas shows us the places of Hazzard’s life, of which she wrote with characteristic lyricism, accompanied by rare photographs from Hazzard’s collection and elsewhere.Hazzard was the last of a generation of self-taught writers, devotees of a great literary tradition, and her depth of perception and expressive gifts have earned her iconic status. Olubas has brought her brilliantly alive, enhancing and deepening our understanding of the singular woman who created some of the most enduring fiction of the past sixty years. As Dwight Garner wrote in The New York Times, “Hazzard’s stories feel timeless because she understands, as she writes in one of them: ‘We are human beings, not rational ones.’” Here, in Shirley Hazzard, is the story of a remarkable human being.Lost to the World: A Memoir of Faith, Family, and Five Years in Terrorist Captivity
By Shahbaz Taseer. 2022
Shahbaz Taseer’s memoir of his five-year-long captivity at the hands of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. In late August 2011,…
Shahbaz Taseer was dragged from his car at gunpoint and kidnapped by members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a Talibanaffiliated Uzbek terrorist group. Taseer’s father, the governor of Punjab, Pakistan, had recently been assassinated for speaking in support of a Christian woman who had been accused of blasphemy and sentenced to death. Though Taseer himself wasn’t involved in politics, he was still a public figure who represented a more tolerant, internationally connected Pakistan that the IMU condemned. What followed his kidnapping was nearly five years of torture and constant peril as Taseer was held captive by the IMU in the ungoverned reaches of Pakistan and Afghanistan, his fate subject to the unpredictable whims and machinations of terrorists. Lost to the World is his memoir of that time—a story of extraordinary sorrow but also of empathy and faith.While deeply harrowing, this tale is also about resilience. Taseer countered his captors’ narrative of a holy war by immersing himself in the Quran in search of hope and a means to see his own humanity under even the most inhumane conditions, and ultimately to find a way back to his family.Jack in the Box: or, How to Goddamn Direct
By Jack O'Brien. 2022
The Tony Award–winning director gathers memories of people, productions, and problems surmounted from his fifty-year career in this one-of-a-kind how-to…
handbook.What do directors do? Jack O’Brien, the winner of Tony and Drama Desk Awards and the former artistic director of San Diego’s historic Old Globe theatre, describes it like this: “You stand before a situation in which something is presented to you. You’re afforded a challenge. Like catching an enormous ball. And you respond. You come up with a vision of some kind. That is, if you respond to the material at all, and one must, or it’s doomed. You sort of feel that since you relate to the material at hand, you might as well try to be helpful.”In Jack in the Box, O’Brien’s follow-up to his memoir Jack Be Nimble, the director collects stories from the many productions he has worked on, the great talents he encountered and collaborated with (including Tom Stoppard, Mike Nichols, Jerry Lewis, Marsha Mason, and many others), and the choices he made, on the stage and off, that have come to define his career. With humor, warmth, and contagious excitement, O’Brien takes the reader by the shoulder, pulls them in, and tells them how to become a director—or, at the very least, relates an unfailingly honest story of how he did.200 Casseroles
By Stephanie Ashcraft, Janet Eyring. 2011
From the New York Times-bestselling author: A wonderfully wide variety of satisfying, super easy one-dish meals! With 200 scrumptious…
varieties of easy oven, stovetop, and slow cooker casseroles, this collection of recipes will bring the family home for dinner! Here are comfort dishes for meat-and-potato lovers, for finicky kids, and for company alike—there&’s something for everyone. Ideal for kids away at college or busy parents who need to whip together meals quickly, this cookbook offers enough tasty options to keep you satisfied, including: Sausage-Hash Brown Breakfast BakeIncredible Cheeseburger CasseroleBlack Bean Tortilla PieBaked Ravioli AlfredoCorn Bread Chicken-Vegetable Casserole and many moreThe Real Hergé: The Inspiration Behind Tintin
By Sian Lye. 2020
&“If you are looking to understand a bit more about the circumstances that inspired The Adventures of Tintin—this book will provide…
a good snapshot.&” —The BookBuff Review Hergé created only twenty-four Tintin books which have been translated into more than seventy languages and sold 230 million copies worldwide.The Real Hergé: The Inspiration Behind Tintin takes an in-depth look at the man behind the cultural phenomenon and the history that helped shape these books. As well as focusing on the controversies that engulfed Hergé, this biography will also look at his personal life, as well as the relationships and experiences that influenced him.&“Tintin is more famous now than when Hergé was actually writing and illustrating his adventures. Sian Mye&’s book is another in the excellent series about the real lives of our most famous authors, and is well worth a look. Brilliant!&” —Books Monthly&“It is certainly possible to enjoy the Tintin books without knowing Hergé. But they are more interesting after learning about this complex, sometimes frustrating, man. We can learn from him, even if we learn from his mistakes.&” —Rose City ReaderThe Big Book of Soups & Stews: 262 Recipes for Serious Comfort Food
By Maryana Vollstedt. 2001
The author of the popular Big Book of Casseroles returns with 262 cozy, satisfying and delicious soups and stews for…
the whole family.The Big Book of Soups and Stews is brimming with succulent meats, tender vegetables, and creamy, savory goodness. From a hot and hearty stew for a cold night to a cool, refreshing Vichyssoise for a sizzling afternoon, there’s a recipe here for every occasion. Also included are nostalgic classics (like everyone’s favorite Chicken Noodle Soup) as well as innovative new creations inspired by the cuisines of the world—from Thai Ginger Chicken to Mexican Seafood. With a wonderful selection of quick bread recipes and a crockpot full of tips and hints to help soup-makers hone their skills, The Big Book of Soups and Stews is the ultimate one-stop comfort food cookbook.An indulgent collection of twenty vintage-inspired cupcake ideas for every romantic occasion. From the author of Chic & Unique Wedding…
Cakes. Whether you are baking for a romantic celebration, creating cupcake wedding favors, showing someone that you care, or you simply adore unashamedly girly sugarcraft designs, this book will show you how to do it the fun and easy way. Clear step-by-step instructions and beautiful photography make it simple to recreate Zoe Clark&’s cupcake designs at home, and her professional tips and tasty cupcake recipes will inspire you to create your own unique cupcakes. Inside Bake Me I'm Yours . . . Cupcake Love you&’ll find: Classic Romance—simple yet elegant cupcake designs for romantic occasions, including sugar roses and chocolate ganache, Wedgwood-style cupcakes, and an Eiffel Tower cupcake topper! Very Vintage—birdcage cupcakes, floral lace, and cameo sugar models are some of the gorgeous retro-inspired cupcake designs. ArtfromtheHeart—fun, artistic cupcakes for less formal occasions, such as bachelorette or engagement parties. Many of these projects are quick to make for time-pressed bakers! FlowerswithLove—learn how to make sugarpaste rolled roses, plunger cutter sugar flowers, and flowers made using silicone molds to adorn your gorgeous cupcakes. The perfect treat for someone special!