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On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture in the Us
"An insightful and humorous look into the complex issues of censorship, Jamie LaRue's book is at times intellectually and emotionally challenging--like all of the best books should be." --R. Alan Brooks, Comics Creator and Professor, Professor of Graphic Narrative, Regis University In America today, more books are being banned than ever before. This censorship is part of a larger assault on such American institutions as schools, public libraries, and universities. In On Censorship: A Public Librarian Examines Cancel Culture in the US, respected long-time public librarian James LaRue issues a balanced and reasonable call to action for all citizens. LaRue, who served as director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom and executive director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, highlights the dangers of book banning and censorship in our public and educational spaces. Synthesizing his more than twenty-five years of experience on the front lines of these issues, he takes the reader through attempts he encountered to remove or restrict access to ideas, while placing the debate in the greater context about the role of libraries and free expression in a democratic society. LaRue covers topics such as:- The role of the library in American culture and community
- The consequences of cancel culture
- Seven things citizens can do to quell book banning and censorship attempts
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Gender Without Identity
Gender Without Identity offers an innovative and at times unsettling theory of gender formation. Rooted in the metapsychology of Jean Laplanche and in conversation with bold work in queer and trans studies, Avgi Saketopoulou and Ann Pellegrini jettison "core gender identity" to propose, instead, that gender is something all subjects acquire -- and that trauma sometimes has a share in that acquisition. Conceptualizing trauma alongside diverse genders and sexualities is thus not about invalidating transness and queerness, but about illuminating their textures to enable their flourishing.
Written for readers both in and outside psychoanalysis, Gender Without Identity argues for the ethical urgency of recognizing that wounding experiences and traumatic legacies may be spun into gender. Such "spinning" involves self-theorizations that do not proceed from a centered self, but are nevertheless critical to psychic autonomy. Saketopoulou and Pellegrini draw on these ideas to offer clinical resources for working with gender complexity and for complexifying (what is seen as) gender normativity.
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Blue Horses: Poems
In this stunning collection of new poems, Mary Oliver returns to the imagery that has defined her life's work, describing with wonder both the everyday and the unaffected beauty of nature.Herons, sparrows, owls, and kingfishers flit across the page in meditations on love, artistry, and impermanence. Whether considering a bird's nest, the seeming patience of oak trees, or the artworks of Franz Marc, Oliver reminds us of the transformative power of attention and how much can be contained within the smallest moments.
At its heart, Blue Horses asks what it means to truly belong to this world, to live in it attuned to all its changes. Humorous, gentle, and always honest, Oliver is a visionary of the natural world.
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We Begin at the End
Winner of the Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel from the Crime Writers' Association (UK)
Duchess Day Radley is a thirteen-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw. Rules are for other people. She is the fierce protector of her five-year-old brother, Robin, and the parent to her mother, Star, a single mom incapable of taking care of herself, let alone her two kids. Walk has never left the coastal California town where he and Star grew up. He may have become the chief of police, but he's still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. And he's in overdrive protecting Duchess and her brother. Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released. And Duchess and Walk must face the trouble that comes with his return. We Begin at the End is an extraordinary novel about two kinds of families--the ones we are born into and the ones we create.
Winner for Best International Crime Fiction from Australian Crime Writers Association
An Instant New York Times Bestseller
"A vibrant, engrossing, unputdownable thriller that packs a serious emotional punch. One of those rare books that surprise you along the way and then linger in your mind long after you have finished it."
--Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds
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Soul Taken
Mercy Thompson, car mechanic and shapeshifter, must face her greatest fears in this chilling entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
The vampire Wulfe is missing. Since he's deadly, possibly insane, and his current idea of "fun" is stalking me, some may see it as no great loss. But, warned that his disappearance might bring down the carefully constructed alliances that keep our pack safe, my mate and I must find Wulfe--and hope he's still alive. As alive as a vampire can be, anyway. But Wulfe isn't the only one who has disappeared. And now there are bodies, too. Has the Harvester returned to the Tri-Cities, reaping souls with his cursed sickle? Or is he just a character from a B horror movie and our enemy is someone else? The farther I follow Wulfe's trail, the more twisted--and darker--the path becomes. I need to figure out what's going on before the next body on the ground is mine. -
Arranging Things
New York-based stylist Colin King shares his wisdom and insights for cultivating beauty in our everyday surroundings--composing objects into simple, sophisticated vignettes that enrich our homes and our lives. We all desire our rooms to look attractive and reflect a considered approach. Now we have the mastery of Colin King to help us elevate our spaces into environments of personal creativity. Image after image, readers will discover how Colin works his magic when arranging objects on coffee tables, mantels, bookshelves, bedside tables, windowsills, and more. Through a series of anecdotes and visual essays, Colin unpacks his intuitive and deeply personal process, meditating on scale, proportion, palette, and texture. It's not about buying new things, but rather about dusting off old favorites and seeing them with fresh eyes--looking beyond intended use to discover deeper meaning in the everyday. There's always the element of chance while contemplating new arrangements again and again. Styling, readers will discover, is a metaphor for life and a daily practice to be honed over time. The go-to stylist for many of the world's leading brands and publications, Colin King is a regular contributor to Architectural Digest, T, Ark, and Rum magazines. He collaborates regularly with West Elm, Anthropologie, Zara Home, Crate & Barrel, and Roman and Williams Guild and has his own celebrated product lines with Beni Rugs and Menu, with more in the works. -
A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: "Beautifully told."--CNN - "A remarkable story...worth retelling and celebrating."--USA Today - "Oh, it's a good one!"--Fox News A "beautiful story of a brotherhood between enemies" emerges from the horrors of World War II in this New York Times bestseller by the author of Devotion, now a Major Motion Picture.
December, 1943 A badly damaged American bomber struggles to fly over wartime Germany. At the controls is twenty-one-year-old Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown. Half his crew lay wounded or dead on this, their first mission. Suddenly, a Messerschmitt fighter pulls up on the bomber's tail. The pilot is German ace Franz Stigler--and he can destroy the young American crew with the squeeze of a trigger... What happened next would defy imagination and later be called "the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II." The U.S. 8th Air Force would later classify what happened between them as "top secret." It was an act that Franz could never mention for fear of facing a firing squad. It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty years until, as old men, they would search the world for each other, a last mission that could change their lives forever. -
Sold outAnimals Tales from Panchtantra
Panchatantra has been a part of the Indian folklore for many centuries and continues to enchant young readers even today. The Animal Stories from Panchatantra is a wonderful collection of six tales that aim to guide the young readers about the wise conduct of life, understanding human nature and attaining success in life. The book is filled with large and vibrant illustrations that attract the attention of the readers and encourage them to read.
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In Ascension
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 BOOKER PRIZEAn astonishing novel about a young microbiologist
investigating an unfathomable deep vent in the ocean floor, leading her on a
journey that will encompass the full trajectory of the cosmos and the passage
of a single human life Leigh grew up in Rotterdam, drawn to the waterfront as an
escape from her unhappy home life and volatile father. Enchanted by the
undersea world of her childhood, she excels in marine biology, travelling the
globe to study ancient organisms. When a trench is discovered in the Atlantic
ocean, Leigh joins the exploration team, hoping to find evidence of the earth's
first life forms - what she instead finds calls into question everything we
know about our own beginnings.
Her discovery leads Leigh to the Mojave desert and an ambitious new space
agency. Drawn deeper into the agency's work, she learns that the Atlantic
trench is only one of several related phenomena from across the world, each
piece linking up to suggest a pattern beyond human understanding. Leigh knows
that to continue working with the agency will mean leaving behind her declining
mother and her younger sister, and faces an impossible choice: to remain with
her family, or to embark on a journey across the breadth of the cosmos.
Exploring the natural world with the wonder and reverence we usually reserve
for the stars, In Ascension is a compassionate, deeply inquisitive
epic that reaches outward to confront the greatest questions of existence,
looks inward to illuminate the smallest details of the human heart, and shows
how - no matter how far away we might be and how much we have lost hope - we
will always attempt to return to the people and places we call home. -
Hook Shot
From award-winning author Kennedy Ryan comes the steamy, powerful second installment of the Hoops trilogy.
If Jared Foster had a dollar for every time Banner Morales made his heart skip a beat--the heart everyone assumes is frozen over--he'd be richer than he already is. He's found success as a sports agent by always assuming "no" means "I'll think about it." And he knows Banner's thinking about him. Her simmering anger? The way she puts him in his place? Foreplay. She thinks she's won the game, but they're just getting started.
If Banner had a dollar for every time Jared broke her heart, she'd have exactly one dollar. One epic failure of a night. After parting on such bad terms, Banner has no intention of ever giving Jared a second chance. She's found success in a field ruled by men like him. She's learned to call the shots and block them when she has to.
So she'll ignore the way he makes her heart pound. Sure, he seems carved from her most private fantasies, but she can get past that.
She's got her one dollar, and Jared won't have her.
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Sasaki and Miyano, Vol. 5
Sasaki is...Sasaki is what to me? A heated exchange between the two leads to absolutely nothing. Well, Miyano isn't living in a BL story, so that's fine, right? Except Miyano feels like he's going to explode, because he can't stop thinking about hugging his upperclassman...and taking care of him...What does it mean to like someone anyway? -
How to Carry What Can't Be Fixed: A Journal for Grief
An illustrated journal for meeting grief with honesty and kindness--honoring loss, rather than packing it away
With her breakout book It's OK That You're Not OK, Megan Devine struck a chord with thousands of readers through her honest, validating approach to grief. In her same direct, no-platitudes style, she now offers How to Carry What Can't Be Fixed--a journal filled with unique, creative ways to open a dialogue with grief itself. "Being allowed to tell the truth about your grief is an incredibly powerful act," she says. "This journal enables you to tell your whole story, without the need to tack on a happy ending where there isn't one." Grief is a natural response to death and loss--it's not an illness to be cured or a problem to be fixed. This workbook contains no clichés, timetables, or checklists of stages to get through; it won't help you "move past" or put your loss behind you. Instead, you'll find encouragement, self-care exercises, and daily tools, including: - Writing prompts to help you honor your pain and heartbreak
- On-the-spot practices for tough situations--like grocery store trips, the sleepless nights, and being the "awkward guest"
- The art of healthy distraction and self-care
- What you can do when you worry that "moving on" means "letting go of love"
- Practical advice for fielding the dreaded "How are you doing?" question
- What it means to find meaning in your loss
- How to hold joy and grief at the same time
- Tear-and-share resources to help you educate friends and allies
- The "Griever's Bill of Rights," and much more Your grief, like your love, belongs to you. No one has the right to dictate, judge, or dismiss what is yours to live. How to Carry What Can't Be Fixed is a journal and everyday companion to help you enter a conversation with your grief, find your own truth, and live into the life you didn't ask for--but is here nonetheless. -
2666
A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER
Composed in the last years of Roberto Bolaño's life, 2666 was greeted across Europe and Latin America as his highest achievement, surpassing even his previous work in its strangeness, beauty, and scope. Its throng of unforgettable characters includes academics and convicts, an American sportswriter, an elusive German novelist, and a teenage student and her widowed, mentally unstable father. Their lives intersect in the urban sprawl of SantaTeresa--a fictional Juárez--on the U.S.-Mexico border, where hundreds of young factory workers, in the novel as in life, have disappeared.
THE POSTHUMOUS MASTERWORK FROM "ONE OF THE GREATEST AND MOST INFLUENTIAL MODERN WRITERS" (JAMES WOOD, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW) -
Hit Parade of Tears: Stories
A new collection of stories from the cult author of Terminal Boredom Izumi Suzuki had ideas about doing things differently, ideas that paid little attention to the laws of physics, or the laws of the land. In this new collection, her skewed imagination distorts and enhances some of the classic concepts of science fiction and fantasy. A philandering husband receives a bestial punishment from a wife with her own secrets to keep; a music lover finds herself in a timeline both familiar and as wrong as can be; a misfit band of space pirates discover a mysterious baby among the stars; Emma, the Bovary-like character from one of Suzuki's stories in Terminal Boredom, lands herself in a bizarre romantic pickle. Wryly anarchic and deeply imaginative, Suzuki was a writer like no other. These eleven stories offer readers the opportunity to delve deeper in this singular writer's work. -
Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O'Connell's Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The powerful story of an inspiring doctor who made a difference, by helping to create a program to care for Boston's homeless community--by the Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Mountains Beyond Mountains "I couldn't put Rough Sleepers down. I am left in awe of the human spirit and inspired to do better."--Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, BookPage, Chicago Public Library Tracy Kidder has been described by The Baltimore Sun as "a master of the nonfiction narrative." In Rough Sleepers, Kidder tells the story of Dr. Jim O'Connell, a gifted man who invented a community of care for a city's unhoused population, including those who sleep on the streets--the "rough sleepers." After Jim O'Connell graduated from Harvard Medical School and was nearing the end of his residency at Massachusetts General, the hospital's chief of medicine made a proposal: Would he defer a prestigious fellowship and spend a year helping to create an organization to bring health care to homeless citizens? That year turned into O'Connell's life's calling. Tracy Kidder spent five years following Dr. O'Connell and his colleagues as they work with thousands of homeless patients, some of whom we meet in this illuminating book. We travel with O'Connell as he navigates the city streets at night, offering medical care, socks, soup, empathy, humor, and friendship to some of the city's most endangered citizens. He emphasizes a style of medicine in which patients come first, joined with their providers in what he calls "a system of friends." Much as he did with Paul Farmer in Mountains Beyond Mountains, Kidder explores how Jim O'Connell and a dedicated group of people have improved countless lives by facing and addressing one of American society's most difficult problems, instead of looking away. -
2001: A Space Odyssey
The classic science fiction novel that captures and expands on the vision of Stanley Kubrick's immortal film--and changed the way we look at the stars and ourselves. From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man ventures to the outer rim of our solar system, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a journey unlike any other. This allegory about humanity's exploration of the universe--and the universe's reaction to humanity--is a hallmark achievement in storytelling that follows the crew of the spacecraft Discovery as they embark on a mission to Saturn. Their vessel is controlled by HAL 9000, an artificially intelligent supercomputer capable of the highest level of cognitive functioning that rivals--and perhaps threatens--the human mind. Grappling with space exploration, the perils of technology, and the limits of human power, 2001: A Space Odyssey continues to be an enduring classic of cinematic scope.