BILDUNGROMANS - GRIEF In 1987, Miri Ammerman returns to her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to attend a commemoration of the worst year of her life. Thirty-five years earlier, when Miri was fifteen, and in love for the first time, a succession of airplanes fell from the sky, leaving a community reeling. Against this backdrop of actual events that Blume experienced in the early 1950s, when airline travel was new and exciting and everyone dreamed of going somewhere, she paints a vivid portrait of a particular time and place Nat King Cole singing "Unforgettable," Elizabeth Taylor haircuts, young (and not-so-young) love, explosive friendships, A-bomb hysteria, rumors of Communist threat. And a young journalist who makes his name reporting tragedy. Through it all, one generation reminds another that life goes on
(15 copies)
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HISTORICAL FICTION - FUGITIVE SLAVES Young Lensinda Martin is a protegee of a crusading Black journalist and activist in mid-18th century southwestern Ontario. One night, a neighbouring farmer summons Lensinda after a slave hunter is shot dead on his land by an old woman recently arrived via the Underground Railroad. When the old woman, whose name is Cash, refuses to flee before the authorities arrive, the farmer urges Lensinda to gather testimony from her before Cash is condemned. But Cash doesn't want to confess--instead she proposes a barter: A story for a story. And so begins an extraordinary exchange of life stories that reveal the interwoven history of Canada and the United States. As Cash's time runs out, Lensinda realizes she knows far less than she believed not only about the complicated tapestry of her people's ancestry, but also of her own family history. And it seems that Cash may carry a secret that could shape Lensinda's destiny. These two women's life stories weave together love, tragedy, and survival, to map their own unexpected interconnections onto the history of North America in an entirely new and resonant way
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NON-FICTION - FIRST NATIONS IN TORONTO A collection of narratives by and about Indigenous Toronto, past, present, and future. Beneath every major city in North America lies a deep and rich Indigenous history that has been paved over, and ignored. Toronto has seen 12,000 years of different peoples, including the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabe, the Huron-Wendat, and the Mississaugas of the New Credit, and a vibrant culture and history that thrives to this day. With original contributions by Indigenous elders, scholars, journalists, artists, activists, and historians about art, food, health, and more, this unique anthology explores the poles of erasure and cultural continuity that have come to define a crossroads city-region that was known as a meeting place long before the arrival of European settlers. Contributors include political scientist Hayden King, artist and curator Wanda Nanibush, chief Johl Whiteduck Ringuette, poet and broadcaster Duke Redbird, playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, educator Kerry Potts, writer/journalist Miles Morrisseau and photographer Nadya Kwandibens
(8 copies)
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NON-FICTION - NEUROBIOLOGY Throughout the world, mental capacity is declining, especially among young people, while depression rates are rising dramatically. Meanwhile, one in forty men and women suffers from Alzheimer's, and the age of onset is falling rapidly. But the causes are not being eliminated, quite the opposite. Can this just be coincidence? The Indoctrinated Brain introduces a largely unknown, powerful neurobiological mechanism whose externally induced dysfunction underlies these catastrophic developments. Michael Nehls, medical doctor and internationally renowned molecular geneticist, lays out a shattering chain of circumstantial evidence indicating that behind these numerous negative influences lies a targeted, masterfully executed attack on our individuality. He points out how the raging wars against viruses, about climate change, or over national borders are -- more likely intended than not -- fundamentally providing the platform for such an offensive against the human brain that is steadily changing our being and is aimed at depriving us of our ability to think for ourselves. But it is not too late. By exposing these brain-damaging processes and describing countermeasures that anyone can take, Nehls brings light and hope to this fateful chapter in human history. Nothing less will be decided than the question of whether our species can retain its humanity and its creative power or whether it will lose them irretrievably
(10 copies)
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NON-FICTION - REFUGEES IN NETHERLANDS This is an account of the life of the Somali-born Ali and her struggle with her Muslim faith. In it she discusses how her experiences in the poitical chaos of Somalia shaped her views. She was born into a family of desert nomads, subjected to circumcision and educated by radical imams. Later she was forced into marriage in Canada. On her way there, in the transit hall of Schiphol, she decided to ask for asylum in the Netherlands.
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In the middle of the night intruders silently murder Luke Ellis' parents and load him into a black SUV. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there's no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents - telekinesis and telepathy - who got to this place the same way Luke did. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, "like the roach motel," Kalisha says. "You check in, but you don't check out." In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don't, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from The Institute.
(10 copies)
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HISTORICAL FICTION - WOMAN VIOLINISTS Inspired by true events, The Instrumentalist tells the story of Anna Maria della Pietà--orphan, musical prodigy and favourite student of Antonio Vivaldi. Anna Maria is on a mission: to become Venice's greatest violinist and composer. In her remarkable world of colour and sound, it seems as if nothing can stop her. But it is 1704 and she is, after all, a girl. The pursuit of her ambition will test everything Anna Maria holds dear. With echoes of internationally renowned historical fiction such as Tuscan Daughter by Lisa Rochon, Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell and Perfume by Patrick Süskind, The Instrumentalist brings to life the remarkable story of one of classical music's most important yet overlooked figures. It is guaranteed to transport even the most unmusical of readers into a whole other realm.
(15 copies)
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NON-FCITION - COMEDIANS This book is a collection of comedian Jerry Seinfeld's comedic writings and reflections on the absurdities of life in a laugh-out-loud volume that gathers jokes he’s written over the course of his 45-year career. This book compiles some of his best jokes, organized by decade, along with reminiscences on the lifestyle and craft of stand-up. The title is based on the main question a comedian asks when they are testing out new material.
(13 copies)
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HISTORICAL FICTION - FUGITIVE SLAVES From Percival Everett-a recipient of the NBCC Lifetime Achievement Award and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Booker Prize, and numerous PEN awards-comes James, a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. While many narrative set pieces of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river's banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin ... ), Jim's agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light. Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a "cult literary icon" (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature
(15 copies)
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HISTORICAL FICTION - PLANTATION LIFE Orphaned during her passage from Ireland, young, white Lavinia arrives on the steps of the kitchen house and is placed, as an indentured servant, under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate slave daughter. Lavinia learns to cook, clean, and serve food, while guided by the quiet strength and love of her new family.
In time, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, caring for the master's opium-addicted wife and befriending his dangerous yet protective son. She attempts to straddle the worlds of the kitchen and big house, but her skin color will forever set her apart from Belle and the other slaves.
Through the unique eyes of Lavinia and Belle, Grissom's debut novel unfolds in a heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story of class, race, dignity, deep-buried secrets, and familial bonds.
(13 copies) (1 large prints)
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