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Undisputed: A Champion's Life
Par 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
Par 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 . . .
Par 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.I Did a New Thing: 30 Days to Living Free (A Feeding the Soul Book)
Par Tabitha Brown. 2024
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Feeding the Soul (Because It’s My Business) presents an inspirational guide for…
encouraging positive changes in your life—one day and one challenge at a time.I did a new thing today!Years ago, Tabitha Brown started a 30-day personal challenge that she called “I Did a New Thing!” The challenge was simple. Every day she would do something she’d never done before. Sometimes it was something small like trying a new food. Other times, she’d step it up a bit and speak to someone she’d never spoken to before. Still other times, she’d do the hard thing—facing a fear that she had, like having that tough conversation with a friend. No matter what it was, the point was that she was going to take a leap of faith and watch God open up a new lane for her.One of the “new things” she tried was a vegan challenge. She’d been struggling with illness for nearly a year and was desperately searching for healing. She challenged herself to eat vegan every day for thirty days, and six years later, her life has never been the same—all because she decided to do a new thing.In I Did a New Thing, Tab shares her own stories and those of others, alongside gentle guidance and encouragement to create these incredible changes for yourself and see what good can come from them. Whether that means having the hard conversation or trying for a promotion or simply wearing something different or doing something kind for someone else, Tab has a plan for you: Try one new thing, every single day, for thirty days. You don’t have to wait until Monday or the beginning of a new month or year to get started. There’s no set time and place or any extra preparation required. All you have to do is show up for yourself. And that can start right now.A Hole in the World: Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing
Par Amanda Held Opelt. 2022
In a raw and inspiring reflection on grief--selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best books of the year--a…
mourning sister processes her personal story of loss by exploring the history of bereavement customs. When Amanda Held Opelt suffered a season of loss—including three miscarriages and the unexpected death of her sister, New York Times bestselling writer Rachel Held Evans—she was confronted with sorrow she didn't know to how face. Opelt struggled to process her grief and accept the reality of the pain in the world. She also wrestled with some unexpectedly difficult questions: What does it mean to truly grieve and to grieve well? Why is it so hard to move on? Why didn&’t my faith prepare me for this kind of pain? And what am I supposed to do now? Her search for answers led her to discover that generations past embraced rituals that served as vessels for pain and aided in the process of grieving and healing. Today, many of these traditions have been lost as religious practice declines, cultures amalgamate, death is sanitized, and pain is averted. In this raw and authentic memoir of bereavement, Opelt explores the history of human grief practices and how previous generations have journeyed through periods of suffering. She explores grief rituals and customs from various cultures, including: the Irish tradition of keening, or wailing in grief, which teaches her that healing can only begin when we dive headfirst into our grief the Victorian tradition of post-mortem photographs and how we struggle to recall a loved one as they were the Jewish tradition of sitting shiva, which reminds her to rest in the strength of her community even when God feels absent the tradition of mourning clothing, which set the bereaved apart in society for a time, allowing them space to honor their grief As Opelt explores each bereavement practice, it gives her a framework for processing her own pain. She shares how, in spite of her doubt and anger, God met her in the midst of sorrow and grieved along with her, and shows that when we carefully and honestly attend to our losses, we are able to expand our capacity for love, faith, and healing.James Patterson by James Patterson: The Stories of My Life
Par James Patterson. 2022
How did a kid whose dad lived in the poorhouse become the most successful storyteller in the world? This "fizzing,…
funny, often deeply moving" (Daily Mail) #1 New York Times bestselling memoir is &“damn near addictive. I loved it . . . that Patterson guy can write!&” (Ron Howard) On the morning he was born, he nearly died. His dad grew up in the Pogey– the Newburgh, New York, poorhouse. He worked at a mental hospital in Massachusetts, where he met the singer James Taylor and the poet Robert Lowell. While he toiled in advertising hell, James wrote the ad jingle line &“I&’m a Toys &‘R&’ Us Kid.&” He once watched James Baldwin and Norman Mailer square off to trade punches at a party. He&’s only been in love twice. Both times are amazing. Dolly Parton once sang &“Happy Birthday&” to James over the phone. She calls him J.J., for Jimmy James. How did a boy from small-town New York become the world&’s most successful writer? How does he do it? He has always wanted to write the kind of novel that would be read and reread so many times that the binding breaks and the book literally falls apart. As he says, &“I&’m still working on that one.&”Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life: A Memoir
Par Delia Ephron. 2021
The bestselling, beloved writer of romantic comedies like You've Got Mail tells her own late-in-life love story in her "resplendent…
memoir," complete with a tragic second act and joyous resolution (Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The Good Left Undone). Delia Ephron had struggled through several years of heartbreak. She&’d lost her sister, Nora, and then her husband, Jerry, both to cancer. Several months after Jerry&’s death, she decided to make one small change in her life—she shut down his landline, which crashed her internet. She ended up in Verizon hell. She channeled her grief the best way she knew: by writing a New York Times op-ed. The piece caught the attention of Peter, a Bay Area psychiatrist, who emailed her to commiserate. Recently widowed himself, he reminded her that they had shared a few dates fifty-four years before, set up by Nora. Delia did not remember him, but after several weeks of exchanging emails and sixties folk songs, he flew east to see her. They were crazy, utterly, in love. But this was not a rom-com: four months later she was diagnosed with AML, a fierce leukemia. In Left on Tenth, Delia Ephron enchants as she seesaws us between tears and laughter, navigating the suicidal lows of enduring cutting-edge treatment and the giddy highs of a second chance at love. With Peter and her close girlfriends by her side, with startling clarity, warmth, and honesty about facing death, Ephron invites us to join her team of warriors and become believers ourselves.A "Most Anticipated Book of 2022" by TIME, Bustle, Parade, Publishers Weekly, Boston.comA "Best Memoir of 2022" by Marie ClaireA "Best Memoir of April" by Vanity FairSisters in Resistance: How a German Spy, a Banker's Wife, and Mussolini's Daughter Outwitted the Nazis
Par Tilar J. Mazzeo. 2022
In a tale as twisted as any spy thriller, discover how three women delivered critical evidence of Axis war crimes…
to Allied forces during World War II: &“A tantalizingly novelistic history lesson" (Kirkus). In 1944, news of secret diaries kept by Italy's Foreign Minister, Galeazzo Ciano, had permeated public consciousness. What wasn't reported, however, was how three women—a Fascist's daughter, a German spy, and an American banker&’s wife—risked their lives to ensure the diaries would reach the Allies, who would later use them as evidence against the Nazis at Nuremberg. In 1944, Benito Mussolini's daughter, Edda, gave Hitler and her father an ultimatum: release her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, from prison, or risk her leaking her husband's journals to the press. To avoid the peril of exposing Nazi lies, Hitler and Mussolini hunted for the diaries for months, determined to destroy them. Hilde Beetz, a German spy, was deployed to seduce Ciano to learn the diaries' location and take them from Edda. As the seducer became the seduced, Hilde converted as a double agent, joining forces with Edda to save Ciano from execution. When this failed, Edda fled to Switzerland with Hilde&’s daring assistance to keep Ciano's final wish: to see the diaries published for use by the Allies. When American spymaster Allen Dulles learned of Edda's escape, he sent in Frances De Chollet, an &“accidental&” spy, telling her to find Edda, gain her trust, and, crucially, hand the diaries over to the Americans. Together, they succeeded in preserving one of the most important documents of WWII. Drawing from in‑depth research and first-person interviews with people who witnessed these events, Mazzeo gives readers a riveting look into this little‑known moment in history and shows how, without Edda, Hilde, and Frances's involvement, certain convictions at Nuremberg would never have been possible.Includes a Reading Group Guide.Inciting Joy: Essays
Par Ross Gay. 2022
From Ross Gay, the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Delights, comes an intimate and electrifying collection…
of essays about the joy that comes from connection. &“BRILLIANT.&” —Ada Limón, U.S. poet laureate In these gorgeously written and timely pieces, prizewinning poet and author Gay considers the joy we incite when we care for each other, especially during life&’s inevitable hardships. Throughout Inciting Joy, he explores how we can practice recognizing that connection, and also, crucially, how we can expand it. In &“We Kin,&” Gay thinks about the garden (especially around August, when the zucchini and tomatoes come in) as a laboratory of mutual aid; in &“Share Your Bucket,&” he explores skateboarding&’s reclamation of public spaces; he considers the costs of masculinity in &“Grief Suite&”; and in &“Through My Tears I Saw,&” he recognizes what was healed in caring for his father as he was dying. In an era when divisive voices take up so much airspace, Inciting Joy offers a vital alternative: What might be possible if we turn our attention to what brings us together, to what we love? Taking a clear-eyed look at injustice, political polarization, and the destruction of the natural world, Gay shows us how we might resist, how the study of joy might lead us to a wild, unpredictable, transgressive, and unboundaried solidarity. In fact, it just might help us survive. &“A gift that&’s meant to be shared . . . [This book] inspires us to look beyond the miseries of our era to envision a more welcoming future.&”―The Washington PostHealing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient
Par Theresa Brown. 2022
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Shift comes a frank look at navigating the world of healthcare…
as a cancer nurse becomes a patient and experiences the system from the other side. Despite her training and years of experience as an oncology and hospice nurse, Brown finds it difficult to navigate the medical maze from the other side of the bed. Why is she so often left in the dark about procedures and treatments? Why is she expected to research her own best treatment options? Why is there so much red tape? At times she&’s mad at herself for not speaking up and asking for what she needs but knows that being a &“difficult&” patient could mean she gets worse care. Of the almost four million women in this country living with breast cancer, many have had, like Brown, a treatable form of the disease. Both unnerving and extremely relatable, her experience shows us how our for-profit health care industry &“cures&” us but at the same time leaves so many of us feeling alienated and uncared for. As she did so brilliantly in her New York Times bestseller, The Shift, Brown relays the unforgettable details of her daily life—the needles, the chemo drugs, the rubber gloves, the bureaucratic frustrations—but this time from her new perch as a patient, looking back at some of her own cases and considering what she didn&’t know then about the warping effects of fear and the healing virtues of compassion. &“People failed me when I was a patient and I failed patients when working as a nurse. I see that now,&” she writes.Healing is must-read for all of us who have tried to find healing through our health-care system.Molly
Par Blake Butler. 2023
A gripping, unforgettable memoir from one of the best, most original writers of the 21st century. Blake Butler has changed…
the world of language with his mind-melting literary thrillers, and now he brings his abilities to bear on the emotional world."Terrifyingly intense and eerily spiritual ...The best book I&’ve read this year." —LOS ANGELES TIMES "A powerfully sad book ... Writers are often praised as 'fearless,' but Butler is not. In Molly, he makes fear his companion. That is the only way to write, and to live." —THE NEW YORKER "Shattering ... The result is a brutal yet beautiful look at the ravages of mental illness and the complexities of grief." —PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY &“I&’m not sure I&’ve ever been so totally consumed by any book—the way I was by Molly.&” —INTERVIEW "The most immediate feeling of life I've ever had reading a book—a life lived at the desk and out in the world, a life of openness and secrets. "Make art for me," Molly wrote to Blake. "I will read it all." I breathed along with every word." —PATRICIA LOCKWOOD "How to praise a book of such wounded beauty as Blake Butler's phenomenal Molly? The same way one would a life lost early: with love and sincerity and anger and wonder and lithely elegant and observant insights that remind us and inspire us, as Butler precisely does, to live and to love ourselves." —JOHN D'AGATA "Molly is a brilliant and brutal book. Blake Butler fearlessly takes on love and grief and the mysteries of this world and the next." —EMMA CLINE "A dark miracle—actual evidence that what we can never know, what we could never imagine about the one we love, is what binds us to them, beyond death." —MICHAEL W. CLUNE "I was gripped from the start by this memoir's urgent honesty. Blake Butler turned a story that was almost unspeakable into a narrative at once brutal and loving, broken and solid." —CATHERINE LACEY Blake Butler and Molly Brodak instantly connected, fell in love, married and built a life together. Both writers with deep roots in contemporary American literature, their union was an iconic joining of forces between two major and beloved talents. Nearly three years into their marriage, grappling with mental illness and a lifetime of trauma, Molly took her own life. In the days and weeks after Molly&’s death, Blake discovered shocking secrets she had held back from the world, fundamentally altering his view of their relationship and who she was. A masterpiece of autobiography, Molly is a riveting journey into the darkest and most unthinkable parts of the human heart, emerging with a hard-won, unsurpassedly beautiful understanding that expands the possibilities of language to comprehend and express true love. Unrelentingly clear, honest and concise, Molly approaches the impossible directly, with a total empathy that has no parallel or precedent. A supremely important work that will be taught, loved, relied on and passed around for years to come, Blake Butler affirms now beyond question his position at the very top rank of writers.Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes
Par Moshe Kasher. 2024
A &“hilarious&” (Dax Shepard), &“surprisingly emotional trip&” (The Chainsmokers) through deep American subcultures ranging from Burning Man to Alcoholics Anonymous,…
by the writer and comedian Moshe Kasher &“Part history lesson, part standup set and, often, part love letter . . . Kasher&’s ability to blend humor with homework works almost too well.&”—The New York TimesAfter bottoming out, being institutionalized, and getting sober all by the tender age of fifteen, Moshe Kasher found himself asking: &“What&’s next?&” Over the ensuing decades, he discovered the answer: a lot.There was his time as a boy-king of Alcoholics Anonymous, a kind of pubescent proselytizer for other teens getting and staying sober. He was a rave promoter turned DJ turned sober ecstasy dealer in San Francisco&’s techno warehouse party scene of the 1990s. For fifteen years he worked as a psychedelic security guard at Burning Man, fishing hippies out of hidden chambers they&’d constructed to try to sneak into the event. As a child of deaf parents, Kasher became deeply immersed in deaf culture and sign language interpretation, translating everything from end-of-life care to horny deaf clients&’ attempts to hire sex workers. He reconnects and tries to make peace with his ultra-Hasidic Jewish upbringing after the death of his father before finally settling into the comedy scene where he now makes his living.Each of these scenes gets a gonzo historiographical rundown before Kasher enters the narrative and tells the story of the lives he has spent careening from one to the next. A razor-sharp, gut-wrenchingly funny, and surprisingly moving tour of some of the most wildly distinct subcultures a person can experience, Subculture Vulture deftly weaves together memoir and propulsive cultural history. It&’s a story of finding your people, over and over again, in different settings, and of knowing without a doubt that wherever you are is where you&’re supposed to be.The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph
Par Oksana Masters. 2023
&“A gut-wrenching, wildly inspiring story about overcoming the most daunting obstacles through steely tenacity, sheer will, and a great big…
dose of motherly love.&” —Jeannette Walls, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle An inspirational and powerful memoir from the United States&’s most decorated winter Paralympic or Olympic athlete, The Hard Parts is Oksana Masters gripping account of overcoming extraordinary Chernobyl disaster–caused physical challenges to create a life that challenges everyone to push through what is holding them back.Oksana Masters was born in Ukraine—in the shadow of Chernobyl—seemingly with the odds stacked against her. She came into the world with one kidney, a partial stomach, six toes on each foot, webbed fingers, no right bicep, and no thumbs. Her left leg was six inches shorter than her right, and she was missing both tibias. Relinquished to the orphanage system by birth parents daunted by the staggering cost of what would be their child&’s medical care, Oksana encountered numerous abuses, some horrifying. Salvation came at age seven when Gay Masters, an unmarried American professor who saw a photo of the little girl and became haunted by her eyes, waged a two-year war against stubborn adoption authorities to rescue Oksana from her circumstances. In America, Oksana endured years of operations that included a double leg amputation. Still, how could she hope to fit in when there were so many things making her different? As it turned out, she would do much more than fit in. Determined to prove herself and fueled by a drive to succeed that still smoldered from childhood, Oksana triumphed in not just one sport but four—winning against the world&’s best in elite rowing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and road cycling competitions. Now considered one of the world&’s top athletes, she is the recipient of seventeen Paralympic medals, the most of any US athlete of the Winter Games, Paralympic or Olympic. Oksana&’s astonishing story of journeying through a series of dark tunnels is &“as true a tale of grit as I&’ve ever heard, with a message filled with triumph and beauty—that what doesn&’t kill us makes us stronger, if we are loved&” (Angela Duckworth, New York Times bestselling author of Grit).On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance
Par Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 2007
New York Times bestselling author and living legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shares how the power of the Harlem Renaissance led him…
to become the man he is today—basketball superstar, jazz enthusiast, historian, and Black American icon.In On the Shoulders of Giants, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar invites us on an extraordinarily personal journey back to his birthplace of Harlem through one of the greatest political, cultural, literary, and artistic movements in history. He reveals the tremendous impact the Harlem Renaissance had on both American culture and his own life. Travel deep into the soul of the Renaissance—the night clubs, restaurants, basketball games, and fabulous parties that have made footprints in Harlem&’s history. Meet the athletes, jazz musicians, comedians, actors, politicians, entrepreneurs, and writers who not only inspired Kareem&’s rise to greatness but an entire nation.In Bad Faith: Inside a secret ultra-Orthodox sect and the brutal betrayal it tried to hide
Par Dassi Erlich. 2024
This powerful memoir gives extraordinary insight into a secretive sect, and the horror Dassi Erlich had to survive. Dassi's resilience…
and fight for justice is inspiring. As a young girl growing up in a strict ultra-Orthodox family, Dassi's life was preordained - marry young, live a devout life and raise children within the Adass community's religious rules. This righteous path would keep her safe from the immodest, secular world just a few blocks away in suburban Melbourne.But the Adass community was not safe for Dassi.She was fifteen when her revered school principal, Malka Leifer, started to single her out. Dassi's cloistered and harsh upbringing meant she didn't have the words for what was happening to her, but she knew it was very, very wrong. It would take her years to break free of the secrecy which pervaded the community and tell the police of her betrayal. And only then would she find out others, including two of her sisters, had also been abused, and would learn some in the Adass community had helped Leifer flee to Israel. With the only world she knew crumbling around her, Dassi found the strength to fight, leading a brave fifteen-year campaign to bring Leifer back to face Australian courts.This is Dassi's story.'I am a sexual abuse survivor, but I am also more than a survivor. I will continue fighting for justice for all victims.'It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy
Par Captain D. Michael Abrashoff. 2012
The legendary New York Times bestselling tale of top-down change for anyone trying to navigate today's uncertain business seas. When…
Captain Abrashoff took over as commander of USS Benfold, it was like a business that had all the latest technology but only some of the productivity. Knowing that responsibility for improving performance rested with him, he realized he had to improve his own leadership skills before he could improve his ship. Within months, he created a crew of confident and inspired problem-solvers eager to take the initiative and responsibility for their actions. The slogan on board became "It's your ship," and Benfold was soon recognized far and wide as a model of naval efficiency. How did Abrashoff do it? Against the backdrop of today's United States Navy, Abrashoff shares his secrets of successful management including: See the ship through the eyes of the crew: By soliciting a sailor's suggestions, Abrashoff drastically reduced tedious chores that provided little additional value. Communicate, communicate, communicate: The more Abrashoff communicated the plan, the better the crew's performance. His crew eventually started calling him "Megaphone Mike," since they heard from him so often. Create discipline by focusing on purpose: Discipline skyrocketed when Abrashoff's crew believed that what they were doing was important. Listen aggressively: After learning that many sailors wanted to use the GI Bill, Abrashoff brought a test official aboard the ship-and held the SATs forty miles off the Iraqi coast. From achieving amazing cost savings to winning the highest gunnery score in the Pacific Fleet, Captain Abrashoff's extraordinary campaign sent shock waves through the U.S. Navy. It can help you change the course of your ship, no matter where your business battles are fought.Bring Out Your Dead: Elegies from the Plague Year
Par Chad Davidson. 2024
Could the shlock-rock ’70s band Kiss in any way affect the outcome of a death-dealing twenty-first-century virus? Is Bob Ross—that…
permed, inimitable painter of Edenic nostalgia on PBS—actually an emissary from the land of personal loss? Might the work of Edward Hopper reflect facets of a global plague? What is the grammar, finally, of grief, of isolation? The essays in Chad Davidson’s Bring Out Your Dead: Elegies from the Plague Year mainly concern the loss of the author’s father directly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ways in which the pandemic itself provided a strangely ideal backdrop to grieving. Refracted through the kaleidoscopic, yet strangely stagnant, isolation period in the first year of COVID, his father’s death—another plague visited on the author—found its way into all his waking hours, coloring whatever he tried to write, particularly when he tried not to let it. Friends both lost and nearly so, the burning of Notre Dame in Paris, even the seemingly inconsequential discovery of a rash of chew toys in the yard: these events assumed an unmistakable gravity, considered in the midst of a pandemic and the ruins of personal grief. Bring Out Your Dead adds Davidson’s father to the growing list of loved ones lost in—and, in this case, right before—the pandemic. It’s a personal memorial, given over to a father’s memory and the grief endured while living through dueling plagues (one viral, the other psychological). In the end, the book becomes more about the ways we eulogize, how we remember those who are gone, why their memories persist, and what summons them back into our thoughts, our language, and our lives.Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir
Par Lamya H. 2023
A queer hijabi Muslim immigrant survives her coming-of-age by drawing strength and hope from stories in the Quran in this &“raw…
and relatable memoir that challenges societal norms and expectations&” (Linah Mohammad, NPR).&“A masterful, must-read contribution to conversations on power, justice, healing, and devotion from a singular voice I now trust with my whole heart.&”—Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of UntamedAN AUDACIOUS BOOK CLUB PICK • WINNER: The Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize, the Stonewall Book Award, the Israel Fishman Nonfiction AwardA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, Autostraddle, Book Riot, BookPage, Harper&’s Bazaar, Electric Lit, She ReadsWhen fourteen-year-old Lamya H realizes she has a crush on her teacher—her female teacher—she covers up her attraction, an attraction she can&’t yet name, by playing up her roles as overachiever and class clown. Born in South Asia, she moved to the Middle East at a young age and has spent years feeling out of place, like her own desires and dreams don&’t matter, and it&’s easier to hide in plain sight. To disappear. But one day in Quran class, she reads a passage about Maryam that changes everything: When Maryam learned that she was pregnant, she insisted no man had touched her. Could Maryam, uninterested in men, be . . . like Lamya? From that moment on, Lamya makes sense of her struggles and triumphs by comparing her experiences with some of the most famous stories in the Quran. She juxtaposes her coming out with Musa liberating his people from the pharoah; asks if Allah, who is neither male nor female, might instead be nonbinary; and, drawing on the faith and hope Nuh needed to construct his ark, begins to build a life of her own—ultimately finding that the answer to her lifelong quest for community and belonging lies in owning her identity as a queer, devout Muslim immigrant. This searingly intimate memoir in essays, spanning Lamya&’s childhood to her arrival in the United States for college through early-adult life in New York City, tells a universal story of courage, trust, and love, celebrating what it means to be a seeker and an architect of one&’s own life.Congratulations, Who Are You Again?: A Memoir
Par Harrison Scott Key. 2018
“Consistently funny…Congratulations, Who Are You Again? will have readers looking for more from this talented author. — Kirkus Reviews“A keenly…
observed account of the publishing process…Hilarious and illuminating.” — Booklist“In his second act, he takes you through his process of realizing that dream with charm and wit, offering entertainment and practical insight for anyone with a seemingly pie-in-the-sky wish list.” — Good HousekeepingEye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, the First Lady of the Black Press
Par James McGrath Morris. 2015
[An] important and often absorbing new book . . . It’s a deep pleasure to meet Ethel Payne. ‘We are…
soul folks,’ she declared in 1967, ‘and I am writing for soul brothers’ consumption.’ Her own soul beams from this book. — New York Times“A riveting biography of a groundbreaking African American journalist . . . In James McGrath Morris’s compelling biography Eye on the Struggle, this ‘first lady of the black press’ finally gets her due.” — O, the Oprah Magazine“Morris’s research on Payne is meticulous…” — Washington Post“[A] beautifully written and carefully researched new book.” — Chicago Tribune“Afast-paced tour through the highlights of 20th-century African-American history, with Payne as witness.” — Boston Globe“It is through Payne’s eyes that author James McGrath Morris deftly shows us the history of post-World War II America.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune“…James McGrath Morris lifts Ethel Payne from relative obscurity revealing a fearless, intrepid journalist who covered practically every important event of her day…” — Herb Boyd, National Association of Black Journalist, Hall of Fame, inducteeEthel Payne was a pioneer who experienced the challenges but little of the glory that comes with the title. With this book, her legacy is assured. — Paula J. Giddings, author of Ida, A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching“A deeply researched, skillfully written biography about a previously underappreciated individual.” — Kirkus Reviews“James McGrath Morris’s eloquent book - quite a feat of historical excavation into the black press as well - should bring her many new admirers.” — Wil Haygood, author of the bestselling,The Butler: A Witness to HistoryIn Eye on the Struggle James McGrath Morris lifts Ethel Payne from relative obscurity revealing a fearless, intrepid journalist who covered practically every important event of her day, whether at home in the heat of the civil rights movement or traveling abroad to Africa and Asia. ” — Herb Boyd, author of Brotherman and Baldwin's Harlem“Eye on the Struggle is an incredibly important act of historical recovery. James McGrath Morris’ penetratingly insightful biography of Ethel Payne takes us into the world of the civil rights era black press through the eyes of one its trailblazing journalists.” — Peniel E. Joseph, author of Waiting Til the Midnight Hour and Stokely Peniel E. Joseph, author of Waiting Til the Midnight Hour and Stokely “A debt of gratitude is due James McGrath Morris for bringing the remarkable life of Ethel Payne out of the shadows.” — Pamela Newkirk, author of,Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota BengaThe rich use of sources and glimpses of Payne’s personal life will engage readers interested in civil rights, journalism, and women’s history.” — Library Journal“Besides reclaiming an important figure in American journalism, Eyes on the Struggle offers historical context for the journalistic role that alternative media play in current civil rights movements. . . His quest not only recounts a storied life but also reminds readers of the historic centrality of alternative media in social change.” — Journal of American History“A well-researched, detailed look at the life of a pioneering journalist.” — The Washington Independent Review of Books“[A] groundbreaking biography” — KamWilliams.com“Morris is not only insightful, but also wise…” — Dallas Morning News“Morris has written a fast-paced, engrossing biography…” — New York Times Book Review“Biographer James McGrath Morris pulls back the curtain o