National Network for Equitable Library Service

If you live life without a net, what happens when you fall? Kathleen Cremonesi knew early on she wanted to be different. Determined to avoid following in her mother's footsteps to an ill-fated marriage, Kathleen left Oregon in her early 20s to travel across Europe. On a whim, this former administrative assistant with wanderlust took a job as a dancer in an Italian circus and, working her way up, became an ostrich-riding, shark-taming showgirl. Kathleen bonds with the exotic animals that could strike and kill at any moment, but instead bring her a peace she has never known.

David Patchell-Evans is the founder and CEO of GoodLife Fitness Clubs, Canada's largest and fastest-growing fitness empire. Patchell-Evans, or 'Patch,' as everyone calls him, is a five-time Canadian rowing champion and an active rower, runner, and skier today. Two weeks into his first year in university he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. A lengthy and arduous period of rehabilitation at a sports clinic sparked his interest in sports and exercise, and he went on to combine courses in physical fitness and business, and to found his business empire.

At ten years of age, lined up alongside his two brothers in the living room of their Seattle home, Jens Pulver stared down the length of a shotgun into his father’s haggard face. Because Jens was the oldest, the one constantly running upstairs to protect his mother in the middle of the night, his father placed the barrel into his mouth first.

The man who gave it all away at age 50, when some people start planning for retirement, John Lefebvre hit the digital motherlode--Neteller, a tiny Canadian internet start-up that processed payments between players and online gambling arenas, rocketed into the stock market. In its early years, Neteller had been a cowboy operation, narrowly averting disaster in creative ways. Co-founder Lefebvre, a gregarious hippie lawyer from Calgary, Alberta, had toked his way through his practice for decades, aspiring all the while to be a professional musician.

Kid Rex is the story of one woman’s struggle to overcome anorexia. After knowing other friends with anorexia and being baffled by their behavior (often wondering, “Why doesn’t she just eat?!”) Moisin suddenly found herself prone to the same disease, not eating at all and going weeks at a time taking in nothing but water and the occasional black coffee. She learns how to deceive the therapists her worried family sends her to, giving them all of the symptoms of depression so they’ll misdiagnose her and let her continue to be anorexic.

Jen Powley was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at fifteen. By thirty-five, she had lost the use of her arms and legs. Just Jen is a powerful memoir that tells the story of Powley's life at the time of her diagnosis, and the infinite, irrevocable ways it has changed since. Powley's writing pulls no punches. She is lively, bold and unapologetic, answering questions people are often afraid to ask about living with a progressive disease. And yet, these snapshots from Powley's life are not tinged with anger or despair.

When singer, musician, and broadcast journalist Malka Marom had the opportunity to interview Joni Mitchell in 1973, she was eager to reconnect with the performer she’d first met late one night in 1966 at a Yorkville coffeehouse. More conversations followed over the next four decades of friendship, and it was only after Joni and Malka completed their most recent recorded interview, in 2012, that Malka discovered the heart of their discussions: the creative process.

The only patch-wearing outlaw biker to become a sworn police officer — and live to tell his tale

In 1977, Wayne “Big Chuck” Bradshaw was Jersey tough. He was a member of the outlaw Pagans bike gang, a One Percenter, and had earned his colours in a world of boozing, bloody bar fights, and high-stakes crime. But after getting too close to extreme violence, Bradshaw made the life-threatening decision to change his path.

Winner of the 2017 Toronto Book Award. A remarkable memoir about achieving prosperity in the face of relentless prejudice In the Black traces B. Denham Jolly's personal and professional struggle for a place in a country where Black Canadians have faced systematic discrimination. He arrived from Jamaica to attend university in the mid-1950s and worked as a high school teacher before going into the nursing and retirement-home business. Though he was ultimately successful in his business ventures, Jolly faced both overt and covert discrimination, which led him into social activism.

Follow these star athletes from the curling rinks of Canada's heartland to their unbelievable performances on the world stage The women's team, which hails from Winnipeg, and the men's team, based in Sault Ste. Marie, dominated the Sochi Olympic curling events, setting records and capturing the hearts of millions of Canadians. Now Winnipeg Sun sports editor Ted Wyman shares the stories of Canada's favourite curlers.