National Network for Equitable Library Service

In these fifteen searingly honest personal essays, debut author Susan Olding takes us on an unforgettable journey into the complex heart of being human. Each essay dissects an aspect of Olding's life experience, written with lyricism, detail, and artfulness.

Some people claim they'd like to walk away from their lives -- Shelley A. Leedahl had the nerve to do it. Was it selfishness, or self-preservation? Drawing upon childhood memories, hikes, road trips, foreign travel, her self-imposed exile to a prairie village, fortuitous meetings with strangers, and her compulsion for starting over, again and again, Leedahl has crafted a provocative and candid collection of essays that explore the implicit complexities and contradictions when personal and professional lives both complement and clash.

Translators connect languages and landscapes, sparking conversations that enlarge our imagination. In Canada, where translation has had an especially important role to play, the nature of the connections has changed. These wide-ranging essays, by Canada's most prominent translators, chart a journey that begins with the sharp divides of English and French in the 1970s and then confronts the much more complex explosion of identities today.

About Face: Essays on Addictions, Recovery, Therapies, and Controversies seeks to broaden the conversation around addiction in Canada. Featuring essays by a diverse group of writers, About Face delves into the major categories of addiction: drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, video games, gambling, body dysmorphia, and eating disorders. With stories by those suffering from addictions, experts in the field, and service providers, this anthology is a far-reaching intervention into one of our country's most rapidly expanding social problems.

A defense of the dying art of losing an afternoon--and gaining new appreciation--amidst the bins and shelves of brick-and-mortar shops. Written during the pandemic, when the world was marooned at home and consigned to scrolling screens, On Browsing's essays chronicle what we've lost through online shopping, streaming, and the relentless digitization of culture.

Throughout her life, Elissa Washuta has been surrounded by cheap facsimiles of Native spiritual tools and occult trends, "starter witch kits" of sage, rose quartz, and tarot cards packaged together in paper and plastic. Following a decade of abuse, addiction, PTSD, and heavy-duty drug treatment for a misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, she felt drawn to the real spirits and powers her dispossessed and discarded ancestors knew, while she undertook necessary work to find love and meaning.

If you want to know your Socrates from your Sartre and your Confucius from your Kant, strap in for this whirlwind tour of the highlights of philosophy. Including accessible primers on: - The early Ancient Greek philosophers and the "big three": Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle - Key schools of philosophy and their impact on modern life - Insights into the main questions philosophers have explored over the years: Who am I? What is the meaning of life? Do I have free will? - Practical applications for the theories of Descartes, Kant, Wollstonecraft, Marx, Nietzsche, and many more.

Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites listeners to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses. Robin Wall Kimmerer's book is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise.

For fans of Laurie Notaro and Jenny Lawson comes an uproarious and oddly endearing essay collection for anyone trying to survive the holidays in one piece. When it comes to time-honored holiday traditions, Jen Mann pulls no punches In this hilariously irreverent collection of essays, Jen Mann, nationally bestselling author of People I Want to Punch in the Throat, turns her mordant wit on the holidays.

From the bestselling author of Stitches and Help, Thanks, Wow comes her long-awaited collection of new and selected essays on hope, joy, and grace. Anne Lamott writes about faith, family, and community in essays that are both wise and irreverent. It's an approach that has become her trademark. Now in Small Victories, Lamott offers a new message of hope that celebrates the triumph of light over the darkness in our lives ...