National Network for Equitable Library Service

The life and times of the eight-time Stanley Cup winner

When Boston coach Lynn Patrick was asked who he’d pick between Rocket Richard or Gordie Howe he answered, “Neither! I’ll take Red Kelly!” The only player to have won eight Stanley Cups without playing for Montreal, Red began his life in hockey on the cedar swamps near Port Dover, Ontario, and went on to win accolades and championships as a Detroit Red Wing and Toronto Maple Leaf.

“What a lucky girl!” Everybody who has adopted a daughter from China has heard that one. And every parent has said, or thought, in reply: “No, we’re the lucky ones.” This anthology sets out to explain why people who have adopted children from China feel as though they’ve won the lottery.

Part biography, part memoir, and all catharsis Jim Harrison grew up on the prairies, played Junior in Saskatchewan, and pro with the Bruins, Leafs, Hawks, and Oilers. Three years before a former teammate equaled the mark, Harrison set one of the most enduring and seemingly unbreakable records in professional hockey with three goals and seven helpers on January 30, 1973. And almost nobody remembers.

A Big Easy legend returns to the limelight

New Orleans was once one of the hottest cities for pro wrestling because of one man — Sylvester Ritter, better known as the Junkyard Dog. JYD became a legend in the Big Easy, drawing huge crowds to the Superdome, a feat no other wrestler ever came close to. In 1980, he managed to break one of the final colour barriers in the sport by becoming the first black wrestler to be made the undisputed top star of his promotion.

At the centre of the critically acclaimed Fox drama House, British actor Hugh Laurie has become the focus of fans across North America, Britain, and Australia. Winner of the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series, honoured by the Queen with an Order of the British Empire, and one of People’s Sexiest Men Alive, Laurie has become an icon.

But who is the man behind the cane and acerbic wit?

A musician? A motorcyclist? A comedian?

Long before he became “Hardcore Holly,” Robert Howard was a fighter. From humble beginnings — a boy dominated by his disciplinarian stepfather but fueled by an unquenchable passion for pro wrestling — Bob grew up struggling to make ends meet. As an adult with a family of his own to provide for, Bob fought in bars for money before finally following his dream of wrestling.

A refreshingly honest memoir about politics and private life

A gripping and moving memoir The Bleaks is the true story of a harrowing nightmare into which writer Paul Illidge's life is plunged one summer night, when a police drug-squad raids his suburban house, arrests him and his two teenage sons, and whisks them off to jail for growing some marijuana plants in their basement.

A rollicking memoir through the shifting zeitgeist of the last five decades. In The Barefoot Bingo Caller, Antanas Sileika finds what's funny and touching in the most unlikely places, from the bingo hall to the collapsing Soviet Union. He shares stories that span his attempts to shake off his suburban, ethnic, folk-dancing childhood to his divided allegiance as a Lithuanian-Canadian father. Antanas has a keen eye for social comedy, bringing to life such memorable characters as ageing beat poets, oblivious college students, the queen of the booze cans, and an obdurate porcupine.

The 30 Second Commute is a comic narrative about the real life of a full-time writer. Stephanie Dickison had been successfully publishing features and articles for over a decade while working a full-time job, but in December 2005, she left the secure world of a 'real job' to tackle completing a manuscript that was close to five years old and to take on freelance writing full time. Drawing on her years as a book and pop music critic, she delves into food writing and becomes a restaurant critic for a big city website.