National Network for Equitable Library Service

The inspiring true story of how courage, a dream, and some needle and thread can change a life forever... Since she was young, Tala Raassi knew her fate lay in fashion. But growing up in her beloved homeland of Iran, a woman can be punished for exposing her hair in public, let alone wearing the newest trends. Despite strict regulations, Tala developed a keen sense of style in backroom cafes and secret parties. She never imagined her behavior would land her in prison, or bring the cruel sting of a whip for the crime of wearing a mini-skirt.

A gay man who created New York's most notorious den of heterosexuality ... an anxious, anything-but-hardboiled lawyer who became one of the most successful undercover mob informants in history... . In this hilarious and fascinating account, Michael Blutrich takes you inside star-studded 1990s New York, mafia sit-downs, and the witness protection program. Meet Michael D. Blutrich, founder of Scores, the hottest strip club in New York history.

Prior to the real-estate boom of the 1980s, Francis J. Greenburger risked it all to buy three older loft buildings at 50 West Street near the current 9/11 Memorial. He ultimately dreamed of one day erecting a magnificent skyscraper in their place. But disaster struck in 2008, just as his plans were coming together, and development came to a screeching halt. The global financial crisis had made the land practically worthless and it would be years before he could get back on track, but he refused to give up on his dream.

He had fifty-seven seconds of screen time in the most lavish POW film Hollywood ever produced. He was blond. A Gestapo agent. Sauntering down the aisles of a speeding train, he speaks in terse German to Richard Attenborough, Gordon Jackson, David McCallum. The film is The Great Escape (by John Sturges, starring Steve McQueen); the actor, though uncredited, is Michael Paryla. He was part Jewish. Shortly after filming he died.

John Metcalf's Shut Up He Explained defies expectations and strict definition. Part memoir, part travelogue, part criticism -- wholly Metcalf -- it is thoughtful, engaged, contentious and often very funny. It offers a full does of Metcalfian wisdom and wit, and provides ample evidence that neither age nor indifference nor attack have withered him: he remains as sharp, critical, constructive and insightful as ever. Indeed, this may just be his most important and engaged book. Certainly it will be among his most controversial.

The River is Paul Vasey's tribute to Windsor, a place he discovered by accident and loved over a lifetime. Chatty, anecdotal, personal and passionate, by the celebrated CBC broadcaster, this grass-roots memoir brings to life a new kind of border city: a town that fired Vasey's imagination, stole his heart, and eventually became the place he calls home.

Between his time with the Detroit Red Wings in the 1950s, the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1960s, and his days as a scout with the New Jersey Devils, Marcel Pronovost has earned eight Stanley Cup rings and enjoyed one of the longest NHL careers of all time. Encounters with game greats and a 32-page photo spread punctuate this compelling life story.

For decades Bruce Jay Friedman has charmed the glitziest industries of American golden-age culture. He's been in publishing. He's been in theater. He's been in film. And now, this best-selling author is in his own head, re-illuminating the dazzle of post-war American life. With cameos by Mario Puzo, Richard Pryor, Warren Beatty, Norman Mailer, Joseph Heller, and many others, Lucky Bruce is a moving and scandalous memoir that brushes against the brightest of American luminaries.

Lily Tuck has had a wonderful and accomplished career as a National Book Award winning novelist, story writer, essayist and biographer. She is one of our most distinguished contributors to American literature. With The Double Life of Liliane, Tuck writes what may well be her crowning achievement to date, and, significantly too, her most autobiographical work. '' As the child of a German movie producer father who lives in Italy and a beautiful, artistically talented mother who resides in New York, Liliane's life is divided between those two very different worlds.

An inspiring memoir about an unruly Labrador who taught a woman and her father to overcome their grief and find peace with each other. When Mel Miskimen's mother dies, her tough, retired-cop father withdraws into his sadness, and his broken grief is more than Mel can handle on her own. Enter Seamus: a rowdy, hapless Labrador devoted to chaos. In a spark of inspiration, Mel ropes her father into training the wayward hound for a local contest. As the seasons change, Mel finds herself connecting with her last surviving parent more than she'd ever dreamed.