Central Kansas Library System

We've all had those moments. The ones where you look in the mirror and nothing feels ok. For Anita Bhagwandas, this started when she was a child and it created an enduring internal torment about her looks. We're all told that this is just part of growing up, but it stays with us, evolving as we age. The internet tells us we should love ourselves, whilst bombarding us with images of airbrushed perfection, upholding centuries-old beauty standards which...

Martin Hibbert was left paralyzed from the waist down by the Manchester Arena bombing which killed twenty-two people on 22 May 2017. Martin's teenage daughter Eve was one of the 940 injured, in Eve's case, gravely. The dad from Bolton has since become a leading campaigner both for victims of the atrocity and those with spinal cord injuries. Determined to make a difference he took on the ultimate challenge, scaling Kilimanjaro in a wheelchair, becoming...

Very compelling, beautifully written memoir of a time and England that no longer exists but remains just as important as ever Pip Fallow's memoir is not just a classic piece of working-class writing, but a truly gripping narrative Pip Fallow left school illiterate, prepared only for a life down the mines. This is his story of working class life in northern England, and the country that would leave people like him behind. Dragged Up Proppa, read by...

“No Heroes, No Monsters” focuses on the dramatic struggle of Anna Ardin, the WikiLeaks activist who, in 2010, came forward to report sexual abuse by Julian Assange. This is her testimony to a legal trial that was replaced by an Internet tribunal. A tribunal where women's rights are all too often both neglected and weaponized. A tribunal that every day of the year chooses a new woman to be the most hated. The book goes beyond the headlines-the...

Stefan Zweig's memoir, The World of Yesterday, recalls the golden age of prewar Europe - its seeming permanence, its promise and its devastating fall with the onset of two world wars. Zweig's passionate, evocative prose paints a stunning portrait of an era that danced brilliantly on the brink of extinction. It is an unusually humane account of Europe from the closing years of the 19th century through to World War II, seen through the eyes of one of...

King Charles I's life ended with his neck: he was beheaded outside his London palace in January 1649. It was presumed then that his son Charles II who had fled would suffer the same fate; with his darker complexion, six foot two figure and regal mannerisms, he stood out in a crowd. Yet, against all odds, the heir to the throne became the protagonist of one of the most incredible pursuits in history, lasting nearly a decade. In this gripping, action-packed,...

A searing essay collection that explores displacement and loss, creativity and change, institutional power, and progress. Born in Korea, raised in the American South, and trying her best to survive British academia, SJ Kim probes her experiences as a writer, a scholar, and a daughter to confront the silences she finds in the world. With curiosity and sensitivity, she writes letters to the institutions that simultaneously support and fail her, intimate...

Ian Buruma explores the life and death of Baruch Spinoza, the Enlightenment thinker whose belief in freedom of thought and speech resonates in our own time. Baruch (Benedictus) Spinoza (1632-1677) was a radical free thinker who led a life guided by strong moral principles despite his disbelief in an all-seeing God. Seen by many as Satan's disciple during his lifetime, Spinoza has been regarded as a secular saint since his death. Many contradictory...

An Impossible Decision is the true story of Faye, a wonderful young woman who may never be able to parent her unborn child. Faye is 24, pregnant, and has learning difficulties as a result of her mother's alcoholism. Faye is gentle, childlike and vulnerable, and normally lives with her grandparents, both of whom have mobility problems. Cathy and her children welcome Faye into their home and hearts. The care plan is for Faye to stay with Cathy until...

The grand inquisitor of The Weakest Link bares all in this humor-laced memoir. The first woman in nearly half a century to host a prime-time game show and the highest-paid female journalist in British history, Anne Robinson warranted fan mail, death threats, unqualified admiration, and unabashed hatred. From pioneering journalist to overnight phenomenon, Robinson shares the events of her formative upbringing by a sensitive father and a driven, hardworking...