Crazy Town

Crazy Town
Author: Robyn Doolittle
Publisher: Penguin Canada
Total Pages: 419
Release: 2014-02-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0143191349

His drug and alcohol-fuelled antics made world headlines and engulfed a city in unprecedented controversy. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s personal and political troubles have occupied centre stage in North America’s fourth largest city since news broke that men involved in the drug trade were selling a videotape of Ford appearing to smoke crack cocaine. Toronto Star reporter Robyn Doolittle was one of three journalists to view the video and report on its contents in May 2013. Her dogged pursuit of the story has uncovered disturbing details about the mayor’s past and embroiled the Toronto police, city councilors, and ordinary citizens in a raucous debate about the future of the city. Even before those explosive events, Ford was a divisive figure. A populist and successful city councillor, he was an underdog to become mayor in 2010. His politics and mercurial nature have split the amalgamated city in two. But there is far more to the story. The Fords have a long, unhappy history of substance abuse and criminal behavior. Despite their troubles, they are also one of the most ambitious families in Canada. Those close to the Fords say they often compare themselves to the Kennedys and believe they were born to lead. Regardless of whether the mayor survives the scandal, the Ford name is on the ballot in the mayoralty election of 2014. Fast-paced and insightful, Crazy Town is a page-turning portrait of a troubled man, a formidable family and a city caught in an jaw-dropping scandal.

Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story

Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story
Author: Robyn Doolittle
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2014-02-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0143191802

Shocking new revelations about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, his family and associates by the Toronto Star reporter who has closely covered Ford’s career. Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story, by Robyn Doolittle, will chronicle Ford’s ascent from a flamboyant city councillor to a mayor embroiled in controversy.

Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable

Mayor Rob Ford: Uncontrollable
Author: Mark Towhey
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2015-10-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1634500482

Rob Ford—the most ridiculed and scandal-ridden mayor—is an international celebrity. When the photo of him smoking crack cocaine circulated, garnering billions of hits, it was the icing on the cake. Ford, not just the favorite buffoon of late-night comics and journalists, was also a known alcoholic and the subject of legal, political, and police investigations—stripped of his mayoral powers by Toronto’s City Council and a star subject in a murder investigation. Here for the first time, Ford’s former chief of staff Mark Towhey, who tried to wrangle Ford during his highly public meltdown, comes clean, filling in incredible behind-the-scenes details previously unknown and providing invaluable context. With this highly anticipated and much-talked-about tell-all, we go deep into Ford’s personal life, including his addictions and his rivalry with his brother; we watch him as he runs Toronto; we overhear hair-raising late-night phone calls and see private, after-hours events; and we also get the much-gossiped-about but little-known account of Towhey’s desperate struggle to protect the mayor from himself. This juicy read is, like Ford, political candy, but it doesn’t expose Ford for the sake of ridicule—it empathizes with him and explains him. It provides a fascinating portrait of twenty-first-century urban politics, as well as a character study of a larger-than-life personality, a mayor so colorful that he remains in office as a councillor and—despite it all—may one day become mayor again.

Wastelands

Wastelands
Author: John Joseph Adams
Publisher: Start Publishing LLC
Total Pages: 527
Release: 2008-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1597802387

Famine, Death, War, and Pestilence: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the harbingers of Armageddon — these are our guides through the Wastelands... From the Book of Revelations to The Road Warrior; from A Canticle for Leibowitz to The Road, storytellers have long imagined the end of the world, weaving tales of catastrophe, chaos, and calamity. Gathering together the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today’s most renowned authors of speculative fiction, including George R.R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card, Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Octavia E. Butler, and Stephen King, Wastelands explores the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon.

Ford Nation

Ford Nation
Author: Rob Ford
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2016-11-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1443451770

During his tumultuous term as mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford always stayed on message—saving taxpayers money and putting the brakes on the “gravy train” at city hall. He also returned every phone call, even showing up on people’s doorsteps late at night to help them with their problems. But despite his hard work to cut excessive spending and to address the city’s crumbling infrastructure, the media delighted in showcasing Ford’s most personal struggles instead. Reporters followed him to his car, onto his front lawn, and trailed behind while he trick-or-treated with his children. The city, the country, the entire world watched Rob Ford battle substance abuse, but they rarely saw or heard the real story behind Ford—the family man, the faithful public servant, the devoted husband, father, and brother who put the people of his city above all else. In Ford Nation, Doug Ford, Rob’s brother and most trusted advisor, shares the true story of the two brothers and the Ford family: from the early days of their parents’ marriage, as Diane and Doug Sr worked tirelessly to get their company, Deco Labels and Tags, off the ground; to the Etobicoke house filled with the Ford children; to Doug Sr’s entry into provincial politics, with Rob and Doug following in his footsteps, to city hall. Ford Nation recounts the triumphs and strug-gles of Rob and Doug in their own voices—as well as the voices of their mother, Diane, nephew Michael, Rob’s widow, Renata, and daughter, Stephanie—from knocking on doors as new candidates to knocking out opponents in council chamber debates. When Rob was forced to end his campaign to remain mayor of Toronto, Doug didn’t hesitate to jump into the race, and despite his very late start he almost pulled off an upset. Doug shares what life was like for the family during this difficult time, and what it was like in the final hour of Rob’s life, when he succumbed to cancer and became, in his daughter Stephanie’s words, “the mayor of heaven.” Drawing on a number of sources to share Rob’s life in his own words after he became too ill to continue working on the book, Ford Nation is the only book that accurately captures the entire account of Rob and Doug Ford and their fight to protect the rights of the little guy.

Lies

Lies
Author: T. M. Logan
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 429
Release: 2018-09-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 125018228X

“Assured, compelling, and hypnotically readable—with a twist at the end I guarantee you won’t see coming” (New York Times bestselling author Lee Child), T. M. Logan’s debut psychological thriller dissects a troubled marriage straight to the marrow as one man separates the truth from the Lies... Six days ago, Joe Lynch was a happily married man, a devoted father, and a respected teacher living in a well-to-do London suburb. But that was before he spotted his wife’s car entering a hotel parking garage. Before he saw her in a heated argument with her best friend’s husband. Before Joe confronted the other man in an altercation where he left him for dead, bleeding and unconscious. Now, Joe’s life is unraveling. His wife has lied to him. Her deception has put their entire family in jeopardy. The man she met at the hotel has vanished. And as the police investigate his disappearance, suspicion falls on Joe. Unable to trust the woman he loves, Joe finds himself at the mercy of her revelations and deceits, unsure of who or what to believe. All he knows is that her actions have brought someone dangerous into their lives—someone obsessed with her and determined to tear Joe’s world apart. What if your whole life was based on LIES?

The Only Average Guy

The Only Average Guy
Author: John Filion
Publisher: Random House Canada
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2015-10-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0345816013

The first book to go beyond the scandal and distraction of the world's most infamous local politician, and reveal what drives Rob Ford and the many voters who steadfastly support him. Eye-opening and at times frightening, The Only Average Guy cuts through the uproar that followed Ford everywhere. A journalist before entering politics, Filion peels back the layers of an extremely complicated man. Weaving together the personal and political stories, he explains how Ford's tragic weaknesses helped propel him to power before leading to his inevitable failure. Through Ford, the book also explains the growing North American phenomenon by which angry voters are attracted to outspoken candidates flaunting outrageous flaws. For fifteen years, Toronto city councillor John Filion has had an uncommon relationship with Rob Ford. Sitting two seats away from the wildly unpredictable councillor from Etobicoke, who served as mayor from 2010 to 2014, Filion formed an unlikely camaraderie that allowed him to look beyond Rob's red-faced persona, seeing a boy still longing for the approval of his father, struggling with the impossible expectations of a family that fancied itself a political dynasty.

Grasshopper Jungle

Grasshopper Jungle
Author: Andrew Smith
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2014-02-11
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1101590068

A 2015 Michael L. Printz Honor Book Winner of the 2014 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction "Raunchy, bizarre, smart and compelling." --Rolling Stone “Grasshopper Jungle is simultaneously creepy and hilarious. Reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut’s in “Slaughterhouse Five,” in the best sense.” --New York Times Book Review In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend, Robby, have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things. This is the truth. This is history. It’s the end of the world. And nobody knows anything about it. You know what I mean. Funny, intense, complex, and brave, Grasshopper Jungle brilliantly weaves together everything from testicle-dissolving genetically modified corn to the struggles of recession-era, small-town America in this groundbreaking coming-of-age stunner.

Frontier City

Frontier City
Author: Shawn Micallef
Publisher: Signal
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017-02-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0771059329

Toronto is emerging from an identity crisis into a glorious new era. It began as a series of reports from the civic drama of the 2014 elections. But beyond the municipal circus, writer and commentator Shawn Micallef discovered the much bigger story of a city emerging into greatness. He walked and talked with candidates from all over Greater Toronto, and observed how they energized their communities, never shying away from the problems that exist within them -- poverty, violence, racism, and drugs -- but advocating solutions that bring people together. Shawn Micallef introduces us to those fighting for a more inclusive vision of Toronto and reveals the promise and potential for a city that has been suffering through a severe identity crisis but is now on a steep upturn. Toronto, he says, is set fair to be a new urban model for cities all over the world. Micallef reveals Toronto in all its rich variety. It is hard, he says, to grasp the vast size and scope of Toronto until you spend a few hours walking through unfamiliar neighbourhoods. Each reveals another adjacent to it, and then another, and another. The city goes on and on, into unheralded ravines and oblique views of the downtown skyline. Hiding in all that geography is not only great beauty, but a force for change that's been building for decades as people arrived here from every corner of the globe. Frontier City is a revelatory view of the Toronto of today and an inspiring vision of the Toronto of the near future.

Rock Springs

Rock Springs
Author: Richard Ford
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2012-06-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1408835096

In these ten stories, Ford mines literary gold from the wind-scrubbed landscape of the American West - and from the guarded hopes and gnawing loneliness of the people who live there. A refugee from justice driving across Wyoming with his daughter; an unhappy girlfriend and a stolen Mercedes; a boy watching his family dissolve in a night of tragicomic violence; two men and a woman swapping hard-luck stories in a frontier bar as they try to sweeten their luck. Rock Springs is a masterpiece of taut narration, cleanly chiselled prose, and empathy so generous that it feels like a kind of grace.