A Visit From the Goon Squad


Book Description

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOKS OF 2010 Jennifer Egan's spellbinding novel circles the lives of Bennie Salazar, an ageing former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the troubled young woman he employs. We first meet Sasha in her mid-thirties, on her therapist's couch in New York City, confronting her longstanding compulsion to steal. We meet Bennie at the melancholy nadir of his adult life - divorced, struggling to connect with his nine-year-old son, listening to a washed-up band in the basement of a suburban house. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other's pasts, the reader does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs, over many years, in many places. With music pulsing on every page, this is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption. Breathtaking work from one of our boldest writers. 'Irresistible. Fiction of the highest quality' Sunday Times 'Egan's precise, calm underwater prose is a persistent pleasure' Daily Telegraph 'Stories that defy narrative convention' Financial Times 'A must-read' Sunday Times




Them Goon Rules


Book Description

Marquis Bey’s debut collection, Them Goon Rules, is an un-rulebook, a long-form essayistic sermon that meditates on how Blackness and nonnormative gender impact and remix everything we claim to know. A series of essays that reads like a critical memoir, this work queries the function and implications of politicized Blackness, Black feminism, and queerness. Bey binds together his personal experiences with social justice work at the New York–based Audre Lorde Project, growing up in Philly, and rigorous explorations of the iconoclasm of theorists of Black studies and Black feminism. Bey’s voice recalibrates itself playfully on a dime, creating a collection that tarries in both academic and nonacademic realms. Fashioning fugitive Blackness and feminism around a line from Lil’ Wayne’s “A Millie,” Them Goon Rules is a work of “auto-theory” that insists on radical modes of thought and being as a refrain and a hook that is unapologetic, rigorously thoughtful, and uncompromising.




Goon


Book Description

Directionless yet driven by a fervent desire to make something of himself, Doug "The Thug" Smith took his only marketable job skill--amateur boxing--and followed an unlikely career path to become a hockey enforcer, a.k.a. "goon." Entrusted with aggressively protecting his teammates from tough guys on the opposing team, he punched, elbowed and cross-checked his way up the ranks of minor league hockey to win a championship ring and the respect of his community. His entertaining underdog story is the subject of the cult-classic motion picture Goon (2011) and its sequel Goon: Last of the Enforcers (2017).




Goon


Book Description

Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey chronicles the uniquely wild adventure of Doug Smith, who was determined to realize his dream of playing professional hockey, despite the fact he didn't start skating until the age of 19. Armed with a burning desire and his only marketable athletic abilities - those honed as an amateur boxer - Doug defeated impossible odds to win a championship ring and play in the world's second-best hockey league. Goon gives a raw and revealing insider's look at the riotous world of minor league hockey and the most peculiar role in all of sport - the Goon, whose job is to protect teammates from opposing ruffians. Come along as Doug Smith, an outsider in the hockey world, literally fights his way to the highest level of minor league hockey. You may never view the game in the same light again.




Archer's Goon


Book Description

The trouble started when Howard Sykes came home from school and found the "goon" sitting in the kitchen. He said he'd been sent by Archer. But who was Archer? It had to do with the 2,000 words that Howard's author father had failed to deliver. It soon became clear not only that Archer wanted those words, but that his wizard siblings, Hathaway, Dillian, Shine, Torquil, Erskine, and Venturus, would also go to any lengths to get them. Although each wizard ruled a section of the town, he or she was a prisoner in it. Each suspected that one of them held the secret behind the words, and that secret was the key to their freedom. Which one of them was it? The Sykes family become pawns in the wizards' fight to win their freedom, wrest control from one another, and fan out to rule the world. Diana Wynne Jones skillfully guides the reader through a riveting, twisty plot, with satisfying surprises at every amazing turn. An exciting science fiction adventure where, happily, nothing is what it first seems to be.




Goon Holler: Goon Fishin'


Book Description

From the creators of Yo Gabba Gabba! Goon Holler is tucked away deep in the forests of Burgertucky and is home to many types of folk--mermaids, wizards, aliens, and, of course, some very mischievous goons. In the second installment of this series, Dosie and the Goons waste the day away fishing while Tooba works up a sweat cooking up hot dogs. Even though the Sasquatch wishes he could be down at the watering hole, at the end of the day, he learns the reward that comes at the end of a day's hard work. Each book features an original song!




Gabe and Goon


Book Description

Monsters are real! But, so are little boys. Gabe longs to encounter a real, live monster. And tonight’s his lucky night because hiding in Gabe's closet is real-live monster and easily spooked, Goon, wishes to keep away from the outside world— especially those scary little beings called children. When the two meet, Goon can't scare Gabe no matter how hard he tries. But an unsuccessful monster makes for a great friend when the boy is actually scared. Best-selling author/illustrator Iza Trapani uses humorous rhyme to share a spirited story of unexpected friendship.




Them Goon Rules


Book Description

Marquis Bey’s debut collection, Them Goon Rules, is an un-rulebook, a long-form essayistic sermon that meditates on how Blackness and nonnormative gender impact and remix everything we claim to know. A series of essays that reads like a critical memoir, this work queries the function and implications of politicized Blackness, Black feminism, and queerness. Bey binds together his personal experiences with social justice work at the New York–based Audre Lorde Project, growing up in Philly, and rigorous explorations of the iconoclasm of theorists of Black studies and Black feminism. Bey’s voice recalibrates itself playfully on a dime, creating a collection that tarries in both academic and nonacademic realms. Fashioning fugitive Blackness and feminism around a line from Lil’ Wayne’s “A Millie,” Them Goon Rules is a work of “auto-theory” that insists on radical modes of thought and being as a refrain and a hook that is unapologetic, rigorously thoughtful, and uncompromising.




A Real Goon's Bible


Book Description

To all those who stand tall through it all! This one's for ya'll.In life there's a start and finish to everything, but what counts the most are the things one does while going through it, such as having morals and principles that detour even the thought of indulging in activities that put your beliefs at question. I'm a firm believer in the Game God and the rules and codes of the "jungle" we call the streets, and when one violates the Laws of the Game, there will be various forms of consequences and repercussions. Times have changed true indeed, but what hasn't changed is the definition and understanding of what defines a man, a stand up man at that. There once was a time when men carried their own weight, no matter what threats or tactics law enforcement used on them; but due to all the real thoroughbred soldiers and their lengthily prison bits, the younger generation hasn't been receiving the guidance and discipline us true soldiers had to endure. So in turn, many are bred to be something all real men despise-rats and snitches.With all this being said, the Game hasn't changed, it's the individual who's playing that has changed, along with the help of the government who is guiding and molding them to their specifications to be less than the strong men their meant to be. They're not only the worst of the worst, they're lost.So to all the real "G's" who refuse to bend or fold, my hat's off to you because believe it when I tell you-we're the last of a dying breed.




Don't Call Me Goon


Book Description

Professional hockey enforcers—popularly known as “goons”—finally get their due in this rollicking look at the players who have perfected the art of making mayhem. Whether they are called upon to duke it out with a fellow troublemaker or intimidate an opponent’s top scorer, these are the men who get the crowds to their feet, the sports radio shows buzzing, and the TV audience spilling their beers in excitement. Old timers like Joe Hall and Red Horner are profiled here, along with legendary heavy hitters Tiger Williams, Stu Grimson, and Bob Probert, fan favorites Tie Domi and Georges Laroque, and contemporary hockey stars Arron Asham and Brian McGrattan. The book also delves into the intense debate over the issue of violence on the ice as well as the personal and professional dramas of the NHL’s bad boys: the suspensions, the concussions, and the constant controversy of their role in the game.