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Showing 301 - 320 of 3219 items
By Albert Schweitzer. 1952
By Saint-Denys Garneau. 1962
By Jennifer Weiner. 2016
No matter what was happening in Jennifer Weiner's life-whether good, bad, or very, very ugly-her mother, Fran, would say the…
same thing: it's all material. Now the #1 New York Times bestselling author and "one of the biggest names in popular fiction" (USA TODAY), beloved on Twitter and hailed as "an unlikely feminist enforcer" (The New Yorker), takes the raw stuff of her personal life and spins it into a collection of personal essays as uproariously funny and heartfelt as the best of Tina Fey and Nora Ephron. Jennifer grew up as an outsider in her picturesque Connecticut hometown ("a Lane Bryant outtake in an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue") and at her Ivy League college, but finally found her people in newsrooms in central Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, and her voice as a novelist and New York Times columnist. In her first essay collection, no subject is off-limits: sex, weight, envy, money, the reality of life with a newborn, her mom's newfound lesbianism, her estranged father's death (and Weiner's subsequent attempt to get the funeral home to accept her American Express card, because "if at least I get points, something good will have come of this"). From bad blind dates to modern childbirth to handling her six-year-old daughter's use of the f-word-fat-for the first time, Jennifer Weiner goes there, with the wit and candor that have endeared her to audiences all over the world. By turns hilarious and deeply touching, this collection shows that the woman behind treasured novels like Good in Bed and Best Friends Forever, is every bit as winning, smart, and honest in real life as she is in her fiction.By John Updike. 2017
Make it easy on yourself - read John Updike in Large Print! * All Random House Large Print Editions are…
published in a 16-point type Golf is neither work nor play, John Updike tells us: "Golf is a trip." Golf has been the subject of many books and the province of many experts, but few have written as sympathetically, or as knowingly, about the peculiar charms of bad golf, and the satisfactions of an essentially losing struggle. John Updike has been writing about golf since he took the game up at the age of twenty-five. In the nearly forty years of pleasurable bafflement that have followed, he has composed essays for Golf Digest and short stories for The New Yorker concerning the sport. His memories, insights, and witty remarks make this a truly unique audiobook. John Updike will tell you, in his own voice and his own words, how he learned the game, plays the game, and loves the game.By Stuart Woods. 2012
Stuart Woods had never owned more than a dinghy before setting out on one of the world's most demanding sea…
voyages, navigating single-handedly across the Atlantic. How, at the age of thirty-seven, did this self-proclaimed novice go from small ponds to the big sea? Now with a new afterword that looks back at how one transatlantic race changed his life, Woods takes readers on a spectacular journey not just of traveling across the world, but of being tried in fire, learning by accepting challenges, appreciating the beauty of the open water, and living to tell about it. 2012.By Brian Harvey. 2019
An adventure story set against the backdrop of a son trying to understand his fatherAfter a 25-year break from boating,…
Brian Harvey circumnavigates Vancouver Island with his wife, his dog, and a box of documents that surfaced after his father’s death. John Harvey was a neurosurgeon, violinist, and photographer who answered his door a decade into retirement to find a sheriff with a summons. It was a malpractice suit, and it did not go well. Dr. Harvey never got over it. The box contained every nurse’s record, doctor’s report, trial transcript, and expert testimony related to the case. Only Brian’s father had read it all — until now.In this beautifully written memoir, Brian Harvey shares how after two months of voyaging with his father’s ghost, he finally finds out what happened in the O.R. that crucial night and why Dr. Harvey felt compelled to fight the excruciating accusations.By Judith Flanders. 2014
Flanders traces the evolution of the house from the sixteenth to the early twentieth century across northern Europe and America,…
showing how the homes we know today bear only a faint resemblance to homes though history. What turned a house into a home? Why did northwestern Europe, a politically unimportant, sociologically underdeveloped region of the world, suddenly became the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution, the capitalist crucible that created modernity? While investigating these important questions, Flanders uncovers the fascinating development of ordinary household items--from cutlery, chairs and curtains, to fitted kitchens, plumbing and windows--while also dismantling many domestic myths.By Adam Platt. 2019
A wildly hilarious and irreverent memoir of a globe-trotting life lived meal-to-meal by one of our most influential and respected…
food critics As the son of a diplomat growing up in places like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan, Adam Platt didn't have the chance to become a picky eater. Living, traveling, and eating in some of the most far-flung locations around the world, he developed an eclectic palate and a nuanced understanding of cultures and cuisines that led to some revelations which would prove important in his future career as a food critic. In Tokyo, for instance-"a kind of paradise for nose-to-tail cooking"-he learned that "if you're interested in telling a story, a hair-raisingly bad meal is much better than a good one." From dim sum in Hong Kong to giant platters of Peking duck in Beijing, fresh-baked croissants in Paris and pierogi on the snowy streets of Moscow, Platt takes us around the world, re-tracing the steps of a unique, and lifelong, culinary education. Providing a glimpse into a life that has intertwined food and travel in exciting and unexpected ways, The Book of Eating is a delightful and sumptuous trip that is also the culinary coming-of-age of a voracious eater and his eventual ascension to become, as he puts it, "a professional glutton."With an introduction by Neil Gaiman! In this dazzling memoir, the acclaimed writer behind Babylon 5, Sense8, Clint Eastwood's Changeling…
and Marvel's Thor reveals how the power of creativity and imagination enabled him to overcome the horrors of his youth and a dysfunctional family haunted by madness, murder and a terrible secret. For four decades, J. Michael Straczynski has been one of the most successful writers in Hollywood, one of the few to forge multiple careers in movies, television and comics. Yet there's one story he's never told before: his own. Joe's early life nearly defies belief. Raised by damaged adults-a con-man grandfather and a manipulative grandmother, a violent, drunken father and a mother who was repeatedly institutionalized-Joe grew up in abject poverty, living in slums and projects when not on the road, crisscrossing the country in his father's desperate attempts to escape the consequences of his past. To survive his abusive environment Joe found refuge in his beloved comics and his dreams, immersing himself in imaginary worlds populated by superheroes whose amazing powers allowed them to overcome any adversity. The deeper he read, the more he came to realize that he, too, had a superpower: the ability to tell stories and make everything come out the way he wanted it. But even as he found success, he could not escape a dark and shocking secret that hung over his family's past, a violent truth that he uncovered over the course of decades involving mass murder. Straczynski's personal history has always been shrouded in mystery. Becoming Superman lays bare the facts of his life: a story of creation and darkness, hope and success, a larger-than-life villain and a little boy who became the hero of his own life. It is also a compelling behind-the-scenes look at some of the most successful TV series and movies recognized around the world.The first definitive account of Boko Haram's abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, their years in captivity, and why this story…
still matters - by celebrated international journalist Isha Sesay. The kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in 2014 made global headlines. From poor Nigerian families, these girls had defied the odds and pursued an education, but daring to dream resulted in one of the most high-profile abductions in modern history. Award-winning CNN anchor Isha Sesay was on the front lines as the story broke, and when 21 of the girls were released, she was the only journalist to accompany them on their dangerous journey back home. In Beneath the Tamarind Tree, having developed unprecedented access to the Chibok girls, Sesay shares an intimate account of the night Boko Haram attacked, exclusive details about their years in captivity, and their daring tales of escape. We meet Priscilla who dreamt of becoming a doctor, Saa who juggled schoolwork with family obligations, Mary who fought constant homesickness to stay in school, and Dorcas who planned to be the first in her family to get a college degree. Sesay delves into the inadequate Nigerian government response to the kidnapping, while synthesizing lessons about global national security. She also reminds us of the personal sacrifice required of journalists to bring us the truth, at a time of growing mistrust of the media. Beneath the Tamarind Tree is a gripping listen and a story of resilience with a soaring message of hope at its core, reminding us of the ever-present truth that progress for all of us hinges on unleashing the potential of women.By Prince. 2019
From Prince himself comes the brilliant coming-of-age-and-into-superstardom story of one of the greatest artists of all time-featuring never-before-seen photos, original…
scrapbooks and lyric sheets, and the exquisite memoir he began writing before his tragic death. Prince was a musical genius, one of the most talented, beloved, accomplished, popular, and acclaimed musicians in history. He was also a startlingly original visionary with an imagination deep enough to whip up whole worlds, from the sexy, gritty funk paradise of "Uptown" to the mythical landscape of Purple Rain to the psychedelia of "Paisley Park." But his most ambitious creative act was turning Prince Rogers Nelson, born in Minnesota, into Prince, the greatest pop star of his era. The Beautiful Ones is the story of how Prince became Prince-a first-person account of a kid absorbing the world around him and then creating a persona, an artistic vision, and a life, before the hits and fame that would come to define him. The book is told in four parts. The first is composed of the memoir he was writing before his tragic death, pages that brings us into Prince's childhood world through his own lyrical prose. The second part takes us into Prince's early years as a musician, before his first album released, through a scrapbook of Prince's writing and photos. The third section shows us Prince's evolution through candid images that take us up to the cusp of his greatest achievement, which we see in the book's fourth section: his original handwritten treatment for Purple Rain-the final stage in Prince's self-creation, as he retells the autobiography we've seen in the first three parts as a heroic journey. The book is framed by editor Dan Piepenbring's riveting and moving introduction about his short but profound collaboration with Prince in his final months-a time when Prince was thinking deeply about how to reveal more of himself and his ideas to the world, while retaining the mystery and mystique he'd so carefully cultivated-and annotations that provide context to each of the book's images. This work is not just a tribute to Prince, but an original and energizing literary work, full of Prince's ideas and vision, his voice and image, his undying gift to the world. Includes a bonus PDF featuring never-before-seen photos and original scrapbooks & lyric sheetsBy Olivia Newton-John. 2019
With candor, humor, and warmth, legendary musician, actress, activist, and icon Olivia Newton-John reveals her life story-from her unforgettable rise…
to fame in the classic musical Grease to her passionate advocacy for health and wellness in light of her battles with cancer. Perfect for fans of Tina Turner's My Love Story and Sally Field's In Pieces, this international bestseller is an extraordinary can't-miss memoir. For more than five decades, Olivia Newton-John has been one of our most successful and adored entertainers. A four-time Grammy Award winner, she is one of the world's bestselling recording artists of all time, with more than 100 million albums sold. Her starring roles in the iconic movies Grease and Xanadu catapulted her into super-stardom. Her appeal as a performer is timeless. In addition to her music and screen successes, Olivia is perhaps best known for her strength, courage, and grace. After her own personal journeys with cancer, she has thrived and become an inspiration for millions around the world. A tireless advocate for countless charities, her true passion is as the founding champion of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in her hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Olivia has always radiated joy, hope, and compassion-determined to be a force for good in the world. Now she is sharing her journey, from Melbourne schoolgirl to international superstar, in this deeply personal book. Warm, candid, and moving, Don't Stop Believin' is Olivia Newton-John's story in her own words for the very first time.By Ady Barkan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 2019
In this inspirational and moving memoir-reminiscent of When Breath Becomes Air and The Bright Hour-activist Ady Barkan explores his life…
with ALS and how his diagnosis gave him a profound new understanding of his commitment to social justice for all. Ady Barkan loved taking afternoon runs on the California coast and holding his newborn son, Carl. But one day, he noticed a troubling weakness in his hand. At first, he brushed it off as carpal tunnel syndrome, but after a week of neurological exams and two MRIs, he learned the cause of the problem: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. At age 32, Ady was given just three to four years to live. Yet despite the devastating diagnosis, he refused to let his remaining days go to waste. Eyes to the Wind is a rousing memoir featuring intertwining storylines about determination, perseverance, and how to live a life filled with purpose and intention. The first traces Ady's battle with ALS: how he turned the initial shock and panic from his diagnosis into a renewed commitment to social justice-not despite his disability but because of it. The second, told in flashbacks, illustrates Ady's journey from a goofy political nerd to a prominent figure in the enduring fight for equity and justice who is "willing to give [his] last breath to save our democracy" (CNN). From one of today's most vocal advocates for social justice, Eyes to the Wind is an evocative and unforgettable memoir about activism, dedication, love, and hope.By David Cameron. 2019
David Cameron was elected Conservative leader in 2005, promising to modernize the party following its three successive electoral defeats. He…
became Prime Minister in 2010, forming Britain's first coalition government in 70 years, at a moment of economic crisis, and went on to win the first outright Conservative majority for 23 years at the 2015 general election. In For the Record, he will explain how the governments he led transformed the UK economy while implementing a modern, compassionate agenda that included reforming education and welfare, legalizing gay marriage, honoring the UK's commitment to overseas aid and spearheading environmental policies. He will shed light on the seminal world events of his premiership-the Arab Spring; the rise of ISIS; the invasion of Ukraine; the conflicts in Libya, Iraq and Syria-as well as events at home, from the Olympic Games in 2012 to the Scottish referendum. He will provide, for the first time, his perspective on the EU referendum and his views on the future of Britain's place in the world following Brexit. Revealing the battles and achievements of his life and career in intimate and frank detail, For the Record will be an important assessment of the significant political events of the last decade, the nature of power and the role of leadership at a time of profound global change.By Tom Brokaw. 2019
Tom Brokaw recounts the endgame of the Watergate scandal and the Nixon presidency in real time, from his perspective in…
the press corps as a young White House correspondent for NBC News. The last year of the Nixon presidency was filled with power politics, legal jiu-jitsu and high-stakes showdowns, with head-shaking surprises every day. Tom Brokaw, the NBC News White House correspondent during the final year of Watergate, gives us a close-up, personal account of the players, the strategies, and the highs and lows of the scandal that brought down a president. Brokaw writes, "Even now, almost half a century later, I am astonished by what the country went through, and I wanted to share press stories from the inside looking out-what it was like to be on call 24/7, the twists and turns, the laughs and tensions during this historic time."In the ebullient spirit of Ocean's 8, The Heist, and Thelma & Louise, a sensational and entertaining memoir of the…
world's most notorious jewel thief-a woman who defied society's prejudices and norms to carve her own path, stealing from elite jewelers to live her dreams. Growing up during the Depression in the segregated coal town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, Doris Payne was told her dreams were unattainable for poor black girls like her. Surrounded by people who sought to limit her potential, Doris vowed to turn the tables after the owner of a jewelry store threw her out when a white customer arrived. Neither racism nor poverty would hold her back; she would get what she wanted and help her mother escape an abusive relationship. Using her southern charm, quick wit, and fascination with magic as her tools, Payne began shoplifting small pieces of jewelry from local stores. Over the course of six decades, her talents grew with each heist. Becoming an expert world-class jewel thief, she daringly pulled off numerous diamond robberies and her Jewish boyfriend fenced the stolen gems to Hollywood celebrities. Doris's criminal exploits went unsolved well into the 1970s-partly because the stores did not want to admit that they were duped by a black woman. Eventually realizing Doris was using him, her boyfriend turned her in. She was arrested after stealing a diamond ring in Monte Carlo that was valued at more than half a million dollars. But even prison couldn't contain this larger-than-life personality who cleverly used nuns as well as various ruses to help her break out. With her arrest in 2013 in San Diego, Doris's fame skyrocketed when media coverage of her astonishing escapades exploded. Today, at eighty-seven, Doris, as bold and vibrant as ever, lives in Atlanta, and is celebrated for her glamorous legacy. She sums up her adventurous career best: "It beat being a teacher or a maid." A rip-roaringly fun and exciting story as captivating and audacious as Catch Me if You Can and Can You Ever Forgive Me?-Diamond Doris is the portrait of a captivating anti-hero who refused to be defined by the prejudices and mores of a hypocritical society.By Jagmeet Singh. 2019
From the leader of Canada's New Democratic Party-Jagmeet Singh-comes a personal and heartfelt story about family and overcoming adversity. In…
October 2017, Jagmeet Singh was elected as the first visible minority to lead a major federal political party in Canada. The historic milestone was celebrated across the nation. About a month earlier, in the lead up to his election, Jagmeet held community meet-and-greets across Canada. At one such event, a disruptive heckler in the crowd hurled accusations at him. Jagmeet responded by calmly calling for all Canadians to act with "love and courage" in the face of hate. That response immediately went viral, and people across the country began asking, "Who is Jagmeet Singh? And why 'love and courage'?" This personal and heartfelt memoir is Jagmeet's answer to that question. In it, we are invited to walk with him through childhood to adulthood as he learns powerful, moving, and sometimes traumatic lessons about hardship, addiction, and the impact of not belonging. We meet his strong family, including his mother, who teaches him that "we are all one; we are all connected," a valuable lesson that has shaped who he is today. This story is not a political memoir. This is a story of family, love, and courage, and how strengthening the connection between us all is the way to building a better world.By Michael Eric Dyson. 2019
"If you want the definitive treatment of a man who took it from Marcy Projects to the White House with…
wit, wisdom, and talent, and changed hip hop along the way, look no further than this insightful, brilliant and moving book." -Common JAY-Z is America at its scrappy, brash, irreverent, soulful, ingenious best: as transcendent a cultural icon as Frank Sinatra, as adventurous a self-made billionaire as Mark Zuckerberg, as gifted a poet as Walt Whitman. As he reaches the half-century mark, logs thirty years as a recording artist, becomes the genre's first billionaire, reigns as an elder statesman in a field teeming with artists half his age, and continues to make relevant rap records that chart-and that chart an artistic and political response to revived racism and renewed hostility to blackness-it is an auspicious time to examine JAY-Z's ideas, gifts and impact, to take measure of his stride as a cultural colossus. And there is no one better suited to the task than Michael Eric Dyson, who has investigated and championed hip hop, and the work of JAY-Z, as a critical American art form, for decades.By Jack Goldsmith. 2019
As a young man, Jack Goldsmith revered his stepfather, longtime Jimmy Hoffa associate Chuckie O'Brien. But as he grew older…
and pursued a career in law and government, he came to doubt and distance himself from the man long suspected by the FBI of perpetrating Hoffa's disappearance on behalf of the mob. It was only years later, when Goldsmith was serving as assistant attorney general in the George W. Bush administration and questioning its misuse of surveillance and other powers, that he began to reconsider his stepfather, and to understand Hoffa's true legacy. In Hoffa's Shadow tells the moving story of how Goldsmith reunited with the stepfather he'd disowned and then set out to unravel one of the 20th century's most persistent mysteries and Chuckie's role in it. Along the way, Goldsmith explores Hoffa's rise and fall and why the golden age of blue-collar America came to an end, while also casting new light on the century-old surveillance state, the architects of Hoffa's disappearance, and the heartrending complexities of love and loyalty.By Chris Gabbard. 2019
For readers of When Bad Things Happen to Good People and When Breath Becomes Air, the story of how one…
father's Kafka-esque foray into the bowels of American medicine forced him to reexamine his own values and the purpose of human life. Before becoming a father, Chris Gabbard was a fast-track academic finishing his doctoral dissertation at Stanford. A disciple of reason and all things steeped in the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers, Gabbard was influenced by his favorite philosophers-Socrates, Aristotle, John Locke, Peter Singer. That is, until he had August. Despite his faith in modern medicine, the very science Gabbard touted as infallible fails him. August was born nonverbal, unable to walk or feed himself due to an injury that was the likely result of medical error. In the midst of adjusting to a life of intense caregiving, doctor's visits, negotiations with Medicaid, and the pressure of mounting debt, he becomes obsessed with uncovering what doctors should have done differently to save his son from what he can only fathom as a life of suffering. But, as Gabbard cares for August during his short fourteen years of life, he experiences a profound evolution as the monumental truths of his idols give way and he comes to understand that his son is undeniably a person deserving of life. Unflinching and luminous, A Life Beyond Reason is an account of medical error, family, and excruciating personal and philosophical transformations for anyone who has questioned the very foundations of their beliefs.