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Canals, Canines, and Curry
By Michael Rolfe. 2014
A new life on the English Waterways...An informative and humorous new boater’ s perspective of life on the Inland Waterways;…
charting their learning curve from calamitous collisions to confident competence, all fuelled by copious curries.Two humans, a dog the size of a small horse, petrol, gas, and curry, all in a confined space on a vessel we’d bought and only in theory knew how to operate. What could possibly go wrong?Dotted throughout is information on narrowboats, rivers, and canals, explored as we learn it on our own journeys, written in easy-to-follow layman’s terms.When We Were on Fire: A Memoir of Consuming Faith, Tangled Love, and Starting Over
By Addie Zierman. 2013
In the strange, us-versus-them Christian subculture of the 1990s, a person's faith was measured by how many WWJD bracelets she…
wore and whether he had kissed dating goodbye. Evangelical poster child Addie Zierman wore three bracelets asking what Jesus would do. She also led two Bible studies and listened exclusively to Christian music. She was on fire for God and unaware that the flame was dwindling--until it burned out. Addie chronicles her journey through church culture and first love, and her entrance--unprepared and angry--into marriage. When she drops out of church and very nearly her marriage as well, it is on a sea of tequila and depression. She isn't sure if she'll ever go back. When We Were on Fire is a funny, heartbreaking story of untangling oneself from what is expected to arrive at faith that is not bound by tradition or current church fashion. Addie looks for what lasts when nothing else seems worth keeping. It's a story for doubters, cynics, and anyone who has felt alone in church. returning to love, Jesus, and (perhaps toughest of all) his imperfect followers. And, in the end, it's about what lasts when nothing else seems worth keeping.The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart
By Ruth Behar. 1996
Eloquently interweaving ethnography and memoir, award-winning anthropologist Ruth Behar offers a new theory and practice for humanistic anthropology. She proposes…
an anthropology that is lived and written in a personal voice. She does so in the hope that it will lead us toward greater depth of understanding and feeling, not only in contemporary anthropology, but in all acts of witnessing.Our Zoo
By June Mottershead. 2014
'With characteristic self-effacement, she puts the escapades of charismatic animals ahead of her own feelings.' The Guardian.When George Mottershead moved…
to the village of Upton-by-Chester in 1930 to realise his dream of opening a zoo without bars, his four-year-old daughter June had no idea how extraordinary her life would become. Soon her best friend was a chimpanzee called Mary, lion cubs and parrots were vying for her attention in the kitchen, and finding a bear tucked up in bed was no more unusual than talking to a tapir about granny's lemon curd. Pelican, penguin or polar bear - for June, they were simply family. The early years were not without their obstacles for the Mottersheads. They were shunned by the local community, bankruptcy threatened and then World War Two began. Nightly bombing raids turned the dream into a nightmare and finding food for the animals became a constant challenge. Yet George's resilience, resourcefulness and tenacity eventually paid off. Now over 80 years since June first set foot in the echoing house, Chester Zoo has achieved worldwide renown. Here, in her enthralling memoir, June Mottershead chronicles the heartbreak, the humour, the trials and triumphs, above all the characters, both human and animal, who shaped her childhood.When Jon Holmes became a father (twice), he was asked to fill in a form detailing his family medical history.…
Except he couldn't, because he has no idea who his family are. Born to an unnamed, unmarried mother and an unknown father and given up for adoption at four weeks old, Jon decided to document his own history, so that one day he could pass it on to his children. It's a story of how boys grow up to become (stupid) men, of sexual misadventure, of being accidentally shot in the face, of spiders, a ghost, a fatally injured gerbil, American road trips that went wrong, becoming inadvertently locked in Graham Norton's toilet with an Oscar nominated screenwriter, being removed from Mrs Thatcher's vicinity by her security detail and having loving parents who did their best to bring up a child that wasn't theirs. Part memoir, part hilarious insight into why men are so inept, this is the true story of how an unwanted baby in the Midlands went on to become a wanted man in the state of Texas, and everything that happened in between.His children will never be allowed to read it.Truths, Half Truths and Little White Lies
By Nick Frost. 2015
'If I'm going to tell the story of a life, my life, then I need to tell it warts and…
all. If the tale is too saccharine sweet then what can the reader take away from it? What do they learn about you? I've written everything down. The shit, the death, fun, naughtiness, addiction, laughter, laughter, laughter, some tears and lots of love and happiness. That to me is a better reflection of a human's life.'Nick's family life was difficult, blighted by alcoholism, illness and sudden misfortune meaning they lost everything overnight. He left school early and drifted from job to job dogged by his own personal demons. It's something of a miracle that Nick survived and even more that he would achieve such success with his writing, acting and comedy. In Truths, Half Truths and Little White Lies Nick paints a brilliantly funny, moving and brutally candid portrait of childhood, adolescence and eventual success.Yoga Girl: Finding Happiness, Cultivating Balance and Living with Your Heart Wide Open
By Rachel Brathen. 2015
The beautiful full-colour New York Times bestselling book, filled with stunning photography, written by the yoga instructor who inspires more…
than two million followers on Instagram every single day.Part self-help and part memoir, Yoga Girl is an inspirational look at the adventure that took writer and yoga teacher Rachel Brathen from her hometown in Sweden to the jungles of Costa Rica and finally to a paradise island in the Caribbean that she now calls home. With more than two million followers on Instagram, Brathen shares positive snippets of her life every day. In Yoga Girl, she gives readers an in-depth look at her journey from her self-destructive teenage years to the happy and inspiring life she's built through yoga, mindfulness and meditation. Featuring spectacular photos of Rachel practising yoga in idyllic locations, along with step-by-step yoga sequences and simple recipes for a healthy, happy, and fearless lifestyle, Yoga Girl is all you need to inspire your own yoga journey.'An international force in the world of yoga.' AllureBode: Go Fast, Be Good, Have Fun
By Bode Miller, Jack Mcenany. 2005
"I don't master the mountain, I master speed. " Coming from Bode Miller, this isn't boasting, it's just the way…
he lives: fast, honest, and wide open. In this candid book, the two-time Olympic medalist and champion skier shares his story, the secret of his success, and his philosophy of life. Born and raised "off the grid"-without electricity or indoor plumbing-in the cabin built by his father in the woods near Franconia, New Hampshire (pop. 850), Bode is unconventional to the core. The strong values of his simple upbringing, where he and his family had to "invent, grow, or carry in" all the essentials have made Bode unique among today's top sports stars. Bode's approach to life is straightforward: "Get a plan, stick to it, and trust your instincts . . . and almost anything is possible. " And practically since birth, the iconoclastic Bode has been achieving the impossible and laying down tracks for others to follow. He revolutionized his sport by adopting new and crossover technologies, such as "shape" skis. He drives his tradition-bound European rivals to distraction, skiing and winning by instinct. His outsider status, killer smile, and outspoken yet laid-back persona have earned him a reputation as the Michael Jordan of skiing. Men's Journal named Bode the second greatest athlete in the world. And in the 2005 season, Bode may have moved up a notch by becoming the first American to win the Overall World Cup Alpine championship in twenty-two years. In short, he is the kind of person everybody wants to know and hang out with. In a book loaded with insight, good humor, and eye-opening stories about the world of competitive skiing, Bode, as always, holds nothing back.Hungry for the World: A Memoir
By Kim Barnes. 2000
From the author of the critically acclaimed In the Wilderness, comes a riveting new narrative of self-discovery and personal triumph.…
Hungry for the World is the story of how an intelligent and passionate young woman, yearning for an understanding of the world beyond her insular family life, found her way.On the day of her 1976 high school graduation in Lewiston, Idaho, Kim Barnes decided she could no longer abide the patriarchal domination of family and church. After a disagreement with her father-a logger and fervent adherent to the Pentecostal Christian faith-she gathered her few belongings and struck out on her own. She had no skills and no funds, but she had the courage and psychological sturdiness to make her way, and to eventually survive the influence of a man whose dominance was of a different and more menacing sort. Hungry for the World is a classic story of the search for knowledge and its consequences, both dire and beautiful.From the Trade Paperback edition.Imagine for a moment that you have never heard the voices of those you love, the music on the radio,…
the sound of birdsong at dawn nor the persistent passing traffic on the road you walk down. Now imagine that the lips that you have watched moving, the faces that you have smiled at, the words that you read in front of you all slowly start to disappear too. It's hard to comprehend isn't it?Jo Milne had already lived a lifetime surrounded by silence, profoundly deaf from birth, when she began to lose her sight. Just before turning thirty, Jo was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome, a rare genetic and progressive condition that will one day rob her of her sight altogether.Although at this lowest ebb, Jo suffered from deep depression, she has always been determined to live her life to the full. Jo has never let her disabilities affect the way she embraces life however there was always so much that she was missing. In 2014 she made a life-changing decision to undergo major surgery. She had cochlear implants fitted allowing her to hear for the first time. Every moment of Jo's days since the operation has become a journey of discovery.She has been able to hear the voice of her own mother who has stood by her and helped her through some of her darkest moments. She has heard birds sing, people chatting and the sound of children laughing. She is embarking on an incredible journey through four missed generations of music - from the hymns she missed in school assembly to sweeping orchestral performances, from the Beatles and Rolling Stones to the music of this very moment and everything in between. Breaking the Silence is a remarkable and beautifully written memoir that will serve as an inspiration to everyone who reads it. By turns, heart-breaking and heart-warming, it is the incredibly uplifting life-story of a woman who refused to give up hope and always lives life with a smile upon her face.Wrapped in the Flag: A Personal History of America's Radical Right
By Claire Conner. 2013
A narrative history of the John Birch Society by a daughter of one of the infamous ultraconservative organization's founding fathers…
Long before the rise of the Tea Party movement and the prominence of today's religious Right, the John Birch Society, first established in 1958, championed many of the same radical causes touted by ultraconservatives today, including campaigns against abortion rights, gay rights, gun control, labor unions, environmental protections, immigrant rights, social and welfare programs, the United Nations, and even water fluoridation. Worshipping its anti-Communist hero Joe McCarthy, the Birch Society is perhaps most notorious for its red-baiting and for accusing top politicians, including President Dwight Eisenhower, of being Communist sympathizers. It also labeled John F. Kennedy a traitor and actively worked to unseat him. The Birch Society boasted a number of notable members, including Fred Koch, father of Charles and David Koch, who are using their father's billions to bankroll fundamentalist and right-wing movements today. The daughter of one of the society's first members and a national spokesman about the society, Claire Conner grew up surrounded by dedicated Birchers and was expected to abide by and espouse Birch ideals. When her parents forced her to join the society at age thirteen, she became its youngest member of the society. From an even younger age though, Conner was pressed into service for the cause her father and mother gave their lives to: the nurturing and growth of the JBS. She was expected to bring home her textbooks for close examination (her mother found traces of Communist influence even in the Catholic school curriculum), to write letters against "socialized medicine" after school, to attend her father's fiery speeches against the United Nations, or babysit her siblings while her parents held meetings in the living room to recruit members to fight the war on Christmas or (potentially poisonous) water fluoridation. Conner was "on deck" to lend a hand when JBS notables visited, including founder Robert Welch, notorious Holocaust denier Revilo Oliver, and white supremacist Thomas Stockheimer. Even when she was old enough to quit in disgust over the actions of those men, Conner found herself sucked into campaigns against abortion rights and for ultraconservative presidential candidates like John Schmitz. It took momentous changes in her own life for Conner to finally free herself of the legacy of the John Birch Society in which she was raised. In Wrapped in the Flag, Claire Conner offers an intimate account of the society --based on JBS records and documents, on her parents' files and personal writing, on historical archives and contemporary accounts, and on firsthand knowledge--giving us an inside look at one of the most radical right-wing movements in US history and its lasting effects on our political discourse today.Father, Soldier, Son: Memoir of a Platoon Leader In Vietnam
By Nathaniel Tripp. 1998
"Father, Soldier, Son will stand as one of the finest soldier memoirs of the Vietnam War . . . If…
all that has been written about the war in Vietnam, in fiction and nonfiction, has made it a familiar story to some, Tripp overcomes cliché by individualizing every well-known fact." -- The Boston GlobeNATHANIEL TRIPP GREW UP fatherless in a house full of women and he arrived in Vietnam as a just-promoted second lieutenant in the summer of 1968 with no memory of a man's example to guide and sustain him. The father missing from Tripp's life had gone off to war as well, in the Navy in World War II, but the terrors were too much for him, he disgraced himself, and after the war ended he could not bring himself to return to his wife and young son. In "some of the best prose this side of Tim O'Brien or Tobias Wolff" (Military History Quarterly), Tripp tells of how he learned as a platoon leader to become something of a father to the men in his care, how he came to understand the strange trajectory of his own mentally unbalanced father's life, and how the lessons he learned under fire helped him in the raising of his own sons."Not since Michael Herr's Dispatches has there been anything quite as vivid, gripping and soul-searing," raved the Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune said "the description of combat in the jungles of Vietnam are authentic and terrifying, as good as any I have read in fact or fiction."It’s Not Raining, Daddy, It's Happy
By Benjamin Brooks-Dutton. 2014
The Sunday Times bestsellerThe moving and inspiring account of heartbreak and courage, and the life-affirming relationship between a father and…
son. Ben Brooks-Dutton's wife - the great love of his life - was knocked down and killed by a car as he walked beside her, pushing their two-year-old son in his buggy. Life changed forever. Suddenly Ben was a widower deep in shock, left to raise their bewildered child alone. In the aftermath Ben searched for guidance from men in similar situations, but it appeared that young widowed fathers don't talk. Well meaning loved ones admired his strength. The unwritten rule seemed to be to 'shut up, man up and hide your pain'. Lost, broken and afraid of the future, two months after his wife Desreen's death, Ben started a blog with the aim of rejecting outdated conventions of grief and instead opening up about his experiences. Within months Life as a Widower, had received a million hits and had started an all-too-often hushed conversation about the reality of loss and grief. This is the story of a man and a child who lost the woman they so dearly love and what happened in the year that followed. Ben describes the conflicting emotions that come from facing grief head on. He rages against the clichés used around loss and shows the strange and cruel ways in which grief can take hold. He also charts what it means to become a sole parent to a child who has lost their mother and cannot yet understand the meaning of death. Through the shock and sadness shine moments of hope and insight. So much of what Ben learns comes from watching his son struggle, survive and live, as children do, from moment to moment where hurt can turn to happiness and anger can turn to joy. This is a story of loss, heartbreak and courage. At its heart is the funny, infuriating and life affirming relationship between a father and son and their ongoing love for an extraordinary woman.Staring at Lakes: A Memoir of Love, Melancholy and Magical Thinking
By Michael Harding. 2013
Throughout his life, Michael Harding has lived with a sense of emptiness - through faith, marriage, fatherhood and his career…
as a writer, a pervading sense of darkness and unease remained.When he was fifty-eight, he became physically ill and found himself in the grip of a deep melancholy. Here, in this beautifully written memoir, he talks with openness and honesty about his journey: leaving the priesthood when he was in his thirties, settling in Leitrim with his artist wife, the depression that eventually overwhelmed him, and how, ultimately, he found a way out of the dark, by accepting the fragility of love and the importance of now.Staring at Lakes was a number one bestseller in Michael's native Ireland and won three BGE Irish book awards in 2013, including Non-Fiction Book of the Year. 'It's rare for a memoir to demand such intense emotional involvement and rarer still for it to be so fully rewarded' - SUNDAY TIMES.'Staring at Lakes is a raw and honest account of a life in depression. Harding's writing, which is rich and lyrical, is especially astute when describing the pain of living with an illness that has the ability to suck the joy out of any occasion.' - DAILY EXPRESSCricket: Every reason to celebrate
By Scyld Berry. 2015
Winner of the Cricket Writers' Club Book of the Year 2016Shortlisted for the MCC Book of the YearShortlisted for Cricket…
Book of the Year at the Sports Book AwardsScyld Berry draws on his experiences as a cricket writer of forty years to produce new insights and unfamiliar historical angles on the game, along with moving reflections on episodes from his own life. The author covers a range of themes including cricket in different areas of the world, and abstract concepts such as language, numbers, ethics and psychology; Scyld Berry relishes the joys cricket provides and is convinced of the positive effect it can have in people's lives. Cricket: The Game of Life is an inspiring book that reminds readers why they love the game and prompts them to look at it in a new way.Letters To Poseidon
By Cees Nooteboom. 2012
'I had been looking for someone to write to for a long time, but how does a man write letters…
to a god?' From his Mediterranean garden on the island of Menorca, Cees Nooteboom writes to the trident-wielding deity, Poseidon, 'initiating a dialogue not only with the past,' as Alberto Manguel observes in his Preface, 'but with an entire world that seemed lost for ever.' Offering a seductive interweaving of keen observation and the fruits of a vast knowledge, Nooteboom explores questions of human existence through the minutiae of the living world around him, and marvels at the secrets of the deep. He recalls figures in history, places he has travelled to, objets trouvés, works of art and literature, and takes a fresh look at the ancient myths. At once playful and poignant, beautiful and bizarre, Nooteboom's Letters to Poseidon are couched in the glittering prose of one of Europe's outstanding stylists.Dandy in the Underworld: A Memoir (P. S. Ser.)
By Sebastian Horsley. 2007
'Like Salvador Dali's confessions, only far funnier and more self-deprecating, Dandy in the Underworld entertains as much as it revolts,…
is as tender as it is shocking, and as genuine as it is false.' IndependentSure to shock and surprise, Sebastian Horsley recounts his life story with excruciating self-knowledge and a savage wit.'One of the funniest, strangest and most revolting memoirs ever written.' Sunday TimesGrowing up at High Hall, in Hull, with his alcoholic mother, who regularly attempted suicide, his stepfather, a cult member dressed in orange, and his father, a crippled millionaire, Sebastian Horsley couldn't wait to leave home. Searching for happiness, meaning and a good outfit he embarked on a doomed career as a punk guitarist, had a stormy relationship with a notorious Scottish gangster, enjoyed a wildly successful period as a stock-market entrepeneur and experienced a near fatal stint as a shark-hunter. Sebastian charts his years as a dandy, an artist, a male escort and a brothel connoisseur. There are the love affairs, with Rachel 1 and Rachel 2, and a harrowing descent into heroin and crack addiction. Dandy in the Underworld evokes his desperate attempts to get clean, culminating in his crucifixion in the Philippines.Home is Burning
By Dan Marshall. 2015
'An incredibly personal story ... sad, but unbelievably funny' - Claudia Winkleman, BBC Radio 2 Arts Show'This memoir is gasp-out-loud,…
offensively funny, touching and a sure thing for anyone who likes David Sedaris - but with more Mormons' - RedAt twenty-five, Dan left his 'spoiled white asshole' life in Los Angeles to look after his dying parents in Salt Lake City, Utah. His mother, who had already been battling cancer on and off for close to 15 years, had taken a turn for the worse. His father, a devoted marathon runner and adored parent, had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease which was quickly eroding his body. Dan's four siblings were already home, caring for their parents and resenting Dan for not doing the same. Home is Burning tells the story of Dan's year at home in Salt Lake City, as he reunites with his eclectic family -the only non-Mormon family of seven in the entire town - all of them trying their best to be there for the father who had always been there for them.The Duff Cooper Diaries: 1915-1951
By Lord John Julius Norwich. 2006
The long awaited and highly revealing diaries of the politician, diplomat, and socialite (married to Lady Diana Cooper)Duff Cooper was…
a first-rate witness of just about every significant event from 1914 to 1950. His diary includes some magnificent set pieces - as a young soldier at the end of WWI, as a politician during the General Strike of 1926, as King Edward VIII's friend at the time of the Abdication, and from Paris after the liberation in 1944, when he became British ambassador. If Duff Cooper's name has dimmed in the 50 years since his death, publication of these diaries will bring him to the fore once again. His family have long resisted publication - indeed Duff Cooper's nephew, the publisher Rupert Hart-Davis, was so shocked by the sexual revelations that he suggested to John Julius Norwich that it might be best for all concerned if they were burnt. Now, superbly edited by John Julius Norwich, who familial link ensures all kinds of additional information as footnotes, these diaries join the ranks.American Desperado: My Life--From Mafia Soldier to Cocaine Cowboy to Secret Government Asset
By Evan Wright, Jon Roberts. 2011
In 2008 veteran journalist Evan Wright, acclaimed for his New York Times bestselling book Generation Kill and co-writer of the…
Emmy-winning HBO series it spawned, began a series of conversations with super-criminal Jon Roberts, star of the fabulously successful documentary Cocaine Cowboys. Those conversations would last three years, during which time Wright came to realize that Roberts was much more than the de-facto “transportation chief” of the Medellin Cartel during the 1980s, much more than a facilitator of a national drug epidemic. As Wright’s tape recorder whirred and Roberts unburdened himself of hundreds of jaw-dropping tales, it became clear that perhaps no one in history had broken so many laws with such willful abandon. Roberts, in fact, seemed to be a prodigy of criminality – but one with a remarkable self-awareness and a fierce desire to protect his son from following the same path. American Desperado is Roberts’ no-holds-barred account of being born into Mafia royalty, witnessing his first murder at the age of seven, becoming a hunter-assassin in Vietnam, returning to New York to become -- at age 22 -- one of the city’s leading nightclub impresarios, then journeying to Miami where in a few short years he would rise to become the Medellin Cartel’s most effective smuggler. But that’s just half the tale. The roster of Roberts’ friends and acquaintances reads like a Who’s Who of the latter half of the 20th century and includes everyone from Jimi Hendrix, Richard Pryor, and O.J. Simpson to Carlo Gambino, Meyer Lansky, and Manuel Noriega. Nothing if not colorful, Roberts surrounded himself with beautiful women, drove his souped-up street car at a top speed of 180 miles per hour, shared his bed with a 200-pound cougar, and employed a 6”6” professional wrestler called “The Thing” as his bodyguard. Ultimately, Roberts became so powerful that he attracted the attention of the Republican Party’s leadership, was wooed by them, and even was co-opted by the CIA for which he carried out its secret agenda. Scrupulously documented and relentlessly propulsive, this collaboration between a bloodhound journalist and one of the most audacious criminals ever is like no other crime book you’ve ever read. Jon Roberts may be the only criminal who changed the course of American history. From the Hardcover edition.