The Seventh Moon


Marius Gabriel - 1999
     As World War II rages, Francine Lawrence and her small daughter, Ruth, wait in the fading splendor of Raffles Hotel in Singapore for Francine's British husband. But when he is delayed, Francine, half-Chinese and unwelcome there, is forced to begin a terrifying journey. Seeking to escape a world exploding in nightmare, Francine ultimately makes a gut-wrenching decision: to entrust Ruth to strangers in order to save the child's life. But when the war ends, all traces of Ruth have vanished; years of searching bring only heartbreak. Three decades later Francine is a formidable businesswoman, pouring all her energies into her companies. Then one day a soft-spoken young woman walks into her New York office on the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts. Her name is Sakura, and she hints that she may be Francine's daughter. What Francine does not know is that beneath Sakura's calm surface lives the heart of a warrior. Francine cannot begin to imagine the places Sakura has been, the horrors she has endured--or the secret that gives her the strongest motive in the world to lie...

In the Company of a Poet: Gulzar in Conversation with Nasreen Munni Kabir


Nasreen Munni Kabir - 2012
    Ever since he wrote his first song the unforgettable Mora gora ang lai le for Bimal Roys Bandini (1963) he has won countless admirers with his nuanced, sensitive and quietly innovative work. From the endearing Lakdi ki kaathi, that a generation grew up singing, to the Oscar-winning Jai ho his songs have enthralled millions. His unique and much acclaimed contribution to the world of poetry continues to reflect our changing times, with fresh idiom and delicate turn of phrase.In this book of conversations with Nasreen Munni Kabir, Gulzar speaks with insight, candour and gentle humour about his life and work: his school days in Old Delhi, where he wrote his early poems; working in a garage in Mumbai before entering films; his association with legends such as Bimal Roy, Balraj Sahni, Sahir Ludhianvi, Meena Kumari, Shailendra, S. D. Burman, Hemant Kumar, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Lata Mangeshkar and R. D. Burman among others; his love of tennis; and his deep connection with his wife, the legendary Raakhee, his daughter Meghna and his grandson Samay.

Summer With Monika


Roger McGough - 1978
    Published 20 years ago, this sequence of poems charts the progress of a love affair from the passionate honeymoon with the milk bottles turning to cheese on the doorstep, through the stage of quarrels, jealousy, recriminations and boredom, to the point where love is as nice as a cup of tea in bed.

Life in Miniature


Linda Schlossberg - 2010
    There's her size, for one thing. Born three months premature, Adie is the smallest of her peers. Then there's Adie's mother, who at first glance seems like so many other 1980s moms--clipping coupons and attending Feel the Burn aerobics classes. But beneath the surface is something erratic and unpredictable, something that makes her drag Adie and her older sister, Miriam, from one rental apartment to the next--until Miriam runs away.Adie is left behind with her mother, who is convinced their lives are in real danger and takes Adie on a crazy run across northern California. Now Adie faces a stark choice: submit to this increasingly surreal adventure, or grow up in ways she never imagined. . .

Guide to Dakini Land: The Highest Yoga Tantra Practice of Buddha Vajrayogini


Kelsang Gyatso - 1990
    Included are all the sadhanas of Vajrayogini, advice on how to do a Tantric retreat, and a wealth of additional material that will be indispensable to anyone wishing to rely upon Buddha Vajrayogini.

Breathing the Fire: Fighting to Report-And Survive-The War in Iraq


Kimberly Dozier - 2008
    In Breathing the Fire Dozier offers a personal memoir of tenacity as well as dedication and drama. Through her often painful and inspiring account, readers learn what wounded military personnel-along with their families and friends-endure on the long road to recovery. Dozier also recounts her rise to network broadcasting, shares insights into the culture of war-zone reporting, and describes the unique demands and perils of women covering dangerous events. Dozier is a fighter. She fought to reach her position as a television reporter for CBS News, placing herself on the streets of Baghdad with a military patrol. And she fought to survive after a parked car erupted with deadly shrapnel, shattering her legs, riddling her skull, and killing several in her group. Her book traces the roots of her inner strength, which continues to propel her against daunting obstacles that most people would perceive as insurmountable. In that respect, this book is an inspiring story for women, demonstrating that their dreams and aspirations are limited only by their own resolve-a story that is perfect for its time.

I Am the Wolf: Lyrics and Writings


Mark Lanegan - 2017
    Lanegan's voice is one of the most distinct and recognizable in rock, but his talents aren't limited to his vocal skills. Lanegan's lyrics are on par with the best of them, exploring with Blake-like insight the stark and scorched emotional terrain that exists somewhere beyond sadness, addiction, trauma, and spiritual longing. With a body of work that now includes seven albums with the Screaming Trees, eleven acclaimed solo albums, three albums of duets with Belle and Sebastian's Isobel Campbell (including the Mercury Prize-shortlisted Ballad of the Broken Seas), and collaborative albums and singles with the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Moby, Soulsavers, Twilight Singers, and countless others, Mark Lanegan occupies a singular space in rock music. Now, for the first time ever, the reclusive singer presents a comprehensive look at his lyrics, the stories behind them, and the making of his albums. I Am the Wolf is a rare and candid glimpse into the inner workings and creative process of a legend.

The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood; Youth; Dependency


Tove Ditlevsen - 2021
    Childhood tells the story of a misfit child's single-minded determination to become a poet; Youth describes her early experiences of sex, work, and independence. Dependency picks up the story as the narrator embarks on the first of her four marriages and goes on to describe her horrible descent into drug addiction, enabled by her sinister, gaslighting doctor-husband.Throughout, the narrator grapples with the tension between her vocation as a writer and her competing roles as daughter, wife, mother, and drug addict, and she writes about female experience and identity in a way that feels very fresh and pertinent to today's discussions around feminism. Ditlevsen's trilogy is remarkable for its intensity and its immersive depiction of a world of complex female friendships, family and growing up--in this sense, it's Copenhagen's answer to Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels. She can also be seen as a spiritual forerunner of confessional writers like Karl Ove Knausgaard, Annie Ernaux, Rachel Cusk and Deborah Levy. Her trilogy is drawn from her own experiences but reads like the most compelling kind of fiction.Born in a working-class neighborhood in Copenhagen in 1917, Ditlevsen became famous for her poetry while still a teenager, and went on to write novels, stories and memoirs before committing suicide in 1976. Having been dismissed by the critical establishment in her lifetime as a working-class, female writer, she is now being rediscovered and championed as one of Denmark's most important modern authors, with Tove fever gripping readers.

Lit


Mary Karr - 2009
    Michiko Kakutani calls it “a book that lassos you, hogties your emotions and won’t let you go” in her New York Times review. And Susan Cheever states, simply, that Lit is “the best book about being a woman in America I have read in years."In addition to the New York Times, Lit was named a Best Book of 2009 by the New Yorker (Reviewer Favorite), Entertainment Weekly (Top 10), Time (Top 10), the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, the Christian Science Monitor, Slate, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the Seattle Times.

Life, Interrupted


James McConnel - 2006
    He finds some solace in his talent for piano playing but slowly comes to realise that the incontrollable sniffs, coughs, and faces night not just be a funny, little habit.

Built to Win: Inside Stories and Leadership Strategies from Baseball's Winningest GM


John Schuerholz - 2006
    Baseball is John Schuerholz's world--everyone is just playing in it. Now, in BUILT TO WIN, the legendary manager takes readers behind the scenes of the most successful franchise in recent history--and shows how his unique philosophies and leadership have helped the Atlanta Braves achieve something no team has ever come close to accomplishing. He candidly peels back the curtain, from his first World Series with the Kansas City Royals to his departure for the struggling Braves. No sooner did Schuerholz arrive than they won their first title in 1991...and the rest is history.

Heroin: A True Story Of Drug Addiction, Hope, And Triumph


Julie O'Toole - 2008
    

The Cookbook of Common Prayer


Francesca Haig - 2021
    But as Gill begins to send letters from her dead son to his sister, the increasingly elaborate lie threatens to prove more dangerous than the truth.A novel about family, food, grief, and hope, this gripping, lyrical story moves between Tasmania and London, exploring the many ways that a family can break down - and the unexpected ways that it can be put back together.

First, You Cry


Betty Rollin - 1976
    NBC News correspondent Betty Rollin, glamorous,  successful, and happily married, had it all -- and then she learned that she had a malignant tumor in her breast.  Written with wit, warmth, and soul searching honesty, First, You Cry is the inspiring, true story about how one woman transformed the most terrifying ordeal of her life into a new beginning.  Now with a new introduction and epilogue, this unique memoir serves as a fascinating retrospective of the twenty-five years since Rollin's first mastectomy and, given the continuing threat of breast cancer, tells a story that will inform all women as it touches them with its honesty and even, humor.

Getting Personal: Selected Essays


Phillip Lopate - 2003
    Organized in six parts (Childhood; Youth; Early Marriage and Bachelorhood; Teaching and Work; Fiction; Politics, Religion, Movies, Books, Cities; The Style of Middle Age) Getting Personal tells two stories: the development of Lopate's career as a writer and the story of his life.