Ah Well, Nobody's Perfect: The untold stories


Ian Molly Meldrum - 2016
    Molly gives us his unforgettable encounters with The Beatles, Elton John, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, John Farnham, Bruce Springsteen, the Bee Gees, Rod Stewart, Russell Crowe, Oasis, Beyonce and Prince. As well as the tales that surround his other loves: the Australian cricket team, the St Kilda footy club and the Melbourne Storm."I have a lot of love for the great Ian 'Molly' Meldrum" - Shane WarneNo one has lived a life like Ian 'Molly' Meldrum. And no one can tell a story like Molly.

Just Passing Through: A nomadic life afloat in France


Mary-Jane Houlton - 2020
    In 2017 Mary-Jane Houlton sold her house, bought a boat called Olivia Rose and set off with her husband Michael and their two dogs to see if reality can ever live up to a dream.They travelled the length and breadth of France and found that the world looks and feels very different from the water. Part travelogue, part memoir, this book explores not just the landscape and people of France, but also discovers what it really means to live life in a small space with few possessions, always moving on, far from friends and family.If you enjoy travel adventures this book will take you on a beguiling journey through crowded cities and deserted villages, along peaceful canals and storm-lashed rivers. For anyone who shares their dream of making a life on a boat, there is also a wealth of information and advice to help you on your way.

The Lullaby Illusion: A Journey of Awakening


Susan Joyce - 2013
    Through difficult life changes -- Cyprus's bloody coup and war in 1974, a rescue from a sinking ship in the Indian Ocean, learning of her husband s secret life, and surviving his deadly assault in Belgium -- she discovers her ticking clock is not the child she has failed to produce, but rather the creative potential with which she can create a new life.

Old Before My Time: Hayley Okines' Life with Progeria


Hayley Okines - 2011
    Born with the rare genetic condition progeria, she ages eight times faster than the average person. In medical terms her body is like that of a 100-year-old woman. Yet she faces her condition with immense courage and a refreshing lack of self-pity. In Old Before My Time, Hayley and her mum Kerry reflect on her unusual life. Share Hayley's excitement as she travels the world meeting her pop heroes Kylie, Girls Aloud and Justin Bieber and her sadness as she loses her best friend to the disease at the age of 11. Now as she passes the age of 13 -- the average life expectancy for a child with progeria -- Hayley talks frankly about her hopes for the future and her pioneering drug trials in America which could unlock the secrets of ageing for everyone...

Call of the Camino: Myths, Legends and Pilgrim Stories on the Way to Santiago de Compostela


Robert Mullen - 2010
    The history of the Camino is recounted, as well as several of the myths, legends, and miracle stories that have become attached--and given special meaning--to this itinerary. Emphasizing that personal myths are an essential part of this lore, this chronicle also includes stories from the confraternity of the pilgrims, people from all corners of the world who visit this walk for a great diversity of reasons, but all of whom leave having experienced the same miracle--that this pilgrimage will play a defining role in their lives.

Picnic in Provence: A Memoir with Recipes


Elizabeth Bard - 2015
    Ten years ago, New Yorker Elizabeth Bard followed a handsome Frenchman up a spiral staircase to a love nest in the heart of Paris. Now, with a baby on the way and the world's flakiest croissant around the corner, Elizabeth is sure she's found her "forever place." But life has other plans. On a last romantic jaunt before the baby arrives, the couple take a trip to the tiny Provencal village of Céreste. A chance encounter leads them to the wartime home of a famous poet, a tale of a buried manuscript and a garden full of heirloom roses. Under the spell of the house and its unique history, in less time than it takes to flip a crepe, Elizabeth and Gwendal decide to move-lock, stock and Le Creuset-to the French countryside.When the couple and their newborn son arrive in Provence, they discover a land of blue skies, lavender fields and peaches that taste like sunshine. Seduced by the local ingredients, they begin a new adventure as culinary entrepreneurs, starting their own artisanal ice cream shop and experimenting with flavors like saffron, sheep's milk yogurt and fruity olive oil. Filled with enticing recipes for stuffed zucchini flowers, fig tart and honey & thyme ice cream, Picnic in Provence is the story of everything that happens after the happily ever after: an American learning the tricks of French motherhood, a family finding a new professional passion, and a cook's initiation into classic Provencal cuisine. With wit, humor and scoop of wild strawberry sorbet, Bard reminds us that life-in and out of the kitchen-is a rendez-vous with the unexpected.

Leaving My Amish World: My True Story


Eirene Eicher - 2019
    Shunned. Heartbroken. This is Eirene's true story of how she left the Amish. Like most Amish children, Eirene had a carefree childhood in a tight-knit family life in the Old Order Amish community where she grew up Indiana. Though she had no indoor plumbing, no electricity, and no modern conveniences, her young life was full of joy. Horseback riding, reading, working with her father, and singing while making noodles and quilts with her sisters filled her days as she grew up. When Eirene becomes pregnant and marries at the tender age of 17, the harsh reality of her new life sets in. From getting snowed in by 10 feet of snow to carrying icy buckets of water inside just to make coffee or wash dishes, Eirene remains steadfast in providing the best care she can for her son. As she has four more children, her world revolves around them, and they bring her more joy than she could have ever imagined. Though she loves being a mother, and she loves her family, Eirene knows there has to be more to life than just being a housewife confined to her home with no money, no phone, and no transportation. Doesn’t God have a bigger purpose for her? Wasn’t she meant for more? When Eirene makes a Christian friend, she is hungry to learn more about the loving God who died for her and rose again, a God so unlike the one she’d learned about growing up Amish. Eirene knows God is calling her to leave so she can serve God. But is she willing to leave her family, her community, and everything she's ever known behind? Eirene prays that her story will be in encouragement to a struggling young mother out there wondering if life will ever change or get better. Please follow Eirene on Amazon to be notified of her new releases in the future. * “This book was so enthralling, I stayed up late into the night to find out what would happen next. Never before has a book taken me through such a roller coaster ride of emotions: suspense, anguish, sorrow, indignation, and joy. This woman’s story touched my heart, and when she was hurt in the story, it was written so beautifully that I could feel her pain. Her story was so incredible, how she could still have such unwavering faith after everything that happened to her. So many things in this story were absolutely shocking and absolutely heart-wrenching, but there were also so many joyful parts that spoke of the cheerful memories of the author’s childhood, and the close-knit Amish community. I am a true admirer of the Amish, but all Amish communities are different. We sometimes put the Amish on a pedestal, but they are human too, and also make mistakes just like us. This story was heartbreaking and raw, but most of all, it truly was inspirational. Once you start, you won’t be able to put it down.” -Ashley Emma, bestselling author of Undercover Amish, Amish Under Fire, and more Paperback version coming soon!

The Only Way Is West: A Once In a Lifetime, 500 Mile Adventure Walking Spain's Camino de Santiago


Bradley Chermside - 2019
    A wonderful read.' - Kevin Hand, BBC London. You’re in Greece and are given a €20 note with an email address scribbled on it. What would you do:1. Spend it? 2. Slip the suspect counterfeit bill into an enemy’s birthday card?3. Send an email, hoping it will lead to you finding everlasting love? Brad, a hopeless romantic, chose the latter.Two years later, his love life remains a disaster and his career is misfiring. As he’s about to walk Spain’s fabled Camino de Santiago to ponder some profound life changes, Brad receives a reply. Incredibly, it’s from a woman who lives on the 1000-year-old pilgrim path, far away from where the money first crossed his palm. She invites him to sleep… ‘on her house’. Hiking nine hundred kilometres on the Road to Santiago to a blind date with the mystery €20 woman, he discovers the utopia of his fantasies, befriends a Hungarian who speaks English in song titles and has his raison d’être revealed to him by a barefoot Mayan mystic. Will he meet his happily-ever-after too? Buy this pacy, exuberant, laugh-out-loud travelogue laced with tips for fellow pilgrims to find out...

Rest In Places: My Father's Post-Life Journey Around The World (Marlayna Glynn Brown)


Marlayna Glynn - 2014
     A relatable must-read for anyone who has lost a loved one, this memoir lights the way to afterlife and afterdeath where forgiveness supersedes pain, blame, remorse and regret. In her effort to understand the generational effects of alcoholism and subsequent dysfunctional adult relationships, Marlayna takes her youngest son and her father's ashes on a personal journey, embarking on an emotional voyage to both physical and mental states of being. She confronts her own existence as a mother and a daughter, seeking and ultimately finding peace with her disappointment, anger, failed marriage, and complex relationships with her own four children.

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child


Bob Spitz - 2012
    It’s even rarer when that someone is a middle-aged, six-foot three-inch woman whose first exposure to an unsuspecting public is cooking an omelet on a hot plate on a local TV station.  And yet, that’s exactly what Julia Child did.  The warble-voiced doyenne of television cookery became an iconic cult figure and joyous rule-breaker as she touched off the food revolution that has gripped America for more than fifty years. Now, in Bob Spitz’s definitive, wonderfully affectionate biography, the Julia we know and love comes vividly — and surprisingly — to life.  In Dearie, Spitz employs the same skill he brought to his best-selling, critically acclaimed book The Beatles, providing a clear-eyed portrait of one of the most fascinating and influential Americans of our time — a woman known to all, yet known by only a few.At its heart, Dearie is a story about a woman’s search for her own unique expression.  Julia Child was a directionless, gawky young woman who ran off halfway around the world to join a spy agency during World War II.  She eventually settled in Paris, where she learned to cook and collaborated on the writing of what would become Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a book that changed the food culture of America.   She was already fifty when The French Chef went on the air —  at a time in our history when women weren’t making those leaps.  Julia became the first educational TV star, virtually launching PBS as we know it today; her marriage to Paul Child formed a decades-long love story that was romantic, touching, and quite extraordinary. A fearless, ambitious, supremely confident woman, Julia took on all the pretensions that embellished tony French cuisine and fricasseed them to a fare-thee-well, paving the way for everything that has happened since in American cooking, from TV dinners and Big Macs to sea urchin foam and the Food Channel.  Julia Child’s story, however, is more than the tale of a talented woman and her sumptuous craft.  It is also a saga of America’s coming of age and growing sophistication, from the Depression Era to the turbulent sixties and the excesses of the eighties to the greening of the American kitchen.  Julia had an effect on and was equally affected by the baby boom, the sexual revolution, and the start of the women’s liberation movement. On the centenary of her birth, Julia finally gets the biography she richly deserves.  An in-depth, intimate narrative, full of fresh information and insights, Dearie is an entertaining, all-out adventure story of one of our most fascinating and beloved figures.From the Hardcover edition.

Rick Steves Paris 2019


Rick Steves - 2018
    Explore every centimeter of Paris, from the top of the Eiffel Tower to the ancient catacombs below the city: with Rick Steves on your side, Paris can be yours! Inside Rick Steves Paris 2019 you'll find: Comprehensive coverage for spending a week or more exploring Paris Rick's strategic advice on how to get the most out of your time and money, with rankings of his must-see favorites Top sights and hidden gems, from Notre-Dame, the Louvre, and the Palace of Versailles to where to find the perfect croissant How to connect with culture: Stroll along the Seine, marvel at the works of Degas and Monet, and sip café au lait at a streetside café Beat the crowds, skip the lines, and avoid tourist traps with Rick's candid, humorous insight The best places to eat, sleep, and relax with a glass of vin rouge Self-guided walking tours of lively neighborhoods and incredible museums and churches Detailed maps, including a fold-out map for exploring on the go Useful resources including a packing list, French phrase book, a historical overview, and recommended reading Over 700 bible-thin pages include everything worth seeing without weighing you down Annually updated information on the Historic Core, Left Bank, Opera Neighborhood, Champs-Elysees, the Marais, Montmartre, and more, plus day trips to Versailles, Chartres, Giverny, and Auvers-sur-Oise Make the most of every day and every dollar with Rick Steves Paris 2019. Spending just a few days in the city? Try Rick Steves Pocket Paris.

Sunrises to Santiago: Searching for Purpose on the Camino de Santiago


Gabriel Schirm - 2015
    At 32 years old, he desperately needed to find direction and meaningful purpose in his life. With no physical training, he decided his answers were waiting for him somewhere along the historic 490-mile pilgrimage route called the Camino de Santiago in Spain. From the physical high of crossing the Pyrenees Mountains to the mind numbing rhythm of walking through the endless wheat fields of the Meseta, the route was filled with many challenges. Accompanied by his “guru” wife Amy, Schirm faces setbacks like bed bugs and tendinitis, all in the pursuit of elusive answers. The lessons came from the serendipitous experiences and conversations with fellow pilgrims from all over the world. Sunrises to Santiago chronicles a wondrous journey of personal growth, physical pain, and outdoor adventure while teaching us all to enjoy life’s incredible journey.

The Soul Survivor


Joe Townsend - 2011
    

Harlot's Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece


Patricia V. Davis - 2008
    This is just one of many wrong reasons why Patricia is all the more determined to do so. She even moves with Gregori to Greece, where he insists he must be in order to be happy. Once there, she discovers that though she might not save her marriage, she just might save herself. With vivid descriptions of life in beautiful, modern-day Greece, this memoir is both a tasty treat and an exhilarating sail on the Hellenic seas through xenophobia, dysfunctional family units, religious ravings, obsessive protocols, political disorder, European football, and fabulous food. As the Italians say, Buon Appetito! (Good Appetite!) As the Greeks say, Kalo Taxidi! (Good Voyage!)

My Incredibly Wonderful, Miserable Life: An Anti-Memoir


Adam Nimoy - 2008
    Today, he's waking up in a sleeping bag on an air mattress in a two-bedroom apartment with no furniture thinking, "How the hell did I get here?"A thirty-year battle with drug addiction, three career changes, one divorce, a major mid-life crisis, and countless AA meetings later, he tells his cautionary -- and very funny -- tale.In this frankly humble and hilarious anti-memoir, Adam Nimoy shares the incredibly wonderful, miserable truth about life as a newly divorced father, a forty-something on the L.A. dating scene, a recovering user, and a former lawyer turned director turned substitute teacher...in search of his true self. And, oh yeah, the wonderful, miserable truth about growing up the son of a pop culture icon.In a city where appearing perfect is a way of life, Adam Nimoy doesn't mince words. He's been rushed by crazed Star Trek fans at a carnival, propositioned by his father's leading ladies, promised by his own teenage daughter that she never wants to see him again, and fired by famous television producers for his temper.Wonderful? Sometimes. Miserable? Occasionally. Survivable? Stay tuned...