Book picks similar to
Conflicted Hearts: A Daughter's Quest for Solace from Emotional Guilt by D.G. Kaye
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Needle Too: Junkies in Paradise
Craig Goodman - 2014
As far as heroin addiction is concerned, I’m not sure there really is such a thing. And of course, I never intended to write a sequel, but after NEEDLE was published it wasn’t long before I realized a number of readers, many of them addicts or family members and friends of addicts, were eager to learn how I recovered from a decade of opiate abuse. But again, regardless of what the “experts” say, I’m not sure there is such a thing—at least beyond what is often a precarious state of abstention—because “recovery” implies something different, or at least something more complete and comprehensive than the reality of the situation should suggest. Indeed, it implies the “recapturing of something that was lost, or the process by which one attempts to do so.” However, regardless of my own opinion, my own non-medical industry opinion, although I had cast a few lines out to gage reader interest, I never truly expected to write another NEEDLE-related account of my life. But ironically, ANY account of my life post-NEEDLE would inherently have to address my addiction because regardless of my continued state of abstention—I’m constantly reminded of it: an old friend, fallout from the past, a song, a famous overdose, a suddenly gentrified street and of course, my long-lost innocence has a haunting potential and so...I’m not sure there is such a thing. In any event, spurred on by my activist efforts and my readers’ interest, while in the midst of fostering a 15 year-old Himalayan cat that was rescued from an empty apartment where it was holed-up in a bird cage for three years and was now ready to rip my face off (perhaps as some sort of Karmic comeuppance for failing felines in the past), I decided to give it my best effort. After all, at the very least it might shed some insights for addicts and provide additional help for the homeless animals which, of course, is my new addiction—though it’s far more distressing and devastating than the old one. It is, in fact, the same part of my life which, prior to writing NEEDLE TOO, I briefly discussed and published at www.Needleuser.com back in 2012, and though I’m loath to regurgitate material—even if it was just a few pages shared with a very small percentage of readers—it was too important to do without in the most recent context because it detailed an event that was pivotal in how I got to where I am. And though I still question the realistic possibility of a complete recovery, after almost twenty years I'm still somehow here to tell the tale. So here it is…and thanks for being a Needle user.
The Black Corleones
Bella Jones - 2013
A fearless group of young men that made a name for themselves in Chicago’s underworld of gangs and drugs; The Black Corleones—rose to the top ranks of the dope world—all before finishing high school. For them, life was good; money, cars, clothes and women; all at their disposal. But everything isn’t always what it seems. Find out what happens when one member of the crew has ill feelings. Dive into the world of The Black Corleones as they learn the hard way. With money involved; love and loyalty don’t always go hand in hand.
Gypsy Bride: One girl's true story of falling in love with a gypsy boy
Sam Skye Lee - 2011
But then she didn't count on having a gypsy wedding...It's rare for a 'gorger', or non-traveller, to marry into the gypsy community. But after a shocking childhood tragedy, Sam found the comfort she needed from an unxpected source - Patrick and his family of travellers.Gypsy Bride is the heartwarming true story of how an ordinary girl finds herself discovering an extraordinary world. A place where 'grabbing' is a sign a boy fancies you, six-year-olds get spray tans, and christenings, weddings and funerals are jaw-droppingly flamboyant.This love story is more than boy meets girl. It's about a girl who falls in love with a whole race of people and their wonderful ways.
Loose Balls: Easy Money, Hard Fouls, Cheap Laughs, & True Love in the NBA
Jayson Williams - 2000
From revelations about the meanest, softest, and smelliest players in the league, to Williams’s early days as a “young man with a lot of money and not a lot of sense,” to his strong and powerful views on race, privilege, and giving back, Loose Balls is a basketball book unlike any other.No inspirational pieties or chest-thumping boasting here—instead, Jayson Williams gives us the real insider tales of refs, groupies, coaches, entourages, and all the superstars, bench warmers, journeymen, clowns, and other performers in the rarefied circus that is professional basketball.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Memoirs of an Outlaw: Life in the Sandbox
Robert M. Tanner III - 2013
The Delta Company Outlaws are a group of Light Armored Reconnaissance Marines deployed in 2004 to one of the most hostile war zones in the world. Through the memoirs of one Marine, this touching story encapsulates the drama surrounding everyday life during the Iraq War. With a bond formed through blood, sweat, and tears, a group of unfamiliar Marines will come together stronger than family.Memoirs of an Outlaw: Life in the Sandbox is a dramatic new take on the Iraq War that focuses more on the personal aspects of war rather than exclusively on combat. With a touching approach to the camaraderie, daily life, and devastating losses, this enlightening memoir by Robert M. Tanner delves into the brotherhood that’s formed throughout a deployment while documenting the combat experiences and daily life of a Marine. Using personal experiences, this engaging story hooks readers with drama, action, and honesty while painting an illuminating picture of both the funny and tragic sides of war.Inspired by a bond that’s stronger than blood, Memoirs of an Outlaw began as a therapeutic way to document wartime experiences and eventually led to a full-fledged memoir. Deciding to focus on the daily life and camaraderie of war, the story captures the tension, drama, and bonding that comes with combat and living in a hostile environment far away from home. By focusing on the humanistic side of the armed forces, Memoirs of an Outlaw perfectly captures a unique moment in time during an extraordinarily challenging part of the war.
The American Sign Language Alphabet: Letters A-Z, Numbers 0-9 (FingerAlphabet BASIC Reference Guide Book Series 12)
Lassal - 2015
It is designed for libraries, institutions and individuals who need or prefer the information in ebook format. All the hand signs were approved by American sign language experts. The signs are shown in large illustrations from two view points in order to facilitate understanding, as well as grouped together in a comprehensive chart. BONUS: The book contains a link to a set of unique printable ASL alphabet charts for your personal use.Lassal's work for Fingeralphabet.org has earned her a nomination for The German Prize for Civic Engagement 2013.
Lost in Tokyo: A Year of Sex, Sushi, and Suicide in the Real Japan
Garett Wilson - 2018
until he started a new job and a new life at a high school in downtown Tokyo. Here he discovered the real Japan, not the version sold to tourists, and realized that it was far more thrilling, heartbreaking, and beautiful than anything he had ever experienced. Over the course of one year in Tokyo, Garett navigates the perilous waters of 21st-century Japan, where love and laughter are as common as violence and tragedy. From love hotels to sumo, yakuza gangs to hostess bars, and a Shinto wedding to a KFC Christmas, discover what Tokyo is really like for its 38 million inhabitants. A travel book, a tale of sex and romance, and a love letter to a maddening, wonderful place, Lost in Tokyo provides a new perspective on living, working and playing in the world's most vibrant city.
In The Backwoods of Nowhere
Nancy Blankenship Owen - 2008
Alma was born in 1910 in lower Davidson County, North Carolina—as she says, "fifteen miles south of Lexington, off number 8 Highway, between Newsom and High Rock, near Jackson Hill and Bald Mountain, in the backwoods of nowhere." The fifth of nine children, she lived with her mama and daddy, who were poor sharecroppers, in a small shack-like house on the edge of the large Reid farm that lay between Cabin Creek and Lick Creek on the Yadkin River. In her own words, Alma resurrects now forgotten times and places as she shares with us the everyday life of sharecroppers of the early 1900s. Through vivid descriptions she leads us through their daily customs, folklores and hardships. She speaks of how they had to make do with what they had and how the little that they had was treasured. At age twelve Alma's family left the sharecropping way of life and moved twenty miles north of the backwoods to Lexington, the county seat. In Lexington her life changed dramatically. First, her one room school was replaced with modern schools. Then, at a young age she entered the work place. The biggest change came in her late teens when she met and married Odell Henderson Owen, and in the years that followed, became the mother of eleven children. During the chaotic years of raising eleven children she never forgot her upbringing, how her mama and daddy had instilled in her the importance of family, church and community. Like her daddy, she worked hard, always putting her family's needs first. And in times of personal need, she sought strength through the church . The beauty of this book is in the voice of the book—Alma's voice. Alma tells her story with a warmth that leaves you laughing at times and at other times holding a tissue to your eyes.
Twirty-Something: A Young Woman's Guide to Giant Underwear
Ingrid Reinke - 2013
Twirty-Something: A Young Woman's Guide to Giant Underwear is a hilarious new Kindle Single from Award-Winning and Amazon Best-Selling author and humorist Ingrid Reinke.On the cold January day when Ingrid Reinke turned 30, she looked back upon the last decade of her life in deep thought before finally shaking her head and mumbling to herself the following insight: "Wow, what a shit show."So, she sat down, braless and alone, and penned a collection of laugh-out-loud essays about the ridiculous, shocking and occasionally horrifying things that happen to us as we ungracefully age from 20 to 30, try, semi-successfully, to leave our clueless years behind and become mature, responsible grown-up women.From weird hairs to boob sweat, OCD to weddings, Twirty-Something swings between a no-holds-barred conversation and a cautionary tale about aging and all the crap that comes along with it.Sometime instruction manual, sometime commiseration partner, get ready for Reinke's honest and occasionally potty-mouthed accounts of this tumultuous decade.So hike up your yoga pants, plop another ice cube in your Pinot Grigio and get ready to laugh at the author, young women in general, and most of all at yourself.
African Ways
Valerie Poore - 2007
Coming from the all-mod-cons society of Britain at the beginning of the 1980’s, the author is literally transplanted to a farm in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains in what is now Kwazulu Natal.Once there, she finds her feet in the ways of Africawith the help of a charming, elderly Dutch couple, an appealing but wily African farm hand, his practical and motherly daughter and a wise and fascinating neighbour who has a fund of local knowledge.These are tales of a different kind of life, whichinclude living without electricity, hand-milking cows, drought, veld fires and mad-cap adventures into the unknown.They are stories told with deep affection and respect, and above all a liberal dose of tongue-in-cheek humour.
If Clouds Were Sheep: A tale of sheep farming in the Cotswolds
Sue Andrews - 2019
She is a horse-mad girl strongly attracted to the idea of farming, Aubrey is the son of a farm manager without land or money. But with limited knowledge, much enthusiasm and the challenge of raising their young family, anything can happen. This is the true story of a shepherding life; where icy nights are spent searching for lost sheep, the lambing sheds are filled with the first cries of newborns, and idyllic summers are spent in the show ring. Amusing, poignant and beautifully detailed, this is a book about how dreams can grow from small beginnings into breeding prize-winning Texel sheep in the Cotswolds. Sue and Aubrey Andrews are internationally renowned breeders of pedigree Texels. Perfect for fans of The Yorkshire Shepherdess and The Shepherd's Life.
Tea & Bee's Milk
Karen Gilden - 2008
So they quit their jobs, sold their house and car, and flew off to Turkey with two bags each, a laptop computer and a camera. If you've ever dreamed of ditching the rat race and taking a year off, you’ll find inspiration in this charming and humorous series of essays and emails. A delightful memoir of a memorable year.
Modern Love: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption
Daniel Jones - 2019
A man's promising fourth date ends in the emergency room. A female lawyer with bipolar disorder experiences the highs and lows of dating. A widower hesitates about introducing his children to his new girlfriend. A divorcée in her seventies looks back at the beauty and rubble of past relationships.These are just a few of the people who tell their stories in Modern Love, Revised and Updated, featuring dozens of the most memorable essays to run in The New York Times "Modern Love" column since its debut in 2004.Some of the stories are unconventional, while others hit close to home. Some reveal the way technology has changed dating forever; others explore the timeless struggles experienced by anyone who has ever searched for love. But all of the stories are, above everything else, honest. Together, they tell the larger story of how relationships begin, often fail, and--when we're lucky--endure.Edited by longtime "Modern Love" editor Daniel Jones and featuring a diverse selection of contributors--including Mindy Hung, Trey Ellis, Ann Hood, Deborah Copaken, Terri Cheney, and more--this is the perfect book for anyone who's loved, lost, stalked an ex on social media, or pined for true romance: In other words, anyone interested in the endlessly complicated workings of the human heart.
Lost & Found: A Memoir of Mothers
Kate St. Vincent Vogl - 2009
I swore I'd never let my birthmother into my life, but then Mom died of ovarian cancer and my birthmother, Val, found me through my mom's obituary. Hard to argue with fate. Harder still to let go of childhood promises, even when you discover everything you dreamed of being in part of who you are.
Wayward: Fetching Tales from a Year on the Road
Tom Gates - 2012
His travel stories have had millions of views online and are collected within for the first time. The content of Wayward was written during a yearlong trip around the world, during which the author lived in twelve countries over twelve months. Gates' writing has been described as “evocative”, “hilarious” and “brilliant.” He has been described as a “wanker”, “kind of a dipshit” and “retarded”.Wayward is a must-read for anyone who needs a shrink and likes to travel.