Book picks similar to
Early Leaving by Judy Goldman
fiction
best-of-the-best-women-s-lit
bookcrossing
fbg
Jimmy's Girl
Stephanie Gertler - 2001
"A tender evocation of lost love, and what it means to find it again." (Kirkus Reviews) "Sharp-eyed [and] impeccably detailed." (Marie Claire) "A sweet response to one of life's constant what-if questions." (Booklist, starred review)
Finder's Fee
Alton Gansky - 2007
If she involves the authorities, the child will die ... and Judith's darkest secret to the world.Judith is teamed with a mysterious stranger with a carefully guarded secret of his own. But is Luke Becker an unwilling ally or an agent of the kidnapper? As Judith and Luke's mutual distrust wars against a growing attraction, the life of a small boy hangs in the balance. A boy unlike any other Judith has ever met.Eight-year-old Abel Palek will help Judith discover a faith and a life she has never imagined. But freeing him could cost her everything.Her career. Her reputation. And very possibly her life.
The Season of Open Water
Dawn Tripp - 2005
The Season of Open Water is the passionate, searing story of a young woman coming of age in a New England seacoast town that is swept up in the dangerous trade of rum-running.It is October 1927. Bridge Weld is nineteen, headstrong and beautiful, working in her grandfather Noel's boatbuilding shop. When Noel is approached by a local bootlegger to refit a boat for smuggling, he feels in his gut that he should not accept the work, yet he takes the job for the money it offers and for the chance it gives him to build a future for his beloved granddaughter, Bridge, and her brother, Luce. What Noel doesn’t count on is that Luce will be lured into the rum work himself and will try to pull Bridge into it with him. But Bridge has embarked on a different course. Caught up in a passion for Henry, a veteran of World War I, Bridge is propelled beyond the confines of her known world, and ultimately she must choose between the man who loves her and the brother to whom she has been loyal all her life. As Bridge strikes out on her own, Luce's fierce attachment spirals out of control.Exquisitely written, haunting in its rendering of place, The Season of Open Water is a superb novel about a family and the lawlessness of the heart, a love story that explores the often inescapable connections between violence and desire.
Power Moves: Livin' the American Dream, USA Style
Karl Welzein - 2013
She wears granny panties and is constantly dropping wads of cash at Target, and his son cries all the time. Now his "temporary" roommate, Dave, ate all the Totino's pizza rolls. Again. Karl Welzein is sick of this. So sick of this.Power Moves chronicles the hilarious decline of Karl Welzein on his journey from life as a Dockers-and-golfshirt-wearing dad to a ponytailed party maniac who spits out his life philosophies like a modern-day Charles Bukowski (if he preferred to get drunk at Applebee's).A middle-aged Michigan native, Karl may be overweight, prone to questionable fashion and culinary choices, oblivious to his drinking problem, a poor excuse for an employee, obsessed with the restroom, and a terrible husband, father, and friend . . . but in his heart he means well. He's just like a lot of us—he loves the USA, Guy Fieri, bold flavors, Bob Seger, and thinking he looks jacked in a tight tee and Maui Jim sunglasses. Karl is an everyman and like no other man on the planet all at once.Inspired by the Twitter feed @DadBoner, Karl finally tells his full story. He shares his wisdom on fitness (1. Look at a pic of Stone Cold Steve Austin. 2. Do 'shups 'til you look like Stone Cold. 3. Cut off your sleeves), diet (Eat only the filling of the Taco Bell Beefy Melts for maximum flavor and low-carb health), fashion (Wearin' boots with jean shorts says "I like to keep cool, but I'm ready if the action gets hot"), work life (If you don't have a job that makes you want to kill yourself, you don't deserve to drink until you want to die), and the bliss of the perfect weekend (beers, brats, and babes' chest beefers).But above all, this is a story about America—the real red, white, and blue America of today. Welcome to Karl's world. Reading this book is the ultimate Power Move.
Is This Tomorrow
Caroline Leavitt - 2013
Lewis yearns for his absent father, befriending the only other fatherless kids: Jimmy and Rose. One afternoon, Jimmy goes missing. The neighborhood in the era of the Cold War, bomb scares, and paranoia seizes the opportunity to further ostracize Ava and her son. Lewis never recovers from the disappearance of his childhood friend. By the time he reaches his twenties, he's living a directionless life, a failure in love, estranged from his mother. Rose is now a schoolteacher in another city, watching over children as she was never able to watch over her own brother. Ava is building a new life for herself in a new decade. When the mystery of Jimmy's disappearance is unexpectedly solved, all three must try to reclaim what they have lost.
Departures: Seven Stories from Heathrow
Tony Parsons - 2011
Seven short stories from bestselling author Tony Parsons, based on his week as Writer in Residence at Heathrow airport.Here is Heathrow as it has never been seen before – a secret city populated by the 75 million travellers who pass through every year, a place where journeys and dreams end – and begin.From the brilliant twenty-something kids who control the skies up in Air Traffic Control to the softly-spoken man who cares for the dogs, lions and smuggled rattlesnakes at Heathrow’s Animal Reception Centre, from the immigration officers who have heard it all before to the firemen who hone their skills by setting the green plane on fire, from the armed police who watch for terrorist attacks to the pilots who have touched the face of god – Heathrow teems with life.In Departures, his first collection of short stories, Tony Parsons takes us deep inside the secret city.
Shattered Justice
Karen Ball - 2005
He spent a lifetime ensuring his actions and faith live up to the meaning of his name—Avidan: “God is just.” Then injustice invades his world, ripping away what matters most, forever robbing him of the life he once knew. Can his sisters and small-town community—especially one woman who loves Dan—help him overcome the horrors he’s facing? Or will bitterness and anger shatter him forever? What happens when justice fails the lawman? Sanctuary, Oregon . A town where the local diner owner makes you drink your milk—no matter how old you are. Where juvenile delinquency means blowing up outhouses. Where folks not only know their neighbors, but care about them. For widowed sheriff’s deputy Dan Justice, it’s a place where he and his kids can heal and grow. Shelby Wilson loves Sanctuary and her work with troubled teens. Like Jayce Dalton. Sure, he’s as troubled as they come, but Shelby knows Dan is exactly what Jayce needs. She just didn’t expect that Dan might be what she’s always needed, too. But sleepy little Sanctuary has a dark side, steeped in pain and secrets. Secrets that could destroy everything Dan holds dear. Secrets that will one day have Dan groping through the fog toward a lifeless body—and faith-shattering grief. Can Dan find sanctuary in the light of God’s justice? “A surefire hit!”— Karen Kingsbury , bestselling author of Beyond Tuesday Morning “Shattered Justice is for anyone who has ever known grief or asked God, “Why me?”— Terri Blackstock , bestselling author of River’s Edge Story Behind the Book“The idea for Shattered Justice came out of an article I read in the newspaper. This very thing happened to a police officer. As I read the article, I kept wondering how anyone who spent his life serving others could ever come back from such a horrific, unjust loss. Of course the details in this book differ from the event that inspired it, but the story unfolds from a similar life-shattering event and follows Dan as he struggles with grief and anger.”
The King Is Dead
Jim Lewis - 2003
But in a few brief moments, Walter sees his life and his world fracture and split apart, driving him to commit a terrible crime. Many years later, Frank Cartwright ponders his next move. His film career has left him wealthy but incomplete. When a director approaches him with a script that has a riddle for a plot Frank is intrigued by its resonance. In his search for an answer to the riddle, Frank embarks on a journey that will lead him into a past he doesn’t remember.Jim Lewis, acclaimed author of Why the Tree Loves the Ax, returns with a novel stunning in its originality and scope. And as he tells the stories of two men and the conflicts that shape them, he delivers a powerful portrait of America and the treacherous currents that run through it.
Eureka Mill
Ron Rash - 1998
It is even more remarkable if the book is set where we live, a place we thought we'd been. These poems make up a dramatic and lyrical portrait of the migration of poor Buncombe County farmers to a mill village outside Chester, S.C. However, the book is much more than documentary. Rash, whose grandparents and parents worked in the Eureka Mill interweaves his family's personal history with the broader texture of mill life, giving us at once intimacy and perspective, heart and understanding.
Harriet Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonders
Julianna Baggott - 2015
It can be found only in the final book of the series that made her a famous writer. But does that book exist?This absorbing novel spans the entire twentieth century, telling the moving story of a mother, her daughter, and two granddaughters, one of whom is the only person alive who knows the whereabouts of Harriet's final book. When a hospitalization brings the family back together, the mystery not only of Harriet's last book, but also of her life, hangs in the balance. Will the truth ever be known, or is Harriet's story gone forever?A multi-generational tale of long-lost love, motherhood, and family secrets, this is Baggott's most sweeping and mesmerizing novel yet.
Killing Ground
Gerald Seymour - 1997
A young English schoolteacher, Charlotte Parsons, is invited to reume her job as nanny to the children of a well-to-do Sicilian family. But this time Charley is the central figure in a desperate plot by the US Drug Enforcement Agency to trap Mario Ruggerio, would-be head of the Sicilian Mafia, the man who masterminds a multi-billion dollar international drugs trade. Charley is to be the bait in the trap and, in deciding to return to the Ruggerio family in Palermo, is about to enter the killing ground...
Queen Anne's Lace
Dawn Gardner - 2019
Lacy starts on a journey to find to find the man that could change her life. As Lacy gets closer to finding the man, circumstances force her to do something that she will regret for the rest of her life. This explosive coming-of-age story set in the late 1970s is full of twists and turns, forgiveness and courage.
Angel Fire
Ron Franscell - 2000
A beautiful novel of family love and loyalty. -- Library Journal.
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac Mc Carthy: Teacher Guide (Novel Units)
Gloria Levine - 2001
The legwork is done for you. The chapter-by-chapter guides incorporate research-based, high-order reading, writing and thinking activities. (This is NOT the paperback novel.)
Left to Die
Frank Roderus - 2000
Wes survived and now, he's plotting his revenge. He's gonna have to stay one step ahead of these self-appointed executioners -- because they ain't likely to make the same mistake twice.