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The Crinkle Crankle Wall: Our First Year in Andalusia
Sabina Ostrowska - 2020
As soon as they drive across Andalusia, they fall in love with its rugged beauty, whitewashed villages, red geraniums, giant aloes, and endless olive trees. After weeks of visiting ruins and dilapidated sheds advertised as homes, they find a little stone cottage in a mountain valley in the middle of nowhere. Equipped with everything that a romantic soul desires: a patio shaded by grape vines, an ancient bay leaf tree, and a formidable oak in front of a long driveway, they fall in love with this property and decide to reform it into a guest house. With little foresight or planning, they exchange cushy expats lives for a life in the sun.Quite quickly, however, they find themselves battling cowboy builders, no electricity, a dry well, torrential rain storms, and a freezing cold winter without a roof over their heads. Through all these adventures, they develop relations with their neighbours who had lived in the valley for many generations. Puzzled by the strangers’ behaviour, the neighbours teach them about olive picking, and the cultivation of local vegetables. But primarily, they offer their endless generosity and insight into life in rural Andalusia.As they begin to settle in, financial problems confront our somewhat naïve couple. Without steady pay checks and construction bills piling up, their idea of the good life starts to fall apart. Written with a wry sense of honest humour, this story is filled with twists and turns that take the reader on a journey from a life where every day was monotonously repetitive to a place where every day presents a new challenge.
Travelling in a Box
Mike Wood - 2015
Parched, tinder-dry fields. There are alien invasions, military maneuvers and toxic waste, and all before the Wood family even start their Alpine caravan adventure. Why? Because it is fun. It is holidays. Travelling in a Box is about a family and their passion for all things camping and caravanning. As they embark upon a pan-European adventure with their thirty-year-old caravan in tow, will their unbreakable tolerance for ‘fun’ be pushed to new limits?
Erika: A Thriller
Mansi Narula Kashyap - 2020
She looked exactly like me; a mirror image. I shook my head. “Jesus!”After her parents died in a tragic car crash, Erika moves to London from Dublin to get rid of the bad memories, her frantic nightmares, anddisturbing hallucinations. In time, her life settles into a new routine with Lara, with whom she shares an apartment. They become the best of friends, enjoying London and meeting new people. Life is good.A few months later, Erika meets Ethan who is suave, professional anddependable. A whirlwind romance follows and within a week they aremarried. Soon, Erika starts noticing some unusual incidents; themysterious girl Maya, some cryptic books about secret societies and evena murder.Will she be able to figure out these new mystical events in her life or will they overwhelm her, making her go insane?
Nobody’s Child
LaShonda Bowman - 2016
But she's not looking for a happy and tearful reunion.After a life of pain, loneliness and neglect, Makayla wants revenge.Her search leads her to Robin Jones, but she’s nothing like the monster Makayla imagined. While pursuing her mission to destroy Robin’s life, Makayla comes to know, and even love her.But by the time she realizes her mistake, her plan for payback has already been set in motion, leaving Makayla helpless to stop it.With disaster looming, Makayla needs help. The kind only God can give. What she doesn't realize is, she's going to need Him for a lot more than that.Because Robin's life isn't the only one about to be blown to pieces. There's a secret Makayla doesn't know. A secret worse than anything she experienced in her past. A secret that will change her life forever.
We Will Meet Again...
Tarang Sinha - 2016
Despite regular warnings from her ever-suspicious heart, she inexplicably gets attracted towards him. But she would not let him trespass her soul. Why? Is she scared of mendacious face of love her past has inflicted on her? Can Paridhi really trust Abhigyan? Is Abhigyan’s life really that perfect as it seems? Will a blissful breeze of love ever kiss her heart? Will a blissful breeze of love ever kiss her heart?A heart-warming saga of dreams and desires, We Will Meet Again promises to make you smile and cry at the same time. Hold on to your hearts before embarking on this roller coaster ride of emotions!
The Loneliest Hobo: The Longest Road
Geoffrey Peyton - 2015
I was in no real rush to get back home immediately and I fancied a bit of a stroll anyway. This stroll took me over a month to complete, and as the chilly autumn became a very cold winter I realised that living the life of a hobo wasn't as easy as one may think. The only only items on my person that kept me going through the seven weeks or so was a hot water bottle, a single calor gas stove and my radio. But there were times when even those life savers ran out of their respective fuels, and soon depression, hunger and eventual thieving, took priority for my needs. This is the story of my 250 mile walk home to Birmingham from St. Ives, Cornwall, in the autumn of 1990.
Life Can Be a Miracle
Ivinela Samuilova - 2011
One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” (Albert Einstein)This is the motto of the cheerful debut novel by Ivinela Samuilova Life Can Be a Miracle. In 2008 Ivinela Samuilova met Alexey Bachev who, at the time, worked as psychologist in the Ministry of Defence in Bulgaria. She became intrigued by his personality and the manner he worked with people seeking his help. Ivinela started documenting what he did and at the end of 2009 she wrote Life Can Be a Miracle, convincing Alexey to keep his real name in her novel because she wanted people to learn about him and his unusual approach to reality. The story of the female protagonist Adie presents the life of the majority of people today – life stuck in social frameworks that define and limit what is 'possible and impossible', 'real and unreal', 'feasible and unfeasible', 'acceptable and unacceptable'.Adie realized that, dragged along by her fears, beliefs and prejudices, she had replaced her true identity with a personality scattered about in different roles. She believes that only by finding her Vocation, will she be able to make sense of her existence and once again restore the integrity of her personality. Cue her meeting with the extraordinary psychologist Alexey, who helps her look at herself and her life from a point of view she would probably never otherwise have.Alexey’s unusual lessons, that start with a tiny piece of blue cheese and a huge fork, reveal practically how to break away from hypnotically living our lives following fixed social models. We discover, bit by bit, how to restore a more direct and holistic connection with the world. This is the only possible way to turn our ordinary life into an extraordinary experience.
Flying the Knife Edge: New Guinea Bush Pilot
Matt McLaughlin - 2015
‘Flying the Knife Edge’ is the story of an ordinary man experiencing extraordinary things as a pilot in Papua New Guinea in the 1990s. After an untimely exit from the Royal New Zealand Air Force, New Zealander Matt McLaughlin took a leap into the unknown, travelling to Papua New Guinea to work as a missionary pilot. He soon switched from missionary to mercenary, and over the next three and a half years, as he built up the necessary experience to chase his goal of becoming an airline captain, his life was a rollercoaster ride of adventure, risk, near-misses, and tragedy. Matt lived on the knife edge of bush pilot ops in one of the world’s most dangerous flying environments. Along the way he soaked up some fascinating local history: the country's vital role in WWII’s Pacific Theatre; the disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart; the chaos of the Bougainville civil war; the Morobe gold rush of the 1930s... “The gap in the cloud became smaller and smaller as I descended, a shrinking tunnel twisting down the gorge. In a matter of seconds I was so low my wheels barely cleared the trees on the valley floor as I passed, and jungle-clad walls closed in on me until I was a mere wingspan from both sides of the valley. And then, in an instant, the gap was gone and I was flying blind. In cloud. In the bottom of a gorge. With terrain on both sides rising thousands of feet above me. Time stopped. The passengers started screaming, anticipating the aircraft impacting the side of the mountain. And their deaths. I had the capacity for just one other thought: Will I hear the sound of the airframe smashing into the trees as we crash, or will I be dead before it registers?”
Paperback Original
Will Rhode - 2002
Before dying of a tragic Viagra overdose, Josh's father put a stipulation in his will: Josh cannot claim his fortune unless he writes a bestselling novel in the next five years. The last thing Josh wants is a purpose in life: he's far too busy traveling, taking drugs, and growing his hair. He's very uncomfortably ensconced in a dirty Delhi flophouse, but it's the perfect place to meet drifters and druggies, users and seekers-the kind of people who know how to find Baba.
The Most Beautiful Villages of Tuscany
James Bentley - 1995
Tuscany has its grand cities—Florence and Siena—but their distinctive elegance is found on a more intimate scale in numerous small towns and villages.There is a richness in these small places, of architecture and artistic life, which lends them an interest and complexity shared by no other rural communities in Europe. Their sense of civilization is deep and ancient, but it is the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance which have left their mark, tempting travelers and settlers from abroad from the time of the Grand Tour to the present day. Here is the village of Settignano, where Michelangelo lived and which also boasts the glorious Renassiance garden of the Villa Gamberaia. Piero della Francesca's lovely Madonna del Parto decorates the tiny cemetery chapel of Monterchi. The medieval towers of San Gimignano loom over the town's squares and streets like the backdrop to some surreal stage set.James Bentley has chosen thirty-seven villages and small towns, both for their intrinsic beauty and for the part they have played in Tuscan history and culture. Page after page of Hugh Palmer's magnificent color photographs evoke the beauty and the wonder of this land. For the visitor, there are specially compiled listings of hotels, restaurants, and festivals to complete the tribute to Tuscany and its villages.
A Lovesong for India: Tales from the East and West
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - 2011
Set in India, England, and New York City, A Lovesong for India reveals what unites us across oceans, cultures, and lifetimes.In “Innocence,” an older couple, whose social standing is marred from a decades-old scandal, rent out rooms in their Delhi home for both companionship and income. Isolated and battling blame and guilt, the couple becomes deeply invested in the lives of their two tenants. With the addition of a third renter—a beautiful and provocative woman from India—tensions in the household push the story to its feverish conclusion.The story “Talent” finds Jhabvala in New York City reflecting on the friction between family and societal expectations. Magda is a talent scout whose entire life is her work until she meets Ellie, a singer whose immense ability and unguarded personality captivate Magda. Soon Ellie is integrated into Magda’s extended family for better or worse.Remarkable and unwavering, this collection is the hallmark of Jhabvala’s celebrated career and a testament to her “balance, subtlety, wry humor, and beauty” —The New York Times.
Helvetica and the New York City Subway System: The True (Maybe) Story
Paul Shaw - 2009
The original mosaics (dating from as early as 1904), displaying a variety of serif and sans serif letters and decorative elements, were supplemented by signs in terracotta and cut stone. Over the years, enamel signs identifying stations and warning riders not to spit, smoke, or cross the tracks were added to the mix. Efforts to untangle this visual mess began in the mid-1960s, when the city transit authority hired the design firm Unimark International to create a clear and consistent sign system. We can see the results today in the white-on-black signs throughout the subway system, displaying station names, directions, and instructions in crisp Helvetica. This book tells the story of how typographic order triumphed over chaos.The process didn't go smoothly or quickly. At one point New York Times architecture writer Paul Goldberger declared that the signs were so confusing one almost wished that they weren't there at all. Legend has it that Helvetica came in and vanquished the competition. Paul Shaw shows that it didn't happen that way--that, in fact, for various reasons (expense, the limitations of the transit authority sign shop), the typeface overhaul of the 1960s began not with Helvetica but with its forebear, Standard (AKA Akzidenz Grotesk). It wasn't until the 1980s and 1990s that Helvetica became ubiquitous. Shaw describes the slow typographic changeover (supplementing his text with more than 250 images--photographs, sketches, type samples, and documents). He places this signage evolution in the context of the history of the New York City subway system, of 1960s transportation signage, of Unimark International, and of Helvetica itself.
The Bond: Two Epic Climbs in Alaska and a Lifetime's Connection Between Climbers
Simon McCartney - 2016
The result was a route so hard and serious that for decades nobody believed they had climbed it – it is still unrepeated to this day. Then, raising the bar even higher, they made the first ascent of the south-west face of Denali, a climb that would prove almost fatal for Simon, and one which would break the bond between him and climbing, separating the two young climbers. But the bond between Simon and Jack couldn’t remain dormant forever. A lifetime later, a chance reconnection with Jack gave Simon the chance to bury the ghosts of what happened high on Denali, when he had faced almost certain death.The Bond is Simon McCartney’s story of these legendary climbs.
Beasts
Emilia Hartley - 2020
By the time you reach the end you'll be begging for more! With No cliffhangers, no cheating, and plenty of steam this is one boxed set you do NOT want to miss!Book 1 - The Tiger's Lover:When Sadie Holliday finds her six-year-old turned into a bear cub in the kitchen, she knows she has to get help. She has no idea how to raise a young shifter. But the boy’s father is long gone, and the town’s local alpha is a harsh beast of a man, Dante Oberon. Even after she meets him and feels the pull of attraction between them, she’s not at all sure he’s someone she wants in her son’s life.Dante’s getting along just fine, thank you very much. Townspeople may look at his shifters askance, but they’re no longer the out-of-control gang of thugs that they were under the previous alpha. They hold down jobs, and they keep their tempers reined in—mostly. When they don’t or can’t, Dante takes care of it. It works.Or at least, he thinks it’s working until he sees his life through the eyes of the sexy, fearless single mom who comes to him asking for help with her son. Suddenly, he’s less sure of himself and his methods. But can he afford to be the kind of alpha who loves?Book 2 - The Hyena's Hope:When Lily catches her boyfriend of six years cheating on her, she kicks him to the curb and holes up in her apartment. To her chagrin, her friends won’t let her wallow. They drag her down to the local shifter bar, where she meets Roderigo, a gorgeous and thoughtful shifter who could almost be torn from the pages of one of her favorite romance novels. The trouble is, just when she’s beginning to think there might be something between them, he disappears on her.When Roderigo meets Lily, he feels peace for the first time since he’s been changed. Before long, he’s sure that she’s his mate. But something evil is preying on his pack, and whatever it is threatens to hurt Lily if he doesn’t stop investigating. He knows he can’t fail his pack, but he can’t put her in danger, either.He wants her.He wants her to be safe even more.He’ll do whatever it takes to make her safe.Even break both their hearts.Book 3 - The Lion's Loyalty:As second in command, Van has always been the steady one in the pack, the voice of reason, the brains behind the brawn. But now Carol has returned to them shaken from her ordeal with the mad scientists, and Van can hardly control himself. He’s furious at the world for hurting her and at his pack for forgetting about her. Most of all, he’s furious at himself for failing her. He doesn’t deserve his fated mate if he can’t take care of her.Before she was changed, Carol was an EMT, a lifesaver. Now she starts at small noises, worries about shadows, and can’t handle the smell of antiseptic. Only around Van does she find any peace at all. But she’s sure Van only sticks around because the alpha told him to keep an eye on the unreliable, broken member of the pack. Sometimes she thinks the world, the pack, and even Van would be better off without her.She refuses to be a burden.For both their sakes, Van must convince her she isn’t one.Content Warning: This series contains lots of sexy shifter action, irresistible mates and steamy love scenes. Tons of mouth watering Paranormal Romance bonus content included!