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Eaglesworth


T.R. Pearson - 2018
    The house sits on a hilltop, neglected and weathered, until an outlander rolls in to bring it back to life. The lively story of the sordid secrets the renovation reveals is told by a pack of local barflies, a ragged bunch of half-cocked civic boosters and gossips who give us history as seen through the bottom of a shot glass. Funny, bittersweet, and glancingly philosophical, Eaglesworth is a fanciful biography of a place, a latter-day slice of the Old Dominion that the Sage of Monticello would hardly recognize.

My Name Is Lucy Barton: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout | Summary & Highlights


Summary Reads - 2016
    Her mother comes to visit and through conversations with her and a recollection of her past she starts to reflect on her childhood and its affects on her present life. In “My Name is Lucy Barton” the reader gets a glimpse into the past and gains insight into the complicated relationship between a mother and her daughter. After not talking to her mother for years, she is finally reunited when her mother visits her in the hospital. The exploration through their relationship lends unexpected vision into all other relationships in Lucy’s life; her relationship with her husband, daughters, neighbors and family friends. Through this telling narrative one can gather the notion of a past’s affects on their present and their telling of “their” story. “My Name is Lucy Barton” is the thought-provoking tale of a woman discovering herself, her mother, her husband, her children, and the world around her. Inside this SUMMARY READS Summary & Highlights of My Name Is Lucy Barton: Summary of Each Chapter Highlights BONUS: Free Report about The Tidiest and Messiest Places on Earth - http://sixfigureteen.com/messy.

False Advertising


Dianne Blacklock - 2007
    She recycles, obeys the water restrictions, she is even polite to telemarketers. as a mother, wife, daughter and nurse, Helen is used to putting everyone's needs before her own. But it only takes one momentary lapse of concentration to shatter her life forever.There was no momentary lapse for Gemma. Her customary recklessness leaves her pregnant, alone and estranged from her family with her one-promising advertising career in tatters.So when Gemma barges unceremoniously into Helen's life, things will never be the same again for either of them. Two very different women who have one thing in common - their lives have fallen short of their expectations. But is fate offering them a second chance?

The Dance Boots


Linda LeGarde Grover - 2010
    In doing so she passes on to her niece the Ojibwe tradition of honoring elders through their stories. In “Refugees Living and Dying in the West End of Duluth,” this same niece comes of age in the 1970s against the backdrop of her forcibly dispersed family. A cycle of boarding schools, alcoholism, and violence haunts these stories even as the characters find beauty and solace in their large extended families. With its attention to the Ojibwe language, customs, and history, this unique collection of riveting stories illuminates the very nature of storytelling. The Dance Boots narrates a century’s evolution of Native Americans making choices and compromises, often dictated by a white majority, as they try to balance survival, tribal traditions, and obligations to future generations.

Extremely Pale Ros�: A Very French Adventure


Jamie Ivey - 2006
    Far from the plonk he's used to, Jamie finds something fantastic about a cool, pale rosé on a hot day. Due to a translation mishap, Jamie is taunted by a local vintner that there is no paler rosé than hers and embarks on a quest to find one. Setting off on a ramshackle tour of France in search of the elusive bottle that meets the standards set, they visit main rosé producing areas and through eccentric locals discover much the regions have to offer. With wit, candor, and wonderful storytelling, Jamie Ivey maintains a tradition of excellence in food and travel writing. Readers are left with dreams of France, summer days, baguettes, and--extremely pale rosé.

A Place in the Woods


Helen Hoover - 1969
    Well ensconced in their professional lives in Chicago, they made the decision to follow their dream of a simple existence, pulling up their stakes and plunging into the wilds of northern Minnesota.A Place in the Woods, first published in 1969, describes how the Hoovers gradually adapted to the rigors of wilderness survival, relating events that occurred prior to those Helen Hoover described in her bestselling The Girl of the Deer. This is a tale of starting out, of the pitfalls of beginning a new life -- one punctuated by near disasters but also by moments of rare beauty.A Place in the Woods is enlivened by warm, humorous anecdotes showing both the struggle and reward involved in joining this small community of rabbits, deer, and distant neighbors. This volume, now available in paperback for the first time, conveys the special joy of each small victory in the wilderness.

We're All A Mess, It's OK: A collection of funny essays and one-liners about the struggles of everyday life


Amy Lyle - 2018
    It's OK." Over one hundred contributors share their failures, setbacks and most embarrassing moments for this compilation of hilarity with the hopes that their stories would give the embarrassed and struggling souls some comic and inspirational relief. Life is riddled with pain, disappointments, and failures, but given enough time, they're folly. "We're All A Mess. It's OK" captures life's most absurd moments honestly and without a filter. It's filled with funny essays and one-liners that highlight the grainier sides of being human and imperfect. The book covers everything from horrible internet dating experiences, the strangest of co-workers, vacations that went array, to the worst holiday gifts of all time. It's an anthology of real-life disasters. You'll enjoy comedian/actor Kim Banta's tale, "My First Date and a Sluggish Toilet," detailing a first date in the nicest home in town, ending with an overflowing toilet and panicked placement of poo into her purse. And... "You Must Have Me Confused With Someone Else" depicts Dane Levent's severe behavior problems with her golden retriever, Buddy, after picking him up from boarding, only to find out a week later that she had the wrong dog. And... "He's Worth the Wait" by Bes. D describes her mother-in-law's long-term relationship with a convicted felon she had met on Meet-An-Inmate.com. And... "Saying ‘I'm Sorry' Will Not Fix This Situation" by Ashley P. is a hilarious tale of turning her best date into her worst date by leaping onto her partner's lap, causing what is called in medical terminology, a penile fracture. And... Follow along with Traci Jo's daily embarrassment by her mother, picking her up from school wearing different wigs, such as Dorothy Hamill and Marilyn Monroe. And... Read an entire chapter dedicated to strange conditions, such as Shelley Miner Gardler's need to gather her pets before she goes to work to tell them goodbye and to assign one to be in charge while she's away. And... Discover why Christine T sorts M&Ms in ROYGBIV order and eats them first by frequency until they're even, and then one of each color in order, until they're gone. These humorous essays and quips are about the blunders and snafus, and of everyday life that most of us can relate to. It's like "Chicken Soup for the Soul" if you threw in snark and expletives. If you like Jenn Mann, Samantha Irby and Jenny Lawson, you will love "We're All A Mess. It's OK." Get a copy for your funniest friends, or for grouchy people, maybe it will cheer them up. The book is an easy read and offers a real message that we all can survive, even the worst of failures and ultimately, even though we're all a mess, it's OK. Snarky women, quip, short stories, essays, funny, humorous essays, humor essays, gifts for women, funny stories, dating, relationships, failures, work, family, cats, dogs, alpacas.

Monkey Business


Landon Crutcher - 2016
    Unfortunately they have no real resources, no good plans, and no idea what the hell they're doing. What they do have is an army of foul-mouthed monkeys who want them dead, a beautiful woman who wants some answers, a sex-crazed tribal chief, a caffeine-addicted demigod who wants to be worshipped, and a telepathic skull who just wants a little excitement. Through nonstop comedy and good old-fashioned adventure these guys are facing some long odds but do Ron and Willy give up? No they don't. They get down to business. Monkey Business.

To Kill a Mockingbird (A BookHacker Summary)


BookHacker - 2013
    Sometimes you try and it’s just so boring and impenetrable that you can’t get through it. And then, even worse, sometimes you’re asked to take a test or write a paper about it. If that sounds familiar, then BookHacker was designed for you.BookHacker summaries strip away all the subtlety and stuffiness of literature’s classic works (100% “thou”-free guaranteed) and get right to the point. Taking away all the guess work, BookHacker presents the book's warm gooey center in a concise, logical and entertaining way. Just because literary classics can be dry and boring doesn't mean understanding them has to be.In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, BookHacker gets to the essence of what’s going down in Depression-era Maycomb, Alabama. Told through the eyes of Scout Finch, whose youthful idealism is being chipped away by the evils of her small, Southern town, BookHacker walks you through a fight for justice her father Atticus cannot win. It's his unerring dedication to protecting the innocent (and his badass sniper skills) that gives her hope."I'm not going to lie--I used this to get out of having to read the book for class and it worked" Steven, 10th grade

“BookHacker gave me exact details and plotting, EXACTLY everything I needed to get through a dry, tough book” Rebecca, college freshman 

“This was surprisingly cool and honest. Would I want my teachers to know I used it? No, but that's why it's worth buying." Andrew, 12th gradeBOOKHACKER BREAKDOWN:1. Executive Summary - This is the Who, What, Where, When, Why, How in 60 seconds or less.2. Plot - We do the reading so you don’t have to. The essential plot points of the story.3. Scenes - Every great story has a number of number of important moments that are crucial (read: "testable") to its understanding. These are those.4. Characters - If you can’t figure out what this section is about, you should probably be coloring.5. Analysis - Themes, symbolism, and all manner of insufferable literary nonsense.6. Quotes - All the intimacy of the book with none of the commitment.7. Popular Culture - Books have a way of finding their place in the cultural consciousness. You might want to know about that.8. Extras - Media, links and leftovers.

Grape Expectations: A Family's Vineyard Adventure in France


Caro Feely - 2012
    But they arrive in France with their young family (a toddler and a newborn) to be faced with a dilapidated 18th-century farmhouse and an enterprise that may never, ever make them a living. Undeterred by mouse infestations, a leaking roof, treacherous hordes of insects, visits from the local farm "police," and a nasty accident with an agricultural trimmer, Caro and Sean set about transforming their "beyond eccentric" winery into a successful business as they embark on the biggest adventure of their lives—learning to make wine from the roots up.

Life After Life: A Guildford Four Memoir


Paddy Armstrong - 2017
    The truth is, I've lived three very different lives: the one before prison; the one in prison; and my life since then. It has taken years to make sense of it all, but now I've found a voice to speak about it.Paddy Armstrong was one of four people falsely convicted of The Guildford Bombing in 1975. He spent fifteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit.Today, as a husband and father, life is wonderfully ordinary, but the memory of his ordeal lives on. Here, for the first time and with unflinching candour, he lays bare the experiences of those years and their aftermath.Life after Life is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of forgiveness. It reminds us of the privilege of freedom, and how the balm of love, family and everyday life can restore us and mend the scars of even the most savage injustice.'This book captures the sweet soul of Paddy. Beautifully written. For lovers of freedom everywhere.' Jim Sheridan

Letters from Alice: A tale of hardship and hope. A search for the truth.


Petrina Banfield - 2018
    One secret. Will they be able to keep it under wraps?It was a stormy evening in 1920s London. When newly qualified almoner, Alice, stepped into the home of Charlotte, a terrified teenager who had just given birth out of wedlock, she did not expect to make a pact that would change her life forever. Thrown into secrecy after an unexpected turn, Alice was determined to keep bewildered Charlotte and her newborn baby safe. But when a threatening note appeared, she realised that Charlotte may need more protection than she first thought. But from who?Based on extensive research into the archive material held at the London Metropolitan Archives, and enriched with lively social history and excerpts from newspaper articles, LETTERS FROM ALICE is a gripping and deeply moving tale, which brings the colourful world of 1920s London to life. Full of grit, mystery and hope, it will have readers enthralled from the very first page.

The One True Ocean


Sarah Beth Martin - 2003
    There is one that is blue-a clean, bright Disney World blue, which simply is the mirror of a clear sky above. But look at the ocean on a cloudy day, she would say, and here lies the green ocean-the true ocean, full of algae and kelp and slimy creatures, evil lurking in the shadows.The One True Ocean is an atmospheric novel driven by suspense and tension when a twenty-something artist returns to her abandoned childhood home and begins to dig into her past. In a search for answers to her aunt's suicide and her father's identity, Jenna discovers that her seaside house holds dark secrets that will unravel her family history and shatter the truth she has come to believe.In this eloquent debut novel, Sarah Beth Martin mixes dark psychology and real emotion with breathless storytelling to explore the deep connections between past and present, love and loss, the dead and the living.

The Captured Girl: A Novel of Survival during the Great Sioux War


Tom Reppert - 2016
    More than four years later in 1875, when the cavalry attacks her Indian village, she is rescued by Lieutenant Raines. Now eighteen, she returns to white society with her Cheyenne son at her side. Her struggle for survival has just begun.Filled with fascinating characters: outlaws, soldiers and warriors, English Dukes, Robber Barons, and the upstairs downstairs of back east society, this epic story of love and survival transports us from the Indian camps of Montana Territory to the mean streets of Gilded Age New York, and back again, right into the heart of the Great Sioux War. Reviews:“Realistic dialog; interpersonal entanglements and characterizations that come alive. It all adds authenticity to a historical work that makes for a delicious read.” Foster W. Cline, M.D, author of Parenting with Love and Logic.“The Captured Girl is a captivating story of survival and strength. Morgan’s is a tale of courage wouldn’t let go of my imagination even after I sadly turned the last page.” Mary Haley author of Ghost Writer, The Great Potato Murder.“An excellently written and fascinating story of the Sioux War of the 1800s. It is obvious that the author Tom Reppert has spent many hours researching that period of history, and he has made it come alive as few authors can. You can feel and identify with the inner struggle that his hero, a young soldier, goes through during his first battle.” Ana Parker Goodwin, author of Justice Forbidden

Someone else's Honeymoon


Phoebe MacLeod - 2020
    When she meets Ed, who is on honeymoon alone after being jilted at the altar by a bride he's never met, it looks like her life may be taking a turn for the better.Fate, however, has other ideas, and she and Ed are forced apart.Will she find her way back to him, or are they just not meant to be?