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On the Vanishing of Large Creatures by Susan Hutton
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The Killings of Stanley Ketchel
James Carlos Blake - 2005
The Killings of Stanley Ketchel is a sweeping and powerful literary adventure by one of our most daring novelists.
Float
Anne Carson - 2016
Float reaches an even greater level of brilliance and surprise. Presented in an arrestingly original format--individual chapbooks that can be read in any order, and that float inside a transparent case--this collection conjures a mix of voices, time periods, and structures to explore what makes people, memories, and stories "maddeningly attractive" when observed in spaces that are suggestively in-between.One can begin with Carson contemplating Proust on a frozen Icelandic plain, or on the art-saturated streets of downtown New York City. Or journey to the peak of Mount Olympus, where Zeus ponders his own afterlife. Or find a chorus of Gertrude Steins performing an essay about falling--a piece that also unearths poignant memories of Carson's own father and great-uncle in rural Canada. And a poem called "Wildly Constant" piercingly explores the highs and lows of marriage and monogamy, distilled in a wife's waking up her husband from the darkness of night, and asking him to make them eggs for breakfast.Exquisite, heartbreaking, disarmingly funny, Float kaleidoscopically illuminates the uncanny magic that comes with letting go of expectations and boundaries. It is Carson's most intellectually electrifying, emotionally engaging book to date.
Can't Forgive: My 20-Year Battle with O.J. Simpson
Kim Goldman - 2014
Don’t ask her to forgive and forget.When Kim was just 22, her older brother, Ron Goldman, was brutally killed by O.J. Simpson. Ron and Kim were very close, and her devastation was compounded by the shocking not guilty verdict that allowed a smirking Simpson to leave as a free man.It wasn’t Kim’s first trauma. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she and Ron were raised by their father. Her mother kidnapped her, telling her that her father didn’t love her any more. When she was 14, she was almost blinded from severe battery acid burns on her face during an automobile accident, requiring three reconstructive surgeries.But none of these early traumas compared to the loss of her brother, the painful knowledge that his killer was free, and fact that she could not even grieve privately—her grief was made painfully public. Counseled by friends, strangers, and even Oprah to “find closure,” Kim chose a different route. She chose to fight.Repeatedly, Kim and her family pursued Simpson by every legal means. Foiled over and over again, they ultimately achieved a small measure of justice.Kim’s story is one of tragedy, but also of humanity and, often, comedy. Living life as one of America’s most famous “victims” isn’t always easy, especially as a single mother in the dating market. She often had bizarre first date experiences, with one man even breaking down into tears and inconsolable with grief after realizing who she was.Ultimately Kim’s story is that of an ordinary person thrown into extraordinary circumstances at a very young age, and who had the courage—despite the discouragement of so many—to ignore the conventional wisdom and never give up her fight for justice.
PAPA Hemingway in Key West
James McLendon - 1972
From his first days on the island he came to know and love fishing and the sea. For the next twelve years the famed author called the island his home. His years in Key West became the most crucial and prolific years of his life. During that period he wrote Death in the Afternoon, Green Hills of Africa, numerous important short stories, To Have and Have Not, and began For Whom the Bell Tolls. He also created and became his own living legend, self-consciously constructing the swaggering image known to the world as Papa.In the early 1970s journalist James McLendon seized the opportunity to interview Ernest Hemingway’s Key West friends who remained alive. A Key West resident himself, McLendon wrote this book by combining his knowledge of the island with his conversations and with the extensive Hemingway-related material held by the Monroe County Public Library. McLendon recreates the slow-paced, sub-tropical setting, the island’s Depression years, and the people and places that infused and inspired Hemingway. These were the years that saw his love affair with Martha Gellhorn and the crumbling of his marriage to Pauline Pfeiffer. Beyond letters and legal documents, too little of the Hemingway era in Key West is found in biographical studies. Because this book was first published in 1974, much of what exists in those studies today is derived from this manuscript. This book gives us a penetrating look at the significance of the Key West era in Hemingway’s career. James McLendon was a columnist for the Key West Citizen, a creative writing instructor and a freelance writer. His dispatches and articles appeared in various U.S. newspapers and magazines, including UPI wire services, the Christian Science Monitor and Writers Digest.
Primary School Confidential: Confessions From the Classroom
Mrs. Woog - 2016
Woog lifts the lid on a world that's part jungle, part nursery, a place both sweet and feral, where the rule of law is tenuous at best and primitive desires hold sway over order and discipline. And wait till you see the children!We're talking about primary school, that special place where little kids turn into big kids, where letters turn into words, numbers turn into more confusing numbers and lunchboxes turn into bacterial breeding grounds. Where teachers rule (mostly) and parents realise primary school's not just for children - that they.re back at school too, just in different roles.Having been a student during the Smurf, Swatch and Strawberry Shortcake Era, and then a teacher in tough-as-nails South London and a back-of-Woop Woop country school, Mrs Woog knew her way around a primary school and thought nothing could surprise or intimidate her . until she became a primary school parent!You'll laugh till lemonade comes out of your nose in this irreverent, hilarious, no-holds-barred and loving homage to primary school and all who dwell in it. Therapy for former teachers, a revelation to prospective parents, a trip down memory lane for us all, Primary School Confidential is a joy to read and essential homework for anyone interested in what really happens beyond the school gate.
The Jack-Roller: A Delinquent Boy's Own Story
Clifford R. Shaw - 1966
The Jack-Roller helped to establish the life-history or "own story" as an important instrument of sociological research. The book remains as relevant today to the study and treatment of juvenile delinquency and maladjustment as it was when originally published in 1930.
Trust: The Story of Hellen Keller
Mary Logue - 2002
A brief biography of Helen Keller demonstrates the importance of trust in her relationship with her teacher Anne Sullivan and in her life.
Aching Joy: Following God Through the Land of Unanswered Prayer
Jason Hague - 2018
But when the boy regressed into the distant, wordless world of severe autism, those hopes were crushed.As Jason walked through the barren land of unanswered prayer, he discovered that he was not alone--so many in the church today are overwhelmed with pain and doubt. We think our faith is supposed to guarantee us a sense of emotional stability, even in the midst of soul-crushing circumstances; but by avoiding the brokenness inside ourselves, we end up missing the beauty of a God at work deep within us.Aching Joy is a road map for anyone facing a difficult, unresolved situation. We can embrace both the sorrow and beauty of the land of unanswered prayer in order to find renewed hope in the greatness of God and the expectation of good.The goal of Aching Joy is not to see the silver lining in the midst of our hardships but to encourage us to follow the example of Christ, who entered fully into both the joy and the sorrow of human experiences with confidence that His Father's eternal kingdom would outlast and outshine them. When we open our hearts to the restoration that only Christ can perform, we will begin to find a deeper gladness that has no veneer and wears no mask. We will find a joy in the midst of the aching.
The Scarlet Ibis: Poems
Susan Hahn - 2007
The resonance of this image grows through each section of the book as Hahn skillfully employs theme and variation, counterpoint and mirroring techniques. The ibis first appears as part of an illusion, the disappearing object in a magician’s trick, which then evokes the greatest disappearing act of all—death—where there are no tricks to bring about a reappearance. The rich complexity multiplies as the second section focuses on a disappearing lady and a dramatic final section brings together the bird and the lady in their common plight—both caged by their mortality, their assigned time and role. All of the illusions fall away during this brilliant denouement as the two voices share a dialogue on the power of metaphor as the very essence of poetry. bird trick iv It’s all about disappearance. About a bird in a cagewith a mirror, a simple twiston the handle at the sidethat makes it come and go at the magician’s insistence. It’s all about innocence.It’s all about acceptance.It’s all about compliance.It’s all about deference.It’s all about silence. It’s all about disappearance.
Olivia
Judith Rossner - 1994
In fact, the minute she sets foot in Italy--and meets the appreciative Angelo, who loves her cooking like nobody's business--Caroline decides to stay.But even the magic spices of Italy can't make her marriage taste right. Angelo takes over the raising of their beautiful daughter Olivia, who, by the age of ten, hardly speaks to her mother. Caroline leaves the country and her daughter for four years, until Olivia seeks out her mother in New York. Caroline is overjoyed and hopeful--until she reacquaints herself with the difficult, demanding daughter she could never stop loving but discovers she doesn't exactly like...."Between the risotto and the romance, Rossner treats family life with a wise and witty touch."--Us Magazine"Everything you expect from a Judith Rossner novel: story, character, language, and uniqueness--and more--a new ripeness, a maturity. It's altogether a deep and satisfying journey."--Betty Rollin
City of the Soul: A Walk in Rome
William Murray - 2003
In City of the Soul, William Murray begins to show us why.Growing up in Rome and spending much of his life in the city, William Murray is an expert guide as he takes us on an intimate walking tour of some of Rome’s most glorious achievements, illuminating the history and the mythology that define the city. Murray leads us through the centro, the city’s historic downtown center. He writes about the Villa Borghese, the Piazza di Spagna, and the Trevi Fountain and describes such singular attractions as the Capuchin Church of Santa Maria della Concezione, whose macabre crypt has impressed visitors from Mark Twain to the Marquis de Sade. As he walks, he reveals stories that only a longtime resident would know, capturing the sights, sounds, and flavors that make Rome a combination of the deep past and the ever-sensual present.
How to Survive the Loss of a Love
Melba Colgrove - 1977
Discusses the variety of reactions that people experience because of the loss of a love and provides numerous recommendations for coping with pain and achieving comfort.
Early Works: A Collection of Poetry
Dylan Geick - 2017
He's set to wrestle and study creative writing at Columbia University in New York. These poems are a look into his early experiences with love and loss, an introspective coming of age tale told in verse.
Cubs Nation: 162 Games. 162 Stories. 1 Addiction.
Gene Wojciechowski - 2005
Cub, to Sammy Sosa, today's record-setting sensation, Cubs Nation traces the history of a team that often had everything going for it and yet was so hampered by losses that it came to define the term lovable losers.
The Gift of the Deer
Helen Hoover - 1966
One Christmas Eve an emaciated deer stumbled across the yard of Helen Hoover’s remote cabin in northern Minnesota. Barely surviving the brutal winter, gaunt from starvation, blind in one eye from a hunting wound, he became the central character in Hoover’s best-selling book, The Gift of the Deer.Hoover and her husband Adrian named this deer Peter and nursed him back to health, setting out cedar branches, corn, and carrots. From that Christmas on, the Hoovers observed Peter and his growing clan for four years. Hoover relates the story of these deer, including the birth of new fawns, the danger of predators, even the amusing way a mother deer teaches “manners” to her young.The Gift of the Deer, first published in 1966, sold over 50,000 copies and is Hoover’s best-selling book. It is now available in an inexpensive paperback edition that is beautifully illustrated by Adrian Hoover. Readers young and old will delight in this touching story of two north woods families.