Before the Fall (Irish Trilogy, #2)


Orna Ross - 2012
    "A highly ambitious, engaging, and evocative novel and a hauntingly captivating read." -The Sunday IndependentWhat happens when a woman is haunted by the sins of her foremothers–and the men who betrayed them?Facing the birth of her child, and single motherhood, Jo Devereux has spent the last six months in Mucknamore, the Irish village she fled twenty years ago.A trunk of letters and diaries left by her grandmother and great-aunt has revealed a heartbreaking legacy of bitter secrets that have haunted the women of her family for four generations.Now she must find out the ultimate truth: What other secrets and lies lie under her mother’s and grandmother’s unshakeable silence? How does it connect with her failed life as a gender-bending agony aunt in San Franciso? And what of Rory… her lost love, son of her family’s sworn enemies?Will Jo’s mission to uncover the past unlock a possible future together? Or are they about to lose everything all over again?As she pieces together the poisonous fragments of the past, Jo must now face into the guilt and shame that were her legacy and see how she might best redeem them in her own life.

Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners


Michael Erard - 2012
    What do an Italian cardinal, a Connecticut blacksmith, and a German diplomat have in common with an MIT linguist, a Hungarian translator, and a Scottish church organist? They were all "hyperpolyglots," "language superlearners," or "massive multilinguals." In Babel No More, Michael Erard delves into the lives and minds of these intriguing individuals both past and present and discovers the upper limit of the human ability to learn, speak, and remember languages. Hyperpolyglots - people who, by one definition, can use six or more languages - are fascinating not simply because what they do is out of the ordinary. Rather, their accomplishments serve as a point of reference for the rest of us; in some ways they are what the author calls a gifted neural tribe, absorbing language for reasons, and with methods, that few people would emulate. But they are also marked by simple, if dogged, methods: the most prolific multilingual in history, Cardinal Mezzofanti, used flashcards. Taken together, their pursuits present a natural experiment into the limits and the nature of memory and language. Part scientific detective story, part travelogue, part valentine to anyone who's ever hoped to sprechen or parler something other than a mother tongue, Babel No More takes us all over the world to look at language learning in an entirely new way.

Study Skills for Students of English as a Second Language


Richard C. Yorkey - 1970
    When you use it in either your regular ESL class or a study skills class, you can be sure that your students will learn the practical skills they need to succeed in an English speaking, academic setting. Study Skills for Students of English includes sections on how to use a monolingual English dictionary, study for and take examinations, and read for comprehension. The text also covers the art of note-taking and development of writing skills.

Dom Wars: Round 1 & 2


Lucian Bane - 2014
    When he signs up for Dom Wars, he meets Tara who is naive to the BDSM world. Her reckless dominance and puritan heart fascinate him. But when he discovers the pain in her past, it unleashes his true Dom within. Lucian and Tara make it to round two in the DOM WARS. The challenges now revolve around trust, and while Tara's inhibitions in the world of BDSM are slowly being crushed by Lucian's passion, her deep rooted fears become the real obstacle he must dominate.

Tale of Tala


Chaker Khazaal - 2017
    Triumph over Failure. Hope over Despair. In Tale of Tala, Henry, a bestselling New York writer is trying to cope with the unexpected death of his mother and the failure of his latest book. His life a triumphant success had collapsed. Flying to Amsterdam to indulge in decadence and depravity, Henry gorges on everything from illicit drugs to vile carnal acts. Wanting more, he heads to Slovenia. Enter Tala - a strikingly beautiful but deceptively cunning prostitute. A Palestinian refugee, her tale of loss and suffering strikes a chord with Henry. The perilous journey between Turkey and Greece; the desperate search for her husband Bilal; kidnapped by human traffickers. Finding himself falling in love, Henry promises to search for the missing Bilal and vows to protect his muse from the perils of life. For a man used to winning, one might wonder how far he will go to help Tala, or will he only go far enough to keep her for himself? Three People. Three Journeys. One Tale. Lies over Truth. Murder over Safety. Crisis over Peace. When a winner loses everything will he become villain or victim? Chaker Khazaal traveled through Europe and the Middle East in 2015 talking to refugees about their different experiences. Inspired by various stories comes a descriptive narrative of the plight of refugees, presented in this romantic thriller novel. The story focuses on the very dark world of displacement - war, human trafficking, terrorism, organ trafficking, and the exploitation of the desperate - while humanizing refugees in this love story.

I Never Knew There Was a Word For It


Adam Jacot de Boinod - 2010
    All they need is this book!This bumper volume gathers all three of Adam Jacot de Boinod's acclaimed books about language - The Wonder of Whiffling, The Meaning of Tingo and Toujours Tingo (their fans include everyone from Stephen Fry to Michael Palin) - into one highly entertaining, keenly priced compendium. As Mariella Frostup said 'You'll never be lost for words again!'

Here Speeching American: A Very Strange Guide to English as it is Garbled Around the World


Ross Petras - 2004
    And if that’s too much to ask, remember the sage advice from the staff of a Taipei hotel: “If there is anything we can do to assist and help you, please do not contact us.”

Word Watching: Field Notes from an Amateur Philologist


Julian Burnside - 2004
    288) discussion of the strange but dinkum (p. 289) pedigree (p. 224) of the naughty (p. 202), nice (p. 212), and, sometimes, obscene (p. 217) English language. We live in a torrent of words — from radio and television, books and newspapers, and now from the internet. But, as Julian Burnside reminds us in this new edition of the bestselling Wordwatching, words are a source both of pleasure and power, and can be deployed for good or for ill. Some of these essays explore curiosities in odd corners of the language simply to remind us of the extraordinary richness of the English language. Other pieces use small matters of language to illustrate larger processes of cultural borrowing and change. Burnside’s musings remind us that we should not be alarmed at the instability of the language; rather, we should see its wanton borrowings as a source of its strength and vitality. Wordwatching also reminds us of the need to be aware of the misuse of language in the service of sinister purposes — whether political, ideological, social, or personal. An ear well-tuned to the nuances of vocabulary inoculates the hearer against this epidemic of deception. With nine new essays, dealing with subjects as diverse as deadlines, fancy words, the problems with "issue," odd sounds, oxymorons, and the fallacy of "wading in," this revised and expanded edition of Wordwatching is a fascinating demonstration of the power and the pleasure of the English language.

Like Dew Your Youth: Growing Up with Your Teenager


Eugene H. Peterson - 1994
    "God's gift, to the parent in middle-age. This 'gift' dimension of adolescence is my subject. For adolescence is not only the process designed by the Creator to bring children to adulthood, it is also designed by the Creator to provide something essential for parents during correspondingly critical years in their lives. Christian parents are most advantageously placed to recognize, appreciate, and receive this gift God so wisely provides." In Like Dew Your Youth Peterson shows how adolescence is a time for parents to enjoy a deeper, richer relationship with their children and for both parents and children to grow in their relationships with Jesus Christ. In addition to its wealth of positive, effective ways to deal with many of the problems and pains of growing up, this insightful book offers an understanding of parent-adolescent relationships that will help promote an atmosphere of communication, growth, frankness, forgiveness, love, and harmony in the home. Study questions at the end of each chapter help readers apply Peterson's practical, Bible-centered teaching. There are also tips for using this material within the framework of parental support groups. Like Dew Your Youth provides a much-needed balm against the fear and anxiety bred by traditional views of this exciting period of life and properly orients parents and teenagers within this God-provided environment for spiritual growth.

Psycholinguistics


Thomas Scovel - 1998
    This brief introduction shows how psycholinguistic research can act as a window to the workings of the human mind and the study of consciousness.

1001 Most Useful Spanish Words


Seymour Resnick - 1996
    Included are definitions of common Spanish words arranged by such categories as foods, numbers, days of the week, months, colors, the seasons, and family. The heart of the book is a dictionary, from a to zapato, in which each word is used in a Spanish sentence (with English translation) demonstrating its proper use. This useful learning and teaching tool was compiled by Seymour Resnick, a noted language teacher. It belongs at the fingertips of anyone studying the Spanish language.

The Rag Tree: A Novel of Ireland


D.P. Costello - 2009
    Costello's spellbinding novel, The Rag Tree, breathes dark, vivid life into Ireland's passionate legends. Crisp and sharp-witted, Costello's tale probes a modern Ireland torn between letting go of time-honored dreams and embracing the promises of a prosperous New Ireland. Even as they struggle against one another, the Irish Special Branch, the British Army, Scotland Yard, and the I.R.A. find themselves forced to ally against a common foe: The Rag Man. Mattie Joe Treacy is the Rag Man. Engrossed in a desperate quest to find his missing father, Mattie Joe is cursed-by the playboy's life of drink and carousing, by his family's staunch adherence to Ireland's old folk ways, and by a family curse hurled at his clan generations ago. The Curse of the O'Neills, invoked by an angry cleric against Mattie Joe's great-grandfather, declares that, "the eldest son will not survive the father." No Treacy son has since outlived his father, and Mattie Joe is next in line to die. Or is he?

Hungry for Home


Cole Moreton - 2000
    Cole Moreton tells the story of the Blaskets through the eyes of the Kearney family, who lived there for generations until 1947 when they paid a terrible price for their isolation-a young man's life. Moreton discovers a few survivors still alive within sight of the Great Blasket, but most had left Ireland for America, settling in Massachusetts. Hungry for Home is a beautifully written and gripping account of a quest for a vanished people, and the Kearneys' incredible journey into the twentieth century is "a moving, atmospheric testament to the mythic lure of home". Entertainment Weekly.

Swearing Is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language


Emma Byrne - 2017
    She explores every angle of swearing—why we do it, how we do it, and what it tells us about ourselves. Packed with the results of unlikely and often hilarious scientific studies—from the “ice-bucket test” for coping with pain, to the connection between Tourette’s and swearing, to a chimpanzee that curses at her handler in sign language—Swearing Is Good for You presents a lighthearted but convincing case for the foulmouthed.

Travel Writing: See the World. Sell the Story.


L. Peat O'Neil - 2005
    Put it all on paper.With the guidance of L. Peat O'Neil - who is on the staff of "The Washington Post Magazine" - you'll write engagingly about your travels, whether in journals for your own pleasure or articles for publication.Discover the many types of travel articles you can write.Make your journey as a seasoned travel writer does.Write journal entries that lead to first drafts.Organize your articles and make them flow to the end.Strengthen your writing style to keep readers captivated.Find information, verify it and bring it to life on paper.Take your own travel photographs - or mine other sources.Follow the most promising paths to selling your articles.Get a glimpse of the travel writer's life. Is it for you?Writing and marketing exercises follow pertinent chapters. Along with her instruction, O'Neil mixes in examples from travel articles. You'll taste the flavor of distant destinations even as you see how the writers sprinkled in that spice. Don't be surprised if you feel a quickening of the pulse and the call of the open road. The world is full of fascinating places.