Tan Tru


Larry Brooks - 2013
    Originally written as a piece of our family history, it chronicles events that unfolded during 1968 and early 1969 while serving as a young infantryman with the 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam's Mekong Delta and relates how experiences on the US home front impacted and were affected by the aggressive military tactics of 1968. Most of all the book tells the true stories of young soldiers engaged in mortal combat and the daily struggle to survive..

Over and Out


James F. Jordan - 2013
    A first hand account of my tour of duty in Vietnam.

A Harvest of Sunflowers (The Sunflowers Trilogy #2)


Ruth Silvestre - 1998
    Local friendships and bonds of loyalty that she and her family formed during their gradual renovation of their once derelict farmhouse have now deepened. The children, both hers and her neighbours', are now adults and the close-knit community celebrates and prepares for the new generation. The wedding festivities and banquets are beautifully described in mouth-watering detail and the tastes and smells of Lot-et-Garonne seem to float from the page. An unforgettable and enriching story of Ruth and her family, and their continuing love for their home in the sunflowers.

Space Chase (The Palmdale Files Book 1)


Harold Anderson - 2020
     If the American people understood what really happened, the U.S. government feared life would have irrevocably changed for the worse. In Space Chase, the premier installment of The Palmdale Files, former agent Harold Anderson reveals the true story behind a mysterious Lockheed U-2 "Dragon Lady" crash in the mountains of Nevada and the extreme efforts the U.S. government went through to hide what happened. Space Chase—also known as Event 21 Zeta—is the first in a series of forgotten and buried events the author once destroyed to protect the peace and security of the United States—events the government would rather hide forever. Never heard of Palmdale? The author isn't surprised, and believes you never will outside of these short stories. The Palmdale Files share highlights from Harold Anderson's U.S. Air Force career, where he worked to defend the nation and the world from paranoid hysteria about unexplained phenomena and threats from above.

Precious Lives


Margaret Forster - 1998
    Margaret Forster's father was not a man to answer questions - least of all questions about life and death, so she attempts to answer them for herself. As Forster looks back at Arthur's life and indomitable character, she evokes incidents from her childhood, his working life and stubborn old age, trying to make sense of their largely unspoken relationship, and of his tenacious hold on life, and on his family. Arthur and Marion's lives were ordinary, and apparently unremarkable, but, when faced with death, lives like these become strangely precious.

A Place in the Country


Laura Shaine Cunningham - 2000
    Now she tells us what became of that little girl--and her lifelong quest to find the perfect country home.

My First 79 Years: Isaac Stern


Isaac Stern - 1999
    One of the few people who has known every major classical musician of the last two-thirds of the twentieth century, he shares his personal and artistic experiences in this warm, passionate account of his life: the story of his rise to eminence; his feelings about music and the violin; and his great friendships and collaborations with colleagues such as Leonard Bernstein and Pablo Casals. Stern the man, the musician, and the cultural institution come alive in the most readable and revealing musical autobiography of the decade.

Giovanni's Ring: My Life Inside the Real Sopranos


Giovanni Rocco - 2021
    That lethal assignment brought the undercover operation to an end in March 2015, and the resulting string of high-profile arrests eviscerated the criminal organization.Giovanni’s Ring is not simply a chronicle of Giovanni Rocco’s adventures in the murky and dangerous Mafia world he inhabited, but also a fascinating window into the psychological struggles that such a life inevitably entails.“Rocco conveys the frustrations of his double life poignantly throughout this revelatory read, a captivating true-crime thriller from start to finish and a new gem for Mafia book fans.” —Booklist

Coming Round the Mountain


Ruskin Bond - 2019
    

African Ways


Valerie Poore - 2007
    Coming from the all-mod-cons society of Britain at the beginning of the 1980’s, the author is literally transplanted to a farm in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains in what is now Kwazulu Natal.Once there, she finds her feet in the ways of Africawith the help of a charming, elderly Dutch couple, an appealing but wily African farm hand, his practical and motherly daughter and a wise and fascinating neighbour who has a fund of local knowledge.These are tales of a different kind of life, whichinclude living without electricity, hand-milking cows, drought, veld fires and mad-cap adventures into the unknown.They are stories told with deep affection and respect, and above all a liberal dose of tongue-in-cheek humour.

A Time of Gifts


Patrick Leigh Fermor - 1977
    A Time of Gifts is the first volume in a trilogy recounting the trip, and takes the reader with him as far as Hungary. It is a book of compelling glimpses - not only of the events which were curdling Europe at that time, but also of its resplendent domes and monasteries, its great rivers, the sun on the Bavarian snow, the storks and frogs, the hospitable burgomasters who welcomed him, and that world's grandeurs and courtesies. His powers of recollection have astonishing sweep and verve, and the scope is majestic. First published to enormous acclaim, it confirmed Fermor's reputation as the greatest living travel writer, and has, together with its sequel Between the Woods and the Water (the third volume is famously yet to be published), been a perennial seller for 25 years.

In Patagonia


Bruce Chatwin - 1977
    Fueled by an unmistakable lust for life and adventure and a singular gift for storytelling, Chatwin treks through “the uttermost part of the earth”— that stretch of land at the southern tip of South America, where bandits were once made welcome—in search of almost forgotten legends, the descendants of Welsh immigrants, and the log cabin built by Butch Cassidy. An instant classic upon its publication in 1977, In Patagonia is a masterpiece that has cast a long shadow upon the literary world.

A Lesser Photographer: Escape the Gear Trap and Focus on What Matters


C.J. Chilvers - 2018
    Less gear. Less anxiety. Less stress. Less fear. A Lesser Photographer is the missing guide you've always wanted to the only gear that really matters: the gear between your ears. In under an hour, you’ll be able to identify the myths you’ve been taught about photography and embrace useful creative habits that will set you apart. Praise for previous editions: “For something beautiful and well-said, check out A Lesser Photographer.” — David duChemin “Amazing read…I really recommend everyone get a copy.” — Chris Marquardt “CJ Chilvers reevaluates what it means to be a photographer in this manifesto. Most of the points apply to virtually any creative endeavor or obsession. ‘The real show is outside the viewfinder.’” — Jim Coudal “I have to say, CJ has a great attitude. If you care at all about photography, he’s a must read.” — Patrick Rhone “Every photographer should follow CJ Chilvers.” — Eric Kim

A Lap Around Alaska: An AlCan Adventure


Shawn Inmon - 2017
    Join author Shawn Inmon and his twenty year old Subaru Outback on his epic solo road trip through British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska. Part personal odyssey, part travel memoir, take an expedition into one of North America's last remaining wildernesses. If you dream of packing up your four-wheeler, your snow boots and camera, and setting off to explore the wilderness, A Lap Around Alaska will give you a rare glimpse into the Land of the Midnight Sun, of moose, bear, and bald eagles, of monumental glaciers and scenery so staggering it brings tears to your eyes. If you hunger for adventure and want to discover untouched beauty and to experience the majesty of the pristine North for yourself-Shawn saved the passenger seat just for you. This book also includes two bonus memoirs of life in Alaska in the 1970s-My First Alaskan Summer and My Matanuska Summer.

Hard Travel to Sacred Places


Rudolph Wurlitzer - 1994
    Wurlitzer—novelist, screenwriter, and Buddhist practitioner—travels with his wife, photographer Lynn Davis, on a photo assignment to the sacred sites of Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia. Heavy Westernization, sex clubs, aging hippies and expatriates, and political dissidents provide a vivid contrast to the peace that Wurlitzer and Davis seek, still reeling from the death of their son in a car accident. As Davis with her camera searches for a thread of meaning among the artifacts and relics of a more enlightened age, Wurlitzer grasps at the wisdom of the Buddhist teachings in an effort to assuage his grief. His journal chronicles the survival of age-old truths in a world gone mad.