Back of Beyond: One woman's remarkable story of love, adventure, disasters and wonderful times in the Gulf Country


Jenny Old - 2018
    Often her only contact with the outside world was through her two-way radio. Stretched to the limits, she achieved more than she ever thought herself capable of. With every setback and in the toughest of times when the odds seemed insurmountable, she learnt to dust herself off, find a smile and just keep on going. For eighteen years Jenny and Rick battled flood, drought, cyclones and personal hardship. Yet their world was a big as the landscape in which they lived, filled as it was with generosity, wonderful characters and the joy of life. At McAllister they established an oasis for their family and friends.Jenny's motto is: life throws many curve balls at us, but it's how we deal with them that counts. This is the extraordinary story of a woman of the bush and her indomitable spirit.

The Places Left Unfilled


M.C. Cauley - 2020
    But when her close friendship with an older neighbor begins to attract suspicion, and connecting with her birth father isn’t at all how she imagined it would be, Morgan’s long-held hope begins to dwindle. That is, until, at the age of fourteen, Morgan meets Bill – her forty-five-year-old martial arts instructor.At first a teacher and father figure who Morgan can confide in, Bill soon reveals that his interest in her isn’t entirely paternal. Despite her initial fear, Morgan craves the attention Bill is more than willing to lavish upon her, resulting in a several-months-long affair that will alter the course of both of their lives.Spanning four years of Cauley’s adolescence, The Places Left Unfilled explores in harrowing detail the circumstances that may lead a child to find solace in their sexual abuse. Told with immediacy and remarkable candor, Cauley’s gripping narrative will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page.

Lincoln's Story: The Wayfarer


Vel - 2012
    He did not claim he was God’s agent. Did he believe in God? Did he look for a sign when he was desperate? Did he follow the Divine Will? Many believers are not followers; many followers are not believers. Is he a believer or a follower or both?

The Toughest Prison of All: The true story of bank robbery, prison escapes, and the search for love on the outside


Floyd C. Forsberg - 2015
    At 14, he was sent to the Luther Burbank School for Boys for possessing firearms and running away. There, Floyd found himself trapped by a system that sought to destroy his dignity rather than restore his character. From this point forward, Floyd would strive to become the most hardened, disciplined, professional bank robber ever. On one of the rare occasions he wasn't incarcerated, Floyd met Nancy, a golden-haired goddess, the love of his life. Given the choice between loving her and being the greatest bank robber in America, he chose Nancy without hesitation. But before he went straight, he just needed to pull off one last job ... Floyd Forsberg spent his time behind bars planning the biggest bank heist in history and longing for the simple love of his soul mate. When he robbed the First National Bank of Nevada in 197 4, he achieved his first goal. But with a million dollars of the bank's money in his hands and the FBI constantly on his tail, he would have to escape The Toughest Prison of All to achieve peace. “For years I’ve known Floyd Forsberg as a reliable source whose every news tip panned out. Now Forsberg has written the best personal indictment of America’s horrific prison system that I’ve read since Ted Conover’s 2000 classic, “Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing.” Forsberg’s plainspoken prose tells a soul-searching tale of survival and transformation that will touch readers from all walks of life. The angry young man determined to be the country’s best bank robber has emerged as the sage author of a life story that reads like a thriller and traces his daring escape from The Toughest Prison of All.” —Richard Read, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, The Oregonian/Oregonlive “After 35 years in law enforcement, I have worked with many professional cops and encountered many professional thieves. Floyd Forsberg was one of the best career thieves around and created thousands of headaches for my peers. The Toughest Prison Of All is a great read with a twist ending that doesn’t happen very often. The insider view of crime taught me things that I had never considered. I’m already looking forward to his next book.” —Tom Allman, Sheriff-Coroner of Mendocino County (California) and co-author of Out There In The Woods “As a recently retired police sergeant, having served nearly 29 years, I can relate to Frosty’s desire to escape prison. Transporting many prisoners to jail, I was always well aware when the gates allowing our vehicle to enter would slam shut, the steel bars to the doors clanging hard and loud as they closed, locking us in with the prisoners and the sign on one prison wall saying, this is not a country club. I, too, couldn’t wait to leave. Forsberg will take you from the edge of your couch to a small prison cell to a life on the run and keeping you guessing every step of the way.” —Angelo LaManna “When I started reading this book two things became clear: Floyd Forsberg is a very likable guy; and after hearing about his childhood, it was clear he didn’t stand a chance to have a normal or easy life. Throughout the entire book I found myself rooting for Floyd to succeed or just to get out of his own way. The part I had the most trouble with was the behavior of the FBI. I think some of us have a hard enough time walking a straight line without people that are supposed to enforce our laws and set the example for the rest of society behaving in questionable and sometimes utterly illegal ways.

The Gaffer


Neil Warnock - 2013
    This wonderful new book takes fans into the changing room, the training ground and the boardroom. Warnock draws heavily on a lifetime of experiences at all levels in football, but particularly on his tumultuous spells at Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers, and Leeds United. From transfer dealings to negotiations with agents, from half-time team-talks to training sessions, from scouting trips to team-bonding sprees, from administrators to chairman, from injuries to referees - The Gaffer spills the beans.You won't have read a football book like this before.

Full Circle: A memoir of leaning in too far and the journey back


Erin Callan Montella - 2016
    Erin recounts her path of achievement starting as a promising young student and athlete and, ultimately, how she allowed her career and its demands to become the center of her life. She sacrificed all other priorities and relationships along the way, throwing work-life balance to the wind. The story reveals the subtleties of the everyday decisions that led collectively to a work-centric existence over a twenty-year career. Set against the backdrop of the dramatic circumstances at Lehman Brothers in 2008, Erin discloses her own struggle as events spiraled out of control. Ultimately, her resignation from her executive role prior to the Lehman bankruptcy resulted in a devastating personal crisis as her career crumbled revealing no foundation beneath it. We learn of the journey back to change her life with a semblance of present day peace and happiness. Full Circle provides a unique inside and emotional perspective of the sacrifices Erin made to achieve extreme career success and the self-awareness required to return to being the fundamentally grounded person she was as a child.

The Parkhurst Years: My Time Locked Up with Britain’s Most Notorious Criminals


Bobby Cummines - 2017
    An Irish prisoner stepped forward and slipped a blade into my hand. I felt the ice cold metal and pressed it against the governor’s cheek. I thought to myself: would they ever release me after this?’ Bobby Cummines was only 28 when he passed through the grim gates of Parkhurst, Britain’s Alcatraz, as a category-A prisoner with a host of crimes to his name. Joining the most notorious gangsters and criminals of the day – from the Krays, the Yorkshire Ripper and Charles Bronson, to high ranking members of the IRA – nothing could have prepared him for the brutal regime, violent convicts, vindictive screws and riots on the inside. It’s the story of Britain’s most hellish prison, from one of its hardest inmates.

An 18-Year-Old Looks Back on Life (Singles Classic)


Joyce Maynard - 2016
    Call us the apathetic generation and we will become that. Say times are changing, nobody cares about prom queens and getting into the college of his choice any more—say that (because it sounds good, it indicates a trend, gives a symmetry to history) and you make a movement and a unit out of a generation unified only in its common fragmentation. If there is a reason why we are where we are, it comes from where we have been.In An 18-Year-Old Looks Back on Life, Joyce Maynard, the New York Times bestselling author of Labor Day and After Her, then just an 18-year-old freshman at Yale, reflects on the culture she inherited—from Jackie Kennedy, to TV, to Women’s Lib—in what became a generation-defining essay. Features an introduction by the author.An 18-Year-Old Looks Back on Life was originally published in the New York Times Magazine, April 23, 1972. Cover design by Adil Dara.Photograph by Ted Croner.

All the Children Are Home


Patry Francis - 2021
    A harrowing incident years before left her a virtual prisoner in her own home, forever wary of the heartbreak and limitation of a girl’s life.Eleven years after they began fostering, the Moscatellis are raising three children as their own and Dahlia and Louie consider their family complete, but when the social worker begs them to take a young girl who has been horrifically abused and neglected, they can’t say no.Six-year-old Agnes Juniper arrives with no knowledge of her Native American heritage or herself beyond a box of trinkets given to her by her mother and dreamlike memories of her sister. Before long, this stranger in their midst has strengthened the bond in this unusual family, showing them how to contend with outside forces that want to tear them apart. Heartfelt and enthralling, All the Children Are Home is a moving testament to how love can survive in the face of devastating losses.

Who Killed Kurt Cobain?


Nicolas Otéro - 2016
    Now, award-winning creator Nicolas Otero brings the story of this note to life in the original graphic novel Who killed Kurt Cobain?Based on the French novel, Le Roman de Boddah by Heloise Guay de Bellissen, this adaptation a work of fiction recounts real-life events from Cobain's life, as narrated by his childhood imaginary friend, Boddah.Through the eyes of Boddah, readers get a front row seat to the highs and lows of one of music s most influential voices like they've never experienced before. Trace the arc of modern rock s greatest icon from the dark clubs of Seattle to the bright lights of the world stage and all the angst, horror, and thrill that came with that ride in this captivating graphic tale.

Did Not Finish: Misadventures in Running, Cycling and Swimming


George Mahood - 2021
    Now settled into life in Devon with their three children, they try to encourage a more active family lifestyle with camping holidays, family bike rides, hill-walking and canoe trips. But things rarely go smoothly.Meanwhile, George continues to set himself ridiculous challenges. Having been a complete novice swimmer only a year earlier, he decides to confront his incompetence head-on.By signing up for a 10km swim.How hard can it be?Anyone reading George’s books hoping for useful training tips for their own adventures and challenges might be disappointed. His training methods and pre-race preparations are unconventional and perhaps not recommended, but there might be some nuggets of unintentional wisdom amongst the chaos.Did Not Finish is a series of books about George and his family’s adventures in running, cycling and swimming. From ultramarathons to triathlons, 10k swims to European cycling adventures, George promises fun and laughter every step, pedal, and paddle of the way.

True Medical Detective Stories


Clifton Meador - 2012
    Yet, when it comes to diagnosing difficult cases, the clinician’s strongest asset might just be one of the oldest tools of the medical profession—careful listening. True Medical Detective Stories is a fascinating compendium of nineteen true-life medical cases, each solved by clinical deduction and facilitated by careful listening. These accounts present puzzling low-tech cases—most of them serious, some humorous—that were solved either at the bedside or by epidemiological studies. Dr. Clifton Meador’s book is a wonderful contribution to the genre of medical detective stories mastered by the legendary Berton Roueché. As a staff writer at The New Yorker from 1944 until his death fifty years later, Roueché popularized this form, which has provided source material for feature films and most recently supplied scenarios featured in medical television dramas, such as House. While Hollywood frequently oversimplifies and elides the real clinical situations, True Medical Detective Stories sets the record straight with a voice of authority and an engaging style rooted in the fact that most of the cases presented involve Dr. Meador’s actual patients. Dr. Meador discovered Berton Roueché’s writing as a teenager, when he first read Eleven Blue Men. In an astonishing twist of fate, Roueché, in later years, traveled to Nashville to meet with Dr. Meador and discuss one of his cases, with Roueché’s account published posthumously under the title, The Man Who Grew Two Breasts. In a fitting tribute to Roueché, this perplexing case is revisited by Dr. Meador in the opening chapter of this highly enjoyable book. True Medical Detective Stories is a captivating read that will keep you marveling over the idiosyncrasies of the human body and the ingenuity of the human mind.

Tiny Titan - One Small Gift


Ann Yurcek - 2006
    Becca surprised everyone with a rare genetic disorder called Noonan's syndrome. As Becca struggled to survive her family plunged into poverty. Their remarkable journey out of poverty is a story of it's own, but within the pages lie secrets much more important we all should know.Tiny Titan by Ann Yurcek launches a new kind of Mother’s Day story for all the countless mothers in America who dedicate their lives to exceptional children with special medical and mental health care needs. The story and the children are real. BOOK ONE - BECCA'S STORYIn 1989, the Yurceks sixth child, Becca was born with a rare genetic disorder, and while she struggled to survive, her family tumbled into poverty. This is the true and inspirational story of their journey out of poverty and the many miracles they received along the way. BOOK 2 - GIVING BACK In the spirit of giving back, they adopted and reunited five siblings separated in foster care. And for their new children they fought for resources in mental health and child welfare with the same tenacity they had fought for Becca in the medical world. Others' said their journey was impossible, but they proved them wrong.Winner Gold Mom's Choice - Best Adult Non-Fiction5 Star Dove AwardBooks & Authors - Best InspirationalTINY TITAN SAMPLE CHAPTERBy Ann Yurcek -9- Christmas I sunk into despair. The holiday was fast approaching and Christmas was the last thing on our minds with Becca critically ill in the PICU and everyone else sick too. There was no money for gifts, and there was no time to buy or make anything. I was sick, tired and depressed over the circumstances we found ourselves in. If the phone rang, I was afraid to answer it because it might carry the news that Becca was worsening or no longer here. The phone was a constant reminder of trouble. It rang with bill collectors waiting for money. It rang when medical personnel had more dreaded news or another crisis for Becca. My emotions rose and fell like tidal waves, up, up, up and down, down, down. I tried not to think; not thinking was how I coped. It was like the stairs I ran at the hospital, up and down, and then I’d stop and sit, empty and mindless. I could not think about my children going without gifts at Christmas, but our lives were impossibly out of control. We had fallen into a dark hole due to no fault of my innocent children. At any moment they were going to lose their new baby sister. They were caught in the tidal wave of catastrophic illness when they needed a Santa most to give them hope. How would I explain to my children that Santa forgot them?I was used to planning ahead and beginning in July bought two presents each month to cover birthdays and Christmas. Over the years my frugal plan had worked flawlessly. I squirreled away the hottest toys for Christmas gifts with early season purchases. While other families were school shopping I was making wishes come true. It was a challenge to make my kids birthdays and Christmas memorable. I love the holidays and I began to bargain shop for Marissa’s September birthday gift. I budgeted a little each month until Christmas, finding sale and clearance treasures, completing my shopping race under budget. In November we celebrated Jim, Nathan and Ian’s birthdays followed in December by Matt’s birthday, and then Kristy’s birthday in early January. The gifts I bought with Jim’s carpet points guaranteed the boys November birthday gifts. Matt at age three was easy; all I needed was something big. Big for my little kids were exciting and ten dollars went a long way. Other than that I had nothing.

32 Programmes


Dave Roberts - 2011
    Packing his collection of football programmes (1,134 of them -- football fans are sticklers for statistics), Dave is aghast to be informed that the programmes do not fall into that category. He must whittle down his treasured archive to only what will fit inside a Tupperware container the size of a Dan Brown hardback. 32 Programmes tells the story of how Dave made the selection of his most important programmes, and how the process brought back a flood of nostalgia for simpler times. As the sights, sounds and smells of those 1,134 football matches return, the choices Dave makes reflect the twists and turns that life takes. Finally, with just hours to go before the flight, the container is full to the brim. One more programme will be added to the collection - one that Dave never thought he would see and which means more to him than any other. 32 Programmes is the story of youthful football obsession, crushes on disinterested girls, rubbish jobs and trying to impress skinheads. But most of all, it is the story of a man's life and loves, of family, friends and football.

Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting


Mary Gauthier - 2021
    Music offered her a window to a world where others felt the way she did. Songs became lifelines to her, and she longed to write her own, one day.Then, for a decade, while struggling with addiction, Gauthier put her dream away and her call to songwriting faded. It wasn't until she got sober and went to an open mic with a friend did she realize that she not only still wanted to write songs, she needed to. Today, Gauthier is a decorated musical artist, with numerous awards and recognition for her songwriting, including a Grammy nomination.In Saved by a Song, Mary Gauthier pulls the curtain back on the artistry of songwriting. Part memoir, part philosophy of art, part nuts and bolts of songwriting, her book celebrates the redemptive power of song to inspire and bring seemingly different kinds of people together.