Going Bare!


John David Harding - 2012
    The book is short - around an hour of reading - and details everything from when I first decided naturism appealed to me, to my thoughts after the holiday.

Catch Your Breath: The Secret Life of a Sleepless Anaesthetist


Ed Patrick - 2021
    “They’re just fantastic! Then I remembered, Ed you’re an anesthesiologist…f*cking hell! I can’t believe that…”.  I like to think I’m an inspiration to all budding doctors that anything is achievable.Ed is a sleepless anesthesiologist. His shifts involve snatching five-minute lunch breaks in the staff bathrooms, navigating emergencies and living with the all too terrifying sense of responsibility. And that was before Coronavirus arrived, which quickly turned his job into a nightmare queue of struggling with ill-fitting PPE, balancing staff shortages and intubating Covid-19 patients who can’t breathe on their own.Hilariously funny and moving, Catch Your Breath follows Ed’s journey from bewildered medical student in Aberdeen to unflinching anesthesiologist on the NHS frontline. It offers a unique insight into life on the hospital wards during the pandemic, while also sharing the hope that we will all get through this.

On the Water: Discovering America in a Row Boat


Nathaniel Stone - 2002
    The hull glides in silence and with such perfect balance as to report no motion. I sit up for another stroke, now looking down as the blades ignite swirling pairs of white constellations of phosphorescent plankton. Two opposing heavens. ‘Remember this,’ I think to myself.”Few people have ever considered the eastern United States to be an island, but when Nat Stone began tracing waterways in his new atlas at the age of ten he discovered that if one had a boat it was possible to use a combination of waterways to travel up the Hudson River, west across the barge canals and the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, and back up the eastern seaboard. Years later, still fascinated by the idea of the island, Stone read a biography of Howard Blackburn, a nineteenth-century Gloucester fisherman who had attempted to sail the same route a century before. Stone decided he would row rather than sail, and in April 1999 he launched a scull beneath the Brooklyn Bridge to see how far he could get. After ten months and some six thousand miles he arrived back at the Brooklyn Bridge, and continued rowing on to Eastport, Maine. Retracing Stone’s extraordinary voyage, On the Water is a marvelous portrait of the vibrant cultures inhabiting American shores and the magic of a traveler’s chance encounters. From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where a rower at the local boathouse bequeaths him a pair of fabled oars, to Vanceburg, Kentucky, where he spends a day fishing with Ed Taylor -- a man whose efficient simplicity recalls The Old Man and the Sea -- Stone makes his way, stroke by stroke, chatting with tugboat operators and sleeping in his boat under the stars. He listens to the live strains of Dwight Yoakum on the banks of the Ohio while the world’s largest Superman statue guards the nearby town square, and winds his way through the Louisiana bayous, where he befriends Scoober, an old man who reminds him that the happiest people are those who’ve “got nothin’.” He briefly adopts a rowing companion -- a kitten -- along the west coast of Florida, and finds himself stuck in the tidal mudflats of Georgia. Along the way, he flavors his narrative with local history and lore and records the evolution of what started out as an adventure but became a lifestyle. An extraordinary literary debut in the lyrical, timeless style of William Least Heat-Moon and Henry David Thoreau, On the Water is a mariner’s tribute to childhood dreams, solitary journeys, and the transformative powers of America’s rivers, lakes, and coastlines.From the Hardcover edition.

Changing Gears: A Pedal-Powered Detour from the Rat Race


Greg Foyster - 2013
    

Drunk on Sports


Tim Cowlishaw - 2013
    By the time he reached his 50th birthday his career was everything he'd ever hoped it would be. With a sports column in a major paper, winning APSE's Best Sports Columnist in Texas four times, and a daily spot on ESPN's highly successful show, "Around the Horn," Cowlishaw had pursued and conquered nearly everything he ever desired professionally. However, the pursuit of that success nearly cost him his life.DRUNK ON SPORTS is more than simply a memoir by one of America's most well-known sportswriters. Behind his happy-go-lucky public persona was a man with a considerable (but well-disguised) drinking problem. For years, Cowlishaw believed that his ability to drink with the best of them helped in his development of sources and pursuit of stories and, unfortunately, he was right. Among others, the relationship he built while sitting on a barstool next to Cowboys Coach Jimmy Johnson allowed him to get where other reporters couldn't. As all hell broke loose between Johnson and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in 1994, Cowlishaw was right next to Coach Johnson every step (and beer) along the way. In DRUNK ON SPORTS, Cowlishaw recounts first-hand stories never told and quotes never shared from the bizarre breakup of one of the NFL's most successful dynasties.As he points out in the introduction, this is not an anti-drinking book. Cowlishaw loved alcohol for 35 years. If anything, this is a how-not-to book more than a how-to book. Along the way, Cowlishaw takes readers inside some of the biggest stories in sports. He joined ESPN in 2002 as a regular on Around the Horn and discusses life behind the scenes at the Worldwide Leader candidly and at length. Cowlishaw writes and talks and, at times, drinks his way into the sports world's fast lane - what else would you call getting hammered on vodka with Denny Hamlin at the Daytona 500 - before realizing the only way to continue was to call a halt to the partying.The story of his rise and fall is more insightful and humorous than it is preachy as Cowlishaw examines some of the flawed decisions he made throughout his lifetime in sports. DRUNK ON SPORTS is a cautionary yet entertaining tale of never before told stories featuring some of the most recognizable personalities in sports, and if it causes some readers to reexamine their own lives, then it will have gone above and beyond its intended purpose.

Stories I Tell On Dates


Paul Shirley - 2017
    Sometimes we tell these stories to make people laugh. Sometimes we tell them to make people think. Sometimes we tell them so we can increase the chances we'll see the other person naked.Paul Shirley's stories are about an adulthood spent all over the world: living in Spain, playing in the NBA, and having his heart (and spleen) broken. But they're also stories about growing up in small-town Kansas: triumphant spelling bees, catastrophic middle school dances, and a Sex Ed. class taught by his mother.They're funny stories. They're vulnerable stories. Most of all, they're universal stories, just as the stories we tell on dates should be.

Unsinkable: My Story


Jane McDonald - 2019
    The nation first fell in love with Jane twenty years ago, as the break-out star of BBC reality TV show The Cruise. She was catapulted to dizzying overnight success, but since then, she has navigated some stormy waters. Her dreams hit the rocks as TV and music execs, 'the London lot', swooped in and tried to morph her into a generic international diva. Her fans didn't recognise her, and melted away. Her marriage to Henrik, which began with a fairytale Carribean wedding watched by a television audience of 13.5m, collapsed. Jane lost her confidence, and hid from the world.But Jane's unsinkable and now she's back on the crest of a wave. In her uplifting autobiography she shares her incredible story with heart and humour. It hasn't always been plain sailing, but now she's enjoying more success than she's ever had before, and her fans love her all the more for it.

Damages 2


Natavia Stewart - 2017
    What was supposed to be a summer fling turned into a toxic love affair. With Trayon away, how will she be able to cope? Does she wait for him or run into the arms of another man? Set on a path of revenge, Trayon wants nothing more than to get what he is owed and that's the throne. On his journey of revenge, he discovers some shocking secrets; family secrets that will cause him to lose sight of his original plan. Will he reach a point where not even, Asayi's love can save him? Stacy is stuck trying to balance his time between two women. When he finds himself giving one woman more time than the other, he might just regret that choice. Will he risk everything him and Tuchie built over a childhood love? This is the second installment to a heart-wrenching, tear-filled and an emotional journey. Secrets, lies, deceit and murder. Everyone has experienced damages in their love life. Will they overcome it or will they remain damaged? Get ready for a gritty and urban hood love novel.

Harry Heron Midshipman's Journey


Patrick G. Cox - 2015
    Cox weaves the exciting, authentic tale of Harry Nelson-Heron, a young midshipman in the British Navy in the early 1800s. Born in 1789 during the Irish Rebellion, Harry must overcome the prejudice against the Irish and the usual hazards of an active and inquisitive youth to realise his dream of becoming an officer in Britain’s Royal Navy. When he and his childhood friend Ferghal make the treacherous journey to London to be commissioned to a ship, fate smiles on them. Harry is appointed a midshipman on the HMS Bellerophon, and Ferghal joins him as a seaman. Corsairs, diplomacy, and exploration challenge their skills as the seafaring life takes Harry and Ferghal across the seas to worlds they never imagined and engages their ship in sea fights with the French during the Napoleonic Wars.

The Clayburn Collection


Deborah Raney - 2017
     Six people longing to mend broken hearts and shattered dreams… Three romances ready to blossom in the charming Midwest town of Clayburn. REMEMBER TO FORGET: Graphic designer Maggie Anderson has lived under her boyfriend's tyranny for nearly two years...until she's carjacked in New York. Will this terrifying experience be the end for Maggie—or the beginning of a freedom greater than she dares imagine? But to gain her freedom, she'll have to remember to forget everything about her old life… LEAVING NOVEMBER: Eight years ago, Vienne Kenney moved away from Clayburn and all its gossip to pursue a law degree in California. But now she has failed the bar exam…again. Is she destined to be stuck forever, a failure—just like her father—in this podunk Kansas town? YESTERDAY’S EMBERS: On Thanksgiving Day, Douglas DeVore kissed his beloved wife good-bye, unaware that it would be the last time he'd see her—or their precious daughter Rachel. Left with five kids to raise on his own, and already juggling two jobs to make ends meet, Doug wonders how he'll manage moment by moment, much less day after day, without Kaye's love and support.

Maid For You


Paisley Lang - 2016
    That's how they see me--all they'll ever see when they look at me. But I am more, so much more. We can't change the past, the hand we've been dealt, But we can play that hand and win in the end. And that's what I plan to do--what I've always planned to do. Then he came into my life. Jaxon Prescott. He's everything I want, But nothing I'm permitted to have. He's too good, too perfect, For someone like me. After all, I'm just a maid, To them. They don't know the real me, My dreams, my fears, my past, My secrets. Jax A rich playboy.... That's how they see me--all they'll ever see when they look at me. They've got it all wrong, So wrong. I've been living a lie, a fabrication of what they want, And I thought it was what I wanted. Then she came into my life. Ava Williams. She reminded me of what I want, What I need, And who I really am. She's everything, But nothing I'm supposed to have. She's not right, not polished enough For someone like me. After all, I'm high class society--better than everyone else, To them. They don't know the real me, My dreams, my fears, my past, My secrets.

The Haunting of Crowford Station (The Ghosts of Crowford Book 11)


Amy Cross - 2022
    

Orphans of an Angel: A tragic but true story of four boys who lost everything Motherless, Fatherless, Homeless and Unloved


Jay Aston - 2020
    

The Confession (Elizabeth Monroe #2)


Tom Lowe - 2019
    To divulge the private confession would violate holy canon law. When he refuses to go to the police, people begin to die, and the priest becomes the prime suspect. Elizabeth Monroe, a college professor who teaches forensic psychology, doesn’t believe the elder priest fits the killer’s profile. Elizabeth discovers a frightening thread woven within each killing—a thread that began thirty years ago. To stop the murders, she has to find where the seed of evil was first planted. Because the roots are penetrating deep within a small Mississippi town and they’re spreading dangerously close to Elizabeth.

Saltier Than Ever (A Ghetto Soap Opera)


Aleta L. Williams - 2012
    Aleta Williams spins a realistic tale that indeed is... Saltier Than Ever--- CA$H author of the urban classic Trust No Man trilogy, Thugs Cry, and Shorty Got A ThugSix months after her mother's death Jazz is determined to start the healing process and follow her dreams. It seems like things go from good.. to bad... to worse in a matter of time. How can you let go of the past and prepare for a future that is unknown to you; when you are not even sure of your present? Will Jazz be able to push through life's drama and find herself again or will she be left standing alone and hurt by those she trusted and love?Diesel lost his basketball contract, might have impregnated a stripper, and as quiet as its kept he's dealing with the stress the only way he knows how, by lashing out at the black b*tch he believes is responsible for his misery. Will Diesel take responsibility for his own actions?From a preacher to a gangster, Pastor G is out for revenge. He wants the man's head that he believes is the real reason for his wife's death. Will Pastor G succeed on the devils playground?Ken always seems to be in the right place at the wrong time. Trying to make sure a friend makes it home safe, turns into him being a suspect in crime that he claims he didn't commit; thus, making him less closer to winning over the one that has his heart. Will Ken clear his name and capture the heart of the one he loves?Yay-Yay and White-Girl are still the grimiest chicks in Los Angeles, but when karma pays them both a visit, they soon find out that she's the baddest b*tch of them all. Will these chicks ever learn the true reason for their downfall?Supported by the ghetto, grimy, and sassy characters of this novel. This installment is Saltier than Ever! ***Aleta is back with a juicy third installment of the Ghetto Soap Opera series. Saltier Than Ever is full of drama, twists and turns that you wont see coming. ---Karen Williams author of Harlem on Lock, Dirty to the Grave, The People vs Cashmere, Thug In Me, and Sweet Giselle.