Book picks similar to
Ferg's World by Fergus O'Connell


autobiographical
motorcycle
short-stories-anthology

Running with the Moon


Jonny Bealby - 1996
    Two years later, still heartbroken and utterly disillusioned, he took on the challenge of a lifetime. Setting out with only his motorbike for company, he began a daring and dangerous journey around the African continent in a desperate attempt to unearth some meaning in his life. Bittersweet, bold and beautifully told, Running with the Moon is a tale of true love and loss, of exploration, adventure and courage.

This Book is Broken


Stuart Berman - 2008
    The alternative music scene had all but died, and pre-packaged pop stars had filled the vacuum. But in a basement apartment in the heart of downtown Toronto, two musicians were forming a creative partnership that would revive the mass appeal of indie music and forever change how we think of a band.In this biography of the ever-evolving indie-rock collective, Broken Social Scene, music columnist Stuart Berman tracks the group's inception by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning; groundbreaking performances at Ted's Wrecking Yard that raised the band's local status to mythical proportions; Broken Social Scene's meteoric rise upon the release of breakout album You Forgot It In People; the creation of Arts & Crafts records with music-biz maverick Jeffrey Remedios; and life on the road with revolving bandmates, including members of Stars, Metric, The Dears, and international pop sensation Feist.Stuart Berman has drawn from hours of interviews with members and affiliates of Broken Social Scene, and exclusive, never-before-seen photographs, gig posters, and artwork to create a spectacular oral and visual history of this ever-evolving indie-rock collective.

Pardon My Hearse: A Colorful Portrait of Where the Funeral and Entertainment Industries Met in Hollywood


Allan Abbott - 2015
    The Forrest Gump of the funeral industry, Abbott was everywhere celebrities died, from helping to prepare Marilyn Monroe’s body for burial to standing next to Christopher Walken at Natalie Wood’s funeral. Now in his memoir “Pardon My Hearse,” Abbott tells the rags-to-shroud story of how we went from a young man with a hearse to the funeral driver to the stars—a rollicking, unexpectedly hilarious story of glamorous funerals, mishaps with corpses, and true-life glimpses of celebrities at their most revealing moments. ”Pardon My Hearse” is an eye-opening look at secret Hollywood from the man who literally knows where the bodies are buried.

Biker Stepbrother


Rossi St. James - 2015
     But after she calls off her engagement to Holden and packs her bags to leave town with Gray, Gray is nowhere to be found. He didn’t leave without her, of that she’s sure. He promised he wouldn’t. But where did he go? And who is he with? As she struggles to find Gray and to get answers, she realizes that certain people aren’t who they say they are at all, and that some people, including herself, will do absolutely anything to get what they want. AUTHOR’S NOTE: Part 2 in a romance serial. Not a stand alone. Part 3 available now.

The Tuesday Night Club And Other Stories


Agatha Christie - 2005
    The Tuesday Night Club read by Joan Hickson The Fourth Man read by Christopher Lee The Affair at the Victory Ball read by David Suchet The Case of the Discontented Soldier read by Hugh Fraser

Paper Son: One Man's Story


Tung Pok Chin - 2000
    Although scholars have pieced together their history, first-person accounts are rare and fragmented; many of the so-called "Paper Sons" lived out their lives in silent fear of discovery. Chin's story speaks for the many Chinese who worked in urban laundries and restaurants, but it also introduces an unusually articulate man's perspective on becoming a Chinese American.Chin's story begins in the early 1930s, when he followed the example of his father and countless other Chinese who bought documents that falsely identified them as children of Chinese Americans. Arriving in Boston and later moving to New York City, he worked and lived in laundries. Chin was determined to fit into American life and dedicated himself to learning English. But he also became an active member of key organizations -- a church, the Chinese Hand Laundrymen's Alliance, and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association -- that anchored him in the community. A self-reflective and expressive man, Chin wrote poetry commenting on life in China and the hardships of being an immigrant in the United States. His work was regularly published in the China Daily News and brought him to the attention of the FBI, then intent on ferreting out communists and illegal immigrants. His vigorous narrative speaks to the day-to-day anxieties of living as a Paper Son as well as the more universal immigrant experiences of raising a family in modest circumstances and bridging cultures.Historian K. Scott Wong introduces Chin's memoir, discussing thelimitations on immigration from China and what is known about Exclusion-era Chinese American communities. Set in historical context, Tung Pok Chin's unique story offers an engaging account of a twentieth-century Paper Son.

Fields and Pastures New: My First Year as a Country Vet


John McCormack - 1995
    John McCormack moved his wife and kids to Choctaw County, Alabama, to start his first practice. Choctaw folk never had a licensed vet before, and, with few exceptions, they welcomed the red-headed doctor and the tireless care he gave their animals.Fields and Pastures New is the heartwarming story of young Dr. McCormack's first years in this deeply rural country, where mule-drawn wagons still bumped down dirt roads . . . where the local barbershop was the best place to catch up on the news . . . and where nobody ever let Doc forget his most embarrassing moments."I am proud to say that my closest friendships, outside my family, have been with my clients, " Dr. McCormack writes. "I hope readers will get to know some of the workings of the small family farm, and how these down-to-earth people confront their hardships and disappointments with so much good humor."

Outside the Wire: The War in Afghanistan in the Words of Its Participants


Kevin Patterson - 2007
    Throughout each piece the passion of those engaged in rebuilding this shattered country shines through, a glimmer of optimism and determination so rare in multinational military actions–and so particularly Canadian.In Outside the Wire, award-winning author Kevin Patterson and co-editor Jane Warren have rediscovered the valour and horror of sacrifice in this, the definitive account of the modern Canadian experience of war.

Uneasy Rider: Travels Through a Mid-Life Crisis


Mike Carter - 2008
    Never mind that he hadn't been on two wheels since an inglorious three-month teenage chapter involving a Lambretta, four crashes and an 18-month ban for drink-driving, a plan had begun to loosely form...And so, having completed a six day residential motorcycle course and hastily re-mortgaged his flat, Mike sets off alone, resolving to go wherever the road takes him and enjoy the adventure of heading off into the unknown. He ends up travelling almost 20,000 miles and reaching the four extremes of Europe: the Arctic Circle in the north, the Mediterranean coast in the south, the Portuguese Atlantic to the west and the Iraqi border of Turkey in the east.But really it's a journey inwards, as, on the way, Mike finds his post-divorce scars starting to heal and attempts to discover what he, as a man in his forties who hasn't quite found his place in the world, should be doing. Self-deprecating, poetic and utterly engaging, his is a heroic journey taken for the rest of us too scared to leave our 9 to 5 office-bound existence.

The Brotherhoods: Inside the Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs


Arthur Veno - 2003
    Included are the rules and rituals involved in becoming a club member, landmark incidents in biker folklore, and profiles of famous biker personalities. Unconstrained by the regulations that rule ordinary citizens, the notorious Gypsy Jokers are followed on their controversial New Year run in Western Australia. Written by an expert on biker culture, this book reveals the true picture of brotherhood among the clubs.

Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never Knew You Never Knew


Jim Korkis - 2015
    Disney secrets. Mickey doesn't want you to know how the magic is made, but Jim Korkis knows, and if you read Jim's book, you'll know, too. Put the kids to bed. Pull those curtains. Power down that iPhone. Let's keep this just between us...If you've come expecting more of the same Disney trivia, you're in for a surprise. This is not a Disney trivia book. It's a book of Disney secrets, each exactly two pages long, and each brimming with backstage lore. Jim Korkis gathered these secrets when he worked at Walt Disney World as an instructor at Disney University. They're all true. They're all cool. And they include: How the popularity of Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach meant the doom of an important piece of Disney history United Arab Emirates, Equatorial Africa, Costa Rica, and other planned Epcot pavilions that never were Disney's original plans for Figment, how corporate politics turned him purple, and why the Dreamfinder shrunk Wilderness Junction, the Alpine Resort, the Enchanted Snow Palace Ride, and other abandoned attractions Beacon Joe, the character you've never heard of, even though he appears numerous times throughout Disney World PSST! WANNA HEAR A (DISNEY) SECRET?

Moving Pictures: An Autobiography


Ali MacGraw - 1991
    The role of Jenny in "Love Story" brought Ali MacGraw stardom. She married producer Bob Evans and bore him a son, but after two years she left Evans for Steve McQueen. McQueen was a troubled man who longed to live simply, almost reclusively, with his wife barefoot and pregnant. At his insistence MacGraw gave up acting at the peak of her fame, making a decision from which her career never recovered. When the tumultuous marriage ended after six years she was not much in demand, and what acting she did, for example in television's "Dynasty", was ridiculed - justly, she felt. A lifelong pattern of destructive love affairs continued and her depression was abetted by unacknowledged alcoholism. When a friend persuaded her in 1986 to go to the Betty Ford Clinic, MacGraw felt she needed only a "tune-up". What she found instead was life-saving help. Now Ali MacGraw takes stock of her life, revising the mythical childhood she once invented for a "Time" cover story and describing the heady early years in New York, her attempted transformation by the Hollywood machine and the realities she faces today as a woman who hopes her greatest adventures are yet to come. ** Publisher's Weekly In this candid, courageous autobiography, MacGraw discusses her artistic, emotionally cold parents, her schooling at Wellesley College and her stint as Diana Vreeland's ``girl'' at Harper's Bazaar . The focus, however, is on her struggle with addiction--alcoholism and ``male dependency''--that grew as her acting career and personal life sputtered. A sudden star in her first major role, in Goodbye, Columbus in 1969, and the following year with the even more popular Love Story. Library Journal - Thomas Wiener McGraw now tells the whole sad story of her life. In what could be appropriately filed under ``self-help,'' she writes extensively about coming to grips with her addictions to alcohol and men. This is certainly not a series of pretty pictures. Entertainment Weekly - Margot Miflin This competently written memoir hinges on McGraw’s discovery that women can be addicted to men. Chicago Tribune - Jon Anderson "Love Story"; the subject of a Time cover story, "The Return to Romance"; and the wife, in turn, of two powerful Hollywood figures: Robert Evans, head of production at Paramount, and actor Steve McQueen....McGraw reveals that a lot more action, not all of it happy, was going on off- stage. Los Angeles Times - Constance Casey "Moving Pictures" demonstrates that underneath all that shallow stuff, lies "an ordinary human heart."

Anger: A Novel


May Sarton - 1982
    In the clash of these two strong personalities, May Sarton explores the different ways that men and women express both anger and love.

Goodbye Lupus: How A Medical Doctor Healed Herself Naturally with Supermarket Foods


Brooke Goldner - 2015
    is a board certified physician known world-wide for being a medical doctor who has developed a nutrition-based treatment for for her own autoimmune disease, Lupus. In this personal and intimate story, she takes you through the pain of her illness and her miraculous recovery, and how she discovered the simple yet powerful way to heal the human body naturally. Also included are the easy to follow steps you can take to achieving amazing health yourself using supermarket foods, and her favorite recipes for healing your body. Review: If the information in Dr. Goldner’s book were encapsulated in the form of a medication it would top every headline, be the lead story of every newscast around the world, and would be touted as the miracle treatment for people fighting Lupus and autoimmune disease. It is not a drug, but 6 simple and achievable steps using whole plant based foods that can suspend and reverse Lupus. Dr. Goldner brings a message of hope to all of those fighting autoimmune disease in this must read book. Scott Stoll, M.D. Co-Founder Plantrician project Author, international speaker, Olympian

That Near Death Thing: Inside the Most Dangerous Race in the World. by Rick Broadbent


Rick Broadbent - 2012
    Here, Rick Broadbent gets behind the scenes and into the helmets of four leading racers over the course of two seasons - 2010 and 2011 - following the riders through the numerous vicissitudes of an average season.