An Unusual Journey Through Royal History, Volume I (Unusual History, #1)


Victoria Martinez - 2011
    The table of contents reads more like a menu at a good restaurant, where there’s something for everyone’s taste. Each of the 18 chapters tells a unique story about an overlooked or unusual aspect of royal history, spanning centuries and countries, but in no particular order. From first to last, they will take you on a journey through royal history you’ve probably never seen or thought of before. In few – if any – other books will you find the British Monarchy compared to London’s sewer system, or read of the challenges of finding a suitable husband for a 200-plus pound Victorian princess who was nonetheless a “remarkably light dancer.” Rarely are the lives of historic and modern royals from Queen Victoria and Catherine the Great to Prince Charles and Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark “illustrated” not by paintings but by tattoos. Even more intimate topics, like the practice of circumcision among royals – including Princes William and Harry – are explored for the sake of inquiring minds. Chances are, even readers who usually find historic royalty boring and stuffy or modern royalty anachronistic and detached will find something to enjoy. Who wouldn’t feel a bit satisfied reading about a celebrated 19th century courtesan being paid to steal the thunder of an old and frumpy queen just to prove that queens are expected to be beautiful? It can also be quite amusing to find that a supposedly formal portrait of the current British Royal Family holds hidden, enigmatic clues to family dynamics and individual personalities that amuse and baffle.In short (much like the Court dwarfs you’ll read about), this book will leave you with a sense that you not only know royal history – and enjoy it – but that you have also journeyed through it and know the royals personally, from who exterminates their palaces right down to their infamous last words."I enjoyed these essays on royalty, which range widely from the beauty of Queens to court dwarfs and royal circumcision. Readers will find an impressively wide span of history enjoyably investigated." – Hugo VickersHugo Vickers, author of “Behind Closed Doors: The Tragic, Untold Story of The Duchess of Windsor,” is a writer and broadcaster who has written biographies of many twentieth century figures.

Howl: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit


The Bark - 2007
    An open bedroom door. An ill-timed squat. Dogs seem to have impeccable timing. Yet how quickly calamity turns to comedy in the company of a dog, and the wrong moment turns out to be just the right one. In this delightful follow-up to Dog Is My Co-Pilot, which won the Best Book of the Year award from the Dog Writers Association of America, the editors of The Bark bring together more stories, essays, and artwork that highlight the hilarity of dog behavior and the comical interactions between dog people and their four-legged friends. From playful puppies who wreak havoc in the home to dogs with a whole array of comic shticks and tricks, Howl celebrates the verve and the laughs pets offer their people. It includes laugh-out-loud reflections (and confessions), rib-tickling tales, and whimsical vignettes from well-known writers such as:• Dave Barry• Margaret Cho• Al Franken• Kinky Friedman• Pam Houston• Haven Kimmel• Neal Pollack• And many more!From the Hardcover edition.

The Ultimate Guide to Keto Baking: Master All the Best Tricks for Low-Carb Baking Success


Carolyn Ketchum - 2019
    The creator of the popular blog All Day I Dream About Food and the author of several beloved cookbooks, Carolyn is famous for her delectable recipes for low-carb baked goods. With this comprehensive cookbook dedicated to ketogenic baking, you too can create mouthwatering baked goods that will satisfy every craving while maintaining your healthy lifestyle. Your family and friends may not even realize that these recipes are keto!Carolyn Ketchum's mission is to prove to the world that special diets need not be boring or restrictive. When gestational diabetes forced her to begin watching her carb intake, she channeled her passion for baking and cooking into creating low-carb versions of her favorite treats. It's astonishing what you can do with a bag of almond flour, a stick of butter, and a willingness to experiment.The Ultimate Guide to Keto Baking is an astoundingly comprehensive resource for baking without sugar, wheat flour, or other high-carb ingredients. Carolyn has spent years honing her low-carb baking techniques, and in this book she shares all her secrets. In addition to an extensive review of low-carb baking ingredients and tools, she includes more than 150 thoroughly tested recipes for sweet and savory baked goods, from everyday cookies to special occasion cakes and pies to breads, crackers, and even pizza.Sample Recipes Include: Chocolate Mayonnaise Layer Cake Marble Cheesecake Dairy-Free Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie Key Lime Pie Bars Maple-Glazed Donuts Cheddar Garlic Drop Biscuits Chewy Keto Bagels Tomato Ricotta Tart Summer Berry Cobbler No matter what you want to bake, The Ultimate Guide to Keto Baking has you covered with a wide variety of sweet and savory treats. With this comprehensive cookbook, you can create mouthwatering low-carb goodies that will satisfy every craving while nourishing your body, mind, and soul.

Missing in Action


Denise Deems - 2012
    Evelyn Blake's Army nursing career is that she has to tell her parents that she's accepted a dashing English pilot's hand in marriage. But when Evelyn's transport plane crashes just hours before one of the biggest operations of World War Two, Evelyn Blake finds herself Missing In Action. Evelyn Blake's adventure finds her forced into Operation Market Garden, where she teams up with a rag tag band of American paratroopers and their brave but infuriating Lieutenant to escape the Germans. But, when Evelyn returns back to her own unit, she is ordered to forget the men who saved her life. Missing in Action is a wartime romance that spans the war in Europe. Lt. Evelyn Blake is a plucky flight nurse, who's experienced in war, but naive in love. Her fiancé, Victor Wellington, is her ideal prince charming, both a Lord and a dashing RAF pilot. But, is he any match for Lt. Patrick Mitchell, All-American officer and sometimes gentleman, who finds Evelyn hiding from the Germans in a cafe in Holland. Rumors swirl. Did Lt. Evelyn Blake really kill five Germans? How about those two marriage certificates? Only Lt. Mitchell and his men know for sure.

Banksy's Bristol: Home Sweet Home


Steve Wright - 2007
    The images were taken when Banksy joined Bristol's radical football team The Easton Cowboys on a tour of Mexico to play football against the Zapatista freedom fighters. The new edition also contains sections on the Banksy vs Bristol Museum show, Exit Through The Gift Shop, The Tesco Value Petrol Bomb, an interview with John Nation and more. The book is a celebration of Banksy's street art in his home city of Bristol and places him in the context of 3D, John Nation from the Barton Hill Youth Club, Inkie, Nick Walker and the other artists and musicians who were instrumental in linking Bristol to the original New York hip-hop scene. It is the most revealing account of Banksy's formative years and contains more than one hundred images of his Bristol art, as well as pictures of Banksy at work, many of which have never been published before. Steve Wright, traces Banksy's roots back to the rave culture of the Nineties and draws a rounded picture of an artist who is most famous for being anonymous.

Interview with Anne Rice


Michael Riley - 1996
    1 cassette / 90 minutesAn Audio Exclusive! For the first time on audio, Anne Rice, the literary phenomenon of the late 20th century, speaks.In the novel that introduced Anne Rice to the world, Interview with the Vampire, a reporter seeks out the facts behind an extraordinary life.  In the years since that publication, Anne Rice has become one of the world's bestselling authors and has herself been the subject of countless interviews, profiles, and a full-length biography.  Yet who Anne Rice is, and the beliefs, fascinations, desires, fears, and passions that inspire her work, remains an endlessly fascinating topic.Now, for the first time ever in an audio format, Anne Rice discusses -- with her longtime friend, Michael Riley -- everything from her latest novels to her relationship to some of her characters; from the relationship of movies and music to her work to issues about gender, eroticism, religion, personal freedom, adolescent sexuality, and more...

Balilicious - The Bali Diaries


Becky Wicks - 2012
    Now she turns her attention to Bali as she hilariously navigates life as an adopted Balinese local.A lot can happen when you set out to 'find yourself'. Sometimes, you can even lose the plot.From visiting ancient healers with cellphone addictions to leaving a shaking ashram intent on extracting her soul, Becky Wicks soon discovered that six months travelling round Bali wasn't all going to be about finding inner peace and harmony. In fact, the perils of possessed teens, eating raw, yogic headstands, diving shipwrecks and dicing with black magic and demons all took their toll on the Island of the Gods.And that was before the vaginal steaming.Becky Wicks lifts the sarong on real life in Bali in a blur of locals, tourists, expats and other other eating, praying lovers who arrive... you know... not really knowing who they are.

Dog Sense: How the New Science of Dog Behavior Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet


John Bradshaw - 2011
    The truth is, dogs are neither—and our misunderstanding has put them in serious crisis. What dogs really need is a spokesperson, someone who will assert their specific needs. Renowned anthrozoologist Dr. John Bradshaw has made a career of studying human-animal interactions, and in Dog Sense he uses the latest scientific research to show how humans can live in harmony with—not just dominion over—their four-legged friends. From explaining why positive reinforcement is a more effective (and less damaging) way to control dogs' behavior than punishment to demonstrating the importance of weighing a dog's unique personality against stereotypes about its breed, Bradshaw offers extraordinary insight into the question of how we really ought to treat our dogs.

An Irish Tail: A hilarious tale of an English couple and their unruly dogs, searching for a new life in rural Ireland


Nick Albert - 2012
    For many years, Nick and Lesley Albert had shared a dream of living far away from the stress of modern life, and when the opportunity arose, they jumped in with both feet. Almost overnight, they decided to move to beautiful County Clare, in the west of Ireland – a Country they had never before visited. With little experience or money they set about renovating a derelict farmhouse and building a new life together - hindered only by their lack of skill, twenty-two chickens ,two ducks and several unruly dogs. Bursting with comical anecdotes and witty observations, blended with occasional moments of exquisite sadness, this is a delightful true story of an English couple searching for a new life in the quiet solitude of rural Ireland."Marley and Me" meets "Round Ireland with a Fridge." If you love dogs, Ireland and life, then you will adore “An Irish Tail”.

Introducing philosophy


Open University - 2016
    This 8-hour free course introduced the study of philosophy and the methods employed by The Open University in teaching philosophy.

Way To Go! How to Housetrain a Dog of Any Age


Karen B. London - 2003
    Perfect for new dog owners, and the perfect addition to puppy packets or puppy socialization classes. This small, reader-friendly dog training booklet will help any dog and dog lover get off on the right paw.

Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog


Garth Stein - 2011
    Most dogs love to chase cars, but Enzo longs to race them.He learns about racing and the world around him by watching TV and by listening to the words of his best friend, Denny, an up-and-coming race car driver, and Denny's daughter, Zoë, his constant companion. Enzo finds that life is just like being on the racetrack - it isn't simply about going fast.Applying the rules of racing to his world, Enzo takes on his family's challenges and emerges a hero. In the end, Enzo holds in his heart the dream that Denny will go on to be a racing champion with his daughter by his side.For theirs is an extraordinary friendship - one that reminds us all to celebrate the triumph of the human (and canine) spirit.

Re:cyclists: 200 Years on Two Wheels


Michael Hutchinson - 2017
    The calls to ban it were more or less instant.Re:cyclists is the tale of what happened next, of how we have spent two centuries wheeling our way about town and country on bikes--or on two-wheeled things that vaguely resembled what we now call bikes. Michael Hutchinson picks his way through those 200 years, discovering how cycling became a kinky vaudeville act for Parisians, how it became an American business empire, and how it went on to find a unique home in the British Isles. He considers the penny-farthing riders exploring the abandoned and lonely coaching roads during the railway era, and the Victorian high-society cyclists of the 1890s bicycle craze--a time when no aristocratic house party was without bicycles and when the Prince of Wales used to give himself an illicit thrill on a weekday afternoon by watching the women's riding-school in the Royal Albert Hall.Re:cyclists looks at how cycling became the sport, the pastime and the social life of millions of ordinary people, how it grew and how it suffered through the 1960s and '70s, and how at the dawn of the twenty-first century it rose again, much changed but still ultimately just someone careering along on two wheels.

26 Miles to Boston: The Boston Marathon Experience from Hopkinton to Copley Square


Michael Connelly - 1998
    From suburban Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to the center of metropolitan Boston, here are the mile-by-mile sights and sounds experienced by the runners. Interwoven throughout is the colorful history of the men and women of manifold skills who have competed in this preeminent event over the span of more than a century. Profusely illustrated with photographs and maps, 26 MILES TO BOSTON is a book for anyone who's ever wondered what it might be like to run the Boston Marathon.

The History of the World in Fifty Dogs


Mackenzi Lee - 2019
    From the ancient Egyptians mummifying their pups, to the Indian legend of the king who refused to enter the afterlife unless his dog was allowed there too, to the modern meme and popularity of terms like the corgi sploot, humans are undeniably obsessed with their dogs. Told in short, illustrated essays that are interspersed with both historical and canine factoids, The History of the World in Fifty Dogs brings to life some of history’s most memorable moments through the stories of the dogs that saw them happen.