Book picks similar to
Boy 11963: An Irish Industrial School Childhood and an Extraordinary Search for Home by John Cameron
memoir
irish-writer
irish-history
js
One Brain Cell Left: Inside a Classic Rock and Roll Journalist's Storied Vault
Rosy Steve Rosenthal - 2016
He interviewed 82 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ... 174 recording artists who had at least one No. 1 hit. His interviews were heard daily on radio stations around the globe during much of the late ‘70s and ‘80s, until severe bipolar disorder took full control. In One Brain Cell Left, Rosy doesn’t always paint a rosy picture of the Mega-Stars he interviewed. Some were absolute sweethearts; others were absolute assholes. And they’re not always the ones you’d expect. He’s never asked what he talked about with celebrities. People only want to know what the stars were like in person. This book answers the “What were they like?” questions about a cross-section of superstar entertainers, newsmakers and athletes that Rosy interviewed. But it’s equally about the unique and unusual life that he’s led outside the entertainment industry. He REALLY didn’t want to like Paul McCartney. He found George Harrison to be completely down-to-earth. Unfortunately, he can’t say the same about Ringo. He found Madonna to be “Queen Shit with a muffin top.” Mickey Mantle swore at him. Mel Brooks ran after him. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar intentionally treated him like shit. His first words to Lionel Richie were, “So they tell me you’ve become a real asshole since you’ve gotten all this success.” And you’ll laugh at his self-deprecating chapters “Always wear a cup when you play tennis” and “Free drinks, a blind hockey goalie and a goat.” You’ll likewise be drawn in by the poignant “I’m no Belushi, but I’ve become Joe Cocker” and the riveting “A machine gun and explosives.” His stories aren’t always pretty. But they’re always pretty interesting. And he’s got the brain cell to prove it.
Bring the Joy
Jessica Janzen - 2020
From the bliss of her dramatic, romantic saga with her now husband, to the trials and triumph of her career journey as a young women, to the devastating loss of her son when he was only six months old, Jessica's commitment to follow the nudges of her heart have seen her through every season. Through her hilarious, inspiring stories and refreshing honesty, Jessica will challenge you start looking for ways to brings more joy to your life and the lives of those around you. Life lived to the fullest can only happen when you bring the joy.
Amazed by Spain: How an Unexpected Legacy Changed our Lives
Susan Shenton - 2019
Before sisters Sue and Linda inherit a village house in the hills they have little interest in Spain, but on travelling out to see their new possession they begin to warm to the idea of spending time there with their husbands Paul and Bill. After an enjoyable summer holiday the prospect of living in the village becomes irresistible and this book describes their transition from visitors to residents and the diverse selection of people they meet along the way. This amusing and informative memoir is an ideal read for those interested in the possibilities of expat life in rural Spain.
Lifehacked: How One Family from the Slums Made Millions Selling Apps
Allen Wong - 2012
He became a self-made millionaire before he was 25.But, life wasn't always this grand for him. He was the only person in his family earning an income. And, he came from an oppressed family that grew up in the slums. Regardless, the apps he published were downloaded by over 15 million people.His apps have been featured in many places, including Wired.com, NBC News, and CNN. Now he's sharing the story on how he did it, the crises he struggled with, and what his father taught him to be successful.App companies have paid him thousands of dollars for consultant work, and he has helped them increase their download numbers by over 1000%. One of those apps was downloaded by over 100,000 users in one day. And now he is revealing his marketing secrets for the first time in this book.Note: This book was written with non-technical people in mind. The book covers both life and entrepreneurial lessons, and not all of the book is about app development.
Strength in Strangers: A true story of heartbreak, hope and courage
Lauren Britton - 2014
The local medical centre lacked the equipment to keep him alive and there was no plane to a specialist hospital for several days.This is the inspirational and emotional true story of a normal young couple and their life torn apart by a near fatal heart affecting virus and a wife’s struggle to save her husband’s life.An account of the incredible journey to return him home safely, the terrifying wait in hospitals where few spoke English, seven weeks in Bangkok on life support and intensive care, the selfless acts of strangers, and the frightening realisation that previously fit and healthy Andrew would need an urgent heart transplant.This is a story of love, hope and courage against all odds.A story of friends and family, incredible medical staff, the strength found in strangers and the ultimate gift of a second chance.
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.
I Don't Have a Bucket List but My F*ck-it List is a Mile Long: The hilarious guide to making your life happier, richer, and even more badass!
Ruby Rey - 2019
We dare say there's a bit of Tina Fey's Bossypants in here, too." Looking for a refreshing new take on kicking ass at life? Ruby Rey is not your mother's life coach. She's one hilarious professional writer who has overcome her sucky genes to become happy, rich, and (you be the judge after you read this book) wise. If you're seeking motivation, you'll love Ruby Rey's fresh take on important topics such as: - living the kind of amazing life you'd watch on the big screen - how to change your everyday habits - what the hell it means to "choose happiness" - not being the prettiest, sexiest girl in the room, and how that's an advantage - ditching those frenemies - an alternative to hard work and luck - one weird trick for improving your mood every day Do you like lists? This book has lists! Plus Ruby Rey's real life stories that are sometimes raw, frequently funny, and always honest and insightful. There's something for everyone, from self-help newbies to the more advanced, who've "been there, done that" through all the basic stuff. What's different about this book is how it's filtered through the keen eyes and witty mind of a professional writer who knows how to craft the entertainment you love. Get ready to realign your mind, shake up your routine, and get back on track. Or just kick back and enjoy a few laughs. This collection of easy-to-follow life lessons may be a powerhouse, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. Warning: I Don't Have a Bucket List but My F*ck-It List is a Mile Long contains no sugarcoating. There are, as you may have guessed, a few swear words.
24 Hours Inside the President's Bunker: 9-11-01: The White House
Robert J. Darling - 2010
Robert J. Darling organizes President Bush's trip to Florida on Sept. 10, 2001, he believes the next couple of days will be quiet. He has no idea that a war is about to begin. The next day, after terrorists crash airliners into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, Maj. Darling rushes to the president's underground chamber at the White House. There, he takes on the task of liaison between the vice president, national security advisor and the Pentagon. He works directly with the National Command Authority, and he's in the room when Vice President Cheney orders two fighter jets to get airborne in order to shoot down United Flight 93. Throughout the attacks, Maj. Darling witnesses the unprecedented actions that leaders are taking to defend America. As Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and others make decisions at a lightning pace with little or no deliberation, he's there to lend his support. Follow Darling's story as he becomes a Marine Corps aviator and rises through the ranks to play an incredible role in responding to a crisis that changed the world in 9-11-01: The White House: Twenty-Four Hours inside the President's Bunker.
World War 2: Waffen SS Soldiers - Testimonies of German SS Soldiers
Oliver Mayer - 2015
These six soldiers all had different roles to play, and all look back at their experiences, sharing them to make amends for the cruel times that they lived in. Learn about what it was like to be in a concentration camp, and how a soldier managed when they were at the front. You will discover: - • The experience of a young Aryan soldier • A soldiers in Treblinka • Testimonies from the liberation • The female SS soldier • The Gas Trucks of WWII • All about the Gas Chambers • The meaning of Special Action The experiences that you will discover are bound to leave you with a range of emotions. You may have feelings of anger, remorse, shame or even mercy. At the end of this book, you will have connected with these SS soldiers as well as the plight of those under their power. Learn about the life of an Ayran soldier, and those at Treblinka. Also discover the female SS soldiers and a driver of the gas truck. The gas chambers are explained as well as the ominous special action Read this book for FREE on Kindle Unlimited - Download NOW! In addition to these rich testimonies, you will alo read about what it was like to have a foreign soldier fighting for Germany, and what medical tests were being carried out at the camp. These medical examinations take this book even deeper into the truth about World War II} Just scroll to the top of the page and select the Buy Button. Download Your Copy TODAY!
Not Like My Mother:Becoming a sane parent after growing up in a CRAZY family
Irene Tomkinson - 2008
How to separate what belongs to your history and what belongs in your present life is some of the rich, practical advice you will take away from Not Like My Mother. In the early distribution of Not Like My Mother readers reported they couldn’t put the book down. It reads like a compelling novel with a human and spiritual insight that makes you feel a part of the conversation. YOU WILL WANT THIS BOOK FOR ALL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!!"
Healed - How Cancer gave me a new life
Manisha Koirala - 2018
From her treatment in the US and the wonderful care provided by the oncologists there to how she rebuilt her life once she returned home, the book takes us on an emotional roller-coaster ride through her many fears and struggles and shows how she eventually came out triumphant.Today, as she completes six years of being cancer-free, she shares her story-one marked by apprehensions, disappointments and uncertainties-and the lessons she learnt along the way. Through her journey, she unravels cancer for us and inspires us to not buckle under its fear, but emerge alive, kicking and victorious.
The match : complete strangers, a miracle face transplant, two lives transformed
Susan Whitman Helfgot - 2010
But his heart was failing. After months of waiting for a heart transplant, he died during the operation. Hours after his death, his wife Susan was asked a shocking question: would she donate her husband’s face to a total stranger?The stranger was James Maki, the adopted son of parents who spent part of World War II in an internment camp for Japanese Americans. Rebelling against his stern father, a professor, by enlisting to serve in Vietnam, he returned home a broken man, addicted to drugs. One night he fell facedown onto the electrified third rail of a Boston subway track.A young Czech surgeon who was determined to make a better life on the other side of the Iron Curtain was on call when the ambulance brought Maki to the hospital. Although Dr. Bohdan Pomahac gave him little chance of survival, Maki battled back. He was sober and grateful for a second chance, but he became a recluse, a man without a face. His only hope was a controversial face transplant, and Dr. Pomahac made it happen.In The Match, Susan Whitman Helfgot captures decades of drama and history, taking us from Warsaw to Japan, from New York to Hollywood. Through wars and immigration, poverty and persecution, from a medieval cadaver dissection to a stunning seventeen-hour face transplant, she weaves together the story of people forever intertwined—a triumphant legacy of hope.
A Simple Life: Living off grid in a wooden cabin in France
Mary-Jane Houlton - 2021
They were already used to a simple life, having spent the last three years living on their boat in France for the summer seasons, and returning to the UK and their caravan for the winters. This tiny cabin would now be their new home for the winter months, taking them a step further along the road to self-sufficiency. They had no electricity, no kitchen, no bathroom or bedroom and the loo was a bucket in a shed, but the property came with five acres of field and woodland.From now on their lives would be simple, pared back to the basics, but they found that an off-grid lifestyle was by no means an uncomfortable experience. Responsibilities didn’t disappear but they changed, becoming less onerous. There was more time to think, and to appreciate the natural world around them. Living in such rural isolation, each day brought something new to marvel at: deer browsing in the field at dusk, salamanders on the doorstep, owls calling by night.If their own world felt increasingly magical, the outside world was far from it. They had moved to a foreign country at an historic time, living through a pandemic and adapting to the day-to-day implications of Brexit.A Simple Life doesn’t just follow Mary-Jane and Michael as they settle into their new lives, it also raises questions about what really matters to people. What makes us happy? How does it feel to have few possessions? Will life become unbearable without a flushing toilet?Thought-provoking and amusing, this book opens a window onto a different way of living. Mary-Jane shares a wealth of information and, if you have ever found yourself longing for a simpler life, this might tempt you to take those first tentative steps on the journey.
A Smuggler's Guide to Good Manners: A True Story Of Terrifying Seas, Double-Dealing, And Love Across Three Oceans
Kenny Ranen - 2017
It is a yarn still told in a hundred bars in tucked away ports where seafarers drink and wait out stormy weather. The story takes the reader on a smuggling voyage from the Atlantic down the Red Sea to Kenya, to Thailand and back across the Indian Ocean to Spain then the Netherlands. No notoriety, no articles in magazines, no calling for help when things get bad. Medical emergencies at sea, sharks, pirates, monsoon storms, and the Guardia Civil, notwithstanding… backing off was not an option. After 12 years of sailing and smuggling in the N. Atlantic and the Caribbean, Ranen, an old school pre electronic navigation sailor who smuggles to pay the bills for a lifestyle of dangerous freedom, heads for the Indian Ocean aboard his sleek deep ocean sailing boat, Sara. He left with a solid plan to sail new oceans, and do business in a new arena with different cultures. What happens when he gets there sends him on a path that was nothing he imagined, but such is the world of sailing and smuggling. Although Ranen has written this story in first person, It is also told from the perspective of the courageous young “Kenya Cowgirl” who became his crew and lover, all told through her journal entries from that voyage. In the days when “5/11” Beverly Johnson and Lynn Hill were winning the respect of the “rock star” climbers in Yosemite, Ranen was throwing a young Arianna Bell into the maelstrom of long distance non-stop sailing/smuggling. This is her story as well. Surprising twists of fate, cat and mouse with the law and other bad guys, as well as up close accounts of at life at sea in challenging conditions. Like living in a Dylan song.
Dirt Classroom: An inspiring true adventure through the Australian Outback
Matt Chadwick - 2016
Over the next 2 years, I was attacked by a few wild animals, experienced unexplained phenomenon, had a massive learning curve and truly experienced the Australian outback. If you are after a story that was written to appeal to the masses and that mainstream publishers love, then this probably isn't for you. If you are after a lighthearted read that provides the raw truth about life out bush and my experience of it, then click away. I hope you enjoy. Note - mature themes.