Book picks similar to
Pulp According to David Goodis by Jay A. Gertzman
crime-noir
davidgoodis
nonfiction
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Life Is Short and So Am I: My Life in and Out of the Wrestling Ring
Dylan Postl - 2019
Born with achondroplasia, a condition that causes disproportionate dwarfism, Dylan Postl had endured multiple surgeries by the age of 12. And yet, he held on to the dream that he would one day become a professional wrestler. Ignoring the naysayers and against doctors' recommendations, Dylan began training in his teens, and he soon began appearing on local independent shows. Before he turned 20, he was signed by the world leader in sports-entertainment, WWE, to play the role of Irish grappler Finlay's feisty sidekick, Hornswoggle, and remained a firm fixture in the company for a full decade.While most of Dylan's adult life has been spent in the wild world of the wrestling industry, Life Is Short is more than a story of a little person's journey through a world of giants; it's a memoir of elation and anguish, triumph and disappointment, and of how an endlessly positive outlook combined with the unwavering support of family and friends helped him become a success in his industry and a loving, responsible father. It's a story about a man who still loves wrestling -- but loves his family above all else.
The Storms: Adventure and tragedy on Everest
Mike Trueman - 2015
The young army helicopter pilot was helping to move his friend’s yacht from Northern Ireland to the south coast of England. But as they sailed out into the Irish Sea, the sky turned progressively darker and the winds gathered pace.Over the next twenty-four hours the two young sailors battled to survive force-10 gales in what became known as the Fastnet disaster and which claimed the lives of fifteen sailors off the coast of Ireland. Almost seventeen years later, Trueman was at Camp 2 at 6,400 metres on Mount Everest as the May 1996 tragedy unfolded high above him. As stricken guides, clients and Sherpas tried to survive the fierce storms which engulfed the upper mountain, Trueman was able to descend and – using his twenty-four years of experience as an officer in the British Army – coordinate the rescue effort from Base Camp. The Storms is the remarkable memoir of a British Army Gurkha officer. Trueman, a veteran of twenty expeditions to the Himalaya, gives a candid account of life inside expeditions to the highest mountain in the world. He gives a unique personal perspective on the 1996 Everest storm, as well as on the fateful day in May 1999 when Briton Mike Matthews disappeared high on the mountain after he and Trueman had summited.
Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco and Destiny
Nile Rodgers - 2011
It will make you happy. Legendary producer and co-founder of Chic, Nile Rodgers wrote 'We are Family' for Sister Sledge and 'I'm Coming Out' for Diana Ross, produced 'Let's Dance' for David Bowie and 'Like a Virgin' for Madonna. He has worked with just about every major star, from Michael Jackson and Bob Dylan to Prince and Duran Duran. But before he reinvented pop music, Nile Rodgers invented himself. Born into a mixed-race family of dopefiend bohemians, he learned "at a very early age" everything he needed to know about love, loss, fashion, art, music, and the subversive power of underground culture. The stars of the scene were his glamorous teenage mom and heroin-addicted Jewish stepfather, but there were also monkeys, voodoo orishas, jazz cats, and contract killers in the mix. By the age of 16, Nile was busking his way through the 60s, half-hippie and half-Black Panther. He jammed with Jimi Hendrix, took acid with Timothy Leary, toured with Big Bird on Sesame Street's road show, and played guitar behind history's greatest soul singers. And then, one night, he discovered disco. This was pop's most glamorous and decadent age. Nile Rodgers wrote the songs, produced the hits and lived behind the velvet rope holding court in the bathroom stalls at Studio 54, club-hopping with Madonna, scarfing down burgers with Diana Ross. Le Freak is the personal, moving story of a creative genius, told in his own unique voice "warm, intimate and relentlessly charming. It is also a stunning recreation of an age" told by the man who wrote its soundtrack.
The World According to Joan
Joan Collins - 2011
In this book, she shares her life experiences with humour and wisdom. From manners to men via fashion and family, to ageing and marriage, she takes on subjects close to every woman's heart.
The Light’s On At Signpost
George MacDonald Fraser - 2002
Now he shares his recollections of those encounters, providing a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes.Far from starry-eyed where Tony Blair Co are concerned, he looks back also to the Britain of his youth and castigates those responsible for its decline to "a Third World country … misruled by a typical Third World government, corrupt, incompetent and undemocratic".Controversial, witty and revealing – or "curmudgeonly", "reactionary", "undiluted spleen", according to the critics – The Light's on at Signpost has struck a chord with a great section of the public. Perhaps, as one reader suggests, it should be "hidden beneath the floorboards, before the Politically-Correct Thought Police come hammering at the door, demanding to confiscate any copies".
The Kill Switch (Kindle Single)
Phil Zabriskie - 2014
The killing that has been done and is being done is a crucial aspect of war and an integral part of the memories servicemen bring home with them. And yet, with few exceptions, it’s only rarely discussed in public and largely left to the veterans themselves to process, wrestle with, and carry.This is unfortunate because to understand what war is and what war does, it is necessary to understand what killing is and what killing does. In “The Kill Switch,” writer Phil Zabriskie, who covered both Iraq and Afghanistan for Time and other magazines, reconnects with two Marines and other veterans he met in Iraq and finds them ready to talk about it and willing to examine soberly and honestly what they’ve done and were asked to do. From boot camp through the initial invasion to the crucible of Ramadi, the siege of Fallujah, and beyond, they recount firefights, ambushes, suicide car bombers, hand-to-hand combat, and the life and death decisions they made about Saddam’s soldiers, battle-hardened insurgents, and people, even children, who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unflinching and as important today as it was at the height of these wars, “The Kill Switch” will stay with you long after you’re finished, just as the wars these men fought—and the killing they did—have stayed with them. Phil Zabriskie is a New York-based writer who spent many years working across Asia and the Middle East. He reported extensively on America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for Time magazine and has also written about conflict and its impact on the people who live through it for National Geographic, Fortune, the Washington Post Magazine, and other publications. Cover design by Kristen Radtke.
An Honest Look at a Mysterious Journey
John Stumbo - 2011
You've stumped us all."They didn't see it coming.They would never be the same.You'll find their story...AuthenticPowerfulHumorousMovingInsightfulRivetingYou may even find it intersecting with your own story.John and Joanna Stumbo have been married twenty-eight years--some great, some not so great. They have three grown children--all great. Joanna grew up in Ohio and Florida and a few other places; John in Minnesota and Montana. They have spent their adult lives figuring out what it means to be pastor and wife in churches from Pennsylvania to Oregon. John has a lifetime love for most anything outdoors and athletic. Joanna loves family and home. John never planned on spending seventy-seven days in the hospital. Joanna never had aspirations of being a caregiver. Neither of them ever planned on writing a book such as this. They are both the better for the journey they've been on, confusing though it be.
Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of the Byrds' Gene Clark
John Einarson - 2005
His songwriting with The Byrds and subsequent work as a solo artist and with Dillard & Clark mark him as one of rock's key innovators and a pioneer of folk-rock, psychedelia, and alt-country. Yet Clark's personal demons shadowed him throughout his life, and until now his legacy has been clouded in mystery. Told through the personal recollections of those closest to Clark, Mr. Tambourine Man offers a rare glimpse into his life and work, a revealing portrait of one of rock's greatest bands, and a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of fame. Endorsed by the Gene Clark estate, the book also features rare and previously unseen photos from family and friends.
Nowhere Like Home: Misadventures in a Changing World
Jamie Alexander - 2012
Spurred on by what he encountered among the Dayak tribespeople of the Krayan, he made a decision to discover the truth of the world around him, however uncomfortable that truth would turn out to be. From the killing fields of Indonesia to the refugee camps of Palestine, this is the remarkable true story of how this decision came to define his life, seeing him visit some of the least accessible and most volatile places on earth, often armed with little more than a set of disarmingly rosy cheeks and a quirky sense of humour. Exciting, thought-provoking, and occasionally disturbing, Nowhere Like Home forces us to question not only the reasons people travel, but also the very foundations of modern society.
Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy: A True Story of Discovery, Acting, Health, Illness, Recovery, and Life
Dirk Benedict - 1987
It also describes his odyssey of self-discovery and growth as he changes from struggling actor to celebrity, from meat eater to vegetarian, from cancer victim to cancer victor. Brilliantly written--insightful, witty, and always challenging--
Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy
may change the way you perceive actors, and even make you reconsider the truths in your own life.
Lemon Sherbet and Dolly Blue The Story of an Accidental Family
Lynn Knight - 2011
But just as this was no ordinary home, theirs was no ordinary family. Lynn Knight tells the remarkable story of the three adoptions within it: of her great-grandfather, a fairground boy given away when his parents left for America in 1865; of her great-aunt, rescued from an Industrial School in 1909; and of her mother, adopted as a baby in 1930 and brought to Chesterfield from London."--Front flyleaf of book jacket.
Alias David Bowie : a biography
Peter L. Gillman - 1987
Raised in a poor South London family with a history of mental illness, David Robert Jones was to become an emblem of his time whose fame rivaled that of Elvis Presley and the Beatles. He sang some of the most haunting pop songs of the 1970s and starred in some of the strangest plays and films of the period (The Elephant Man, The Hunger, The Man Who Fell to Earth). Androgynous, Jekyll and Hyde by turns, susceptible to cocaine and paranoia, casting off a series of managers and involved in complex lawsuits, Bowie eventually deserted Britain and America and moved to a house near the Berlin Wall. The Gillmans' formidable research enables them to smash many Bowie myths, but their sympathy for him and his disturbed family is evident, and they deal fairly with his wife, agents and lovers. Still, only obsessed Bowie fans will have the stamina to get all the way through this depressing 500-page odyssey. Photos. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside the Lion's Den
Ken Shamrock - 1998
This is the story of his rise from a troubled youth to champion in the ring in both America and Asia. The first "King of Pancrase" in the Japanese fighting circuit, and the first "Superfight Champion" of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Shamrock also founded the Lion's Den in Northern California, a facility that has trained many champion MMA fighters.Readers and fans will learn the secrets of Shamrock's ultra-efficient submissions fighting system and the training regimen that he and his trainees followed. With over 150 dynamic photos, Inside the Lion's Den is both an inspiring portrait of the fighter known as the "World's Most Dangerous Man" and an invaluable guide for the martial artist, novice and master alike.
Gilles Villeneuve: The Life of the Legendary Racing Driver
Gerald Donaldson - 1989
Gilles Villeneuve became a legend in his own time, a driver whose skill and daring personified the ideals of Grand Prix racing, the pinnacle of motor sport.With his flamboyantly aggressive, press-on-regardless style in his scarlet Ferrari, he captured the imagination of a vast international audience as no other driver has in recent times.
Arsene Wenger: The Biography
Xavier Rivoire - 2007
Including exclusive interviews with Wenger, former and current players, family, colleagues, and observers from across Japan, France, and England, this completely authorized and definitive biography is a testament to his success and dedication in the field—and to the loyalty of players and fans. This incisive account of the man famous for bringing free-flowing soccer to "boring, boring Arsenal" reveals Wenger as a standout in an industry of disposable contracts and ruthless politics, and is essential reading for fans of the game.