. .  Martha Hawkins was the tenth of twelve children born in Montgomery, Alabama. There was no money, but her childhood was full of love. Martha's mother could transform a few vegetables from the backyard into a feast and never turned away a hungry mouth.   Memories of the warmth of her family's supper table would remain with Martha. Even as a poor single mother without a high school diploma, Martha dreamed of one day opening a restaurant that would make people feel at home. She'd serve food that would nourish body and soul. But time went by and that dream slipped further and further away as Martha battled the onset of what would later become a severe mental illness. But the thing about hitting bottom is that there's nowhere to go but up. Martha decided to step into God's promise for her life. Her boundless faith and joy led her to people who would change her world and lend a helping hand when she most needed and least expected one.    Martha's Place is now a nationally known destination for anyone visiting the Deep South and a culinary fixture of life in Montgomery. Martha only hires folks who are down on their luck, just as she once was. High-profile politicians, professional athletes, artists, musicians, and actors visit regularly. Martha has proven many times that keeping the faith makes the difference between failure and success. This is the story of how Martha finally found her place. . . .

    A university graduate and modern pentathlete, he suffered both a career–ending injury and a painful breakup, leaving him suddenly adrift. The son of prominent Canadian equestrians, Maynard decided to spend the next year as a “working student.” In the horse industry, working students aspire to become professional riders or trainers, and willingly trade labor for hands–on education. Here Maynard chronicles his experiences–good and bad–and we follow along as one year becomes three, what began as a casual adventure gradually transforms, and a life's purpose comes sharply into focus. Over time, Maynard evolved under the critical eyes of Olympians, medal winners, and world–renowned figures in the horse world, including Anne Kursinski, Johann Hinnemann, Ingrid Klimke, David and Karen O'Connor, Bruce Logan, and Ian Millar. He was ignored, degraded, encouraged, and praised. He was hired and fired, told he had the “wrong body type to ride” and that he had found his “destiny.” He got married and lost loved ones. Through it all he studied the horse, and human nature, and how the two can find balance. And in that journey, he may have found himself.

    With help from her two kids, a Roomba vacuum turned mobile surveillance drone, and a few close friends, Wynn launches a covert investigation that leads to the mother of all revenge capers at the school’s annual Fall Festival.If you’ve ever fantasized about smoke bombing the idiot parent who has yet to master the fine art of the school drop-off lane or standing up and shouting “Liar, liar Botox on fire!" during a PTA meeting, then this delicious tale of payback is for you.Based on the popular blog, Snarky In the Suburbs that was recently optioned by ABC for film and television rights.

    Flight Attendant Memoir is an intriguing, inside view of the not-so-friendly skies seen through the eyes of former flight attendant, Margo Anderson; if you are a frequent flier or plan to fly in the near future, fasten your seat belts for a turbulent read!

    When you think about the kind of guy you are going to marry, a Romany living in an old caravan does not normally come to mind! Can't think why, can you?! So, there I was. 19 years old and fed up with 'normal' guys who only wanted one thing. Yep you guessed it! But then.... along comes this guy, tall, skinny, bad hair, ugly/handsome..... did I say bad hair? Oh yes! And that was just the beginning! But little did I know that he was a gypsy! Oh boy! Gypsies and gorgi's don't mix.....do they? I was about to find out! Honest, raw, colourful, and downright hilarious! Based on the true story of Nell Rose Loveridge and Jake her gypsy rover!

    The first installment, I Grew my Boobs in China, is the beginning of an intensely fascinating, sobering, and emotional memoir of Savannah’s introspective and innovative family adventure.In 2005, 14-year-old Savannah Grace’s world is shattered when her mother unexpectedly announces that she and her family (mother, 45; brother, 25; sister, 17) would soon embark on an incredible, open-ended journey. When everything from her pets to the house she lived in is either sold, given away or put in storage, this naïve teenage girl runs headlong into the reality and hardships of a life on the road.Built around a startling backdrop of over eighty countries (I Grew my Boobs in China relates the family’s adventures in China and Mongolia), this is a tale of feminine maturation – of Savannah’s metamorphosis from ingénue to woman-of-the-world. Nibbling roasted duck tongues in China and being stranded in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert are just two experiences that contribute to Savannah’s exploration of new cultures and to the process of adapting to the world around her.

    

    Written over two years while the author battled suicidal depression, Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life is a painful and yet richly affirming examination of what makes life worth living. Yiyun Li grew up in China and has spent her adult life as an immigrant in a country not her own. She has been a scientist, an author, a mother, a daughter and through it all she has been sustained by a profound connection with the writers and books she loves. From William Trevor and Katherine Mansfield to Soren Kierkegaard and Philip Larkin, Dear Friend is a journey through the deepest themes that bind these writers together. Interweaving personal experiences with a wide-ranging homage to her most cherished literary influences, Yiyun Li confronts the two most essential questions of her identity: Why write? And why live?

    Would you believe the one about the man who got stuck with half a paintbrush in a delicate area? The medical ethics of a woman using the hospital like a babysitting service? The day when two surgeons almost came to blows after a squabble over theatre space? After reading this brilliantly realised medical nonfiction collection of short stories you will no longer doubt the strange and sometimes tragic circumstances doctors face in medical diagnosis and treatment. From humourous stories about misbehaving patients to short biographies to moving medical stories with tragic ends, Dr Jay weaves a tale of over thirty years’ experience and relates some of the most interesting medical diagnosis and treatment of patients from his career. His narrative voice is rich and compelling and each of the patients’ short biographies is treated with the solid medical ethics we have come to expect from our doctors. Forthright and entertaining, this medical nonfiction collection of short stories comes directly from the horse’s mouth and includes humourous stories as well as short biographies that reveal some of the least pleasant aspects of life as a Surgeon.

    Description:- Hinch Yourself Happy: All The Best Cleaning Tips To Shine Your Sink And Soothe Your Soul Cleaning - aka hinching - doesn't have to be that job you dread, not when Mrs Hinch is here to show you her sparkly ways. At over 2 million followers and counting, she has taken the nation by storm with her infectiously addictive charm, clever tidying tips and passionate belief in cleaning. Mrs Hinch invites you into her home and while inside you'll discover how a spot of cleaning is the perfect way to cleanse the soul. She'll even share the story of Mr and Mrs Hinch and their 'dorgeous' boy, Henry.With the help of her cloth family, Mrs Hinch will help you turn your house into a home. Whether you're a daily duster or looking for a monthly makeover, Hinch Yourself Happy shows you how to create not only a cleaner house, but a calmer you. How To Clean Your House: Easy tips and tricks to keep your home clean and tidy up your life Lynsey Queen of Clean, Instagrammer, businesswoman and busy mum of three, has done all of the work so you don't have to. Featuring her make-at-home cleaning products, easy step-by-step guides and all her recommendations for toxic-free and eco-friendly products, this book is the ultimate guide to keeping on top of your house, and having fun while you do it. Lynsey shares her daily and seasonal routines, motivating and encouraging you along the way with so that you are left with the will, and the skill, to take on even the most seemingly insurmountable tasks and end up with a clean, calm and happy home.

    When the challenge of hiking the entire 2,190 mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine called out to him, he knew he had to show his scouts and others he had the perseverance to accomplish a dream. On a cold January morning, he set off alone from Georgia and started his nearly 5 month adventure to Maine. The challenges and tragedies he faced before and during his hike tested his resolve and changed his life. In Walking to Maine, readers join Glenn on the Appalachian Trail as he battles the mountains and the weather through 14 states seeking to push himself out of his comfort zone and to learn more about himself. He will meet interesting people from all walks of life and discover the goodness that stills exists in the hearts of total strangers. Along the way he will encounter brutal conditions and personal tragedy. Through it all he will follow the same lessons he taught his scouts and keep pushing north towards his goal. He will learn that the trail provides those who hike it everything they need and he will learn to enjoy the simple pleasures that we all take for granted in our daily lives.

    Eddie Huang was raised by a wild family of FOB (“fresh off the boat”) immigrants—his father a cocksure restaurateur with a dark past back in Taiwan, his mother a fierce protector and constant threat. Young Eddie tried his hand at everything mainstream America threw his way, from white Jesus to macaroni and cheese, but finally found his home as leader of a rainbow coalition of lost boys up to no good: skate punks, dealers, hip-hop junkies, and sneaker freaks. This is the story of a Chinese-American kid in a could-be-anywhere cul-de-sac blazing his way through America’s deviant subcultures, trying to find himself, ten thousand miles from his legacy and anchored only by his conflicted love for his family and his passion for food. Funny, moving, and stylistically inventive, Fresh Off the Boat is more than a radical reimagining of the immigrant memoir—it’s the exhilarating story of every American outsider who finds his destiny in the margins.

    Born two years after her parents' only son died just hours after his birth, Kat Chow became unusually fixated with death. She worried constantly about her parents dying -- especially her mother. One morning, when Kat was nine, her mother, a vivacious and mischievous woman, casually made a morbid joke: When she eventually dies, she said laughing, she'd like to be stuffed and displayed in Kat's future apartment in order to always watch over her.Four years later when her mother dies unexpectedly from cancer, Kat, her two older sisters, and their father are plunged into a debilitating, lonely grief. With a distinct voice that is wry and heartfelt, Kat weaves together what is part ghost story and part excavation of her family's history of loss spanning three generations and their immigration from China and Hong Kong to America and Cuba. This redemptive coming-of-age story uncovers the uncanny parallels in Kat's lineage, including the strength of sisterhood and the complicated duty of looking after parents, even after death.Seeing Ghosts asks what it means to claim and tell your family's story: Is writing an exorcism or is it its own form of preservation? What do we owe to our families in our grief, and how does it shape us? In order to answer these questions and to understand her family's ghosts, Kat unearths their sorrow and challenges the power structures of race, class, and gender. The result is an extraordinary new contribution to the literature of grief and the American family, and a provocative and transformative meditation on who we become under the specter of loss.

    Catlin and his fellow marines were among the first American soldiers sent across to France in World War One and within months they were thrown into the thick of the action.As the Germans made a last ditch attempt to break through allied lines and capture Paris it was the marines who stood in their way.In the bloody days of June 1918 Catlin and his small band of marines fought ferociously against the Germans, utilising all the training that they had been through and showing the true metal of the marines.It is a period that has gone down as one of the greatest achievements of the United States Marines Corps.This fascinating history of the marines and their involvement in World War One was written during Catlin’s recovery period after he had been shot by a sniper during the sixth day of the Battle of Belleau Wood.“The story of the marines in France is told with authority and interest.”— Booklist“It is one of the books about the American war effort which is well worth keeping as well as reading.” — Outlook“A well-written and complete account.” — Library BulletinAlbertus W. Catlin (1868-1933) was a career soldier who had received the Medal of Honor for leading the 3rd Marine Regiment at Vera Cruz, Mexico and for displaying “distinguished conduct in battle”. He published ”With the Help of God and a Few Marines in 1919.

    There, her grand-mother and great-aunt told her intriguing, colorful stories about their family's past - stories of missionaries, concubines, tong wars, glamorous nightclubs, and the determined struggle to triumph over racist laws and discrimination. They spoke of how Lisa's great-great-grandfather emigrated from his Chinese village to the United States; how his son followed him, married a Caucasian woman, and despite great odds, went on to become one of the most prominent Chinese on "Gold Mountain" (the Chinese name for the United States). As an adult, See spent five years collecting the details of her family's remarkable history. She interviewed nearly one hundred relatives - both Chinese and Caucasian, rich and poor - and pored over documents at the National Archives, the immigration office, and in countless attics, basements, and closets for the intimate nuances of her ancestors' lives.