Call the Nurse: True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle


Mary J. MacLeod - 2012
    MacLeod and her husband encountered their dream while vacationing on a remote island in the Scottish Hebrides. Enthralled by its windswept beauty, they soon were the proud owners of a near-derelict croft house--a farmer's stone cottage--on "a small acre" of land. Mary assumed duties as the island's district nurse. Call the Nurse is her account of the enchanted years she and her family spent there, coming to know its folk as both patients and friends.In anecdotes that are by turns funny, sad, moving, and tragic, she recalls them all, the crofters and their laird, the boatmen and tradesmen, young lovers and forbidding churchmen. Against the old-fashioned island culture and the grandeur of mountain and sea unfold indelible stories: a young woman carried through snow for airlift to the hospital; a rescue by boat; the marriage of a gentle giant and the island beauty; a ghostly encounter; the shocking discovery of a woman in chains; the flames of a heather fire at night; an unexploded bomb from World War II; and the joyful, tipsy celebration of a ceilidh. Gaelic fortitude meets a nurse's compassion in these wonderful true stories from rural Scotland.

A Chancer


James Kelman - 1985
    Unable to hold a job for long, his life revolves around Glasgow bars, living with his sister and brother-in-law, betting shops, and casinos. Sometimes Tammas wins, more often he loses. But gambling gives him as good a chance as any of discovering what he seeks from life since society offers no prospect of a more fulfilling alternative.

The Paris Apartment


Claudia Strasser - 1995
    Reflecting an unusual mix of design influences (Baroque, rococo, neoclassical and Art Deco) and personal taste, its style is luxurious, playful, and wholly original. In "The Paris Apartment, " Claudia Strasser, the founder and owner of the shop, offers readers the quintessential guide to achieving this romantic Parisian look without having to spend a fortune. With easy-to-follow instructions and helpful advice, she shows readers how they can transform their homes into a living environment that reflects both their personal style and timeless French elegance. Laid out in the form of an entertaining diary, the book helps Francophiles define their fantasy home, find inspiration, select a color palette and use light creatively. She also includes instructions for making canopies and valances; advice on dyeing fabrics and restyling furniture; tips on budgeting; guidance on shopping at flea markets and auctions; and a glossary of terms. Color photographs throughout illustrate the ideas and techniques shown in the book.As interest in the home experiences a resurgence, and as Americans become more careful about their spending, nesting has become the pastime of the '90s. People want luxury homes without spending a fortune. With its unbeatable combination of style and solid practicality, "The Paris Apartment" is a home-decorating guide to treasure and draw inspiration from for many years to come.Visit The Paris Apartment online.

MaryJane's Stitching Room


MaryJane Butters - 2007
    Along with more of MaryJane’s engaging essays and endearing farmgirl wisdom, you’ll find projects that have an irresistible appeal for the contemporary crafter who is intrigued with the delicate handcrafts of yesteryear. MaryJane includes nostalgic patterns with simple step-by-step instructions for projects to wear, for gifts, or to bring down-home charm to any room of the home, all with her unmistakable farmgirl flair.MaryJane’s Stitching Room is a wonderful companion to MaryJane’s Ideabook, Cookbook, Lifebook, but it also stands alone as a useful guide to the handiwork of days gone by.

Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives


Helen O'Neill - 2006
    To this day, mystery shrouds her myriad personae, starlet, couturier, painter, as well as her unsolved murder. One thing, however, is certain; Broadhurst's place in the history of interior decor.Recognized worldwide for her groundbreaking wallpaper patterns, this enigmatic Australian left behind a trove of exquisite work, brilliantly displayed here in the first-ever authorized biography of the design icon. Broadhurst's wallpapers out of circulation for nearly 20 years are just now being restored and sold globally to much fanfare.This amazing package showcases more than 100 never-before-published patterns and popular prints, such as those owned by Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, and Carly Simon, alongside a fascinating murder mystery.

Cricut Expression: A Comprehensive Guide to Creating with Your Machine


Cathie Rigby - 2012
    For advanced crafters, this book instructs on features such as modes and functions, and teaches how to create with color, texture, and dimension. A cutting guide teaches the perfect settings to cut every type of material. A separate chapter introduces the new features of Cricut Expression™ 2 and explains how it differs from the original Expression machine. More than 50 creative projects inspire ideas for home décor, gifts, parties, cards, and scrapbook layouts.

A Room of Her Own: Women's Personal Spaces


Chris Casson Madden - 1997
    Presents the personal spaces of thirty-eight distinctive women, including Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, and Ali MacGraw.

French Chic - The "Secret" to French Style


Ali Martine - 2015
    French women know the intrinsic value of classic basics and integrate their favorite clothes and accessories based upon years of experience perfecting their unique sense of style. French women know how to create a sense of intrigue. And it’s not achieved by wearing a barrage of latest trends or designers. It’s about having the confidence to dress up a simple white button-down, incorporating their signature flair, for a far more interesting and sophisticated look. Most women tend to buy everything that catches their eye. There’s not much discernment, just buying power. And these women have the overstuffed closets to show for it. I must warn you – This book is not just another simplistic buying guide to achieve a French chic look. Nor will I insult you with cliché advice on incorporating scarves into your daily wardrobe. I would like to offer you a different perspective. This book includes advice and insights about making empowering choices when it comes to what is hanging in your closet. The choice to simplify, buy less, and keep only fabulous items. The choice to honor your body first and foremost. And the choice to invest in your wardrobe.

The Loner


Quintin Jardine - 2011
    His emergence into manhood is colourful, and eventful. After a short career as a professional footballer, he turns to journalism, and has a bloody introduction to the trade, as his first assignment ends in violent death. Inevitably, remorselessly, as his autobiography unfolds, Xavi's life and his love become entwined with his work, and he is immersed in tragedy, loss and betrayal, going halfway round the world in search of a truth that may destroy him.Quintin Jardine's evocation of Xavi's fated world, of the towering being that is Grandma Paloma, and of his love, the beautiful, wilful and hypnotic Grace Starshine, is an unforgettable story of a man riding a one-way train to oblivion. Will he escape, before it hits the buffers, full-speed?

The Unplugged Woodshop: Hand-Crafted Projects for the Home & Workshop


Tom Fidgen - 2013
    In his second book, Fidgen presents more hand-tool woodworking projects for the home and workshop. The projects have a distinctive retro look, recycling designs from our not-so-distant past. He has reconceived the classic library card catalog (converted to use for kitchen storage); a clever medicine chest does double duty as a four-bottle wine tote; and his gentleman’s valet is an elegant clothing stand with a profile that harks back in time. In the opening chapters, Fidgen discusses the benefits of working in an unplugged woodshop, considers the sources of design inspiration, offers advice on the critical importance of sharpening, and even explains how to make hand tools using only hand tools.

Dream Home: The Property Brothers’ Ultimate Guide to Finding & Fixing Your Perfect House


Jonathan Scott - 2016
    Brother. The talented duo’s good-natured rivalry, playful banter, and no-nonsense strategies have earned the popular twins millions of devoted fans who have been anxiously waiting for a Scott Brothers book. Dream Home is a comprehensive source, covering the ins and outs of buying, selling, and renovating a house, with hundreds of full-color photos throughout. The brothers cover numerous topics including the hidden costs of moving, savvy negotiating tactics, and determining your home must-haves. Other handy features include a calendar of key dates for finding the best deals on home products and a cheat sheet of worth-it fix-its. Look inside for a wealth of information on attaining what you want—on time and on budget. Dream Home also includes all the tips and tricks you won’t see on TV, making it a must-have resource not just for fans but for any current or aspiring homeowner.

The Handmade Entrepreneur-How to Sell on Etsy, or Anywhere Else: Easy Steps for Building a Real Business Around Your Crafts


Dani Marie - 2015
     What if you could start your day out with an excited shout instead of a frustrated sigh? Unfortunately, selling handmade goods online is no longer as simple as throwing together a product listing and waiting for sales to roll in. There are now millions of people with handmade products and they are all eager to build a sustainable income. The Handmade Entrepreneur uses precise methods based on proven marketing techniques to set you above the competition. It teaches you how to create a genuine business you can count on rather than a bundle of shop pages and social media accounts built on a foundation of guesswork. What You Can Expect to Learn from This Book: • How to take DIY pictures that get clicks and sales • How to set up a shop that turns visitors into buyers in under two seconds • How to price your items • How to write titles and descriptions • How to brand your business with DIY techniques • How to rank your pages • How to find targeted audiences • How to build up your list of followers • Where to promote your listings • How to sell without selling • How to form relationships with people who can send you extra sales • How to start a "buzz" about your products • Which tools to incorporate into your business The goal of this book is to free you from having to rely on any third-party website for your sales. Yes, you can take advantage of platforms like Etsy, and you should, but websites come and go, and if all your sales come only from that website, you run into trouble every time there are algorithm changes, a saturation of sellers, or cheaper products to compete with. You are trying to generate sales, which means that you are trying to run a business, which in-turn means that you need a real business plan. Brick and motor stores don't just buy a bunch of goods, throw them in a building, and hope people will come. They plan, study their target market, pick a perfect store location, and prepare to market themselves. Just because you sell online does not mean that you can skip all of these steps. You have billions of products to compete with online and a crowd of shoppers who have an overwhelming number of options before them. You must prepare your storefront, get your products ready, know your audience, and then know how to market to them. Optimizing Your Shop for Sales Dani starts out showing you how to prepare your products with photos that attract clicks and sales. It doesn't just tell you how to do it, though. It SHOWS you. Thanks to the help of many carefully selected Etsy sellers, there are many example photos for each point. In addition to this, the author only shows you DIY photos to prove that you can do it all on your own. Next, Dani discusses how to optimize your shop. She goes through every aspect such as banners, profiles, descriptions, tags, and titles. You will learn how to optimize your pages so that people stay there instead of leaving instantly. This can be done by creating an inviting environment with images and content that buyers can skim through in under two seconds. If buyers can determine that your page is worth staying on in less than two seconds, you have won the battle. Finding Targeted Audiences and Marketing The issue with selling online is finding people who would be interested in your products.

We Need to Talk About...


Kevin Bridges - 2014
    He only had a five-minute set but in that short time he discovered that he really could earn a living from making people laugh.Kevin began life as a shy, nerve-ridden school-boy, whose weekly highlights included a cake-bombing attack by the local youths. Reaching his teens, he followed his true calling as the class clown, and was soon after arrested for kidnapping Hugh Grant from his local cinema on a quiet Saturday night. This was a guy going somewhere - off the rails seeming most likely.Kevin's trademark social commentary, sharp one-liners and laugh-out-loud humour blend with his reflections on his Glaswegian childhood and the journey he's taken to become one of the most-loved comedians of our time.

In The Shadow Of The Hill


Helen Forbes - 2014
     Detective Sergeant Joe Galbraith starts what seems like one more depressing investigation of the untimely death of a poor unfortunate who was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. As the investigation spreads across Scotland it reaches into a past that Joe has tried to forget, and takes him back to the Hebridean island of Harris, where he spent his childhood. Among the mountains and the stunning landscape of religiously conservative Harris, in the shadow of Ceapabhal, long buried events and a tragic story are slowly uncovered, and the investigation takes on an altogether more sinister aspect. In The Shadow Of The Hill skilfully captures the intricacies and malevolence of the underbelly of Highland and Island life, bringing tragedy and vengeance to the magical beauty of the Outer Hebrides.

Facts and Fancies


Armando Iannucci - 1997
    A look at the absurdities of modern life.