It's meant to be a very easy read; not a book you read systematically from beginning to end but rather a book to read during those times you find reading a book overwhelming. How we choose to look at something is essential to our happiness, and the author, Dushka Zapata, hopes to leave readers with a little of that.

    Following in the maverick mold of Quentin Tarentino, Spike Lee, and Richard Rodriguez, Joe Queenan becomes an auteur and, in the process, funnier than ever, as he tries to master the art of writing, directing, scoring, casting, and marketing a movie--all by himself.

    Mine is predicated on formative years spent cleaning my father’s calf pens: Just keep shoveling until you’ve got a pile so big, someone has to notice. The fact that I cast my life’s work as slung manure simply proves that I recognize an apt metaphor when I accidentally stick it with a pitchfork. . . . Poetry was my first love, my gateway drug—still the poets are my favorites—but I quickly realized I lacked the chops or insights to survive on verse alone. But I wanted to write. Every day. And so I read everything I could about freelancing, and started shoveling."  The pieces gathered within this book draw on fifteen years of what Michael Perry calls "shovel time"—a writer going to work as the work is offered. The range of subjects is wide, from musky fishing, puking, and mountain-climbing Iraq War veterans to the frozen head of Ted Williams. Some assignments lead to self-examination of an alarming magnitude (as Perry notes, "It quickly becomes obvious that I am a self-absorbed hypochondriac forever resolving to do better nutritionally and fitness-wise but my follow-through is laughable.") But his favorites are those that allow him to turn the lens outward: "My greatest privilege," he says, "lies not in telling my own story; it lies in being trusted to tell the story of another."

    Miller was sixteen when the private plane piloted by her father crashed, pinning her in the wreckage, critically injuring her parents and killing her twelve-year-old sister. Compounding this traumatic event, her father told her he wished she had died instead of her sister. For the next twenty years, she labored under feelings of guilt and lack of self-worth. When another in a long line of personal crises landed her in therapy with an EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) practitioner, she began at last to investigate the crippling effects of the plane crash. Using bi-lateral stimulation to access her fiercely guarded memories, she learned to challenge the belief that the crash was all her fault, and that she didn't deserve to be alive.  This is a brave and revealing memoir of recovery from tragedy, and a fascinating, vividly narrated exploration of the increasingly popular eye-movement therapy developed to heal the wounds trauma leaves in its wake.

    Fields, farms, hills and hedgerows appear altered, the wildlife behaves differently, and over time the terrain itself is transformed.In Rain, Melissa Harrison explores our relationship with the weather as she follows the course of four rain showers, in four seasons, across Wicken Fen, Shropshire, the Darent Valley and Dartmoor.Blending these expeditions with reading, research, memory and imagination, she reveals how rain is not just an essential element of the world around us, but a key part of our own identity too.

    Confront the terrain, severe weather, injury, dangerous wildlife and questionable characters as you grow and learn as Kyle did from start to finish of this epic adventure. Make some friends for life, learn the finer points of long distance hiking, and realize that what you take within your backpack is not nearly as important as what you bring within yourself... This exciting and often times humorous narrative does more than simply tell the story of Kyle and Katana's adventures on trail. You will be inspired, while learning what it takes mentally and physically to accomplish an undertaking such as hiking thousands of miles through mountainous wilderness while braving countless obstacles all determined to make you quit. Nobody said it was easy, but if you can make it to the end, your life will be changed forever. What are you waiting for? Adventure is calling...For more content from the Author, as well as to follow his past, present, and future adventures; check out the following pages!Website/Blog: BoundlessRoamad.comInstagram: @_roamad_Facebook: facebook.com/kyle.rohrig.7Youtube: youtube.com/c/NomadWisdom

    He came from a great family, in a home full of God, love, support, and opportunities to reach any goal. A natural born leader, an athlete with good looks and charm, he appeared to be the all-American kid pursuing his dreams. Underneath this facade, however, was an addict in the early stages of disease. After suffering childhood sexual abuse by a babysitter at the age of nine, Damon began putting chemicals into his body to alter the way he felt. Once he was introduced to methamphetamines, however, he became instantly hooked—and the lives of so many innocent people would forever be changed by the choices he made in order to feed his insatiable meth habit. After a fateful discussion during his incarceration with a seasoned convict, Damon had a spiritual awakening. He learned that, like a coffee bean changing with the application of heat and pressure, he was capable of changing the environment around him. Armed with a program of recovery, a renewed faith, and a miraculous second chance at life, Damon emerged from over seven years of prison a changed man. His story of redemption continues to inspire audiences today.

    They told her that she had the worst case they’d ever seen of a rare Scandinavian disease called celiac. At first, this diagnosis – and its requirement of total adherence to a gluten-free diet – seemed like the simple answer to a lifetime of strange symptoms including anemia, insomnia, pneumonia, mouth ulcers, missed periods, and neck pain so severe that for months preceding the diagnosis she hadn’t been able to turn her head. But even on the diet – and as glutenphobia erupted in this country, with nearly a third of Americans avoiding gluten —Abel still didn’t feel well. When doctors, nutritionists, and websites all offered contradicting information on gluten and diet, she began to panic. How would she know what to eat? In this powerful, wide-ranging and emotional story about the limits of medical knowledge, Abel discovers why she wasn’t diagnosed with celiac as a child. She considers how environmental fears and Internet anecdotes lead people to avoid gluten. And she grapples with the question that confronts us all: how to live calmly, even joyfully, in the face of uncertainty. Heather Abel worked as a reporter and news editor in Colorado and San Francisco and taught creative writing at the New School University and UMass Amherst. She lives with her family in western Massachusetts where she is finishing her first novel.

    word with me," while Ibby wags her finger at the doctor scolding, "Shame on you."They protect each other, Ibby by asserting, "We're not leaving our home," and Ed reassuring, "We're just fine."About his driving Ed defends, "I'm an excellent driver, I've never had an accident." When their daughter, Rosie, finds dings in Ed's car, he dismisses, "Someone must have bumped into me."After Rosie moves them to assisted living, convinced they are on a second honeymoon, they break the news, "We've decided not to have more children."In the late stages, they politely shake Rosie's hand, inquiring, "Now, who are you?"In ALZHEIMER'S DAUGHTER readers journey with Rosie Church from her first suspicions that something is awry to nearly a decade later as she is honored to hold Ed and Ibby's hands when they draw their final breaths.

    Shortly after arriving at the isolated hunting lodge forty miles from the nearest road, a man is shot to death. The other guests and guides immediately recruit Fitz to solve the murder. But without any technology to run background on all of the characters at the lodge, Fitz must rely only on his personal skills to uncover the killer. With six days before anyone from the outside world will learn anything is wrong at the lodge, Fitz must stop the killer before everyone is murdered.

    I wasn’t wearing an orange jumpsuit, but instead a flimsy hospital gown engulfed my frail body. As I looked into my husband’s eyes, I wondered if this would be the last time I saw him … the last time I hugged him … the last time I told him I loved him. I worried that my last few breaths would be taken as the wheels of the gurney squeaked down the brightly lit hallway, slowly making our way to the operating room. In the next few moments they would begin surgery to remove a brain tumor from my right frontal lobe. My life was about to change. This is my story, my true story, of my journey overcoming my brain tumor. One that I hope ends with a happy ending. That’s the thing about hope; even in my darkest days, that hope remained deep within my soul. I hoped that the person I used to be would fight their way back, out of the depths. And today, hope still fills my heart … hope that I will make the most of my second chance at life. Life doesn’t send out invitations — so today I choose to be bold. Be brave. Be unforgettable. And I choose to LIVE.

    (Have you read it? Of course you have. You must have. Why else would you be here?) Anyway, it was so good that I cried when it was finished. Okay, I might have made that up. The crying part, I mean. I didn’t really cry. Instead, I followed Ma around the house and said “Please can I read book 2? Please can I read book 2? Please can I read book 2?” nine-hundred and twenty-one times. What’s that? Yes, thank you, that is a remarkable achievement, isn’t it? Yes, Ma’s very proud of me. Anyway, so now you’re wondering if the second Reggie book is as good as the first Reggie book, right? Well, let’s just say you may not own enough underpants to get through this one. Seriously. *Every Monday at school, Reggie writes an essay that begins with “On the weekend…” WARNING: It’s possible he’s not kidding about the underpants thing*

    But, of the many the flamboyant real estate developer has ripped off, three stand out from the rest. First is Gary’s beautiful, almost-ex trophy wife, Janet, who stands to lose millions once the papers are signed. Next is German multi-millionaire, George Schuman, a man who very few people are stupid enough to rip off in the first place. Then there’s Dwight Stanton. As Gary’s silent business partner, he takes his friend’s deception the hardest. He has means, opportunity, and motive, but no evidence that the police can find. After the case drags on, it’s finally relegated to the cold case file… until an explosion of another kind blows the case back open. Now, five years after Rizzo’s death, Stanton is back in the hot seat, facing first-degree murder for a crime he swears he didn’t commit. Despite Brady Flynn’s personal demands, he takes on the case when he’s called. But when the trial takes on a strange and frightening twist, he finds himself in a web of danger that threatens to destroy them all.

    In 1976 their dream of owning a peaceful summer retreat came true when they stumbled across this derelict farmhouse surrounded by fields and orchards, and saw what it could become. Over the years there has been the inevitable sadness, but also the joys of new grandchildren, anniversaries, village fetes, and splendid meals taken with their neighbours. And whilst the family has seen many changes in its time, the warm and welcoming atmosphere they first fell in love with has remained the same. Now they face their own personal tragedy, but through all their sorrows Bel-Air continues to be a place of hope and happiness, as well as extraordinary beauty.

    To build and manage your wealth, you must look at your situation holistically: build your character, standards, dreams, goals, and personal aspirations from the inside out. By developing both self-sufficiency and a connection with your community, it is possible to create wealth for yourself no matter who you are, what you do, or where you come from.