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More Memoirs of an Aesthete by Harold Acton


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Coins in the Fountain: A Midlife Escape to Rome


Judith Works - 2011
    but after graduating from law school at age forty-seven, she still faced the question: "What now?" Casual conversations about far-off travels with husband Glenn became a reality with the offer of a dream job at the United Nations in Rome, Italy.Coins in the Fountain brings life the challenges of acclimating to the beautiful and chaotic ancient city of Rome. Judith shares her struggles to learn the arcane rules and folkways of the UN while Glenn begins his valiant effort to cook Italian-style, as they both endeavor to embrace la dole vita. With an extraordinary count and countess for friends, dogs in the doctor's office, snakes and unexploded bombs on the golf course, along with a sinking sailboat rocking on the ocean, the unexpected was always just around the corner.Through wit, wry humor, and descriptions of enticing food and travel adventures, Judith takes you on a journey into the heart of what it is truly like to live in the Eternal City.According to Roman lore, if you toss a coin over your shoulder into the famous Trevi Fountain, the gods will grant you a return trip. When it was time for them to leave, Judith made that hopeful toss and her wish was granted.

The Immortal Soul Salvage Yard


Beth May - 2021
    The topics may vary widely, from love to mental illness to the most recent "Florida Man" headline, but it's all in the same handwriting. Welcome to The Immortal Soul Salvage Yard.

The Ridiculous Misadventures of a Single Girl (Eat, Pray, #FML Book 2)


Gabrielle Stone - 2021
    

Colin Firth: The Biography


Alison Maloney - 2011
    Darcy to a mantelpiece groaning with awards from The King's Speech—the first biography of one of our greatest actors From the moment Colin Firth took on the role of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, emerging from the lake in "that scene," he was set on a path from sex symbol to Hollywood star. This first-ever biography discusses each role in that trajectory, ranging from Hugh Grant's love rival in Bridget Jones, to an Oscar-nominated turn in A Single Man, to a portrayal of George VI in The King's Speech that has elevated him to Hollywood royalty. It also traces the inside story of his rift with Rupert Everett, his playful rivalry with Hugh Grant, his escape to Canada with Meg Tilly, the birth of their first son and his heartbreak as the relationship floundered, the passionate affair with Pride and Prejudice costar Jennifer Ehle, and his whirlwind romance with his Italian wife, Livia. Fascinating, revelatory, and suffused with Firth's own dry wit, this is a must-read book on a fascinating artist.

Inside Graceland: Elvis' Maid Remembers


Nancy Rooks - 2005
    Nancy worked for Elvis from 1967 until his untimely death in 1977. Read her stories of what those years were like, of what the routines were at Graceland, and what it meant to be close to Elvis and his family on a daily basis. Read the sad account of her rushing upstairs, after a frantic call from Ginger Alden, and finding him on the bathroom floor. This book presents that picture, one that every Elvis fan will want to see."

The Cobbler: How I Disrupted an Industry, Fell From Grace, and Came Back Stronger Than Ever


Steve Madden - 2020
    

Aftershock: One Man's Quest and the Quake on Everest


Jules Mountain - 2017
    The odds of surviving his type of cancer were one in five; the odds of dying on Everest are one in sixty.But just as he reaches Base Camp in April 2015, the giant earthquake in Nepal sets off an avalanche that will kill 21 . Jules is within touching distance of his life's ambition and is now faced with an agonising choice about his next move.Aftershock is a heart-stopping eyewitness account of the deadliest day in history on the world's most iconic mountain. It is also an exploration of the choices we make in life, and throws up difficult questions about how logic and compassion can be affected by altitude and extreme stress.

Shotgun Angels: My Story of Broken Roads and Unshakeable Hope


Jay Demarcus - 2019
    You'll follow his intensely personal journey through big breaks and broken dreams, desperate dashboard prayers, and limelight glories. Along the way, you'll find the same constant source of strength that he has--hope that is powerful enough to hold you up through whatever trials come your way.

Naked (in Italy): A Memoir About the Pitfalls of La Dolce Vita


M.E. Evans - 2019
     In her late twenties, M.E. Evans hops on a plane to Italy on a mission to change her life and that’s exactly what happens. Unfortunately, personal growth isn’t always easy. In Naked, bestselling author, M.E. Evans tackles the dysfunctional family narrative and travel memoir in a way that is refreshingly honest, painfully vulnerable, and wildly entertaining. If you’ve ever set foot in a foreign country or picked up a travel memoir you probably think you already know what Naked is about: a dreamy personal account of the life-altering beauty that is Italy. And sure, that’s in there, nestled somewhere between the profound grief, bruised ego, debilitating anxiety, chronic depression, vagina paintings, a boyfriend with billowing chest hair and a mother-in-law who forcibly irons your underwear. Evans’ dream of a magical life abroad is marred by forbidden love, the death of her younger brother, and a batshit crazy family, yet she skillfully merges tragedy and humor for a wild emotional journey exploring what it means to be human–flaws and all. Evans’ wit, compassion, and vulnerability make reading this book a rarely authentic and relatable experience. You’ll cry, you’ll cackle, and you’ll want Evans to be your best friend.

Outrageous Grace: A Story of Tragedy and Forgiveness


Grace L. Fabian - 2009
    Through fever, heartache, and isolation they labored to translate the Bible into the Nabak language. Then, on the eve of a New Testament in Nabak, Grace finds her husband murdered and her world decimated. Join Grace as she faces her darkest days and ultimately finds that God's grace is sufficient at all times.

Tales from the Dad Side: Misadventures in Fatherhood


Steve Doocy - 2008
    Personally, I think the eye-catching cover shot of me in my pajamas is reason enough. (By the way, those are my real kids on the cover, and yes, those are my actual ankles. No, I'm not retaining water.)What you're holding in your hands is a very funny and sometimes remarkably poignant look at fathers, not from the mother's point of view or the child's, but from the dad's side. Which is why it's called Tales from the Dad Side.It's filled with stories of what it's like to be a dad and a son, from a child's first day of kindergarten to the awkward sex talk and right up to the day the always-practical dad tries to pay for college with bonus miles. I was there for every landmark in my children's lives, except the day I was on the riding lawn mower and missed my son's first words, which my wife insists were “trust fund.”As children get older, the lessons of the father get harder, like teaching my son how to shave just as my father taught me, with a rusty double-edged safety razor. At the end of my dad's lesson, I emerged from the bathroom nicked and gouged, looking like an extra from a Quentin Tarantino film. My more civilized son is a Norelco man. With my high-school-age daughters, I promised them a day on which I'd take them anywhere and do anything with them they wanted, expecting them to ask for dinner and a movie; I was horrified when they told me they wanted all of us to get manicures and pedicures together. That was not the answer I was expecting; it was like discovering Lou Dobbs was an illegal alien.Over the course of raising three children, I have learned with my wife that fathers are different from mothers. That could be the greatest understatement since Noah turned on the Weather Channel and found out that the next forty days called for a 20 percent chance of light rain.The truth is, fatherhood is like Wikipedia: some parts based in fact, others just made up along the way. And while bookstores are filled with tales of mothers, their children and families, there are few from the dad's side. Now, as a public service, I'm doing my part to right this wrong.I sincerely hope this answers your questions. If perhaps it's not exactly your cup of tea, I bet you've got a father or mother in your life who'd like the stone-cold truth about dads. Besides, for the same money, you can either put three gallons of gas in your car or take home this book, which has a highway rating of 29 smiles an hour.Steve Doocy

Mimi And Her Mirror


Uyen Nicole Duong - 2011
    When her firm becomes embroiled in what could be an international scandal around a key client and Brad begins asking questions about her past, an overwhelmed Mimi begins to sink into emotional chaos. One glance at herself in an old mirror leads her to dig into her past and courageously relive the traumas of her childhood. Thus begins the heart of Uyen Nicole Duong’s Mimi and Her Mirror, a poetic, passionate, and sometimes chilling novel about Vietnam and a girl known as Mimi Suong Giang, whose youth was destroyed as she attempted to escape during the fall of Saigon. Readers share young Mimi's hopes, dreams and courage as she valiantly struggles to find her way into the light.

Wedding Song: Memoirs of an Iranian Jewish Woman


Farideh Goldin - 2003
    This memoir is Goldin’s passionate and painful account of her childhood in a poor Jewish household and her emigration to the United States in 1975. As she recalls trips to the market and the mikvah, and as she evokes ritual celebrations like weddings, Goldin chronicles her childhood, her extended family, and the lives of the women in her community in Shiraz, a southern Iranian city. Her memoir details her parents’ "courtship" (her father selected her mother from a group of adolescent girls), her mother’s lonely life as a child-bride, and Goldin’s childhood home which was presided over by her paternal grandmother. Goldin’s memoir conveys not just the personal trauma of growing up in a family fraught with discord but also the tragic human costs of religious dogmatism. In Goldin’s experience, Jewish fundamentalism was intensified by an Islamic context. Although the Muslims were antagonistic to Jews, their views on women’s roles and their treatment of women influenced the attitude and practices of some Iranian Jews. In this brave and dispassionate portrayal of a little-known corner of Jewish life, Farideh Goldin confronts profound sadness yet captures the joys of a child’s wonder as she savors the scenes and textures and scents of Jewish Iran. Readers share her youthful adventures and dangers, coming to understand how such experiences shape her choice.

A Glamorously Unglamorous Life


Julia Albain - 2011
    Girl gets a reality check. This is the story of a year in my Glamorously Unglamorous life.""When I was 23 I hopped a plane for New York City, off to pursue my destiny, sure that I'd never look back. This is my story of looking back. Of a journey that took on a whole new meaning and purpose. A year in New York City. A year of discovering the best and worst parts of myself. A year of learning the lessons that you can only learn the hard way."

Dissolve


Nikki Gemmell
    Decades later she has written a deeply personal, profoundly intimate reflection on love and female creativity, and what happens when the two collide in a man's world.Dissolve is a conversation. A conversation with the young women of Gemmell's teenage daughter's generation, and of course with men.'Reading this memoir is like therapy for the soul' ArtsHub'one of the most enriching, yet debilitating reads I've experienced... tremendous, moving writing' Jessie Tu, Women's Agenda'Nikki Gemmell wrote this book for me, and I suspect there will be many women who feel the same way... Each page is imbued with startling self-awareness and profound wisdom... Vulnerable, honest and raw' Better Reading