Download or read book Alina A Song For the Telling written by Malve von Hassell and published by BHC Press. This book was released on 2020-08-27 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “You should be grateful, my girl. You have no dowry, and I am doing everything I can to get you settled. You are hardly any man’s dream.” Alina’s brother, Milos, pulled his face into a perfect copy of Aunt Marci’s sour expression, primly pursing his mouth. He had got her querulous tone just right. I pinched my lips together, trying not to laugh. But it was true; Aunt Marci had already introduced me to several suitors. So far I had managed to decline their suits politely. Maybe Alina’s aunt was right. How could she possibly hope to become a musician, a trobairitz, as impoverished as she was and without the status of a good marriage? But fourteen-year-old Alina refuses to accept the oppressing life her strict aunt wants to impose upon her. When the perfect opportunity comes along for her to escape, she and her brother embark on a journey through the Byzantine Empire all the way to Jerusalem. Alina soon finds herself embroiled in the political intrigue of noble courts as she fights to realize her dream of becoming a female troubadour.

Download or read book You Must Go and Win written by Alina Simone and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2011-06-07 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wickedly bittersweet and hilarious You Must Go and Win, the Ukrainian-born musician Alina Simone traces her bizarre journey through the indie rock world, from disastrous Craigslist auditions with sketchy producers to catching fleas in a Williamsburg sublet. But Simone offers more than down-and-out tales of her time as a struggling musician: she has a rapier wit, slashing and burning her way through the absurdities of life, while offering surprising and poignant insights into the burdens of family expectations and the nature of ambition, the temptations of religion and the lure of a mythical Russian home. Wavering between embracing and fleeing her outsized and nebulous dreams of stardom, Simone confronts her Russian past when she falls in love with the music of Yanka Dyagileva, a Soviet singer who tragically died young; hits the road with her childhood friend who is dead set on becoming an "icon"; and battles male strippers in Siberia. Hailed as "the perfect storm of creative talent" (USA Today, Pop Candy), Simone is poised to win over readers of David Rakoff and Sarah Vowell with her irresistibly funny and charming literary debut.

Download or read book Alanna written by Tamora Pierce and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-12-08 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A girl disguises herself as a boy to train as a knight in this first book in Tamora Pierce’s Margaret A. Edwards Award–winning young adult series—now with a new look! From now on, I’m Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I’ll be a knight. In a time when girls are forbidden to be warriors, Alanna of Trebond wants nothing more than to be a knight of the realm of Tortall. So she finds a way to switch places with her twin brother, Thom, and, disguised as a boy, begins her training as a page at the palace of King Roald. But the road to knighthood, as she discovers, is not an easy one. Alanna must master weapons, combat, and magic, as well as polite behavior, her temper, and even her own heart. So begin Alanna’s adventures—filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil—that will lead to the fulfillment of her dreams and make her a legend in the land.

Download or read book Share Your Stuff I ll Go First written by Laura Tremaine and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part memoir and part guidebook, Share Your Stuff. I'll Go First. is the invitation you've been waiting for to show up with your whole self and discover the intimate, meaningful friendships you long for. In spite of the hyper-connected culture we live in today, women still feel shamed for oversharing and being publicly vulnerable. And no matter how many friends we seem to have, many of us are still desperately lonely. Laura Tremaine, blogger and podcaster behind 10 Things To Tell You, says it's time for something better. Openness and vulnerability are the foundation for human growth and healthy relationships, and it all starts when we share our stuff, the nitty-gritty daily details about ourselves with others. Laura has led the way in her personal life with her popular blog and podcast, and now with lighthearted self-awareness, a sensitivity to the important things in life, and compelling storytelling, Laura gives you the tools to build and deepen the conversations happening in your life. Laura's stories about her childhood, her complicated shifts in faith and friendships, and her marriage to a Hollywood movie director will prompt you to identify the beautiful narrative and pivotal milestones of your own life. Each chapter offers intriguing and reflective questions that will reveal unique details and stories you've never thought to tell and will guide you into cultivating the authentic connection with others that only comes from sharing yourself. So let’s get started! Share Your Stuff. I'll Go First.

Download or read book Reclaimed Love written by Alina Lane and published by Von Rips Publishing. This book was released on 2021-05-21 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dear Arik, With a pen pal like you, who needs enemies? It’s bad enough that you broke my heart twelve years ago, but you’re the one who won’t let it go. I returned every letter, declined every call, deleted every email. What I didn’t tell you was that I wanted to read every letter, almost answered every call, and have craved you ever since I left. And now that I’m back, you’re hotter than ever and impossible to ignore because you’re literally helping me save Grams’ bookstore. I can’t help but ask myself… Are you going to break my heart again? Or the even bigger question... Am I going to let you? Sincerely, Kate Reclaimed Love is the first book in Alina Lane's debut contemporary romance series. If you like hunky hero's headstrong heroines and happily every after's then you'll love the first installment in the Heartfelt Series. Grab Reclaimed Love and fall head over heels for Kate, Arik and Felt Idaho.

Download or read book Keeper of the Lost Cities written by Shannon Messenger and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-10-02 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestselling series A USA TODAY bestselling series A California Young Reader Medal–winning series In this riveting series opener, a telepathic girl must figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world before the wrong person finds the answer first. Twelve-year-old Sophie has never quite fit into her life. She’s skipped multiple grades and doesn’t really connect with the older kids at school, but she’s not comfortable with her family, either. The reason? Sophie’s a Telepath, someone who can read minds. No one knows her secret—at least, that’s what she thinks… But the day Sophie meets Fitz, a mysterious (and adorable) boy, she learns she’s not alone. He’s a Telepath too, and it turns out the reason she has never felt at home is that, well…she isn’t. Fitz opens Sophie’s eyes to a shocking truth, and she is forced to leave behind her family for a new life in a place that is vastly different from what she has ever known. But Sophie still has secrets, and they’re buried deep in her memory for good reason: The answers are dangerous and in high-demand. What is her true identity, and why was she hidden among humans? The truth could mean life or death—and time is running out.

Download or read book When Stars Rain Down written by Angela Jackson-Brown and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opal is an eighteen-year-old Black woman working as a housekeeper in a small Southern town in the 1930s—and then the Klan descends. A moving story that confronts America’s tragic past, When Stars Rain Down is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching. The summer of 1936 in Parsons, Georgia, is unseasonably hot, and Opal Pruitt senses a nameless storm brewing. She hopes this foreboding feeling won’t overshadow her upcoming 18th birthday or the annual Founder’s Day celebration in just a few weeks. She and her Grandma Birdie work as housekeepers for the white widow Miss Peggy, and Opal desperately wants some time to be young and carefree with her cousins and friends. But when the Ku Klux Klan descends on Opal’s neighborhood, the tight-knit community is shaken in every way possible. Parsons’s residents—both Black and white—are forced to acknowledge the unspoken codes of conduct in their post-Reconstruction era town. To complicate matters, Opal finds herself torn between two unexpected romantic interests—the son of her pastor, Cedric Perkins, and the white grandson of the woman she works for, Jimmy Earl Ketchums. Faced with love, loss, and a harsh awakening to an ugly world, Opal holds tight to her family and faith—and the hope for change. “When Stars Rain Down is so powerful, timely, and compelling . . . an important and beautifully written must-read of a novel.” —Silas House, author of Southernmost 2021 Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction – Finalist Stand-alone novel Includes discussion questions for book clubs

Download or read book The Freedom Writers Diary 20th Anniversary Edition written by The Freedom Writers and published by Crown. This book was released on 2007-04-24 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The twentieth anniversary edition of the classic story of an incredible group of students and the teacher who inspired them, featuring updates on the students’ lives, new journal entries, and an introduction by Erin Gruwell Now a public television documentary, Freedom Writers: Stories from the Heart In 1994, an idealistic first-year teacher in Long Beach, California, named Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students. She had intercepted a note with an ugly racial caricature and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaust. She was met by uncomprehending looks—none of her students had heard of one of the defining moments of the twentieth century. So she rebooted her entire curriculum, using treasured books such as Anne Frank’s diary as her guide to combat intolerance and misunderstanding. Her students began recording their thoughts and feelings in their own diaries, eventually dubbing themselves the “Freedom Writers.” Consisting of powerful entries from the students’ diaries and narrative text by Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary is an unforgettable story of how hard work, courage, and determination changed the lives of a teacher and her students. In the two decades since its original publication, the book has sold more than one million copies and inspired a major motion picture Freedom Writers. And now, with this twentieth-anniversary edition, readers are brought up to date on the lives of the Freedom Writers, as they blend indispensable takes on social issues with uplifting stories of attending college—and watch their own children follow in their footsteps. The Freedom Writers Diary remains a vital read for anyone who believes in second chances.

Download or read book A Future Untold written by Alina Siegfried and published by Systemic. This book was released on 2021-10-27 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why can’t you understand those people who think so differently from you? Why have we failed to meaningfully address climate change despite 40 years of clear climate science? Why are so many of our systems of social support failing us? At the root of the answers to these questions lies the extraordinary power of story. The world is built upon stories - stories we believe about ourselves and others, narratives about “the way things are”, and myths that define our relationship to the world around us. Many of the stories and narratives that we subconsciously believe have led us down the dark path to rising inequality, food insecurity, unprecedented levels of polarisation, and ecological instability on a planetary scale. And because it was us - humans - who collectively authored these stories, it is us who have the power to change them. An entertaining and inspiring rallying cry, A Future Untold urges us to return to the most fundamental driver of human behaviour and culture setting – story. Drawing heavily from her experience in environmental advocacy, activism, political communications, spoken word, and the entrepreneurial sector, New Zealand National Poetry Slam champion Alina Siegfried (AKA Ali Jacs) translates the fundamentals of narrative change into authentic stories, entertaining anecdotes, new myths for humanity, and a handful of powerful poems to provide a call to action for everyday citizens who believe that we can build a better future together.

Download or read book Double Happiness written by Nancy Tupper Ling and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2015-08-04 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Told in verse, a Chinese American girl and her little brother protest the idea of moving, until their grandmother teaches them a special trick to make the change easier.

Download or read book Russian Style written by Julie A. Cassiday and published by University of Wisconsin Pres. This book was released on 2023 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the two decades after the turn of the millennium, Vladimir Putin's control over Russian politics and society grew at a steady pace. As the West liberalized its stance on sexuality and gender, Putin's Russia moved in the opposite direction, remolding the performance of Russian citizenship according to a neoconservative agenda characterized by increasingly exaggerated gender roles. By connecting gendered and sexualized citizenship to developments in Russian popular culture, Julie A. Cassiday argues that heteronormativity and homophobia became a kind of politicized style under Putin's leadership. However, while the multiple modes of gender performativity generated in Russian popular culture between 2000 and 2010 supported Putin's neoconservative agenda, they also helped citizens resist and protest the state's mandate of heteronormativity. Examining everything from memes to the Eurovision Song Contest and self-help literature, Cassiday untangles the discourse of gender to argue that drag, or travesti, became the performative trope par excellence in Putin's Russia. Provocatively, Cassiday further argues that the exaggerated expressions of gender demanded by Putin's regime are best understood as a form of cisgender drag. This smart and lively study provides critical, nuanced analysis of the relationship between popular culture and politics in Russia during Putin's first two decades in power.

Download or read book Your Name Is Light written by Tenaya Metzler and published by Covenant Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-08-03 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When registered nurse Alina Dixon is targeted in a brutal attack, her ordinary life shatters beyond recognition. Thrust into an underworld of espionage, intrigue, and danger at every turn, she is increasingly desperate to learn who she can trust. But true intentions are hidden. And her enemies may be closer than her friends. Former military and MI5 Agent Blane Burns is haunted by the tragedies of his past. When asked to join the FBI to track down the ghost responsible for Alina’s attack, he’s resolved to doubt everything and trust no one. Especially not Alina Dixon—the woman he’s now risking his life to protect. As they travel internationally amidst new secrets and betrayal, Alina and Blane will need to stay one step ahead of a shadowy organization to stop a global threat and ultimately stay alive. At the same time, Blane will have to learn to trust the beautiful nurse under his protection if he ever hopes to save her. And if he ever hopes to save himself.

Download or read book Playlist written by Sebastian Fitzek and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-09-12 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Music is her life. 15 songs decide how long it lasts. A month ago, fifteen-year-old Feline Jagow disappeared on her way to school. Her distraught mother asks private investigator Alexander Zorbach, a former police detective, to discover her whereabouts. Despite a month having elapsed since her disappearance, Feline's music playlist was changed just a few days ago. Could a seemingly innocuous list of songs contain a hidden clue to where the girl is being held - and how she can be rescued - or is the truth something more sinister? Soon, the mystery of the playlist plunges Zorbach into a horrifying nightmare that mixes past terrors with new ones, and where no one's survival is guaranteed...

Download or read book Virtual Lotus written by Teri Shaffer Yamada and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This winning collection of short stories poignantly illustrates contemporary life in Southeast Asia

Download or read book The Beauty of my Shadow written by S.D. Michael and published by Author House. This book was released on 2014-10-09 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the blink of an eye, a person's entire existence can change forever. At eighteen, Samantha Michael learned this in the most challenging way imaginable, when she was in a severe car crash at the hands of an impaired driver. After being rescued from the accident, Samantha was comatose and barely alive. Later, as she emerged from her coma, she would come to discover that terrifying moment was not the end but the beginning-the beginning of a lifetime of challenges and changes, tribulations and triumphs. With wisdom, grace and humour, Samantha recounts the aftermath of her injury and her personal, medical and emotional struggles to win back the happiness which was taken from her. She describes the impact on her family and friends, the lasting physical trauma with which she had to struggle, the pain of deferred dreams and the joy of eventually reclaiming her life and self, piece by piece, day by day. The Beauty of My Shadow will pluck a range of emotional chords as the reader experiences the euphoria, hope, doubt, fear, love and other feelings Samantha herself lived through in the days since her life was forever altered. Written candidly and from the heart, Samantha's story gives hope to those who have suffered similar trauma, as well as those who are simply wrestling with the ordinary challenges of daily life. Her memoir serves as a powerful reminder of the strength and versatility of the human spirit-that while adversity derails our path in life, undefeatable perseverance often helps us discover another route to take. A percentage of author royalties from the sale of this book are donated to charity. See book for details. Donated royalties are net of commissions.

Download or read book Against All Odds written by Alina Stoica and published by Alina Stoica. This book was released on 2023-05-31 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a story about a girl whose life takes a twisted turn very abruptly, and she finds herself having to choose between running away from everything she knew before, or face all of it head on. This is a story about bad choices, generational karma, abuse and self-abuse. This is the story of a Phoenix, who comes back to life burning so brightly, that it burns everything in its way.

Download or read book The Fugue written by Gint Aras and published by Tortoise Books. This book was released on 2016-02-25 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After over a decade in prison, a young sculptor, Yuri Dilienko, returns to his old neighborhood in Cicero, Illinois. He finds the town stripped of so many places he used to know, while the town's familiar streets, bricks and steeples trigger memories of his traumatic youth. To convalesce, he sculpts from collected scrap metal, but his arrival in town soon rouses a young girl, Lita Avila, to curiosity. Could this reclusive and oddly quiet man, whose art is sensitive yet intense, truly be guilty of setting fire to his parents' bungalow and burning them alive? At once an homage to the urban grit of Nelson Algren and the family sagas of Leo Tolstoy, The Fugue is a true epic that spans three generations and over fifty years, a major new achievement in the history of Chicago literature. It considers the effects of war and the silent, haunting traumas inherited by children of displaced refugees. Gint Aras's lucid yet lyrical prose braids and weaves a tale where memory and imagination merge, time races and drags, and identity collapses and shifts without warning.