Download or read book A Year Off written by Alexandra Brown and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2018-09-18 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this mix of memoir, guidebook, and travelogue, a married couple documents the year they took off from work and traveled the world together. Wait for me . . . Who knew these three words said to a near stranger would start an international travel adventure? A Year Off is one part memoir, one part travel essays and one part travel guide, documenting the story of Alexandra and David Brown, a couple who decided to take a year off from their jobs and “regular lives” to travel the world together after only knowing each other for four months. Each chapter tackles a different part of the journey, including: -Practical takeaways for how to take the same leap and travel, like tips on budgeting, planning, pacing and adjusting to culture shock -A look into David and Alexandra’s story as they traveled the world together and got to know one another -Colorful memories of their travels, like a dramatic kayak ride in Milford Sound, New Zealand, an emotional evening in India, a life-changing meal in the Loire Valley, France, a hilarious makeover in Romania . . . and many more This inspiring book is for all the dreamers, would-be adventurers and endearingly practical professionals looking to scratch the travel itch. With many gorgeous photographs and actionable travel advice, A Year Off captures all the beauty and magic of the wanderlust spirit, guiding readers on how to take the same leap and showing them just how doable a journey this type of round-the-world travel is. Praise for A Year Off “In A Year Off married couple Alexandra and David Brown chronicle a trip around the world and provide advice for travelers who may want to follow in their footsteps. Filled with personal stories, useful takeaways, beautiful photos and great design, chapters like “Identity Crisis” and “Financial Freak-outs” make it clear that the Browns haven’t airbrushed their story.” —BookPage “Have you ever dreamed of quitting the rat race and taking a year off—and then swiftly jolted back to reality? If so, A Year Off will give you the inspiration and the courage to make it happen in real life.” —The Independent

Download or read book AN Off Year written by Claire Zulkey and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-09-03 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cecily has always done everything as she was supposed to: taken the right classes, gotten the right grades, applied to the right colleges. But after a lifetime of following the rules, she surprises everyone by arriving for her freshman year of college . . . and turning around. There are infinite possibilities for Cecily's unexpected gap year. She could volunteer, or travel around the world - but, for now, Cecily is content to do absolutely nothing. What follows is a year of snarkily observed self-doubt and selfdiscovery during which Cecily must ask herself, for the first time, what does she really want to do with her life?

Download or read book One Year Off written by David Elliot Cohen and published by Travelers' Tales. This book was released on 2001 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With three children under the age of nine, the youngest still in diapers, the Cohens decide to do something many dream of, but few actually undertake: sell the house, the cars, and the belongings and take off for a year-long journey around the world. Demonstrating great creativity and tremendous tenacity, David, Devi, and their children create the adventure of a lifetime -- an inspiration to anyone who dreams of leaving it all behind. Book jacket.

Download or read book My Year Off written by Robert McCrum and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2011-11-30 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1998. "To all concerned, this book is meant to send a ghostly signal across the dark universe of ill-health that says 'you are not alone.'" - Robert McCrum On July 29, 1995, Robert McCrum, 42, married only ten weeks, suffered a paralyzing stroke. Overnight, his life shifted irrevocably. But this admired novelist and former editorial director of the London publishing house Faber and Faber decided to chronicle what became a remarkable journey "into that mysterious, unexplored territory, the neighbourly world of the unwell," as well as a deeply moving love story.

Download or read book The Year of Magical Thinking written by Joan Didion and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-02-13 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • From one of America’s iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion that explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage—and a life, in good times and bad—that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child. Several days before Christmas 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their only daughter, Quintana, fall ill with what seemed at first flu, then pneumonia, then complete septic shock. She was put into an induced coma and placed on life support. Days later—the night before New Year’s Eve—the Dunnes were just sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John Gregory Dunne suffered a massive and fatal coronary. In a second, this close, symbiotic partnership of forty years was over. Four weeks later, their daughter pulled through. Two months after that, arriving at LAX, she collapsed and underwent six hours of brain surgery at UCLA Medical Center to relieve a massive hematoma. This powerful book is Didion’ s attempt to make sense of the “weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness ... about marriage and children and memory ... about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself.

Download or read book The Book of the Year written by Anthony F. Aveni and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2004-04-22 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Halloween, Valentine's Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's Day - these are but a handful of modern holidays descended from the red-letter days, seasonal celebrations we have invented and reinvented over more than five millennia to meet our changing human needs. When we explore their origins, the holidays begin to reflect not only who we are but also why, through oppressed by time and thwarted by the forces of nature, we never seem to lose the will to control the future.

Download or read book The Year of the Book written by Andrea Cheng and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2012-05-22 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Chinese, peng you means friend. But in any language, all Anna knows for certain is that friendship is complicated. When Anna needs company, she turns to her books. Whether traveling through A Wrinkle in Time, or peering over My Side of the Mountain, books provide what real life cannot—constant companionship and insight into her changing world. Books, however, can’t tell Anna how to find a true friend. She’ll have to discover that on her own. In the tradition of classics like Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy books and Eleanor Estes’ One Hundred Dresses, this novel subtly explores what it takes to make friends and what it means to be one.

Download or read book The Year of Less written by Cait Flanders and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Year of Less In her late twenties, Cait Flanders found herself stuck in the consumerism cycle that grips so many of us: earn more, buy more, want more, rinse, repeat. Even after she worked her way out of nearly $30,000 of consumer debt, her old habits took hold again. When she realized that nothing she was doing or buying was making her happy—only keeping her from meeting her goals—she decided to set herself a challenge: she would not shop for an entire year.The Year of Less documents Cait’s life for twelve months during which she bought only consumables: groceries, toiletries, gas for her car. Along the way, she challenged herself to consume less of many other things besides shopping. She decluttered her apartment and got rid of 70 percent of her belongings; learned how to fix things rather than throw them away; researched the zero waste movement; and completed a television ban. At every stage, she learned that the less she consumed, the more fulfilled she felt.The challenge became a lifeline when, in the course of the year, Cait found herself in situations that turned her life upside down. In the face of hardship, she realized why she had always turned to shopping, alcohol, and food—and what it had cost her. Unable to reach for any of her usual vices, she changed habits she’d spent years perfecting and discovered what truly mattered to her.Blending Cait’s compelling story with inspiring insight and practical guidance, The Year of Less will leave you questioning what you’re holding on to in your own life—and, quite possibly, lead you to find your own path of less.

Download or read book Year of the Jungle Memories from the Home Front written by Suzanne Collins and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2013-08-27 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Suzanne Collins has created a deeply moving autobiographical picture book about a father who must go off to the war in Vietnam -- and the daughter who stays behind.When young Suzy's father leaves for Vietnam, she struggles to understand what this means for her and her family. What is the jungle like? Will her father be safe? When will he return? The months slip by, marked by the passing of the familiar holidays and the postcards that her father sends. With each one, he feels more and more distant, until Suzy isn't sure she'd even recognize her father anymore.This heartfelt and accessible picture book by Suzanne Collins, the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of the Hunger Games series, is accompanied by James Proimos's sweet and funny illustrations. This picture book will speak to any child who has had to spend time away from a parent.

Download or read book A Year to Clear written by Stephanie Bennett Vogt and published by Hierophant Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A complete yearlong course in clearing yourself of excess stress and stuff, this book features short contemplations, personal stories, tools, tips, one-minute practices, guided meditations, and wonderful questions to help readers create spaciousness in their lives. Stephanie Bennett Vogt will teach you how to unplug, detach, and clear to create more space and serenity in your life, what she describes as “the sacred process of removing clutter from both your house and your mind.” Included are 365 daily lessons organized into 52 weekly segments, with each lesson building on the others to develop one’s clearing muscle and grow new habits that will last a lifetime. The week usually begins with a personal story to introduce the theme and ends on the 7th day with a “Check In” to review and integrate the experience. Sprinkled throughout are meditations, Q&As, and testimonials. At the end of each lesson the author gives the reader an opportunity to “explore” a topic with several open-ended statements designed to bypass the thinking mind and open the channels to one’s highest wisdom. Weekly themes covered include: Moving Stuck EnergyConnecting with HomeBeing EnoughShining Light on Invisible ClutterLiving ImperfectlyWaiting It OutCultivating StillnessForgivingFlourishing

Download or read book The Most Important Year written by Suzanne Bouffard and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-09-05 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An eye-opening look inside pre-K in America and what it will take to give all children the best start in school possible. At the heart of this groundbreaking book are two urgent questions: What do our young children need in the earliest years of school, and how do we ensure that they all get it? Cutting-edge research has proven that early childhood education is crucial for all children to gain the academic and emotional skills they need to succeed later in life. Children who attend quality pre-K programs have a host of positive outcomes including better language, literacy, problem-solving and math skills down the line, and they have a leg up on what appears to be the most essential skill to develop at age four: strong self-control. But even with this overwhelming evidence, early childhood education is at a crossroads in America. We know that children can and do benefit, but we also know that too many of our littlest learners don’t get that chance—millions of parents can’t find spots for their children, or their preschoolers end up in poor quality programs. With engrossing storytelling, journalist Suzanne Bouffard takes us inside some of the country’s best pre-K classrooms to reveal the sometimes surprising ingredients that make them work—and to understand why some programs are doing the opposite of what is best for children. It also chronicles the stories of families and teachers from many backgrounds as they struggle to give their children a good start in school. This book is a call to arms when we are at a crucial moment, and perhaps on the verge of a missed opportunity: We now have the means and the will to have universal pre-kindergarten, but we are also in grave danger of not getting it right.

Download or read book A Dog Year written by Jon Katz and published by Villard. This book was released on 2002-02-19 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Change loves me, defines and stalks me like a laser-guided smart bomb. It comes at me in all forms, suddenly and with enormous impact, from making shifts in work to having and raising a kid to buying a cabin on a distant mountaintop. Sometimes, change comes on four legs.” In his popular and widely praised Running to the Mountain, Jon Katz wrote of the strength and support he found in the massive forms of his two yellow Labrador retrievers, Julius and Stanley. When the Labs were six and seven, a breeder who’d read his book contacted Katz to say she had a dog that was meant for him—a two-year-old border collie named Devon, well bred but high-strung and homeless. Katz already had a full canine complement, but instinct overruled reason, and soon thereafter he brought Devon home. A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me is the story of how Devon and Jon—and Julius and Stanley—came to terms with each other. It shows how a man discovered a lot about himself through one dog (and then another) whose temperament seemed as different from his own as day is from night. It is a story of trust and understanding, of life and death, of continuity and change. It is by turns insightful, hilarious, and deeply moving. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jon Katz's Going Home.

Download or read book My Year of Rest and Relaxation written by Ottessa Moshfegh and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-07-10 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of our boldest, most celebrated new literary voices, a novel about a young woman's efforts to duck the ills of the world by embarking on an extended hibernation with the help of one of the worst psychiatrists in the annals of literature and the battery of medicines she prescribes Our narrator should be happy, shouldn't she? She's young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn't just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It's the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong? My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.

Download or read book The Year of Living Virtuously written by Teresa Jordan and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2014-12-16 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Benjamin Franklin was in his early twenties when he embarked on a "bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection," intending to master the virtues of temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility. He soon gave up on perfection but continued to believe that these virtues, coupled with a generous heart and a bemused acceptance of human frailty, laid the foundation for not only a good life but also a workable society. Writer and visual artist Teresa Jordan wondered if Franklin's perhaps antiquated notions of virtue might offer guidance to a nation increasingly divided by angry righteousness. She decided to try to live his list for a year, focusing on each virtue for a week at a time and taking weekends off to attend to the seven deadly sins. The journal she kept became this collection of beautifully illustrated essays, weaving personal anecdotes with the views of theologians, philosophers, ethicists, evolutionary biologists, and a whole range of scholars and scientists within the emerging field of consciousness studies. Teresa Jordan offers a wry and intimate journey into a year in midlife devoted to the challenge of trying to live authentically.

Download or read book The Year I Stopped to Notice written by Miranda Keeling and published by Icon Books. This book was released on 2022-03-17 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'This book is a delight ... the world is full of little surprises, momentary little fountains of pleasure and beauty, that could be visible to all of us if we learned to stop and notice as Miranda Keeling does.' Philip Pullman 'An odd, beautiful book ... Buy an extra copy to give to someone you love.' Neil Gaiman January: A man walking along Caledonian Road falls over onto the huge roll of bubble wrap he is hugging, perhaps for just this sort of situation. Inspired by her popular Twitter account, The Year I Stopped to Notice brings together Miranda Keeling's observations of the magic, humour, strangeness and beauty in ordinary life. Through the changing seasons, on city streets and on buses, in parks and cafes, Miranda notices things: moments between friends, the interactions of strangers, children delighting in the world around them, the quiet melancholy of lost items on the pavement. Accompanied by stunning watercolour illustrations from Luci Power, Miranda's poetic vignettes take us on journeys of discovery and share with us the joy of stopping to notice. September: On a sweltering, packed rush-hour train, my arm suddenly feels lovely and cool, and I look down to see a shopping bag held by the woman beside me - full of just-bought cartons of milk.

Download or read book The Year I Flew Away written by Marie Arnold and published by Versify. This book was released on 2021 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After moving from her home in Haiti to her uncle's home in Brooklyn, ten-year-old Gabrielle, feeling bullied and out of place, makes a misguided deal with a witch.

Download or read book You re One written by Karla Oceanak and published by Bailiwick Press. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this adorable gift board book for one-year-olds, baby bear's special year as a one-year-old is celebrated in rhyme. The sometimes sweet, sometimes silly story calls out many of the things baby will learn to do between the ages of one and two. With space for the gift-giver to inscribe To, From and a brief message, this book makes a perfect keepsake that will be read over and over and cherished forever.