Download or read book The Best of Me written by David Sedaris and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2020-11-03 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What could be a more tempting Christmas gift than a compendium of David Sedaris's best stories, selected by the author himself? From a spectacular career spanning almost three decades, these stories have become modern classics and are now for the first time collected in one volume. For more than twenty-five years, David Sedaris has been carving out a unique literary space, virtually creating his own genre. A Sedaris story may seem confessional, but is also highly attuned to the world outside. It opens our eyes to what is at absurd and moving about our daily existence. And it is almost impossible to read without laughing. Now, for the first time collected in one volume, the author brings us his funniest and most memorable work. In these stories, Sedaris shops for rare taxidermy, hitchhikes with a lady quadriplegic, and spits a lozenge into a fellow traveler's lap. He drowns a mouse in a bucket, struggles to say 'give it to me' in five languages and hand-feeds a carnivorous bird. But if all you expect to find in Sedaris's work is the deft and sharply observed comedy for which he became renowned, you may be surprised to discover that his words bring more warmth than mockery, more fellow-feeling than derision. Nowhere is this clearer than in his writing about his loved ones. In these pages, Sedaris explores falling in love and staying together, recognizing his own aging not in the mirror but in the faces of his siblings, losing one parent and coming to terms - at long last - with the other. Taken together, the stories in The Best of Me reveal the wonder and delight Sedaris takes in the surprises life brings him. No experience, he sees, is quite as he expected - it's often harder, more fraught and certainly weirder - but sometimes it is also much richer and more wonderful. Full of joy, generosity, and the incisive humor that has led David Sedaris to be called 'the funniest man alive' (Time Out New York), The Best of Me spans a career spent watching and learning and laughing - quite often at himself - and invites readers deep into the world of one of the most brilliant and original writers of our time.

Download or read book The Best Kind of People written by Zoe Whittall and published by House of Anansi. This book was released on 2016-08-27 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and a national bestseller, Zoe Whittall’s The Best Kind of People is a stunning tour de force about the unravelling of an all-American family. George Woodbury, an affable teacher and beloved husband and father, is arrested for sexual impropriety at a prestigious prep school. His wife, Joan, vaults between denial and rage as the community she loved turns on her. Their daughter, Sadie, a popular over-achieving high school senior, becomes a social pariah. Their son, Andrew, assists in his father’s defense, while wrestling with his own unhappy memories of his teen years. A local author tries to exploit their story, while an unlikely men’s rights activist attempts to get Sadie onside their cause. With George locked up, how do the members of his family pick up the pieces and keep living their lives? How do they defend someone they love while wrestling with the possibility of his guilt? With exquisite emotional precision, award-winning author Zoe Whittall explores issues of loyalty, truth, and the meaning of happiness through the lens of an all-American family on the brink of collapse.

Download or read book Thank You for My Service written by Mat Best and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2019-08-20 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The unapologetic, laugh-your-ass-off military memoir both vets and civilians have been waiting for, from a five-tour Army Ranger turned YouTube phenomenon and zealous advocate for veterans Members of the military’s special operations branches share a closely guarded secret: They love their jobs. They relish the opportunity to fight. They are thankful for it, even, and hopeful that maybe, possibly, they’ll also get to kill a bunch of bad guys while they’re at it. You don’t necessarily need to thank them for their service—the pleasure is all theirs. In this hilarious and personal memoir, readers ride shotgun alongside former Army Ranger and private military contractor and current social media phenomenon Mat Best, into the action and its aftermath, both abroad and at home. From surviving a skin infection in the swampy armpit of America (aka Columbus, Georgia) to kicking down doors on the outskirts of Ramadi, from blowing up a truck full of enemy combatants to witnessing the effects of a suicide bombing right in front of your face, Thank You for My Service gives readers who love America and love the good guys fresh insight into what it’s really like inside the minds of the men and women on the front lines. It’s also a sobering yet steadying glimpse at life for veterans after the fighting stops, when the enemy becomes self-doubt or despair and you begin to wonder why anyone should be thanking you for anything, least of all your service. How do you keep going when something you love turns you into somebody you hate? For veterans and their friends and families, Thank You for My Service will offer comfort, in the form of a million laughs, and counsel, as a blueprint for what to do after the war ends and the real fight begins. And for civilians, this is the insider account of military life you won’t find anywhere else, told with equal amounts of heart and balls. It’s Deadpool meets Captain America, except one went to business school and one went to therapy, and it’s anyone’s guess which is which.

Download or read book The Best Question Ever written by Andy Stanley and published by Multnomah. This book was released on 2009-04-23 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We’ve all done dumb stuff in our lives. We all have regrets. Yet none of us plans to mess up our lives. Why, then, does it keep happening? Life doesn’t have to be that way. You can fool-proof your life…as this book shows. God’s promise and pattern is for something better. In The Best Question Ever, Andy Stanley effectively teaches the practical and lasting value of simply asking this question about our actions in all of life’s arenas: What is the wise thing for me to do, in light of my past experience, my present circumstances, and my future hopes and dreams? This book probes for honesty —it pushes us to open our eyes to reality and helps us expose the little (and big) self-deceptions we have. Prepare yourself. You are about to be introduced to a single question that will revolutionize the way you make decisions. Over the past twenty years, speaker and author Andy Stanley has shared the power of this question with thousands of students and adults all over the country. In this ground-breaking new book, Andy provides you with a filter through which to evaluate every decision in every arena of your life. As you are about to discover, the Best Question Ever will bring clarity to decisions involving your finances, your love life, your schedule, even your career. People everywhere agree that their greatest regret could have been avoided had they asked the Best Question Ever and then acted on their conclusions. A time-tested truth that has immediate application, the Best Question Ever has the power to change the trajectory of your entire life. Story Behind the Book After continually making decisions that were short-sighted and hasty, Andy Stanley sought counsel. In Ephesians 5:15 he read, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise.” It was there that Andy discovered what he considers to be The Best Question Ever. From the Hardcover edition.

Download or read book I Wish You All the Best written by Mason Deaver and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli, Mason Deaver's stunning debut will rip your heart out before showing you how to heal from tragedy and celebrate life in the process. "Heartfelt, romantic, and quietly groundbreaking. This book will save lives." -- Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens AgendaIt's just three words: I am nonbinary. But that's all it takes to change everything.When Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they're thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Struggling with an anxiety disorder compounded by their parents' rejection, they come out only to Hannah, Thomas, and their therapist and try to keep a low profile in a new school.But Ben's attempts to survive the last half of senior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan Allan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan's friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change, and what started as a disastrous turn of events looks like it might just be a chance to start a happier new life.At turns heartbreaking and joyous, I Wish You All the Best is both a celebration of life, friendship, and love, and a shining example of hope in the face of adversity.

Download or read book The Best Lies written by Sarah Lyu and published by Simon Pulse. This book was released on 2019-07-02 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A gripping story of love, obsession, and the space in between.” —Kirkus Reviews Gone Girl meets Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls in this mesmerizing debut novel about a toxic friendship that turns deadly. Remy Tsai used to know how her story would turn out. But now, she doesn’t even know what tomorrow will look like. She was happy once. Remy had her boyfriend Jack, and Elise, her best friend—her soulmate—who understood her better than anyone else in the world. But now Jack is dead, shot through the chest… And it was Elise who pulled the trigger. Was it self-defense? Or something darker than anything Remy could imagine? As the police investigate, Remy does the same, sifting through her own memories, looking for a scrap of truth that could save the friendship that means everything to her. Told in alternating timelines, this twisted psychological thriller explores the dark side of obsessive friendship.

Download or read book UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook written by Evi Nemeth and published by Addison-Wesley Professional. This book was released on 2017-09-14 with total page 1471 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “As an author, editor, and publisher, I never paid much attention to the competition—except in a few cases. This is one of those cases. The UNIX System Administration Handbook is one of the few books we ever measured ourselves against.” —Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media “This edition is for those whose systems live in the cloud or in virtualized data centers; those whose administrative work largely takes the form of automation and configuration source code; those who collaborate closely with developers, network engineers, compliance officers, and all the other worker bees who inhabit the modern hive.” —Paul Vixie, Internet Hall of Fame-recognized innovator and founder of ISC and Farsight Security “This book is fun and functional as a desktop reference. If you use UNIX and Linux systems, you need this book in your short-reach library. It covers a bit of the systems’ history but doesn’t bloviate. It’s just straight-forward information delivered in a colorful and memorable fashion.” —Jason A. Nunnelley UNIX® and Linux® System Administration Handbook, Fifth Edition, is today’s definitive guide to installing, configuring, and maintaining any UNIX or Linux system, including systems that supply core Internet and cloud infrastructure. Updated for new distributions and cloud environments, this comprehensive guide covers best practices for every facet of system administration, including storage management, network design and administration, security, web hosting, automation, configuration management, performance analysis, virtualization, DNS, security, and the management of IT service organizations. The authors—world-class, hands-on technologists—offer indispensable new coverage of cloud platforms, the DevOps philosophy, continuous deployment, containerization, monitoring, and many other essential topics. Whatever your role in running systems and networks built on UNIX or Linux, this conversational, well-written ¿guide will improve your efficiency and help solve your knottiest problems.

Download or read book The Best Thing written by Mariana Zapata and published by . This book was released on 2019-08-08 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some things are easily forgiven. Other things... not so much.Lenny DeMaio made herself a promise: she was done.Done thinking about him.Done worrying about him.Done reaching out to a man who clearly didn't want to be found.Too bad no one gave Jonah Collins the message.

Download or read book Your Best Life Now written by Joel Osteen and published by FaithWords. This book was released on 2007-09-03 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this remarkable New York Times bestseller, Joel Osteen offers unique insights and encouragement that will help readers overcome every obstacle in their lives.

Download or read book Best Day Ever written by Kaira Rouda and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “FABULOUS.” —B.A. Paris, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown THE PERFECT MARRIAGE IS THE PERFECT ILLUSION. Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he’s the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That’s why he’s planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. And he’s promised today will be the best day ever. But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and toward the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them and doubts start to arise. How much do they trust each other? And how perfect is their marriage, or any marriage, really? Forcing us to ask ourselves just how well we know those who are closest to us, Best Day Ever crackles with dark energy, spinning ever tighter toward its shocking conclusion. In the vein of The Couple Next Door, Kaira Rouda weaves a gripping, tautly suspenseful tale of deception and betrayal dark enough to destroy a marriage…or a life. Praise for Best Day Ever “Highly entertaining and truly surprising!” —Kate Moretti, New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Year “Best Day Ever is a creepy, spine-tingling and utterly addictive tale of domestic suspense.” —Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, bestselling authors of The Good Widow

Download or read book Tree of Smoke written by Denis Johnson and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007-09-04 with total page 638 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once upon a time there was a war . . . and a young American who thought of himself as the Quiet American and the Ugly American, and who wished to be neither, who wanted instead to be the Wise American, or the Good American, but who eventually came to witness himself as the Real American and finally as simply the Fucking American. That’s me. This is the story of Skip Sands—spy-in-training, engaged in Psychological Operations against the Vietcong—and the disasters that befall him thanks to his famous uncle, a war hero known in intelligence circles simply as the Colonel. This is also the story of the Houston brothers, Bill and James, young men who drift out of the Arizona desert into a war in which the line between disinformation and delusion has blurred away. In its vision of human folly, and its gritty, sympathetic portraits of men and women desperate for an end to their loneliness, whether in sex or death or by the grace of God, this is a story like nothing in our literature. Tree of Smoke is Denis Johnson’s first full-length novel in nine years, and his most gripping, beautiful, and powerful work to date. Tree of Smoke is the 2007 National Book Award Winner for Fiction.

Download or read book Nora Webster written by Colm Toibin and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of contemporary literature’s bestselling, critically acclaimed, and beloved authors: a “luminous” novel (Jennifer Egan, The New York Times Book Review) about a fiercely compelling young widow navigating grief, fear, and longing, and finding her own voice—“heartrendingly transcendant” (The New York Times, Janet Maslin). Set in Wexford, Ireland, Colm Tóibín’s magnificent seventh novel introduces the formidable, memorable, and deeply moving Nora Webster. Widowed at forty, with four children and not enough money, Nora has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be sucked back into it. Wounded, selfish, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father. Yet she has moments of stunning insight and empathy, and when she begins to sing again, after decades, she finds solace, engagement, a haven—herself. Nora Webster “may actually be a perfect work of fiction” (Los Angeles Times), by a “beautiful and daring” writer (The New York Times Book Review) at the zenith of his career, able to “sneak up on readers and capture their imaginations” (USA TODAY). “Miraculous...Tóibín portrays Nora with tremendous sympathy and understanding” (Ron Charles, The Washington Post).

Download or read book The Best of Everything written by Rona Jaffe and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2023-03-14 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Sixty years later, Jaffe’s classic still strikes a chord, this time eerily prescient regarding so many of the circumstances surrounding sexual harassment that paved the way toward the #MeToo movement." -Buzzfeed When Rona Jaffe’s superb page-turner was first published in 1958, it changed contemporary fiction forever. Some readers were shocked, but millions more were electrified when they saw themselves reflected in its story of five young employees of a New York publishing company. Almost sixty years later, The Best of Everything remains touchingly—and sometimes hilariously—true to the personal and professional struggles women face in the city. There’s Ivy League Caroline, who dreams of graduating from the typing pool to an editor’s office; naïve country girl April, who within months of hitting town reinvents herself as the woman every man wants on his arm; and Gregg, the free-spirited actress with a secret yearning for domesticity. Jaffe follows their adventures with intelligence, sympathy, and prose as sharp as a paper cut.

Download or read book Best Babysitters Ever written by Caroline Cala and published by Clarion Books. This book was released on 2019 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The launch of a funny new series about three 12-year-old best friends who start a babysitting club in their small California town. No parents. Unlimited snacks. And, okay, occasionally watching other people's children. What could possibly go wrong?

Download or read book Madrigal s Magic Key to Spanish written by Margarita Madrigal and published by Crown. This book was released on 2012-09-26 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Use the English you already know to quickly learn the basics of Spanish with this unique, accessible guide featuring original illustrations by Andy Warhol—from one of America’s most prominent language teachers. Read, write, and speak Spanish in only a few short weeks! Even the most reluctant learner will be astonished at the ease and effectiveness of Margarita Madrigal’s unique method of teaching a foreign language. Completely eliminating rote memorization and painfully boring drills, Madrigal’s Magic Key to Spanish is guaranteed to help you: • Learn to speak, read, and write Spanish quickly and easily • Convert English into Spanish in an instant • Start forming sentences after the very first lesson • Identify thousands of Spanish words within a few weeks of study • Travel to Spanish-speaking countries with confidence and comfort • Develop perfect pronunciation, thanks to a handy pronunciation key With original black-and-white illustration by Andy Warhol, Madrigal’s Magic Key to Spanish will provide readers with a solid foundation upon which to build their language skills.

Download or read book The Best Man written by Richard Peck and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Newbery Medalist Richard Peck tells a story of small-town life, gay marriage, and everyday heroes in this novel for fans of Gary Schmidt and Jack Gantos. Archer Magill has spent a lively five years of grade school with one eye out in search of grown-up role models. Three of the best are his grandpa, the great architect; his dad, the great vintage car customizer,; and his uncle Paul, who is just plain great. These are the three he wants to be. Along the way he finds a fourth—Mr. McLeod, a teacher. In fact, the first male teacher in the history of the school. But now here comes middle school and puberty. Change. Archer wonders how much change has to happen before his voice does. He doesn't see too far ahead, so every day or so a startling revelation breaks over him. Then a really big one when he's the best man at the wedding of two of his role models. But that gets ahead of the story. In pages that ripple with laughter, there's a teardrop here and there. And more than a few insights about the bewildering world of adults, made by a boy on his way to being the best man he can be.

Download or read book Room written by Emma Donoghue and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-05-07 with total page 101 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kidnapped as a teenage girl, Ma has been locked inside a purpose built room in her captor's garden for seven years. Her five year old son, Jack, has no concept of the world outside and happily exists inside Room with the help of Ma's games and his vivid imagination where objects like Rug, Lamp and TV are his only friends. But for Ma the time has come to escape and face their biggest challenge to date: the world outside Room.