Download or read book The Self Help Compulsion written by Beth Blum and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-28 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Samuel Beckett as a guru for business executives? James Joyce as a guide to living a good life? The notion of notoriously experimental authors sharing a shelf with self-help books might seem far-fetched, yet a hidden history of rivalry, influence, and imitation links these two worlds. In The Self-Help Compulsion, Beth Blum reveals the profound entanglement of modern literature and commercial advice from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Blum explores popular reading practices in which people turn to literature in search of practical advice alongside modern writers’ rebukes of such instrumental purposes. As literary authors positioned themselves in opposition to people like Samuel Smiles and Dale Carnegie, readers turned to self-help for the promises of mobility, agency, and practical use that serious literature was reluctant to supply. Blum unearths a series of unlikely cases of the love-hate relationship between serious fiction and commercial advice, from Gustave Flaubert’s mockery of early DIY culture to Dear Abby’s cutting diagnoses of Nathanael West and from Virginia Woolf’s ambivalent polemics against self-improvement to the ways that contemporary global authors such as Mohsin Hamid and Tash Aw explicitly draw on the self-help genre. She also traces the self-help industry’s tendency to popularize, quote, and adapt literary wisdom and considers what it might have to teach today’s university. Offering a new history of self-help’s origins, appeal, and cultural and literary import around the world, this book reveals that self-help’s most valuable secrets are not about getting rich or winning friends but about how and why people read.
Download or read book Get to the Point written by Joel Schwartzberg and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2017-10-16 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether you want to improve your impact in speeches, staff meetings, pitches, emails, PowerPoint presentations, or any other communication setting, this book provides a novel approach that teaches you how to go from simply sharing a thought to making a difference. --
Download or read book How To Write An Autobiographical Novel written by Alexander Chee and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named a Best Book of 2018 by New York Magazine, the Washington Post, Publisher's Weekly, NPR, and Time, among many others, this essay collection from the author of The Queen of the Night explores how we form identities in life and in art. As a novelist, Alexander Chee has been described as “masterful” by Roxane Gay, “incendiary” by the New York Times, and "brilliant" by the Washington Post. With his first collection of nonfiction, he’s sure to secure his place as one of the finest essayists of his generation as well. How to Write an Autobiographical Novel is the author’s manifesto on the entangling of life, literature, and politics, and how the lessons learned from a life spent reading and writing fiction have changed him. In these essays, he grows from student to teacher, reader to writer, and reckons with his identities as a son, a gay man, a Korean American, an artist, an activist, a lover, and a friend. He examines some of the most formative experiences of his life and the nation’s history, including his father’s death, the AIDS crisis, 9/11, the jobs that supported his writing — Tarot-reading, bookselling, cater-waiting for William F. Buckley — the writing of his first novel, Edinburgh, and the election of Donald Trump. By turns commanding, heartbreaking, and wry, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel asks questions about how we create ourselves in life and in art, and how to fight when our dearest truths are under attack. Named a Best Book by: Time, Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Wired, Esquire, Buzzfeed, New York Public Library, Boston Globe, Paris Review, Mother Jones,The A.V. Club, Out Magazine, Book Riot, Electric Literature, PopSugar, The Rumpus, My Republica, Paste, Bitch, Library Journal, Flavorwire, Bustle, Christian Science Monitor, Shelf Awareness, Tor.com, Entertainment Cheat Sheet, Roads and Kingdoms, Chicago Public Library, Hyphen Magazine, Entropy Magazine, Chicago Review of Books, The Coil, iBooks, and Washington Independent Review of Books Winner of the Publishing Triangle's Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction * Recipient of the Lambda Literary Trustees' Award * Finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay * Finalist for a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Memoir/Biography
Download or read book The Learned Disguise written by R. C. Waldun and published by . This book was released on 2019-06-30 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Queen of the Night written by Alexander Chee and published by Michael Joseph. This book was released on 2017-04-20 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A 'wild opera of a novel', The Queen of the Nighttells the story of Lilliet Berne, an orphan who leaves the American frontier for Europe and is swept into the glamour and terror of Second Empire France. She becomes a sensation of the Paris Opera, with every accolade but an original role - her chance at immortality. When one is offered to her, she finds the part is based on her deepest secret, something only four people have ever known. But who has betrayed her? With 'epic sweep, gorgeous language, and haunting details', Alexander Chee shares Lilliet's cunning transformation from circus rider to courtesan to legendary soprano, retracing the path that led to the role that could secure her reputation - or destroy her with the secrets it reveals."
Download or read book Esquire s Big Book of Fiction written by Adrienne Miller and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 822 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An anthology of short fiction from the pages of "Esquire" magazine from the early 1930s to the late 1990s showcases contributions by such authors as Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, Jack Kerouac, Flannery O'Connor, and Saul Bellow.
Download or read book Evangellyfish written by Douglas Wilson and published by Canon Press & Book Service. This book was released on 2012-01-31 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: BEST FICTION AWARD - Christianity Today 2012 Evangellyfish is a ruthless, grimly amused, and above all honest look at one of the darkest corners in the western world. Douglas Wilson, a pastor of more than thirty years, paints a vivid and painful picture of evangelical boomchurch leadership. . . in bed. Chad Lester's kingdom is found in the Midwest. His voice crawls over the airwaves, his books are read by millions (before he reads them), and thousands ride the escalators into the sanctuary every Sunday. And Saturday. And Wednesday, too. He is the head pastor of Camel Creek--a CEO of Soul. And souls come cheap, so he has no overhead. When Lester is (falsely) accused of molesting a young male counselee, his universe begins to crumble. He is a sexual predator, yes. But strictly straight (and deeply offended that anyone would suggest otherwise). Detectives, reporters, assistant pastors, and old lovers and pay-offs all come out to play. John Mitchell is also a pastor, but he has no kingdom to speak of--only smalltime choir feuds. He is thrilled at the great man's fall, but his joy quickly fades when the imploding Lester calls him--and a lover or two--for help. How low can grace go? Whores, thieves, and junkies, sure. But pastors?
Download or read book Turning Life Into Fiction written by Robin Hemley and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2006-05-02 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With lively style, good humor and insight, Robin Hemley helps you turn all that you experience into fresh and powerful fiction. By learning to "reimagine", you'll focus on translating real-world people and events into characters and scenes that happen on paper for the first time. You'll think "what if" instead of "what is" in order to take control of your material and cut loose the inhibitions of real life. In these pages, you'll learn how to hone your observation skills and fill your journal with rich and vivid details. (Because, as Hemley writes, "Life is in the details, and so is good fiction".) You'll see how to decide which ideas to bring to fiction and which ones to let go. And you'll learn how to: find the right form - novel, short story, vignette, memoir - for the story you want to tell; use "triggers" to start your reader's imagination rolling; keep your fiction emotionally honest by making the right choices between "the way it happened" and what the story dictates (ask "Is it believable?", not "Did it happen?"); create composites of real people and places that fit the unique needs of your story and empower your imagination; focus your fiction. Make sure everything, every character counts - and eliminate "people who sit at the end of the bar without a role to play"; fictionalize - ethically and legally - other people's stories. Learn your rights as a writer versus their rights to privacy. (Can you use actual names? When do you need to get permission?). To illustrate how writers feed their fiction with reality, Hemley uses examples from his own work and from fiction masters of yesterday and today. At the end of each chapter, challenging exercises help you apply the basictheories and push them even further. An adventurous read, Turning Life Into Fiction will help you create fiction that's just as strange and wonderful and "real" as the life that inspires it.
Download or read book Elements of Fiction written by Walter Mosley and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2019-09-03 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The renowned novelist and author of This Year You Write a Novel shares a “compact but insight-rich” guide to fiction writing (Publishers Weekly). In his essential writing guide, This Year You Write Your Novel, Walter Mosley supplied aspiring writers with the basic tools to write a novel in one year. In this complementary follow up, Mosley guides the writer through the elements of not just any fiction writing, but the kind of writing that transcends convention and truly stands out. For writers who want to approach the genius of Melville, Dickens, or Twain, The Elements of Fiction is a must-read. Mosley demonstrates how to master fiction’s most essential elements: character and char-acter development, plot and story, voice and narrative, context and description, and more. The result is a vivid depiction of the writing process, from the blank page to the first draft to rewriting, and rewriting again. Throughout, The Elements of Fiction is enriched by brilliant demonstrative examples that Mosley himself has written here for the first time.
Download or read book A World of Fiction written by Katherine Bode and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2018-07-05 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Proposes a new basis for data-rich literary history
Download or read book The Half God of Rainfall written by Inua Ellams and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2019-04-04 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the award-winning poet and playwright behind Barber Shop Chronicles, The Half-God of Rainfall is an epic story and a lyrical exploration of pride, power and female revenge.
Download or read book The Man in the High Castle written by Philip K. Dick and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2011 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Slavery is back. America, 1962. Having lost a war, America finds itself under Nazi Germany and Japan occupation. A few Jews still live under assumed names. The 'I Ching' is prevalent in San Francisco. Science fiction meets serious ideas in this take on a possible alternate history.
Download or read book The Course of True Love and First Dates written by Cassandra Clare and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-03-18 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood might fall in love—but first they have a first date. One of ten adventures in The Bane Chronicles. When Magnus Bane, warlock, meets Alec Lightwood, Shadowhunter, sparks fly. And what happens on their first date lights a flame... This standalone e-only short story illuminates the life of the enigmatic Magnus Bane, whose alluring personality populates the pages of the #1 New York Times bestselling series The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices. This story in The Bane Chronicles, The Course of True Love (and First Dates), is written by Cassandra Clare.
Download or read book All Rights Reserved written by Gregory Scott Katsoulis and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2017-09-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a world where every word and gesture is copyrighted, patented or trademarked, one girl elects to remain silent rather than pay to speak, and her defiant and unexpected silence threatens to unravel the very fabric of society. Speth Jime is anxious to deliver her Last Day speech and celebrate her transition into adulthood. The moment she turns fifteen, Speth must pay for every word she speaks (“Sorry” is a flat ten dollars and a legal admission of guilt), for every nod ($0.99/sec), for every scream ($0.99/sec) and even every gesture of affection. She’s been raised to know the consequences of falling into debt, and can’t begin to imagine the pain of having her eyes shocked for speaking words that she’s unable to afford. But when Speth’s friend Beecher commits suicide rather than work off his family’s crippling debt, she can’t express her shock and dismay without breaking her Last Day contract and sending her family into Collection. Backed into a corner, Speth finds a loophole: rather than read her speech—rather than say anything at all—she closes her mouth and vows never to speak again. Speth’s unexpected defiance of tradition sparks a media frenzy, inspiring others to follow in her footsteps, and threatens to destroy her, her family and the entire city around them.
Download or read book A Closed and Common Orbit written by Becky Chambers and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-10-18 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Bestseller! Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Series! A Publishers Weekly "Best Books of 2017" pick! Nominated for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel! Shortlisted for the 2017 Arthur C. Clarke Award! Winner of the Prix Julia-Verlanger! Embark on an exciting, adventurous, and dangerous journey through the galaxy with the motley crew of the spaceship Wayfarer in this fun and heart-warming space opera—the sequel to the acclaimed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Lovelace was once merely a ship’s artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in a new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has no memory of what came before. As Lovelace learns to negotiate the universe and discover who she is, she makes friends with Pepper, an excitable engineer, who’s determined to help her learn and grow. Together, Pepper and Lovey will discover that no matter how vast space is, two people can fill it together. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet introduced readers to the incredible world of Rosemary Harper, a young woman with a restless soul and secrets to keep. When she joined the crew of the Wayfarer, an intergalactic ship, she got more than she bargained for—and learned to live with, and love, her rag-tag collection of crewmates. A Closed and Common Orbit is the stand-alone sequel to that beloved debut novel, and is perfect for fans of Firefly, Joss Whedon, Mass Effect, and Star Wars.
Download or read book The Thirteenth Tale written by Diane Setterfield and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2009-03-16 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A #1 New York Times bestseller, The Thirteenth Tale is part contemporary, part historical with mysterious threads about family secrets and the magic of books and storytelling weaving the two together. All children mythologize their birth . . . So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist. The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish histories for herself. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary past. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman who is struck by a very curious parallel between Winter's life and her own. As Vida exposes the history she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness, of a remote estate, feral children, a governess, a ghost, and a devastating fire. In this love letter to reading, Diane Setterfield will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter and, in the end, deposit you breathless yet satisfied back upon the shore of your everyday world.
Download or read book Light From Uncommon Stars written by Ryka Aoki and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts. Hugo Award Finalist A National Bestseller Indie Next Pick New York Public Library Top 10 Book of 2021 A Kirkus Best Book of 2021 A Barnes & Noble Best Science Fiction Book of 2021 2022 Alex Award Winner 2022 Stonewall Book Award Winner Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six. When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate. But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan's kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul's worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline. As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
