Download or read book Absurdistan written by Gary Shteyngart and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2007-04-03 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Absurdistan is not just a hilarious novel, but a record of a particular peak in the history of human folly. No one is more capable of dealing with the transition from the hell of socialism to the hell of capitalism in Eastern Europe than Shteyngart, the great-great grandson of one Nikolai Gogol and the funniest foreigner alive.” –Aleksandar Hemon From the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook comes the uproarious and poignant story of one very fat man and one very small country Meet Misha Vainberg, aka Snack Daddy, a 325-pound disaster of a human being, son of the 1,238th-richest man in Russia, proud holder of a degree in multicultural studies from Accidental College, USA (don’t even ask), and patriot of no country save the great City of New York. Poor Misha just wants to live in the South Bronx with his hot Latina girlfriend, but after his gangster father murders an Oklahoma businessman in Russia, all hopes of a U.S. visa are lost. Salvation lies in the tiny, oil-rich nation of Absurdistan, where a crooked consular officer will sell Misha a Belgian passport. But after a civil war breaks out between two competing ethnic groups and a local warlord installs hapless Misha as minister of multicultural affairs, our hero soon finds himself covered in oil, fighting for his life, falling in love, and trying to figure out if a normal life is still possible in the twenty-first century. With the enormous success of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, Gary Shteyngart established himself as a central figure in today’s literary world—“one of the most talented and entertaining writers of his generation,” according to The New York Observer. In Absurdistan, he delivers an even funnier and wiser literary performance. Misha Vainberg is a hero for the new century, a glimmer of humanity in a world of dashed hopes.

Download or read book Whispers in Autumn written by Trisha Leigh and published by Trisha Leigh . This book was released on 2012-07-23 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2015, a race of alien Others conquered Earth. They enslaved humanity not by force, but through an aggressive mind control that turned people into contented, unquestioning robots. Except sixteen-year-old Althea isn’t content at all, and she doesn’t need the mysterious note inside her locket to tell her she’s Something Else. It also warns her to trust no one, so she hides the pieces that make her different, even though it means being alone. The autumn she meets Lucas, everything changes. Althea and Lucas are immune to the alien mind control, and together they search for the reason why. What they uncover is a stunning truth the Others never anticipated, one with the potential to free the brainwashed human race. It’s not who they are that makes them special, but what. And what they are is a threat. One the Others are determined to eliminate for good.

Download or read book In Her Shoes written by Jennifer Weiner and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-09-04 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rose Feller is thirty years old, a high-powered attorney, with a secret passion for romance novels, an exercise regime she's going to start next week, and dreams of a man who will slide off her glasses, gaze into her eyes, and tell her that she's beautiful. Meet Rose's sister Maggie. Twenty-eight years old, drop-dead gorgeous and only occasionally employed, Maggie is a backing singer in a band called Whiskered Biscuit. She dreams of fame and fortune -- and of getting her dowdy big sister to stick to a skin-care regime. These two women with nothing in common but a childhood tragedy, shared DNA, and the same size feet, are about to learn that their family is more different than they ever imagined, and that they're more alike than they'd ever believe. The brilliant new novel by Jennifer Weiner, Who Do You Love, will be released in August 2015.

Download or read book Kika Me written by Amit Patel and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2020-02-20 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the challenges of travelling when blind to becoming a parent for the first time, Kika & Me is the moving, heart-warming and inspirational story of Dr Amit Patel’s sight-loss journey and how one guide dog changed his world. 'Inspiring and compelling . . . rekindles one's faith in human nature' - Andrew Marr Amit Patel is working as a trauma doctor when a rare condition causes him to lose his sight within thirty-six hours. Totally dependent on others and terrified of stepping outside with a white cane after he's assaulted, he hits rock bottom. He refuses to leave home on his own for three months. With the support of his wife Seema he slowly adapts to his new situation, but how could life ever be the way it was? Then his guide dog Kika comes along . . . But Kika’s stubbornness almost puts her guide dog training in jeopardy – could her quirky personality be a perfect match for someone? Meanwhile Amit has reservations – can he trust a dog with his safety? Paired together in 2015, they start on a journey, learning to trust each other before taking to the streets of London and beyond. The partnership not only gives Amit a renewed lease of life but a new best friend. Then, after a video of an irate commuter rudely asking Amit to step aside on an escalator goes viral, he sets out with Kika by his side to spread a message of positivity and inclusivity, showing that nothing will hold them back. 'An incredible story of courage, perseverance and, ultimately love' - Sun 'The most moving book of the year' - The Lady

Download or read book Coach Royal written by Darrell Royal and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many legendary men have been associated with University of Texas football, but for most fans one man will always be "Coach"—Darrell K Royal. One of the most successful coaches in college football, Royal led the Longhorns to three national championships and eleven Southwest Conference titles during his twenty years (1956-1976) as UT's head coach. He coached some of the Horns' best players, including future Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell, and was named NCAA Coach of the Year three times. In 1969, an ABC-TV poll of sportswriters called Royal the Coach of the Decade. In 1996 UT recognized his unrivalled contribution to Longhorn football when it designated Memorial Stadium the Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in his honor. Now, for the first time, Darrell Royal tells his life story in his own words. He remembers growing up poor in Hollis, Oklahoma, during the Great Depression, and describes playing college football for the University of Oklahoma and then coaching a succession of college teams and one pro team before settling in at UT for the rest of his career. He gives a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at Longhorn football during his time-recruiting strategies, coaching techniques, the famous wishbone offense, unforgettable wins and losses, and his impressions of rival teams and coaches, including Bear Bryant of Texas A&M and Alabama and Frank Broyles of Arkansas. Proving that he's still the same straight shooter as always, Darrell Royal even discusses some of the controversies he's dealt with, including early charges of racism in the UT football program, the impact of Title IX on college athletics, his association with Jim Bob Moffett and the Freeport-MacMoRan Corporation, his longtime friendship with Willie Nelson, and his decision to retire from coaching. But whether he's describing the tough times he's faced professionally and personally or the rewards of being UT's most beloved coach and goodwill ambassador, Royal maintains the same plainspoken honesty and sense of honor that—as much as the winning seasons—have made him a legend to so many people.

Download or read book Spirits of Latin America written by Ivy Mix and published by Ten Speed Press. This book was released on 2020-05-26 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A James Beard Award-nominated bartender explores the history and culture of Latin American spirits in this stunningly photographed travelogue—with 100+ irresistible cocktails featuring tequila, rum, pisco, and more. TALES OF THE COCKTAIL SPIRITED AWARD® WINNER • IACP AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY POPMATTERS “Ivy’s unique combination of taste, talent, and tenacity make her the ideal ‘spirit’ guide.”—Steven Soderbergh, filmmaker, professional drinker, and owner of Singani 63 Through its in-depth look at drinking culture throughout Latin America, this gorgeous book offers a rich cultural and historical context for understanding Latin spirits. Ivy Mix has dedicated years to traveling south, getting to know Latin culture, in part through what the locals drink. What she details in this book is the discovery that Latin spirits echo the Latin palate, which echoes Latin life, emphasizing spiciness, vivaciousness, strength, and variation. After digging into tequila and Mexico's other traditional spirits, Ivy Mix follows the sugar trail through the Caribbean and beyond, winding up in Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, where grape-based spirits like pisco and singani have been made for generations. With more than 100 recipes that have garnered acclaim at her Brooklyn bar, Leyenda, including fun spins on traditional cocktails such as the Pisco Sour, Margarita, and Mojito, plus drinks inspired by Ivy's travels, like the Tia Mia (which combines mezcal, rum, and orange curacao, with a splash of lime and almond orgeat) or the Sonambula (which features jalapeño-infused tequila, lemon juice, chamomile syrup, and a dash of Peychaud's bitters), along with mouthwatering photos and gorgeous travel images, this is the ultimate book on Latin American spirits.

Download or read book Fluent Forever written by Gabriel Wyner and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2014-08-05 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • For anyone who wants to learn a foreign language, this is the method that will finally make the words stick. “A brilliant and thoroughly modern guide to learning new languages.”—Gary Marcus, cognitive psychologist and author of the New York Times bestseller Guitar Zero At thirty years old, Gabriel Wyner speaks six languages fluently. He didn’t learn them in school—who does? Rather, he learned them in the past few years, working on his own and practicing on the subway, using simple techniques and free online resources—and here he wants to show others what he’s discovered. Starting with pronunciation, you’ll learn how to rewire your ears and turn foreign sounds into familiar sounds. You’ll retrain your tongue to produce those sounds accurately, using tricks from opera singers and actors. Next, you’ll begin to tackle words, and connect sounds and spellings to imagery rather than translations, which will enable you to think in a foreign language. And with the help of sophisticated spaced-repetition techniques, you’ll be able to memorize hundreds of words a month in minutes every day. This is brain hacking at its most exciting, taking what we know about neuroscience and linguistics and using it to create the most efficient and enjoyable way to learn a foreign language in the spare minutes of your day.

Download or read book The Dry Challenge written by Hilary Sheinbaum and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-12-29 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The definitive guide to giving up booze.”—People Foreword by Lo Bosworth For many people, drinking a glass of beer or wine after work is a part of everyday life. But did you know taking a break from drinking (even for just a month!) has extreme benefits and can be incredibly life-changing? From losing weight, to saving money, to sleeping better at night, the overall health and mental gains of going dry for a month are endless. Whether you’re eager to try Dry January or simply want to lessen your quarantine drinking habits in a positive and approachable way, as daunting as it may seem, you too can do it! Understandably, more and more people have been turning to alcohol as a coping mechanism to get through the pandemic, but maybe this is a good time to ask yourself: Are you waking up feeling out of sorts more often than you’d like to be? Offering friendly support and encouragement and filled with engaging activities to help you prepare –and complete – a full alcohol-free month, The Dry Challenge provides an easy step-by-step guide for completing your first Dry January, Sober October, or any other alcohol-free month. You’ll find plenty of booze-free activities from prompts to checklists to the best mocktail recipes around. From making a plan to sharing the news with friends and family (and what to do when someone tries to sabotage your boozeless journey) to getting back on track if you slip up and have a drink (or two), we got you covered. Trend journalist, on-air host, and lifestyle expert Hilary Sheinbaum has been participating in Dry January for the past four years. What started out as a bet with a friend to see who could go the longest without taking a sip of alcohol during January became a ritual she looked most forward to every year. As friends, family, and readers turned to her for advice on how to start their own dry month journeys, Hilary realized everyone’s motivations differed greatly. The decision to give up alcohol is deeply personal and making the choice to stop drinking for any length of time can be discouraging given how normalized alcohol culture is in our society. Have you noticed we use every celebratory event as an excuse to get our drink on? But you don’t have to do it alone! In The Dry Challenge, you’ll find a best friend support system ready to help you tackle the challenges of forgoing alcohol for a month and encourage you every step of the way to the finish line. In The Dry Challenge, you’ll: · Discover the health, mental, and financial benefits of living a month without booze · Learn how to combat social pressures from our current drinking culture · Find fun non-boozy activities everyone can participate in (including making delicious “zero-proof” drinks and throwing the best nonalcoholic shindigs) Gorgeously packaged and filled with bold colors and graphics, The Dry Challenge is the ultimate interactive guide to staying booze free for one month (yes, this includes champagne!). Written with humor, compassion, and insight, this book will help you achieve your goal of completing an alcohol-free month, one less drink at a time.

Download or read book Speedboat written by Renata Adler and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2013-03-19 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, this is one of the defining books of the 1970s, an experimental novel about a young journalist trying to navigate life in America. When Speedboat burst on the scene in the late ’70s it was like nothing readers had encountered before. It seemed to disregard the rules of the novel, but it wore its unconventionality with ease. Reading it was a pleasure of a new, unexpected kind. Above all, there was its voice, ambivalent, curious, wry, the voice of Jen Fain, a journalist negotiating the fraught landscape of contemporary urban America. Party guests, taxi drivers, brownstone dwellers, professors, journalists, presidents, and debutantes fill these dispatches from the world as Jen finds it. A touchstone over the years for writers as different as David Foster Wallace and Elizabeth Hardwick, Speedboat returns to enthrall a new generation of readers.

Download or read book Caffeinated written by Murray Carpenter and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-01-27 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “You’ll never think the same way about your morning cup of coffee.”—Mark McClusky, editor in chief of Wired.com and author of Faster, Higher, Stronger Journalist Murray Carpenter has been under the influence of a drug for nearly three decades. And he’s in good company, because chances are you’re hooked, too. Humans have used caffeine for thousands of years. A bitter white powder in its most essential form, a tablespoon of it would kill even the most habituated user. This addictive, largely unregulated substance is everywhere—in places you’d expect (like coffee and chocolate) and places you wouldn’t (like chewing gum and fruit juice), and Carpenter reveals its impact on soldiers, athletes, and even children. It can make you stronger, faster, and more alert, but it’s not perfect, and its role in health concerns like obesity and anxiety will surprise you. Making stops at the coffee farms of central Guatemala, a synthetic caffeine factory in China, and an energy shot bottler in New Jersey, among numerous other locales around the globe, Caffeinated exposes the high-stakes but murky world of caffeine, drawing on cutting-edge science and larger-than-life characters to offer an unprecedented understanding of America’s favorite drug.

Download or read book The Wolf of Wall Street written by Jordan Belfort and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2007-09-25 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio By day he made thousands of dollars a minute. By night he spent it as fast as he could. From the binge that sank a 170-foot motor yacht and ran up a $700,000 hotel tab, to the wife and kids waiting at home and the fast-talking, hard-partying young stockbrokers who called him king, here, in Jordan Belfort’s own words, is the story of the ill-fated genius they called the Wolf of Wall Street. In the 1990s, Belfort became one of the most infamous kingpins in American finance: a brilliant, conniving stock-chopper who led his merry mob on a wild ride out of Wall Street and into a massive office on Long Island. It’s an extraordinary story of greed, power, and excess that no one could invent: the tale of an ordinary guy who went from hustling Italian ices to making hundreds of millions—until it all came crashing down. Praise for The Wolf of Wall Street “Raw and frequently hilarious.”—The New York Times “A rollicking tale of [Jordan Belfort’s] rise to riches as head of the infamous boiler room Stratton Oakmont . . . proof that there are indeed second acts in American lives.”—Forbes “A cross between Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities and Scorsese’s GoodFellas . . . Belfort has the Midas touch.”—The Sunday Times (London) “Entertaining as pulp fiction, real as a federal indictment . . . a hell of a read.”—Kirkus Reviews

Download or read book The Pigman written by Paul Zindel and published by Graymalkin Media. This book was released on 2011-05-14 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the best-selling young adult books of all time, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Zindel. John Conlan is nicknamed “The Bathroom Bomber” after setting off firecrackers in the boys’ bathroom 23 times without ever getting caught. John and his best friend, Lorraine, can never please their parents, and school is a chore. To pass the time, they play pranks on unsuspecting people and it's during one of these pranks that they meet the “Pigman.” In spite of themselves, John and Lorraine soon get caught up in Mr. Pignati’s zest for life. In fact, they become so involved that they begin to destroy the only corner of the world that has ever mattered to them. Can they stop before it’s too late?'

Download or read book Just the Funny Parts written by Nell Scovell and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-03-20 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Just the Funny Parts is a juicy and scathingly funny insider look at how pop culture gets made. For more than thirty years, writer, producer and director Nell Scovell worked behind the scenes of iconic TV shows, including The Simpsons, Late Night with David Letterman, Murphy Brown,NCIS,The Muppets, and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, which she created and executive produced. In 2009, Scovell gave up her behind-the-scenes status when the David Letterman sex scandal broke. Only the second woman ever to write for his show, Scovell used the moment to publicly call out the lack of gender diversity in late-night TV writers’ rooms. “One of the boys” came out hard for “all of the girls.” Her criticisms fueled a cultural debate. Two years later, Scovell was collaborating with Sheryl Sandberg on speeches and later on Lean In, which resulted in a worldwide movement. Now Scovell is opening up with this fun, honest, and often shocking account. Scovell knows what it’s like to put words in the mouths of President Barack Obama, Mark Harmon, Candice Bergen, Bob Newhart, Conan O’Brien, Alyssa Milano, and Kermit the Frog, among many others. Through her eyes, you’ll sit in the Simpson writers’ room… stand on the Oscar red carpet… pin a tail on Miss Piggy…bond with Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy… and experience a Stephen King-like encounter with Stephen King. Just the Funny Parts is a fast-paced account of a nerdy girl from New England who fought her way to the top of the highly-competitive, male-dominated entertainment field. The book delivers invaluable insights into the creative process and tricks for navigating a difficult workplace. It's part memoir, part how-to, and part survival story. Or, as Scovell puts it, “It’s like Unbroken, but funnier and with slightly less torture.”

Download or read book Out Of Control written by Kevin Kelly and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2009-04-30 with total page 666 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Out of Control chronicles the dawn of a new era in which the machines and systems that drive our economy are so complex and autonomous as to be indistinguishable from living things.

Download or read book How We Know What Isn t So written by Thomas Gilovich and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-06-30 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Gilovich offers a wise and readable guide to the fallacy of the obvious in everyday life. When can we trust what we believe—that "teams and players have winning streaks," that "flattery works," or that "the more people who agree, the more likely they are to be right"—and when are such beliefs suspect? Thomas Gilovich offers a guide to the fallacy of the obvious in everyday life. Illustrating his points with examples, and supporting them with the latest research findings, he documents the cognitive, social, and motivational processes that distort our thoughts, beliefs, judgments and decisions. In a rapidly changing world, the biases and stereotypes that help us process an overload of complex information inevitably distort what we would like to believe is reality. Awareness of our propensity to make these systematic errors, Gilovich argues, is the first step to more effective analysis and action.

Download or read book The Electrical Workers Journal written by and published by . This book was released on 1949 with total page 714 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Flaneur written by Edmund White and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2015-11-24 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A flaneur is a stroller, a loiterer, someone who ambles through city streets in search of adventure and fulfillment. Edmund White, who lived in Paris for sixteen years, wanders through the streets and avenues and along the quays, into parts of Paris virtually unknown to visitors and indeed to many Parisians. In the hands of the learned White, a walk through Paris is both a tour of its lush, sometimes prurient history, and an evocation of the city's spirit. The Flaneur leads us to bookshops and boutiques, monuments and palaces, giving us a glimpse the inner human drama. Along the way we learn everything from the latest debates among French lawmakers to the juicy details of Colette's life. Originally published as part of Bloomsbury's Writer and the City series, this book has sold consistently over the years, and will find a whole new audience in paperback.