Download or read book The Last Lecture written by Randy Pausch and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.

Download or read book I Know This Much Is True written by Wally Lamb and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-06-03 with total page 884 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.

Download or read book Aven Green Sleuthing Machine written by Dusti Bowling and published by Union Square & Co.. This book was released on 2021-05-25 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Third-grader Aven Green has been solving mysteries for a really long time—a whole month! She’s solved many important cases like The Mystery of the Cranky Mom, The Mystery of the Missing Ice Cream, and The Mystery of the Smelly Feet. Her record is nearly 100% (only The Mystery of the Cereal in My Underpants remains unsolved to this day). Aven asks all the right questions, wields her detective kit carefully, and follows up on every clue. Then her teacher’s lunch bag (with her lunch still in it) is taken and Aven’s great-grandma’s beloved dog goes missing! Can this perceptive detective crack two cases at the same time? Luckily, Aven has a super-powered brain full of lots of extra brain cells to take on both cases. See, she was born without arms, so all of the cells that were supposed to make her arms went into making her brain instead. At least that’s her working theory for The Mystery of Why I Have So Many Extra Brain Cells.

Download or read book Lady Churchill s Rosebud Wristlet No 30 written by Kelly Link and published by Small Beer Press. This book was released on 2014-01-15 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the thirtieth issue, LCRW—the only zine named after Winston Churchill's mother—changes everything. We turn blue into tree. We make electricity solid. We publish stories that shake the world so hard it takes a left at Albuquerque and is never seen again. Fiction! Poetry! Dancing in the aisles. Chocolate is distributed in the streets. The world sighs, is remade.

Download or read book My New Roots written by Sarah Britton and published by Clarkson Potter. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At long last, Sarah Britton, called the “queen bee of the health blogs” by Bon Appétit, reveals 100 gorgeous, all-new plant-based recipes in her debut cookbook, inspired by her wildly popular blog. Every month, half a million readers—vegetarians, vegans, paleo followers, and gluten-free gourmets alike—flock to Sarah’s adaptable and accessible recipes that make powerfully healthy ingredients simply irresistible. My New Roots is the ultimate guide to revitalizing one’s health and palate, one delicious recipe at a time: no fad diets or gimmicks here. Whether readers are newcomers to natural foods or are already devotees, they will discover how easy it is to eat healthfully and happily when whole foods and plants are at the center of every plate.

Download or read book All Too Human written by George Stephanopoulos and published by Back Bay Books. This book was released on 2008-08-01 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All Too Human is a new-generation political memoir, written from the refreshing perspective of one who got his hands on the levers of awesome power at an early age. At thirty, the author was at Bill Clinton's side during the presidential campaign of 1992, & for the next five years he was rarely more than a step away from the president & his other advisers at every important moment of the first term. What Liar's Poker did to Wall Street, this book will do to politics. It is an irreverent & intimate portrait of how the nation's weighty business is conducted by people whose egos & idiosyncrasies are no sturdier than anyone else's. Including sharp portraits of the Clintons, Al Gore, Dick Morris, Colin Powell, & scores of others, as well as candid & revelatory accounts of the famous debacles & triumphs of an administration that constantly went over the top, All Too Human is, like its author, a brilliant combination of pragmatic insight & idealism. It is destined to be the most important & enduring book to come out of the Clinton administration.

Download or read book It Takes A Sense Of Humour written by Patty O'Leary Emry and published by FriesenPress. This book was released on 2014-10-15 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the day she was born in 1950 as one of two identical twins, Patty O’Leary Emry’s formidable challenges were only just beginning. The exhilaration of welcoming new life quickly gave way to desperation as doctors discovered that Patty had multiple congenital difficulties. With underdeveloped digestive, urinary tract, and reproductive systems, the prognosis was grim. When the hospital staff declared that the baby would die within a few days, her steadfast parents refused to give up hope, and they firmly insisted that Patty be given a fighting chance—after all, she deserved every chance at life. After ground breaking operations, doctors were able to reconstruct the tiny infant’s digestive organs. It was a miracle that this premature baby survived such procedures, and before long, Patty’s tenacious spirit quickened and flourished. But tragedy struck the family again when, Patty’s twin sister, Catherine, died only three months after being born. Despite the pain of becoming a “twinless twin” and in the face of daily difficulties that many could consider discouraging, Patty rallied and cultivated a robust and outrageous approach to life that has seen her through over twenty-two surgeries in her lifetime. You, the reader, can also lay hold of the transformative power of laughter and positivity in every circumstance. So whether you’re sixteen or ninety-nine, throw off those shackles of self-doubt and despair, put on your dancing shoes, and do the funky chicken on the nearest tabletop—because It Takes a Sense of Humour!

Download or read book Option B written by Sheryl Sandberg and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2017-04-24 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • From authors of Lean In and Originals: a powerful, inspiring, and practical book about building resilience and moving forward after life’s inevitable setbacks After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. “I was in ‘the void,’” she writes, “a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe.” Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. We are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. It is a muscle that everyone can build. Option B combines Sheryl’s personal insights with Adam’s eye-opening research on finding strength in the face of adversity. Beginning with the gut-wrenching moment when she finds her husband, Dave Goldberg, collapsed on a gym floor, Sheryl opens up her heart—and her journal—to describe the acute grief and isolation she felt in the wake of his death. But Option B goes beyond Sheryl’s loss to explore how a broad range of people have overcome hardships including illness, job loss, sexual assault, natural disasters, and the violence of war. Their stories reveal the capacity of the human spirit to persevere . . . and to rediscover joy. Resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us. Even after the most devastating events, it is possible to grow by finding deeper meaning and gaining greater appreciation in our lives. Option B illuminates how to help others in crisis, develop compassion for ourselves, raise strong children, and create resilient families, communities, and workplaces. Many of these lessons can be applied to everyday struggles, allowing us to brave whatever lies ahead. Two weeks after losing her husband, Sheryl was preparing for a father-child activity. “I want Dave,” she cried. Her friend replied, “Option A is not available,” and then promised to help her make the most of Option B. We all live some form of Option B. This book will help us all make the most of it.

Download or read book Cincinnati Magazine written by and published by . This book was released on 2008-07 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cincinnati Magazine taps into the DNA of the city, exploring shopping, dining, living, and culture and giving readers a ringside seat on the issues shaping the region.

Download or read book The Wild Robot written by Peter Brown and published by . This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Roz the robot discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island with no memory of where she is from or why she is there, and her only hope of survival is to try to learn about her new environment from the island's hostile inhabitants.

Download or read book Sons of Neptune Complete Series Box Set written by Rod Little and published by Starbase One. This book was released on 2024-01-17 with total page 845 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Invasion sparked a mystery, then a nightmare... and finally the courage to take back our planet! When 98% of the world disappears, decimating the cities, the rural survivors must fend for themselves and decipher the cause while fighting off a new breed of reptiles. After they trace the source to a viral cloud—a preamble to an alien invasion—they must track down a relic, an alien starship in the Arctic, and fly it into deep space to seek help from the enemies of our new enemies. To save Earth, they must rekindle an old war and bring it to our doorstep. And Earth's own spiders, mutated by the cloud, may be our last line of defense. An adventure that starts on a post-apocalyptic Earth and continues into the stars to a lonely starbase left by our ancestors, Sons of Neptune is an epic sci-fi saga that spans 4 books and 1,525 pages with creatures, spaceships, aliens and humans who can sometimes do the impossible in times of war. “A fast-paced sci-fi thrill ride from start to finish. The ending was so bleepin’ gratifying!” — Top2040 Books "Earthweeds [Sons of Neptune 1] takes its time revealing its greatest twists and surprises, keeping readers on their toes..." — BookLife Prize, Publishers Weekly (rated 9/10 for Plot/Idea and Originality) Over 1000 positive reviews: over a thousand 4- and 5-star reviews on the four individual books (on all platforms). This set contains all 4 books, the complete Sons of Neptune series bundled: Book 1 - Earthweeds Book 2 - Revenge of the Spiders Book 3 - The Last Starbase Book 4 - The Boneyards of Nebula

Download or read book Rage Against the Minivan written by Kristen Howerton and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Howerton writes unflinchingly about what it means to be raising children in today’s world and how to liberate ourselves from the myth of perfect motherhood.”—Glennon Doyle, author of Untamed and Love Warrior, founder of Together Rising In this smart and subversively funny memoir, Kristen Howerton navigates the emotional and sometimes messy waters of motherhood and challenges the idea that there’s a “right” way to raise kids. Recounting her successes, trials, mishaps, and hard-won wisdom, this mother of four advocates for letting go of the expectations, the guilt, and the endless race to be the perfect parent to the perfect child in the perfect family. This book is for ● the parent who loves their kids like crazy but feels like parenting is making them crazy, too ● the parent who said “I will never . . .” and now they have ● the parent who looks like they have it all together but feels like a hot mess on the inside ● the parent who looks like a hot mess on the outside, too ● the parent who asks Am I good enough? Doing enough? Doing it right? What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with these children? Are they eighteen yet? With her signature blend of vulnerability, sarcasm, and insight, Howerton shares her unexpected journey from infertility to adoption to pregnancy to divorce to dealing with the shock and awe of raising teens. As a mom of a multiracial family and as a marriage and family therapist, she tackles the thorny issues parents face today, like hard conversations about racism, disciplining other people’s kids, the reality of Dad Privilege, and (never) attaining that elusive work/life balance. Rage Against the Minivan is a permission slip to let it go and allow yourself to be a “good enough” parent, focused on raising happy, kind, loving humans.

Download or read book Becoming a Man written by P. Carl and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2021-01-26 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “scrupulously honest” (O, The Oprah Magazine) debut memoir that explores one man’s gender transition amid a pivotal political moment in America. Becoming a Man is a “moving narrative [that] illuminates the joy, courage, necessity, and risk-taking of gender transition” (Kirkus Reviews). For fifty years P. Carl lived as a girl and then as a queer woman, building a career, a life, and a loving marriage, yet still waiting to realize himself in full. As Carl embarks on his gender transition, he takes us inside the complex shifts and questions that arise throughout—the alternating moments of arrival and estrangement. He writes intimately about how transitioning reconfigures both his own inner experience and his closest bonds—his twenty-year relationship with his wife, Lynette; his already tumultuous relationships with his parents; and seemingly solid friendships that are subtly altered, often painfully and wordlessly. Carl “has written a poignant and candid self-appraisal of life as a ‘work-of-progress’” (Booklist) and blends the remarkable story of his own personal journey with incisive cultural commentary, writing beautifully about gender, power, and inequality in America. His transition occurs amid the rise of the Trump administration and the #MeToo movement—a transition point in America’s own story, when transphobia and toxic masculinity are under fire even as they thrive in the highest halls of power. Carl’s quest to become himself and to reckon with his masculinity mirrors, in many ways, the challenge before the country as a whole, to imagine a society where every member can have a vibrant, livable life. Here, through this brave and deeply personal work, Carl brings an unparalleled new voice to this conversation.

Download or read book Best Life written by and published by . This book was released on 2006-06 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Best Life magazine empowers men to continually improve their physical, emotional and financial well-being to better enjoy the most rewarding years of their life.

Download or read book Earthweeds written by Rod Little and published by Starbase One. This book was released on 2017-06-27 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the end of the world - it's the start of something new, with origins both puzzling and terrifying. A green fog descends over every major city in the world, and the populations disappear one by one. By nightfall, every living soul in every metropolis is gone. Earth grinds to a halt. Only a few stragglers are alive in the rural countryside. When Sam and his brother return from a mountain camping trip, they find only empty city streets. Alone, they look for any survivors to give them answers. The next day, lizards the size of Komodo dragons flood the city and attack the remaining humans. When these creatures are confronted by giant spiders, the two species fight each other for the remaining food supply.... with the humans caught in the middle. - A teenage boy with electric powers - stemming from his DNA. - His brother with a strong iron will. - A college student who can understand and communicate with animals. - A scientist with a secret. - And a band of psychopaths with an agenda of their own. Defending each other from the evils of men and creatures alike, the last humans must race to unravel the mystery of the empty cities, the swarming creatures, and the disappearance of humankind. Invasion sparked a mystery, then a nightmare... and finally the courage to take back our planet! "Earthweeds takes its time revealing its greatest twists and surprises, keeping readers on their toes..." — BookLife Prize, Publishers Weekly (rated 9/10 for Plot/Idea and Originality) "A fast-paced sci-fi thrill ride..." -Top2040 SciFi "Earthweeds is a fun read that moves quickly and rarely takes a breather." - Amazing Stories Magazine Earthweeds is Book 1 in the Sons of Neptune saga (358 pages in paperback version)

Download or read book For the Love of an Angel written by Frank Anjakos and published by Three Knolls Publishing. This book was released on 2014-02-01 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the Love of an Angel A love story. A tale of death, heaven and a fallen angel. A tale of treachery and demons and how two immortals from opposite sides work together to solve the murder of a young girl. Hey, Phinn here. I'm an Angel. A 16 year old immortal. You don't know me. You've never seen me. Unless you're a dead teenager and you've been good and live in Southern California (narrows it down, huh?). If that's the case, we've probably met. See, I take the souls of good kids to Heaven, but I'm not allowed to interact with the living...which makes high school, being on the soccer team and writing for the school newspaper a little difficult. As an angel, I play by the rules. My "arch-frenemy" Iszn, the demon who takes the bad kids to Hell, breaks all the rules...which is why he's one of the most popular kids in school. Iszn's hobbies are football, human girls, football, torturing me, football and evil....did I mention football? Anyway, as an Angel I try not to have any direct contact with humans...well, that is until I met this girl. Actually, until she met me...it's kind of complicated. That's one of the reasons I write my blog...to let you guys in on a world you probably didn't even know existed...until it's too late, anyway. But this world does exist, and it's about to get complicated. There are some deaths we can't explain and only Iszn and I seem to want to get to the bottom of them. It's going to cost us...a lot, but we can't let it go. So ya, enjoy the blog...comment if you want. I read all the comments and try to respond. And don't let Iszn freak you out...to my knowledge, he's never actually eaten anyone's face. Cya inside :)

Download or read book Magic for Beginners written by Kelly Link and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2006 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All-new collection of magical stories from slapstick comedy to Gothic horror.