Download or read book Sitting Pretty written by Rebekah Taussig and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-08-25 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most. Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted as something monstrous (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). None of this felt right; and as she got older, she longed for more stories that allowed disability to be complex and ordinary, uncomfortable and fine, painful and fulfilling. Writing about the rhythms and textures of what it means to live in a body that doesn’t fit, Rebekah reflects on everything from the complications of kindness and charity, living both independently and dependently, experiencing intimacy, and how the pervasiveness of ableism in our everyday media directly translates to everyday life. Disability affects all of us, directly or indirectly, at one point or another. By exploring this truth in poignant and lyrical essays, Taussig illustrates the need for more stories and more voices to understand the diversity of humanity. Sitting Pretty challenges us as a society to be patient and vigilant, practical and imaginative, kind and relentless, as we set to work to write an entirely different story.

Download or read book A Lady s Guide to Selling Out written by Sally Franson and published by Dial Press. This book was released on 2018-04-10 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With “elements of The Bold Type, Mad Men, and The Devil Wears Prada” (Entetainment Weekly), a young woman navigates a tricky twenty-first-century career—and the trickier question of who she wants to be—in this savagely wise debut novel Casey Pendergast is losing her way. Once a book-loving English major, Casey lands a job at a top ad agency that highly values her ability to tell a good story. Her best friend thinks she’s a sellout, but Casey tells herself that she’s just paying the bills—and she can’t help that she has champagne taste. When her hard-to-please boss assigns her to a top-secret campaign that pairs literary authors with corporations hungry for upmarket cachet, Casey is both excited and skeptical. But as she crisscrosses America, wooing her former idols, she’s shocked at how quickly they compromise their integrity: A short-story writer leaves academia to craft campaigns for a plus-size clothing chain, a reclusive nature writer signs away her life’s work to a manufacturer of granola bars. When she falls in love with one of her authors, Casey can no longer ignore her own nagging doubts about the human cost of her success. By the time the year’s biggest book festival rolls around in Las Vegas, it will take every ounce of Casey’s moxie to undo the damage—and, hopefully, save her own soul. Told in an unforgettable voice, with razor-sharp observations about everything from feminism to pop culture to social media, A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out is the story of a young woman untangling the contradictions of our era and trying to escape the rat race—by any means necessary. Praise for A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out “Bitingly funny . . . [Sally] Franson’s snappy debut nimbly skewers the high-flying world of advertising and romance in the age of social media. . . . Franson’s irresistibly flawed heroine holds her own as she strives to find honesty, meaning, and even love in a demanding world, resulting in an addictive, escapist novel.”—Publishers Weekly “A high-spirited heroine loses herself in a vortex of modern striving in this debut novel. . . . Come for the hilarious narration, stay for the whirlwind plot, luxuriate in the satirical gleam.”—Kirkus Reviews “A wry, observant take on career success and ambition.”—New York Post “A book lover is torn between a cushy gig and . . . well, her soul, basically.”—Cosmopolitan

Download or read book Animal Wife written by Lara Ehrlich and published by Red Hen Press. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this award-winning debut collection, fifteen magical realism stories portray girls and women searching for an escape from their everyday lives. “In villages where women bore most of the weight of a constricted life, witches flew by night on broomsticks,” said Italo Calvino of the way imagination bridges the gap between everyday existence and an idealized alternative . . . The fifteen stories of Animal Wife are unified by girls and women who cross this threshold seeking liberation from family responsibilities, from societal expectations, from their own minds. A girl born with feathers undertakes a quest for the mother who abandoned her. An indecisive woman drinks Foresight, only to become stymied by the futures branching before her. A proofreader cultivates a cage-fighting alter ego. A woman becomes psychologically trapped in her car. A girl acts on her desire for a childhood friend as a monster draws closer to the shore. A widow invites a bear to hibernate in her den . . . Animal Wife was selected as the winner of the Red Hen Fiction Award by New York Times– bestselling author Ann Hood, who says, “From the first sentence Animal Wife grabbed me and never let go. Sensual and intelligent, with gorgeous prose, it made me dizzy with its exploration and illumination of the inner and outer lives of girls and women.” Praise for Animal Wife “Whimsy and fantasy meet the way things really turn out in stories from a strong new voice.” —Kirkus Reviews “Strange, funny, fearsome, Animal Wife is a gorgeous book, weird in its very bones.” —Elizabeth McCracken, author of Bowlaway: A Novel “Lara Ehrlich has written a collection of stories that allow for escapism.” —F(r)iction “I was particularly intrigued by the way Lara beautifully portrays the inner struggle between wildness and domesticity, the surreal elements of each story lending a mythical complexity to these conflicts. Really lovely and thought-provoking. Perfect for fans of Aimee Bender, Karen Russell, and Angela Carter.” —Joy Baglio, founder of Pioneer Valley Writer’s Workshop

Download or read book Shit Cassandra Saw written by Gwen E. Kirby and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-01-11 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Kirby has mastered the art of short fiction…A stunning collection from a writer whose talent and creativity seem boundless.” —NPR “Kirby takes joy in subverting the reader’s expectations at every turn. Her characters might be naïve, even reckless, but they aren’t about to be victims: They’re strong, and brave, and nearly always capable of rescuing themselves.” —New York Times Book Review Margaret Atwood meets Buffy in these funny, warm, and furious stories of women at their breaking points, from Hellenic times to today. Cassandra may have seen the future, but it doesn't mean she's resigned to telling the Trojans everything she knows. In this ebullient collection, virgins escape from being sacrificed, witches refuse to be burned, whores aren't ashamed, and every woman gets a chance to be a radioactive cockroach warrior who snaps back at catcallers. Gwen E. Kirby experiments with found structures--a Yelp review, a WikiHow article--which her fierce, irreverent narrators push against, showing how creativity within an enclosed space undermines and deconstructs the constraints themselves. When these women tell the stories of their triumphs as well as their pain, they emerge as funny, angry, loud, horny, lonely, strong protagonists who refuse to be secondary characters a moment longer. From "The Best and Only Whore of Cym Hyfryd, 1886" to the "Midwestern Girl Is Tired of Appearing in Your Short Stories," Kirby is playing and laughing with the women who have come before her and they are telling her, we have always been this way. You just had to know where to look.

Download or read book Unexpectedly Milo written by Matthew Dicks and published by Crown. This book was released on 2010-08-03 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of SOMETHING MISSING returns with another hilarious and sneakily profound tale about a man whose behavior is truly odd, but also oddly relatable. Milo Slade, a thirty-three year old home healthcare aide, is witnessing the rapid dissolution of his three-year marriage to a polished, high-powered attorney named Christine. Though Milo doesn't quite know the root of his marital problems, he inevitably blames himself, or more specifically, he faults the demands his obsessive compulsive personality place upon him--the need to open a jar of Smuckers grape jelly or sing 99 Luftballons in front of an audience, to name just a couple. Yet Christine is still none the wiser about these inexplicable quirks as Milo has painstakingly hidden them from her and everyone else for years. No one knows the true--and in his mind more insidious--Milo, and such is the root of his profound loneliness, especially now that he and Christine are living apart during a trial separation. Then one day Milo stumbles across a video camera and tapes, left behind in a park. He watches the first tape, which is a heartfelt confessional by a young woman who begins to reveal her secrets, starting small at first, and finally revealing that she blames herself for a tragic death of a friend. But not all the details add up and Milo is struck with the urge to free the sweet confessor from her guilt. He is, after all, an expert in keeping secrets… In typical screwball fashion, Milo sets out on a cross-country journey to crack the case, but quickly gets sidetracked as his un-ignorable demands call. But it is during these sidetracks that the true meaning of his adventure takes shape. Milo is weird, but as he discovers, so is everyone else. UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO is a humorous and touching novel about finding oneself, embracing the journey, and, unexpectedly, love.

Download or read book The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs written by Matthew Dicks and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the beloved author of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend comes a wonderful new novel about a broken woman who faces her past and, armed with the perfect comeback, finds a way to set herself free

Download or read book Raising Unicorns written by Jessica S. Marquis and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-08-18 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Includes the rainbow-filled principles for unicornomics!"

Download or read book Deaf Gain written by H-Dirksen L. Bauman and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2014-10-15 with total page 678 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deaf people are usually regarded by the hearing world as having a lack, as missing a sense. Yet a definition of deaf people based on hearing loss obscures a wealth of ways in which societies have benefited from the significant contributions of deaf people. In this bold intervention into ongoing debates about disability and what it means to be human, experts from a variety of disciplines—neuroscience, linguistics, bioethics, history, cultural studies, education, public policy, art, and architecture—advance the concept of Deaf Gain and challenge assumptions about what is normal. Through their in-depth articulation of Deaf Gain, the editors and authors of this pathbreaking volume approach deafness as a distinct way of being in the world, one which opens up perceptions, perspectives, and insights that are less common to the majority of hearing persons. For example, deaf individuals tend to have unique capabilities in spatial and facial recognition, peripheral processing, and the detection of images. And users of sign language, which neuroscientists have shown to be biologically equivalent to speech, contribute toward a robust range of creative expression and understanding. By framing deafness in terms of its intellectual, creative, and cultural benefits, Deaf Gain recognizes physical and cognitive difference as a vital aspect of human diversity. Contributors: David Armstrong; Benjamin Bahan, Gallaudet U; Hansel Bauman, Gallaudet U; John D. Bonvillian, U of Virginia; Alison Bryan; Teresa Blankmeyer Burke, Gallaudet U; Cindee Calton; Debra Cole; Matthew Dye, U of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign; Steve Emery; Ofelia García, CUNY; Peter C. Hauser, Rochester Institute of Technology; Geo Kartheiser; Caroline Kobek Pezzarossi; Christopher Krentz, U of Virginia; Annelies Kusters; Irene W. Leigh, Gallaudet U; Elizabeth M. Lockwood, U of Arizona; Summer Loeffler; Mara Lúcia Massuti, Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil; Donna A. Morere, Gallaudet U; Kati Morton; Ronice Müller de Quadros, U Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil; Donna Jo Napoli, Swarthmore College; Jennifer Nelson, Gallaudet U; Laura-Ann Petitto, Gallaudet U; Suvi Pylvänen, Kymenlaakso U of Applied Sciences; Antti Raike, Aalto U; Päivi Rainò, U of Applied Sciences Humak; Katherine D. Rogers; Clara Sherley-Appel; Kristin Snoddon, U of Alberta; Karin Strobel, U Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil; Hilary Sutherland; Rachel Sutton-Spence, U of Bristol, England; James Tabery, U of Utah; Jennifer Grinder Witteborg; Mark Zaurov.

Download or read book The Big Disruption A Totally Fictional But Essentially True Silicon Valley Story written by Jessica Powell and published by Medium Editions. This book was released on 2019-04-03 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first novel ever published by the digital platform Medium, The Big Disruption surpassed 100,000 readers in its first two weeks online and was described by Farhad Manjoo in The New York Times as "a zany satire [whose] diagnosis of Silicon Valley's cultural stagnancy is so spot on that it's barely contestable."

Download or read book The Two Family House written by Lynda Cohen Loigman and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-03-08 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A moving and evocative debut set in a two-family brownstone in 1950s Brooklyn, unraveling a multigenerational story woven around a deeply buried family secret.

Download or read book The Sadness of Spirits written by Aimee Pogson and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What power does misery play in daily life? In this sorrowful yet intriguing collection of stories, Aimee Pogson explores journeys of suffering through magical realism. A preschool teacher contends with the stream of salmon that keep appearing on her windowsill, in her closet, tucked in her shoes. An invisible boy swallows nails, buttons, and tree bark in a misguided attempt to grow stronger. Spirits cling to a Ouija board, restlessly hoping that someone will remove it from the closet and ask them a question. A young girl who has an existential crisis burns her Barbie dolls at the stake. And a short, dancing man manipulates the melody of molecules in an attempt to bring his loved ones back to life. While sadness weighs heavy in The Sadness of Spirits, Pogson's writing provokes strong emotions, leaving the reader with hope and admiration as the characters are awakened to the nuance and possibility melancholy can bring.

Download or read book The Left Handed Fate written by Kate Milford and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-08-23 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A quest story to find the three pieces of a magical engine which can either win the War of 1812 ... or stop it altogether"--

Download or read book Kid President s Guide to Being Awesome written by Robby Novak and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-02-03 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is LIFE, people! You've got air coming through your nose! You've got a heartbeat! That means it's time to do something!" announces Kid President in his book, Kid President's Guide to Being Awesome. From YouTube sensation (75 million views and counting!) to Hub Network summer series star, Kid President—ten-year-old Robby Novak—and his videos have inspired millions to dance more, to celebrate life, and to throw spontaneous parades. In his Guide to Being Awesome, Kid President pulls together lists of awesome ideas to help the world, awesome interviews with his awesome celebrity friends (he has interviewed Beyoncé!), and a step-by-step guide to make pretty much everything a little bit awesomer. Grab a corn dog and settle in to your favorite comfy chair. Pretend it's your birthday! (In fact, treat everyone like it's THEIR birthday!) Kid President is here with a 240-page, full-color Guide to Being Awesome that'll spread love and inspire the world.

Download or read book Twenty one Truths About Love written by Matthew Dicks and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the beloved author of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend comes a wonderful new novel about a struggling man, written entirely in lists. Daniel Mayrock's life is at a crossroads. He knows the following to be true: 1. He loves his wife Jill... more than anything. 2. He only regrets quitting his job and opening a bookshop a little (maybe more than a little) 3. Jill is ready to have a baby. 4. The bookshop isn’t doing well. Financial crisis is imminent. Dan doesn't know how to fix it. 5. Dan hasn’t told Jill about their financial trouble. 6. Then Jill gets pregnant. This heartfelt story is about the lengths one man will go to and the risks he will take to save his family. But Dan doesn’t just want to save his failing bookstore and his family’s finances: 1. Dan wants to do something special. 2. He’s a man who is tired of feeling ordinary. 3. He’s sick of feeling like a failure. 4. He doesn't want to live in the shadow of his wife’s deceased first husband. Dan is also an obsessive list maker; his story unfolds entirely in his lists, which are brimming with Dan’s hilarious sense of humor, unique world-view, and deeply personal thoughts. When read in full, his lists paint a picture of a man struggling to be a man, a man who has reached a point where he’s willing to do anything for the love (and soon-to-be new love) of his life.

Download or read book Moby Dick Fully Illustrated Edition written by Herman Melville and published by . This book was released on 2021-02-06 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moby Dick or The Whale is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge on Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, the work's genre classifications range from late Romantic to early Symbolist. Moby-Dick was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as a "Great American Novel" was established only in the 20th century, after the centennial of its author's birth. William Faulkner said he wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world and the greatest book of the sea ever written. Its opening sentence, Call me Ishmael, is among world literature's most famous.

Download or read book XXXOOO written by Annie Sprinkle and published by Gates of Heck Incorporated. This book was released on 1997 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 6"" x 6"" full colour postcards perfect bound and,shrinkwrapped.

Download or read book Michael Rosen s Big Book of Bad Things written by Michael Rosen and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2010-08-05 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wonderfully exuberant yet poignant poetry collection from one of Britain's greatest children's poets Michael Rosen. Here are tales of childhood, from the horrors of being late for school, to making a raft, and going to a cafe, as well as poems to ponder - just think, how great would Satnav trousers be! Touching, light-hearted and funny, Michael's poems will delight readers young and old. Former Children's Laureate, Michael continuously promotes the need for children's poetry in our education system, and this collection, first published in 2010, has something for everyone.