Download or read book Rides of the Midway A Novel written by Lee Durkee and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2002-04-17 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With this eruptive debut novel, Durkee...has just kicked in the door of Southern literature."—Salon.com Meet Mississippi teenager Noel Weatherspoon: ghost-seeing insomniac, endearing dopehead, wanna-be erotic photographer, and possible Baptist faith healer. Noel, who prefers The Exorcist to Ecclesiastes, must navigate a world of Bible-thumpers, born-again Christians, and a stepfather who bears an uncanny resemblance to Billy Graham. Darkly comic and lyrically moving, Rides of the Midway introduces a formidable new talent in contemporary fiction.
Download or read book Mystic of the Midway written by Aaron Blair and published by Histria Books. This book was released on 2023-10-31 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A well-crafted debut novel that offers serious food for thought for young readers, without being too scary Effie knew she wasn't the same after her accident but didn't realize how different she had become until her family vacation. When Effie begins to hear whispers and have visions things get really strange! Effie finds a love letter to her mother that isn't from her father! A strange mystery girl seems to follow her wherever she goes but vanishes before Effie can confront her. Even the rides in the amusement park begin to speak to her! Effie wonders; is she going crazy? Are all the things that are happening trying to tell her something? The perfect mystery story for those who love Crystal Beach and it's popular amusement park that was closed down in 1989.
Download or read book Carny written by Peter Fenton and published by Umbrage Editions. This book was released on 2007 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the relentless, wacky, eerie energy of old-time American summers and Carnivals through vivacious imagery.
Download or read book Stalking Shakespeare written by Lee Durkee and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-04-18 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A darkly humorous and spellbinding detective story that chronicles one Mississippi man’s relentless search for an authentic portrait of William Shakespeare. Following his divorce, down-and-out writer and Mississippi exile Lee Durkee holed himself up in a Vermont fishing shack and fell prey to a decades-long obsession with Shakespearian portraiture. It began with a simple premise: despite the prevalence of popular portraits, no one really knows what Shakespeare looked like. That the Bard of Avon has gotten progressively handsomer in modern depictions seems only to reinforce this point. Stalking Shakespeare is Durkee’s fascinating memoir about a hobby gone awry, the 400-year-old myriad portraits attached to the famous playwright, and Durkee’s own unrelenting search for a lost picture of the Bard painted from real life. As Durkee becomes better at beguiling curators into testing their paintings with X-ray and infrared technologies, we get a front-row seat to the captivating mysteries—and unsolved murders—surrounding the various portraits rumored to depict Shakespeare. Whisking us backward in time through layers of paint and into the pages of obscure books on the Elizabethans, Durkee travels from Vermont to Tokyo to Mississippi to DC and ultimately to London to confront the stuffy curators forever protecting the Bard’s image. For his part, Durkee is the adversary they didn’t know they had—a self-described dilettante with nothing to lose, the “Dan Brown of English portraiture.” A lively, bizarre, and surprisingly moving blend of biography, art history, and madness, Stalking Shakespeare is as entertaining as it is rigorous and will forever change the way you look at one of history’s greatest cultural and literary icons.
Download or read book The Last Taxi Driver written by Lee Durkee and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2022-09-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Kirkus Best Book of 2020 “A wild, funny, poetic fever dream that will change the way you think about America.” —George Saunders Hailed by George Saunders as “a true original—a wise and wildly talented writer,” Lee Durkee takes readers on a high-stakes cab ride through an unforgettable shift. Meet Lou—a lapsed novelist, struggling Buddhist, and UFO fan—who drives for a ramshackle taxi company that operates on the outskirts of a north Mississippi college town. With Uber moving into town and his way of life vanishing, his girlfriend moving out, and his archenemy dispatcher suddenly returning to town on the lam, Lou must finish his bedlam shift by aiding and abetting the host of criminal misfits haunting the back seat of his disintegrating Town Car. Lou is forced to decide how much he can take as a driver, and whether keeping his job is worth madness and heartbreak. Shedding nuts and bolts, The Last Taxi Driver careens through highways and back roads, from Mississippi to Memphis, as Lou becomes increasingly somnambulant and his fares increasingly eccentric. Equal parts Bukowski and Portis, Durkee’s darkly comic novel is a feverish, hilarious, and gritty look at a forgotten America and a man at life’s crossroads.
Download or read book Midway Dreams written by David Shew & Rhonda Shew Orttenburger and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2014-03-11 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Young girls and boys are fascinated with all types of horses. They love to pet them, talk to them, and get to know them. Let your children get to know a horse called Midway today and share his dreams
Download or read book Always Cedar Point written by Hugo John Hildebrandt and published by . This book was released on 2018-10-12 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forty Years of Stories from the World's Greatest Amusement Park.
Download or read book Monster of the Midway written by Jim Dent and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jim Dent's Monster of the Midway is the story of football's fiercest competitor, the legendary Bronko Nagurski. From his discovery in the middle of a Minnesota field to his 1943 comeback season at Wrigley, from the University of Minnesota to the Hall of Fame, Bronko Nagurksi's life is a story of grit, hard work, passion, and, above all, an unstoppable drive to win. Monster of the Midway recounts Nagurski's unparalleled triumphs during the 1930s and '40s, when the Chicago Bears were the kings of professional football. From 1930, the Bronk's first year, through 1943, his last, the Bears won five NFL titles and played in four other NFL Championship Games. Focusing on Nagurski's 1943 comeback season, and how he miraculously led the Bears to their fourth NFL championship against the backdrop of World War II era Chicago, Jim Dent uncovers the riveting drama of Nagurski's playing days. His efforts were the stuff of legend, and his success in 1943 accomplished in spite of a battered frame, worn-out knees, multiple cracked ribs, and a broken bone in his lower back. While chronicling the drama of the '43 championship chase, Dent also tells of both the Bears' colorful early years and Bronko's improbable rise to fame from the backwoods of northern Minnesota. Woven into the narrative are the sights and smells and sounds of one of the most romantic, flavorful eras of the twentieth century. And laced through it all are stories of legend: Bronko rubbing shoulders with colorful characters like George Halas, Red Grange, Sid Luckman, and Sammy Baugh; Bronko running into (and breaking) the brick wall at Wrigley Field; Bronko winning All-American spots for two positions; Bronko knocking scores of opponents unconscious; and Bronko reaching the heights of football glory and, with rare grace, turning his back on the game after winning his last championship. Rich in unforgettable stories and scenes, this is Jim Dent's account of Bronko Nagurski-arguably the greatest football player who ever lived-and his teammates, the roughest, toughest, rowdiest group of players ever to don leather helmets, and the original Monsters of the Midway.
Download or read book Midway Monkey Madness written by Sarah Stephens and published by Capstone. This book was released on 2011 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "When a carnival comes to Metropolis, the evil ape Gorilla Grodd turns a festival of fun into a day of destruction! Beppo the Super-Monkey, along with the Wonder Twins and their space chimp, Gleek, must stop his midway madness"--P. [4] of cover.
Download or read book The Eagle s Claw written by Jeff Shaara and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2022-06-07 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In a “riveting” (Booklist) tale that picks up where To Wake the Giant left off, Jeff Shaara transports us to the Battle of Midway in another masterpiece of military historical fiction. Spring 1942. The United States is reeling from the blow the Japanese inflicted at Pearl Harbor. But the Americans are determined to turn the tide. The key comes from Commander Joe Rochefort, a little known “code breaker” who cracks the Japanese military encryption. With Rochefort’s astonishing discovery, Admiral Chester Nimitz will know precisely what the Japanese are planning. But the battle to counter those plans must still be fought. From the American side, the shocking conflict is seen through the eyes of Rochefort and Admiral Nimitz, as well as fighter pilot Lieutenant Percy “Perk” Baker and Marine Gunnery Sergeant Doug Ackroyd. On the Japanese side, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is the mastermind. His key subordinates are Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, aging and infirm, and Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi, a firebrand who has no patience for Nagumo’s hesitation. Together, these two men must play out the chess game designed by Yamamoto, without any idea that the Americans are anticipating their every move on the sea and in the air. Jeff Shaara recounts in electrifying detail what happens when these two sides finally meet, in what will be known ever after as one of the most definitive and heroic examples of combat ever seen. In The Eagle’s Claw, he recounts, with his trademark you-are-there immediacy and signature depth of research, one single battle that changed not only the outcome of a war but the course of our entire global history. The story of Midway has been told many times, but never before like this.
Download or read book James Taylor s Shocked and Amazed written by James Taylor and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the world's only publication devoted to sideshow, James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed! On & Off the Midway is chock-full of carnival and circus midway madness and mayhem. Hear the truth behind this uniquely American art form from the lips of the human marvels themselves! Shocked and Amazed! invites you to explore and satisfy your curiosity for the strange, the weird, the bizarre, the odd and the unusual.Witness never-before-seen photographs from the personal collections of sideshow superstars from yesteryear! Marvel at the sideshow stories presented personally for your pleasure by sideshow performers! Thrill to these titillating tales of laughter and woe on the sawdust trail from the likes of: Frank Lentini, who could kick a football the length of the midway with his third leg; Melvin Burkhart, the Human Blockhead who could pound six-inch spikes into his head; Harold Huge, the sideshow fat man who needs "Six Gals to Hug Him, and a Boxcar to Lug Him"; Percilla the Monkey Girl and her husband, Emmitt the Alligator Skin Man; Bill Durks, the Man with Three Eyes and many, many more. (7 x 10, 288 pages, b&w photos)
Download or read book Mississippi Noir written by Ace Atkins and published by Akashic Books. This book was released on 2016-07-11 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology of Mississippi crime fiction “has produced a unique, delicious flavor of noir” with stories by Ace Atkins, Megan Abott and more (New York Daily News). From poverty to state corruption, Mississippi has a well-deserved reputation for trouble. Could there be a connection between its many misfortunes and its rich literary legacy? Mississippians from Tennessee Williams and Eudora Welty to Richard Ford and John Grisham certainly know how to tell a good story. Now Mississippi Noir offers “a devilishly wrought introduction” to a new generation of “writers with a feel for Mississippi who are pursuing lonely, haunting paths of the imagination” (Associated Press). Mississippi Noir includes brand-new stories by Ace Atkins, William Boyle, Megan Abbott, Jack Pendarvis, Dominiqua Dickey, Michael Kardos, Jamie Paige, Jimmy Cajoleas, Chris Offutt, Michael Farris Smith, Andrew Paul, Lee Durkee, Robert Busby, John M. Floyd, RaShell R. Smith-Spears, and Mary Miller.
Download or read book The Raft written by S. A. Bodeen and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-08-21 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robbie's last-minute flight to the Midway Atoll proves to be a nightmare when the plane goes down in shark-infested waters. Fighting for her life, the co-pilot Max pulls her onto the raft, and that's when the real terror begins.
Download or read book The Ride of Her Life written by Elizabeth Letts and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The triumphant true story of a woman who rode her horse across America in the 1950s, fulfilling her dying wish to see the Pacific Ocean, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Horse and The Eighty-Dollar Champion “The gift Elizabeth Letts has is that she makes you feel you are the one taking this trip. This is a book we can enjoy always but especially need now.”—Elizabeth Berg, author of The Story of Arthur Truluv In 1954, sixty-three-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money and no family, she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. She ignored her doctor’s advice to move into the county charity home. Instead, she bought a cast-off brown gelding named Tarzan, donned men’s dungarees, and headed south in mid-November, hoping to beat the snow. Annie had little idea what to expect beyond her rural crossroads; she didn’t even have a map. But she did have her ex-racehorse, her faithful mutt, and her own unfailing belief that Americans would treat a stranger with kindness. Annie, Tarzan, and her dog, Depeche Toi, rode straight into a world transformed by the rapid construction of modern highways. Between 1954 and 1956, the three travelers pushed through blizzards, forded rivers, climbed mountains, and clung to the narrow shoulder as cars whipped by them at terrifying speeds. Annie rode more than four thousand miles, through America’s big cities and small towns. Along the way, she met ordinary people and celebrities—from Andrew Wyeth (who sketched Tarzan) to Art Linkletter and Groucho Marx. She received many offers—a permanent home at a riding stable in New Jersey, a job at a gas station in rural Kentucky, even a marriage proposal from a Wyoming rancher. In a decade when car ownership nearly tripled, when television’s influence was expanding fast, when homeowners began locking their doors, Annie and her four-footed companions inspired an outpouring of neighborliness in a rapidly changing world.
Download or read book Incredible Victory written by Walter Lord and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2012-03-06 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The “remarkable” New York Times bestseller about the battle in the Pacific that turned the tide of World War II—from the author of The Miracle of Dunkirk (Los Angeles Times). On the morning of June 4, 1942, doom sailed on Midway. Hoping to put itself within striking distance of Hawaii and California, the Japanese navy planned an ambush that would obliterate the remnants of the American Pacific fleet. On paper, the Americans had no chance of winning. They had fewer ships, slower fighters, and almost no battle experience. But because their codebreakers knew what was coming, the American navy was able to prepare an ambush of its own. Over two days of savage battle, American sailors and pilots broke the spine of the Japanese war machine. The United States prevailed against momentous odds; never again did Japan advance. In stunning detail, Walter Lord, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Day of Infamy and A Night to Remember, tells the story of one of the greatest upsets in naval history. “Graphic and realistic . . . not an impersonalized account of moves on the chessboard of war, [but] a story of individual people facing crucial problems.” —The New York Times
Download or read book The Unknown Battle of Midway written by Alvin Kernan and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2005-11-11 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A memoir and more . . . Kernan brings this maritime battle superbly to life. . . . And he narrates the air assault in gripping detail” (The Wall Street Journal). The Battle of Midway is considered the greatest US naval victory, but behind the luster is the devastation of the American torpedo squadrons. Of the 51 planes sent to attack Japanese carriers only 7 returned, and of the 127 aircrew only 29 survived. Not a single torpedo hit its target. A story of avoidable mistakes and flawed planning, The Unknown Battle of Midway reveals the enormous failures that led to the destruction of four torpedo squadrons but were omitted from official naval reports: the planes that ran out of gas, the torpedoes that didn’t work, the pilots who had never dropped torpedoes, and the breakdown of the attack plan. Alvin Kernan, who was present at the battle, has written a troubling but persuasive analysis of these and other little-publicized aspects of this great battle. The standard navy tactics for carrier warfare are revealed in tragic contrast to the actual conduct of the battle and the after-action reports of the ships and squadrons involved. “An incisive and laconic writer, Kernan knows his facts and presents them with deep feeling. A World War II must-read.” —Booklist “I read The Unknown Battle of Midway in one sitting. It is a momentous piece of work, reeking of the authenticity of carrier warfare as experienced by the flight crews.” —Sir John Keegan, author of A History of Warfare “An emotionally powerful story, not merely one of war but of its lasting effects.” —The Times Literary Supplement
Download or read book Sprout written by Dale Peck and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2009-06-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moving from Long Island to Kansas after his mother dies, a teenager nicknamed Sprout deals with his father's drinking, his own sexuality, and a teacher who is determined to turn him into a winning essay writer.
