Download or read book The Face of a Naked Lady written by Michael Rips and published by HMH. This book was released on 2006-06-12 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A son uncovers the remarkable secret life of his midwestern father—and his Nebraska city—in this “beguiling [and] deeply unusual” memoir (The Boston Sunday Globe). Nick Rips’s son had always known him as a conservative midwesterner, dedicated, affable, bland to the point of invisibility. Upon his father’s death, however, Michael Rips returned to his Omaha family home to discover a hidden portfolio of paintings—all done by his father, all of a naked black woman. His solid Republican father, Michael would eventually discover, had an interesting past and another side to his personality. Raised in one of Omaha’s most famous brothels, Nick had insisted on hiring a collection of social misfits to work in his eyeglass factory—and had once showed up in his son’s high school principal’s office in pajamas. As Michael searches for the woman in the paintings, he meets, among others, an African American detective who swears by the clairvoyant powers of a Mind Machine, a homeless man with five million dollars in the bank, an underwear auctioneer, and a flying trapeze artist on her last sublime ride. Ultimately, in his investigations through his Nebraska hometown, he will discover the mysterious woman—as well as a father he never knew, and a profound sense that all around us the miraculous permeates the everyday. “Writing with similar pain and urgency as Nick Flynn in Another Bullshit Night in Suck City and August Kleinzahler in Cutty, One Rock, Rips’ terse, flinty syntax perfectly embodies the hard-boiled nature of this nearly surreal true-life tale.” —Booklist “An amazing, beautiful book—a study of a certain family in a certain place at a certain time that gives us, in stunning shorthand, the reality of America.” —Joan Didion, author of The White Album “At once a lyrical family portrait, a philosophical inquiry, a bittersweet evocation of a lost time and place, and an enthralling domestic mystery.” —Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief “Quirky, funny, moving, and immensely readable . . . a brilliantly observed story about place, family, and race in America.” —Randall Kennedy

Download or read book The Face of a Naked Lady written by Michael Rips and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2005 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rips returns to his Omaha family home to discover a hidden portfolio of paintings--all done by his late father, all of a naked black woman. So begins a gloriously funny yet deeply serious gem of a book that offers more than a little redemption in our cynical times.

Download or read book How Do You Grab a Naked Lady written by Sharon L. Hicks and published by Abbott Press. This book was released on 2012-10-29 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How Do You Grab a Naked Lady? is a sexy, horrific, funny, honest-to-the-bone memoir, with many interesting twists and turns. Sharon was torn between two opposing forces, her mother and dad. Her dad was an idealist, nothing but the best for his daughter. But with her mother, there was a bit of a problem. Mother was irrational, charming, seductive, unpredictable, and a brilliant woman with tendencies towards emotional outbursts, foul language and parading naked in public. Not the role model young Sharon wanted. Only choice left: Dads dream of the white picket fence, including squeaky-clean husband, two children, a beautiful home and enough financial security so that his daughter would never need to work. Sharon continually searched for the squeaky clean husband and the white picket fence. But she had two failed marriages. And many, many men. Too many. She came up empty. Sharon began to question her Dads dream of the white picket fence. Eventually she discovered the answer in the most unlikely sourceher Mother.

Download or read book Bureau of Missing Persons written by Roger J. Porter and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2011-05-06 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A devoted reader of autobiographies and memoirs, Roger J. Porter has observed in recent years a surprising number of memoirs by adult children whose fathers have led secret lives. Some of the fathers had second families; some had secret religious lives; others have been criminals, liars, or con men. Struck by the intensely human drama of secrecy and deception played out for all to see, Porter explores the phenomenon in great depth. In Bureau of Missing Persons he examines a large number of these works—eighteen in all—placing them in a wide literary and cultural context and considering the ethical quandaries writers face when they reveal secrets so long and closely held. Among the books Porter treats are Paul Auster’s The Invention of Solitude, Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir Fun Home, Essie Mae Washington-Williams’s Dear Senator (on her father, Strom Thurmond), Bliss Broyard’s One Drop, Mary Gordon’s The Shadow Man, and Geoffrey Wolff’s The Duke of Deception. He also discusses Nathaniel Kahn’s documentary film, My Architect. These narratives inevitably look inward to the writer as well as outward to the parent. The autobiographical children are compelled, if not consumed, by a desire to know. They become detectives, piecing together clues to fill memory voids, assembling material and archival evidence, public and private documents, letters, photographs, and iconic physical objects to track down the parent.

Download or read book Naked written by Eliza Redgold and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-07-14 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We know her name. We know of her naked ride. We don't know her true story. We all know the legend of Lady Godiva, who famously rode naked through the streets of Coventry, covered only by her long, flowing hair. So the story goes, she begged her husband Lord Leofric of Mercia to lift a high tax on her people, who would starve if forced to pay. Lord Leofric demanded a forfeit: that Godiva ride naked on horseback through the town. There are various endings to Godiva's ride, that all the people of Coventry closed their doors and refused to look upon their liege lady (except for ‘peeping Tom') and that her husband, in remorse, lifted the tax. Naked is an original version of Godiva's tale with a twist that may be closer to the truth: by the end of his life Leofric had fallen deeply in love with Lady Godiva. A tale of legendary courage and extraordinary passion, Naked brings an epic story new voice.

Download or read book The Naked Woman written by Desmond Morris and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2005 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Internationally bestselling author and world-famous human behaviorist Desmond Morris turns his attention to the female form, taking the reader on a guided tour of the female body from head to toe. Highlighting the evolutionary functions of various physiological traits, Morris's study explores the various forms of enhancement and constraint that human societies have developed in the quest for the perfect female form. This is very much vintage Desmond Morris, delivered in his trademark voice: direct, clear, focused, and communicating what is often complex detail in simple language. In THE NAKED WOMAN, Desmond builds on his unrivalled experience as an observer of the human animal while tackling one of his most fascinating and challenging subjects to date. -- Publisher description.

Download or read book The Written and the Visual written by Małgorzata Łuczyńska-Hołdys and published by V&R Unipress. This book was released on 2021-06-07 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author investigates the points of contact between literature, visual arts and feminist criticism by offering fresh readings of selected Romantic and Victorian poems about women and a discussion of their wide-ranging visual history – a subject which has not yet been undertaken in a book-length study. The innovative feature of the project lies in its scope and merit: extensive readings of 19th century poetry, informed by carefully chosen critical approaches, are followed by a rich overview and analysis of visual renderings of the poems in question. Łuczyńska-Hołdys has succeeded in bringing to light previously unknown or undiscussed works, and reappraised many well-known paintings and illustrations.

Download or read book Open the Unusual Door written by Barbara Summers and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2005 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains stories about sixteen African Americans who became successful in a wide range of activities.

Download or read book The Outside Groove written by Erik E. Esckilsen and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2006 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Casey LaPlante wanted nothing to do with racecar driving. What was so impressive about making a bunch of left turns, one after another? But from what she had seen as the sister of Fliverton’s newest stock-car hero, Wade "the Blade” LaPlante, her whole town was interested in little else. Next to her brother, she felt invisible. Even her parents seemed to ignore her athletic victories and academic successes. With so much of her family’s income being poured into Wade’s racing career, she wasn’t even sure her parents would help pay her college tuition. So one late-April evening, Casey decides to get behind the wheel and claim a little of the attention she had been denied. After all, how hard could racecar driving be? But as the first female driver at Demon’s Run racetrack, she finds getting up to speed more challenging than she’d expected. Casey soon discovers there’s more to stock-car racing than driving around in circles, and more to winning than being first to cross the finish line. Action and suspense run high as Casey navigates some tight corners, on and off the track, showing everyone--especially herself--just what she’s made of.

Download or read book The 8th Heaven written by Naim Hasan and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2007 with total page 674 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book carries you into a deep human spirit into one human soul. It gives you a deep look at human life; in its past, present, and future. This book is a good screenplay. It helps you to find yourself, in life, and to let you know who you are as a human soul. The Eighth Heaven will demonstrate that to you, the book will also tell you that the aliens have a great power of energy and a great sense of direction; in the human soul, as well as life and it demonstrates which way the worlds should go in the human deepest soul. It tells you how the heart can take on an evil soul; how your good soul can change into evil. The beast, called Eve, a.k.a. Lucifer is an evil spirit. We all have some Eve in us, but if we let evil spirits turn our hearts, minds, and souls into animals, then we have lost our human soul. This book also talks about how the land lords and the masters come down on Earth from the eighth heaven to help Adam kill Eve. After six thousand years, and after the death of Christ, Adam is to build up good human souls on Earth. We all have some animal instinct. Sometimes, that instinct can take over our entire bodies, including our minds and souls. If we do not learn how to control that animal within us, the animal will be in control. We will no longer have control over our souls, minds, or bodies. The book also talks about how the god's angel is in control in the eighth heaven. The gods have the power to change our souls back to good. The god's angels, masters, and lords have a duty to carry out with their power, whether it is earth, wind, fire, or water. They have that power in God's world today.

Download or read book In the Land of the Living written by Austin Ratner and published by Hachette+ORM. This book was released on 2013-03-12 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dazzling story of fathers, sons, and brothers - bound by love, divided by history. The Auberons are a lovably neurotic, infernally intelligent family who love and hate each other-and themselves -- in equal measure. Driven both by grief at his young mother's death and war with his distant, abusive immigrant father, patriarch Isidore almost attains the life of his dreams: he works his way through Harvard and then medical school; he marries a beautiful and even-keeled girl; in his father-in-law, he finds the father he always wanted; and he becomes a father himself. He has talent, but he also has rage, and happiness is not meant to be his for very long. Isidore's sons, Leo and Mack, haunted by the mythic, epic proportions of their father's heroics and the tragic events that marked their early lives, have alternately relied upon and disappointed one another since the day Mack was born. For Leo, who is angry at the world but angrier at himself, the burden of the past shapes his future: sexual awakening, first love, and restless attempts live up to his father's ideals. Just when Leo reaches a crossroads between potential self-destruction and new freedom, Mack invites him on a road trip from Los Angeles to Cleveland. As the brothers make their way east, and towards understanding, their battles and reconciliations illuminate the power of family to both destroy and empower-and the price and rewards of independence. Part family saga, part coming-of-age story, In the Land of the Living is a kinetic, fresh, bawdy yet earnest shot to the heart of a novel about coping with death, and figuring out how and why to live.

Download or read book The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head written by Gary Small and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-09-28 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Stories of human behavior at its most extreme….With humor, compassion, empathy, and insight, Small searches for and finds the humanity that lies hidden under even the most bizarre symptoms.” —Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind A psychiatrist’s stories of his most bizarre cases, The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head by Gary Small, M.D., and Gigi Vorgan—co-authors of The Memory Bible—offers a fascinating and highly entertaining look into the peculiarities of the human mind. In the vein of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Awakenings, and the other bestselling works of Oliver Sacks, The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head surprises, enthralls, and illuminates as it focuses on medical mysteries that would stump and amaze the brilliant brains on House, M.D.

Download or read book The Morozov Inheritance written by Geoffrey Lambert and published by DoctorZed Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A banker's throat is cut in the driveway of his Sydney home, triggering a chain of events that had been set into motion one hundred years earlier on the other side of the world. In Moscow at the turn of the twentieth century, Senior Investigator Maksim Rysakov is investigating the brutal murders of young women by a clever and psychopathic serial killer. From each victim, the murderer takes a gruesome trophy. The only clue is "a man who walks like a wolf." Two World Wars and a Cold War later, The Morozov Inheritance is about to reach its devastating conclusion

Download or read book Crimes of Passion written by Barbara Vaka and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crimes of Passion, the latest novel from author Barbara Vaka, is an intriguing blend of mystery, revenge, romance, and mayhem taking readers on a round-the-world action adventure. Crimes of Passion explores crimes against women. Human Trafficking affects thousands of women and children every year. A large number of the workers in this multi-billion dollar shadow market are ensnared in the web of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. It is difficult to determine the actual number of women who have fallen victim to this illegal industry; the trade is highly secretive, the traffickers behind it are dangerous and the incidents under-reported. Gleaning from this unbecoming global phenomenon, author Barbara Vaka pens Crimes of Passion, a novel that gives voice to the thousands of women embroiled in a life of slavery. The story picks up where it left off in Pretty Maids with Alex MacKay, an MI6 agent and his partner Asad al-Katib, a former trafficker, who put their lives on the line to rescue unsuspecting women who have fallen prey to human traffickers. In Crimes of Passion they face a new challenge when confronted with an underground ring of fanatical criminals profiting from the illegal practice of circumcising girls as young as two with the willing help of their mothers and relatives. Alex takes the law into his own hands vowing to save as many children as possible and to avenge the death of one of the small victims. Crimes of Passion is a fictional story based on the truth about the exploitation of unsuspecting women by human traffickers. It also touches on the horrific practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) formally known as circumcision of women. Crimes of Passion takes the reader from the streets of London, to the deserts of Egypt, and the great forbidden kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Barbara Vaka conducted actual research to expose the true horrors of human trafficking, particularly the incidents involving groups controlled by the elusive Russian Mafia. She also explores the contradictions of a modern society that is still bound by its past and gives readers an insightful look at modern Islamic culture. Her novel is set in the Middle East and unravels into a gripping tale of crime, corruption and raw passion. The story is based on the plight of thousands of young women from all over the world who have been lured and fallen prey to slavery and the horrific practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Download or read book The Renaissance Nude written by Thomas Kren and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2018-11-20 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gloriously illustrated examination of the origins and development of the nude as an artistic subject in Renaissance Europe Reflecting an era when Europe looked to both the classical past and a global future, this volume explores the emergence and acceptance of the nude as an artistic subject. It engages with the numerous and complex connotations of the human body in more than 250 artworks by the greatest masters of the Renaissance. Paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, and book illustrations reveal private, sometimes shocking, preoccupations as well as surprising public beliefs—the Age of Humanism from an entirely new perspective. This book presents works by Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, and Martin Schongauer in the north and Donatello, Raphael, and Giorgione in the south; it also introduces names that deserve to be known better. A publication this rich in scholarship could only be produced by a variety of expert scholars; the sixteen contributors are preeminent in their fields and wide-ranging in their knowledge and curiosity. The structure of the volume—essays alternating with shorter texts on individual artworks—permits studies both broad and granular. From the religious to the magical and the poetic to the erotic, encompassing male and female, infancy, youth, and old age, The Renaissance Nude examines in a profound way what it is to be human.

Download or read book Faces in the Smoke written by Ruth Hallam and published by Balboa Press. This book was released on 2024-05-02 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A story of love, hate, murder and witchcraft. Strength and survival through generations, battling against a terrifying curse that will blight an entire bloodline. This is the story of a witch called Beatrice, whose curse upon her family’s bloodline has long reaching consequences for her descendants. Tess is the first to be the victim of her aunt’s curse, being that there will be no living male born to the bloodline. As the strong female characters of this story must survive this curse, lasting and loving relationships are developed. The story will take us back through Beatrice’s life, how through desperation and manipulation she turns to prostitution at the early age of 15, in the year of 1619. It will tell of her attachment to a young girl in very similar circumstances, who both cling to each other and become non-blood sisters. They will go through untold hardship at the hands of local gentry, and meet his long-suffering child bride wife, where, between the three of them, they will develop a bond through love, and sisterhood. Beatrice and her sisters will learn the art of witchcraft, initially use of concoctions and remedies, but as tragedy befalls the three, their witchcraft turns dark and will ultimately end in their capture and death. The curse will not die with them.

Download or read book The Naked Woman written by Armonía Somers and published by Feminist Press at CUNY. This book was released on 2018-11-01 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A woman’s feminist awakening drives a hypocritical village to madness in rural Uruguay in this "wild, brutal paean to freedom" (NPR.org). Shortlisted for the National Translation Award "Somers' feminism is profound, and complicated." —NPR.org “A surreal, nightmarish book about women’s struggle for autonomy—and how that struggle is (always, inevitably) met with violence.” —Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties When The Naked Woman was originally published in 1950, critics doubted a woman writer could be responsible for its shocking erotic content. In this searing critique of Enlightenment values, fantastic themes are juxtaposed with brutal depictions of misogyny and violence, and frantically build to a fiery conclusion. Finally available to an English-speaking audience, Armonía Somers will resonate with readers of Clarice Lispector, Djuna Barnes, and Leonora Carrington.