Download or read book Where d You Go Bernadette written by Maria Semple and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2012-08-14 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A misanthropic matriarch leaves her eccentric family in crisis when she mysteriously disappears in this "whip-smart and divinely funny" novel that inspired the movie starring Cate Blanchett (New York Times). Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect; and to 15-year-old Bee, she is her best friend and, simply, Mom. Then Bernadette vanishes. It all began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle -- and people in general -- has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic. To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, and secret correspondence -- creating a compulsively readable and surprisingly touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.
Download or read book Today Will Be Different written by Maria Semple and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliant novel and instant New York Times bestseller from the author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette, about a day in the life of Eleanor Flood, forced to abandon her small ambitions and awake to a strange, new future. Eleanor knows she's a mess. But today, she will tackle the little things. She will shower and get dressed. She will have her poetry and yoga lessons after dropping off her son, Timby. She won't swear. She will initiate sex with her husband, Joe. But before she can put her modest plan into action, life happens. Today, it turns out, is the day Timby has decided to fake sick to weasel his way into his mother's company. It's also the day Joe has chosen to tell his office -- but not Eleanor -- that he's on vacation. Just when it seems like things can't go more awry, an encounter with a former colleague produces a graphic memoir whose dramatic tale threatens to reveal a buried family secret. Today Will Be Different is a hilarious, heart-filled story about reinvention, sisterhood, and how sometimes it takes facing up to our former selves to truly begin living.
Download or read book This One Is Mine written by Maria Semple and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2008-12-04 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Violet Parry is living the quintessential life of luxury in the Hollywood Hills with David, her rock-and-roll manager husband, and her darling toddler, Dot. She has the perfect life -- except that she's deeply unhappy. David expects the world of Violet but gives little of himself in return. When she meets Teddy, a roguish small-time bass player, Violet comes alive, and soon she's risking everything for the chance to find herself again. Also in the picture are David's hilariously high-strung sister, Sally, on the prowl for a successful husband, and Jeremy, the ESPN sportscaster savant who falls into her trap. For all their recklessness, Violet and Sally will discover that David and Jeremy have a few surprises of their own. This One is Mine is a compassionate and wickedly funny satire about our need for more -- and the often disastrous choices we make in the name of happiness.
Download or read book The Rebel Mama s Handbook for Cool Moms written by Nikita Stanley and published by FriesenPress. This book was released on 2018-04-24 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you’re a mom (or mom-to-be) who wants to raise decent human beings, maintain your pre-baby identity, and not lose your sh*t along the way, congrats: you’ve just found the parenting book of your dreams. The Rebel Mama’s Handbook for (Cool) Moms is a girlfriend’s guide to early motherhood. It’s the Coles Notes for all those boring baby books you never read. It’s the instruction manual you wish your kid(s) came with - complete with cocktail list. Welcome to motherhood. Let’s do this.
Download or read book Garnethill written by Denise Mina and published by Random House. This book was released on 1999 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mental breakdown survivor Maureen is about to end her affair with a married man when she discovers his body in her living room, his throat slit. Suspected of murder, Maureen must act fast - before the real killer comes after her.
Download or read book West of Here written by Jonathan Evison and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A novel that is part historical and part modern contracts the lofty goals of the pioneers that settled a peninsula in Washington State with the trivial pursuits of its present-day inhabitants. By the author of All About Lulu.
Download or read book Good Eggs written by Rebecca Hardiman and published by Atria Books. This book was released on 2021-03-02 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A joyous, exuberantly fun-filled novel of second chances. An absolute delight from start to finish!” —Sarah Haywood, New York Times bestselling author “Bracing, hilarious, warm, this novel is as wayward and mad as the human heart.” —Judy Blundell, New York Times bestselling author A hilarious and heartfelt debut novel following three generations of a boisterous family whose simmering tensions boil over when a home aide enters the picture, becoming the calamitous force that will either undo or remake this family—perfect for fans of Where’d You Go, Bernadette and Evvie Drake Starts Over. When Kevin Gogarty’s irrepressible eighty-three-year-old mother, Millie, is caught shoplifting yet again, he has no choice but to hire a caretaker to keep an eye on her. Kevin, recently unemployed, is already at his wits’ end tending to a full house while his wife travels to exotic locales for work, leaving him solo with his sulky, misbehaved teenaged daughter, Aideen, whose troubles escalate when she befriends the campus rebel at her new boarding school. Into the Gogarty fray steps Sylvia, Millie’s upbeat home aide, who appears at first to be their saving grace—until she catapults the Gogarty clan into their greatest crisis yet. With charm, humor, and pathos to spare, Good Eggs is a delightful study in self-determination; the notion that it’s never too late to start living; and the unique redemption that family, despite its maddening flaws, can offer.
Download or read book How to Raise a Reader written by Pamela Paul and published by Workman Publishing Company. This book was released on 2019-09-03 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An indispensable guide to welcoming children—from babies to teens—to a lifelong love of reading, written by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo, editors of The New York Times Book Review. Do you remember your first visit to where the wild things are? How about curling up for hours on end to discover the secret of the Sorcerer’s Stone? Combining clear, practical advice with inspiration, wisdom, tips, and curated reading lists, How to Raise a Reader shows you how to instill the joy and time-stopping pleasure of reading. Divided into four sections, from baby through teen, and each illustrated by a different artist, this book offers something useful on every page, whether it’s how to develop rituals around reading or build a family library, or ways to engage a reluctant reader. A fifth section, “More Books to Love: By Theme and Reading Level,” is chockful of expert recommendations. Throughout, the authors debunk common myths, assuage parental fears, and deliver invaluable lessons in a positive and easy-to-act-on way.
Download or read book I Regret Everything written by Seth Greenland and published by Europa Editions. This book was released on 2015-02-03 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of The Angry Buddhist: “An intoxicating and ultimately moving modern romance . . . A story that’s all the sweeter for its shadows” (Los Angeles Review of Books). I Regret Everything confronts the oceanic uncertainty of what it means to be alive, and in love. Jeremy Best, a Manhattan-based trusts and estates lawyer, leads a second life as published poet Jinx Bell. To his boss’s daughter, Spaulding Simonson, at thirty-three years old, Jeremy is already halfway to dead. When Spaulding, an aspiring nineteen-year-old writer, discovers Mr. Best’s alter poetic ego, the two become bound by a devotion to poetry, and an awareness that time in this world is limited. Their budding relationship strikes at the universality of love and loss, as Jeremy and Spaulding confront their vulnerabilities, revealing themselves to one another and the world for the very first time. A skilled satirist with a talent for biting humor, Seth Greenland creates fully realized characters that quickly reveal themselves as complex renderings of the human condition—at its very best, and utter worst. I Regret Everything explores happiness and heartache with a healthy dose of skepticism, and an understanding that the reality of love encompasses life, death, iambic pentameter, regret, trusts, and estates. “Affecting and funny.” —The New York Times “Edgy and sweet, witty and wise, I Regret Everything is rollicking good fun. It’s also, in the end, a deeply moving love story between two unforgettable characters discovering what it means to truly be alive.” —Maria Semple, New York Times–bestselling author of Where’d You Go Bernadette “A poignant story of dreams and the way they can crash into the reality of the dreamers.” —Booklist
Download or read book Mr Loverman written by Bernardine Evaristo and published by Akashic Books. This book was released on 2014-03-10 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[Evaristo’s] chef d’oeuvre; a masterful dissection of the life of a 74 year-old, British-Caribbean gay man.” —The Huffington Post * Winner of the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction * A Top Ten Favorite of the American Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table’s 2015 Over the Rainbow List Barrington Jedidiah Walker is seventy-four and leads a double life. Born and bred in Antigua, he’s lived in Hackney, London, for years. A flamboyant, wisecracking character with a dapper taste in retro suits, and a fondness for Shakespeare, Barrington is a husband, father, grandfather—and also secretly gay lovers with his childhood friend, Morris. His deeply religious and disappointed wife, Carmel, thinks he sleeps with other women. When their marriage goes into meltdown, Barrington wants to divorce Carmel and live with Morris, but after a lifetime of fear and deception, will he manage to break away? With an abundance of laugh-out-loud humor and wit, Mr. Loverman explodes cultural myths and shows the extent of what can happen when people fear the consequences of being true to themselves. “Evaristo’s confident control of the language, her vibrant use of humor, rhythm and poetry, and the realistic mix of Caribbean patois with both street and the Queen’s English . . . fix characters in the reader’s mind.” —The New York Times Book Review “The novel proves to be revolutionary in its honest portrayal of gay men . . . and Evaristo’s writing is both intelligible and compelling.” —Library Journal “Evaristo crafts a colorful look at a unique character confronting social normativity with a well-tuned voice and a resonant humanity.” —Publishers Weekly
Download or read book A Window Opens written by Elisabeth Egan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Alice Pearse thought she would live happily ever after...then she realized she was in the wrong story...[and] realizes the question is not whether it's possible to have it all, but what does she--Alice Pearse--really want?"--
Download or read book Astonish Me written by Maggie Shipstead and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling author of Great Circle—for years Joan has been trying to forget her past, to find peace and satisfaction in her role as wife and mother. Few in her drowsy California suburb know her thrilling history: as a young American ballerina in Paris, she fell into a doomed, passionate romance with Soviet dance superstar Arslan Rusakov. After playing a leading role in his celebrated defection, Joan bowed out of the spotlight for good, heartbroken by Arslan and humbled by her own modest career. But when her son turns out to be a ballet prodigy, Joan is pulled back into a world she thought she'd left behind—a world of dangerous secrets, of Arslan, and of longing for what will always be just out of reach. “The inner lives of [Shipstead’s] characters feel as real and immediate as the shifting settings they inhabit: still-gritty mid-1970s Manhattan, shabbily elegant Paris, the sunbaked suburban sprawl of Southern California.” —Entertainment Weekly
Download or read book Be Frank With Me written by Julia Claiborne Johnson and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-02-02 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AN AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION ADULT DEBUT HONOR BOOK WINNER OF THE AUDIE AWARD FOR BEST FEMALE NARRATOR LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER A sparkling talent makes her fiction debut with this infectious novel that combines the charming pluck of Eloise, the poignant psychological quirks of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and the page-turning spirit of Where’d You Go, Bernadette. Reclusive literary legend M. M. “Mimi” Banning has been holed up in her Bel Air mansion for years. But after falling prey to a Bernie Madoff-style ponzi scheme, she’s flat broke. Now Mimi must write a new book for the first time in decades, and to ensure the timely delivery of her manuscript, her New York publisher sends an assistant to monitor her progress. The prickly Mimi reluctantly complies—with a few stipulations: No Ivy-Leaguers or English majors. Must drive, cook, tidy. Computer whiz. Good with kids. Quiet, discreet, sane. When Alice Whitley arrives at the Banning mansion, she’s put to work right away—as a full-time companion to Frank, the writer’s eccentric nine-year-old, a boy with the wit of Noel Coward, the wardrobe of a 1930s movie star, and very little in common with his fellow fourth-graders. As she slowly gets to know Frank, Alice becomes consumed with finding out who Frank’s father is, how his gorgeous “piano teacher and itinerant male role model” Xander fits into the Banning family equation—and whether Mimi will ever finish that book. Full of heart and countless “only-in-Hollywood” moments, Be Frank with Me is a captivating and unconventional story of an unusual mother and son, and the intrepid young woman who finds herself irresistibly pulled into their unforgettable world.
Download or read book Fishbowl written by Bradley Somer and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2015-08-04 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A goldfish catches intimate glimpses of life as he plummets to his fate in this “irrepressible novel—breezy, funny, sexy, and bursting with life” (Tom Perrotta). A goldfish named Ian is falling from the 27th-floor balcony on which his fishbowl sits. He’s longed for adventure, so when the opportunity arises, he escapes from his bowl, clears the balcony railing and finds himself airborne. Plummeting toward the street below, Ian witnesses the lives of the Seville on Roxy residents. There’s the handsome grad student, his girlfriend, and the other woman; the construction worker who feels trapped by a secret; the building’s super who feels invisible and alone; the pregnant woman on bed rest who craves a forbidden ice cream sandwich; the shut-in for whom dirty talk, and quiche, are a way of life; and home-schooled Herman, a boy who thinks he can travel through time. Though they share time and space, they have something even more important in common: each faces a decision that will affect the course of their lives. Within the walls of the Seville are stories of love, new life, and death, of facing the ugly truth of who one has been and the beautiful truth of who one can become.
Download or read book Lily and the Octopus written by Steven Rowley and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A national bestseller combining the emotional depth of The Art of Racing in the Rain with the magical spirit of The Life of Pi, “Lily and the Octopus is the dog book you must read this summer” (The Washington Post). Ted—a gay, single, struggling writer is stuck: unable to open himself up to intimacy except through the steadfast companionship of Lily, his elderly dachshund. When Lily’s health is compromised, Ted vows to save her by any means necessary. By turns hilarious and poignant, an adventure with spins into magic realism and beautifully evoked truths of loss and longing, Lily and the Octopus reminds us how it feels to love fiercely, how difficult it can be to let go, and how the fight for those we love is the greatest fight of all. Introducing a dazzling and completely original new voice in fiction and an unforgettable hound that will break your heart—and put it back together again. Remember the last book you told someone they had to read? Lily and the Octopus is the next one. “Startlingly imaginative...this love story is sure to assert its place in the canine lit pack...Be prepared for outright laughs and searing or silly moments of canine and human recognition. And grab a tissue: “THERE! WILL! BE! EYE! RAIN!” (New York Newsday).
Download or read book What Was Your Name Downriver written by Anthony Lowe and published by . This book was released on 2020-04-16 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE WITCHER MEETS TRUE GRIT Evaline Cartwright: war veteran, bounty hunter, known to many in Ariasun County by her thoroughly-earned appellation, "Calamity Cartwright." Trivan Esterhazy: a woman gravely wounded, hoping to find a better life for herself in more civilized parts of the nation. The two have only just met, both riding a steamboat north through the county to escape foul dealings in their respective lives, but a violent attack by a rogue mage has ensured their abrupt alliance. Armed with Evaline's wits and weaponry and Trivan's instincts and common sense, the women will have to plot their way through hostile territory and wild woods in the hopes of defeating the mage and freeing themselves of its volatile magicks. What Was Your Name Downriver? is an introduction to The Shattered Frontier, a Tolkien-esque fantasy world that has advanced into an age of steam, gunslingers and gold rushes. Follow Evaline and Trivan in their adventures across one of the most hostile counties in the land, replete with scoundrels of all shapes, sizes, and magickal ability. CONTENTS: What Was Your Name Downriver?, a novella "The Horse Thieves of Ariasun County," a short story "Gunfight at the Thornmount Colossus," a short story ***RUNNER-UP FOR THE 2016 BAEN BOOKS FANTASY-ADVENTURE AWARD***
Download or read book Break My Heart 1 000 Times written by Daniel Waters and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2012-10-16 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Living in the aftermath of the Event means that seeing the dead is now a part of life, but Veronica wishes that the ghosts would just move on. Instead, the ghosts aren't disappearing-they're gaining power. When Veronica and her friend, Kirk, decide to investigate why, they stumble upon a more sinister plot than they ever could have imagined. One of Veronica's high school teachers is crippled by the fact that his dead daughter has never returned as a ghost, and he's haunted by the possibility that she's waiting to reappear within a fresh body. Veronica seems like the perfect host. And even if he's wrong, what's the harm in creating one more ghost? From critically acclaimed Generation Dead author Daniel Waters, comes a delectably creepy and suspenseful thriller. Break My Heart 1,000 Times will leave readers with the chills. Or is that a ghost reading over the page? Adapted as the feature film I Still See You starring Bella Thorne.
