Download or read book Hudson Lake written by Laura Mazzuca Toops and published by Writers Collective. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the summer of 1926, the Jean Goldkette jazz band, led by sax player Frankie Trumbauer and featuring 23-year-old cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, landed a season-long gig at the Blue Lantern dance hall on Hudson Lake in rural Indiana. The culture clash that resulted between the gin-swilling band members and the stuffy townspeople, fueled by Indiana Klansmen on one hand and Chicago gangsters on the other, is the subject of Toops' evocative jazz-age novel. At the center of the tale is the mercurial Beiderbecke, whose star shone brightly but briefly in the jazz world.

Download or read book Skinny Dipping at Monster Lake written by Bill Wallace and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-08-12 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kent doesn't believe in monsters. But he knows he saw two gleaming yellow eyes beneath the surface of Cedar Lake when he and his buddies were camping at the lake. When he sneaks out alone a few nights later to investigate, the eyes return -- and they seem to be following him. Kent and his friends are determined to solve the mystery of the Cedar Lake monster. But what they discover one dark summer night is just as surprising as a monster -- and just as dangerous.

Download or read book Seveneves written by Neal Stephenson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-05-19 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon comes an exciting and thought-provoking science fiction epic—a grand story of annihilation and survival spanning five thousand years. What would happen if the world were ending? A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space. But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . . Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth. A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant.

Download or read book My Lake Baby written by Rose Rossner and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2021-05-01 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Share the magic of lake life with your little one in this sweet board book for babies and toddlers, a great Easter gift! Wake up, Lake Baby, and welcome to another fun day at the lake! Enjoy building sand castles, swimming, fishing at the dock, a picnic dinner, exploring nature, and so much more! From boat rides to campfire s'mores, explore the world with your Lake Baby. Celebrate all the places where you and Baby learn, laugh, love, and play! From waking in the morning to saying Good Night, take a fun journey through all the places and activities you and Baby love to share. Whether you're exploring the city or the suburbs; the mountains or the country; the lake or the beach; these cute and clever books will bring your Baby's world to life. For babies and toddlers age 0-3, these sturdy board books are built for read-a-longs, family vacations, travel, and precious together time. Adorable baby animal illustrations and delightful rhyming text help build listening and memory skills. A sweet gift for boys and girls. Perfect for baby showers, new parents, birthdays, Valentine's Day, and the Fourth of July. Also a great Easter basket and Christmas stocking stuffer.

Download or read book The Lake Effect written by Erin McCahan and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-07-11 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A funny, bracing, poignant YA romance and coming-of-age for fans of Huntley Fitzpatrick, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and The Beginning of Everything lake effect | n. 1. The effect of any lake, especially the Great Lakes, in modifying the weather in nearby areas 2. The effect of elderly ladies, mysterious girls, and countless funerals, in upending your life, one summer at the beach It’s the summer after senior year, and Briggs Henry is out the door. He's leaving behind his ex-girlfriend and his parents’ money troubles for Lake Michigan and its miles of sandy beaches, working a summer job as a personal assistant, and living in a gorgeous Victorian on the shore. It's the kind of house Briggs plans to buy his parents one day when he’s a multi-millionaire. But then he gets there. And his eighty-four-year-old boss tells him to put on a suit for her funeral. So begins a summer of social gaffes, stomach cramps, fraught beach volleyball games, moonlit epiphanies, and a drawer full of funeral programs. Add to this Abigail, the mystifying girl next door on whom Briggs's charms just won’t work, and “the lake effect” is taking on a whole new meaning. Smart, funny, and honest, The Lake Effect is about realizing that playing along is playing it safe, and that you can only become who you truly are if you’re willing to take the risk. "Vibrant and smart . . . Perfect to tote around on vacation." —Bustle “Every word glows with brilliance." —Francisco X. Stork, author of Marcelo in the Real World "Dazzlingly hilarious . . . Erin McCahan is the reigning queen of summer YA reads." —PopSugar “Observant, sarcastic, compelling, and very funny.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Summer romance at its best." —HelloGiggles “The perfect smart, beachside read. . . . Unforgettable.” —Stephanie Elliot, author of Sad Perfect "Elegant and touching." —Publishers Weekly “Refreshingly honest and real. . . . An absolute must-read.” —Elise Allen, co-author of Elixir “Funny and poignant." —PureWow "Thought provoking—and at times hilarious . . . A great summer read." —SLJ

Download or read book Under a Firefly Moon written by Donna Kauffman and published by Zebra Books. This book was released on 2020-01-28 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Amazon Best of the Year Selection Blue Hollow Falls may be a small Blue Ridge Mountain town, but it’s big on love—and second chances . . . When former barrel racer Cheyenne McCafferty left the circuit, she left her past behind too. Now, as part owner of Lavender Blue farm, she’s content rescuing and rehabbing horses, and growing a new business. She’s only got one regret: letting go of Wyatt Reed. When he professed his love, she was too young and foolish to know her heart. After that he disappeared. But when his beloved horse turns up on the auction block, Chey makes a bid and wins more than she bargained for . . . Chey believed she was ready to face Wyatt again, to explain herself. But seeing the man he’s become, she’s unsure. Gone is the quiet, gentle boy she knew. In his place is a rugged, confident adventurer who’s seen the world. Yet the longer Wyatt sticks around, the clearer it is that the feelings of their youth aren’t so easily dismissed now that they’re adults. In fact, the timing may be just right to make the dreams they’ve shared under a firefly moon come true . . . Praise for Donna Kauffman “Readers will appreciate the wonderful sense of place, the well-rounded secondary characters and the deep emotion.” —Bookpage, TOP PICK “We all know where there's Donna Kauffman, there's a rollicking, sexy read chock‐full of charm and sparkle.” —USAToday.com “Charming characters, emotion galore, a small town—you’re going to love Donna Kauffman!” —Lori Foster

Download or read book Family on the Loose written by Bill Richards and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pack your bags, hop a plane, and take a trip! Embarking on a journey with your kids can be a thrilling and rewarding adventure. Family travel is also a great way to expand your cultural horizons and help cultivate our next generation of global citizens. This book offers hundreds of easy-to-use ideas for:* Drumming up excitement for the journey ahead* Teaching your kids to pack themselves* Having fun at the airport and on the plane* Easing jetlag and schedule changes* Involving everyone in setting itineraries and expectations * Making museums and tourist stops engaging for everyone* Enriching your travel experience through journaling* Keeping the joy of the journey alive long after your return* Discovering cultural education in your own back yardThis book is intended for well-seasoned travelers and newbies alike who enjoy being with their children, want to enrich their education, and are excited to discover, as a family, the vast and unique experiences this world has to offer.

Download or read book Lake of the Ozarks written by Bill Geist and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beloved TV host Bill Geist pens a reflective memoir of his incredible summers spent in the heart of America in this New York Times bestseller. Before there was "tourism" and souvenir ashtrays became "kitsch," the Lake of the Ozarks was a Shangri-La for middle-class Midwestern families on vacation, complete with man-made beaches, Hillbilly Mini Golf, and feathered rubber tomahawks. It was there that author Bill Geist spent summers in the Sixties during his school and college years working at Arrowhead Lodge -- a small resort owned by his bombastic uncle -- in all areas of the operation, from cesspool attendant to bellhop. What may have seemed just a summer job became, upon reflection, a transformative era where a cast of eccentric, small-town characters and experiences shaped (some might suggest "slightly twisted") Bill into the man he is today. He realized it was this time in his life that had a direct influence on his sensibilities, his humor, his writing, and ultimately a career searching the world for other such untamed creatures for the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, and CBS News. In Lake of the Ozarks, Emmy Award-winning CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Bill Geist reflects on his coming of age in the American Heartland and traces his evolution as a man and a writer. He shares laugh-out-loud anecdotes and tongue-in-cheek observations guaranteed to evoke a strong sense of nostalgia for "the good ol' days." Written with Geistian wit and warmth, Lake of the Ozarks takes readers back to a bygone era, and demonstrates how you can find inspiration in the most unexpected places.

Download or read book Little Blue Truck written by Alice Schertle and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2009 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A small blue truck finds his way out of a jam, with a little help from his friends.

Download or read book BLUE HIGHWAYS Revisited written by Edgar I. Ailor and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 2012-05-25 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1978, William Least Heat-Moon made a 14,000-mile journey on the back roads of America, visiting 38 states along the way. In 1982, the popular Blue Highways, which chronicled his adventures, was published. Three decades later, Edgar Ailor III and his son, Edgar IV, retraced and photographed Heat-Moon’s route, culminating in Blue Highways Revisited, released for publication on the thirtieth anniversary of Blue Highways. A foreword by Heat-Moon notes, "The photographs, often with amazing accuracy, capture my verbal images and the spirit of the book. Taking the journey again through these pictures, I have been intrigued and even somewhat reassured that America is changing not quite so fast as we often believe. The photographs, happily, reveal a recognizable continuity – but for how much longer who can say – and I'm glad the Ailors have recorded so many places and people from Blue Highways while they are yet with us." Through illustrative photography and text, Ailor and his son capture once more the local color and beauty of the back roads, cafes, taverns, and people of Heat-Moon’s original trek. Almost every photograph in Blue Highways Revisited is referenced to a page in the original work. With side-by-side photographic comparisons of eleven of Heat-Moon’s characters, this new volume reflects upon and develops the memoir of Heat-Moon’s cross-country study of American culture and spirit. Photographs of Heat-Moon’s logbook entries, original manuscript pages, Olympia typewriter, Ford van, and other artifacts also give readers insight into Heat-Moon’s approach to his trip. Discussions with Heat-Moon about these archival images provide the reader insight into the travels and the writing of Blue Highways that only the perspective of the author could provide. Blue Highways Revisited reaffirms that the "blue highway" serves as a romantic symbol of the free and restless American spirit, as the Ailors lose themselves to the open road as Heat-Moon did thirty years previously. This book reminds readers of the insatiable attraction of the “blue highway”—“But in those brevities just before dawn and a little after dusk—times neither day or night—the old roads return to the sky some of its color. Then, in truth, they carry a mysterious cast of blue, and it's that time when the pull of the blue highway is strongest, when the open road is a beckoning, a strangeness, a place where a man can lose himself” (Introduction to Blue Highways).

Download or read book A Bolt from the Blue written by Jennifer Woodlief and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-06-12 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of "A Wall of White," the thrilling account of a spectacular mountain rescue after six climbers are struck by lightning in the Upper Exum Ridge of the Grand Teton near a 13,000-foot elevation.

Download or read book Bad Monkey written by Carl Hiaasen and published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. This book was released on 2013-06-11 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coming as an Apple Original series from Ted Lasso Executive Producer Bill Lawrence and starring Vince Vaughn • A wickedly funny novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Squeeze Me in which the greedy, the corrupt, and the degraders of what’s left of pristine Florida—now, of the Bahamas as well—get their comeuppance. “[A] comedic marvel … [Hiaasen] hasn’t written a novel this funny since Skinny Dip.”—The New York Times Andrew Yancy—late of the Miami Police and soon-to-be-late of the Monroe County sheriff’s office—has a human arm in his freezer. There’s a logical (Hiaasenian) explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its shadowy owner. Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, the sheriff might rescue him from his grisly Health Inspector gig (it’s not called the roach patrol for nothing). But first—this being Hiaasen country—Yancy must negotiate an obstacle course of wildly unpredictable events with a crew of even more wildly unpredictable characters, including his just-ex lover, a hot-blooded fugitive from Kansas; the twitchy widow of the frozen arm; two avariciously optimistic real-estate speculators; the Bahamian voodoo witch known as the Dragon Queen, whose suitors are blinded unto death by her peculiar charms; Yancy’s new true love, a kinky coroner; and the eponymous bad monkey, who with hilarious aplomb earns his place among Carl Hiaasen’s greatest characters.

Download or read book The Lake House written by Marci Nault and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-05-07 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A heartwarming debut novel about the unlikely friendship between two outcasts of different generations who, in struggling to move on from the past, discover love, healing, and family in a charming New England lakeside community. Achingly tender, yet filled with laughter, The Lake House brings to life the wide range of human emotions and the difficult journey from heartbreak to healing. VICTORIA ROSE. Fifty years before, a group of teenage friends promised each other never to leave their idyllic lakeside town. But the call of Hollywood and a bigger life was too strong for Victoria . . . and she alone broke that pledge. Now she has come home, intent on making peace with her demons, even if her former friends shut her out. Haunted by tragedy, she longs to find solace with her childhood sweetheart, but even this tender man may be unable to forgive and forget. HEATHER BREGMAN. At twenty-eight, after years as a globe-trotting columnist, she’s abandoned her controlling fiancé and their glamorous city life to build one on her own terms. Lulled by a Victorian house and a gorgeous locale, she’s determined to make the little community her home. But the residents, fearful of change and outsiders, will stop at nothing to sabotage her dreams of lakeside tranquility. As Victoria and Heather become unlikely friends, their mutual struggle to find acceptance—with their neighbors and in their own hearts—explores the chance events that shape a community and offer the opportunity to start again.

Download or read book The Girl of the Lake written by Bill Roorbach and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2017-06-27 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nine richly varied, often funny, always moving stories that reveal the complex workings of the human heart. Bill Roorbach conjures vivid characters whose layered interior worlds feel at once familiar and extraordinary. He first made his mark as the winner of an O. Henry Prize for the title story of Big Bend, his first collection, which won the Flannery O’Connor Award. His new collection, The Girl of the Lake, captures a virtuoso in his prime. Roorbach’s characters are unforgettable: among them an adventurous boy who learns what courage really is when an aging nobleman recounts history to him; a couple hiking through the mountains whose vacation and relationship ends catastrophically; a teenager being pursued by three sisters all at once; a tech genius who exacts revenge on his wife and best friend over a stolen kiss from years past. These moving and funny stories are as rich in scope, emotional, and memorable as Bill Roorbach’s novels. He has been called “a kinder, gentler John Irving...a humane and entertaining storyteller with a smooth, graceful style” (the Washington Post), and his work has been described as “hilarious and heartbreaking, wild and wise” (Parade magazine), all of which is evident in spades (and also hearts, clubs, and diamonds) in every story in this arresting new collection.

Download or read book The Lake of Dreams written by Kim Edwards and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-01-04 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Kim Edwards, the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Memory Keeper's Daughter, an arresting novel of one family's secret history Imbued with all the lyricism, compassion, and suspense of her bestselling novel, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards’s The Lake of Dreams is a powerful family drama and an unforgettable story of love lost and found. Lucy Jarrett is at a crossroads in her life, still haunted by her father's unresolved death a decade earlier. She returns to her hometown in Upstate New York, The Lake of Dreams, and, late one night, she cracks the lock of a window seat and discovers a collection of objects. They appear to be idle curiosities, but soon Lucy realizes that she has stumbled across a dark secret from her family's past, one that will radically change her—and the future of her family—forever. The Lake of Dreams will delight those who loved The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, as well as fans of Anna Quindlen and Sue Miller.

Download or read book The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid written by Bill Bryson and published by Crown. This book was released on 2006-10-17 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of the world's most beloved writers and New York Times bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s. Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid." Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and of his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends. Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.

Download or read book The Blue Castle written by L.M. Montgomery and published by Lindhardt og Ringhof. This book was released on 2022-07-14 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 29 and unmarried, gasp! - can you think of anything worse? In 1920s rural Canada, Valancy Stirling is considered "past it" and with a controlling, nagging mother and petty gossips for relatives she feels trapped in the life she has ended up in and when she is diagnosed with a terminal heart condition and given a year to live, it seems she will die without ever experiencing happiness. And so, she rebels. She leaves her family home slamming the door as she does and moves in with her old friend Cissy and starts working as a housekeeper. The independence is intoxicating - as is a growing friendship with local man, Barney Snaith. It looks as though Valancy will have love to warm her heart in her final months. But secrets on both sides threaten to ruin things. The intoxicating story of love and loss is perfect for fans of Elizabeth Gaskell and Jodie Picoult. Lucy Maud (L.M.) Montgomery was a Canadian author best known for a series of children's books beginning with 'Anne of Green Gables'. The books were a huge hit in her lifetime and were recently made in the Netflix series 'Anne with an E'. Montgomery published 20 novels, 530 short stories, 500 poems and 30 essays in her lifetime. Most were set in Canada's smallest province, Prince Edward Island.