Download or read book French General Handmade Soirees written by Kaari Meng and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2009-09-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With Handmade Soires, every hostess can add French charm to her next meal with family and friends. Entertaining becomes effortlessly chic with these 24 table and decorating projects from tastemaker Kaari Meng. Organza chair covers dress up a summer fte; fabric wine totes and roll-out place mats make picnics practical; and all of these projects make guests feel cherished. Plus, Kaari shares the secrets of hosting, including how to set an elegant table, collect and care for vintage dishes and textiles, arrange flowers, and much more. The patterns, how-to illustrations, and step-by-step instructions ensure that beginning and seasoned crafters alike will find it trs simple to achieve polished results. With an exquisitely scalloped cloth spine and 80 dream-worthy photographs, Handmade Soires is as pretty as the projects it proffers.
Download or read book At the Water s Edge written by Carl Zimmer and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1999-09-08 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everybody Out of the Pond At the Water's Edge will change the way you think about your place in the world. The awesome journey of life's transformation from the first microbes 4 billion years ago to Homo sapiens today is an epic that we are only now beginning to grasp. Magnificent and bizarre, it is the story of how we got here, what we left behind, and what we brought with us. We all know about evolution, but it still seems absurd that our ancestors were fish. Darwin's idea of natural selection was the key to solving generation-to-generation evolution -- microevolution -- but it could only point us toward a complete explanation, still to come, of the engines of macroevolution, the transformation of body shapes across millions of years. Now, drawing on the latest fossil discoveries and breakthrough scientific analysis, Carl Zimmer reveals how macroevolution works. Escorting us along the trail of discovery up to the current dramatic research in paleontology, ecology, genetics, and embryology, Zimmer shows how scientists today are unveiling the secrets of life that biologists struggled with two centuries ago. In this book, you will find a dazzling, brash literary talent and a rigorous scientific sensibility gracefully brought together. Carl Zimmer provides a comprehensive, lucid, and authoritative answer to the mystery of how nature actually made itself.
Download or read book In Her Absence written by Antonio Munoz Molina and published by Other Press, LLC. This book was released on 2012-10-30 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[A] translucent novel of passion, illusion and social class....slyly witty and luminous." —Francine Prose in O, The Oprah Magazine During working hours, Mario is a dutiful bureaucrat, scrupulously earning his paycheck as an employee of the provincial Spanish town where he lives. But when he walks through the door of his apartment, he is transformed into the impassioned lover of Blanca, the beautiful, inscrutable wife he saved from the brink of personal crisis. For the love of Blanca, Mario eats sushi and carpaccio, nods in feigned understanding at experimental films, sits patiently through long conversations with her avant-garde friends, and conceals his disgust at shocking art exhibits. Then, little by little, a strange and ominous threat begins to weigh on the marriage. How can love survive its own disappearance? The desperate answer that Antonio Muñoz Molina proposes in this short, circular novella is a model of literary strategy and style, a splendid homage to Flaubert.
Download or read book Freakin Fabulous written by Clinton Kelly and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-10-07 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The co-host of "What Not to Wear" shares his expertise on everything from the importance of tailoring and making the perfect omelet to party planning, table manners, and thank-you notes, with advice on how to become fabulous in every aspect of one's life.
Download or read book Tears in the Darkness written by Michael Norman and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2009-06-09 with total page 958 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This major new work about World War II exposes the myths of military heroism as shallow and inadequate. "Tears in the Darkness" makes clear, with great literary and human power, that war causes suffering for people on all sides.
Download or read book The Shameful Peace written by Frederic Spotts and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2008-12-09 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The German occupation of France from 1940 to 1945 presented wrenching challenges for the nation's artists and intellectuals. Some were able to flee the country; those who remained—including Gide and Céline, Picasso and Matisse, Cortot and Messiaen, and Cocteau and Gabin—responded in various ways. This fascinating book is the first to provide a full account of how France's artistic leaders coped under the crushing German presence. Some became heroes, others villains; most were simply survivors. Filled with anecdotes about the artists, composers, writers, filmmakers, and actors who lived through the years of occupation, the book illuminates the disconcerting experience of life and work within a cultural prison. Frederic Spotts uncovers Hitler's plan to pacify the French through an active cultural life, and examines the unexpected vibrancy of opera, ballet, painting, theater, and film in both the Occupied and Vichy Zones. In view of the longer-term goal to supplant French with German culture, Spotts offers moving insight into the predicament of French artists as they fought to preserve their country's cultural and national identity.
Download or read book Voltaire in Love written by Nancy Mitford and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2012-11-06 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inimitable Nancy Mitford’s account of Voltaire’s fifteen-year relationship with the Marquise du Châtelet—the renowned mathematician who introduced Isaac Newton’s revolutionary new physics to France—is a spirited romp in the company of two extraordinary individuals as well as an erudite and gossipy guide to French high society during the Enlightenment. Mitford’s story is as delicious as it is complicated. The marquise was in love with another mathematician, Maupertuis, while she had an unexpected rival for Voltaire’s affections in the future Frederick the Great of Prussia (and later in the philosophe’s own niece). There was, at least, no jealous husband to contend with: the Marquis du Châtelet, Mitford assures us, behaved perfectly. The beau monde of Paris was, however, distraught at the idea of the lovers’ brilliant conversation going to waste on the windswept hills of Champagne, site of the Château de Cirey, where experimental laboratories, a darkroom, and a library of more than twenty-one thousand volumes enabled them to pursue their amours philosophiques. From time to time the threat of impending arrest would send Voltaire scurrying across the border into Holland, but his irrepressible charm—and the interventions of powerful friends—always made it possible for him resume his studies with the cherished marquise.
Download or read book The Lady and the Panda written by Vicki Croke and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2006-06-13 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is the astonishing true story of Ruth Harkness, the Manhattan bohemian socialite who, against all but impossible odds, trekked to Tibet in 1936 to capture the most mysterious animal of the day: a bear that had for countless centuries lived in secret in the labyrinth of lonely cold mountains. In The Lady and the Panda, Vicki Constantine Croke gives us the remarkable account of Ruth Harkness and her extraordinary journey, and restores Harkness to her rightful place along with Sacajawea, Nellie Bly, and Amelia Earhart as one of the great woman adventurers of all time. Ruth was the toast of 1930s New York, a dress designer newly married to a wealthy adventurer, Bill Harkness. Just weeks after their wedding, however, Bill decamped for China in hopes of becoming the first Westerner to capture a giant panda–an expedition on which many had embarked and failed miserably. Bill was also to fail in his quest, dying horribly alone in China and leaving his widow heartbroken and adrift. And so Ruth made the fateful decision to adopt her husband’s dream as her own and set off on the adventure of a lifetime. It was not easy. Indeed, everything was against Ruth Harkness. In decadent Shanghai, the exclusive fraternity of white male explorers patronized her, scorned her, and joked about her softness, her lack of experience and money. But Ruth ignored them, organizing, outfitting, and leading a bare-bones campaign into the majestic but treacherous hinterlands where China borders Tibet. As her partner she chose Quentin Young, a twenty-two-year-old Chinese explorer as unconventional as she was, who would join her in a romance as torrid as it was taboo. Traveling across some of the toughest terrain in the world–nearly impenetrable bamboo forests, slick and perilous mountain slopes, and boulder-strewn passages–the team raced against a traitorous rival, and was constantly threatened by hordes of bandits and hostile natives. The voyage took months to complete and cost Ruth everything she had. But when, almost miraculously, she returned from her journey with a baby panda named Su Lin in her arms, the story became an international sensation and made the front pages of newspapers around the world. No animal in history had gotten such attention. And Ruth Harkness became a hero. Drawing extensively on American and Chinese sources, including diaries, scores of interviews, and previously unseen intimate letters from Ruth Harkness, Vicki Constantine Croke has fashioned a captivating and richly textured narrative about a woman ahead of her time. Part Myrna Loy, part Jane Goodall, by turns wisecracking and poetic, practical and spiritual, Ruth Harkness is a trailblazing figure. And her story makes for an unforgettable, deeply moving adventure.
Download or read book Fashion Climbing written by Bill Cunningham and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing up in a lace-curtain Irish suburb of Boston, secretly trying on his sister's dresses and spending his evenings after school in the city's chicest boutiques, Cunningham dreamed of a life dedicated to fashion. When he arrived in New York in 1948, he reveled in people-watching. He became a photographer for The New York Times, and after two style mavens took Cunningham under their wing he made a name for himself as a designer. Taking on the alias William J.-- because designing under his family's name would have been a disgrace to his parents--he became one of the era's most outlandish and celebrated hat designers, catering to movie stars, heiresses, and artists alike. Written with his infectious joy and one-of-a-kind voice, this memoir was polished, neatly typewritten, and safely stored away until after his death in 2016 -- adapted from jacket.
Download or read book Love in the Time of Cholera Illustrated Edition written by Gabriel García Márquez and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A beautifully packaged edition of one of García Márquez's most beloved novels, with never-before-seen color illustrations by the Chilean artist Luisa Rivera and an interior design created by the author's son, Gonzalo García Barcha. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs—yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.
Download or read book French General Treasured Notions written by Kaari Meng and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2013-05-21 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gorgeous embellishments from the celebrated craft store inspire you to create your own projects—from a Button Charm Bracelet to an Opera Bag. French steel-cut beads, mother-of-pearl buttons, spools of vintage ribbons . . . This exquisite book showcases the decorative bits flea-market hunters dream of. Hundreds of photos reveal rare European notions from the craft community’s most beloved emporium, Tinsel Trading Company. With these vintage baubles as her inspiration, Kaari Meng shares projects that crafters can make with their own flea-market finds or with contemporary materials they have on hand: a button charm bracelet, whimsical petite prize medals, an heirloom-worthy memory book, shimmering handbags, and more. Kaari’s colorful inspiration boards lend design guidance, while her tips and resources help notion-lovers build up their stash of treasures.
Download or read book Sunny G s Series of Rash Decisions written by Navdeep Singh Dhillon and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-02-08 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Pitch-perfect. One of the most endearing teen voices I’ve ever encountered.” —Becky Albertalli, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda For fans of Sandhya Menon and Adam Silvera comes a prom-night romantic-comedy romp about a Sikh teen's search for love and identity. Sunny G's brother left him one thing when he died: His notebook, which Sunny is determined to fill up with a series of rash decisions. Decision number one was a big one: He stopped wearing his turban, cut off his hair, and shaved his beard. He doesn't look like a Sikh anymore. He doesn't look like himself anymore. Even his cosplay doesn't look right without his beard. Sunny debuts his new look at prom, which he's stuck going to alone. He's skipping the big fandom party—the one where he'd normally be in full cosplay, up on stage playing bass with his band and his best friend, Ngozi—in favor of the Very Important Prom Experience. An experience that's starting to look like a bust. Enter Mindii Vang, a girl with a penchant for making rash decisions of her own, starting with stealing Sunny's notebook. When Sunny chases after her, prom turns into an all-night adventure—a night full of rash, wonderful, romantic, stupid, life-changing decisions. * "[For] fans of John Green and Sandhya Menon, Sunny G is . . . full of heart. It's not one to miss.” —Booklist (starred review) "Reading Sunny G’s Series of Rash Decisions is the best decision you could make.” —Jeff Zentner, award-winning author of The Serpent King “Poignant and moving.” —Kirkus Reviews
Download or read book The Immaculate Invasion written by Bob Shacochis and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2010-06-08 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Every war brings forth one perfect book. . . . Now we have The Immaculate Invasion, the masterpiece of the 1994 US assault on and occupation of Haiti.” —Chicago Tribune Widely celebrated upon its original publication in 1999, National Book Award winning writer Bob Shacochis’s The Immaculate Invasion is a gritty, poetic, and revelatory look at the American intervention in Haiti. In 1994, the United States embarked on Operation Uphold Democracy, a response to the overthrow of the democratically elected Haitian government by a brutal military coup. As a reporter for Harper’s, Bob Shacochis traveled to Haiti and was embedded—long before the idea became popular in Iraq—with a team of Special Forces commandos for eighteen months. He came away with tremendous insight into Haiti, the character of American fighters, and what can happen when an intervention turns into a misadventure. In The Immaculate Invasion, Shacochis captures the exploits and frustrations, the inner lives and heroic deeds of young Americans as they struggle to bring democracy to a country ravaged by tyranny. The Immaculate Invasion is required reading for anyone who wants to understand what has happened in Haiti in the past, its current state, and its future path. “An extraordinary book about an extraordinary event . . . I felt transported to Haiti. I could hear it. I could smell it. At moments I felt moved almost to tears, only to find myself, a page or two later, laughing out loud.” —Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Soul of a New Machine
Download or read book The French Inspired Home written by Kaari Meng and published by Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.. This book was released on 2006 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Capture the look of rustic French style in your home. If you dream about livingin a cozy country cottage, it's time to turn your wish into reality."--Back cover.
Download or read book The Deep State written by Mike Lofgren and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-01-05 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestselling author of The Party Is Over delivers a no-holds-barred exposé of who really wields power in Washington Every Four years, tempers are tested and marriages fray as Americans head to the polls to cast their votes. But does anyone really care what we think? Has our vaunted political system become one big, expensive, painfully scriped reality TV show? In this cringe-inducing expose of the sins and excesses of Beltwayland, a longtime Republican party insider argues that we have become an oligarchy in form if not in name. Hooked on war, genuflecting to big donors, in thrall to discredited economic theories and utterly bereft of a moral compass, America’s governing classes are selling their souls to entrenched interest while our bridges collapse, wages, stagnate, and our water is increasingly undrinkable. Drawing on sinsights gleaned over three decades on Capitol Hill, much of it on the Budget Committee, Lofgren paints a gripping portrait of the dismal swamp on the Potomac and the revolution it will take to reclaim our government and set us back on course.
Download or read book A Taste of Power written by Elaine Brown and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2015-05-20 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Profound, funny ... wild and moving ... heartbreaking accounts of a lonely black childhood.... Brown sees racial oppression in national and global context; every political word she writes pounds home a lesson about commerce, money, racism, communism, you name it ... A glowing achievement.” —Los Angeles Times Elaine Brown assumed her role as the first and only female leader of the Black Panther Party with these words: “I have all the guns and all the money. I can withstand challenge from without and from within. Am I right, Comrade?” It was August 1974. From a small Oakland-based cell, the Panthers had grown to become a revolutionary national organization, mobilizing black communities and white supporters across the country—but relentlessly targeted by the police and the FBI, and increasingly riven by violence and strife within. How Brown came to a position of power over this paramilitary, male-dominated organization, and what she did with that power, is a riveting, unsparing account of self-discovery. Brown’s story begins with growing up in an impoverished neighborhood in Philadelphia and attending a predominantly white school, where she first sensed what it meant to be black, female, and poor in America. She describes her political awakening during the bohemian years of her adolescence, and her time as a foot soldier for the Panthers, who seemed to hold the promise of redemption. And she tells of her ascent into the upper echelons of Panther leadership: her tumultuous relationship with the charismatic Huey Newton, who would become her lover and her nemesis; her experience with the male power rituals that would sow the seeds of the party's demise; and the scars that she both suffered and inflicted in that era’s paradigm-shifting clashes of sex and power. Stunning, lyrical, and acute, this is the indelible testimony of a black woman’s battle to define herself.
Download or read book Rites of Peace The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna written by Adam Zamoyski and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2012-11-29 with total page 658 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following on from his epic ‘1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow’, bestselling author Adam Zamoyski has written the dramatic story of the Congress of Vienna.
