Download or read book A History of Solitude written by David Vincent and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-05-06 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Solitude has always had an ambivalent status: the capacity to enjoy being alone can make sociability bearable, but those predisposed to solitude are often viewed with suspicion or pity. Drawing on a wide array of literary and historical sources, David Vincent explores how people have conducted themselves in the absence of company over the last three centuries. He argues that the ambivalent nature of solitude became a prominent concern in the modern era. For intellectuals in the romantic age, solitude gave respite to citizens living in ever more complex modern societies. But while the search for solitude was seen as a symptom of modern life, it was also viewed as a dangerous pathology: a perceived renunciation of the world, which could lead to psychological disorder and anti-social behaviour. Vincent explores the successive attempts of religious authorities and political institutions to manage solitude, taking readers from the monastery to the prisoner’s cell, and explains how western society’s increasing secularism, urbanization and prosperity led to the development of new solitary pastimes at the same time as it made traditional forms of solitary communion, with God and with a pristine nature, impossible. At the dawn of the digital age, solitude has taken on new meanings, as physical isolation and intense sociability have become possible as never before. With the advent of a so-called loneliness epidemic, a proper historical understanding of the natural human desire to disengage from the world is more important than ever. The first full-length account of its subject, A History of Solitude will appeal to a wide general readership.
Download or read book Friend of My Youth written by Amit Chaudhuri and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2019-02-05 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An intensely personal novel about childhood, memory, and history by one of today's most celebrated authors, now available in the US for the first time. Friend of My Youth begins with the novelist Amit Chaudhuri returning to Bombay, the city in which he grew up, to give a reading. Ramu, the friend of his youth, with whom he likes to get together when he comes back, is not there: after years of disabling drug addiction, Ramu has signed up for an intensive rehab program. But Amit Chaudhuri has errands to run in Bombay for his mother and wife, which take him back to the Taj Mahal Hotel, the site, not that long before, of a brutal terrorist attack. Amit Chaudhuri writes novels the way an extraordinary instrumentalist makes music, stating and restating his themes, trying them out in different keys and to various effect, developing and dropping them, only to pick them up again and turn them completely around. He engages both our minds and our hearts. He makes us marvel. Friend of My Youth, his deceptively casual and continually observant and inventive new novel, makes us see and feel the great city of Bombay while bringing us into the quizzical, tender, rueful, and reflective sensibility of its central character, Amit Chaudhuri, not to be confused, we are told, with the novelist who wrote this book. Friend of My Youth reflects on the nature of identity, the passage of time, the experience of friendship, the indignities of youth and middle age, the lives of parents and children, and, for all the humor that seasons its pages, terror, the terror that can strike from nowhere, the terror that is a fact of daily life. Friend of My Youth is fearfully and wonderfully made.
Download or read book The Keys to the Kingdom bk 1 written by Garth Nix and published by . This book was released on 2018-08-09 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arthur Penhaligon is not supposed to be a hero. He is, in fact, supposed to die an early death. But then he is saved by a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock. Arthur is safe - but his world is not. Along with the key comes a plague brought by bizarre creatures from another realm. A stranger named Mister Monday, his avenging messengers with blood-stained wings, and an army of dog-faced Fetchers will stop at nothing to get the key back - even if it means destroying Arthur and everything around him. Desperate, Arthur ventures into a mysterious house - a house that only he can see. It is in this house that Arthur must unravel the secrets of the key - and discover his true fate. Mister Mondayis the first book in The Keys to the Kingdomseries.
Download or read book A Rosie Life In Italy written by Rosie Meleady and published by A Rosie Life In Italy. This book was released on 2022-08-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An hilarious, laugh out loud, real midlife adventure about a quick decision to pack up and move to Italy, to follow the dream of renovating a derelict villa. Over 900 reviews averaging 4.6 star with online retailers.
Download or read book The Origins of Dislike written by Amit Chaudhuri and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-20 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Strategic thinking for a writer articulates itself as dislike and as allegiance.' In this wonderfully rich and diverse collection of essays, Amit Chaudhuri explores the way in which writers understand and promote their own work in antithesis to writers and movements that have gone before. Chaudhuri's criticism disproves and questions several assumptions—that a serious and original artist cannot think critically in a way that matters; that criticism can't be imaginative, and creative work contain radical argumentation; that a writer reflecting on their own position and practice cannot be more than a testimony of their work, but open up how we think of literary history and reading. Illuminating new ways of thinking about Western and non-Western traditions, prejudices, and preconceptions, Chaudhuri shows us again that he takes nothing as a given: literary tradition, the prevalent definitions of writing and culture; and the way the market determines the way culture and language express themselves. He asks us to look again at what we mean by the modern, and how it might be possible to think of the literary today.
Download or read book Yes Daddy written by Jonathan Parks-Ramage and published by Houghton Mifflin. This book was released on 2021 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A propulsive, scorching modern gothic, Yes, Daddy follows an ambitious young man who is lured by an older, successful playwright into a dizzying world of wealth and an idyllic Hamptons home where things take a nightmarish turn.
Download or read book I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder written by Sarah Kurchak and published by Douglas & McIntyre. This book was released on 2020-04-02 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sarah Kurchak is autistic. She hasn’t let that get in the way of pursuing her dream to become a writer, or to find love, but she has let it get in the way of being in the same room with someone chewing food loudly, and of cleaning her bathroom sink. In I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder, Kurchak examines the Byzantine steps she took to become “an autistic success story,” how the process almost ruined her life and how she is now trying to recover. Growing up undiagnosed in small-town Ontario in the eighties and nineties, Kurchak realized early that she was somehow different from her peers. She discovered an effective strategy to fend off bullying: she consciously altered nearly everything about herself—from her personality to her body language. She forced herself to wear the denim jeans that felt like being enclosed in a sandpaper iron maiden. Every day, she dragged herself through the door with an elevated pulse and a churning stomach, nearly crumbling under the effort of the performance. By the time she was finally diagnosed with autism at twenty-seven, she struggled with depression and anxiety largely caused by the same strategy she had mastered precisely. She came to wonder, were all those years of intensely pretending to be someone else really worth it? Tackling everything from autism parenting culture to love, sex, alcohol, obsessions and professional pillow fighting, Kurchak’s enlightening memoir challenges stereotypes and preconceptions about autism and considers what might really make the lives of autistic people healthier, happier and more fulfilling.
Download or read book The Machine Stops Illustrated written by E M Forster and published by . This book was released on 2020-12-31 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Machine Stops" is a science fiction short story (12,300 words) by E. M. Forster. After initial publication in The Oxford and Cambridge Review (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster's The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928. After being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965, it was included that same year in the populist anthology Modern Short Stories.[1] In 1973 it was also included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two.The story, set in a world where humanity lives underground and relies on a giant machine to provide its needs, predicted technologies such as instant messaging and the Internet.
Download or read book Laughing at My Nightmare written by Shane Burcaw and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With acerbic wit & a hilarious voice, Shane Burcaw's YA memoir describes the challenges he faces as a 20-year-old with muscular atrophy. From awkward handshakes to trying to finding a girlfriend and everything in between"--
Download or read book Naked in Italy written by M. E. Evans and published by . This book was released on 2019-10 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At twenty-seven years old, M. E. Evans had just graduated from college and still had no idea what to do with her life besides frequent strip clubs and fantasize about being a woman known for a sort of vague, unnamed success. After the loss of her brother, she moves to Italy no longer for personal growth but for self-preservation. Insanity ensues.
Download or read book Living Beautifully written by Pema Chödrön and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2019-05-21 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Instant bestseller: Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön shares life-changing practices for living with wisdom, confidence, and integrity amidst confusing situations and uncertain times We live in difficult times. Life so often seems like a turbulent river threatening to drown us and destroy our world. Why, then, shouldn’t we cling to the certainty of the comfortable—to our deep-seated habits and familiar ways? Because, Pema Chödrön teaches, that kind of fear-based clinging keeps us from the infinitely more powerful experience of being fully alive. The Buddhist teachings she presents here—known as the “Three Commitments”—provide a treasure trove of wisdom for learning to step right into the unknown, to completely and fearlessly embrace the groundlessness of being human, for people of all faiths. When we do, we begin to see not only how much better it feels to live an openhearted life, but we find that we begin to naturally and more effectively reach out to help and heal all those around us.
Download or read book I m Just Happy to Be Here written by Janelle Hanchett and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A refreshingly raw, contrasting perspective on the foolproof idea of motherhood." -- POPSUGAR "By turns painful and funny... A searingly candid memoir." -- Kirkus "Far from your cookie-cutter story of addiction . . . [I'm Just Happy to Be Here] describes Hanchett's journey to recovery and sobriety in imperfect and unconventional ways." -- Bustle In this unflinching and wickedly funny memoir, Janelle Hanchett tells the story of finding her way home. And then, actually staying there. Drawing us into the wild, heartbreaking mind of the addict, Hanchett carries us from motherhood at 21 with a man she'd known three months to cubicles and whiskey-laden domesticity, from judging meth addicts in rehab to therapists who "seem to pull diagnoses out of large, expensive hats." With warmth, wit, and searing B.S. detectors turned mostly toward herself, Hanchett invites us to laugh when we probably shouldn't and to rejoice at the unconventional redemption she finds in desperation and in a misfit mentor who forces her to see the truth of herself. A story of ego and forced humility, of fierce honesty and jagged love, of the kind of failure that forces us to re-create our lives, Hanchett writes with rare candor, scorching the "sanctity of motherhood," and leaving beauty in the ashes.
Download or read book The Quarantine Diaries written by Mantimes Publishing and published by . This book was released on 2020-04-03 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is your perfect notebook for quarantine . - Matte Paperback - (6x19) - 120 pages - Lined journal This notebook features: Great for notes, poetry, journaling, recipes, writing, drawing and more. place your order now!
Download or read book Character and Neurosis written by Claudio Naranjo and published by Gateways Books & Tapes. This book was released on 1994 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compares the enneagram of personality types with other psychological character typing systems and discusses of the origins of each type.
Download or read book Tell Me How Long the Train s Been Gone written by James Baldwin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 499 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major work of American literature from a major American writer that powerfully portrays the anguish of being Black in a society that at times seems poised on the brink of total racial war. "Baldwin is one of the few genuinely indispensable American writers." —Saturday Review At the height of his theatrical career, the actor Leo Proudhammer is nearly felled by a heart attack. As he hovers between life and death, Baldwin shows the choices that have made him enviably famous and terrifyingly vulnerable. For between Leo's childhood on the streets of Harlem and his arrival into the intoxicating world of the theater lies a wilderness of desire and loss, shame and rage. An adored older brother vanishes into prison. There are love affairs with a white woman and a younger black man, each of whom will make irresistible claims on Leo's loyalty. Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone is overpowering in its vitality and extravagant in the intensity of its feeling.
Download or read book Fierce Reads Kisses and Curses written by Lauren Burniac and published by Square Fish. This book was released on 2015-05-12 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beloved of readers and booksellers, our Fierce Reads program has garnered tons of enthusiastic fans since its inauguration in 2012. Now, the authors you know and love are coming together in one book! With standalone short stories from a handpicked set of FR authors, this fabulous collection will often feature characters or worlds from existing Fierce Reads titles. Extended, personal introductions from each author will make this a must-buy for fans as well as a fantastic portal for engaging new readers with the program. With a wide range of genres and subject matter, there will be something here for everyone! Includes short stories from Marissa Meyer, Marie Rutkoski, Jennifer Mathieu, Anna Banks & Emmy Labourne, Courtney Alameda, Jessica Brody, Ann Aguirre, Lish McBride, Lindsay Smith, Katie Finn, Caragh M. O'Brien, Nikki Kelly, Gennifer Albin, Leigh Bardugo.
Download or read book The Pink Marine written by Greg Cope White and published by Aboutface Books. This book was released on 2016-02-17 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Pink Marine is the story-full of hilarity and heartbreak-of how a teenage boy who struggles with self-acceptance and doesn't fit the traditional definition of masculinity finds acceptance and self-worth in Marine Corps boot camp. When Greg Cope White's best friend tells him he's spending his summer in Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, all Greg hears is 'summer' and 'camp'. Despite dire warnings from his friend, Greg vows to join him in recruit training. He's eighteen, underweight, he's never run a mile-and he's gay. Greg's sheltered life hadn't prepared him for military service. A prince out of water, he packed five suitcases since he'd never been away from home for thirteen weeks. The U.S. Marines stripped him from all of that, shaved his head and put a rifle in his hands. At first he struggles to keep up, and afraid his secret will be discovered. But midway through, the desire to survive and become a Marine trumps fear. He learns that everyone, just like in the real world, comes into the service feeling 'different'; possibly prejudged for the color of their skin, their weight, their poverty--some have even chosen boot camp over jail. Can a flighty, 112-pound, unmanly Texan transform into one of the few, the proud, the Marines? Will Greg even survive?
