Download or read book Smile as they Bow written by Nu Nu Yi and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2008-09-16 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the weeklong Taungbyon Festival draws near, thousands of villagers from all regions of Burma descend upon a tiny hamlet near Mandalay to pay respect to the spirits, known as nats, which are central to Burmese tradition. At the heart of these festivities is Daisy Bond, a gay, transvestite spiritual medium in his fifties. With his sharp tongue and vivid performances, he has long been revered as one of the festival's most illustrious natkadaws. At his side is Min Min, his young assistant and lover, who endures unyielding taunts and abuse from his fiery boss. But when a young beggar girl named Pan Nyo threatens to steal Min Min's heart, the outrageous Daisy finds himself face-to-face with his worst fears. Written in lyrical, intoxicating prose, Smile as They Bow is, like the works of Arundhati Roy and Ha Jin, an unexpectedly whimsical, illuminating, and above all revealing portrayal of a culture few Westerners have ever witnessed. Over the past twenty years, Nu Nu Yi has become one of Burma's most acclaimed authors -- and in 2007, she became the first person living in Burma to be nominated for an international literary award. Smile as They Bow was censored for more than twelve years by the Burmese government. It is fitting, then, that this is her American debut.
Download or read book I Know This Much Is True written by Wally Lamb and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-06-03 with total page 884 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.
Download or read book Sorrow s Knot written by Erin Bow and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2013-10-29 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2014 Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy, from the author of Plain Kate. At the very edge of the world live the Shadowed People. And with them live the dead.There, in the village of Westmost, Otter is born to power. She is the proud daughter of Willow, the greatest binder of the dead in generations. It will be Otter's job someday to tie the knots of the ward, the only thing that keeps the living safe.Kestrel is training to be a ranger, one of the brave women who venture into the forest to gather whatever the Shadowed People can't live without and to fight off whatever dark threat might slip through the ward's defenses.And Cricket wants to be a storyteller -- already he shows the knack, the ear -- and already he knows dangerous secrets. But something is very wrong at the edge of the world. Willow's power seems to be turning inside out. The ward is in danger of falling. And lurking in the shadows, hungry, is a White Hand, the most dangerous of the dead, whose very touch means madness, and worse.Suspenseful, eerie, and beautifully imagined.
Download or read book Plain Kate written by Erin Bow and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2010-09-01 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A debut novel that's as sharp as a knife's point. Plain Kate lives in a world of superstitions and curses, where a song can heal a wound and a shadow can work deep magic. As the wood-carver's daughter, Kate held a carving knife before a spoon, and her wooden charms are so fine that some even call her "witch-blade" -- a dangerous nickname in a town where witches are hunted and burned in the square.
Download or read book Stand on the Sky written by Erin Bow and published by HMH Books For Young Readers. This book was released on 2019 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exquisitely written, uplifting middle grade debut by acclaimed author, Erin Bow, about a young girl who defies her family's expectations in order to save her brother and become an eagle hunter, perfect for fans of PAX. It goes against all tradition for Aisulu to train an eagle, for among the Kazakh nomads, only men can fly them. But everything changes when Aisulu discovers that her brother, Serik, has been concealing a bad limp that risks not just his future as the family's leader, but his life too. When her parents leave to seek a cure for Serik in a distant hospital, Aisulu finds herself living with her intimidating uncle and strange auntie--and secretly caring for an orphaned baby eagle. To save her brother and keep her family from having to leave their nomadic life behind forever, Aisulu must earn her eagle's trust and fight for her right to soar. Along the way, she discovers that family are people who choose each other, home is a place you build, and hope is a thing with feathers. Erin Bow's lyrical middle grade debut is perfect for fans of original animal-friendship stories like Pax and Because of Winn Dixie.
Download or read book Troy Lord of the Silver Bow written by David Gemmell and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2005-09-27 with total page 551 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With this first masterly volume in an epic reimagining of the Trojan War, David Gemmell has written an ageless drama of brave deeds and fierce battles, of honor and treachery, of love won and lost. He is a man of many names. Some call him the Golden One; others, the Lord of the Silver Bow. To the Dardanians, he is Prince Aeneas. But to his friends, he is Helikaon. Strong, fast, quick of mind, he is a bold warrior, hated by his enemies, feared even by his Trojan allies. For there is a darkness at the heart of the Golden One, a savagery that, once awakened, can be appeased only with blood. Argurios the Mykene is a peerless fighter, a man of unbending principles and unbreakable will. Like all of the Mykene warriors, he lives to conquer and to kill. Dispatched by King Agamemnon to scout the defenses of the golden city of Troy, he is Helikaon’s sworn enemy. Andromache is a priestess of Thera betrothed against her will to Hektor, prince of Troy. Scornful of tradition, skilled in the arts of war, and passionate in the ways of her order, Andromache vows to love whom she pleases and to live as she desires. Now fate is about to thrust these three together–and, from the sparks of passionate love and hate, ignite a fire that will engulf the world.
Download or read book Smile as they Bow written by Nu Nu Yi and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2008-09-16 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the weeklong Taungbyon Festival draws near, thousands of villagers from all regions of Burma descend upon a tiny hamlet near Mandalay to pay respect to the spirits, known as nats, which are central to Burmese tradition. At the heart of these festivities is Daisy Bond, a gay, transvestite spiritual medium in his fifties. With his sharp tongue and vivid performances, he has long been revered as one of the festival's most illustrious natkadaws. At his side is Min Min, his young assistant and lover, who endures unyielding taunts and abuse from his fiery boss. But when a young beggar girl named Pan Nyo threatens to steal Min Min's heart, the outrageous Daisy finds himself face-to-face with his worst fears. Written in lyrical, intoxicating prose, Smile as They Bow is, like the works of Arundhati Roy and Ha Jin, an unexpectedly whimsical, illuminating, and above all revealing portrayal of a culture few Westerners have ever witnessed. Over the past twenty years, Nu Nu Yi has become one of Burma's most acclaimed authors -- and in 2007, she became the first person living in Burma to be nominated for an international literary award. Smile as They Bow was censored for more than twelve years by the Burmese government. It is fitting, then, that this is her American debut.
Download or read book Rover written by Andrew Grant and published by Firefly Books. This book was released on 2017-10-01 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2009, Andrew Grant began photographing dogs, starting with two French bulldogs at an unrelated commercial -shoot-. Then he discovered the sad fact that millions of lost or abandoned dogs enter animal shelters every year. And only a few leave, through rescue and adoption. The rest are euthanized or live out a lonely, caged life. Andrew Grant began to photograph dogs that should be rescued, and dogs that have been rescued. Over 6 years he raised nearly $2 million for shelter dogs through his photographic project. He did this with the sale of four limited-edition books of dog portraits, each called Rover. Each was bigger than the previous, and helped by hundreds of sponsoring dog owners. Those editions are all sold out, and fetch up to $400 on the rare book market -- when available. Most, though, are as treasured as their canine subjects. Now, Firefly Books is publishing a popularly-priced trade edition of Rover: Wagmore Edition. It contains 360 of Andrew Grant's most appealing photographs of dogs. Some are the best friends of lucky owners, and some, sadly, are homeless. All are splendidly realized in sharp, large and very lifelike color portraits. All were captured by state-of-the-art equipment and are truly the most beautiful dog pictures you have ever seen. They feature purebreds of almost every kind, and mixed breeds, too. Each dog's name is on its page. Each is looking intently at the reader. Firefly Books pledges a portion of the revenue from sales of Rover: Wagmore Edition to dog rescue.
Download or read book What If You Re Wrong written by Wendy Cunningham and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2021-03-25 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Why don’t you believe in God?” A simple question, but one for which I didn’t have a good answer. I was confident in what I believed; I just didn’t know how I’d arrived at that conclusion. Turns out the “how” is what led me off track. I’ve had hundreds of conversations with people just like me who are on a journey to find the truth. Most people have the same fundamental questions that keep them from faith: Why do bad things happen to good people? How accurate is the Bible? What about evolution? This book tackles those questions and poses new ones, starting with the title: What if you’re wrong? Get ready to laugh as we walk through what it looks like to go from a non-believer to a devout follower of Christ.
Download or read book The Shadow of Your Smile written by Mary Higgins Clark and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-04-29 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At age eighty-three and in failing health, Olivia Morrow knows she has little time left. The last of her line, she faces a momentous choice: expose a long-held family secret, or take it with her to her grave. Olivia has in her possession letters from her deceased cousin Catherine, a nun, now being considered for beatification by the Catholic Church. These letters reveal that, at the age of seventeen, Catherine gave birth to a son and gave him up for adoption and they identify the father as Alex Gannon, a world-famous doctor, scientist and inventor of medical patents. Now, two generations later, thirty-one year old paediatrician, Dr. Monica Farrell, Catherine's granddaughter, stands as the rightful heir to what remains of the Gannon family fortune. But in telling Monica who she really is and getting what is lawfully hers, Olivia would have to betray Catherine's wishes and reveal the story behind Monica's ancestry. But as the pressure of Olivia's impending choice weighs down on her, little does she realize that Alex Gannon's grand-nephews - who are currently exploiting the Gannon inheritance to fund their profligate lifestyles - will stop at nothing to silence Olivia and prevent Monica from learning the secret, even murder.
Download or read book The Sorrow of War written by Bao Ninh and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Vietnam War Bao Ninh served with the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade. Of the five hundred men who went to war with the brigade in 1969, he is one of only ten who survived. The Sorrow of War is his autobiographical novel. Kien works in a unit that recovers soldiers' corpses. Revisiting the sites of battles raises emotional ghosts for him and the memory of war scenes are juxtaposed with dreams and remembrances of his childhood sweetheart. The Sorrow of War burns the tragedy of war in our minds.
Download or read book Speak written by Laurie Halse Anderson and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR). This book was released on 2011-05-10 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The groundbreaking National Book Award Finalist and Michael L. Printz Honor Book with more than 3.5 million copies sold, Speak is a bestselling modern classic about consent, healing, and finding your voice. "Speak up for yourself—we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, an outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, Melinda becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back—and refuses to be silent. From Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award laureate Laurie Halse Anderson comes the extraordinary landmark novel that has spoken to millions of readers. Powerful and utterly unforgettable, Speak has been translated into 35 languages, was the basis for the major motion picture starring Kristen Stewart, and is now a stunning graphic novel adapted by Laurie Halse Anderson herself, with artwork from Eisner-Award winner Emily Carroll. Awards and Accolades for Speak: A New York Times Bestseller A National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature A Michael L. Printz Honor Book An Edgar Allan Poe Award Finalist A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist A TIME Magazine Best YA Book of All Time A Cosmopolitan Magazine Best YA Books Everyone Should Read, Regardless of Age
Download or read book Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man s Smile written by Gyles Daubeney Brandreth and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2009 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sometimes something happens that gives your life definition. You meet somebody and everything in your life suddenly makes sense. Everything youve ever accomplished, Every mistake you ever made, And every bad thing thats ever happened to you was so you'd be prepared to meet this person. So youd earn the priviledge of their presence. This happened to Bishop. Except he is only 99% ready. Because, unfortunately, Bishop is a dog.
Download or read book Apocalypse Bow Wow written by James Proimos and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-01-15 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The end is nigh. Apocalypse has dawned. Everyone has gone ... everyone, that is, except for two dogs. Unbeknownst to Brownie and Apollo the world has turned to utter chaos. It is only when dinner time comes and goes, that the pair slowly begin to realise that their owners might be Gone For Good. There's only one option - leave the comfort of their sofa and head into what's left of the world. With only their wits about them, Brownie and Apollo must find a way to survive. It's a dog-eat-dog world now! This hilarious spin on dystopia is perfect for middle graders, dog lovers and those who want to be thoroughly entertained. Perfect for fans of Wimpy Kid and graphic novels, this has been illustrated by the same illustrator of Suzanne Collins' picture book, Year of the Jungle, which was a New York Times Editors' Choice.
Download or read book Girl Called Eel written by Ali Zamir and published by Jacaranda Books. This book was released on 2019-01-31 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anguille is a 17-year-old girl who leaves her rock on the archipelago of Comoros to lose herself at sea. She drifts between two states of mind and between two islands 'in a hollow maze', evoking her memories so as to forget nothing and so as to delay the inevitable outcome. Confronted with the pressing immediacy of imminent death, Anguille recounts the story of her whole life in one long, sustained breath, in a series of brief couplets. But what Anguille recounts, in an assured voice which heralds a shipwreck, is also something other than her life - something much deeper below the ground, or rather the sea, which has to do with the species and what is immemorial. It is the story of a fight for survival in which everyone becomes a predator. A story told in a single sentence, A Girl Called Eel is a memorial, a reckoning, and a powerful narrative imbued with a prevailing sense of urgency.
Download or read book S is for Silence written by Sue Grafton and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2009-09-18 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: S is for Silence is the nineteenth in the Kinsey Millhone mystery series by Sue Grafton. Just after Independence Day in July 1953 Violet Sullivan, a local good time girl living in Serena Station Southern California, drives off in her brand new Chevy and is never seen again. Left behind is her young daughter, Daisy, and Violet's impetuous husband, Foley, who had been persuaded to buy his errant wife the car only days before . . . Now, thirty-five years later, Daisy wants closure. Reluctant to open such an old cold case Kinsey Millhone agrees to spend five days investigating, believing at first that Violet simply moved on to pastures new. But very soon it becomes clear that a lot of people shared a past with Violet, a past that some are still desperate to keep hidden. And in a town as close-knit as Serena there aren't many places to hide when things turn vicious . . .
Download or read book My Face to the Wind written by Jim Murphy and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following her father's death from a disease that swept through her Nebraska town in 1881, teenaged Sarah Jane must find work to support herself and records in her diary her experiences as a young school teacher.
