Download or read book The Writing Life written by Annie Dillard and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "For nonwriters, it is a glimpse into the trials and satisfactions of a life spent with words. For writers, it is a warm, rambling, conversation with a stimulating and extraordinarily talented colleague." — Chicago Tribune From Pulitzer Prize-winning Annie Dillard, a collection that illuminates the dedication and daring that characterizes a writer's life. In these short essays, Annie Dillard—the author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and An American Childhood—illuminates the dedication, absurdity, and daring that characterize the existence of a writer. A moving account of Dillard’s own experiences while writing her works, The Writing Life offers deep insight into one of the most mysterious professions.
Download or read book Writing Life Stories written by Bill Roorbach and published by Story Press. This book was released on 1998-07-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to writing stories, memoirs, and personal essays that includes information on remembering distant memories; making real people into characters; using public records, interviews, and diaries to create a believable story; and other related topics.
Download or read book Bird by Bird written by Anne Lamott and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An essential volume for generations of writers young and old. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this modern classic will continue to spark creative minds for years to come. Anne Lamott is "a warm, generous, and hilarious guide through the writer’s world and its treacherous swamps" (Los Angeles Times). “Superb writing advice…. Hilarious, helpful, and provocative.” —The New York Times Book Review For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anne’s father—also a writer—in the iconic passage that gives the book its title: “Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”
Download or read book Writing About Your Life written by William Zinsser and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2005-03-28 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written with elegance, warmth, and humor, this highly original "teaching memoir" by William Zinsser—renowned bestselling author of On Writing Well gives you the tools to organize and recover your past, and the confidence to believe in your life narrative. His method is to take you on a memoir of his own: 13 chapters in which he recalls dramatic, amusing, and often surprising moments in his long and varied life as a writer, editor, teacher, and traveler. Along the way, Zinsser pauses to explain the technical decisions he made as he wrote about his life. They are the same decisions you'll have to make as you write about your own life: matters of selection, condensation, focus, attitude, voice, and tone.
Download or read book George Washington A Life in Books written by Kevin J. Hayes and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-03 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When it comes to the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton are generally considered the great minds of early America. George Washington, instead, is toasted with accolades regarding his solid common sense and strength in battle. Indeed, John Adams once snobbishly dismissed him as "too illiterate, unlearned, unread for his station and reputation." Yet Adams, as well as the majority of the men who knew Washington in his life, were unaware of his singular devotion to self-improvement. Based on a comprehensive amount of research at the Library of Congress, the collections at Mount Vernon, and rare book archives scattered across the country, Kevin J. Hayes corrects this misconception and reconstructs in vivid detail the active intellectual life that has gone largely unnoticed in conventional narratives of Washington. Despite being a lifelong reader, Washington felt an acute sense of embarrassment about his relative lack of formal education and cultural sophistication, and in this sparkling literary biography, Hayes illustrates just how tirelessly Washington worked to improve. Beginning with the primers, forgotten periodicals, conduct books, and classic eighteenth-century novels such as Tom Jones that shaped Washington's early life, Hayes studies Washington's letters and journals, charting the many ways the books of his upbringing affected decisions before and during the Revolutionary War. The final section of the book covers the voluminous reading that occurred during Washington's presidency and his retirement at Mount Vernon. Throughout, Hayes examines Washington's writing as well as his reading, from The Journal of Major George Washington through his Farewell Address. The sheer breadth of titles under review here allow readers to glimpse Washington's views on foreign policy, economics, the law, art, slavery, marriage, and religion-and how those views shaped the young nation.. Ultimately, this sharply written biography offers a fresh perspective on America's Father, uncovering the ideas that shaped his intellectual journey and, subsequently, the development of America.
Download or read book Life From Scratch written by Sasha Martin and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2015-03-03 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Witty, warm, and poignant, food blogger Sasha Martin's memoir about cooking her way to happiness and self-acceptance is a culinary journey like no other. Over the course of 195 weeks, food writer and blogger Sasha Martin set out to cook—and eat—a meal from every country in the world. As cooking unlocked the memories of her rough-and-tumble childhood and the loss and heartbreak that came with it, Martin became more determined than ever to find peace and elevate her life through the prism of food and world cultures. From the tiny, makeshift kitchen of her eccentric, creative mother, to a string of foster homes, to the house from which she launched her own cooking adventure, Martin's heartfelt, brutally honest memoir reveals the power of cooking to bond, to empower, and to heal—and celebrates the simple truth that happiness is created from within. "This beautifully written book is both poignant and uplifting. Not to mention delicious. It's an amazing family tale that reminds me of The Glass Castle, but with more food. And not just any food: We're talking cinnamon raisin pizza." —A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically "Life From Scratch is an unconventional love story. This beautiful book begins with the quest of cooking a meal from every country—a noble feat of it's own!—but then turns it into something far beyond a kitchen adventure. Be prepared to be changed as you experience Sasha's journey for yourself." —Chris Guillebeau, author of The Happiness Pursuit
Download or read book Writings on an Ethical Life written by Peter Singer and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-04-14 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essential collection of writings by one of the most visionary and daring philosophers of our time Since bursting sensationally into the public consciousness in 1975 with his groundbreaking work Animal Liberation, Peter Singer has remained one of the most provocative ethicists of the modern age. His reputation, built largely on isolated incendiary quotations and outrage-of-the-moment news coverage, has preceded him ever since. Aiming to present a more accurate and thoughtful picture of Singer’s pioneering work, Writings on an Ethical Life features twenty-seven excerpts from some of his most lauded and controversial essays and books. The reflections on life, death, murder, vegetarianism, poverty, and ethical living found in these pages come together in a must-read collection for anyone seeking a better understanding of the issues that shape our world today. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Peter Singer, including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.
Download or read book The Maytrees written by Annie Dillard and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Brilliant. . . . A shimmering meditation on the ebb and flow of love.” — New York Times “In her elegant, sophisticated prose, Dillard tells a tale of intimacy, loss and extraordinary friendship and maturity against a background of nature in its glorious color and caprice. The Maytrees is an intelligent, exquisite novel.” — The Washington Times Toby Maytree first sees Lou Bigelow on her bicycle in postwar Provincetown, Massachusetts. Her laughter and loveliness catch his breath. Maytree is a Provincetown native, an educated poet of thirty. As he courts Lou, just out of college, her stillness draws him. He hides his serious wooing, and idly shows her his poems. In spare, elegant prose, Dillard traces the Maytrees' decades of loving and longing. They live cheaply among the nonconformist artists and writers that the bare tip of Cape Cod attracts. When their son Petie appears, their innocent Bohemian friend Deary helps care for him. But years later it is Deary who causes the town to talk. In this moving novel, Dillard intimately depicts willed bonds of loyalty, friendship, and abiding love. She presents nature's vastness and nearness. Warm and hopeful, The Maytrees is the surprising capstone of Dillard's original body of work.
Download or read book Letters and Life written by Bret Lott and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2013-06-30 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Writing lays bare the soul. All serious writers know that each word reveals something significant about themselves, granting outsiders a glimpse at their most cherished beliefs and foundational convictions. In this series of intimate reflections on life and writing, critically acclaimed and best-selling novelist Bret Lott explores the author's craft through five letters covering a range of fascinating topics, from exploring the value of literary fiction to discussing the humility of Flannery O'Connor. In the final and longest letter, Lott contemplates the death of his father and his struggle to convey his complicated thoughts and inexplicable emotions in words. Intensely personal and yet universally relatable, this powerful collection of essays will encourage and enrich writers and aspiring writers everywhere.
Download or read book Books do Furnish a Life written by Richard Dawkins and published by Random House. This book was released on 2021-05-06 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A rich feast of his essays, reviews, forewords, squibs and conversations, in which talent and passion are married to deep knowledge.' Matt Ridley 'Enjoy the unfailing clarity of his thought and prose, as well as the grandeur of his vision of life on Earth.' - Mark Cocker, Spectator 'Richard Dawkins is a thunderously gifted science writer.' Sunday Times Including conversations with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley and more, this is an essential guide to the most exciting ideas of our time and their proponents from our most brilliant science communicator. Books Do Furnish a Life is divided by theme, including celebrating nature, exploring humanity, and interrogating faith. For the first time, it brings together Richard Dawkins' forewords, afterwords and introductions to the work of some of the leading thinkers of our age - Carl Sagan, Lawrence Krauss, Jacob Bronowski, Lewis Wolpert - with a selection of his reviews to provide an electrifying celebration of science writing, both fiction and non-fiction. It is also a sparkling addition to Dawkins' own remarkable canon of work. Plenty of other scientists write well, but no one writes like Dawkins... here is Dawkins the teacher, the scholar, the polemicist, the joker, the aesthete, the poet, the satirist, the man of compassion as well as indignation, the slayer of superstition and, above all, the scientist. - Areo Magazine
Download or read book Words are My Matter written by Ursula K. Le Guin and published by Harper Perennial. This book was released on 2019 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bright and wide-ranging collection of essays, reviews, talks, and more fromone of today's best and most thoughtful writers.
Download or read book Writing from Life written by Lynne Hackles and published by Constable. This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You will learn how to write about what you know - and you certainly know a lot. The good news is that the older you are, and the older you get, the more experiences you have had - so you'll always have something to write about. The author, Lynne Hackles, will show you how to make your own 'Raking up your past' file - using memories, lists, diaries, newspapers, smells, family trees, etc. Plus how to turn your own anecdotes, recounted to friends and family, into useful prose; and how to fashion the passed-down history of your ancestors into a family saga. With this book you'll also learn how to: - Sell a snippet of conversation - Make money by sharing secrets - Take your boss and your best friend and come up with a new character - Sell one event in your life to several different markets - Impart knowledge you didn't think you had to people who didn't know they needed it - Use the emotions, traumas, joys and experiences of your own life to make your writing stronger and more saleable. With this book you'll never run out of ideas, and writer's block will be a thing of the past. Contents: 1. Writing and your life; PART ONE - NON-FICTION; 2. Easy ways to start; 3. And my specialist subject is...; 4. Washing your dirty linen; 5. Wholesome real life; 6. Everyone has a book in them; PART TWO - FICTION; 7. What is fiction?; 8. Short stories; 9. Novels; 10. Writing for children; Index.
Download or read book Read for Your Life written by Pat Williams and published by Health Communications, Inc.. This book was released on 2007-06 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a deluge of electronic conveniences and cable channels well into the hundreds, it's no wonder that many people aren't sitting down with a good old-fashioned book more often. Motivational speaker and lifelong reader Pat Williams is changing all of that, in this energetic book, Read for Your Life. With anecdotes and interviews from some of today's greatest icons in business, sports and academia, including Phoenix Suns' star Steve Nash (voted NBA's Most Valuable Player in 2005-06), Yankees' star Alex Rodriguez, Grant Hill of the Orlando Magic and former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani, Read for Your Life will help readers discover how reading can enhance their personal and professional thinking. Read for Your Life features 11 ways to transform one's life through books. - Publisher.
Download or read book The Private Life of Books written by Henry Wessells and published by . This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book On Life writing written by Zachary Leader and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On Life-Writing offers a sampling of approaches to the study of life-writing. The collection brings together eminent scholars and writers to reflect on specific examples of life-writing to reflect broader themes within the genre.
Download or read book The Books in My Life written by Henry Miller and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 1969 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this unique work, Henry Miller gives an utterly candid and self-revealing account of the reading he did during his formative years.
Download or read book The Brave written by James Bird and published by Feiwel & Friends. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perfect for fans of Rain Reign, this middle-grade novel The Brave is about a boy with an undiagnosed anxiety issue and his move to a reservation to live with his biological mother. Collin can't help himself—he has a mental health condition that finds him counting every letter spoken to him. It's a quirk that makes him a prime target for bullies, and frustrates the adults around him, including his father. When Collin asked to leave yet another school, his dad decides to send him to live in Minnesota with the mother he's never met. She is Ojibwe, and lives on a reservation. Collin arrives in Duluth with his loyal dog, Seven, and quickly finds his mom and his new home to be warm, welcoming, and accepting of his disability. Collin’s quirk is matched by that of his neighbor, Orenda, a girl who lives mostly in her treehouse and believes she is turning into a butterfly. With Orenda’s help, Collin works hard to learn the best ways to manage his anxiety disorder. His real test comes when he must step up for his new friend and trust his new family.
