Biography Books

Book SynopsisLessons in life from Caught in Providence's viral sensation Judge Frank Caprio, known as the ';Nicest Judge in the World' whose courtroom became a worldwide beacon of compassionate justiceand an unforgettable watch for millions of fansFrank Caprio is ';that judge'the one you love on social media or TV, whose videos you and your friends and family talk about and share with each other. Now, Judge Caprio brings to the page the same wisdom and spirit of decency that viewers around the world have come to treasure. From 1985, when he first took the bench, to when he stepped down in 2023, Judge Caprio dispensed true compassion to a continuous flow of regular people in his municipal traffic court in Providence, Rhode Island. As showcased in the four-time Emmy nominated show Caught in Providence, his courtroom is a place where defendants are treated with dignity, and where the deserving are given a breaknot a pass or get-out-of-jail-free card, but the chance to right their lives and care for their families. In Compassion in the Court, Judge Caprio shares transformative stories and lessons from his life and courtroom, including: Wisdom he gained from his immigrant parents Stories shared by individuals of all ages who appeared in court How he developed the ability to tell when someone is not telling the truth The power of growing up with someone who believed in himand how he's tried to provide the same for everyone who appears before him How a person's worth isn't measured by the mistakes they make, but by their ability to learn from those mistakes Caprio's memories will challenge readers to become somebodyto value their past and their family, to confront their realities, and to believe that, through respect, compassion, and understanding, they can succeed. This book will touch your heart, uplift your spirit, and renew your faith in others, and in yourself.

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Book SynopsisHilarious stories about life's mishaps from the creator of the immensely popular blog 'Hyperbole and a Half'. Fully illustrated with over 50% new material. Hyperbole and A Half is a blog and webcomic written by a 20-something American girl called Allie Brosh.Trade ReviewA hilarious collection * Mashable *Will certainly help you, should you perhaps decide to indulge in a spot of “self-gifting” in this instance, survive Christmas with your more crazed relatives -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *Fantastic, hilarious, emotional * Mayaland *You may have to push this book away for fear you'll hurt yourself laughing, but its wisdom and humanity – no hyperbole here – are too magnetic to keep at bay for long -- Mary Pols * People Magazine *Honest, poignant and ridiculously silly in all the best ways and I'm better for having read it. Plus, doggies! * Jenny Lawson, The Bloggess *

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Book SynopsisAmie McNee is an author, speaker, creative guide, and the founder of the popular Instagram account @InspiredtoWrite. She writes historical fiction novels and writing guides and is known for speaking, teaching, and coaching artists all over the world and helping them to achieve their creative dreams.

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Book SynopsisGod''s Immeasurable Grace. It''s the most important ingredient for the perfect love story.Tragic circumstances often stretch relationships to their breaking point. But God''s grace is always more than enough. For Ken and Joni Eareckson Tada, enduring quadriplegia, chronic pain, cancer, and depression only made their love more vibrant through thirty years of marriage. Discover a bond that has seen the worst and claimed the best. With sixteen pages of photos, peek into Joni and Ken’s challenges firsthand. Discover God''s immeasurable grace along the way, as their story inspires and enriches your own relationships.A love untold. Until now.Ken underestimated the challenges of marrying a woman with quadriplegia. Even the honeymoon wasn''t easy. Through their years together, Ken becomes increasingly overwhelmed by the unceasing demands of caring for a woman with chronic, extreme, nightmarish pain. He sinks into depression. Though living under the same roof, they

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Book SynopsisStrange Career offers a clear and illuminating analysis of the history of Jim Crow laws and American race relations. This book presented evidence that segregation in the South dated only to the 1880s. It''s publication in 1955, a year after the Supreme Court ordered schools be desegregated, helped counter arguments that the ruling would destoy a centuries-old way of life. The commemorative edition includes a special afterword by William S. McFeely, former Woodward student and winner of both the 1982 Pulitzer Prize and 1992 Lincoln Prize. As William McFeely describes in the new afterword, ''the slim volume''s social consequence far outstripped its importance to academia. The book became part of a revolution...The Civil Rights Movement had changed Woodward''s South and his slim, quietly insistent book...had contributed to that change.''Table of ContentsIntroductionI.: Old Regimes and Reconstructions II.: Forgotten Alternatives III.: Capitulation to Racism IV.: The Man on the Cliff V.: The Declining Years of Jim Crow VI.: The Career Becomes Stranger Afterword by William s. McFeely

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Book SynopsisOne of this century''s most popular psychology scholars, Robert A.Johnson was among the first to present Carl Jung''s rich but complex theories with simple elegance and grace,opening them to an entirely new and hungry audience. His masterful works--including the best selling He, She, Inner Work, and Owning Your Own Shadow-are known and loved as much for their beautiful retellings of timeless myths and folktales as for their deep wisdom and profound insight. Balancing Heaven and Earth reveals, for the first time, Johnson''s own fascinating and mystical life-from his near-death experience at the age of eleven to the lifelong soul journey that has informed his writing and taught him how to live a spiritual life in the endlessly challenging modern world. Full of compelling, humorous, and surprising stories of encounters with an assortment of sages, saints, and sinners, it lays bare Johnson''s own inner world and its dazzeling landscape of powerful dreams, m

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Robbins continues to embody Zen coolness and bohemian charm." -- Booklist (starred review) "Robbins carries us along a magical wonder tour in this high-flying, Zen koan-like, and cinematic tour of some of the episodes in his journey through space and time. " -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "[Readers] will enjoy this peek into the intelligently goofy and always fertile mind of this inventive writer... a fitting cap to a sui generis career, equally satisfying in short installments or read straight through." -- Kirkus Reviews "Memoir or not, the form suits Robbins's digressive style, philosophical musings, and self-deprecating humor. Each piece stands on its own, but when read side by side they develop into a powerful argument about magic and the necessity of imaginative, interior worlds." -- Library Journal (starred review) "Perhaps the only aspect more impressive than Robbins's ability to imbue a lifetime of interesting anecdotes with an additional layer of introspection is his trademark style [...]earthy and conversational yet simultaneously intellectual. Fans and newcomers alike will guffaw and marvel at this most extraordinary life -- Shelf Awareness "[Tibetan Peach Pie] bursts with enough joie de vivre to bewitch even the most present-shock-imprisoned 28-year-old and to snag the rest of us with Robbins' far-out, feel-good sensibility and trademark helical, world-happy prose." -- Elle "Tibetan Peach Pie is a late, welcome gift from a philosopher-novelist who continues to believe in the transformative qualities of 'novelty, beauty, mischief and mirth' - qualities apparent on every page of this lively, large-hearted book." -- Washington Post "Tibetan Peach Pie is a gift to his fans, the story of a man who had the sense to follow where his imagination led... How lucky for his readers that we got to tag along for the ride." -- Seattle Times "The author of such off-kilter bestsellers as Still Life with Woodpecker has written a rollicking reminiscence of his Appalachian upbringing, his spiral through the psychedelic '60s, and his unconventional path to literary stardom." -- O magazine "Beautiful... Robbins has never met a pun, a blissfully crooked analogy, a magician's bit of verbal trickery that he didn't love... He knows words the way a pool hustler knows chalk." -- NPR Books (Online Review) "As in his many novels, [Tibetan Peach Pie] is buoyed by a palpable sense of the fun Robbins is having with language, in all of its rhythmic and poetic possibilities." -- Biographile Biographile "Wacky, wonder-filled... The fiction master of our times, Thomas Pynchon, once called Robbins a brain-dazzling 'world-class storyteller.' Now in his 80s, he still is, even in telling his own story." -- USA Today (Online Review) "Hallucinatory and conversational... intertwined with many fun and interesting tales... This is what happens when you let Tom run." -- Slate "If you've read any of his quirky best-sellers, such as Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, you'll scarf down this account of Robbins' Appalachian childhood, his life on the wild, wonderful West Coast in the 1960's and his world travels." -- AARP Magazine "He's never lost that voice, and it's the star of this memoir." -- Tampa Bay Times "Robbins is king of the sidewinder simile, the mixologist's metaphor. No other popular writer of our time depends as he does on pure verbal dazzle, or delivers as reliably on the deal." -- Seattle Weekly "Haphazardly ricocheting-but without exception entertaining." -- Bookish.com "Robbins writes beautifully... In works of pure imagination, like his novels, his style suits the material... A damned satisfying trip to the moon." -- Santa Fe Pasa Tiempo "Charmingly offbeat... unconventionally literary. [Robbins] excels at compositional oddity, brandishing the creative and the humorous... [Tibetan Peach Pie] is an amusement park of allusions and madcap stories." -- Daily Californian "For the lover of words and wordplay, humor, and creative and high flying imagination, there is no contemporary writer any better." -- San Francisco Book Review "A perfect bookend to Tom Robbins' oeuvre, an opportunity to finally catch a glimpse behind this magician's curtain." -- About.com "At his best, Robbins writes prose that flows like he's having a blast putting it all down as fast as he can think it." -- Houston Chronicle "Tibetan Peach Pie is vintage Robbins. It's pyrotechnic in language, labyrinthine in logic, daunting in voice, threaded with his wonderfully esoteric wit... Authentically charming... profound. " -- Washington Independent Review of Books "Readers will enjoy immersing themselves in [Robbins'] adventuresome life, from his remarkably unsupervised childhood to his free and easy adulthood. Tibetan Peach Pie... is a welcome antidote to our current era of helicopter parenting and disciplined conformity and rules, rules, rules." -- Richmond Times-Dispatch "...haphazardly ricocheting--but without exception entertaining." -- Bookish "Fans of Tom Robbins, the person, the novelist, the introspective jokester and the gifted storyteller, will love this book. It truly is a gem." -- Portland Book Review

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a concise, lively, up-to-date portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte''s character and career, including his most important battles, while situating him firmly in historical context.David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility - for both good and ill - that Napoleon represented. By his late twenties, Napoleon was already one of the greatest generals in European history. At thirty, he had become absolute master of Europe''s most powerful country. In his early forties, he ruled a European empire more powerful than any since Rome, fighting wars that changed the shape of the continent and brought death to millions. Then everything collapsed, leading him to spend his last years in miserable exile in the South Atlantic. Bell underlines the importance of the French Revolution of 1789 in understanding Napoleon''s career. It was the Revolution that made possible the unprecedented concentration of political authority that Napoleon developed, as well as his unprecedented success in mobilizing human and material resources. The Revolution gave birth to the radically new, intense form of warfare that Napoleon later practiced. Without the political changes brought about by the Revolution, Napoleon could not have fought his wars. Without the wars, he could not have seized and held onto power. He did betray much of the Revolution''s heritage of liberty and equality, and ruled as a virtual dictator. But his life and career were, nonetheless, revolutionary.Trade ReviewThere are plenty of big lives of Napoleon, and the last few years have seen the appearance of a whole new crop. Their general standard has been very high, but the detail is often daunting, not to mention the weight in the hand. Pocket-sized biographies by reputable scholars have been surprisingly less common. The best English one in recent times, by Felix Markham, was published as long ago as 1963. Napoleonic studies have moved on considerably since then, and David Bell has been one of the leaders in advancing the field with his survey in 2007 of what he called the First Total War. Now he offers a crisp and up-to-date introduction to the amazing career of the man at the centre of it all. - * William Doyle, History *A very concise, but very illuminating history of one of the world's greatest generals. * Steve Craggs, Northern Echo *It is entertaining to read and discusses the important events and developments surrounding Napoleons reign. * Michael J. Hughes, European History Quarterly *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Corsican, 1769-1796 2. The General, 1796-1799 3. The First Consul, 1799-1804 4. The Emperor, 1804-1812 5. Downfall, 1812-1815 Epilogue: 1815-2015

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Book SynopsisVietnam, January, 1968. As the citizens of Hue are preparing to celebrate Tet, the start of the Lunar New Year, Nha Ca arrives in the city to attend her father's funeral. Without warning, war erupts all around them, drastically changing or cutting short their lives. After a month of fighting, their beautiful city lies in ruins and thousands of people are dead. Mourning Headband for Hue tells the story of what happened during the fierce North Vietnamese offensive and is an unvarnished and riveting account of war as experienced by ordinary people caught up in the violence.Trade ReviewThe author's narrative burns with firsthand accounts, her own and those of others who shared their stories, as they all were trapped in blasted houses, churches and makeshift shelters, wounded, starving, sick and overrun by the Communists and their squads of vengeful executioners...[A] searing first-person account of the misery of war visited upon her family, neighbors and countrymen, caught in senseless, chaotic horror...A visceral reminder of war's intimate slaughter. * Kirkus Reviews *Nha Ca relates countless moments of terror she and her extended family members suffered and shares stories told to her by others who faced similarly dire circumstances. It's an intimate—and disturbing—account of war at its most brutal, told from the point of view of civilians trying to survive the maelstrom. * Publishers Weekly *To this day, her harrowing account—of war casualties, searches and arrests, ideological purges—generates intense debates about accountability during war time. * Shelf Awareness *...[A] searing eyewitness account...It makes for an intimate—and disturbing—account of war at its most brutal told from the point of view of civilians trying to survive the maelstrom. * VVA Veteran *This is a worthy addition to accounts that help readers understand the Vietnam War. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice *On the whole, scholars will find this memoir invaluable for understanding the American War in Vietnam as an internal civil war between the Vietnamese. * H-Net Reviews H-War *In her translation of A Mourning Headband for Hue, Olga Dror has traversed the terrain of contemporary Vietnamese literature, selected a wonderful gem, Gii Khăn Sô Cho Hu by Nhã Ca, and made it accessible to an English readership. . . . It is simultaneously an account of the experience of civilians trapped in a city under siege and a literary response to the brutalities of war by a leading poet and writer of South Vietnam. * Journal of Vietnamese Studies *Mourning Headband for Hue is Nhã Ca's searing condemnation of the brutality of war. * Michigan War Studies Review *A work of great historical and literary value ideal for use in the classroom, Mourning Headband for Hue highlights overlooked voices and facets of the Vietnam War, meriting inclusion among the classics of wartime fiction. * Southeast Asian Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on TranslationTranslator's IntroductionSmall Preface: Writing to Admit Guilt1. First Hours2. The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer3. Hodge-podge4. On a Boat Trip5. A Person from Tu Dam Comes Back and Tells His Story6. Going Back into the Hell of the Fighting7. Story from the Citadel8. Returning to the Old House9. A Dog in Midstream10. Little Child of, Hue Little Child of Vietnam, I Wish You Luck!

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Book SynopsisChronicling the development of Randolph's political and racial ideologyTrade Review"Bynum focuses on Randolph’s career in the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, when he was formulating his ideas on social justice, race, and class. . . . The result is a deeper look at the ideals that drove Randolph."--Booklist"Bynum does an excellent job of discussing Randolph's attempts to secure bargaining for the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. In doing so, he exposes the shameful behavior of the union movement in its unwillingness to accept blacks."--Labor Studies Journal"Bynum's well-researched monograph makes a useful contribution to the growing body of literature on the 'long' civil rights movement."--The Journal of American History"An intriguing intellectual history."--The Journal of Southern History"Bynum's book is lucid and an excellent work that can be used for both academic research and casual reading. . . . Bynum's research has opened a window to new scholarship on Randolph's thinking, his role in the civil rights movement, and his demands for accountability from the U.S. government."--H-1960s"Relating Randolph's racial, economic, and political thought to his efforts to address injustice, Bynum does an excellent job of positioning Randolph's ideology with that of his contemporaries on the political left. This study is ideal for students and scholars of twentieth-century African American history, labor history, and race relations."--Cary D. Wintz, editor of African American Political Thought, 1890–1930: Washington, Du Bois, Garvey, and RandolpTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction ixPart 1. Building Black Identity at the Turn of the Century 1. A. Philip Randolph, Racial Identity, and Family Relations: Tracing the Development of a Racial Self-Concept 3 2. Religious Faith and Black Empowerment: The AME Church and Randolph's Racial Identity and View of Social Justice 24Part 2. Constructing Class Consciousness in the Jazz Age 3. Black Radicalism in Harlem: Randolph's Racial and Political Consciousness 47 4. Crossing the Color Line: Randolph's Transition from Race to Class Consciousness 63Part 3. The Rise of the New Crowd Negroes 5. A New Crowd, A New Negro: The Messenger and New Negro Ideology in the 1920s 85 6. Black and White Unite: Randolph and the Divide between Class Theory and the Race Problem 101Part 4. Blending Race and Class 7 Ridin' the Rails: Randolph and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters' Struggle for Union Recognition 119 8. Where Class Consciousness Falls Short: Randolph and the Brotherhood's Standing in the House of Labor 136 9. Marching Toward Fair Employment: Randolph, the Race/Class Connection, and the March on Washington Movement 157 Epilogue: A. Philip Randolph's Reconciliation of Race and Class in African American Protest Politics 185 Notes 201 Bibliography 227 Index 237Illustrations follow page 82

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Book SynopsisJames VI and I, the first monarch to reign over Scotland, England and Ireland, has long endured a mixed reputation. To many, he is simply the homosexual King, the inveterate witch-roaster, the smelly sovereign who never washed, the colourless man behind the authorised Bible bearing his name, or the drooling fool whose speech could barely be understood. For too long, he has paled in comparison to his more celebrated Tudor and Stuart forebears.But who was he really? To what extent have myth, anecdote, and rumour obscured him?In this new and ground-breaking biography, James's story is laid bare and a welter of scurrilous, outrageous assumptions penned by his political opponents put to rest. What emerges is a portrait of Elizabeth I''s successor as his contemporaries knew him: a gregarious, idealistic man obsessed with the idea of family, whose personal and political goals could never match up to reality. With reference to letters, libels and state papers, it casts fresh light on the perso

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Book SynopsisAgathe von Trapp, the oldest daughter in the Trapp Family Singers, offers readers the real story behind an American classic in her poignant and fascinating autobiography Memories Before and After The Sound of Music. The courageous family and events immortalized in the beloved Broadway musical and hit Hollywood film come vibrantly alive in these pages, and Agathe’s post-Sound of Music life is equally compelling.Trade Review"The eldest daughter in the Trapp Family Singers writes poignantly...In her telling, we learn the real details in this truly providential tale about a tight-knit, devoted, and wonderfully gifted family." -- Publishers Weekly "Agathe von Trapp's World War II story is the stuff of legend -- or, as she would have it, myth. In her memoir, Memories Before and After the Sound of Music, von Trapp, the eldest sister in the famed singing family, attempts to set the record straight...Charming." -- Washington Post "Many fans of 'The Sound of Music' are curious about how much of it is truth and how much is poetic license. This newly released paperback offers some first-person insight." -- Newsday

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Book SynopsisIn an era when we are constantly bombarded by technology and instant gratification is the norm, this work is a reminder of the wisdom to be found in books and proof of the all-encompassing power and delight of reading.Trade Review"The beauty of her project lies in seeing how books intertwine with daily life, how very much they affect our moods, interactions, and, especially important for Sankovitch, how we recover and process our memories...She makes reading seem accessible, relaxing, inspiring, fun." -- Los Angeles Times "Anyone who has ever sought refuge in literature will identify with Tolstoy and the Purple Chair." -- O, The Oprah Magazine "Sankovitch's memoir stands as a tribute to the power of books to enrich our daily lives." -- Christian Science Monitor "This graceful memoir describes a true love affair with books." -- Boston Globe "A beautifully fluid, reflective, and astute memoir that gracefully combines affecting family history with expert testimony about how books open our minds to 'the complexity and entirety of the human experience.' Sankovitch's reading list in all its dazzling variety is top-notch." -- Booklist "[Tolstoy and the Purple Chair] digs deep into that near-mystical connection between a reader and an author-that startling feeling that you are channeling someone you have never met...A gripping and inspiring book." -- Connecticut Post "What Sankovitch has accomplished in her first book is not only to celebrate the transformational, even healing, powers of reading, but to give the reader a feeling of reading those books as well, through the eyes of an astute reader." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Her deeply moving memoir artfully intertwines her immigrant family's history with the universal themes of hope, resilience, and memory. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair celebrates not only the healing power of literature but its ability to connect us to the best of ourselves - and each other." -- American Way "[An] entertaining bibliophile's dream...Sankovitch's memoir speaks to the power that books can have over our daily lives. Sankovitch champions the act of reading not as an indulgence but as a necessity, and will make the perfect gift from one bookworm to another." -- Publishers Weekly "Nina Sankovitch has crafted a dazzling memoir that reminds us of the most primal function of literature-to heal, to nurture and to connect us to our truest selves." -- Thrity Umrigar, author of The Space Between us "In Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, her affectionate and inspiring paean to the power of books and reading, Sankovitch gracefully acknowledges that her year of reading was an escape into the healing sanctuary of books, where she learned how to move beyond recuperation to living." -- BookPage "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair will transport you to a time before texts and tweets. Through the stories of her own family, Nina Sankovitch shows how books have the power to refresh, renew, and even heal us. I loved this memoir." -- Julie Klam, author of You Had Me at Woof "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is original, uplifting and very moving: a unique celebration of life, love and literature." -- S. J. Bolton, author of Now You See Me "[A] brilliant and heartwarming book." -- Ventura County Star "An original and touching...account of one woman's lifelong affinity for books and her attempt to channel that affinity to deal with her grief after her sister dies. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is an understated but moving story about the effects of a 'year of magical reading.'" -- The Dartmouth "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair masterfully weaves beloved and sometimes surprising books into central events in the writer's life. There is much to learn from this moving book. Sankovitch writes with intelligence and honesty, leading us to respond in a similar manner." -- Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, author of One Amazing Thing "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is a must-read for anyone who adores books. It is also a primer on the healing power of taking time off to grieve by immersing oneself in a revered activity." -- The Book Bully "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is an absolutely lovely account of the healing power of literature." -- Devourer of Books "Sankovitch's account works well because she uses her reading list to jump off into topics that are tangential, yet intriguing and often important." -- Buffalo News "A beautifully paced look at how mindfulness can affect the psyche." -- Shelf Awareness (starred review) "[Tolstoy and the Purple Chair] offers timeless wisdom, is uplifting and has a powerful message." -- PsychCentral.com "She is adept at stitching together musings about the books she is reading with memory and narrative from her own life." -- The Christian Century "What is best in Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, however, is not the author's literary criticism, but the way in which she blends her accounts of her reading with the story of her family and with broader human concerns." -- Smoky Mountain News

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Book SynopsisRising from obscurity to leading roles and Oscar nominations, the author has been both celebrated and vilified in the media; survived marriages, divorces, and a string of romances; was named the Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine; and suffered public humiliation over his drug and alcohol issues. This book offers a close-up look at the man.Trade Review“And now we have “Rebel: My Life Outside the Lines,” playing at a bookstore near you. Touching, funny in parts, full of the excesses postwar America readily supplied, and, hopefully, truthful. Pick it up.” -- Washington Post“The noted film actor and notorious bad boy hunkers down and tells a few tales of his life...Better than the usual run of actor memoirs and plenty of fun to boot.” -- Kirkus Reviews

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Book SynopsisNot to be missed, Philippa Langley and her international team untangle a 500-year-old mystery to reveal the fate of the Princes of the Tower.

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Book SynopsisTomas O''Crohan was born on the Great Blasket Island in 1865 and died there in 1937, a great master of his native Irish. He shared to the full the perilous life of a primitive community, yet possessed a shrewd and humorous detachment that enabled him to observe and describe the world. His book is a valuable description of a new vanished way of life; his sole purpose in writing it was in his own words, ''to set down the character of the people about me so that some record of us might live after us, for the like of us will never be again''. The Blasket Islands are three miles off Irelands Dingle Peninsula. Until their evacuation just after the Second World War, the lives of the 150 or so Blasket Islanders had remained unchanged for centuries. A rich oral tradition of story-telling, poetry, and folktales kept alive the legends and history of the islands, and has made their literature famous throughout the world. The 7 Blasket Island books published by OUP contain memoirs and reminiscences from within this literary tradition, evoking a way of life which has now vanished.Trade ReviewPart of a unique and remarkable Irish literary archive ... compelling. * Neil Johnston, Belfast Telegraph, 24/6/00 *

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Book SynopsisStorytelling kept alive the myths, legends, and history of the Blasket Islands, which are three miles off Irelands Dingle Peninsula. In her old age, Peig Sayers, 'the Queen of Gaelic storytellers', recounted her life to her son, who recorded the tale in this book. She recalls the events of her life and her simple philosophy.

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Book SynopsisMaurice O'Sullivan was born on the Great Blasket in 1904, and 'Twenty years A-Growing' tells the story of his youth and of a way of life which belonged to the Middle Ages. He wrote for his own pleasure and for the entertainment of his friends, without any thought of a wider public; his style is derived from folk-tales which he hear from his grandfather and sharpened by his own lively imagination.Trade ReviewI was fascinated by the language of the book, originally written in Irish: much of the idiom of that language had been retained in the English Translation * Paul Buttle - The Independent *Part of a unique and remarkable Irish literary archive ... compelling. * Neil Johnston, Belfast Telegraph, 24/6/00 *Table of Contents1. IN DINGLE; 2. MY FIRST JOURNEY HOME; 3. THE ISLAND; 4; A DAY'S HUNTING; 5. VENTRY RACES; 6. PIERCE'S CAVE; 7. A SHOAL OF MACKEREL; 8. HALLOWE'EN; 9. THE WHALE; 10. THE WAKE; 11. A NIGHT IN THE INISH; 12 THE WAR; 13. THE SHIPWRECK; 14. THE WANDERER; 15. THE LOBSTER SEASON; 16; MATCHMAKING; 17. THE WEDDING DAY; 18. AN AMERICAN WAKE; 19. THE STRANGER; 20 MY LAST JOURNEY TO THE INISH; 21; I LEAVE HOME; 22. FROM DINGLE EAST; 23. THE CITY OF DUBLIN; 24. THE CIVIC GUARD; 25. CONNEMARA; 26. CONCLUSION

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Book SynopsisThis is a biography lightened with the intimate tone of a social memoir, about a woman who was both a bystander and protagonist through some fifty years of twentieth-century British history. Pamela Berry was the daughter of the buccaneering and brilliant politician and lawyer, FE Smith, the first Earl of Birkenhead, and married the son of another self-made man, William Berry from South Wales, who became Viscount Camrose and the owner of a group of national newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph. She had an unusually glamorous and precocious childhood, spoiled by her adoring father, and much photographed by Cecil Beaton. In her prime she used her position as a newspaper proprietor's wife to become the most famous political and press hostess of her generation, harnessing her beauty and wit to influence successive governments, and was accused of wielding petticoat power' during the Suez crisis. She had a decade-long affair with Malcolm Muggeridge, became a vigorous promoter of British fashion, dragging it out of the dowdy fifties, and in later life was active in the museum world. Harriet Cullen has opened a window back into the remarkable story of her mother's life from a rich cache of family diaries and letters, interweaving them with many other unpublished sources. It is revealing, in turns scathing and admiring, but always entertaining.

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Book SynopsisAn “intimate, intensely resonant memoir about workaholism, unresolved trauma, and the ‘addictive nature of ambition’” (Harper’s Bazaar), this is an anti-girlboss tale for our times for readers of Drinking: A Love Story and Uncanny Valley.After years of relentlessly racing up the professional ladder, Jennifer Romolini reached the kind of success many crave: a high-profile, C-suite dream job, a book well-received enough that reporters wanted to know the secrets to her success, and a gig traveling around the country giving speeches on “making it.” But beneath this polished surface was a powder keg of unresolved trauma and chronic overwork. It was all about to blow. Ambition Monster is a gutsy and powerful look at workaholism, the lingering effect of childhood trauma, and the failures of our modern rat race. This is a Cinderella story of success and a brutal appraisal of the cost of capitalism—perfect for people pleasers, overachievers, and those whose traumas have driven them to be perfect, no matter the cost. “If you find yourself on the other end of burnout, trying desperately to figure out a new way forward—wow, is this book for you” (Anne Helen Petersen, author of Can’t Even).

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWonderful . . . full of wit and erudition * Telegraph *A brilliant, original approach to literature, a key to Calvino's own work and a thoroughly delightful and illuminating commentary on some of the world's greatest writing * San Francisco Chronicle *I have always liked Calvino and after reading this book, I like him even more -- Wang Xiaobo * The Pleasures of Thinking *Rich and deeply satisfying ... this is very much a book that sets you off thinking ... there is a universe in here -- Nick Lezard * Guardian *Praise for Italo Calvino -- :A genial as well as a brilliant writer -- John UpdikeCalvino will continue to glitter, this strange, lonely prospector in the universe of words. . . a master in the empire of the imagination -- Ian Thomson * Independent *Reading Calvino, you're constantly assailed by the notion that he is writing down what you have always known, except that you've never thought of it before . . . he tells us, joyfully, wickedly, that there are things in the world worth loving as well as hating; and that such things exist in people, too. I can think of no finer writer to have beside me while Italy explodes, while Britain burns, while the world ends. -- Salman RushdieNo-one can read Angela Carter or David Mitchell without thinking of Calvino. Salman Rushdie is enthusiastic in his naming of Calvino as a major influence on his work, as am I. -- Jeanette Winterson

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Book SynopsisFrom the acclaimed author of Charles Dickens: A Life comes a celebrated biography that casts new light on the remarkable diaries of Samuel Pepys.Samuel Pepys achieved fame as a naval administrator, a friend and colleague of the powerful and learned, a figure of substance. But for nearly ten years he kept a diary which recorded, with unparalleled openness and sensitivity, exactly what it was like to be a young man in Restoration London.Within and beyond the narrative of his extraordinary career, Claire Tomalin explores Pepys'' inner life - his relations with women, his fears and ambitions, his political shifts, his agonies and his delights.''A rich, thoughtful and deeply satisfying account'' Evening Standard''Sex, drink, plague, fire, music, marital conflict, the fall of kings, corruption and courage in public life, wars, navies, public execution, incarceration in the Tower: Samuel Pepys''s life is full of irresistible material'' Guardian''In Claire Tomalin, Pepys has found the biographer he deserves. Her perceptive, level-headed book finally restores to the life of the diarist its weight and dignity'' New StatesmanTrade Review“The Pepys we know lived for only nine years and five months. Tomalin gives us the rest of the man, and also a startling new way to read him.”—Thomas Mallon, The New Yorker“Tomalin not only brings him back to vibrant life, but makes a powerful case that he’s more central, more ‘relevant’ than we ever imagined . . . She has restored to us the whole Pepys.”—Charles McGrath, New York Times Book Review, front cover“Brilliantly believable . . . It takes an exceptional biographer to go so confidently beyond the apparent totality of daily experience presented in Pepys’s Diary . . . Claire Tomalin’s life [of Pepys] is a magnificent triumph. Her research has been not just scrupulously thorough but dazzlingly imaginative.”—Philip Hensher, Atlantic Monthly“Tomalin’s writing is as supple and lively as Pepys’s own, and by fleshing out the backdrop to his Diary writings, she has created the perfect bookend to his own rollicking self-portrait . . . The best work on Pepys since Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic essay, published in 1881.”—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times“Our greatest diarist, analyzed by one of our greatest biographers. Tomalin’s flawless research and trademark empathy with her subjects should make this portrait of one of the most fascinating characters of 17th-century England the best biography of the autumn.”—Caroline Gascoigne, Sunday Times (U.K.)“Immaculately well done. She writes with such beautiful clarity, always empathetic . . . There is about this biography a wisdom, an unforced feeling that the biographer has a sense of the way life is . . . Like all great biographies, Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self has a hint of the love letter about it. And it is a love that becomes contagious.”—Craig Brown, The Mail on Sunday (U.K.)

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Book SynopsisJohnny Sexton - the man who pulled the strings for the Lions - gives an intimate insight into the rugby life in Becoming a Lion.With three Heineken Cups and one British and Irish Lions tour victory under his belt, Johnny Sexton is by some distance the leading fly-half in the northern hemisphere. Over the course of the Lions'' first victorious Test series in sixteen years, Sexton was the man pulling the strings. His try in the third test was the decisive blow, and his joyous celebrations after scoring were echoed in homes across Britain and Ireland.Becoming a Lion is an intimate portrait of life at the highest levels of the professional game - at Leinster, with Ireland, and on tour with the Lions.''Bracing and fascinating in equal measure'' Malachy Clerkin, Irish Times''Riveting ... Opens a remarkable window into the stresses, hurts and insecurities of a professional life in rugby'' Vincent Hogan, Irish Independent''Captures all the jagged edges that make Sexton one of Irish sport''s most compelling characters'' Sunday Times''Sets a great benchmark for sports autobiographies, given that it is so honest'' Matt Cooper, Today FM''Engrossing'' Rugby World Ireland''If you crave an insight into the life of a professional rugby player ... Becoming a Lion is a must'' Donal Lenihan, Irish Examiner''Intensely revealing'' Irish Daily MailTrade ReviewRiveting ... Opens a remarkable window into the stresses, hurts and insecurities of a professional life in rugby -- Vincent Hogan * Irish Independent *Bracing and fascinating in equal measure -- Malachy Clerkin * Irish Times *It really sets for a great benchmark for sports autobiographies, given that it is so honest -- Matt Cooper * Today FM *Captures all the jagged edges that make Sexton one of Irish sport's most compelling characters * Sunday Times *Engrossing * Rugby World Ireland *If you crave an insight into the life of a professional rugby player ... Becoming a Lion is a must -- Donal Lenihan * Irish Examiner *Intensely revealing * Irish Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisGabriel García Márquez''s News of a Kidnapping is a powerful retelling of actual events from a turbulent period of Colombian history. ''She looked over her shoulder before getting into the car to be sure no one was following her''Pablo Escobar: billionaire drugs baron, ruthless manipulator brutal killer and jefe of the infamous Madellín cartel. A man whose importance in the international drug trade and renown for his charitable work among the poor brought him influence and power in his home country of Colombia, and the unwanted attention of the American courts.Terrified of the new Colombian President''s determination to extradite him to America, Escobar found the best bargaining tools he could find: hostages.In the winter of 1990, ten relatives of Colombian politicians, mostly women, were abducted and held hostage as Escobar attempted to strong-arm the government into blocking his extradition. Two died, the rest survived, and from their Trade ReviewMarquez uses his novelist's instinct for emotional drama to give the reader a wonderfully immediate sense of his subjects' ordeal: their spiraling hopes and fears, their fantasies of escape, their desperation and despair. * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisNATIONAL BEST SELLER • Oprah's Book Club 2.0 selection. • A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again. At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.  Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty an

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Book SynopsisGeorge Orwell was first and foremost an essayist, producing throughout his life an extraordinary array of short nonfiction that reflected--and illuminated--the fraught times in which he lived.

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