A national bestseller from the New York Times best-selling author of The Middlesteins, All Grown Up is a wickedly funny novel about a thirty-nine-year-old single, childfree woman who defies convention as she seeks connection. Who is Andrea Bern? When her therapist asks the question, Andrea knows the right things to say: she’s a designer, a friend, a daughter, a sister. But it’s what she leaves unsaid—she’s alone, a drinker, a former artist, a shrieker in bed, captain of the sinking ship that is her flesh—that feels the most true. Everyone around her seems to have an entirely different idea of what it means to be an adult: her best friend, Indigo, is getting married; her brother—who miraculously seems unscathed by their shared tumultuous childhood—and sister-in-law are having a hoped-for baby; and her friend Matthew continues to wholly devote himself to making dark paintings at the cost of being flat broke. But when Andrea’s niece finally arrives, born with a heartbreaking ailment, the Bern family is forced to reexamine what really matters. Will this drive them together or tear them apart? Told in gut-wrenchingly honest, mordantly comic vignettes, All Grown Up is a breathtaking display of Jami Attenberg’s power as a storyteller, a whip-smart examination of one woman’s life, lived entirely on her own terms.
A new, sexy standalone from #1 New York Times Bestseller, Vi Keeland. When I first encountered Ford Donovan, I had no idea who he was…well, other than the obvious. Young, gorgeous, successful, smart. Did I mention young? If I did, it bears repeating. Ford Donovan was too young for me. Let’s back up to how it all started. My best friend decided I needed to start dating again. So, without my knowledge, she set up a profile for me on a popular dating site—one that invited men ages twenty-one to twenty-seven to apply for a date. Those nicknamed Cunnilingus King were told they’d go straight to the top for consideration. The profile wasn’t supposed to go live. Another point that bears repeating—it wasn’t supposed to. Nevertheless, that’s how I met Ford, and we started messaging. He made me laugh; yet I was adamant that because of his age, we could only be friends. But after weeks of wearing me down, I finally agreed to one date only—my first after twenty years of being with my high school sweetheart. I knew it couldn’t last, but I was curious about him. Though, you know what they say…curiosity kills the cat. My legs wobbled walking into the restaurant. Ford was seated at the bar. When he turned around, he took my breath away. His sexy smile nearly melted my panties. But…he looked so familiar. As I got closer I realized why. He was the son of the neighbor at our family’s summer home. The boy next door. Only now…he was all man. I hadn’t seen him in years. I left the restaurant and planned to put the entire crazy thing behind me. Which I did. Until summer came. And guess who decided to use his family’s summer home this year?
A Little Golden Book for all ages starring the characters from Nickelodeon's Rugrats! Fans of Nickelodeon's Rugrats will love this Little Golden Book about growing up! Angelica is excited about her birthday--until she learns that becoming a big girl means more responsibility. Horrified by the thought of growing up, she takes desperate measures to ward off the weight of adulthood. A laugh-out-loud read for anyone nostalgic for the days of zero obligation.
"WHERE HAVE ALL THE GROWN-UPS GONE?" That is the provocative question Washington Times syndicated columnist Diana West asks as she looks at America today. Sadly, here's what she finds: It's difficult to tell the grown-ups from the children in a landscape littered with Baby Britneys, Moms Who Mosh, and Dads too "young" to call themselves "mister." Surveying this sorry scene, West makes a much larger statement about our place in the world: "No wonder we can't stop Islamic terrorism. We haven't put away our toys " As far as West is concerned, grown-ups are extinct. The disease that killed them emerged in the fifties, was incubated in the sixties, and became an epidemic in the seventies, leaving behind a nation of eternal adolescents who can't say "no," a politically correct population that doesn't know right from wrong. The result of such indecisiveness is, ultimately, the end of Western civilization as we know it. This is because the inability to take on the grown-up role of gatekeeper influences more than whether a sixteen-year-old should attend a Marilyn Manson concert. It also fosters the dithering cultural relativism that arose from the "culture wars" in the eighties and which now undermines our efforts in the "real" culture war of the 21st century--the war on terror. With insightful wit, Diana West takes readers on an odyssey through culture and politics, from the rise of rock 'n' roll to the rise of multiculturalism, from the loss of identity to the discovery of "diversity," from the emasculation of the heroic ideal to the "PC"-ing of "Mary Poppins," all the while building a compelling case against the childishness that is subverting the struggle against jihadist Islam in a mixed-up, post-9/11 world. With a new foreword for the paperback edition, "The Death of the Grown-up," is a bracing read from one of the most original voices on the American cultural scene.
Many parents in their 50s and 60s don't know how to parent their adult children. Yet increases in health and longevity mean that parents and their children may share 40 or more years together as adults. "All Grown Up" describes how mid-life parents and their grown children can celebrate this new lease on life together by developing loving and egalitarian friendships that are positive and guilt-free. Using conflict resolution strategies borrowed from the field of mediation, a healthy respect for generation-gap issues engendered by the social revolutions of the 1960s and '70s, and a broad spiritual perspective, the author provides both practical solutions to on-going problems, as well as thought-provoking discussions of how these problems came to be. Unlike other books in the field, "All Grown Up" addresses the cultural changes of the late 20th century which deeply affect how we approach parenting, self-development and lifestyle issues. The book provides guidance on how parents of adult children can: communicate with their adult children without judgments, or fear of giving praise; let go - and share activities in a stress-free, equal way; deal with crises in their adult children's lives, knowing when and when "not" to give advice; set boundaries, limits and deadlines; avoid over-identification with their child's successes and failures, and avoid competitiveness; and build understanding, trust and compassion without prying. Wise, compassionate and helpful, "All Grown Up" will appeal to all mid-life and older parents and children, as well as mediators, therapists, and counselors. Marketing for "All Grown Up": National print advertising Nationalprint, radio and web publicity Co-op available Roberta Maisel is a sociologist, educator and professional mediator. A parent of three adult children, she watches over her 93-year old mother and lives in Berkeley, California.
All Grown Up Now is an autobiographical novel about one man's journey from being a green kid on Oklahoma, to being "all grown up now".Two gay men in early 1980s Oklahoma find themselves in a lifelong friendship that transcends the simple label of “friends.” When domestic violence tears their world apart, a desperate act sets the course for healing and a profound new outlook on life. A tale of retail, revenge, re-invention, reckless behavior, and really good clothes, Kenneth D. King's debut is a rollicking coming-of-age story. Growing up as a young gay man in Oklahoma City, the capital city of Places To Not Grow Up Fabulous In, King is designing Barbie dresses by the age of four and knows that his destiny lies as a fashion designer in The Big City. Which Big City isn't necessarily named—it is more of an ideal, where pageantry, fabulous parties, and beautiful clothes are the staples of life. Working tirelessly to graduate from college with a degree in fashion merchandising, he takes his first job as a window display designer, where he meets colleague Mark and strikes up a friendship that will change them both forever.When Mark moves with his significant other, Victor, to San Francisco, he takes a job as a display manager for a chain of stores and hires Ken. Big City, here he comes! But Mark and Victor keep a dark secret of spousal abuse that strains the friendship to its limits. But when Mark needs to be rescued, Ken is there to execute an intricate—and dangerous—kidnapping to save his friend. What he doesn't fully realize, however, is how dramatically that act of friendship will change the course of both of their lives.Beginning as a collection of stories that helped King make sense of an important, tumultuous friendship in his life, this riveting, non-linear depiction of their relationship and the tragic pain caused by domestic violence is as heartbreaking as it is hilarious. Depicting moments in the author's life that sparkle individually, All Grown Up Now: A Friendship in Three Acts creates a jewel of a work that is funny, engaging, and powerful.Kenneth D. King is an haute couture designer in New York. His couture clothing and accessories are in many private collections, have appeared in music videos and television commercials, and are in the permanent museum collections of the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. You can view his design work at: www.kennethdking.com. A writer of books on different aspects of design and sewing technique, King's published works include various articles to Threads magazine, Designer Techniques (Sterling Publishing, 1996), Designer Bead Embroidery (Quarto Publishing, 2006), Cool Couture (Creative Publishing, 2008), and eleven self-published books on CD covering different couture garment construction topics. From 1994-1996 King appeared as the sewing expert on twenty-six episodes of the PBS television series "Sewing Today" and has appeared on a number of TV shows promoting his couture creations and sewing expertise.
Once our society set aside time for adolescents to grow from children to adults, to become accustomed to their expanding bodies and minds. Now the markers that defined passage—differences in dress, behavior, and responsibilities—have vanished. The institutions that guarded adolescence, such as family and schools, now expect “young adults” to deal with adult issues. Those trends leave teens no time to be teens.All Grown Up and No Place to Go spotlights the pressures on teenagers to grow up quickly. The resulting problems range from common alienation to self-destructive behavior. Quoting teenagers themselves, Elkind shows why adolescence is a time of “thinking in a new key,” and how young people need this time to get used to the social and emotional changes their new thinking brings. Many of his ideas, such as the “imaginary audience” that makes teens so self-conscious, have become seminal in adolescent psychology.Already there are more than 175,000 copies of All Grown Up and No Place to Go in print. In this thoroughly revised edition, Elkind also explores the “post-modern family” in which teenagers are growing up. He helps parents and those who work with youth and understand teens in crucial ways, because the root of so many adolescent frictions is the gap between what teenagers need and what our culture provides.
INSTANT #1 BESTSELLER! A brand-new book from the #1 bestselling author of The Break and The Woman Who Stole My Life. They're a glamorous family, the Caseys. Johnny Casey, his two brothers Ed and Liam, their beautiful, talented wives and all their kids spend a lot of time together--birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, weekends away. And they're a happy family. Johnny's wife, Jessie--who has the most money--insists on it. Under the surface, though, conditions are murkier. While some people clash, other people like each other far too much . . . Still, everything manages to stay under control--that is, until Ed's wife, Cara, gets a concussion and can't keep her thoughts or opinions to herself. One careless remark at Johnny's birthday party, with the entire family present, and Cara starts spilling all their secrets. As everything unravels, each of the adults finds themselves wondering if it's--finally--the time to grow up.
Best-selling author Hayley DiMarco looks at the good, bad, and ugly of women's relationships, showing women how to overcome hurt from the past and realize the beauty of positive friendships.
