Set in the Viking world of long boats, looting and grand adventure, The Goose Pimple Bay Sagas relate the hilarious tales of a noble family with a difference. In the final book of the quartet, a message reaches Goose Pimple Bay that Chief Thunderstruck is in trouble. He's been trapped in a cave on an ice flow by a fierce polar bear, who has a nasty glint in his eye when he looks at Chief Thunderstruck's bearskin coat. Together Whiff Erik, Spike Carbuncle and Fangtrude sail off to the rescue. But it's up to Fangtrude, being part wolverine, to save the day.
How do we know if we're following our true callings? How do we sharpen our senses to cut through the distractions of everyday reality and hear the calls that are beckoning us? is the first book to examine the many kinds of calls we receive and the great variety of channels through which they come to us. A calling may be to do something (change careers, go back to school, have a child) or to be something (more creative, less judgmental, more loving). While honoring a calling's essential mystery, this book also guides readers to ask and answer the fundamental questions that arise from any calling: How do we recognize it? How do we distinguish the true call from the siren song? How do we handle our resistance to a call? What happens when we say yes? What happens when we say no? Drawing on the hard-won wisdom and powerful stories of people who have followed their own calls, Gregg Levoy shows us the many ways to translate a calling into action. In a style that is poetic, exuberant, and keenly insightful, he presents an illuminating and ultimately practical inquiry into how we listen and respond to our calls, whether at work or at home, in our relationships or in service. Callings is a compassionate guide to discovering your own callings and negotiating the tight passages to personal power and authenticity.
**Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography** Included in President Obama’s 2016 Summer Reading List “Without a doubt, the finest surf book I’ve ever read . . . ” —The New York Times Magazine Barbarian Days is William Finnegan’s memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates, it is something else: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life. Raised in California and Hawaii, Finnegan started surfing as a child. He has chased waves all over the world, wandering for years through the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa. A bookish boy, and then an excessively adventurous young man, he went on to become a distinguished writer and war reporter. Barbarian Days takes us deep into unfamiliar worlds, some of them right under our noses—off the coasts of New York and San Francisco. It immerses the reader in the edgy camaraderie of close male friendships forged in challenging waves. Finnegan shares stories of life in a whites-only gang in a tough school in Honolulu. He shows us a world turned upside down for kids and adults alike by the social upheavals of the 1960s. He details the intricacies of famous waves and his own apprenticeships to them. Youthful folly—he drops LSD while riding huge Honolua Bay, on Maui—is served up with rueful humor. As Finnegan’s travels take him ever farther afield, he discovers the picturesque simplicity of a Samoan fishing village, dissects the sexual politics of Tongan interactions with Americans and Japanese, and navigates the Indonesian black market while nearly succumbing to malaria. Throughout, he surfs, carrying readers with him on rides of harrowing, unprecedented lucidity. Barbarian Days is an old-school adventure story, an intellectual autobiography, a social history, a literary road movie, and an extraordinary exploration of the gradual mastering of an exacting, little-understood art.
You could describe D.H. Lawrence as the great multi-instrumentalist among the great writers of the twentieth century. He was a brilliant, endlessly controversial novelist who transformed, for better and for worse, the way we write about sex and emotions; he was a wonderful poet; he was an essayist of burning curiosity, expansive lyricism, odd humor, and radical intelligence, equaled, perhaps, only by Virginia Woolf. Here Geoff Dyer, one of the finest essayists of our day, draws on the whole range of Lawrence’s published essays to reintroduce him to a new generation of readers for whom the essay has become an important genre. We get Lawrence the book reviewer, writing about Death in Venice and welcoming Ernest Hemingway; Lawrence the travel writer, in Mexico and New Mexico and Italy; Lawrence the memoirist, depicting his strange sometime-friend Maurice Magnus; Lawrence the restless inquirer into the possibilities of the novel, writing about the novel and morality and addressing the question of why the novel matters; and, finally, the Lawrence who meditates on birdsong or the death of a porcupine in the Rocky Mountains. Dyer’s selection of Lawrence’s essays is a wonderful introduction to a fundamental, dazzling writer.
The anthology 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - 175+ Western Novels & Short Stories in One Edition' presents an unparalleled compilation, showcasing the vast landscapes of the American West through the prism of over forty authors eyes. This diverse collection spans the spectrum from the gritty realism of pioneer life to the mythic valorization of the cowboy ethos, exploring themes of adventure, lawlessness, and the human struggle against natural elements. The variegated literary styles, including the refined prose of Twain, the rugged simplicity of London, and the narrative ingenuity of Harte, underscore the multifaceted nature of Western storytelling. These stories capture the spirit of an era, offering readers a mosaic of courageous heroes, nefarious outlaws, and spirited pioneers navigating the rugged terrains of life in Western America. The backgrounds of the contributing authors encompass a broad spectrum of American literature, from the well-known figures such as Mark Twain and Jack London to less visible but equally significant writers like William Patterson White and Marah Ellis Ryan. Collectively, they represent a formidable assembly weaving together the historical, cultural, and literary movements of their time. Each contributes a unique voice to the exploration of the Western frontier, reflecting their personal experiences, imaginations, and the zeitgeist of the late 19th to early 20th centuries. This confluence of diverse perspectives provides a rich, nuanced understanding of the Western genre, inviting readers to ponder the complexities of frontier life and the enduring appeal of Western narratives. 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - 175+ Western Novels & Short Stories in One Edition' is an essential anthology for readers seeking to immerse themselves in the expansive world of Western literature. It offers a unique opportunity to traverse the wide-ranging landscapes of human emotion and adventure, curated through the lenses of masters in the genre. This collection is a treasure trove for students, scholars, and aficionados of American literature and history, promising a deeper appreciation of the Western ethos and its impact on American cultural identity. It beckons readers to explore the myriad of stories that paint a vivid tableau of the American West, a testament to the enduring legacy of its narratives.
