'Home' is that intimate, closed, secret space where we impose our own laws and give shape to our own particular concept of the world. My House, My Paradise is a collection of houses in which the 'residents-cum-creators' have devoted all of their ingenuity, energy and determination into constructing what they perceive to be the ideal domestic universe. They include Ludwig II of Bavaria's Linderhof, the Cesar Manrique Villa in Lanzarote, Salvador Dali's villa in Spain, Edward James' villa in Mexico, Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village, Ian Hamilton Finlay's Little Sparta, Alex Jordan's house on the rock and William Randolph Hearst's Xanadu.
The hard cover best seller is now in paperback. As one of the innovators of the disco era and founders of Paradise Garage, Mel Cheren rekindles the dance till you drop days of the late 70s and pays somber respect for those who have since passed away. Disco, the dark, early days of AIDS, gay liberation, NYC and everything in between is in this book.
One must handle the challenges of growing up with a sense of humor. Though living in paradise can be a dream, life is not without strife. There were no rich, no poor, and no unemployment in Brian Allen's Panama Canal Zone. Yet his home town was utterly destroyed and the dead exhumed. Brian tells his story with humor, warts and all. My Paradise Lost is about a boy growing to manhood in the golden age of the Canal Zone. It was an innocent, Huck Finn in the rain forest existence. His township of Coco Solo was a blue collar world of mangoes and maids, exotica and history. Misadventure abounds and teen romance is just as awkward in paradise as anywhere. There is parental conflict, life, death, and the ghost of Jim Crow racism. At the best time of his life, Brian is involved in a fatal car accident that puts him in the custody of the intimidating Guardia Nacional. His fate rests in the courts of a dictatorship whose El Supremo is bent on sovereignty over his Canal Zone home. You will feel the tropical sun, splash in the canal, ache for love, laugh at the familiar, and cry for the dead. Photos and popular recipes are included."I thought the wonderful days of growing up in the Zone were gone until I read My Paradise Lost. This Coco Solo girl was transported back to treasured days gone by. Brian beautifully captured the spirit of the Zone, mosquitoes and all. Thank you Brian for a personal peek at an evolving Paradise." --Betty LeDoux-Morris, four time past president of the Panama Canal Society. “You learn something when you read Brian Allen's work, about history, about the world, about yourself, in a voice that is as familiar and comfortable as your best friend's.” --Karen L. Barron, English Professor and award winning fiction and non-fiction writer. Reader: be prepared. This is a charming coming-of-age memoir set in the exotic location of the Panama Canal Zone, and filled with humor, adventure, and insight. But My Paradise Lost is also an examination of colonialism, justice, hardship and loss. Through his story, Allen reveals the development of his character. In doing so, he enlarges our sense of what it means to be both Americans and global citizens. --Thomas Averill, English Professor, W.U. Writer in Residence, O. Henry Award winning author.
In 2008 Antigone Perifanis returns to her old family home in Athens after 60 years in exile. She has come to attend the funeral of her only son, Nikitas, who was born in prison, and whom she has not seen since she left him as a baby. At the same time, Nikitas’s English widow Maud – disturbed by her husband’s strange behaviour in the days before his death – starts to investigate his complicated past. She soon finds herself reigniting a bitter family feud, and discovers a heartbreaking story of a young mother caught up in the political tides of the Greek Civil War, forced to make a terrible decision that will blight not only her life but that of future generations...
A riveting and poignant novel of one woman’s journey to Bali in search of love, renewal, and a place to call home—perfect for readers of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love and Alex Garland’s The Beach. It starts as a trip to paradise. Sent on assignment to Bali, Jamie, an American adventure guide, imagines spending weeks exploring the island’s lush jungles and pristine white sand beaches. Yet three days after her arrival, she is caught in Bali’s infamous nightclub bombings, which irreparably change her life and leave her with many unanswered questions. One year later, haunted by memories, Jamie returns to Bali seeking a sense of closure. Most of all, she hopes to find Gabe, the man who saved her from the attacks. She hasn’t been able to forget his kindness—or the spark between them as he helped her heal. Checking into a cozy guest house for her stay, Jamie meets the kindly owner, who is coping with a painful past of his own, and a young boy who improbably becomes crucial to her search. Jamie has never shied away from a challenge, but a second chance with Gabe presents her with the biggest dilemma of all: whether she’s ready to open her heart. Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. Praise for The Paradise Guest House “Two survivors of Bali’s terrorist bombing find love and spiritual rebirth on an island whose inhabitants believe in reincarnation in Sussman’s touching panorama of paradise. . . . Throughout, Sussman celebrates lovers, quiet healing, and the sweetness of the island and its people.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A story of healing and redemption, of finding love in the most unexpected places, and of the importance of moving forward . . . Sussman has drawn a vivid, well-balanced portrait of a woman and a country working to recover from an unimaginable event and a very personal look at a global tragedy.”—Booklist “Echoing Bali’s difficult recovery from [the 2002 terrorist bombing], the characters tread the difficult terrain of post-traumatic attachment. . . . A respectful and earnest . . . treatment of devastation’s aftermath.”—Kirkus Reviews “[A] moving story about making sense of life after a tragedy . . . This touching tale will cause contemplation about what closure truly means.”—RT Book Reviews
From Tatjana Soli, the bestselling author of The Lotus Eaters and The Forgetting Tree, comes a black comedy set on an island resort, where guests attempting to flee their troubles realize they can't escape who they are. On a small, unnamed coral atoll in the South Pacific, a group of troubled dreamers must face the possibility that the hopes they've labored after so single-mindedly might not lead them to the happiness they feel they were promised. Ann and Richard, an aspiring, Los Angeles power couple, are already sensing the cracks in their version of the American dream when their life unexpectedly implodes, leading them to brashly run away from home to a Robinson Crusoe idyll. Dex Cooper, lead singer of the rock band, Prospero, is facing his own slide from greatness, experimenting with artistic asceticism while accompanied by his sexy, young, and increasingly entrepreneurial muse, Wende. Loren, the French owner of the resort sauvage, has made his own Gauguin-like retreat from the world years before, only to find that the modern world has become impossible to disconnect from. Titi, descendent of Tahitian royalty, worker, and eventual inheritor of the resort, must fashion a vision of the island's future that includes its indigenous people, while her partner, Cooked, is torn between anarchy and lust. By turns funny and tragic, The Last Good Paradise explores our modern, complex and often, self-contradictory discontents, crafting an exhilarating and darkly satirical story about our need to connect in an increasingly networked but isolating world.
Avinash didn't believe in love but one fine day, his heart started irregularly beating when he unexpectedly got trapped in a question and answer made him fall in love with "Pari". Influence of Abhijeet and in regularity of his heartbeat took away his dream and still he is dreamless. Love often makes person selfless, the journey of being selfish to selfless will sure bring changes in readers. Avinash always believe when he sees his "Pari"- No matter what you are, No matter where you are, No matter even your beauty fades with time, No matter dark spots and wrinkles come over your Face, No matter what happens in future, You will always be my "Pari, my Angel" in reality and in dream.
Praise for Erica James 'A wonderfully humorous novel following the dysfunctional Baxter family' Woman's Own 'Completely absorbing' Sarah Morgan 'A brilliant and gripping family drama ... full of heart' My Weekly 'A captivating read' OK! Home is where the heart is... Paradise House, with its gorgeous views of the sea, was the perfect home for the Baxter girls to grow up in - that was, until their mother ran away to 'find herself'. Since then, it's been down to Genevieve to keep the family-owned B&B afloat - which hasn't always been easy, when her father spends most of his time hiding away from the flirtatious local women! And there's little help from her sisters, either. Nattie is too busy offending her long-term admirer and Polly spends most of her days with her head in a book. But when Genevieve hears that a nearby tumbledown barn has been sold, she's forced to take a bittersweet trip down memory lane. Because sometimes coming home means facing the secrets of the past...
Listen in as women from around the world shout Gods praise. Moments of joy and seasons of heartache are common to all of us, yet these women have learned to watch and listen for Gods love in actionHis love out loud. They have recognized His hands reaching out in welcome, His tears sliding down the face of a beloved friend, His voice whispering words of encouragement. And even when He was silent and the world seemed to be crashing down around them, they have felt His presence. You never know . . . you may have already heard His love out loud too.
Elegant, brutal, and profound—this magnificent debut captures the grit and glory of modern Hawai'i with breathtaking force and accuracy. In a stunning collection that announces the arrival of an incredible talent, Kristiana Kahakauwila travels the islands of Hawai'i, making the fabled place her own. Exploring the deep tensions between local and tourist, tradition and expectation, façade and authentic self, This Is Paradise provides an unforgettable portrait of life as it’s truly being lived on Maui, Oahu, Kaua'i and the Big Island. In the gut-punch of “Wanle,” a beautiful and tough young woman wants nothing more than to follow in her father’s footsteps as a legendary cockfighter. With striking versatility, the title story employs a chorus of voices—the women of Waikiki—to tell the tale of a young tourist drawn to the darker side of the city’s nightlife. “The Old Paniolo Way” limns the difficult nature of legacy and inheritance when a patriarch tries to settle the affairs of his farm before his death. Exquisitely written and bursting with sharply observed detail, Kahakauwila’s stories remind us of the powerful desire to belong, to put down roots, and to have a place to call home.
