The Complete Uncle Silas Stories

The Complete Uncle Silas Stories

Author: H.E. Bates

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2016-04-14

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 1448215323

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Bates's famous loveable rogue, Uncle Silas, has a unique range of work to his name. For the first time, all of these stories are gathered together in one collection, allowing readers to experience Silas from multiple perspectives. Some tales offer sly, affectionate glimpses of the narrator's great-uncle Silas – the rural oldster of the earthy, boozy, incorrigible school. But there is also an active tenderness as seen in 'The Revelation,' where the narrator watches old Silas being given a bath by his surly, long-time housekeeper – and realises that their relationship is intensely romantic. In 'The Lily', in a voice at once dreamy, devilish, innocent, mysterious and triumphant, 93-year-old Silas recalls his more youthful days of poaching and wooing. Elsewhere, in 'A Funny Thing' Silas chortles over tall tales of his Casanova days, trying to out-lie his dandyish, equally ancient brother-in-law, Cosmo. There are nostalgic vignettes of roof-thatching, pig-wrestling, and grave-digging. Bates claims some of the stories to be "so near to reality that they needed only the slightest recolouring on my part", citing 'The Wedding,' 'The Revelation,' 'Silas the Good,' and 'The Death of Uncle Silas'. It is in these examples that we see how he was inspired by that “apocryphal legend” borne of “every country child who keeps his ears cocked when men are talking." Silas shrewdly and gently opens the eyes of his young listener to the adult world. V.S. Pritchett acknowledged Bates's gift in the short story genre, finding that he avoided farce with Silas through the use of the "passive, wondering audience" of the boy and the fidelity of style to the "techniques of rural story-telling...Uncle Silas is in fact the scandalizing village memory at work."


My Uncle Oswald

My Uncle Oswald

Author: Roald Dahl

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2012-08-28

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1101605421

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Meet Oswald Hendryks Cornelius, Roald Dahl's most disgraceful and extraordinary character . . . Aside from being thoroughly debauched, strikingly attractive and astonishingly wealthy, Uncle Oswald was the greatest bounder, bon vivant and fornicator of all time. In this instalment of his scorchingly frank memoirs he tells of his early career and erotic education at the hands of a number of enthusiastic teachers, of discovering the invigorating properties of the Sudanese Blister Beetle, and of the gorgeous Yasmin Howcomely, his electrifying partner in a most unusual series of thefts . . . 'Raunchy and cheeky entertainment' Sunday Express 'Immense fun' Daily Telegraph Roald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl's stories continue to make readers shiver today.


From Mourning to Knight

From Mourning to Knight

Author: Damon Silas

Publisher: Balboa Press

Published: 2016-07-29

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 1504362306

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Author and psychologist Dr. Damon A. Silas describes his own, incredible journey of powerfully overcoming loss and grief within his life. Elegantly, and with skillful humor, he guides the reader through the lessons drawn from the tragedies and challenges he has experienced. His poignant style, cleverly interwoven with lightheartedness, draws the reader into a journey that shows remarkable resilience. In addition, he provides useful resources to support readers working through their own losses, grief and trauma. The reader easily believes these losses could at any stage relate to their own life, thus transcending the labels we tend to place on each other. Through every loss is a journey of many steps. Delve into this book to experience the path of evolving from the darkness into the light.


Clay's Quilt

Clay's Quilt

Author: Silas House

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Published: 2001-04-01

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1616202971

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On a bone-chilling New Year's Day, when all the mountain roads are slick with ice, Clay's mother, Anneth, insists on leaving her husband. She packs her things, and with three-year-old Clay in tow, they inch their way toward her hometown along the treacherous mountain roads. That journey ends in the death of Clay's mother. It's a day that comes to haunt her only son, who's left without a family and a history. This is the story of how Clay Sizemore, a coal miner in love with his town but unsure of his place within it, finds a family to call his own. And it's the story of the people who become part of the life he shapes: Aunt Easter, always filled with a sense of foreboding and bound to her faith above all; Uncle Paul, quietly producing quilt after quilt; Dreama, beautiful and flighty; Evangeline, the untameable daughter of a famous gospel singer; and Alma, the fiddler whose song wends its way into Clay's heart. Together, they all help Clay to fashion a quilt of a life from what treasured pieces are around him. Authentic and moving, Clay's Quilt is both the story of a young man's journey and of Appalachian people struggling to hold on to their heritage.


Si-cology 1

Si-cology 1

Author: Si Robertson

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-09-03

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1476745390

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You know him from the hit A&E® show Duck Dynasty®—now you can enjoy Uncle Si’s tall tales, crazy exploits, and quirky one-liners in one raucous collection! “These hands are so fast, I can get your wallet before you know it. In a minute, you’ll be standing there buck naked and won’t know what hit you!” “Look here—if it wasn’t for my tripped knee, I’d be playing in the NBA today.” “Hey, Jack!” Any of these sound familiar? If they do—or even if they don’t—you’re in for a good laugh. The brother of patriarch Phil Robertson, Uncle Si has a limitless supply of stories about his childhood, duck hunting adventures, his days in Vietnam, and everything in between. Now the best of those tales are gathered into this roaring book. And as Uncle Si recounts his outlandish tales, he weaves in an up-close look into his personal life. You’ll learn about his childhood as the youngest son in the Robertson family, his college days, and how he came to use a green Tupperware cup for his ever-present tea.. And in many of these never-before-heard tales, Si openly talks about his wife Christine and two children, Scott and Trasa—who are never seen and rarely mentioned on the show. Sure to please die-hard fans and curious newbies alike, Si’s one-liners are presented alongside fun, expressive photographs, as well as photos of his family. As you learn about his behind-the-scenes life, this smattering of zany stories will have you falling over with laughter and retelling them to all your friends.


The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book

Author: Neil Gaiman

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2010-09-28

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0060530944

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It takes a graveyard to raise a child. Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the dead. There are adventures in the graveyard for a boy—an ancient Indigo Man, a gateway to the abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in danger from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family.


Uncle Sean

Uncle Sean

Author: Ronald L. Donaghe

Publisher: Iuniverse Star

Published: 2004-01-01

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 9780595297603

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When fourteen-year-old Will Barnett meets his Uncle Sean, whom he has not seen since he was six years old, Will is instantly captivated by his uncle's beauty and begins at that moment to fall in love. That such love is dangerous and forbidden, young Will is only vaguely aware. While trying to understand what his feelings mean, he is driven to write about his Uncle Sean and begins with these words: "Uncle Sean sure is pretty, but there's something wrong with him, anyway." "Donaghe's magic in crafting this tale was writing Will's journal in the voice of a fourteen-year-old The book is so realistic that one wonders what has become of Sean and Will since the box containing Will's journal was stowed away in the barn thirty years ago The novel is a natural for high school and publics libraries." -John R. Selig, Foreword Magazine


Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess

Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess

Author: Sheridan Le Fanu

Publisher: DigiCat

Published: 2022-07-21

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13:

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This is one of Le Fanu's earlier stories. Set in Ireland, it is written as though le Fanu was a priest named Purcell, it contains all the ingredients of the classic Gothic horror story. The countess is known only as Countess D. All we know about her at first is that her family and the family into which she married, are now entirely extinct.