Lessons in life, love, and running in packs—from one remarkable pug The first thing Gracie remembers is being at the bottom of a big pile of other dogs, scrambling as hard as she could to get a taste of her mother’s milk. Life is sweet, but life—as always—has to change. One day, a friendly new woman picks Gracie up in her arms, hugging her so tightly it seems she will never let go. This is Gracie’s new mommy, who has come to take this headstrong young pug on the adventure of a lifetime. Gracie moves to a new house, which is ruled with an iron paw by a no-nonsense feline named Aretha. Gracie is descended from wolves, and she knows enough about her ancestors to understand that not every critter gets to run the pack. Everyone in this little family has their part to play, and Gracie is determined to be the best pug she can be—no matter what life throws her way!
Ey up, it's not only footie, pints and pies that are better up north - the humour also takes some beating. Whether it's comics like Peter Kay, Les Dawson and Victoria Wood, telly shows like Corrie and Open All Hours, or writers like Alan Bennett and Keith Waterhouse, the funniest and best-loved invariably hail from the land of perpetual drizzle (another thing they do better). This grand collection of northern wit is packed with these favourites and more. Likely lads and lippy lasses cast a wry eye on subjects close to the heart of every northerner, including - brass, grub, graft, courting, cricket, tittle-tattle and t'weather - adding up to a feast of northern hilarity.
"To me, the Jews are funnier than any other group. Why? Because they have had more trouble. And trouble is often the heart of humor."-- Steve Allen (who is not Jewish) from A Little Joy, A Little Oy Not just a slice of Jewish wit and wisdom, this collection is the whole challah*. By including over 350 entries from 200 sources, Winston-Macauley has amassed a unique cross-section of Jewish quotes, anecdotes, proverbs, history, biographies, jokes, unusual facts, "Yinglish," and much more. A Little Joy, A Little Oy showcases this rich and remarkable assembly of all things Jewish through the universal language of laughter and, yes, a few tears. A must in every Jewish household, A Little Joy, A Little Oy also makes the perfect holiday gift. *A rich twisted bread
In this award-winning, coming-of-age novel, ten-year-old Gracie Lee struggles to make sense out of her life as an Arkansas farm girl in the early 1970s. Wise beyond her age yet imbued with child-like innocence, Gracie focuses on the three things that keep her awake at night: Solving the mystery of the man in the gray house; Surviving another school year at Savage Crossing Elementary; and, Saving her alcoholic Daddy from himself (and thereby saving the whole family and wider world). Gracie feels certain there is more to life beyond school and dull church sermons. She worries about the soldiers in Vietnam and wonders what it must be like to have been born Lisa Marie Presley from Tennessee instead of Gracie Lee Abbott from Arkansas. Mostly, she wishes her Daddy wasn't so mean. Gracie's unchecked imagination leads to Nancy Drew-type adventure. Adventure leads to trouble. She confides in unexpected characters and seeks solace in a mysterious gray house beyond the cotton field. When Gracie faces a difficult family situation, she must make a life-altering decision, one that will test the very essence of her character. "At best, most first novels indicate potential. It would be wrong to say that, when reading Talya Tate Boerner's The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee, I was pleasantly surprised. Actually, I was amazed. There's magic here, in a wonderfully-told story that will find a special place in any reader's heart." Jeff Guinn, New York Times bestselling author. "Boerner's prose is a wonderful medium for unspooling Gracie's story, imbued with all the snark, wonder, and colorful details that characterize childhood... The author addresses real, high-stakes issues without slathering them in melodrama or saccharine sentimentality, and her book hearkens back to an older YA tradition of stories of plucky preteen girls, spooky houses, and inevitable tragedies that help mark the turning point from childhood to adolescence. A stirring novel with a distinctive young narrator." Kirkus Reviews
With the heartfelt prose of a loving daughter, Patti Davis provides a life raft for the caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients. “For the decade of my father’s illness, I felt as if I was floating in the deep end, tossed by waves, carried by currents, but not drowning,” writes Patti Davis in this searingly honest and deeply moving account of the challenges involved in taking care of someone stricken with Alzheimer’s. When her father, the fortieth president of the United States, announced his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in an address to the American public in 1994, the world had not yet begun speaking about this cruel, mysterious disease. Yet overnight, Ronald Reagan and his immediate family became the face of Alzheimer’s, and Davis, once content to keep her family at arm’s length, quickly moved across the country to be present during “the journey that would take [him] into the sunset of [his] life.” Empowered by all she learned from caring for her father—about the nature of the illness, but also about the loss of a parent—Davis founded a support group for the family members and friends of Alzheimer’s patients. Along with a medically trained cofacilitator, she met with hundreds of exhausted and devastated attendees to talk through their pain and confusion. While Davis was aware that her own circumstances were uniquely fortunate, she knew there were universal truths about dementia, and even surprising gifts to be found in a long goodbye. With Floating in the Deep End, Davis draws on a welter of experiences to provide a singular account of battling Alzheimer’s. Eloquently woven with personal anecdotes and helpful advice tailored specifically for the overlooked caregiver, this essential guide covers every potential stage of the disease from the initial diagnosis through the ultimate passing and beyond. Including such tips as how to keep a loved one hygienic, and careful responses for when they drift to a time gone by, Davis always stresses the emotional milestones that come with slow-burning grief. Along the way, Davis shares how her own fractured family came together. With unflinching candor, she recalls when her mother, Nancy, who for decades could not show her children compassion or vulnerability, suddenly broke down in her arms. Davis also offers tender moments in which her father, a fabled movie star whom she always longed to know better, revealed his true self—always kind, even when he couldn’t recognize his own daughter. An inherently wise work that promises to become a classic, Floating in the Deep End ultimately provides hope to struggling families while elegantly illuminating the fragile human condition.
A candid autobiography of the great rock diva of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, revealing her wild life at the forefront of the Sixties and Seventies counterculture. She has been called rock and roll's original female outlaw, as famous for her bad behavior as for her haunting singing voice. In her 25-year career as a musician, Grace Slick charted dozens of hits and sold millions of albums. From "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" to "Sarah" and "Miracles", the songs she performed became the anthems of a generation. Whether describing her antics at the White House with Abbie Hoffman or the unforgettable experience that was Woodstock, Slick's recollections have the same rich imagery found in her lyrics. In this provocative narrative, readers will discover the many sides of Grace Slick: as artistic pioneer; she records songs with Jerry Garcia and David Crosby; as practitioner of freedom and rebellion; she sleeps with Jim Morrison and gets arrested for DUI on three separate occasions (without actually being in a car); and as a loving mother to actress China Kantner, she tries to balance casual friendship with parental wisdom. Slick offers a revealing self-portrait of the complex woman behind the rock-outlaw image, and delivers a behind-the-scenes, no-holds-barred view of the people and spirit that defined a quarter-century of American pop culture. Wildly funny, candid, and evocative, Somebody to Love?tells what it was really like during, and after, the Summer of Love-and how one remarkable woman survived it all to remain today as vibrant and rebellious as ever.
Grappling took the wolrd of martial arts by storm in the early 1990s with the advent of the UFC and other no-holds-barred events, and quickly became one of the most popular figthing methods in the world. In Grappling Masters, through conversations with historical figures such as Helio Gracie, Gene LeBell and Wally Jay, and numerous current wolrd-class masters such as Rorion Gracie, Gokor Chivichyan, Oleg Taktarov, Rickson Gracie and Mike Swain, the many threads of grappling learning, legend and lore are woven together to present a complete and integrated view of this eclectic art of fighting, philosophy, and self-defense. For the first time, interviews with some of the world's top grappling masters have been gathered together in one book. No matter how well you think you know these masters, you haven't truly experienced their wit, wisdom, and insight until you have read Grappling Masters
Fear was not part of God's original agenda for his creation. It slithered onto the scene when Adam and Eve sinned, causing a tear in their relationship with God. And even though fear touches every life and can still debilitate people today, the news isn't all bad. Popular speaker and author Grace Fox demonstrates how believers can face their fear and actually let it be a catalyst for change. Readers will learn how to stop hiding from God and instead develop a deeper relationship with Him. This is what she calls "the upside of fear": When we cry out to God for help, He answers, and we experience Him in new ways. Each chapter highlights a particular area where readers can begin to experience freedom from fears about their personal identity, their finances, their kids, the future, and more.
