The dynamic between the biographer and the subject is one of the most fascinating aspects of biography as a genre. How does the biographer stage the illusion that is the narrative life, the illusion that the subject assumes a living form through words? In contrast to purely fictional forms, biography writing does not allow total freedom to the biographer in this creative act. Ideally, a biography's backbone is structured by accurate historical facts. But its spirit lies elsewhere. Rana Tekcan explores how some of the most accomplished biographers manage to recreate "life" across time and space. She looks at their illusionary art through the narrative strategies in Samuel Johnson's Life of Savage, James Boswell's Life of Johnson, Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians, Michael Holroyd's Lytton Strachey, Park Honan's Jane Austen, and Andrew Motion's Keats. She notes three types of distance in biographical narrative: First, where the biographer and the subject personally know one another; second, where the biographer is a near contemporary of the subject; and third, where biographer and subject are distinctly separated, in some cases, by hundreds of years.
Up close, and way too personal! Breaking and entering is hardly her style, but Iona MacCabe needs her passport back from her ex’s motel room. Jaded L.A. private investigator Zane Montoya is staking out a con man’s motel room when this pretty Scottish girl gets seriously in the way. For her own safety, he’ll keep her under his very close protection... Except independent, willful Iona is not best pleased to be ‘rescued’ — even by someone as sexy as blue-eyed, gorgeous Zane! And when he discovers just how innocent she really is, suddenly their scorching attraction feels even more dangerous...
Does the fear of failing hold you back? Do you ever find yourself hesitant to use your gifts because you’re afraid you’ll fail? Bestselling author Jess Connolly offers you 100 devotions that challenge women to Take It Too Far in all the good stuff--worship, service, love, forgiveness, and more--as they bring their full selves, gifts, and voices to everything they do. Several years ago, Jess began using the phrase “take it too far” as a motto for her spiritual life. She found that those four words freed her to recognize and use her God-given gifts to serve others. In this beautiful devotional for women, Jess: Explores topics such as peace, rest, purpose, hope, wonder, discipline, and courage Shares 100 entries that include a Scripture verse, personal reflections, and a conclusion that shows you how you can take it too far today This is a great self-purchase for anyone wanting an abundant life, boundless love, and unending grace. Take It Too Far makes a perfect gift for birthdays, Mother’s Day, Galentine’s Day, Christmas, or anyone looking to deepen their faith. Inside you’ll find a: presentation page for easy and thoughtful gifting table of contents for quick reference heartfelt foreword from Jess’s husband Nick Connolly beautiful two-color interior With the Holy Spirit’s guidance and Jess’s freeing charge, you will be inspired to bring your full self, gifts, and voice to your work, family, and relationships. The possibilities are endless when you tell God you’re ready to Take It Too Far.
One of the Best Feel-Good Books of 2021 by The Washington Post A hilarious and honest not-quite-self-help book in the vein of Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies and I Used to Have a Plan. Every person on the planet wants their life to mean something. The problem is that you’ve been told there’s only one way to find that meaning. In Unfollow Your Passion, Terri Trespicio—whose TEDx talk has more than six million views—questions everything you think you need: passion (fun, but fleeting), plans (flimsy at best), and a bucket list (eye roll), to name a few. Instead, she shows you how (and why) to flip society, culture, and the #patriarchy the bird so you can live life on your terms. Trespicio effortlessly guides you through her method of unhooking yourself from other people’s agendas, boning up on the skills to move you forward, and exploring your own creativity, memory, and intuition to unlock your unique path to meaning—while also confronting the challenges that stop you in your tracks, like boredom, loss, and fear. Unfollow Your Passion is a fresh and fearless “must-read for anyone looking for a more meaningful life” (Mel Robbins, author of The 5 Second Rule).
Feeling responsible for damaging Lady Jane’s reputation, the Earl of Abbington arranges for a bevy of suitors to attend a house party so she can choose a husband from among them. But the more time he spends helping Lady Jane decide, the more he falls for her himself… A fun and charming Regency romance by a USA Today bestselling author! A daring lady. A caring earl. And a Christmas house party that turns love into a dangerous game. The Earl of Abbington is not a daring man. Responsible for the care of an opium-addicted uncle, George’s life poses dangers to a bride that he’ll never risk. It’s why he avoided the independent and kind Lady Jane last year, despite her brother’s request he protect her during her season. His neglect no doubt led to Jane’s tattered reputation. In reparation, he’s sent pre-approved suitors to the house party to ensure she marries well, not to a man whose life is a nightmare. Lady Jane is done being daring. Her daring spirit ruined her reputation, her family’s social standing, and her brother’s marital prospects. But a Christmas house party attended by a coterie of willing suitors can put everything right. Plain of face and ordinary of intellect, Jane knows she’ll never find love. And she doesn’t want it anyway. Love is the most daring thing a woman can do, after all. Instead, she’ll develop a system to test her suitors and discover the best husband for a practical sort of marriage. Jane needs George’s help choosing a husband, but George soon realizes he can’t give it without betraying his own heart. Together, they must find the courage to face the dangers of love or lose the love of a lifetime. In this friends-to-lovers Regency romance by USA Today bestselling author Charlie Lane, an independent lady and a cautious earl must do the most daring thing of all—fall in love.
“If you’ve been looking for something different to level up your health, fitness, and personal growth, this is it.”—Melissa Urban, Whole30 CEO and New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Boundaries “Michael Easter’s genius is that he puts data around the edges of what we intuitively believe. His work has inspired many to change their lives for the better.”—Dr. Peter Attia, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Outlive Discover the evolutionary mind and body benefits of living at the edges of your comfort zone and reconnecting with the wild—from the author of Scarcity Brain, coming in September! In many ways, we’re more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort. Easter’s journey to understand our evolutionary need to be challenged takes him to meet the NBA’s top exercise scientist, who uses an ancient Japanese practice to build championship athletes; to the mystical country of Bhutan, where an Oxford economist and Buddhist leader are showing the world what death can teach us about happiness; to the outdoor lab of a young neuroscientist who’s found that nature tests our physical and mental endurance in ways that expand creativity while taming burnout and anxiety; to the remote Alaskan backcountry on a demanding thirty-three-day hunting expedition to experience the rewilding secrets of one of the last rugged places on Earth; and more. Along the way, Easter uncovers a blueprint for leveraging the power of discomfort that will dramatically improve our health and happiness, and perhaps even help us understand what it means to be human. The Comfort Crisis is a bold call to break out of your comfort zone and explore the wild within yourself.
Astrid Bjorklund wants to use her medical training to serve God and feels that He might be leading her in the direction of missionary work. Smarting from a misunderstanding with Joshua Landsverk, the young man she thought she loved, she heads east to a missionary training school, hoping to eventually use her skills in some remote outpost in Africa. When she is called home unexpectedly to help in a family medical emergency, Astrid learns of a deadly measles outbreak on the nearby Indian reservation. She immediately senses the Spirit tugging her to help the Indians and wonders if her "mission field" is not so far away as she had imagined. But if she follows God's call, will love pass her by?
The Indignities of Coach Class, the Torments of Low Thread Count, the Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems David Rakoff’s collection of autobiographical essays, Fraud, established him as one of our funniest, most insightful writers. In Don’t Get Too Comfortable, Rakoff journeys into the land of plenty that is contemporary North America. Rarely have greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly and wittily portrayed. Whether contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the supersonic Concorde with the good times and chicken wings of Hooters Air, portraying the rarified universe of Paris fashion shows where an evening dress can cost as much as four years of college, or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize to watch a soft-core Playboy TV shoot, where he is provided with his very own personal manservant, David Rakoff takes us on a bitingly funny grand tour of our culture of excess, delving into the manic getting and spending that defines the North American way of life. Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into obliterating narcissism, and Rakoff is there to map that frontier. He sits through the grotesqueries of “avant garde” vaudeville in Times Square immediately following 9/11. Twenty days without food allows him to experience firsthand the wonders of “detoxification,” and the frozen world of cryonics, whose promise of eternal life is the ultimate status symbol, leaves him very cold indeed (much to our good fortune). At once a Wildean satire of our ridiculous culture of overconsumption and a plea for a little human decency, Don’t Get Too Comfortable is a bitingly funny grand tour of our special circle of gilded-age hell.
Tap the power of courage and achieve greater clarity, confidence, and satisfaction in your work and life Tap in to the inspirational motivation of best-selling author, life coach and media personality, Margie Warrell. Stop Playing Safe is a call to action for anyone who has ever felt that their work was not revealing their true potential for personal progression and career development. It will give you the conviction and courage to become bolder in your career, to perform better and enjoy your work more. Margie points out that ‘fear’ seems to be our new state of ‘normal’ as we deal with economic uncertainty, job insecurity and constant change management in the workplace. In times like these, all our instincts tell us to play safe and avoid risk. Yet courage and bold action are the keys to reaping the rewards of exceptional success in your career. Supported by case studies, insights and advice from a range of high-profile Australian and international entrepreneurs, Stop Playing Safe shares tactics you can put into practice to achieve personal fulfilment and professional success. It will help you clarify your career purpose and maximise your work value. It offers solutions for dealing with change management and will encourage you to pursue your career goals with renewed vigour and empowerment. Margie Warrell grew up on a dairy farm in rural Australia and has lived in the US She is the best-selling author of Find Your Courage and CEO of Global Courage Her clients include the United Nations Foundation, NASA, Ernst & Young, Bechtel, Best Buy, Accenture, AOL, Covidien, ADT, United Healthcare, and ExxonMobil You will keep coming back to this book as you move forward in your career, using it as a ready reference to progress through each stage and tackle each new challenge. "Adapting to change an taking chances are critical to your success. This book will help you with both. Get it, read it, enjoy the results." – Jon Gordon, author of The Energy Bus and The Seed. “Stop Playing Safe will help you harness the courage to take the risks that make sense-and give you the success you want." - Randy Gage, Author of Risky Is the New Safe “Practical, powerful, and inspiring. In uncertain times, it's a guidebook you can't afford not to read as it spells out exactly how to handle your challenges and find the confidence to speak up, adapt and get ahead in the new economy. Everyone in your company should read it!" - Suzi Pomerantz, author, Master coach, and CEO of Innovative Leadership International. “Stop Playing Safe is one of those rare books that is at once original, inspirational, and above all, useful.” - Bill Treasurer, President of Giant Leap Consulting and author, Courage Goes to Work. "Stop Playing Safe provides a roadmap to navigate uncertainty and find the courage to create meaningful changes in your workplace, career and life." - Rebecca Heino, Professor of Management, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University “Margie Warrell provides powerful and practical advice for overcoming our innate fear of risk and vulnerability. It bears reading and re-reading for all who strive to become their best selves." - Dr Gordon Livingston, Author of Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart "Margie is a true expert on the science of success. Her new book is both inspiring and practical. It's a powerful manual for creating the life of your dreams.” - Siimon Reynolds, author of Why People Fail
