A funny and moving debut novel that follows four generations of a singularly weird American family, all living under one roof, as each member confronts a moment of crisis in a narrative told through a uniquely quirky, charming, and unforgettable voice. Acclaimed short story writer Elizabeth Crane, well known to public radio listeners for her frequent and captivating contributions to WBEZ Chicago’s Writer’s Block Party, delivers a sublime, poignant, and often hilarious first novel, perfect for fans of Jessica Anya Blau’s The Summer of Naked Swim Parties and Heather O’Neill’s Lullabies for Little Criminals. “Crane has a distinctive and eccentric voice that is consistent and riveting.” —New York Times Book Review
Face it. Your girlfriends can tell you what you need to know about just about everything...except men. For that, you need comedian and Essence columnist Finesse Mitchell. Eager to help his sistas out and show them how to avoid the types of men who have left them baffled, blue, or just plain bitter, Mitchell tells the truth, whether it's good, bad, or downright despicable. Your Girlfriends Only Know So Much clues women in to what men are really thinking at every stage of a relationship, from first contact through deciding to propose. Lighthearted and brutally (if hilariously) honest, Your Girlfriends Only Know So Much lets women in on the things only men know about men and, in the process, saves them from wasting weeks,
With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.
The New York Times–bestselling co-author of Nudge explores how more information can make us happy or miserable—and why we sometimes avoid it but sometimes seek it out. How much information is too much? Do we need to know how many calories are in the giant vat of popcorn that we bought on our way into the movie theater? Do we want to know if we are genetically predisposed to a certain disease? Can we do anything useful with next week's weather forecast for Paris if we are not in Paris? In Too Much Information, Cass Sunstein examines the effects of information on our lives. Policymakers emphasize “the right to know,” but Sunstein takes a different perspective, arguing that the focus should be on human well-being and what information contributes to it. Government should require companies, employers, hospitals, and others to disclose information not because of a general “right to know” but when the information in question would significantly improve people's lives. Of course, says Sunstein, we are better off with stop signs, warnings on prescription drugs, and reminders about payment due dates. But sometimes less is more. What we need is more clarity about what information is actually doing or achieving.
While summering on the French Riviera, the young Seryozha secretly becomes the lover of the much older Liza - who is also his father's mistress. As autumn approaches, they reluctantly part: Liza to return to Paris, Seryozha to take up his studies at university in London. When he finds out about their affair, Seryozha's father attempts to convince Liza to leave his son, for the sake of the boy's own happiness. She finally gives in - but a sudden, fatal catastrophe changes everything... Gazdanov's second novel is proof of his wide-ranging talents: written before his celebrated noir experiments The Spectre of Alexander Wolf and The Buddha's Return, The Flight is a lyrical 'chamber play' in prose. Mixing psychological drama, illicit romance and moments of both comedy and pathos, it is a modernist take on the traditional Russian nineteenth-century realist novel epitomised by Tolstoy - with distinct echoes of Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey.
All you need to do when it comes to self-defense is create a magic moment. That's the moment that you can escape from an attacker or life threatening situation and survive. You need to interrupt the thought process and create that time when you can possibly escape a potentially bad or deadly situation. The World’s Most Experienced Tactical Trainer Mike Gillette reveals the top six categories of self defense products for women in this enlightening 38-page interview.
This book is the product of my blog Lifes Lessons. I am happy to share it with you. The reflections therein are not a product of an in-depth research into the problems of life. Neither are they an exhaustive treatise on the topics reflected upon. Great theologians and spiritual writers have dealt extensively and systematically on the problems of life. Having sat at their feet as a priest for twenty-five years, read, prayed, and reflected on the Holy Bible and had the opportunity to preach to the people of God during this period, I hereby offer my brief reflections on the lessons of life as I see it, gleaned from my experiences.
This book is a humor book, intended to make you smile. It is set an undisclosed distance in the future, in the USA, in order to try and not conflict with any political parties or people or issues of today. In this future USA, the political parties are now the "Bulls" and the "Bears." And for the sake of humor, they are even more extreme than today, and to say the least, do not get along. But fortunately the rules for becoming a US president are now easier. A very nice man and his family had just emigrated to the US from Asia, India in particular, and this nice man and his family wish to help out their new country, the US. And so Rajak Gandhi Patel the 35th manages to become president. But can he deal with the craziness he sees? Is the family really prepared for what they find? Will anyone help him? I realize that a person could ask me, the author if I have any political bent in this book. And that answer would be "no." I do not belong to any political party. I do not even go to all birthday parties that I am invited to. And more to the point, I made both parties so extreme that I certainly would not want to belong to either of these parties, and my guess is that the reader will feel the same way. But that is getting too serious. The purpose of this book is simply humor. And my goal is to make you smile. If this book has any point at all, other than humor, it might be the good that just a few good people can accomplish, and that people accomplish more when they work together. Other than that, it is all in fun. I truly hope others will enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. -Ron Plachno (author)
This informative and entertaining book provides a broad look at the fascinating history of CERN, and the physicists working in different areas at CERN who were active in the discovery of the Higgs Boson. Profound and well-structured, the contents combine present day interviews with the scientists of CERN, the world's largest laboratory dedicated to the pursuit of fundamental science, with important figures in the history of science (e.g., Maxwell, Faraday, Einstein), and also gives a lot of information on the history of quantum mechanics and the history of physics from its beginnings.It is an easy-to-read book on a complex topic, providing a very personal insight into the personalities of top scientists and the history of science as well. This invaluable book will capture the interest of the curious reader, telling the story of one of the greatest scientific endeavors ever.
