Nineteen year old Paula rubbed the mosquito bite she'd gotten at a family picnic. She expected it would go away in a day or two.But by the end of the week she lay in a coma, paralyzed from the waist down with a doctor's dire prognosis mapping out a bedridden future of hopelessness.Plucky Paula refused to accept life on these terms. She had two weapons at her disposal to defeat the enemy seeking to rob her of all she'd dreamed of in life: A praying parent and an unwavering resolve to persevere until victory was won!"I'm no victim. I will walk again. My life will be full. Failure is not an option!"
This acclaimed graphic memoir that Kirkus calls “cathartic and uplifting” is the tale of losing a parent and what it feels like to grieve and to move forward. “I can’t recommend this kind, funny, and poignant memoir enough. It’s an intimate, life-affirming story of resilience that feels like a good friend.” —Mari Andrew, author of Am I There Yet? Tyler Feder had just white-knuckled her way through her first year of college when her super cool mom was diagnosed with late-stage cancer. Now, with a decade of grief and nervous laughter under her belt, Tyler shares the story of that gut-wrenching, heart-pounding, extremely awkward time in her life—from her mom’s first oncology appointment to her funeral through the beginning of facing reality as a motherless daughter. She shares the sting of loss that never goes away, the uncomfortable post-death firsts, and the deep-down, hard-to-talk-about feelings of the grieving process. Dancing at the Pity Party is a frank and refreshingly funny look at what it’s like to grieve—for anyone struggling with loss who just wants someone to get it.
Discover an "absurd, funny, and thought-provoking" book perfect for "anyone who has ever felt socially awkward or inadequate" (Louis Sachar, author of Holes and the Wayside School series). Dear weird toes, crooked nose, stressed out, left out, freaked out Dear missing parts, broken hearts, picked-on, passed up, misunderstood, Dear everyone, you are cordially invited, come as you are, this party's for you Welcome to Pity Party, where the social anxieties that plague us all are twisted into funny, deeply resonant, and ultimately reassuring psychological thrills. There's a story about a mood ring that tells the absolute truth. One about social media followers who literally follow you around. And one about a kid whose wish for a new, improved self is answered when a mysterious box arrives in the mail. There's also a personality test, a fortune teller, a letter from the Department of Insecurity, and an interactive Choose Your Own Catastrophe. Come to the party for a grab bag of delightfully dark stories that ultimately offers a life-affirming reminder that there is hope and humor to be found amid our misery.
“A sensitive look at the social and political barriers that deny disabled people their most basic civil rights.”—The Washington Post “The primer for a revolution.”—The Chicago Tribune “Nondisabled Americans do not understand disabled ones. This book attempts to explain, to nondisabled people as well as to many disabled ones, how the world and self-perceptions of disabled people are changing. It looks at the rise of what is called the disability rights movement—the new thinking by disabled people that there is no pity or tragedy in disability and that it is society’s myths, fears, and stereotypes that most make being disabled difficult.”—from the Introduction
June Hall is a remarkable person. Her down-to-earth advice has been the cornerstone of her nationally distributed newspaper column, and her words have inspired and comforted millions of loyal readers every day.
When the Bride finally learns to say No… Outing her cheating fiancé in the middle of her marriage ceremony was not how Deanne Harrison planned to spend her day as a bride. Worse, when the evening ends with Deanne sharing a perfect kiss with the handsome stranger, Sean. Since that fateful day, Deanne’s life has become a disaster. When all she wants is to ride out her Honeymoon of Hurt and hide in her cotton-wool-world of sameness, free from men forever. That is until Sean tracks her down…
'What a read!' MARIAN KEYES 'Deeply moving and very funny...I loved it' LOUISE O'NEILL 'The funniest book you'll read this year' LAUREN BRAVO Katherine lives by the rules, ticks all the boxes and prepares for the worst, even while she hopes for the best. Then the worst actually happens and, as she tries to navigate life as a young widow, it turns out she was not prepared at all. Nothing scares Katherine more than stopping, but everyone insists she needs to take some time for herself. Head to a wellness retreat, they said. Enjoy some me-time, they said... Except this retreat isn't the pity party she was hoping for. Instead of massages, she has erotic meditation, and instead of spa treatments she has scream therapy. Katherine has never lost control in her life. In fact, she's fairly certain that if she starts screaming she might never stop. But she's about to let go, and everyone had better stand back... Hilarious, heartbreaking and honest, this is a story about learning how to stop playing it safe in a world that feels so dangerous - and showing up to the party, even when it feels impossible. *** 'Thought-provoking, charming, cathartic and hilariously vivid' SARAH KNIGHT 'Hilarious, moving and unexpected' REBECCA WAIT 'A standout novel - heartbreaking, observant, deeply relatable and impossibly funny' ROSIE WALSH 'Pity Party is perfection' LINDSEY KELK 'Unbelievably good' LUCY VINE 'I laughed, I cried, I screamed, I devoured every page... a laugh-out-loud balm' NIKKI MAY 'Daisy Buchanan makes me laugh out loud' KATHERINE HEINY 'Wonderfully funny. Her best book yet' NINA STIBBE 'Crackling with energy, humour, warmth, and quirk' JENNY MUSTARD 'Every line in this book is a wonder' CAROLINE CORCORAN 'Moving, funny and wise all at once' KATE RIORDAN 'Smart, sexy, and will grab hold of your heart' JADE BEER 'Nobody writes about the messiness of life like Daisy' JULIE OWEN MOYLAN 'Gloriously readable...I tore through it!' MARINA O'LOUGHLIN 'Original, moving and totally addictive' ROXY BOURDILLON
Inspired by the website that the New York Times hailed as "redefining mourning," this book is a fresh and irreverent examination into navigating grief and resilience in the age of social media, offering comfort and community for coping with the mess of loss through candid original essays from a variety of voices, accompanied by gorgeous two-color illustrations and wry infographics. At a time when we mourn public figures and national tragedies with hashtags, where intimate posts about loss go viral and we receive automated birthday reminders for dead friends, it’s clear we are navigating new terrain without a road map. Let’s face it: most of us have always had a difficult time talking about death and sharing our grief. We’re awkward and uncertain; we avoid, ignore, or even deny feelings of sadness; we offer platitudes; we send sympathy bouquets whittled out of fruit. Enter Rebecca Soffer and Gabrielle Birkner, who can help us do better. Each having lost parents as young adults, they co-founded Modern Loss, responding to a need to change the dialogue around the messy experience of grief. Now, in this wise and often funny book, they offer the insights of the Modern Loss community to help us cry, laugh, grieve, identify, and—above all—empathize. Soffer and Birkner, along with forty guest contributors including Lucy Kalanithi, singer Amanda Palmer, and CNN’s Brian Stelter, reveal their own stories on a wide range of topics including triggers, sex, secrets, and inheritance. Accompanied by beautiful hand-drawn illustrations and witty "how to" cartoons, each contribution provides a unique perspective on loss as well as a remarkable life-affirming message. Brutally honest and inspiring, Modern Loss invites us to talk intimately and humorously about grief, helping us confront the humanity (and mortality) we all share. Beginners welcome.
“A funny, seasoned take on dashed illusions.”—O Magazine “I love everything Meredith Maran writes. She is insightful, funny, and human, and the things she writes about matter to me deeply. Her memoir, The New Old Me, is a book I don’t just want to read—I need to read it. So does everyone else who’s getting older and wants to live fully, with immediacy and enjoyment, which is to say, everyone.”—Anne Lamott, author of Hallelujah Anyway For readers of Anne Lamott, Abigail Thomas, and Ayelet Waldman comes one woman's lusty, kickass, post-divorce memoir of starting over at 60 in youth-obsessed, beauty-obsessed Hollywood. After the death of her best friend, the loss of her life’s savings, and the collapse of her once-happy marriage, Meredith Maran leaves her San Francisco freelance writer’s life for a 9-to-5 job in Los Angeles. Determined to rebuild not only her savings but also herself while relishing the joys of life in La-La land, Maran writes “a poignant story, a funny story, a moving story, and above all an American story of what it means to be a woman of a certain age in our time” (Christina Baker Kline, number-one New York Times–bestselling author of Orphan Train). Praise for The New Old Me: “High time we had a book that celebrates becoming an elder! Meredith Maran writes of the difficulties of loss and change and aging, but makes it clear that getting on can be more interesting, more fun, and a lot more exciting than youth.”—Abigail Thomas, author of the New York Times bestseller What Comes Next and How to Like It “By turns poignant and funny, the book not only shows how one feisty woman coped with a ‘Plan B life’ she didn't want or expect with a little help from her friends. It also celebrates how she transformed uncertainty into a glorious opportunity for continued late-life personal growth. A spirited and moving memoir about how ‘it's never too late to try something new.’”—Kirkus
“Angela Balcita's love story takes a couple of artsy wanderers off the road and into the bright, scary world of transplants, dialysis, and neonatal intensive care.” —Marion Winik, author of The Glen Rock Book of the Dead From the pages of the New York Times’ Modern Love column comes one woman’s moving and uproarious story of how love and laughter rescued her from life-threatening illness. Angela Balcita’s cathartic memoir of finding love while wrestling with kidney failure will strike a chord with anyone yearning for a poignant, true-to-life romance…with a real fairy tale ending.
