Sallies, Romps, Portraits, and Send-Offs

Sallies, Romps, Portraits, and Send-Offs

Author: August Kleinzahler

Publisher:

Published: 2017-05-09

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0374282099

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Sixteen years’ worth of incisive essays by the great poet and memoirist “Witty, gritty poet and memoirist Kleinzahler” (Publishers Weekly) has gathered the best of sixteen years’ worth of essays, remembrances, and reviews in this scabrous and essential collection, setting down his thoughts about great poets and bad poets, about kvetching fiction writers and homicidal musicians, about eccentric critics and discerning nobodies, always with insight and humor, and never suffering fools gladly. Here, in Sallies, Romps, Portraits, and Send-Offs, August Kleinzahler eulogizes famous friends, warts and all (Thom Gunn, Christopher Middleton, Leonard Michaels); leads the charge in carving up a few bloated reputations (E. E. Cummings, Richard Brautigan); and sings the praises of unjustly neglected masters (Lucia Berlin, Kenneth Cox). He also turns the spotlight on himself in several short, delightful memoirs, covering such subjects as his obsessive CD collecting, the eerie effects of San Francisco fog, and the terrible duty of selling of his childhood home.


Cutty, One Rock

Cutty, One Rock

Author: August Kleinzahler

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2005-12-13

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 1429928492

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Cutty, One Rock takes the reader on a wild journey by airplane, bus, ferry, and foot from childhood to early manhood in the company of a New Jersey family in equal measures cultivated and deranged. We witness scenes of passionate, even violent intensity that give rise to meditations on eros and literature, the solitariness of travel, and the poetics of place. These individual pieces, most of which first appeared in The London Review of Books and won an international cult following, are by turns "poignant, surreal, down home and lyrical, a mixture of qualities that inheres in his language with uncommon delicacy and effect" (Leonard Michaels). Together they make up an intellectual and emotional autobiography on the run. The book's final section, about Kleinzahler's adored, doomed older brother, is unforgettable, and since its appearance last year in the LRB, has already entered the literature as one of the most moving contemporary memoirs.


Rage Against the Minivan

Rage Against the Minivan

Author: Kristen Howerton

Publisher: Convergent Books

Published: 2020-06-09

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1984825178

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“Howerton writes unflinchingly about what it means to be raising children in today’s world and how to liberate ourselves from the myth of perfect motherhood.”—Glennon Doyle, author of Untamed and Love Warrior, founder of Together Rising In this smart and subversively funny memoir, Kristen Howerton navigates the emotional and sometimes messy waters of motherhood and challenges the idea that there’s a “right” way to raise kids. Recounting her successes, trials, mishaps, and hard-won wisdom, this mother of four advocates for letting go of the expectations, the guilt, and the endless race to be the perfect parent to the perfect child in the perfect family. This book is for ● the parent who loves their kids like crazy but feels like parenting is making them crazy, too ● the parent who said “I will never . . .” and now they have ● the parent who looks like they have it all together but feels like a hot mess on the inside ● the parent who looks like a hot mess on the outside, too ● the parent who asks Am I good enough? Doing enough? Doing it right? What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with these children? Are they eighteen yet? With her signature blend of vulnerability, sarcasm, and insight, Howerton shares her unexpected journey from infertility to adoption to pregnancy to divorce to dealing with the shock and awe of raising teens. As a mom of a multiracial family and as a marriage and family therapist, she tackles the thorny issues parents face today, like hard conversations about racism, disciplining other people’s kids, the reality of Dad Privilege, and (never) attaining that elusive work/life balance. Rage Against the Minivan is a permission slip to let it go and allow yourself to be a “good enough” parent, focused on raising happy, kind, loving humans.


Dead Men's Trousers

Dead Men's Trousers

Author: Irvine Welsh

Publisher: Melville House

Published: 2019-02-26

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 1612197566

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The International Bestseller from the author The New York Times called "blisteringly funny" — it's the wild and wooly crew from Trainspotting back for one last adventure You don't need to have seen the blockbuster movie—nor read the earlier mega-bestselling books—to get what's going on in Dead Men's Trousers: Four no-longer-young men who constantly think back to their bawdy, drug-filled youth together on the streets of Edinburgh, decide they want to join forces for one last caper. Careful what you wish for... "Manages a sort of ragged glory, a life-affirming comic energy . . . A whooping last hurrah for the Trainspotting gang." —The Guardian "Crackles with idiomatic energy and brio." —Publishers Weekly Mark Renton is finally a success. He now makes significant money managing DJs, but the constant travel, airport lounges, soulless hotel rooms, and broken relationships have left him dissatisfied with life. Then he runs into his old partner in crime, Frank Begbie, from whom he'd been hiding for years. But the psychotic Begbie appears to have reinvented himself as a celebrated artist in Los Angeles, and doesn't seem interested in revenge. Meanwhile, back in Edinburgh, Sick Boy and Spud are intrigued to learn that their old friends are back in town, and concoct a new scheme for them all . . . Which is when things start to go horribly wrong. The four men, driven by their personal histories and addictions, circle each other, confused, angry, and desperate. One of these four will not survive . . . Which one is wearing Dead Men's Trousers? Fast and furious, scabrously funny, and weirdly moving, this is a spectacular return of the crew from Trainspotting.


No Words

No Words

Author: Meg Cabot

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2021-10-12

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0349431345

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Meg Cabot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Princess Diaries, returns to Little Bridge Island with a new story about an author with a case of writer's block and an arrogant novelist who have to set aside their differences as they get through a weekend long book festival that just might change everything - including their feelings for each other. Welcome to Little Bridge, one of the most beautiful islands in the Florida Keys, home to sandy white beaches, salt-rimmed margaritas and sizzling romance . . . Jo Wright always swore she'd never step foot on Little Bridge Island - not as long as her nemesis, bestselling author Will Price, is living there. Then Jo's given an offer she can't refuse: an all-expenses paid trip to speak and sign at the island's first ever book festival. And when she finds out Will won't even be on the island, there's no reason to refuse. But when she arrives on Little Bridge, Jo is in for a shock: Will is not only at the book festival, but seems genuinely sorry for his past actions - and more than willing not only to make amends, but prove to Jo that he's a changed man. Things seem to be looking up - until disaster strikes, causing Jo to wonder: do any of us ever really know anyone? Why do readers LOVE Meg Cabot? 'With a sunny island backdrop populated with loveable characters, this is the perfect sexy spring/summer read to lose yourself in' Bolu Babalola, bestselling author of Love in Colour 'Funny and enchanting . . . Meg Cabot is a total delight' Popsugar 'Meg Cabot is a fabulous author' USA Today '[Meg Cabot] is the master of her genre' Publishers Weekly 'Her trademark humour makes for compulsive reading' Publishers Weekly


The Opposite of Life

The Opposite of Life

Author: Narrelle M. Harris

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 9780975112922

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"I remember screaming very loudly. In TV shows, that's where the ad break comes in, while some ninny is screaming her head off. No ad break in life, though". Lissa Wilson has seen more than enough death in her family, so when people start being savagely killed whenever she has a night out in Melbourne with her beautiful new boyfriend, she's determined to investigate and make the killings stop. Even when she realises the murders must be the work of a vampire. Things had been looking up for this librarian and 21st century geekgirl, but the murders make her remember why she prefers books to people. People leave you. People can die. She finds herself teaming up with the painfully awkward Gary to get to the undead heart of the matter. But there are more challenges in store than Gary's appalling fashion sense. The idea of living forever can be a big temptation for someone who has lost so much... AUTHOR: Narrelle Harris was born in Newcastle, Australia and proceeded to move every few years until most of her friends thought she was in a Witness Protection program. Her itinerancy included three years abroad, teaching English in Egypt and Poland. Although now settled in Melbourne with her husband and her cat, she continues to relieve itchy feet with regular travel. Narrelle has also been a playwright, songwriter, actress, editor, public servant, kitchen hand and - once only - a very bad telemarketer.