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  Resilient - The Untold Story of...

  Brooke Wells

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  An inspirational memoir about CrossFit star Brooke Wells' rise to fame and miraculous comeback.This program is read by the author.On the last night of the 2021 CrossFit Games, ten thousand fans watched in horror as Brooke Wells’ elbow dislocated under the weight of a 190-pound barbell. This is the extraordinary story of what happened next: How Wells pulled off a highly improbable comeback that transformed her mentally and physically into one of the fittest women in the world.  In Resilient, Wells provides a refreshingly honest, authentic account of how she overcame fear, self-doubt, and a slew of unexpected obstacles to return to the CrossFit Games less than a year after undergoing total elbow reconstruction. A story of strength, passion, courage, and grit, Resilient is a celebration of one athlete's extraordinary spirit and her inspiring ability to never say die.A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

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  A Saga of the Seas - From their...

  Kenneth Grahame

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  Kenneth Grahame was born on 8th March 1859 in Edinburgh. 
  At age 5 his mother succumbed to puerperal fever.  His father, who had a drinking problem, now sent his 4 children to live with their grandmother at her large house in Cookham, Berkshire. Here the children lived in large open grounds next to the river.  These early experiences would in later years, be retold in his writing through a myriad of characters. 
  Grahame loved being a pupil at St Edward's School, Oxford and wanted to enroll at the university there but his guardian demurred on account of the cost. 
  Instead, a banking career was chosen for him, starting in 1879 at the Bank of England, where he rose steadily to the rank of its Secretary until retiring, with a pension, in 1908 due to ill health. 
  Alongside his commercial career Grahame had written and published various stories and essays in several periodicals. Some were anthologized as ‘Pagan Papers’ in 1893, and two years later ‘The Golden Age’ and later still ‘Dream Days’ and its masterpiece ‘The Reluctant Dragon’ became part of many home libraries.  His ability to view life through the lens of a young and curious child was superb, enabling the reader to easily identify with the character.   
  Grahame married Elspeth Thomson in 1899 and they had one child; Alastair, born semi-blind and plagued by health problems.  In a heart-rending tragedy he would later take his own life whilst attending Oxford University in 1920.   
  In 1908 Grahame reworked many of the bedtime stories he had fashioned for his son into the enduring favourite; ‘The Wind in the Willows’, describing the heart-warming adventures of Mr Toad and his friends.   
  Kenneth Grahame died in Pangbourne, Berkshire, on 6th July 1932.

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  William Blake vs the World

  John Higgs

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  A glittering stream of revelatory light . . . Fascinating' THE TIMES'Rich, complex and original' TOM HOLLAND'One of the best books on Blake I have ever read' DAVID KEENAN'Absolutely wonderful!' TERRY GILLIAM'An alchemical dream of a book' SALENA GODDEN'Tells us a great deal about all human imagination' ROBIN INCE***Poet, artist, visionary and author of the unofficial English national anthem 'Jerusalem', William Blake is an archetypal misunderstood genius. His life passed without recognition and he worked without reward, mocked, dismissed and misinterpreted. Yet from his ignoble end in a pauper's grave, Blake now occupies a unique position as an artist who unites and attracts people from all corners of society, and a rare inclusive symbol of English identity. Blake famously experienced visions, and it is these that shaped his attitude to politics, sex, religion, society and art. Thanks to the work of neuroscientists and psychologists, we are now in a better position to understand what was happening inside that remarkable mind, and gain a deeper appreciation of his brilliance. His timeless work, we will find, has never been more relevant.In William Blake vs the World we return to a world of riots, revolutions and radicals, discuss movements from the Levellers of the sixteenth century to the psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s, and explore the latest discoveries in neurobiology, quantum physics and comparative religion. Taking the reader on wild detours into unfamiliar territory, John Higgs places the bewildering eccentricities of a most singular artist into context. And although the journey begins with us trying to understand him, we will ultimately discover that it is Blake who helps us to understand ourselves.

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  Unruly Saint - Dorothy Day's...

  D.L. Mayfield

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  In 1933, in the shadow of the Great Depression, Dorothy Day started the most prominent Catholic radical movement in United States history, the Catholic Worker Movement, a storied organization with a lasting legacy of truth and justice. 
   
   
   
  Day's newspaper, houses of hospitality, and ministry of paying attention to the inequality of her world would eventually become world famous, just as she would become a figure of promise for the poor. The ways in which Day and her fellow workers both found the love of God in and expressed it for their neighbors during a time of great social, political, economic, and spiritual upheaval would become a model of activism for decades to come. 
   
   
   
  In Unruly Saint, activist, writer, and neighbor D. L. Mayfield brings a personal lens to Day's story. In exploring the founding of the Catholic Worker movement and newspaper by revisiting the early years of Day's life, Mayfield turns her attention to what it means to be a good neighbor today. Through a combination of biography, observations on the current American landscape, and theological reflection, this is at once an achingly relevant account and an encouraging blueprint for people of faith in tumultuous times. It will resonate with today's activists, social justice warriors, and those seeking to live in the service of others.

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  The Dean - Memoirs & Missives

  Sparky Reardon

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  Sparky Reardon — who dedicated 36 years to his alma mater, the University of Mississippi — was a witness to the best, and worst, of times at Ole Miss. Reardon engaged with every facet of campus life, navigating the wild and unpredictable situations sparked by students (and, at times, by visitors). Reardon found himself in the midst of campus crises where he facilitated the university family through tragedy and loss (some involved student casualties); he navigated intricate battles for freedom of expression on campus (including confrontations with the Ku Klux Klan and loony street preachers); he gently guided students (and sometimes administrators and politicians) through complex judicial issues; and he had a rare, insider’s view of the evolution of Oxford, Mississippi, from a quiet college town to a vibrant cultural hub. In The Dean, Sparky lays bare the joys and hardships of what he describes as “the best job in America.” In 1968, Reardon enrolled at Ole Miss with an eye on law school. Two years later, his plans shifted. Summoned to the dean’s office to account for his role as social chairman in breaking university rules, Reardon experienced a pivotal moment of clarity. As Reardon remembered, “It might have been the result of one of our parties running too late or getting too loud, or perhaps there was a chance that beer was involved.” He realized that someone, someday, would need to take this man’s place. Reardon left that meeting determined to become the dean of students at Ole Miss.  Raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi, a young Sparky Reardon turned to books after a severe knee injury ended his sports days. Guided by inspiring teachers, he cultivated a passion for writing. Artist and author William Dunlap said, “Sparky Reardon’s The Dean is anecdotally rich and beautifully written. His prose — which soars — is once again proof that language is a Southerner’s birth

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  The Life of Karma - The dark...

  M R Kristoffersen

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  I had been alone before, surrounded by the abyss's darkness and demons' red eyes. The void had seemed endless, with no hope of escape or salvation from the horrors that awaited me. But now, I stood firm, determined never to let anyone conquer my mind again. The more they tried to put me down, the more I pushed back with all my strength, showing them who I was and what I could achieve. And I would succeed- oh yes, I would succeed- so they could never forget who I was and what I had accomplished. The sound of distant screams echoed in my ears as I raised my head high, ready to face whatever lay ahead. I was the magic they wanted, but because I didn't submit to their way of control, they started working against me. So I reached deep inside myself and found something I did not understand, a force-like power that made my fists clench involuntarily and turn away the glances of those who would get close to me. They had never seen anything like it in anyone else before. 
  Based on true events and compiled from the author's life, from the beginnings of teenage life through the struggles with drugs, relationships, and victories of adulthood to funny little snippets and some outrageous stories and encounters. He takes you through this journey from a young age, living in a small town in Denmark, being stuck with no way out, and to his start on a new chapter, moving to the UK with only the clothes on his back, making it through as a chef and gardener, meeting some incredible and many times unsavory characters on the way, turning his life around only to get kicked down again and again, fighting back. Until he met his wife-to-be, emigrated to Australia, and then the battles to come. Starting all over again, with no friends or family around, the darkest clouds, they are only coming closer to the real struggles they had just begun, alone in the land down under.

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