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  Always Crashing in the Same Car...

  Matthew Specktor

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  Blending memoir and cultural criticism, Matthew Specktor explores family legacy, the lives of artists, and a city that embodies both dreams and disillusionment.In 2006, Matthew Specktor moved into a crumbling Los Angeles apartment opposite the one in which F. Scott Fitzgerald spent the last moments of his life. Fitz had been Specktor's first literary idol, someone whose own passage through Hollywood had, allegedly, broken him. Freshly divorced, professionally flailing, and reeling from his mother's cancer diagnosis, Specktor was feeling unmoored. But rather than giving in or "cracking up," he embarked on an obsessive journey to make sense of the mythologies of "success" and "failure" that haunt the artist's life and the American imagination.Part memoir, part cultural history, part portrait of place, Always Crashing in the Same Car explores Hollywood through a certain kind of collapse. It's a vibrant and intimate inspection of failure told through the lives of iconic, if under-sung, artists—Carole Eastman, Eleanor Perry, Warren Zevon, Tuesday Weld, and Hal Ashby, among others—and the author's own family history. Through this constellation of Hollywood figures, he unearths a fascinating alternate history of the city that raised him and explores the ways in which curtailed ambition, insufficiency, and loss shape all our lives.

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  Incidents of Travel in Central...

  John Lloyd Stephens

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  The year is 1838. The scene is the dense Honduran forest along the Copán River. Two men, John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, are about to rediscover Mayan civilization. Their guide, slashing through the rampant growth with his machete, leads them to a structure with steps up the side, shaped like a pyramid. Next they see a stone column, fourteen feet high, sculptured on the front with a portrait of a man, “solemn, stern and well fitted to excite terror,” covered on the sides with hieroglyphics, and with workmanship “equal to the finest monuments of the Egyptians.” Stephens records these discoveries and also his travels in Central America, where he had been sent by President Van Buren as special ambassador to the ill-fated Republic of Central America. The republic being engulfed in civil war when Stephens arrives in Guatemala, he finds himself dodging revolutionary armies while he hunts for a “legitimate government” to which to present his credentials. Catherwood, meanwhile, directs his immense artistic talent to illustrating views of Mayan architecture. Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan was a best seller in its day and has been called an “Indiana Jones” saga by modern reviewers. (Summary by Sue Anderson)

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  Mysterious Chicago - History at...

  Adam Selzer

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  A historian shares strange-but-true stories of the city and its unsolved mysteries, from the nineteenth century to today. From Chicago historian Adam Selzer, expert on all of the Windy City's quirks and oddities, comes a compelling anthology of forty unsolved mysteries from the 1800s to the modern day. Among many other topics, he explores what really started the great Chicago fire; who was the first "automobile murderer;" the identity of the Tylenol killer; and whether there was actually a vampire slaying at Rosehill Cemetery. The result is both a colorful listen separating true crime from urban legend and an offbeat historical tour of this Midwestern metropolis, from the person behind the Mysterious Chicago blog, podcasts, and tours.

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  Tibetan Foothold

  Dervla Murphy

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  After her epic journey from Ireland to India by bicycle in 1963, Dervla Murphy immersed herself in the life of the sub-continent, working for six months in an orphanage for Tibetan children in Northern India. She fell in love with the 'Tiblets' - the cheerful, uncomplaining, independent and affectionate children of the new Tibet-in-exile - but she also managed to explore India's Tibetan frontier, leaving the reader panting in her wake. Alongside her enchantment, Dervla became a perceptive witness to the realities of aid work: the corruption, smug piety and power struggles of the bureaucrats, and the dangerous, long-term side effects on the recipients - cultural enfeeblement and dependency. Tibetan Foothold not only confirmed Dervla's status as a traveller, but also revealed her to be a truly independent voice and an acute observer of politics and society.

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  The Innocents Abroad

  Mark Twain

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  The book that made Mark Twain famous and introduced theworld to that obnoxious and ubiquitous character: the American tourist Based on a series of letters first published in American newspapers, The Innocents Abroad is Mark Twain’s hilarious and insightful account of an organized tour of Europe and the Holy Land undertaken in 1867.   With his trademark blend of skepticism and sincerity, Twain casts New World eyes on the people and places of the Old World, including London, Paris, Rome, Odessa, Constantinople, Damascus, and Jerusalem. He skewers the idiosyncrasies and pretensions of Americans abroad and delights in tormenting the local tour guides. In Lake Como, he insists that Lake Tahoe is nicer. In Genoa, he and his fellow travelers claim they’ve never heard of Christopher Columbus.   First published in 1869, The Innocents Abroad made Mark Twain a national celebrity. For the rest of the author’s life, it outsold all his other books, and remains one of the bestselling travelogues of all time. Part satire, part guidebook, it’s a must-read for fans of this inimitable author and anyone who has experienced the pleasure and the pain of being a tourist.   This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

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  Mr Finchley Takes the Road

  Victor Canning

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  " 
  Book 3 of the classic trilogy of humorous rural adventures through pre-war England 
  Mr Finchley takes a fancy to a horse-drawn caravan that he sees for sale, but his new wife does not relish the prospect of a caravan journey so she goes to visit her brother, while he sets out to explore the countryside and go house-hunting. 
  While learning to handle the horse and the caravan, he encounters a variety of eccentrics and country characters, and several unsuitable houses. It gradually emerges that the caravan contains a secret, and Mr Finchley finds himself in real trouble – until his wife comes to the rescue. 
  This gentle comedy trilogy was a runaway bestseller on first publication in the 1930s and retains a timeless appeal today. It has been dramatized twice for BBC Radio, with the 1990 series regularly repeated.What people are saying about the Mr Finchley series: 
  ‘Wonderful character from a kinder slower England between the wars.’ 
  ‘An overlooked gem. An innocent picaresque novel set in an arcadian version of mid 20th century England. The literary equivalent of naive painting, it narrates the adventures of a respectable upper middle-aged man who takes retirement.’ 
  ‘An antidote to the rush of the early 21st century.’ 
  ‘A thoroughly enjoyable stroll through a vanished England with some lovable characters. Don't expect modern, fashionable agonisings, here there is good, evil, and understanding. A lovely reminiscent wallow of a read.’ 
  ‘Gentle well told simple story, full of pleasant surprises, and a mild mannered believable hero. Loved it to bits.’ 
  ‘So gentle, it hurts.’ 
  ‘There is a freshness about the writing which is charming and that disarms criticism. Don't expect any great profundities, a gripping plot or inter-character tensions - these books are of the world of Billy Bunter and William Brown - but do expect a very well-written and enjoyable romp through early twentieth-century England in the company of an engaging protagonist.’ 
  ‘A delightful story of a man who finds himself jolted out of his comfort zone and taken on a journey beyond his wildest imaginings.’ 
  ‘Another lovely book detailing the adventures of Mr Finchley in altogether far too short a series. Full of humour and a book I was sorry to finish as I wanted it to go on and on.’ 
  ‘Highly recommended for anyone seeking an entertaining amusing read.’ 
  ‘A delight to be transported to an England I never knew despite growing up in the 1950s and to experience the countryside through the sharp eyes of the author who obviously had a great love of all things rural.’Editorial reviews: 
  ‘Quite delightful, with an atmosphere of quiet contentment and humour that cannot fail to charm … The longer we travel with Mr Finchley, the better we come to love him. He makes us share his bread and cheese, and beer and pipe. His delight at the beauties of the countryside and his mild astonishment at the strange ways of men are infectious.’ Daily Telegraph

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