Bright Lights Prairie Dust - Reflections on Life Loss and Love from Little House's Ma

Karen Grassle

Summary

Karen Grassle, the beloved actress who played Ma on Little House on the Prairie,
 grew up at the edge of the Pacific Ocean in a family where love was 
plentiful but alcohol wreaked havoc. In this candid memoir, Grassle 
reveals her journey to succeed as an actress even as she struggles to 
overcome depression, combat her own dependence on alcohol, and find true
 love. With humor and hard-won wisdom, Grassle takes readers on an 
inspiring journey through the political turmoil on ’60s campuses, on to 
studies with some of the most celebrated artists at the famed London 
Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, and ultimately behind the curtains 
of Broadway stages and storied Hollywood sets. In these pages, readers 
meet actors and directors who have captivated us on screen and stage as 
they fall in love, betray and befriend, and don costumes only to reveal 
themselves. We know Karen Grassle best as the proud prairie woman 
Caroline Ingalls, with her quiet strength and devotion to family, but 
this memoir introduces readers to the complex, funny, rebellious, and 
soulful woman who, in addition to being the force behind those many 
strong women she played, fought passionately—as a writer, producer, and 
activist—on behalf of equal rights for women. Raw, emotional, and 
tender, Bright Lights celebrates and honors womanhood, in all its complexity.

Available since: 11/16/2021.

Print length: 376 pages.

Other books that might interest you

The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow

A. J. Mackinnon

A revitalised edition of this much-loved bestseller.

Truly hilarious books are rare. Even rarer are those based on real events. Join A.J. Mackinnon, your charming and eccentric guide, on an amazing voyage in a boat called Jack de Crow.

A couple of quiet weeks sailing the River Severn was the intention. Somehow things got out of hand – a year later I had reached Romania and was still going...

Equipped with his cheerful optimism and a pith helmet, this Australian Odysseus in a dinghy travels from the borders of North Wales to the Black Sea – 4,900 kilometres over salt and fresh water, under sail, at the oars, or at the end of a tow-rope – through twelve countries, 282 locks and numerous trials and adventures, including an encounter with Balkan pirates. Along the way he experiences the kindness of strangers, gets very lost, and perfects the art of slow travel.

‘A marvellous adventure, and Mackinnon recounts it with humour and unflagging enthusiasm ... a clever and entirely engaging read’ Melbourne Times

‘A great travel writer and more importantly a great traveller’ Sydney Morning Herald

‘Not just an adventurer, but an artist, philosopher and keen observer of the world around him’ Canberra Times

‘A wonderful idea for a book – a series of ever bolder improvisations ... undertaken in praise of the spirit of adventure’ Times Literary Supplement

‘Mackinnon’s journey makes a lovely picaresque tale, one dotted with English literary references and wonderful descriptions of the English and European countryside’ Good Reading

Show book

Ronald Reagan - Destiny at His Side

Janet Benge, Geoff Benge

From his early days living in small-town poverty, young Dutch Reagan's thoughts were always on the future. Whether helping his family through financial hard times or doggedly pursuing opportunities reserved for the few, Dutch knew that all the knowledge that he had absorbed over the years was waiting inside of him for a chance to come out. Achieving success as an athlete, sports announcer, and actor, Ronald Reagan discovered his greatest role late in life, as the fortieth president of the United States and The Great Communicator, a man with the ability to reach out to the American people and leave a lasting legacy.

Show book

Stories To Make You Cry -...

Anton Chekhov, Stephen Crane,...

When we read or listen, words can have a transforming effect.  Our mood can alter in the space of a few sentences from joy to sadness.  And not just our mood.  These words can affect us physically, they can engage our emotions and even in their sadness bring a lump to our throat and tears to our eyes.  Sometimes the relief can be palpable. 
 
Our authors, from Anton Chekhov, Stephen Crane, Willa Cather, Katherine Mansfield and a wealth of others are well aware of what their talents will evoke.   Genius has many names.   
 
1 - Short Stories To Make You Cry  - An Introduction 
2 - Vanka by Anton Chekhov 
3 - A Dark Brown Dog by Stephen Crane 
4 - Suicides by Guy de Maupassant 
5 - The Life of Ma Parker by Katherine Mansfield 
6 - The District Doctor by Ivan Turgenev 
7 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather 
8 - Hands by Sherwood Anderson 
9 - Silence by Leonid Andreyev 
10 - The Stones of the Village by Alice Dunbar Nelson 
11 - Hide And Seek or Pliatki by Fyodor Sologub

Show book

Angel Blue - a Song of Redemption

Forrest Lang

Angel Blue: A Song of Redemption is the unflinching true story of a boy abandoned by the world - and the man who fought to rise from it. 
From foster homes and alleyways to war zones and tattoo shops, Forrest Lang survived childhood sexual abuse, addiction, and homelessness before joining the military and facing the battlefield inside and out. 
Through raw honesty and hard-earned wisdom, he shares how he learned to forgive, to heal, and to live again. 
Narrated with heart and urgency, this audiobook is not just a memoir - it's a call to anyone who's ever been broken, to believe that redemption is real, and it's waiting on the other side of pain.

Show book

The Queen and Prince Philip -...

Helen Cathcart

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip enjoyed seventy-three years of happy married life together—the longest marriage of any royal British couple in history. But how did they meet? What did their families think of their burgeoning relationship? What obstacles did the young couple face before and after their marriage? And how did a childhood friendship grow into the love story of the century? 
 
 
 
In The Queen and Prince Philip royal biographer Helen Cathcart superbly reconstructs the early years of Elizabeth and Philip's relationship, tracing their growing affection from the summer of 1939, when "Lilibet" was a teenager and Philip a dashing navy cadet, through their wartime courtship and magnificent wedding in 1947 at Westminster Abbey. She narrates their adjustment to new parenthood in Clarence House and how, shortly afterwards, both their lives changed forever when Elizabeth ascended the throne as Queen in 1952 and Philip became Prince Consort. 
 
 
 
Set against a revealing background of family and wider social events, this is the first full story of their early years together as husband and wife documented from family letters, royal journals, and the personal recollections of those close to the royal couple. The Queen and Prince Philip takes us behind the scenes of one of the most romantic royal love stories of all time.

Show book

Writing - Articles Blog Posts...

Owen Jones

I hope that you will find the information helpful, useful and profitable. 
More people are writing now than at any time in the history of civilisation. This is mainly down to education and more free time. The generation of the parents of the Baby Boomers was the first generation of mass readers – certainly in the West, and probably globally. Their parents could read, usually, but had no tradition of reading books. Instead, they read mostly newspapers. Their children had a better education, and picked up the reading habit from their parents. They were also encouraged to read books at school. The first generation where this happened. 
Their children, the post World War II Baby Boomers, continued the progression and became avid readers. In those days, not so long ago, say, between seventy and thirty years ago, people wrote letters by hand. It was a long, but very pleasant, personal experience. Then the home computer, email, and the Internet began to spread among the masses, and pen and ink gradually became replaced with message boards, posting to forums and email. 
Before this point, writing had been a special event for most people... thank you letters, postcards, birthday cards, and the odd personal letter home or to a friend. The home computer made it easy to dash off a quick note to someone. It took far less time to write and deliver, or have delivered by the post office. Suddenly, everyone began writing and posting to family, friends, strangers and even enemies. A barrier had been lifted – barriers of time and formality, perhaps. 
A high percentage of those Boomers, compared with other generations, have gone on to write some kind of book, or ebook. So, the Boomers are the first generation of working-class writers, and their parents were the first working-class generation of readers.

Show book