Other books that might interest you

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  Leadership Over Loneliness - How...

  Ethan Spelman

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  An inspiring true story that blends life, leadership, and lessons learned  Throughout most of his life, Ethan Spelman felt like he was never good enough. Despite his friendly demeanor and perceived success, he was haunted by his past, controlled by his fears, and consumed by emptiness and loneliness. But destiny – disguised as an ill-timed business trip – ultimately changed the trajectory of his life, and led him to discover and then champion the life-changing power of leadership done right.  By immersing himself in leadership principles and practices and infusing them into his own life story, Ethan discovers that leadership can transcend lives – especially his own. As he works to incorporate leadership into all aspects of his life, he unleashes the leader within – and finds the courage and strength to come to terms with his past, overcome his fears, leave the loneliness behind, and move forward with confidence, conviction, and hope.  If you believe that real leadership is much greater than the titles we hold, seek to find the light in your own darkness, or long to discover the leader within, you’ll be inspired by this candid true story interwoven with powerful leadership lessons that have helped the author transform his life – and may help unleash the leader in you.

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  Almost Somewhere - Twenty-Eight...

  Suzanne Roberts

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  It was 1993, Suzanne Roberts had just finished college, and when her friend suggested they hike California's John Muir Trail, the adventure sounded like the perfect distraction from a difficult home life and thoughts about the future. But she never imagined that the twenty-eight-day hike would change her life. Part memoir, part nature writing, part travelogue, Almost Somewhere is Roberts's account of that hike. 
   
   
   
  John Muir wrote of the Sierra Nevada as a "vast range of light," and that was exactly what Roberts was looking for. But traveling with two girlfriends, one experienced and unflappable and the other inexperienced and bulimic, she quickly discovered that she needed a new frame of reference. Her story of a month in the backcountry—confronting bears, snowy passes, broken equipment, injuries, and strange men—is as much about finding a woman's way into outdoor experience as it is about the natural world Roberts so eloquently describes. Candid, funny, and wise, Almost Somewhere not only tells the whimsical coming-of-age story of a young woman ill-prepared for a month in the mountains but also reflects a feminine view of nature. 
   
   
   
  This new edition includes an afterword by the author looking back on the ways both she and the John Muir Trail have changed over the past thirty years, as well as book club and discussion questions.

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  A Poet in the House: Patrick...

  Elizabeth O'Toole

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  Patrick Kavanagh (1904–67) was one of Ireland's foremost poets, best known for 'The Great Hunger' and novel Tarry Flynn. He is also remembered for his cantankerous, sometimes volatile nature, fuelled by alcohol.
  
  
  In A Poet in the House: Patrick Kavanagh at Priory Grove, a memoir by Elizabeth O'Toole, we encounter a new Patrick Kavanagh. In 1961, the poet lived with the O'Toole family in Stillorgan for six months at a crucial point in his life, when he was sober, industrious and, as the accompanying photographs will show, much loved by her children. Until now, no one has been aware of how close Kavanagh was to O'Toole and to her husband, James Davitt Bermingham O'Toole. Born and raised in China, Jim O'Toole was the author of Man Alive, a play about the inner workings of the ESB that created a storm of controversy in 1961. On the first night, Kavanagh told the audience that the press was 'lily-livered'.
  
  
  This was not just 'a local row'. One of the ESB's top executives, Jim O'Donovan, was the IRA leader who negotiated a deal with the Nazis that threatened the existence of the State in 1940. Kavanagh's relationship with O'Donovan and Jim O'Toole's escape from Germany at the outbreak of the war are here revealed for the first time.
  
  Amongst many other revelations in the book is a hitherto unknown connection between the poet and Patricia Avis, novelist wife of the poet Richard Murphy, and lover of Philip Larkin and Desmond Williams.
  
  
  Although Elizabeth O'Toole is now ninety-six, her decidedly down-to-earth voice is that of a much younger woman. Her vivid recollections deepen and challenge the way we view Patrick Kavanagh. The influence of her book will tilt our perception of this passionate man.
  
  
  A contextual essay by the editor of the volume, playwright and novelist Brian Lynch, accompanies the memoir along with photographs from the early sixties.

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  Finding Elevation - Fear and...

  Lisa Thompson

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  Defiance led Lisa Thompson to the male-dominated world of mountain climbing. But after battling breast cancer, she needed to understand the motivations behind the risks she took while climbing. Finding Elevation is more than her climbing memoir. It is an examination of the human spirit and motivation. 
   
   
    
  Listeners will be gripped by Lisa's path from amateur mountain climber to world-class mountaineer as she: 
   
   
    
  ● Becomes the second American woman to summit K2 
   
   
   
  ● Conquers the world's most dangerous mountains 
   
   
   
  ● Defines her own limits, and 
   
   
   
  ● Discovers what she's truly capable of 
   
   
    
  In this inspirational book, listeners will be moved by Lisa's story of heartbreak, resilience, and the discovery that we must define our own boundaries, find our own happiness, and face our fears head-on.

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  Dreaming in Color - An...

  Kaffe Fassett

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  Kaffe Fassett has led an extraordinary life and is a captivating storyteller with a vivid memory. Born in 1937, he spent much of his youth in Big Sur, California, where his parents bought a cabin from Orson Welles and transformed it into the world-famous Nepenthe restaurant, a gathering place for artists and bohemians. After attending a boarding school run by the disciples of Krishnamurti, an Indian guru, he studied painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, then traveled to England, where he made his home. After an inspiring trip to Inverness, Scotland, Fassett began designing knitwear for Bill Gibb, and then the Missonis, Vogue magazine, and private clients like Lauren Bacall and Barbra Streisand, and, in the process, revolutionized the handknitting world with his explosive use of color. Further explorations led him to needlepoint, mosaics, rugmaking, tapestries, yarn and fabric design, costume and set design, and quilting. Now in his seventies, Fassett continues to produce new work and to travel worldwide to teach and lecture. In this intimate autobiography, Fassett shares rich, detailed stories about his lifelong creative journey as well as hundreds of glorious photos taken along the way. 
   
  Praise for Kaffe Fassett: Dreaming in Color: 
   
  “Kaffe Fassett is to color what Julia Child was to French cooking.” —Knitters Review

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  The Autobiography of Davy...

  David Crockett

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  "In the following pages I have endeavoured to give the reader a plain, honest, homespun account of my state in life, and some few of the difficulties which have attended me along its journey, down to this time. I am perfectly aware, that I have related many small and, as I fear, uninteresting circumstances; but if so, my apology is, that it was rendered necessary by a desire to link the different periods of my life together, as they have passed, from my childhood onward, and thereby to enable the reader to select such parts of it as he may relish most, if, indeed, there is any thing in it which may suit his palate."

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