Publisher: Cervantes Digital
This is a first hand account of the first successful expedition to the South Pole, written by the leader Roald Amundsen. It constructs the character of the expedition and provides insight into Amundsen's philosophy of exploration and his own professionalism, in the age of the amateur explorer.
This is the audiobook of Part 1 of my memoir, My Amazing 35 Year Journey Abroad. I open the book at a time in my life when I was living in an unheated garage in the dead of winter in Chicago and that came about because of my alcoholism. The year was 1981 and I was 28 years old. By this time in my life I had been kicked out of college, fired from 2 jobs including being fired by my father for crashing my company car drunk, divorced once with another one on the way, and I was broke and jobless. I would then pick myself up and brush myself off and get hired as a stockbroker by Dean Witter Reynolds. I would then blow that great opportunity by, you guessed it, abusing alcohol, and after working for 3 different brokerage houses, I would then quit drinking, start my modeling career, take an inadvertent 1 week ski trip to Austria, and then decide not to get on that return flight to Chicago, but instead would take a train from innsbruck to Nice, France where I would work as a model and actor, and then after a few months in Nice, I would move to Paris where I would live for 6 or so months, and then because of a suggestion from a photographer during a job there, I would end up flying to Singapore where I would work as a model and actor there, then after about 6 months there, I would end up moving to NYC to study acting and work as an actor there, and during my day job, I worked as a skate guard at Rockefeller Center where I would work with LIberace during his show there celebrating the skating rinks 50th birthday and there are photos in the book to prove it. Then from NYC I would move to Hong Kong where I would work as a featured actor in 4 movies, including a role in Kickboxer. I would then move to Bangkok, Thailand where I would start my nudie photography career and become the most prolifice photographer of naked Asian girls in the world. It is now 2024 and I am still in Thailand, retired here at the age of 70.Show book
Misadventures in my High Heels is a heartfelt collection of true stories that are meant to inspire others to find ways to move on from disappointment and tragedy. These are stories you’ll devour – funny, raw, deeply human, and striking relatable. From being a young widowed single parent, to the chaos of running a restaurant, to the tenderness of caring for her aging parents, and the lasting echo of teenage heartbreak – Lisa’s writing is filled with humor and gives the reader much to ponder and reflect upon. With wit, grit, and fearless honesty, she shares the moments that shaped her, challenged her, and keep her looking at life as an adventure.Show book
Hailed in the Times Literary Supplement as 'probably the finest piece of non-fiction to come out of South Africa since the end of apartheid', The Dream Deferred is back in print and updated with a brilliant new epilogue. The prosperous Mbeki clan lost everything to apartheid. Yet the family saw its favourite son, Thabo, rise to become president of South Africa in 1999. A decade later, Mbeki was ousted by his own party and his legacy is bitterly contested – particularly over his handling of the AIDS epidemic and the crisis in Zimbabwe. Through the story of the Mbeki family, award-wining journalist Mark Gevisser tells the gripping tale of the last tumultuous century of South Africa life, following the family's path to make sense of the liberation struggle and the future that South Africa has inherited. At the centre of the story is Mbeki, a visionary yet tragic figure who led South Africa to freedom but was not able to overcome the difficulties of his own dislocated life. It is 15 years since Mbeki was unceremoniously dumped by the ANC, giving rise to the wasted years under Jacob Zuma. With the benefit of hindsight, and as Mbeki reaches the age of 80, Gevisser examines the legacy of the man who succeeded Mandela. '…essential reading for anyone intrigued by South Africa's complex philosopher-king.' - The EconomistShow book
My Secret Life is an anonymously penned memoir written during a period from the 1840s to the 1880s by a wealthy and sex obsessed English gentleman who refers to himself simply as ‘Walter’. Part confessional, part investigative erotic journalism, it meticulously documents every detail of the author’s prolific sexual encounters, offering us in the process an eye and thigh opening account of life behind closed doors in the Victorian age. Women, in both mind and body, were the all consuming object of Walter’s interest. From early youth through to old age his quest for erotic discovery and adventure with them was never diminished. Unlike contemporary 19th century erotic texts, such as The Pearl, whose sole object was to titillate, Walter’s interest in his subjects did not end with the extinguishing of the carnal flame. His hunger to understand the circumstances and minds of the women he encountered is never upstaged by the sex. Their potted life histories, their most intimate desires and acts were shared with him and in turn meticulously recorded by him, written down verbatim while still fresh in his mind. The resulting poignant record of a lost era and the intimate moments of the women who inhabited it offer us a remarkable insight into the 19th century that cannot be gleaned from any other source. The complete unabridged text is being released as a fully scored audiofilm (an audio book with accompanying music soundtrack) by film composer Dominic Crawford Collins. VOLUME 9 CHAPTER 3 Alice the unknown. • A street meeting. • Beauty struck. • And cunt struck. • A slip. • The missing reticule. • Walking and talking. • "Are you married?" • Lust rising. • My sister's watch. • A long waiting. • The accommodation house. • Willing, wanting, and fucking. • Submission. • Troublesome drawers. • Copulation in excelsis. • The watch given. • Her secret charms. • A heavenly gamahuche. • Her beauty. • Lovely pudenda. • Good bye for ever.Show book
Within the dark pages of Berserk: The Shocking Life and Death of Edwin Valero, author Don Stradley uncovers the gritty details of the undefeated (27-0, 27 KO), troubled, boxer Edwin Valero. Edwin Valero's life was like a rocket shot into a wall. With a perfect knockout record in twenty-seven fights, the demonic Venezuelan boxer, known as "El Inca" and "El Dinamita," seemed destined for a clash with all-time great Manny Pacquiao. But the Fates had other ideas. Fueled by cocaine and booze and paranoia, Valero blazed into a mania that derailed his career in the ring and resulted in the brutal death of his young wife Jennifer–and soon afterward, his own. In chilling detail, Don Stradley captures one of the darkest and most sensational boxing stories in recent memory, which, until now, has never been fully told. Filled with firsthand accounts from the men who trained Valero and the reporters who covered him, as well as insights from psychologists and forensic experts, Berserk is a hell-ride of a book.Show book
A witty and charming account of the wildly entertaining Elsie de Wolfe in 1950s Hollywood, recounted by her dear friend, the beloved creator of Madeline. Ludwig Bemelmans's charming intergenerational friendship with the late-in-life "First Lady of Interior Decoration" provides an enormously enjoyable nostalgia trip to the sun-soaked glamour of Los Angeles, where de Wolfe surrounded herself with classic movie stars and a luminous parade of life's oddities. With hilarity and mischief that de Wolfe would no doubt approve, To the One I Love the Best lifts the curtain on 1950s Hollywood—a bygone world of extravagance and eccentricity, where the parties are held in circus tents and populated by movie stars. Bemelmans, who was working at MGM, had originally come to the California home of de Wolfe just for cocktails, but by the end of the night, he was firmly established as a member of the family: given a bedroom in their sumptuous house, invitations to the most outrageous parties in Hollywood, and the friendship of the larger-than-life woman known to her closest friends simply as "Mother." To the One I Love the Best is a touching tribute to a fabulously funny woman and an American icon.Show book
