Publisher: Reading Essentials
This is a most interesting biography of Mark Twain by Canada's own famous classic "funny man" Stephen Leacock. The sketch of Mark Twain is an amazing portrait, virile, graphic, loving, and of course humorous. The perfect combination of Leacock and Twain was a happy choice as both men were the geniuses of humor writing of their era...
Telling the inspiring human story behind the creation of the Paralympics, this young listener's biography showcases a riveting narrative to honor the life of Ludwig Guttmann, whose work profoundly changed so many lives. Dedicating his life to helping patients labeled ""incurables,"" Ludwig Guttmann fought for the rights of paraplegics to live a full life. The young doctor believed—and eventually proved—that physical movement is key to healing, a discovery that led him to create the first Paralympic Games. Told with moving text, and featuring the life stories of athletes from the Paralympic Games Ludwig helped create, this story of the man who saved lives through sports will inspire listeners of all backgrounds. A supplemental PDF containing historical photographs and a timeline of events is included.Show book
A collection of poems about life. Written in an easy and interesting style this book includes poems about many parts of family life, motherhood, babies, dads, and youth. None of them long, they focus the listener on the blessings of life. - Summary by TrotsaShow book
Exchange student Jamie Penich left her small Pennsylvania hometown to see the world, but her journey ended with a brutal attack in a shabby motel room in Seoul, South Korea, where the raven-haired 21-year-old was found naked and stomped to death. Investigators zeroed in on soldiers, turning out barracks and trolling seedy bars for the GIs who partied with Jamie in the hours leading up to her death. But every lead produced only new mysteries. There were unbreakable alibis, a roommate who claimed she had slept through the crime, and lab tests that hinted at a secret lover. The investigation seemed destined for the cold case file until a high-powered American senator pressed for answers. Soon, a greenhorn detective settled on a shocking new suspect, a pretty blonde exchange student named Kenzi Snider. During an interrogation, the teenager confessed to killing Jamie during a lesbian encounter . . . but it was what happened next that was truly surprising.What really happened in Room 103?Show book
“Intelligent, witty, thoroughly engaging . . . the most fascinating biography I have read in years.” —The Minneapolis Star Tribune She was one of the all-time great letter writers, according to Virginia Woolf, but as the wife of Victorian literary celebrity Thomas Carlyle, Jane Welsh Carlyle has been much overlooked. In this “hugely satisfying” new biography (The Spectator), Kathy Chamberlain brings Jane out of her husband’s shadow, focusing on Carlyle as a remarkable woman and writer in her own right. Caught between her own literary aspirations and Victorian society’s oppression of women, Jane Welsh Carlyle hoped to move beyond domestic life and become a respected published writer. As she and her husband moved in exclusive London literary circles, mingling with noted authors, poets, and European revolutionaries, Carlyle created and reported to her correspondents on her rich, rewarding life in her Chelsea home—until her husband’s infatuation with a wealthy, imposing aristocratic society hostess threw her life into chaos. Through dedicated research and unparalleled access to Jane Welsh Carlyle’s private correspondence, Chamberlain presents an elegant portrait of an extraordinary woman. “Sparkles with the wit and intelligence of the subject herself . . . If you think, as I originally did, that you have no particular interest in the life of Jane Carlyle, read this—you will be captivated.” —Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lucy by the Sea “Compelling . . . illuminates the outwardly decorous but often inwardly tempestuous lives of Victorian women.” —The New Yorker “Chamberlain, Jane’s latest and incomparably best biographer . . . gives us, at last, a Jane Carlyle who seems thrillingly alive.” —Christian Science MonitorShow book
A success-driven CEO goes on a year-long journey of self-discovery in Bali in this memoir about rediscovering what’s truly important. A hard-charging CEO of a large enterprise, Ben Feder discovers that he is losing the very things that sustained him over his years of business success. Unsettled by his insight, he becomes determined to rebuild family relationships and rejuvenate his sense of purpose. Risking his career, Feder left New York with his wife and children and set off on a self-prescribed sabbatical year. That experience transforms them all. As Feder navigates the thrills and pitfalls of his time away, he draws readers into remarkable examinations of modern values and modern life. Take Off Your Shoes is Feder’s candid and personable account of a journey across the world, and within himself.Show book
In this witty, candid and utterly fascinating memoir, Baroness Trumpington looks back on her long and remarkable life. The daughter of an officer in the Bengal Lancers and an American heiress, she was born in 1922 into a world of privilege and luxury. But her mother lost most of her inheritance in the Wall Street Crash and the family retrenched from Mayfair to Sandwich, in Kent, where her mother became a succesful society interior decorator. Leaving school at fifteen, without ever taking an exam, the young Jean Campbell-Harris was sent to Paris to study art and both French and German, but two years later, with the outbreak of the Second World War, she became a land girl - on a farm owned by Lloyd George, a family friend. She loathed the outdoor life and soon changed direction, putting her German to good use by joining naval intelligence at Bletchley Park, where she stayed for the rest of the war. After the war was over, she went to New York and worked on Madison Avenue as an advertising copywriter. It was in New York that she met her husband, William Barker, a history teacher. They returned to England and married in 1954, where Barker became first a master and then headmaster at the Leys School in Cambridge. In this witty and winning memoir, Jean Trumpington recalls her early life, growing up in London and Kent in the 1920s and 30s, her wartime experiences, her life in the world of Madison Avenue's 'mad men' and - perhaps the happiest period of her life - her years as a headmaster's wife. The book ends with her embarking on what was to become a distinguished political career. It is vivid, forthright and funny, and will appeal to readers who enjoyed the Duchess of Devonshire's Wait for Me as well as to the many people who warmed to Lady Trumpington after her triumphant appearance on Have I Got News for You.Show book
