Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  My Vietnam Your Vietnam - A...

  Nghia M. Vo, Christina Vo

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  A chronicle of the divergent journeys of a father, who fled post-war Vietnam on a small boat to find refuge in the United States, and his American-born daughter, who ventures to Vietnam as an adult, capturing the stark contrast between their perspectives on their shared homeland, as they search for common ground and a path toward mutual healing. 
   
  “Combines the fraught tension of Ava Chin’s Mott Street and the tenderness of Elliot Tiber’s Taking Woodstock."—Kirkus Reviews

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  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow -...

  Washington Irving

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  Washington Irving was born on 3rd April, 1783, the youngest of 11, in New York. 
    
  Irving found his real interests away from school in literature and the theatre.  An outbreak of yellow fever at 15 moved him away from Manhattan and into the surrounding countryside providing valuable settings for later works such as ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’. 
   
  By 19 Irving was writing regularly to the New York Morning Chronicle, commenting on the theatrical and social scenes.  When his health began to fail, he was sent on the Grand Tour of Europe.  Bizarrely he ignored most of the great sights on offer to concentrate on developing his social and conversational powers.  His health, though, did improve.  
   
  In 1806, back in New York to study law, he scraped a pass at the bar and then founded with several others the literary magazine Salmagundi. Irving nicknamed the city ‘Gotham City’, a name still in use today.  Moderately successful, the magazine spread Irving’s reputation beyond New York. 
   
  In 1809 while mourning the death of his teenage fiancée Irving finished his first significant book, ‘A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynsasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker’.  It satirised local history, local historians and politics.  It received great critical acclaim. 
   
  Unfortunately his family’s established trading company was now facing great upheavals and Irving was dispatched to England to try to sort it out.  After two years he could see no way out but bankruptcy.  This left him in England with no real employment prospects, and so he returned to writing.  
   
  He sent some short stories back to New York to be published as ‘The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent’.  The first part included ‘Rip Van Winkle’ and was extremely successful.  The sixth part contained ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’.  
   
  Beset by literary piracy, with no copyright law at the time, he set about publishing legitimate copies in England to outwit the bootleggers.  From now on Irving published concurrently in America and England in order to render piracy obsolete.  
   
  In August 1824, he published ‘Tales of a Traveller’, which included the famed ‘The Devil and Tom Walker’.  
   
  In 1826, the American Minister to Spain, invited him to Madrid where he could examine the many historical documents that he had access to.  Irving reveled in both the size of the libraries he was granted access to and their rich quality.  Historical works flowed from his pen further enhancing his reputation and fortune.   
   
  Following the completion of ‘Tales of the Alhambra’ in 1832, Irving returned to America after 17 years abroad. He was now a figurehead of American literature and dispensed advice to Edgar Allan Poe amongst others.  Irving also became an advocate for American copyright legislation.  
   
  A later appointment as Minister to Spain in 1842 left him disheartened at the antics of the various political factions he encountered.  It also afforded him no time to write as he had hoped.  
   
  On his return home he began an ‘Author’s Revised Edition’ of his works agreeing an unprecedented deal for 12 per cent of the retail profits.  
   
  Washington Irving died of a heart attack at his ‘Sunnyside’ home on the 28th November 1859 at the age of 76, a few months after completing his five volume George Washington biography, in whose honour he had been named.  
   
  ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ is a story almost everyone has encountered.  An enormous success at the time it is now an undeniable American Spooky classic.

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  In Search of Marvellousness -...

  Marcus Lovett

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  In Search of Marvellousness. Fear, pain and the pursuit of happiness. The back story. 
  Is your pain telling you something? Do you listen to it or try to drown it out? What if your discomfort inspired you to push beyond, but you chose to avoid being uncomfortable? This is a story of pain, discomfort, fear and rejection and how an action man learns to embrace and listen to his spirit. 
  In Search of Marvellousness is a story where everything happens at once and time is fluid, not unlike Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five”, but without the extraterrestrials. It’s a tale of a life filled with adventure and travel like Roald Dahl’s “Going Solo” but without a war. It reflects Louise Hay’s “You Can Heal Your Life”, where pain and discomfort keep coming until the lesson is learned, but without affirmations. 
  In Search of Marvellousness is the inner story of Marcus Lovett, the boy from Bendigo who just wanted to travel the world and have a good time. From being Australia’s first freestyle skier in the 1988 Olympics Winter Games at Calgary to being an Acapulco cliff diver and stuntman, risking life and limb for glory and a few dollars. The physical pain of breaks and dislocations screamed lessons sometimes lost in translation but continued until they were understood. 
  In Search of Marvellousness covers the mental and emotional self-doubts of imposter syndrome. Marcus produces and hosts the long-running television show called Snowshow. Filmed worldwide and broadcast globally, the Snowshow was a skiing and snowboarding travel show. Though he was earning money doing what he loved, he still felt like a ski bum looking for his next free ride. 
  In Search of Marvellousness explores the connection between physical, mental, emotional and spiritual discomfort. Marcus explores the joy of fear and discovers self-esteem is the answer, constantly reminding himself to keep the spirit.

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  Shirdi Sai Baba - Ek Prernadayak...

  Dr Chandra Bhanu Satpathy

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  'He appeared in Shirdi, he served the people and he conquered their hearts.' 
  Sometime in the mid-nineteenth century, a sixteen-year-old boy arrived in Shirdi, a small village in Maharashtra. Greeted as 'Sai' by the local priest, Mhalsapati, he began to be addressed by that name therea­er, and proceeded to touch and transform the lives of millions of his devotees. Shirdi Sai Baba: Ek Prernadayak Jeevan captures the life of the great saint in the most comprehensive manner till date. An authoritative scholar on the subject, who has devoted his life to spreading Shirdi Sai Baba's teachings throughout the world, Dr Chandra Bhanu Satpathy has delved into rare archives and intelligence reports from the British Raj, and has interviewed hundreds of devotees, including direct descendants of Baba's closest disciples, to provide an objective, factual and comprehensive view of Sai Baba's life. Here is a book that paints a beautiful portrait of an inspiring biography.

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  The Claus Are Out - What it’s...

  Darren Scott Sommer

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  You’d think that being a Shopping Centre Santa at Christmas in Australia might be fun, but it’s actually full of tears, screaming, and tantrums… and the kids can be pretty wild, too. While working as a Stand-up Comedian, Darren Scott Sommer is suddenly thrust into the Big Red Suit at a major Adelaide shopping centre for an entire month. He used to think that handling hecklers was easy, but 6-year-olds can be really mean. 
  In this hilarious and eye-opening memoir, discover what really happens when you step into Santa’s boots. Follow Darren’s journey as he takes on the role at one of Adelaide’s biggest shopping centres in the outer suburb of Elizabeth. This is where he will spend the next four weeks remembering reindeer names, listening to requests for the latest toys, and being peed on by small children. 
  And before he can even settle into his new and unusual position, he finds himself being accused by centre management of promising an Xbox to an 8-year-old, getting asked by a little girl if Santa could bring her mum home from the hospital, and being told by a 12-year-old boy that he’s not the real Santa Claus… all while struggling to deal with the incredible heat that wearing wool, microfibre, and a polyester beard will produce in the middle of an Australian summer. 
  Equal parts comedy and confession, this book is for anyone who’s ever wondered what life is like behind the big white beard—and for those who know that sometimes the funniest stories come from the most unexpected places. 
  This is Santa, unwrapped.

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  John Newton - Evangelical Hero

  Joel R. Beeke, Douglas Bond

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  What do George Whitefield, Elisabeth Elliot, and J. Gresham Machen have in common? They were all Evangelical Heroes. In the Evangelical Heroes series, Joel Beeke and Douglas Bond present thirty biographical sketches of faithful evangelical leaders from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. From George Whitfield to Charles Spurgeon to R.C. Sproul, these men and women held firm to the authority of Scripture and the reality of Christ's death and resurrection in the face of rising liberalism in the Church. These inspiring volumes introduce us to faithful Christians from the past and encourage us to stand firm today!

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