Other books that might interest you

• 

  Son - From their pens to your...

  Ivan Bunin

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin was born on 22nd October 1870 in Voronezh province, in the South-West of the Russian Empire. 
  His early life was plagued by his Father’s gambling habits which caused his education to be erratic and the family to lose most of their wealth. 
  Bunin published his first poem in 1887 in St Petersburg and later in Oryol he worked for the local paper and became its editor, handily allowing him to publish his own poems and short stories.  There he met and married Varvara Pashchenko.  Ivan Bunin's debut book of poetry ‘Poems (1887–1891)’ was published in 1891. 
  This poetry and his translation of Longfellow garnered him his first Pushkin Prize.  Now he switched to writing prose and his novella ‘Antonov Apples’ is regarded as his first masterpiece.  Many more would follow. 
  The October Revolution of 1905 found Bunin in the Crimea.  Scenes of ‘class struggle’ he saw more as the oppressed people's craving for anarchy and destruction. 
  In November 1906 he began a passionate affair with Vera Muromtseva, within a few months they were touring through Egypt and Palestine.  ‘The Bird's Shadow’ collection was the result.   
  His second Pushkin Prize came in 1909 for Poems (1903–1906) and further translations.  He was now elected to the prestigious Russian Academy. 
  More widespread fame came in 1910 with ‘The Village’, a controversial and bleak portrayal of Russian country life.  Travel too beckoned them back to the Middle East, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and for winters in Capri with their friend Maxim Gorky.  
  That friendship suddenly ended in April 1917 as the revolution began to ferment in war-ravaged Russia.  After the Bolsheviks took power and the upheavals continued, he decided to leave Russia, finally achieving that in early 1920.  
  It would take some time to heal the wounds and stress he had been under and for his writing to begin again.  Settled in France, Bunin published many of his previous works and collections of novellas.  He also made regular contributions to the Russian emigre press.  
  Although reluctant to become involved in politics, Bunin was now feted as both a writer and the figurehead of non-Bolshevik Russian values and traditions.  In 1933 he became the first Russian to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature ‘for following through and developing with chastity and artfulness the traditions of Russian classic prose.’  
  In 1938 Bunin began working on the celebrated cycle of nostalgic, and erotically themed stories known Dark Avenues (or Dark Alleys).  
  As World War II broke out he chose to remain in Grasse spending the war at his remote Villa Jeanette, high in the mountains.  
  Ivan Bunin was a staunch anti-Nazi, and often, under difficult conditions, sheltered fugitives after Vichy was occupied by the Germans.  He wrote but did not publish during these years until on August 23rd the Nazi’s fled Grasse without a fight.  The next day the Americans came.  
  In May 1945 he returned to Paris and, apart from convalescing at times in Juan-les-Pins, he stayed for the rest of his life. 
  After 1948, with his health deteriorating, Bunin concentrated upon writing his memoirs and a book on Chekhov.  His last years were overshadowed by bitterness and despair at the situation in Russia and the treatment of its peoples.  He was suffering now from asthma, bronchitis and chronic pneumonia. 
  Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin died in a Paris attic flat on 8th November 1953.  Heart failure, cardiac asthma and pulmonary sclerosis were given as the causes of death.  He was 83.

  Show book

• 

  The Cannibal Who Collected...

  Davis Truman

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Jeffrey Dahmer was a notorious American serial killer who murdered 17 young men and boys between 1978 and 1991. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on May 21, 1960, and committed his first murder at 18. Dahmer was known for his shocking crimes, including cannibalism, necrophilia, and preserving body parts as souvenirs. He was arrested in 1991 after one of his intended victims managed to escape and alert the police. Dahmer was eventually sentenced to multiple terms of life in prison, where he was murdered by a fellow inmate in 1994. Despite the heinous nature of his crimes, Dahmer remains a topic of fascination for many due to the sheer brutality of his actions and the unanswered questions surrounding his motivations and mental state. 
  In this audiobook, you will read about Jeffrey Dahmer's life, murders, and psychosocial factors that contributed to the development of his criminal behavior:Childhood traumaMental illnessSubstance abuseSocial isolationSexual issues 
  It's important to remember that these factors are not excuses for Dahmer's actions but rather possible contributing factors to his criminal behavior.

  Show book

• 

  Through the Valley - My...

  William Reeder Jr.

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Through the Valley is the captivating memoir of the last US Army soldier taken prisoner during the Vietnam War. 
   
   
   
  In 1971 William Reeder was a senior captain on his second tour in Vietnam. He had flown armed, fixed-wing OV-1 Mohawks on secret missions deep into enemy territory in Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam, on his first tour. He returned as a helicopter pilot eager to experience a whole new perspective as a Cobra gunship pilot. Believing that Nixon's Vietnamization would soon end the war, Reeder was anxious to see combat action. To him, it appeared that the Americans had prevailed, beaten the Viet Cong, and were passing everything over to the South Vietnamese Army so that Americans could leave. 
   
   
   
  Less than a year later, while providing support to forces at the besieged base of Ben Het, Reeder's chopper went down in a flaming corkscrew. Though Reeder survived the crash, he was captured after evading the enemy for three days. He was held for weeks in jungle cages before enduring a grueling forced march on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, costing the lives of seven of his group of twenty-seven POWs. Imprisoned in the notorious prisons of Hanoi, Reeder's tenacity in the face of unimaginable hardship is not only a captivating story, but serves as an inspiration to all.

  Show book

• 

  Life Begins in Leitrim - From...

  Niall Kelly, Zak Moradi

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The road to Croke Park can be a long one. For Leitrim hurler Zak Moradi, it was an odyssey.
  Born at the height of the Gulf War, Zak spent his formative years living in a refugee camp in Ramadi, Iraq, under the oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein. Eventually, he and his family settled in Carrick-on- Shannon, County Leitrim, and this is where life began.
  Zak couldn't speak English when he first arrived, and he didn't know what sport the boys in his class were playing. It was hurling; he was handy at it, and he picked it up quickly. The GAA gave Zak his chance to put down roots, learn valuable life skills and find friendship.
  A story of adversity, community and hope, Life Begins in Leitrim is Zak's moving reflection, twenty years later, on the culture shock of landing in rural Ireland; the importance of embracing difference; the continued suffering of refugees around the world; the power of sport; and the realisation that, really, we're not all that different from each other.
  'Inspiring … testament to the power of sport and the kindness of people.' Pat Spillane
  'An unputdownable story of overcoming adversity.' Philly McMahon

  Show book

• 

  Karl Marx: An Essay

  Harold J. Laski

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Born in Manchester in 1893, Harold Laski was a leading figure in the left-wing of British socialism in the first half of the 20th century. An executive member of the Fabian Society and member of the Socialist League faction of the Labour Party, he was party chairman in 1945-6. As a professor at the London School of Economics he influenced a number of prominent politicians of the post-war years, including leaders of the independence movements of Asia and Africa, and Ralph Milliband, father of the current Labour Party leader, Ed Milliband. His political views were complex and embraced democratic socialism, revolutionary Marxism and Zionism. This highly readable 1922 essay on Karl Marx is a scholarly and critical account of Marx's life and work.  - Summary by Phil Benson (adapted from Wikipedia)

  Show book

• 

  How My Brain Saved My Life Twice...

  Amy Stacey Curtis

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  An inspiring memoir of survival, How My Brain Saved My Life Twice chronicles triumph over suicide, brain injury, and disability. This audiobook is for readers drawn to resilience, recovery, and the creative spirit. 
  Amy Stacey Curtis was a practicing installation artist widely recognized and awarded for an 18-year project presented throughout nine abandoned Maine mills. Soon after completing this ambitious opus, her brain was attacked. For 22 months, Amy would see horrific nonstop images of her suicide, this unrelenting psychosis soon accompanied by a debilitating head-to-toe loss of muscle control. Amy’s arms and legs flailed, her hands and wrists curled, her head and neck swayed, and her cheeks and mouth twisted, requiring the use of a wheelchair, severely impacting her speech, and cutting her off from her community. After two psychiatric wards, eight antipsychotic drugs, and 15 months of misdiagnosing doctors, it was finally determined that Amy’s brain was injured by past Lyme disease she never knew she had. 
  Amy’s brain knew just what to do to protect her, to survive the unthinkable, and to heal what was broken—twice. Alternating between past and present—one saga that begins when Amy is seven as her father threatens to kill her, her three younger brothers, and himself, the other when Amy is 46 as a virus becomes determined to kill her by her own hand—this dual-timeline against-all-odds memoir chronicles Amy’s battles and triumphs over suicide, relentless childhood trauma, and life-altering disability, with self-advocacy, perseverance, will, and a little humor. 
  Amy hopes to alter the perception of suicide as something under our control and to help others in the midst of their own fight. She likewise shares her fights and wins regarding brain injury, as the general population and medical community don't yet seem to understand the damage Lyme disease can do, whether treated or not.

  Show book