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Driven to Succeed: How Frank Hasenfratz Grew Linamar from Guelph to Global
by Rod Mcqueen Susan M. PappThe story of what one daring entrepreneur with dreams and determination can achieve. Frank Hasenfratz grew up in Hungary learning to dodge bullets and avoid land mines during the Second World War. When the 1956 revolution erupted, he and his army unit joined the insurgents. After the revolution was crushed, he fled to Guelph, Ontario, where he gambled everything on a one-man operation making oil pumps for Ford. The company he founded, Linamar, today has 15,000 employees in eight countries and is the second-largest maker of auto parts in Canada. To create this global empire, Hasenfratz stayed ahead of competitors through hard work, visionary leadership, a cost-conscious regimen, and a skilled workforce.In 1990, Hasenfratz designated his daughter, Linda, to succeed him as chief executive officer but first put her through a prolonged apprenticeship that took her from the plant floor to head office. Driven to Succeed is the story of what one daring entrepreneur with dreams and determination can achieve.
Driven West
by A. J. LangguthBy the acclaimed author of the classic Patriots and Union 1812, this major work of narrative history portrays four of the most turbulent decades in the growth of the American nation. After the War of 1812, President Andrew Jackson and his successors led the country to its manifest destiny across the continent. But that expansion unleashed new regional hostilities that led inexorably to Civil War. The earliest victims were the Cherokees and other tribes of the southeast who had lived and prospered for centuries on land that became Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. Jackson, who had first gained fame as an Indian fighter, decreed that the Cherokees be forcibly removed from their rich cotton fields to make way for an exploding white population. His policy set off angry debates in Congress and protests from such celebrated Northern writers as Ralph Waldo Emerson. Southern slave owners saw that defense of the Cherokees as linked to a growing abolitionist movement. They understood that the protests would not end with protecting a few Indian tribes. Langguth tells the dramatic story of the desperate fate of the Cherokees as they were driven out of Georgia at bayonet point by U.S. Army forces led by General Winfield Scott. At the center of the story are the American statesmen of the day--Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun--and those Cherokee leaders who tried to save their people--Major Ridge, John Ridge, Elias Boudinot, and John Ross. Driven West presents wrenching firsthand accounts of the forced march across the Mississippi along a path of misery and death that the Cherokees called the Trail of Tears. Survivors reached the distant Oklahoma territory that Jackson had marked out for them, only to find that the bloodiest days of their ordeal still awaited them. In time, the fierce national collision set off by Jackson's Indian policy would encompass the Mexican War, the bloody frontier wars over the expansion of slavery, the doctrines of nullification and secession, and, finally, the Civil War itself. In his masterly narrative of this saga, Langguth captures the idealism and betrayals of headstrong leaders as they steered a raw and vibrant nation in the rush to its destiny.
The Driver: My Dangerous Pursuit of Speed and Truth in the Outlaw Racing World
by Alexander RoyThe riveting memoir of a life lived at the right-hand edge of the speedometer.Alex Roy's father, while on his deathbed, hints about the notorious, utterly illegal cross-country drive from Los Angeles to New York of the 1970s, which then inspired his young son to enter the mysterious world of underground road rallies. Tantalized by the legend of the Driver—the anonymous, possibly nonexistent organizer of the world's ultimate secret race—Roy set out to become a force to be reckoned with. At speeds approaching 200 mph, he sped from London to Morocco, from Budapest to Rome, from San Francisco to Miami, in his highly modified BMW M5, culminating in a new record for the infamous Los Angeles to New York run: 32:07.Sexy, funny, and shocking, The Driver is a never-before-told insider's look at an unbelievably fast and dangerous society that has long been off-limits to ordinary mortals.
Driver #8
by Jade Gurss Dale Earnhardt Jr.Dale Earnhardt Jr., with his intensity and wild lifestyle, is a fresh face in the world of NASCAR, and shares the excitement, victory, and heartbreak that filled his rookie year. DRIVER #8 shows the insides of this popular sport: the strategies that go into each race and how they affect the outcome, how the driver needs a strong bond between his team and his spotter, and the pressures of making life-and-death decisions that he encounters behind the wheel.
Driving Ambition - My Autobiography: The road to the top
by Andrew StraussAndrew Strauss, one of the most successful and respected England cricket captains of the modern era, announced his retirement from professional cricket at the end of 2012. In DRIVING AMBITION he gives a candid account of the highs and lows of his remarkable career for Middlesex and England.An outstanding opening batsman and natural leader, Andrew Strauss captained his country in 50 of his 100 Tests. During his time in charge, England emerged from a turbulent and controversial period to become the world's top team.Fully updated to cover the past year in Andrew's life; the transition from player to pundit and the fortunes of English cricket. This is an honest and entertaining story of a quiet, modest but fiercely ambitious man who became a magnificent man-manager, leading England to victory in the 2009 Ashes series and again in Australia the following year. Strauss is a fine raconteur and this revealing autobiography will appeal to all those who love cricket.
Driving Ambition - My Autobiography: The road to the top
by Andrew StraussAndrew Strauss, one of the most successful and respected England cricket captains of the modern era, announced his retirement from professional cricket at the end of 2012. In DRIVING AMBITION he gives a candid account of the highs and lows of his remarkable career for Middlesex and England. An outstanding opening batsman and natural leader, Andrew Strauss captained his country in 50 of his 100 Tests. During his time in charge, England emerged from a turbulent and controversial period to become the world's top team. This is an honest and entertaining story of a quiet, modest but fiercely ambitious man who became a magnificent man-manager, leading England to victory in the 2009 Ashes series and again in Australia the following year. Strauss is a fine raconteur and this revealing autobiography will appeal to all those who love cricket.
Driving Forwards: A journey of resilience and empowerment after life-changing injury
by Sophie L Morgan'A book that'll change your perspective on life. You'll not be able to put it down.' Fearne CottonAs seen on 'Living Wild; How to Change your Life' a two-part prime-time series on Channel 4, Loose Women and The Great Celebrity Bake Off for SU2COn the precipice of starting her adult life, aged eighteen, Sophie, a rebellious and incorrigible wild child, crashed her car and was instantly paralysed from the chest down. Rushed to hospital, everything she had dreamed for her life was instantly forgotten and her journey to rediscover herself and build a different life began. But being told she would never walk again would come to be the least of her concerns.Over the next eighteen years, as she strived to come to terms with the change in her body, her relationships were put to the test; she has had to learn to cope with the many unexpected and unpredictable setbacks of living with paralysis; she has had to overcome her own and other people's perceptions of disability and explore the limits of her abilities, all whilst searching for love, acceptance, meaning, identity, and purpose. Driving Forwards is a remarkable and powerful memoir, detailing Sophie's life-changing injury, her recovery, and her life since. Strikingly honest, her story is unusual and yet relatable, inspiring us to see how adversity can be channelled into opportunity and how ongoing resilience can ultimately lead to empowerment.
Driving Forwards: A journey of resilience and empowerment after life-changing injury
by Sophie L Morgan'A book that'll change your perspective on life. You'll not be able to put it down.' Fearne CottonAs seen on 'Living Wild; How to Change your Life' a two-part prime-time series on Channel 4, Loose Women and The Great Celebrity Bake Off for SU2COn the precipice of starting her adult life, aged eighteen, Sophie, a rebellious and incorrigible wild child, crashed her car and was instantly paralysed from the chest down. Rushed to hospital, everything she had dreamed for her life was instantly forgotten and her journey to rediscover herself and build a different life began. But being told she would never walk again would come to be the least of her concerns.Over the next eighteen years, as she strived to come to terms with the change in her body, her relationships were put to the test; she has had to learn to cope with the many unexpected and unpredictable setbacks of living with paralysis; she has had to overcome her own and other people's perceptions of disability and explore the limits of her abilities, all whilst searching for love, acceptance, meaning, identity, and purpose. Driving Forwards is a remarkable and powerful memoir, detailing Sophie's life-changing injury, her recovery, and her life since. Strikingly honest, her story is unusual and yet relatable, inspiring us to see how adversity can be channelled into opportunity and how ongoing resilience can ultimately lead to empowerment.
Driving Forwards: A journey of resilience and empowerment after life-changing injury
by Sophie L Morgan'A book that'll change your perspective on life. You'll not be able to put it down.' Fearne Cotton'Everyone should read this book. Sophie Morgan is the epitome of grit and determination. Her writing is thought provoking, honest and in parts hilarious.' Katie Piper OBE'Wrenchingly honest...eye-opening and deeply moving. *****' Mail on SundayAs seen on 'Living Wild; How to Change your Life' a two-part prime-time series on Channel 4, Loose Women and The Great Celebrity Bake Off for SU2COn the precipice of starting her adult life, aged eighteen, Sophie, a rebellious and incorrigible wild child, crashed her car and was instantly paralysed from the chest down. Rushed to hospital, everything she had dreamed for her life was instantly forgotten and her journey to rediscover herself and build a different life began. But being told she would never walk again would come to be the least of her concerns.Over the next eighteen years, as she strived to come to terms with the change in her body, her relationships were put to the test; she has had to learn to cope with the many unexpected and unpredictable setbacks of living with paralysis; she has had to overcome her own and other people's perceptions of disability and explore the limits of her abilities, all whilst searching for love, acceptance, meaning, identity, and purpose. Driving Forwards is a remarkable and powerful memoir, detailing Sophie's life-changing injury, her recovery, and her life since. Strikingly honest, her story is unusual and yet relatable, inspiring us to see how adversity can be channelled into opportunity and how ongoing resilience can ultimately lead to empowerment.'Raw, life affirming and gorgeously written - this book is filled with extraordinary honesty, courage and warmth. Sophie's words will make us all braver and more hopeful.' Daisy Buchanan'A truly astonishing read about the power of never giving up.' Sun'F***king hell!! This book is absolutely brilliant . . . One of the best memoirs I've ever read. Honest and so blooming human, it's fantastic.' Kathy Burke
Driving Home: An American Journey
by Jonathan RabanFor more than thirty years, Jonathan Raban has written with infectious fascination about people and places in transition or on the margins, about journeys undertaken and destinations never quite reached, and, as an Englishman transplanted in Seattle, about what it means to feel rooted in America. Spanning two decades, Driving Home charts a course through the Pacific Northwest, American history, and current events as witnessed by a super-sensitive, all-seeing eye. Raban spots things we might otherwise miss; he calls up the apt metaphors that transform things into phenomena. He is one of our most gifted observers" (Newsday). Stops en route include a Missoula bar, a Tea Party convention in Nashville hosted by Sarah Palin, the Mississippi in full flood, a trip to Hawaii with his daughter, a steelhead river in the Cascades, and the hidden corners of his adopted hometown, Seattle. He deftly explores public and personal spaces, poetry and politics, geography and catastrophe, art and economy, and the shifts in various arenas that define our society. Whether the topic is Robert Lowell or Barack Obama, or how various painters, explorers, and homesteaders have engaged with our mythical and actual landscape, he has an outsider's eye for the absurd, and his tone is intimate, never nostalgic, and always fresh. Frank, witty, and provocative, Driving Home is part essay collection, part diary--and irresistibly insightful about America's character, contradictions, and idiosyncrasies.
Driving Home Naked: And Other Misadventures of a Country Veterinarian
by Melinda G. McCallHave you ever driven home from work wearing nothing but a pair of rubber boots? For Dr. Melinda McCall, a large animal veterinarian in rural Virginia, this is living the dream. Caring for cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, llamas, and the occasional alpaca, unusual mishaps and mind-blowing adventures abound. Getting caught driving home naked after a tough day at work is just another day at the office for Dr. Melinda. Ride along in the vet truck as this fearless vet confronts every obstacle that crosses her path while building a thriving veterinary practice with an all-female foundation. She prevails through a fractured skull, back surgery, rare zoonotic diseases, and other extreme challenges. With stubbornness and grit, she surpasses the expectations of adversaries, including her own father, to become the owner of a successful veterinary business and mother of an inquisitive, spirited young daughter. Offering a firsthand glimpse into the fascinating world of veterinary medicine, Driving Home Naked is a smart, riveting, and heartfelt memoir that will captivate animal lovers and inspire people to follow their dreams on any scale. Buckle up for a wild ride.
Driving Hungry
by Layne MoslerA delicious memoir that takes us from Buenos Aires to New York to Berlin as the author, driven by wanderlust and an unrelenting appetite, finds purpose, passion, and unexpected flavor. After putting her dream of opening her own restaurant on hold, Layne Mosler moves to Buenos Aires to write about food. But she is also in search of that elusive something that could give shape to her life. One afternoon, fleeing a tango club following a terrible turn on the dance floor, she impulsively asks her taxista to take her to his favorite restaurant. Soon she is savoring one of the best steaks of her life and, in the weeks that follow, repeating the experiment with equally delectable results. So begins the gustatory adventure that becomes the basis for Mosler's cult blog, Taxi Gourmet. It eventually takes her to New York City, where she continues her food quests, hailing cabs and striking up conversations from the back seat, until she meets a pair of extraordinary lady cab drivers who convince her to become a taxi driver herself. Between humbling (and hilarious) episodes behind the wheel, Mosler reads about the taxi drivers in Berlin, who allegedly know as much about Nietzsche as they do about sausage. Intrigued, she travels to the German capital, where she develops a passion for the city, its restlessness, its changing flavors, and a certain fellow cab driver who shares her love of the road. With her vivid descriptions of places and people and food, Mosler has given us a beguiling book that speaks to the beauty of chance encounters and the pleasures of not always knowing your destination.From the Hardcover edition.
Driving Lessons: A Father, A Son, and the Healing Power of Golf
by Steve FriedmanWhen Steve Friedman was a child growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis, the game of golf was, to him, mysterious and dark. His father's passion for it caused friction in his marriage and eluded the interest of his youngest son, who was devoted instead to basketball. For that and many other reasons, the two failed to bond, ultimately leading to an awkward and unhappy relationship.But Friedman never forgot the love his father had for golf, and after many years, when he was in his forties, he reached out and asked his dad to teach him the game. He thought that perhaps he could learn something about his old man's view of life and thereby find a way to communicate with him.This small volume is the sweet yet unsentimental story of that experience—the tale of two men using the game of golf to find a way to connect with each other across decades of disagreement and misunderstanding. For anyone who is a golfer, a father, or a son, this book will be a treasure.
Driving Like Crazy: Thirty Years of Vehicular Hell-Bending, Celebrating America the Way It's Supposed to Be—With an Oil Well in Every Backyard, a Cadillac Escalade in Every Carport, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Mowing Our Lawn
by P. J. O'Rourke<p>Driving Like Crazy celebrates cars and author P. J. O’Rourke’s love for them, while chronicling the golden age of the automobile in America. O’Rourke takes us on a whirlwind tour of the world’s most scenic and bumpiest roads in trouble-laden cross-country treks, from a 1978 Florida-to-California escapade in a 1956 special four-door Buick sedan to a 1983 thousand-mile effort across Mexico in the Baja 1000 to a trek through Kyrgyzstan in 2006 on the back of a Soviet army surplus six-wheel-drive truck. <p>For longtime fans of the celebrated humorist, the collection features a host of O’Rourke’s classic pieces on driving, including "How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink,” about the potential misdeeds one might perform in the front (and back) seat of an automobile; "The Rolling Organ Donors Motorcycle Club,” which chronicles a seven-hundred-mile weekend trip through Michigan and Indiana that O’Rourke took on a Harley Davidson alongside Car & Driver publisher David E. Davis, Jr.; his brilliant and funny piece from Rolling Stone on NASCAR and its peculiar culture, recorded during an alcohol-fueled weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1977; and an hilarious account of a trek from Islamabad to Calcutta in Land Rover’s new Discovery Trek.</p>
Driving Miss Norma: One Family's Journey Saying "Yes" to Living
by Tim Bauerschmidt Ramie LiddleWhen Miss Norma was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she was advised to undergo surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But instead of confining herself to a hospital bed for what could be her last stay, Miss Norma—newly widowed after nearly seven decades of marriage—rose to her full height of five feet and told the doctor, “I’m ninety years old. I’m hitting the road.” And so Miss Norma took off on an unforgettable around-the-country journey in a thirty-six-foot motor home with her retired son Tim, his wife Ramie, and their dog Ringo. As this once timid woman says “yes” to living in the face of death, she tries regional foods for the first time, reaches for the clouds in a hot air balloon, and mounts up for a horseback ride. With each passing mile (and one educational visit to a cannabis dispensary), Miss Norma’s health improves and conversations that had once been taboo begin to unfold. Norma, Tim, and Ramie bond in ways they had never done before, and their definitions of home, family, and friendship expand. Stop by stop, state by state, they meet countless people from all walks of life—strangers who become fast friends and welcome them with kindness and open hearts.Infused with this irrepressible nonagenarian’s wisdom, courage, and generous spirit, Driving Miss Norma is the charming, infectiously joyous chronicle of their experiences on the road. It portrays a transformative journey of living life on your own terms that shows us it is never too late to begin an adventure, inspire hope, or become a trailblazer.
Driving Miss Smith: A Memoir of Linda Smith
by Warren LakinIn February 2006 the comedian Linda Smith died from ovarian cancer. Over the previous ten years Linda had established herself as one of the nation's funniest and best-loved comedians, voted the 'wittiest person alive' by BBC Radio 4 listeners. As any regular listener will testify, Linda was an acerbic political commentator, but she also had an eye for the absurdities of modern life - an eye to rival Alan Bennett or Victoria Wood.In DRIVING MISS SMITH, Warren Lakin, Linda's partner for twenty-three years, tells Linda's life story, of growing up in a town called Erith, which wasn't twinned with anywhere, 'but does have a suicide pact with Dagenham,' and of becoming a much-loved Radio 4 fixture. It is a witty and moving memoir, and although it ends sadly, it is ultimately a hopeful book and a fitting tribute to a life filled with warmth, courage and laughter. (P)2007 Hodder & Stoughton Audiobooks
Driving Mr. Albert: a Trip Across America With Einstein's Brain
by Michael PaternitiDriving Mr. Albert chronicles the adventures of an unlikely threesome--a freelance writer, an elderly pathologist, and Albert Einstein's brain--on a cross-country expedition intended to set the story of this specimen-cum-relic straight once and for all.
Driving Mr. Albert
by Michael PaternitiAlbert Einstein's brain floats in a Tupperware bowl in a gray duffel bag in the trunk of a Buick Skylark barreling across America. Driving the car is journalist Michael Paterniti. Sitting next to him is an eighty-four-year-old pathologist named Thomas Harvey, who performed the autopsy on Einstein in 1955 -- then simply removed the brain and took it home. And kept it for over forty years. On a cold February day, the two men and the brain leave New Jersey and light out on I-70 for sunny California, where Einstein's perplexed granddaughter, Evelyn, awaits. And riding along as the imaginary fourth passenger is Einstein himself, an id-driven genius, the original galactic slacker with his head in the stars. Part travelogue, part memoir, part history, part biography, and part meditation, Driving Mr. Albert is one of the most unique road trips in modern literature.
Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball's Greatest Gift
by Harvey Araton&“A warm, sentimental look at a baseball icon&” (The Tampa Tribune). Driving Mr. Yogi is the story of a unique friendship between two New York Yankees legends—a pitcher and catcher—who share rides, meals, and a bond that transcends the twenty-five-year difference in their ages. The story begins in 1999, when Hall of Famer Yogi Berra is reunited with the Yankees after a long self-exile, the result of being unceremoniously fired by team owner George Steinbrenner fourteen years before. A reconciliation between Berra and the boss means that Berra will once again attend spring training. Retired-pitcher-turned-pitching-coach Ron Guidry knows the club&’s young players will benefit from &“Mr. Yogi&’s&” encyclopedic knowledge of the game, just as Guidry had during his playing days, so he encourages his old mentor to share his insights. In Yogi, Guidry finds not just a personable dinner companion or source of amusement—he finds a best friend. At turns tender and laugh-out-loud funny, and teeming with unforgettable baseball yarns that span more than fifty years, Driving Mr. Yogi is a universal story about the importance of wisdom being passed from one generation to the next, as well as a reminder that time is what we make of it and compassion never gets old. &“Funny, revealing, and surprising . . . Anything that brings new Yogi Berra stories is a good book.&” —MLB.com &“Lovingly documented . . . You&’ll find yourself wishing it ain&’t over till it&’s over.&” —Parade magazine
Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Spain
by Chris StewartDriving Over Lemonsis that rare thing: a funny, insightful book that charms you from the first page to the last. . . and one that makes running a peasant farm in Spain seem like a distinctly good move. Chris transports us to Las Alpujarras, an oddball region south of Granada, and into a series of misadventures with an engaging mix of peasant farmers and shepherds, New Age travellers and ex-pats. The hero of the piece, however, is the farm that he and Ana bought, El Valero - a patch of mountain studded with olive, almond and lemon groves, sited on the wrong side of a river, with no access road, water supply or electricity. Could life offer much better than that? 'An idyllic life in a remote, sunny part of Europe is a fantasy normally punctured by harsh realities, and abandoned. Chris is made of sterner stuff. Driving Over Lemonsis a wonderful account of his Andalucian adventure. ' Peter Gabriel, former Genesisbandmate
Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia
by Chris StewartMeet Chris Stewart, the eternal optimist. A man who flies to Spain, sees a peasant farm on the wrong side of the river and, with scarcely a second thought, hands over a cash deposit. And then finds he has acquired not just the farm, but the farmer, too, who has no intention of leaving. Not to mention the lack of running water, electricity or even a bridge.It would be enough to send most people straight back home. But Chris and his wife Ana are made of stronger stuff - and besides, they have sunk all their savings into their farm, El Valero, and buying a flock of sheep. So there is no turning back. Life gets tough, but it also gets good.Driving Over Lemons is that rare thing - a funny, insightful book that charms you from the first sun-lit page to the last. And one that makes running an Andalucian mountain farm seem like a half-decent career move. It has been a major bestseller both in Britain and Spain.
Driving the Saudis: A Chauffeur's Tale of the World's Richest Princesses (plus their servants, nannies, and one royal hairdresser)
by Jayne Amelia LarsonThe true-to-life account of a female chauffeur hired to drive the Saudi royal family in Los Angeles.After more than a decade of working in Hollywood, actress Jayne Amelia Larson found herself out of luck, out of work, and out of prospects. When she got hired to drive for the Saudi royal family vacationing in Beverly Hills, Larson thought she'd been handed the golden ticket. She'd heard stories of the Saudis bestowing $20,000 tips and Rolex watches on their drivers, but when the family arrived at LAX with twenty million dollars in cash, Larson realized that she might be in for the ride of her life. With awestruck humor and deep compassion, Larson shares the incredible insights she gained as the lone female in a detail of more than forty chauffeurs assigned to drive a beautiful Saudi princess, her family, and their extensive entourage. At its heart, this is an upstairs-downstairs, true-to-life fable for our global times; a story about the corruption that nearly infinite wealth causes, and about what we all do for money. Equal parts funny, surprising, and insightful, Driving the Saudis provides both entertainment and sharp social commentary on one of the world's most secretive families.
Driving the Saudis
by Jayne Amelia LarsonAfter more than a decade of working in Hollywood, actress Jayne Amelia Larson found herself out of luck, out of work, and out of prospects. Without telling her friends or family, she took a job as a limousine driver, thinking that the work might be a good way to dig out of debt while meeting A-list celebrities and important movie moguls. When she got hired to drive for the Saudi royal family vacationing in Beverly Hills, Larson thought she'd been handed the golden ticket. She'd heard stories of the Saudis giving $20,000 tips and Rolex watches to their drivers. But when the family arrived at LAX with millions of dollars in cash--money that they planned to spend over the next couple of weeks--Larson realized that she might be in for the ride of her life. With awestruck humor and deep compassion, she describes her eye-opening adventures as the only female in a detail of over forty assigned to drive a beautiful Saudi princess, her family, and their extensive entourage. To be a good chauffeur means to be a "fly on the wall," to never speak unless spoken to, to never ask questions, to allow people to forget that you are there. The nature of the employment--Larson was on call 24 hours a day and 7 days a week--and the fact that she was the only female driver gave her an up close and personal view of one of the most closely guarded monarchies in the world, a culture of great intrigue and contradiction, and of unimaginable wealth. The Saudis traveled large: they brought furniture, Persian rugs, Limoges china, lustrous silver serving trays, and extraordinary coffees and teas from around the world. The family and their entourage stayed at several luxury hotels, occupying whole floors of each (the women housed separately from the Saudi men, whom Larson barely saw). Each day the royal women spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on plastic surgery and mega-shopping sprees on Rodeo Drive. Even the tea setup had its very own hotel room, while the servants were crammed together on rollaway beds in just a few small rooms down the hall. Larson witnessed plenty of drama: hundreds of hours of cosmetic surgery recovery, the purchasing of Hermès Birkin bags of every color, roiling battles among the upper-echelon entourage members all jockeying for a better position in the palace hierarchy, and the total disregard that most of the royal entourage had for their exhausted staff. But Driving the Saudis also reveals how Larson grew to understand the complicated nuances of a society whose strict customs remain intact even across continents. She saw the intimate bond that connected the royals with their servants and nannies; she befriended the young North African servant girls, who supported whole families back home by working night and day for the royals but were not permitted to hold their own passports lest they try to flee. While experiencing a life-changing "behind the veil" glimpse into Saudi culture, Larson ultimately discovers that we're all very much the same everywhere--the forces that corrupt us, make us desperate, and make us human are surprisingly universal.
Driving with Dead People: A Memoir
by Monica HollowaySmall wonder that, at nine years old, Monica Holloway develops a fascination with the local funeral home. With a father who drives his Ford pickup with a Kodak movie camera sitting shotgun just in case he sees an accident, and whose home movies feature more footage of disasters than of his children, Monica is primed to become a morbid child. Yet in spite of her father's bouts of violence and abuse, her mother's selfishness and prim denial, and her siblings' personal battles and betrayals, Monica never succumbs to despair. Instead, she forges her own way, thriving at school and becoming fast friends with Julie Kilner, whose father is the town mortician. She and Julie prefer the casket showroom, where they take turns lying in their favorite coffins, to the parks and grassy backyards in her hometown of Elk Grove, Ohio. In time, Monica and Julie get a job driving the company hearse to pick up bodies at the airport, yet even Monica's growing independence can't protect her from her parents' irresponsibility, and from the feeling that she simply does not deserve to be safe. Little does she know, as she finally strikes out on her own, that her parents' biggest betrayal has yet to be revealed. Throughout this remarkable memoir of her dysfunctional, eccentric, and wholly unforgettable family, Monica Holloway's prose shines with humor, clear-eyed grace, and an uncommon sense of resilience. Driving with Dead People is an extraordinary real-life tale with a wonderfully observant and resourceful heroine.
Drogadicto Americano: una autobiografía
by Brett DouglasMi nombre es Brett. Soy un hombre con educación universitaria que alguna vez fue esposo durante 26 años, con dos hijos, tres negocios y una gran casa con una cerca blanca de verdad. También soy un adicto a las drogas. Y tengo una historia que contar. Mi relato lo tiene todo: sexo, muerte, dolor, ateísmo, Dios, cárcel, matrimonio, divorcio, herejía, homosexualidad, física, accidentes de tráfico, ciencias de la computación, videojuegos, palillos de canela, Barry Manilow, Nine Inch Nails, pornografía, senos, tampones usados, strippers, enfermedades venéreas, aborto, prostitutas, SIDA, racismo, suicidio, infidelidad, desnudez pública, antisemitismo, marihuana, alcohol, casas de empeño, traficantes de drogas, agujas, ácido, éxtasis, crack, heroína, analgésicos, abstinencia, intervenciones, rehabilitaciones, manipulación de productos, furia en la carretera, vandalismo, abuso a ancianos, profanación de tumbas, incendio intencional, robo de identidad, allanamiento de morada, robo a mano armada y asesinato. Pero, lo más importante, se trata de la desesperación de la adicción y la certeza absoluta de que se puede superar. La recuperación no es simplemente abstinencia, sino un proceso de madurez. Pasé toda mi vida buscando la clave para la sobriedad a largo plazo. Me gustaría compartir contigo lo que he aprendido.