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Life So Far
by Betty Friedan"At last Betty Friedan herself speaks about her life and career. With the same unsparing frankness that made The Feminine Mystique one of the most influential books of our era, Friedan looks back and tells us what it took - and what it cost - to change the world." "In Life So Far, Friedan takes us on an intimate journey through her life - a lonely childhood in Peoria, Illinois, salvation at Smith College; her days as a labor reporter for a union newspaper in New York (from which she was dismissed when she became pregnant); unfulfilling and painful years as a suburban housewife; finding great joy as a mother; and writing The Feminine Mystique, which grew out of a survey of her Smith classmates and started it all." "Friedan chronicles the secret underground of women in Washington, D.C., who drafted her in the early 1960s to spearhead an "NAACP" for women, and recounts the courage of many, including some Catholic nuns who played a brave part in those early days of NOW, the National Organization for Women. She recognized early that the women's movement would falter if institutions did not change to reflect the new realities of women's lives, and she fought to keep the movement practical and free of extremism, including "man-hating." She describes candidly the movement's political infighting that brought her to the point of legal action and resulted in a long breach with fellow leaders Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug." "In this volume, Friedan brings to extraordinary life her bold and contentious leadership in the movement. She lectures, writes, leads think tanks, and organizes women and men to work together in political, legal, and social battles on behalf of women's rights."
Life Stories
by Dorothy GallagherHere are two acclaimed memoirs in one remarkable volume. In an extraordinarily compelling voice, Dorothy Gallagher tells stories taking us from her parents' beginnings in the Ukraine to her own childhood in 1940s New York, through the many adventures of her extended family and into her own adult life. Her themes are universal: the fragility of friendship, the power of love, the marital crisis brought on by chronic illness, the role of dumb luck at the heart of life-Gallagher dramatizes her stories with acute insight, strong feeling, and edgy wit.
Life Stories: Abraham Lincoln
by Gillian GosmanAbraham Lincoln, nicknamed "Honest Abe," led the United States through the Civil War, one of the most trying times in United States history. In this informative book, readers will learn about Lincoln's life, from his childhood in a log cabin in Illinois through his tragic assassination at Fords Theater. The book couples important timelines and biographical data with lessons on perseverance and leadership.
Life Stories: George Washington
by Gillian GosmanGeorge Washington was the Commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the beloved first president of the United States. Readers will learn about the full span of Washington's life, from his childhood through his post-presidential years, in a biography that is woven with lessons on citizenship and patriotism. The book includes helpful timelines and thoughtful information about this cherished founding father.
Life Stories: Profiles from the New Yorker
by David RemnickOne of art's purest challenges is to translate a human being into words. The New Yorker has met this challenge more successfully and more originally than any other modern American journal. It has indelibly shaped the genre known as the Profile. Starting with light-fantastic evocations of glamorous and idiosyncratic figures of the twenties and thirties, such as Henry Luce and Isadora Duncan, and continuing to the present, with complex pictures of such contemporaries as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Richard Pryor, this collection of New Yorker Profiles presents readers with a portrait gallery of some of the most prominent figures of the twentieth century. These Profiles are literary-journalistic investigations into character and accomplishment, motive and madness, beauty and ugliness, and are unrivalled in their range, their variety of style, and their embrace of humanity.
Life Stories: Well-Renowned Scientists Reflect on Their Lives and the Future of Life on Earth
by Heather Newbold"THIS BOOK IS FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS Happening to life on Earth-and to us. This knowledge is so important for our survival that I invited prominent scientists who investigate the planet's life-support system to tell their stories for our benefit. It is rare for scientists to discuss publicly their experiences, emotions, and beliefs because such expression is considered unscientific. This collection of personal and professional reflections is exceptional for its revelation of scientists' private lives and thoughts. Their profound understanding, appreciation, and reverence for life is inspirational and potentially transformative. We can experience it by following the development of their awareness, knowledge, and wisdom through their lives. These leading scientists began their careers in different scientific fields-in chemistry, nuclear physics, engineering, astronomy, and meteorology, as well as in the life sciences. In the forefront of their disciplines, they researched diverse aspects of the biosphere, yet reached convergent conclusions regarding the plight of our planet."
Life Takes Wings: Becoming the World's First Female 747 Pilot
by Lynn Rippelmeyer&“A true story of a woman&’s drive and intensity, told with humility, grace and humor. Life Takes Wings is a great American flying story.&” —Deborah Douglas, author of American Women and Flight In Life Takes Wings, Captain Lynn Rippelmeyer soars with inspiration from a starry-eyed farm girl gazing at the sky to flight attendant to first female pilot of the revolutionary Boeing 747. More than just a story of one woman&’s love affair with the skies, Life Takes Wings combines lessons in tenacity, humility, humor, perseverance, and partnership with the exhilaration of defying social norms, and the rewards of being true to oneself. Inspired to become a commercial airline pilot in an age when it was not an option for girls, serendipitous relationships lead Lynn to her first flying lessons in a seaplane, then to becoming flight instructor and charter pilot while also working as a flight attendant. Perceived as being incapable of flying, women were relegated to the cabin. Ignoring the pilots&’ negative comments, Lynn became a number of aviation&’s female firsts—member of first all-female commercial airline crew, first flight attendant-to-pilot, and first female pilot of the Boeing 747. Through laughter and tears, Life Takes Wings shows the sky is no limit for those who follow their dreams. &“Captain Rippelmeyer&’s book is one of the best chronicles of a flying life that I have ever read. She meets turbulence with determination and fortitude, but with a positive approach and a marvelous sense of humor, which seems to be rare these days.&” —Jacqueline Boyd, PhD, chair, Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship Fund and 99s 2020 recipient of the Award of Achievement for Contributions to Aviation
Life Through an Aperture: The Films and Photography of Keith Hamshere
by Gareth Owen Keith HamshereFor blockbuster photographer Keith Hamshere it was the humble ukulele, given to him for his ninth birthday, that piqued his interest in the entertainment industry, leading to a long and impressive career in front of and behind the camera.Starting out in the late 1950s as a child actor, Keith decided to add another string to his bow, developing his interest in photography and becoming a society photographer at the heart of Swinging London.Keith’s big break came in the mid 1960s, when unit photographer Johnny Jay began working on a new film directed by Stanley Kubrick. Recalling Keith’s fascination with photography and his growing popularity, Johnny asked him if he would be interested in helping out on 2001: A Space Odyssey. Keith did not need to think twice about his answer.Following on from his stellar work on 2001, Keith went on to become an established stills photographer and amassed an impressive filmography, working on films such as Battle of Britain and Superman II before embarking on the first of eight James Bond assignments: The Spy Who Loved Me. Along with his Bond films, Keith also worked on other legendary franchises, including Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and the three Star Wars prequels, among many others.For more than five decades, Keith played a key role in creating some of the most iconic images from some of the biggest movies ever made. In Life Through an Aperture, he shares his fascinating tales of rubbing shoulders with the biggest names in Hollywood, alongside his incredible images.
Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA
by Amaryllis Fox“Fast and thrilling . . . Life Undercover reads as if a John le Carré character landed in Eat Pray Love." —The New York Times <P><P>Amaryllis Fox's riveting memoir tells the story of her ten years in the most elite clandestine ops unit of the CIA, hunting the world's most dangerous terrorists in sixteen countries while marrying and giving birth to a daughter <P><P>Amaryllis Fox was in her last year as an undergraduate at Oxford studying theology and international law when her writing mentor Daniel Pearl was captured and beheaded. <P><P>Galvanized by this brutality, Fox applied to a master's program in conflict and terrorism at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, where she created an algorithm that predicted, with uncanny certainty, the likelihood of a terrorist cell arising in any village around the world. <P><P>At twenty-one, she was recruited by the CIA. Her first assignment was reading and analyzing hundreds of classified cables a day from foreign governments and synthesizing them into daily briefs for the president. Her next assignment was at the Iraq desk in the Counterterrorism center. At twenty-two, she was fast-tracked into advanced operations training, sent from Langley to "the Farm," where she lived for six months in a simulated world learning how to use a Glock, how to get out of flexicuffs while locked in the trunk of a car, how to withstand torture, and the best ways to commit suicide in case of captivity. <P><P> At the end of this training she was deployed as a spy under non-official cover--the most difficult and coveted job in the field as an art dealer specializing in tribal and indigenous art and sent to infiltrate terrorist networks in remote areas of the Middle East and Asia. <P><P>Life Undercover is exhilarating, intimate, fiercely intelligent--an impossible to put down record of an extraordinary life, and of Amaryllis Fox's astonishing courage and passion. <P><P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA
by Amaryllis FoxAmaryllis Fox's riveting memoir tells the story of her ten years in the most elite clandestine ops unit of the CIA, hunting the world's most dangerous terrorists in sixteen countries while falling in love and giving birth to a daughter.Amaryllis Fox was in her last year as an undergraduate at Oxford studying ancient languages and theoretical physics when her writing mentor, Daniel Pearl, was captured and beheaded. Galvanized by this brutality, she applied to a Master's program in conflict and terrorism at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, where she created an algorithm that predicted, with uncanny certainty, the likelihood of a terrorist cell arising in any village around the world. At 21, she was recruited by the CIA. Her first assignment was reading and analyzing hundreds of classified cables a day from foreign governments and synthesizing them into daily briefs for the President. Her next assignment was at the Iraq desk in the Counterterrorism center. At 22, she was fast-tracked into advanced operations training, sent from Langley to "the Farm," where she lived for six months in a simulated world learning how to use a glock, how to get out of flexicuffs while locked in the trunk of a car, how to withstand torture, and the best ways to commit suicide in case of captivity. At the end of this training she was deployed as a spy under non-official cover--the most difficult and coveted job in the field--as an art dealer specializing in tribal and Indigenous art, and sent to infiltrate terrorist networks in remote areas of the Middle East and Asia. Life Undercover is exhilarating, intimate, fiercely intelligent--an impossible-to-put-down record of an extraordinary life, and of Amaryllis Fox's astonishing courage and passion.
Life Will Be the Death of Me: . . . and you too!
by Chelsea HandlerIn a haze of vape smoke on a rare windy night in L.A. in the fall of 2016, Chelsea Handler daydreams about what life will be like with a woman in the White House. And then Donald Trump happens. <P><P> In a torpor of despair, she decides that she’s had enough of the privileged bubble she’s lived in—a bubble within a bubble—and that it’s time to make some changes, both in her personal life and in the world at large. <P><P>At home, she embarks on a year of self-sufficiency—learning how to work the remote, how to pick up dog shit, where to find the toaster. <P><P>She meets her match in an earnest, brainy psychiatrist and enters into therapy, prepared to do the heavy lifting required to look within and make sense of a childhood marked by love and loss and to figure out why people are afraid of her. <P><P>She becomes politically active—finding her voice as an advocate for change, having difficult conversations, and energizing her base. In the process, she develops a healthy fixation on Special Counsel Robert Mueller and, through unflinching self-reflection and psychological excavation, unearths some glittering truths that light up the road ahead. <P><P>Thrillingly honest, insightful, and deeply, darkly funny, Chelsea Handler’s memoir keeps readers laughing, even as it inspires us to look within and ask ourselves what really matters in our own lives. <P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
Life With The Lid Off
by Nicola HodgkinsonThe winner of the Alan Titchmarsh 'People's Author' national competition tells of the travails of family life with wit and warmth.'I gaze down and see your garden, the gate hanging off its hinges, the mess, your children running around half naked like little street urchins. It spoils the view entirely'When single mother Nicola Hodgkinson decided to follow her rural dream, it involved transporting her young family - three rowdy children, her beloved horse, a wilful donkey and two single-minded bantams - to a ramshackle cottage in an idyllic seaside village. The family soon attracts the horrified attention of nosey neighbours, and annoys motorists by hogging country lanes with a horse-drawn caravan. But amid the chaos, the magic of family life shines through, peppered with humour, love, moments of high drama, and nostalgia.LIFE WITH THE LID OFF is a brilliant, profound and funny evocation of a universal theme: how to find yourself again amongst the hurly burly of family life.
Life Without Armour: An Autobiography
by Alan SillitoeA candid and surprising memoir of the early life of one of England&’s most acclaimed and enduring post-WWII writers. Born in 1928 into a poverty-stricken family in working-class Nottingham, bestselling British novelist Alan Sillitoe&’s childhood was marked by his father&’s unpredictable and violent rage, as well as a near-certain condemnation to a life of labor on an assembly line. His family relocated frequently to avoid rent collectors, trading in one bug-infested hovel for another. Though intelligent and curious, the young author-to-be failed his grammar school entrance exams, and it seemed he was destined for work in a factory. The onset of Sillitoe&’s teenage years, however, coincided with the advance of Hitler into Russia, and the war offered a chance for the boy to seek out a different fate. At the age of fourteen, Sillitoe used a fake ID to enroll in the Air Training Corps and went on to join the Ministry of Aircraft Production as an air traffic control assistant. He dreamed of becoming a pilot, but the war ended just after he qualified for training and he was instead shipped off to the Malayan jungle during the Communist insurgency as a radio operator for the Royal Air Force (RAF). After two years of living from one wireless watch to the next—taking in bearings and atmospherics though the radio, and exploring dangerous and primal landscapes by foot—Sillitoe finally returned to a prospectless postwar England and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. But this curse soon became a blessing: In the RAF hospital, Sillitoe began to read—everything from Kant to Descartes to Bernard Shaw—and he decided to become a writer. Already a veteran on an RAF disability pension at the age of twenty-one, Sillitoe began writing full-time, neither his physical challenges nor his numerous rejections from publishers deterring him in the least. He joined the Nottingham Writers&’ Club, and his short stories began to achieve some minor local success. Soon after, a chance meeting with the American poet Ruth Fainlight led to full-blown love, and the two set off for France eager to live in a bucolic setting where they could dedicate all of their time to writing. Circumstance and favorable exchange rates then led the couple to Spain where Sillitoe continued his literary pursuits, met many artists and writers, had run-ins with gypsies, and even underwent police interrogations. Four unpublished novels later—and after nearly a decade of honing his craft—Sillitoe finally found staggering success in his working-class novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and his collection of short stories The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner. Written with Sillitoe&’s signature simplicity, this in-depth autobiography not only gives insight into the formative years and mental maturation of one of Britain&’s most influential writers, but also tells a great story of an underprivileged man who, with perseverance, made the most of his particular fate.
Life Without a Recipe: A Memoir of Food and Family
by Diana Abu-Jaber"Diana Abu-Jaber is the Ambassador of Big-Heartedness."--Patrick Volk, on The Language of Baklava On one side, there is Grace: prize-winning author Diana Abu-Jaber's tough, independent sugar-fiend of a German grandmother, wielding a suitcase full of holiday cookies. On the other, Bud: a flamboyant, spice-obsessed Arab father, full of passionate argument. The two could not agree on anything: not about food, work, or especially about what Diana should do with her life. Grace warned her away from children. Bud wanted her married above all--even if he had to provide the ring. Caught between cultures and lavished with contradictory "advice" from both sides of her family, Diana spent years learning how to ignore others' well-intentioned prescriptions. Hilarious, gorgeously written, poignant, and wise, Life Without a Recipe is Diana's celebration of journeying without a map, of learning to ignore the script and improvise, of escaping family and making family on one's own terms. As Diana discovers, however, building confidence in one's own path sometimes takes a mistaken marriage or two--or in her case, three: to a longhaired boy-poet, to a dashing deconstructionist literary scholar, and finally to her steadfast, outdoors-loving Scott. It also takes a good deal of angst (was it possible to have a serious writing career and be a mother?) and, even when she knew what she wanted (the craziest thing, in one's late forties: a baby!), the nerve to pursue it. Finally, fearlessly independent like the Grace she's named after, Diana and Scott's daughter Gracie will heal all the old battles with Bud and, like her writer-mom, learn to cook up a life without a recipe.
Life Work
by Donald HallDistinguished poet Donald Hall reflects on the meaning of work, solitude, and love"The best new book I have read this year, of extraordinary nobility and wisdom. It will remain with me always."--Louis Begley, The New York Times"A sustained meditation on work as the key to personal happiness. . . . Life Work reads most of all like a first-person psychological novel with a poet named Donald Hall as its protagonist. . . . Hall's particular talents ultimately [are] for the memoir, a genre in which he has few living equals. In his hands the memoir is only partially an autobiographical genre. He pours both his full critical intelligence and poetic sensibility into the form."--Dana Gioia, Los Angeles Times"Hall . . . here offers a meditative look at his life as a writer in a spare and beautifully crafted memoir. Devoted to his art, Hall can barely wait for the sun to rise each morning so that he can begin the task of shaping words."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)"I [am] delighted and moved by Donald Hall's Life Work, his autobiographical tribute to sheer work--as distinguished from labor--as the most satisfying and ennobling of activities, whether one is writing, canning vegetables or playing a dung fork on a New Hampshire farm."--Paul Fussell, The Boston Globe"Donald Hall's Life Work has been strangely gripping, what with his daily to do lists, his ruminations on the sublimating power of work. Hall has written so much about that house in New Hampshire where he lives that I'm beginning to think of it less as a place than a state of mind. I find it odd that a creative mind can work with such Spartan organization (he describes waiting for the alarm to go off at 4:45 AM, so eager is he to get to his desk) at such a mysterious activity (making a poem work) without getting in the way of itself."--John Freeman's blog (National Book Critics Circle Board President)
Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House
by Meghan DaumFrom the acclaimed author and columnist: a laugh-out-loud journey into the world of real estate--the true story of one woman's "imperfect life lived among imperfect houses" and her quest for the four perfect walls to call home.After an itinerant suburban childhood and countless moves as a grown-up--from New York City to Lincoln, Nebraska; from the Midwest to the West Coast and back--Meghan Daum was living in Los Angeles, single and in her mid-thirties, and devoting obscene amounts of time not to her writing career or her dating life but to the pursuit of property: scouring Craigslist, visiting open houses, fantasizing about finding the right place for the right price. Finally, near the height of the real estate bubble, she succumbed, depleting her life's savings to buy a 900-square-foot bungalow, with a garage that "bore a close resemblance to the ruins of Pompeii" and plumbing that "dated back to the Coolidge administration." From her mother's decorating manias to her own "hidden room" dreams, Daum explores the perils and pleasures of believing that only a house can make you whole. With delicious wit and a keen eye for the absurd, she has given us a pitch-perfect, irresistible tale of playing a lifelong game of house.From the Hardcover edition.
Life Writing and Politics of Memory in Eastern Europe
by Simona MitroiuThis volume addresses the issues of remembering and performing the past in Eastern European ex-communist states in the context of multiplication of the voices of the past. The book analyzes the various ways in which memory and remembrance operate; it does so by using different methods of recollecting the past, from oral history to cultural and historical institutions, and by drawing on various political and cultural theories and concepts. Through well-documented case studies the volume showcases the plurality of approaches available for analyzing the relationship between memory and narrative from an interdisciplinary and international perspective.
Life Writing, Representation and Identity: Global Perspectives
by Mukul ChaturvediThis book focuses on varied forms of self-referential storytelling or life writing and its emergence as a democratic and inclusive genre, both globally and in India, and its intersections with history, fiction, memory, truth and identity. The book examines the practice of life writing and its scope for accommodating diverse voices, distinct identities, collaborations and non-hierarchical connections as it gives voice to oral, silenced and marginalized communities. It explores forms like auto/biographical fiction, digital storytelling, graphic memoirs, and testimonies of migration and exile, among others. The eclectic collection of essays in this volume draws attention towards the transformative possibilities of life writing as it engages with issues of resistance, recuperation, re-inscribing individual and collective memories, histories, and promotes an understanding of multicultural others. Focusing on the multiple ways in which the production, circulation, and consumption of life writing has helped to reimagine and redefine individual and collective identities in different cultural and geopolitical contexts, the collection breaks new ground by initiating a cross-cultural perspective in life writing studies. The book aims to encourage critical engagement with a vastly growing body of literature that has seen a publishing and translation boom in contemporary times, both globally and in India. With life writing emerging as a robust area of research, this edited collection provides a much-needed impetus to critically engage with issues of self-representation, memory and identity in recent times. This volume will serve as a significant and rich resource for university students, researchers, and academics of literature, comparative studies, cultural studies, history, indigenous studies and digital and media studies.
Life \ Vida (Spanish edition): Mi historia a través de la historia
by Pope FrancisPor primera vez, el papa Francisco cuenta la historia de su vida, revisitada a través de los acontecimientos que han marcado a la humanidad en los últimos ochenta años, desde el estallido de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en 1939, cuando el futuro era un niño, hasta nuestros días. Vida es un viaje extraordinario por la historia del mundo a través de la mirada de un hombre excepcional. Con observaciones agudas y reflexiones profundas, el papa Francisco nos transporta a los sucesos más significativos de los últimos tiempos, desde el Holocausto hasta la caída del Muro de Berlín, pasando por el golpe de Videla en la Argentina y el Mundial de 1968, cuando Maradona marcó el famoso gol de la «mano de Dios». Desde su mirada única, el pontífice comparte en estas páginas sus recuerdos y reflexiones del Holocausto, las bombas atómicas de Hiroshima y Nagasaki, el ataque a las Torres Gemelas en 2001, la recesión económica de 2008, la pandemia, la renuncia de Benedicto XVI y el cónclave que lo eligió. El «papa callejero» abre su baúl de los recuerdos y, con la franqueza que lo caracteriza, nos transmite mensajes importantes sobre las principales crisis que nos confrontan hoy en día, entre otras, la desigualdad social, la crisis climática, la guerra, la carrera armamentística, la discriminación y las luchas en favor de la vida. «No hay que olvidar la lección más importante: podemos releer la historia de nuestra vida para hacer memoria y poder transmitir algo a quien nos escucha. Pero, para aprender a vivir, todos tenemos que aprender a amar». —Papa Francisco----For the first time, Pope Francis tells the story of his life as he looks back on the momentous world events that have changed history—from his earliest years during the outbreak of World War II in 1939 to the turmoil of today. An extraordinary personal and historical journey, Life is the story of a man and a world in dramatic change. Pope Francis recalls his life through memories and observations of the most significant occurrences of the past eight decades, from the Holocaust to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Videla’s coup in Argentina to the moon landing in 1969, and even the 1986 World Cup in which Maradona scored the unforgettable “hand of God” goal.Here are the frank assessments and intimate insights of a pastor reflecting on the Nazi extermination of the Jews, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the 2001 terrorist attack on America and the collapse of the Twin Towers, the great economic recession of 2008, the Covid-19 pandemic, the retirement of Pope Benedict XVI, and the subsequent conclave that elected him Pontiff. The “pope callejero” recounts these world-changing moments with the candor and compassion that distinguishes him, and offers important messages on major crises confronting us now, including social inequalities, climate change, international war, atomic weapons, racial discrimination, and the battles over social and cultural issues.
Life after Death
by Damien EcholsIn this riveting, explosive classic of prison literature, Echols reveals himself a brilliant writer, infusing his narrative with tragedy and irony in equal measure. He describes the terrors he experienced every day and his outrage toward the American justice system, and offers a firsthand account of living on Death Row in heartbreaking, agonizing detail.
Life al Dente: Laughter and Love in an Italian-American Family
by Gina Casconerity that made Pagen Babies a classic, here is the Italian-American experience served up by the author who has been crowned the Patron Saint of Humor. Before the Sopranos, there were the Cascones. . . . Life al Dente, the new memoir from the author of Pagan Babies, brings the same wit and wonder to the telling of Gina Cascone's Italian-American girlhood . . . well, boyhood actually. In an Italian family, few things are a greater handicap than beir born female, but Gina's Dad generous by decided to overlook this shortcoming and raise Gina as a boy-the son he always wanted. As lawyer to numerous "alleged" mobsters, Dad had some colorful clients who would regularly gather around the basement pool table to talk business, drink, and be hustled by junior high Gina. There was no way Gina was going to turn into one of the big hair girls of Italian-American stereotype, but her journey would have all the bumps that come with that cherished immigrant ambition of moving from steerage to the suburbs in three generations. That sense of dislocation came early for Gina as her family moved from the kind of neighborhood where old men play bocce and the Ftttefnu are named Nunzio to one where frozen food prevails. brains got her into the top high school, she quickly made the lonely discovery that she was the only one there whose name ended in a vowel. In our overly pasteurized and homogenized world, there's a real hunger to find and celebrate our connection to old world roots and traditions. Life al Dente abounds in hilarious stories, but also rewards readers with a genuine and poignant contemplation of cultural identity. with a genuine and poignant contemplation of cultural identity. from the book
Life al Dente: Laughter and Love in an Italian-American Family
by Gina CasconeWith the irreverence, gutsy spirit, and warmhearted hilarity that made Pagan Babies a classic, here is the Italian-American experience served up by the author who has been crowned the Patron Saint of Humor. Before the Sopranos, there were the Cascones. . . . Life al Dente,the new memoir from the author ofPagan Babies,brings the same wit and wonder to the telling of Gina Cascone's Italian-American girlhood. . . well, boyhood actually. In an Italian family, few things are a greater handicap than being born female, but Gina's Dad generously decided to overlook this shortcoming and raise Gina as a boy -- the son he always wanted. As lawyer to numerous "alleged" mobsters, Dad had some colorful clients who would regularly gather around the basement pool table to talk business, drink, and be hustled by junior high Gina. There was no way Gina was going to turn into one of the big hair girls of Italian-American stereotype, but her journey would have all the bumps that come with that cherished immigrant ambition of moving from steerage to the suburbs in three generations. That sense of dislocation came early for Gina as her family moved from the kind of neighborhood where old men play bocce and the pet frogs are named Nunzio to one where Barbies and frozen food prevail. And though Gina's brains got her into the top high school, she quickly made the lonely discovery that she was the only one there whose name ended in a vowel. In our overly pasteurized and homogenized world, there's a real hunger to find and celebrate our connection to old world roots and traditions. Life al Denteabounds in hilarious stories, but also rewards readers with a genuine and poignant contemplation of cultural identity.
Life among the Savages
by Shirley JacksonShirley Jackson, author of the classic short story The Lottery, was known for her terse, haunting prose. But the writer possessed another side, one which is delightfully exposed in this hilariously charming memoir of her family's life in rural Vermont. Fans of Please Don't Eat the Daisies, Cheaper by the Dozen, and anything Erma Bombeck ever wrote will find much to recognize in Shirley Jackson's home and neighborhood: children who won't behave, cars that won't start, furnaces that break down, a pugnacious corner bully, household help that never stays, and a patient, capable husband who remains lovingly oblivious to the many thousands of things mothers and wives accomplish every single day. "Our house," writes Jackson, "is old, noisy, and full. When we moved into it we had two children and about five thousand books; I expect that when we finally overflow and move out again we will have perhaps twenty children and easily half a million books. " Jackson's literary talents are in evidence everywhere, as is her trenchant, unsentimental wit. Yet there is no mistaking the happiness and love in these pages, which are crowded with the raucous voices of an extraordinary family living a wonderfully ordinary life. Continuously in print since 1948, Jackson's Haunting of Hill House has been bought by Dreamworks. .
Life and Arias of María Callas
by Lázaro Droznes Pablo BarrantesLife and arias from María Callas María Callas was probably the greatest soprano of "bel canto". Her life, filled with many ups and downs, can only be compared to the lives of the tragic heroines she used to represent in her scenes. Her trajectory largely exceeded the theatre lyric limits when she became a diva that attracted the interest of the masses, and an international "jet set" star. The play, narrated in first-person by the Diva, portrays the main instances of her tumultuous life, alternated with her most famous arias, which serve to illustrate and foreshadow her tragic fate.
Life and Art: Essays
by Richard RussoA marvelous new essay collection from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Somebody's Fool and The Destiny ThiefLife and Art—these are the twin subjects considered in Richard Russo&’s twelve masterful new essays—how they inform each other and how the stories we tell ourselves about both shape our understanding of the world around us. In &“The Lives of Others,&” he reflects on the implacable fact that writers use people, insisting that what matters, in the end, is how and for what purpose. How do you bridge the gap between what you know and what you don&’t, and sometimes can&’t, know? Why tell a story in the first place? What we don&’t understand, Russo opines, is in fact the very thing that beckons to us. In &“Stiff Neck,&” he writes of the exasperating fault lines exposed within his own family as his wife&’s sister and her husband—proudly unvaccinated—develop COVID. In &“Triage,&” he details with heartbreaking vividness the terror of seeing his seven-year-old grandson in critical condition. And in &“Ghosts,&” he revisits Gloversville, the town that gave rise to the now-legendary fictional town of North Bath, and confronts the specter of its richly populated past and its ghostly present.Sharp, tender, extraordinarily intimate reflections on work, culture, love, and family from one of the great writers of our time.