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Notes from a small
by Bill BrysonVeering from the ludicrous to the endearing and back again, Notes From a Small Island is a delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation that has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie's Farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey.a moment, I realized what it was that I loved about Britain-which is to say, all of it."After nearly two decades spent on British soil, Bill Bryson-bestselling author of ,i>The Mother Tongue and Made in America-decided to return to the United States. ("I had recently read," Bryson writes, "that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, so it was clear that my people needed me.") But before departing, he set out on a grand farewell tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. Veering from the ludicrous to the endearing and back again, Notes from a Small Island is a delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation that has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie's Farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey. The result is an uproarious social commentary that conveys the true glory of Britain, from the satiric pen of an unapologetic Anglophile.
Notes from a Small Island
by Bill Bryson<P>A combination travel guide and loving crack at the mannered manners of Britain written by journalist and long-time resident Bryson whose whirlwind trip around the island before his return to America yielded a number of witty essays on life, love, and beer. <P>Traveling by public transit, Bryson zips from Liverpool to Stonehenge to Farleigh Wallop documenting searches for restaurants, pub discoveries, and a "litter festival" in Liverpool. Lacks an index, but a glossary is provided with such gems as the definition of berk (a jerk, though the etymology is more ribald than one would imagine). <P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
Notes from The Century Before: A Journal from British Columbia
by Jon Krakauer David Quammen Edward HoaglandIn 1966, Edward Hoagland made a three-month excursion into the wild country of British Columbia and encountered a way of life that was disappearing even as he chronicled it. Showcasing Hoagland's extraordinary gifts for portraiture--his cast runs from salty prospector to trader, explorer, missionary, and indigenous guide--Notes from the Century Before is a breathtaking mix of anecdote, derring-do, and unparalleled elegy from one of the finest writers of our time.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Notes from China
by Barbara W. TuchmanA journalistic tour de force, this wide-ranging collection by the author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning biography Stilwell and the American Experience in China is a classic in its own right. During the summer of 1972—a few short months after Nixon’s legendary visit to China—master historian Barbara W. Tuchman made her own trip to that country, spending six weeks in eleven cities and a variety of rural settlements. The resulting reportage was one of the first evenhanded portrayals of Chinese culture that Americans had ever read. Tuchman’s observations capture the people as they lived, from workers in the city and provincial party bosses to farmers, scientists, and educators. She demonstrates the breadth and scope of her expertise in discussing the alleviation of famine, misery, and exploitation; the distortion of cultural and historical inheritances into ubiquitous slogans; news media, schools, housing, and transportation; and Chairman Mao’s techniques for reasserting the Revolution. This edition also includes Tuchman’s “fascinating” (The New York Review of Books) essay, “If Mao Had Come to Washington in 1945”—a tantalizing piece of speculation on a proposed meeting between Mao and Roosevelt that would have changed the course of postwar history. “Shrewdly observed . . . Tuchman enters another plea for coolness, intelligence and rationality in American Asian policies. One can hardly disagree.”—The New York Times Book Review
Notes from My Travels
by Angelina JolieThree years ago, award-winning actress Angelina Jolie took on a radically different role as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Here are her memoirs from her journeys to Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Ecuador, where she lived and worked and gave her heart to those who suffer the world's most shattering violence and victimization. Here are her revelations of joy and warmth amid utter destitution...compelling snapshots of courageous and inspiring people for whom survival is their daily workŠand candid notes from a unique pilgrimage that completely changed the actress's worldview -- and the world within herself.
Notes from the Bottom of the World: A Life in Chile
by Suzanne AdamChile—named the Lonely Planet 2017 destination of the year—has been Suzanne Adam’s home for over four decades. She knows the territory—its culture, its idiosyncrasies, and its exotic landscapes, from Patagonian glaciers to the northern Atacama Desert. In this heartfelt collection of sixty-three personal essays, she searches for universal truths and sparks of beauty revealed in small, daily moments both in her native land—the United States—and in Chile. She considers how her American past and move to Chile have shaped her life and enriched her worldview, and she explores with insight questions on aging, women’s roles, spiritual life, friendship, love, and writers who inspire.In a return trip to Colombia fifty years after her two-year stay there as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Adam reflects on the mark left on her by that experience. Finally, she crosses America from east to west, immersing herself in regional cultures and discovering a common thread of reciprocity throughout.
Notes from the Century Before: A Journal from British Columbia
by Edward Coolbaugh HoaglandShowcasing Hoagland's extraordinary gifts for portraiture --- his cast runs from salty prospector to trader, explorer, missionary, and indigenous guide --- "Notes from the Century Before" is a breathtaking mix of anecdote and unparalleled elegy from one of the finest writers of our time.
Notes on a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo
by William Makepeace ThackerayFrom this scene we rushed off somewhat discomposed to make a breakfast off red mullets and grapes, melons, pomegranates, and Smyrna wine, at a dirty little comfortable inn, to which we were recommended: and from the windows of which we had a fine cheerful view of the gulf and its busy craft, and the loungers and merchants along the shore. There were camels unloading at one wharf, and piles of melons much bigger than the Gibraltar cannon-balls at another.
Nothing But Blue: A Memoir
by Diane LowmanIn the summer of 1979, Diane Meyer Lowman, a nineteen-year-old Middlebury College student, embarked on a ten-week working trip aboard a German container ship with a mostly male crew. The journey would take her from New York to Australia and New Zealand and back, through the lush Panama Canal, to a Koala sanctuary and a Maori Museum. She swabbed decks and mended linens, navigated not only the Panama Canal, but perhaps more harrowingly the awkward and sometimes threatening mostly male shipboard society and its politics. The voyage would forever change her perspective on the world and her place in it. She left the port of New York a subservient, malleable girl and sailed back past the Statue of Liberty on her return as a more confident, independent, resilient young woman who&’d learned to stand on her own two feet even if the roughest of waters.
Nothing By Chance: A Gypsy Pilot's Adventures in Modern America
by Richard BachSetting out to explore his beliefs in the environment of a simpler time, Richard Bach shares the adventure of one magical summer he spent as an old-fashioned barnstormer flying an antique biplane. The journey is another soaring personal adventure of wonder and insight from the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Nothing Sacred: Selected Writings (Virago Modern Classics #74)
by Angela CarterIn the pursuit of magnificence, nothing is sacred,' says Angela Carter, and magnificence is indeed her own achievement. One of the most acclaimed novelists of her generation, her work as a journalist and critic was no less original. Long autobiographical pieces on her life in South Yorkshire and South London are followed by highly individual inspections of 'abroad'. Some of her most brilliant writing is devoted to Japan - exotically and erotically described here - so perfectly suited to the Carter pen. Domestically, Angela Carter used her mordant wit and accurate eye to inspect England and Englishness as it manifested itself throughout the land. Then she turns to her own craft, and her extraordinarily wide-ranging book reviews are masterpieces.
Nothing Sacred: Selected Writings
by Angela CarterIn the pursuit of magnificence, nothing is sacred,' says Angela Carter, and magnificence is indeed her own achievement. One of the most acclaimed novelists of her generation, her work as a journalist and critic was no less original. Long autobiographical pieces on her life in South Yorkshire and South London are followed by highly individual inspections of 'abroad'. Some of her most brilliant writing is devoted to Japan - exotically and erotically described here - so perfectly suited to the Carter pen. Domestically, Angela Carter used her mordant wit and accurate eye to inspect England and Englishness as it manifested itself throughout the land. Then she turns to her own craft, and her extraordinarily wide-ranging book reviews are masterpieces.
Nothing to Declare
by Mary MorrisIn a woman's life almost every choice involves risk, and in Nothing to Declare Mary Morris gives us a stunning account of those risks in one woman's journeys through Latin America. As Morris travels south to Mexico, she leaves the old measurements behind and confronts the realities of place, of poverty, of machismo, and of her own self. It is a dangerous land, where anything can happen. From the high desert of northern Mexico to the steaming jungles of Honduras, from the seashore of the Caribbean to the exquisite highlands of Guatemala, she experiences the rawness of life as a woman south of the border. A traveler in her own space and time, Morris befriends a Mexican woman and shares the precariousness of everyday life in a Latin American culture that heightens her own sense of deprivation. Haunted by memories of family and failed love, Morris tries to make sense out of her past as the present boundaries take new form. "I listen to the ghosts and obey the gods. The ghosts whisper, the gods prod." In this beguiling travel book, Mary Morris calls upon us to listen.With Nothing to Declare, Mary Morris joins the company of Beryl Markham, Mary Kingsley, Isabella Bird, and the few women travel writers in a field long the privileged territory of men.
Notorious Kansas Bank Heists: Gunslingers to Gangsters (True Crime)
by Rod BeemerBank robbers wreaked havoc in the Sunflower State. After robbing the Chautauqua State Bank in 1911, outlaw Elmer McCurdy was killed by lawmen but wasn't buried for sixty-six years. His afterlife can be described only as bizarre. Belle Starr's nephew Henry Starr claimed to have robbed twenty-one banks. The Dalton gang failed in their attempt to rob two banks simultaneously, but others accomplished this in Waterville in 1911. Nearly four thousand known vigilantes patrolled the Sunflower State during the 1920s and 1930s to combat the criminal menace. One group even had an airplane with a .50-caliber machine gun. Join author Rod Beemer for a wild ride into Kansas's tumultuous bank heist history.
A Notorious Woman: Anne Royall in Jacksonian America
by Elizabeth J. ClappDuring her long career as a public figure in Jacksonian America, Anne Royall was called everything from an "enemy of religion" to a "Jackson man" to a "common scold. " In her search for the source of such strong reactions, Elizabeth Clapp has uncovered the story of a widely read woman of letters who asserted her right to a political voice without regard to her gender. Widowed and in need of a livelihood following a disastrous lawsuit over her husband’s will, Royall decided to earn her living through writing--first as a travel writer, journeying through America to research and sell her books, and later as a journalist and editor. Her language and forcefully expressed opinions provoked people at least as much as did her inflammatory behavior and aggressive marketing tactics. An ardent defender of American liberties, she attacked the agents of evangelical revivals, the Bank of the United States, and corruption in government. Her positions were frequently extreme, directly challenging the would-be shapers of the early republic’s religious and political culture. She made many enemies, but because she also attracted many supporters, she was not easily silenced. The definitive account of a passionate voice when America was inventing itself, A Notorious Woman re-creates a fascinating stage on which women’s roles, evangelical hegemony, and political involvement were all contested.
Nourished: A Memoir of Food, Faith & Enduring Love (with Recipes)
by Lia HuberA noted entrepreneur, food writer, and recipe developer serves up an evocative adventure story abouther quest to find healing, meaning, and a place at the table. Hunger comes to us in many forms, writes Lia Huber—we long to be satisfied not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. Nourished invites readers on Huber’s world-roaming search to find the necessary ingredients to nurture all three. She begins her quest with an Anthony Bourdain moment in a Guatemalan village: she's slipping fresh vegetables into a communal pot of soup she's cooking up for chronically undernourished children. Village grannies look on disapprovingly... until the kids come back for more. From there, Huber takes readers to the Greek island of Corfu, where she learns the joys of simple food and the power of unconditional love; to a Costa Rican jungle house (by way of an 8,000-mile road trip), where she finds hope and healing; and finally to California's wine country, where she steps into the person she was meant to be and discovers her calling to nourish others.
Nova Scotia's Historic Harbours: The Seaports that Shaped the Province
by Joan DawsonA local historian explores the rich history of this rugged Canadian coastline with fascinating research and twenty-five historical photos. The beautiful harbours of Nova Scotia take many forms. Some are broad and studded with islands, while others are long inlets carved out by glaciers. Prized by the indigenous Mi&’kmaq people as well as European settlers, they contain fascinating tales from the Age of Sail the American Revolution, the Golden Age of Piracy, and much more. Featuring profiles of more than fifty harbours—from the Bedford Basin to Shelburne Harbour to Cobequid Bay, Louisbourg, and Canso—Nova Scotia&’s Historic Harbours explores each harbour&’s historical significance. Local historian Joan Dawson shows how these communities have been shaped by the sea, and how Nova Scotia&’s growth has been driven by its wealth of harbours.
Nova Scotia's Lost Communities: The Early Settlements that Helped Build the Province
by Joan DawsonStories and photos that bring the people and places of Nova Scotia’s historic past to life.Beaubassin was once a prosperous farming community at the head of the Cumberland Basin; Africville was the vibrant home of Black Nova Scotians who struggled to make a living and found spiritual solace in their church. Both are now gone, one a casualty of long-ago colonial warfare and the other a victim of misguided urban renewal.In this fascinating book, author Joan Dawson looks at thirty-seven of this Canadian province’s lost communities: places like Electric City, Indian Gardens, and the Tancook Islands. Some were home to ethnic groups forced to leave. Others, once dependent on factories, mills, or the fishery, died as the economy changed or resources were depleted. But they were all once places where Nova Scotians were born, married, worked, and died. Featuring over 60 archival and contemporary photos and illustrations, Nova Scotia’s Lost Communities preserves those memories with fascinating insights.
Novel Destinations
by Matthew Pearl Shannon Mckenna Schmidt Joni RendonIt's often said that a good book takes us somewhere we've never been before, and here's the proof: a book-lover's Baedeker to more than 500 literary locales across the United States and Europe. Novel Destinations invites readers to follow in the footsteps of much-loved authors, discover the scenes that sparked their imaginations, glimpse the lives they led, and share a bit of the experiences they transformed so eloquently into print. If you're looking to indulge in literary adventure, you'll find all the inspiration and information you need here, along with behind-the-scenes stories such as these:After Ernest Hemingway survived two near-fatal plane crashes during an African safari, he perused his obituaries and sipped champagne on a canal-side terrace in Venice.Washington Irving's wisteria-draped cottage in the Hudson Valley was once occupied by members of the Van Tassel family, immortalized in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.A mysterious incident at a stone tower near Dublin made such a vivid impression on James Joyce that he drew on it for the opening scene of Ulysses.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle consulted on the mystery of Agatha Christie's 1926 disappearance before she resurfaced under an assumed name in northern England.Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables was inspired by a seaside manse in Salem, Massachusetts, infamous witch trials in which his ancestor played a role.
Novel Destinations
by Shannon Mckenna Schmidt Joni RendonIncluding over 500 locations in the US and Europe, this guide is intended for the well-read traveler. Part one explores sites and subjects of literary travel interest, including destinations such as the author's houses and museums, tales of the writers travels at home and abroad, literary festivals and tours, and landmark places to eat, drink, and sleep. Part two visits in detail ten literarily significant locations as made famous by Austen (Bath, England), Dickens (London), Hugo (Paris), Joyce (Dublin), Kafka (Prague), Alcott (Concord, Massachusetts), Hawthorne (Salem, Massachusetts), Hemingway (Key West, Florida), Lee (Monroeville, Alabama), and Steinbeck (Monterey and Salinas, California. ) Much of the book is organized by theme instead of location, though an index is helpfully provided. The information is light on details; the book may be more suitable for travel inspiration than actual travel planning. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Novel Destinations, Second Edition: A Travel Guide to Literary Landmarks From Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Hemingway's Key West
by Shannon Mckenna Schmidt Joni RendonFollow in the footsteps of much-loved authors, including Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Mark Twain, Jack Kerouac, Jane Austen, and many more. For vacationers who crave meaningful trips and unusual locales, cue National Geographic's Novel Destinations—a guide for bibliophiles to more than 500 literary sites across the United States and Europe. Check into Hemingway's favorite hotel in Sun Valley, or stroll about Bath's Royal Crescent while entertaining fantasies of Lizzie Bennett and her Mr. Darcy. The fully revised second edition includes all of the previous sites—with updated locations—plus color images and an expanded section on all things Brontë. The book begins with thematic chapters covering author houses and museums, literary festivals and walking tours. Then, in-depth explorations of authors and places take readers roaming Franz Kafka's Prague, James Joyce's Dublin, Louisa May Alcott's New England, and other locales. Peppered with great reading suggestions and little-known tales of literary gossip, Novel Destinations is a unique travel guide, an attractive gift book, and the ultimate bibliophile's delight.From the Hardcover edition.
Novel Without Lies & Cynics
by Anatoly Mariengof"Exaltation, hope, despair and a passion for a transfigured future combined with savage humor and intoxicated imagery."--The Times Literary Supplement The turbulent life of a great poet against the flamboyant background of 1920s Bohemian Moscow. With its lively style and psychological insight, this memoir about Sergei Esenin has abiding value for scholar and general reader alike.