Author: Tali Freed
Publisher: Balboa Press
ISBN: 1504346068
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 644
Book Description
Pass Your Own Audition goes out to singers of all experience levels and to all readers who have wanted to sing or follow any passion, but have found prioritizing their creative passion or even their own health to be difficult. It also goes out to performers who have struggled with body image issueson stage or off. Singers, instrumentalists, and any reader pursuing a passion may find this book, with its simple three-part format of daily reflection to be a unique, powerful resource for propelling their actions forward with thought to self-care, creativity, self-expression and self-confidence. Pass Your Own Audition seeks to guide the reader in an inner exploration of breaking through mental barriers and gaining happiness, motivation, self-understanding, appreciation, connectedness, creative expression, focus and more. Pass Your Own Audition is designed to provide the reader with tools that each reader can use for the rest of his or her creative careers and lives.
Pass Your Own Audition
Author: Tali Freed
Publisher: Balboa Press
ISBN: 1504346068
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 644
Book Description
Pass Your Own Audition goes out to singers of all experience levels and to all readers who have wanted to sing or follow any passion, but have found prioritizing their creative passion or even their own health to be difficult. It also goes out to performers who have struggled with body image issueson stage or off. Singers, instrumentalists, and any reader pursuing a passion may find this book, with its simple three-part format of daily reflection to be a unique, powerful resource for propelling their actions forward with thought to self-care, creativity, self-expression and self-confidence. Pass Your Own Audition seeks to guide the reader in an inner exploration of breaking through mental barriers and gaining happiness, motivation, self-understanding, appreciation, connectedness, creative expression, focus and more. Pass Your Own Audition is designed to provide the reader with tools that each reader can use for the rest of his or her creative careers and lives.
Publisher: Balboa Press
ISBN: 1504346068
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 644
Book Description
Pass Your Own Audition goes out to singers of all experience levels and to all readers who have wanted to sing or follow any passion, but have found prioritizing their creative passion or even their own health to be difficult. It also goes out to performers who have struggled with body image issueson stage or off. Singers, instrumentalists, and any reader pursuing a passion may find this book, with its simple three-part format of daily reflection to be a unique, powerful resource for propelling their actions forward with thought to self-care, creativity, self-expression and self-confidence. Pass Your Own Audition seeks to guide the reader in an inner exploration of breaking through mental barriers and gaining happiness, motivation, self-understanding, appreciation, connectedness, creative expression, focus and more. Pass Your Own Audition is designed to provide the reader with tools that each reader can use for the rest of his or her creative careers and lives.
How Far I've Come
Author: Kim Magowan
Publisher: Gold Wake Press Collective
ISBN: 9781737780823
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
"I'm enthralled by the deadpan weird found in so many of Kim Magowan's stories, where the strange doesn't so much intrude upon the real but rather insist it is the real. How Far I've Come is such a smart, moving, funny collection, by a writer who never fails to thrill and surprise me." -Matt Bell, author of Appleseed "Kim Magowan's new collection circumnavigates the tense world of fractured relationships. We're inside and outside, straddling and stomping away from divorces and affairs and threesomes with lapsed Christians. It's such an achievement, all the longing and lust stretched between two covers. I couldn't put it down." --Sherrie Flick, author of Thank Your Lucky Stars "I learn so much about writing when I read Kim Magowan. She's artful yet honest, modest yet brazen. She somehow writes stories that are at once intimate, funny, and tragic, spooling and unspooling the joys, travails, and mishaps of love and friendship and family. Under the spell of her wry wit, her wisdom, I gladly follow her exploration of the general messiness of being human, always turning the page for just one more story. Just one more." --Grant Faulkner, author of All the Comfort Sin Can Provide ""Beautiful and incisive. Every piece is compelling in its own way and I love how the invention reveals itself over the course of the book. Dazzling." --Matthew Faogarty, author of Maybe Mermaids and Robots Are Lonely
Publisher: Gold Wake Press Collective
ISBN: 9781737780823
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
"I'm enthralled by the deadpan weird found in so many of Kim Magowan's stories, where the strange doesn't so much intrude upon the real but rather insist it is the real. How Far I've Come is such a smart, moving, funny collection, by a writer who never fails to thrill and surprise me." -Matt Bell, author of Appleseed "Kim Magowan's new collection circumnavigates the tense world of fractured relationships. We're inside and outside, straddling and stomping away from divorces and affairs and threesomes with lapsed Christians. It's such an achievement, all the longing and lust stretched between two covers. I couldn't put it down." --Sherrie Flick, author of Thank Your Lucky Stars "I learn so much about writing when I read Kim Magowan. She's artful yet honest, modest yet brazen. She somehow writes stories that are at once intimate, funny, and tragic, spooling and unspooling the joys, travails, and mishaps of love and friendship and family. Under the spell of her wry wit, her wisdom, I gladly follow her exploration of the general messiness of being human, always turning the page for just one more story. Just one more." --Grant Faulkner, author of All the Comfort Sin Can Provide ""Beautiful and incisive. Every piece is compelling in its own way and I love how the invention reveals itself over the course of the book. Dazzling." --Matthew Faogarty, author of Maybe Mermaids and Robots Are Lonely
So Familiar
Author: Lolanda W. Green
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1483674045
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 78
Book Description
First things first was the very thing that popped in my mind as my feet hit by fluffy area rug on the floor of my bedroom. I stretched out my arms and then upward and shouted out thank you god! I'm still here for one more round around these mountains in my life, on my way to the bathroom two wee as I sat down on my cushion trial its seat by side Leola there is no limitations today and then my house phone rang speaking out loud I replied to myself who could that be fun thinking that I'd do a 9 to 5 each week and the mornings isn't a good time to call me , so the answering machine came on and said "Ms. Forinot you don't have to come in till noon today all see you then enjoy your morning it's your secretary talk to you later" then the machine but as the NB twice missed a taped white myself flashed the commode wash my hands as I sang a little verse of my grandmother's songs yes Jesus loves me while I'm opening up the windows for some fresh morning at I had so much gratitude for having 4 hours of extra time to complete my assignment for the care plan of my patients at hill manor. Washing my face and rinsing my mouth out with some mouth wash and proceeded to go into my day room. To my index finger I noticed I need to do some dusting, I said " here you go again lee during extra when it's been made available to you to do what is needed to be done with the given time you have " I plopped down and into my sofa it was like De janue, I did this before or read it in a book or did this event happening on a sitcom or what? This is so familiar in the kitchen I go OM JICB Eddie the blue Garp and the red robin together they look so gorgeous but a little strange two awesome birds looked as though it was in painted picture on my bay window, in my kitchen. I've placed my coffee pot on top of the stove I decided to have fruit in wheat toast for breakfast as I was taking out some things for supper I decided to bake instead of having fried chicken this evening.
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1483674045
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 78
Book Description
First things first was the very thing that popped in my mind as my feet hit by fluffy area rug on the floor of my bedroom. I stretched out my arms and then upward and shouted out thank you god! I'm still here for one more round around these mountains in my life, on my way to the bathroom two wee as I sat down on my cushion trial its seat by side Leola there is no limitations today and then my house phone rang speaking out loud I replied to myself who could that be fun thinking that I'd do a 9 to 5 each week and the mornings isn't a good time to call me , so the answering machine came on and said "Ms. Forinot you don't have to come in till noon today all see you then enjoy your morning it's your secretary talk to you later" then the machine but as the NB twice missed a taped white myself flashed the commode wash my hands as I sang a little verse of my grandmother's songs yes Jesus loves me while I'm opening up the windows for some fresh morning at I had so much gratitude for having 4 hours of extra time to complete my assignment for the care plan of my patients at hill manor. Washing my face and rinsing my mouth out with some mouth wash and proceeded to go into my day room. To my index finger I noticed I need to do some dusting, I said " here you go again lee during extra when it's been made available to you to do what is needed to be done with the given time you have " I plopped down and into my sofa it was like De janue, I did this before or read it in a book or did this event happening on a sitcom or what? This is so familiar in the kitchen I go OM JICB Eddie the blue Garp and the red robin together they look so gorgeous but a little strange two awesome birds looked as though it was in painted picture on my bay window, in my kitchen. I've placed my coffee pot on top of the stove I decided to have fruit in wheat toast for breakfast as I was taking out some things for supper I decided to bake instead of having fried chicken this evening.
Second Chance
Author: Chantal Roome
Publisher: Chantal Roome
ISBN: 1777707617
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
Would you take a second chance on your first love? What should you do when (almost) every guy you’ve ever dated has cheated on you? The only thing you can do, of course. Give up and swear off men entirely. Oh, and practice your batting skills on the latest in a long line of offenders, obviously. (Don't look at me like that. You and I both know he deserved it. It's the poor umbrella that really suffered.) Alex is recently single, and NOT ready to mingle. At all. Too bad her first love just reappeared in her life after 20 years and the spark is still there. Oh, and did I mention he’s a super sexy rockstar with fans and groupies and everything? Yeah, he’s the last guy she should consider if she wants to find someone faithful. Not that she wants to find anyone at all. Nope. She’s fine being alone. Isn’t she? A LIGHT-HEARTED ROMANCE ABOUT LOVE, TRUST, AND TAKING CHANCES. WHEN A NEWLY SINGLE CHEF WHO'S AFRAID OF BEING BURNED AGAIN REUNITES WITH A WORLD-WEARY ROCKSTAR WHO'S TIRED OF ALWAYS BEING USED, CAN A SECOND CHANCE AT FIRST LOVE HEAL THEM BOTH? contains steamy scenes, mentions of past partners cheating, and attempted SA of the male lead character. 18+
Publisher: Chantal Roome
ISBN: 1777707617
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
Would you take a second chance on your first love? What should you do when (almost) every guy you’ve ever dated has cheated on you? The only thing you can do, of course. Give up and swear off men entirely. Oh, and practice your batting skills on the latest in a long line of offenders, obviously. (Don't look at me like that. You and I both know he deserved it. It's the poor umbrella that really suffered.) Alex is recently single, and NOT ready to mingle. At all. Too bad her first love just reappeared in her life after 20 years and the spark is still there. Oh, and did I mention he’s a super sexy rockstar with fans and groupies and everything? Yeah, he’s the last guy she should consider if she wants to find someone faithful. Not that she wants to find anyone at all. Nope. She’s fine being alone. Isn’t she? A LIGHT-HEARTED ROMANCE ABOUT LOVE, TRUST, AND TAKING CHANCES. WHEN A NEWLY SINGLE CHEF WHO'S AFRAID OF BEING BURNED AGAIN REUNITES WITH A WORLD-WEARY ROCKSTAR WHO'S TIRED OF ALWAYS BEING USED, CAN A SECOND CHANCE AT FIRST LOVE HEAL THEM BOTH? contains steamy scenes, mentions of past partners cheating, and attempted SA of the male lead character. 18+
Your Spiritual Almanac
Author: Joey Hulin
Publisher: Laurence King Publishing
ISBN: 1399610066
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 345
Book Description
With this beautiful little book as your guide, use the seasons to connect with yourself and the world around you. Ideal for all spiritual explorers, this friendly guide is full of simple, thought-provoking, bite-sized snippets of information. Each month, discover fables, crystals, essential oils, flowers, affirmations, meditations, recipes, yoga poses, and rituals and activities for kindness, eco action, creativity and connection, with each entry perfectly attuned to the season. Uncover fresh perspectives and soul-nourishing activities that will help you enjoy a mindful year. Slow down, breathe, and discover the true fulfilment of a more connected life.
Publisher: Laurence King Publishing
ISBN: 1399610066
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 345
Book Description
With this beautiful little book as your guide, use the seasons to connect with yourself and the world around you. Ideal for all spiritual explorers, this friendly guide is full of simple, thought-provoking, bite-sized snippets of information. Each month, discover fables, crystals, essential oils, flowers, affirmations, meditations, recipes, yoga poses, and rituals and activities for kindness, eco action, creativity and connection, with each entry perfectly attuned to the season. Uncover fresh perspectives and soul-nourishing activities that will help you enjoy a mindful year. Slow down, breathe, and discover the true fulfilment of a more connected life.
Covid-19 and the Mental Health Connection
Author: Michelle J. Holtby
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1663224730
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 112
Book Description
A journey definitely worth taking—most definitely worth the read! - Jack R. Eastman, R.N. Wow! “Right on time.” Michelle has done it again! This is sure to be a bestseller. Our 47 year old author, a native of Albuquerque, NM, published her first book “Bipolar No More: A Memoir of Hope and Recovery” in 2008. Now, we’re again fortunate and inspired as she takes us on a short journey and infuses us with insight, foresight, and hope in our universal quest to maintain mental stability and wellness during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Michelle always makes us feel instantly seen, while creating meaningful connections with her audience. This memoir is written for anyone who has been touched by mental illness and/ or COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a guide, a tool, a comforter, uses various coping techniques, and provides support and views from the secular and Christian world. Michelle invites you to take this one-of-a-kind journey to find hope, help and answers to your most asked questions. Her experiences living with Bipolar I Disorder for 20 years will bring you inner peace so that you, too, can find the answers you need for today, tomorrow and always. One in four Americans are struck each year with a mental illness. While these are challenging enough to deal with, beginning in 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic was added to the equation-causing numerous outbreaks of hospitalizations. Endless isolation, depression, and anxiety soared to all-time levels as did suicide.
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1663224730
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 112
Book Description
A journey definitely worth taking—most definitely worth the read! - Jack R. Eastman, R.N. Wow! “Right on time.” Michelle has done it again! This is sure to be a bestseller. Our 47 year old author, a native of Albuquerque, NM, published her first book “Bipolar No More: A Memoir of Hope and Recovery” in 2008. Now, we’re again fortunate and inspired as she takes us on a short journey and infuses us with insight, foresight, and hope in our universal quest to maintain mental stability and wellness during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Michelle always makes us feel instantly seen, while creating meaningful connections with her audience. This memoir is written for anyone who has been touched by mental illness and/ or COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a guide, a tool, a comforter, uses various coping techniques, and provides support and views from the secular and Christian world. Michelle invites you to take this one-of-a-kind journey to find hope, help and answers to your most asked questions. Her experiences living with Bipolar I Disorder for 20 years will bring you inner peace so that you, too, can find the answers you need for today, tomorrow and always. One in four Americans are struck each year with a mental illness. While these are challenging enough to deal with, beginning in 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic was added to the equation-causing numerous outbreaks of hospitalizations. Endless isolation, depression, and anxiety soared to all-time levels as did suicide.
Coming into My Wisdom
Author: Kaya Kamins
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595629911
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 181
Book Description
After the break up of a long distance relationship, Kaya began to write from the depths of her soul while struggling to become empowered and grounded in her own life. Who I had become was someone I didnt really know. This woman didnt fit the stereotypes I had grown up with. I had not been raised to have a voice, nor to know my truth. When I began to write, floodgates began to open. I developed a new clarity about my emotions. This replaced the space in my heart and life where there was once only confusion and uncertainty. As I began to write and share my words with other women, I developed more courage and began to overcome my fears about creating my own unique path to follow. Kayas poems about her journey of self-discovery and transformation at midlife have common themes for all women struggling to give birth to their own voice.
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595629911
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 181
Book Description
After the break up of a long distance relationship, Kaya began to write from the depths of her soul while struggling to become empowered and grounded in her own life. Who I had become was someone I didnt really know. This woman didnt fit the stereotypes I had grown up with. I had not been raised to have a voice, nor to know my truth. When I began to write, floodgates began to open. I developed a new clarity about my emotions. This replaced the space in my heart and life where there was once only confusion and uncertainty. As I began to write and share my words with other women, I developed more courage and began to overcome my fears about creating my own unique path to follow. Kayas poems about her journey of self-discovery and transformation at midlife have common themes for all women struggling to give birth to their own voice.
Surviving the Extremes
Author: Kenneth Kamler
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 142997611X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 270
Book Description
Surgeon, explorer, and masterful storyteller, Kenneth Kamler takes us to the farthest reaches of the earth as well as into the uncharted territory within the human brain. Surviving the Extremes is a scientific nail-biter no reader will forget. Physiological constraints confine our bodies to less than one-fifth of the earth's surface. Beyond that fraction lie the extremes. What happens when we go to them? Dr. Kenneth Kamler has spent years observing exactly what happens. A vice president of the legendary Explorers Club, he has climbed, dived, sledded, floated, and trekked through some of the most treacherous and remote regions in the world. A consultant for NASA, Yale University, and the National Geographic Society, he has explored undersea caves, crossed the frozen Antarctic wastelands, and stitched a boy's hand back together while kneeling in knee-deep Amazonian mud. He was the only doctor on Everest during the tragic expedition documented in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air and helped treat its survivors. Kamler has devoted his life to investigating how our bodies respond to "environmental insults"-a nice way of saying the things that can kill us-and watched while some succumbed to them and others, sometimes miraculously, overcome them. Words like "extreme" and "survival" have lost some of their value from overuse and media hype. By showing us what happens when life itself is at stake, and the body's capacities put to their greatest test, this book reminds us what they truly mean. Divided into six sections-jungle, open sea, desert, underwater, high altitude, and outer space-Surviving the Extremes uses first-hand testimony and documented accounts to illustrate what happens in environments where our instinctive survival strategies must become fully engaged. These stories reveal how infinitely complex are the workings of the human body-and also how heartbreakingly fragile. At the heart of this book is a quest for the source of our will to survive and the haunting question of why some can, and others cannot, summon its awesome and nearly mystical power at their moment of greatest need.
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 142997611X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 270
Book Description
Surgeon, explorer, and masterful storyteller, Kenneth Kamler takes us to the farthest reaches of the earth as well as into the uncharted territory within the human brain. Surviving the Extremes is a scientific nail-biter no reader will forget. Physiological constraints confine our bodies to less than one-fifth of the earth's surface. Beyond that fraction lie the extremes. What happens when we go to them? Dr. Kenneth Kamler has spent years observing exactly what happens. A vice president of the legendary Explorers Club, he has climbed, dived, sledded, floated, and trekked through some of the most treacherous and remote regions in the world. A consultant for NASA, Yale University, and the National Geographic Society, he has explored undersea caves, crossed the frozen Antarctic wastelands, and stitched a boy's hand back together while kneeling in knee-deep Amazonian mud. He was the only doctor on Everest during the tragic expedition documented in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air and helped treat its survivors. Kamler has devoted his life to investigating how our bodies respond to "environmental insults"-a nice way of saying the things that can kill us-and watched while some succumbed to them and others, sometimes miraculously, overcome them. Words like "extreme" and "survival" have lost some of their value from overuse and media hype. By showing us what happens when life itself is at stake, and the body's capacities put to their greatest test, this book reminds us what they truly mean. Divided into six sections-jungle, open sea, desert, underwater, high altitude, and outer space-Surviving the Extremes uses first-hand testimony and documented accounts to illustrate what happens in environments where our instinctive survival strategies must become fully engaged. These stories reveal how infinitely complex are the workings of the human body-and also how heartbreakingly fragile. At the heart of this book is a quest for the source of our will to survive and the haunting question of why some can, and others cannot, summon its awesome and nearly mystical power at their moment of greatest need.
Leading From Behind
Author: Niva Retimanu
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited
ISBN: 1775538729
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 235
Book Description
Running a marathon isn’t something that comes naturally to newsreader Niva Retimanu. But whether you come first or last, if you complete 42.2 kilometres, you’re still a marathon runner. In Leading from Behind, Niva tells how she went from overweight, heavy-drinking junk-food fan to motivated, health-conscious marathon runner — and how much fun she’s had along the way. Niva might finish last in her races, but she has kept up her party attitude, sometimes in costume and always trying to cross the finish line in style: hootin’ and hollerin’ and with a broad grin on her face. It hasn’t all been a barrel of laughs though — take that storm in Queenstown, the extra kilometres in Beirut, or the time in New York when she lost the disabled athlete she was meant to be guiding. Life with Niva is never dull. As well as telling a host of great stories, Leading from Behind is a call to people of all ages, shapes and sizes to get out and do something active. If Niva can do it, so can you!
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited
ISBN: 1775538729
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 235
Book Description
Running a marathon isn’t something that comes naturally to newsreader Niva Retimanu. But whether you come first or last, if you complete 42.2 kilometres, you’re still a marathon runner. In Leading from Behind, Niva tells how she went from overweight, heavy-drinking junk-food fan to motivated, health-conscious marathon runner — and how much fun she’s had along the way. Niva might finish last in her races, but she has kept up her party attitude, sometimes in costume and always trying to cross the finish line in style: hootin’ and hollerin’ and with a broad grin on her face. It hasn’t all been a barrel of laughs though — take that storm in Queenstown, the extra kilometres in Beirut, or the time in New York when she lost the disabled athlete she was meant to be guiding. Life with Niva is never dull. As well as telling a host of great stories, Leading from Behind is a call to people of all ages, shapes and sizes to get out and do something active. If Niva can do it, so can you!
On the Water
Author: Nathaniel Stone
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0767913167
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 254
Book Description
“I take a stroke and lean back, gazing up into the jet skies, bejeweled by the moon and the galaxies of stars. The hull glides in silence and with such perfect balance as to report no motion. I sit up for another stroke, now looking down as the blades ignite swirling pairs of white constellations of phosphorescent plankton. Two opposing heavens. ‘Remember this,’ I think to myself.” Few people have ever considered the eastern United States to be an island, but when Nat Stone began tracing waterways in his new atlas at the age of ten he discovered that if one had a boat it was possible to use a combination of waterways to travel up the Hudson River, west across the barge canals and the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, and back up the eastern seaboard. Years later, still fascinated by the idea of the island, Stone read a biography of Howard Blackburn, a nineteenth-century Gloucester fisherman who had attempted to sail the same route a century before. Stone decided he would row rather than sail, and in April 1999 he launched a scull beneath the Brooklyn Bridge to see how far he could get. After ten months and some six thousand miles he arrived back at the Brooklyn Bridge, and continued rowing on to Eastport, Maine. Retracing Stone’s extraordinary voyage, On the Water is a marvelous portrait of the vibrant cultures inhabiting American shores and the magic of a traveler’s chance encounters. From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where a rower at the local boathouse bequeaths him a pair of fabled oars, to Vanceburg, Kentucky, where he spends a day fishing with Ed Taylor—a man whose efficient simplicity recalls The Old Man and the Sea—Stone makes his way, stroke by stroke, chatting with tugboat operators and sleeping in his boat under the stars. He listens to the live strains of Dwight Yoakum on the banks of the Ohio while the world’s largest Superman statue guards the nearby town square, and winds his way through the Louisiana bayous, where he befriends Scoober, an old man who reminds him that the happiest people are those who’ve “got nothin’.” He briefly adopts a rowing companion—a kitten—along the west coast of Florida, and finds himself stuck in the tidal mudflats of Georgia. Along the way, he flavors his narrative with local history and lore and records the evolution of what started out as an adventure but became a lifestyle. An extraordinary literary debut in the lyrical, timeless style of William Least Heat-Moon and Henry David Thoreau, On the Water is a mariner’s tribute to childhood dreams, solitary journeys, and the transformative powers of America’s rivers, lakes, and coastlines.
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0767913167
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 254
Book Description
“I take a stroke and lean back, gazing up into the jet skies, bejeweled by the moon and the galaxies of stars. The hull glides in silence and with such perfect balance as to report no motion. I sit up for another stroke, now looking down as the blades ignite swirling pairs of white constellations of phosphorescent plankton. Two opposing heavens. ‘Remember this,’ I think to myself.” Few people have ever considered the eastern United States to be an island, but when Nat Stone began tracing waterways in his new atlas at the age of ten he discovered that if one had a boat it was possible to use a combination of waterways to travel up the Hudson River, west across the barge canals and the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, and back up the eastern seaboard. Years later, still fascinated by the idea of the island, Stone read a biography of Howard Blackburn, a nineteenth-century Gloucester fisherman who had attempted to sail the same route a century before. Stone decided he would row rather than sail, and in April 1999 he launched a scull beneath the Brooklyn Bridge to see how far he could get. After ten months and some six thousand miles he arrived back at the Brooklyn Bridge, and continued rowing on to Eastport, Maine. Retracing Stone’s extraordinary voyage, On the Water is a marvelous portrait of the vibrant cultures inhabiting American shores and the magic of a traveler’s chance encounters. From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where a rower at the local boathouse bequeaths him a pair of fabled oars, to Vanceburg, Kentucky, where he spends a day fishing with Ed Taylor—a man whose efficient simplicity recalls The Old Man and the Sea—Stone makes his way, stroke by stroke, chatting with tugboat operators and sleeping in his boat under the stars. He listens to the live strains of Dwight Yoakum on the banks of the Ohio while the world’s largest Superman statue guards the nearby town square, and winds his way through the Louisiana bayous, where he befriends Scoober, an old man who reminds him that the happiest people are those who’ve “got nothin’.” He briefly adopts a rowing companion—a kitten—along the west coast of Florida, and finds himself stuck in the tidal mudflats of Georgia. Along the way, he flavors his narrative with local history and lore and records the evolution of what started out as an adventure but became a lifestyle. An extraordinary literary debut in the lyrical, timeless style of William Least Heat-Moon and Henry David Thoreau, On the Water is a mariner’s tribute to childhood dreams, solitary journeys, and the transformative powers of America’s rivers, lakes, and coastlines.