Vina: A Brooklyn Memoir

Vina: A Brooklyn Memoir PDF Author: Joseph C. Polacco
Publisher: Compass Flower Press
ISBN: 1942168640
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Joe Polacco has written a wonderful tribute to his mother, Vina, and in the process has learned about himself. This memoir is told with humor, and is a tale of extended family in Brooklyn headed by the author's mother, the kind and big-hearted Vina. It's all about the family, the neighborhood, and most of all about Vina. She is beautiful, selfless, a creative designer and knows how to laugh and make others laugh. She is a master of Italian cuisine, admired for her original recipes, which are willingly shared. What more could anyone want in a Mom? More to the point which of us would not want to claim Vina as Mom? And all the characters in the memoir willingly testify that they love Vina and claim her as their own. The author has a love of--and knack for—foreign language and dialects. In New York City, specifically Brooklyn, the whole world can be found in this one place. And you'll find Joe Polacco and Vina in this melting pot. But be careful not to melt down as you laugh through the pages while commemorating those who have passed before, and after, Vina.

Vina: A Brooklyn Memoir

Vina: A Brooklyn Memoir PDF Author: Joseph C. Polacco
Publisher: Compass Flower Press
ISBN: 1942168640
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Joe Polacco has written a wonderful tribute to his mother, Vina, and in the process has learned about himself. This memoir is told with humor, and is a tale of extended family in Brooklyn headed by the author's mother, the kind and big-hearted Vina. It's all about the family, the neighborhood, and most of all about Vina. She is beautiful, selfless, a creative designer and knows how to laugh and make others laugh. She is a master of Italian cuisine, admired for her original recipes, which are willingly shared. What more could anyone want in a Mom? More to the point which of us would not want to claim Vina as Mom? And all the characters in the memoir willingly testify that they love Vina and claim her as their own. The author has a love of--and knack for—foreign language and dialects. In New York City, specifically Brooklyn, the whole world can be found in this one place. And you'll find Joe Polacco and Vina in this melting pot. But be careful not to melt down as you laugh through the pages while commemorating those who have passed before, and after, Vina.

Deep Down in Brooklyn

Deep Down in Brooklyn PDF Author: Ed German
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1456754386
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
My book is a memoir about growing up in Brooklyn in the 50s and 60s. The title isDeep Down in Brooklyn. It is an illustrated book, 400 pages with 127 historic andpersonal photographs.It is a story largely untold and in great detail about urban living, and includes servicewith the Marines in Vietnam.I've lived all over New York and now live on Eastern Long Island where I host a nightly jazzradio program at Long Island's Public Radio station, WPPB - Peconic Public Broadcasting88.3 FM. My program is heard Monday to Friday evenings, 8pm - 11pm. I have been on the air for over 14 years.

Brooklyn: A Personal Memoir

Brooklyn: A Personal Memoir PDF Author: Truman Capote
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 1936941112
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 109

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Book Description
In 2001, Truman Capote’s stylish homage to Brooklyn was brought back into print, but not until 2014— more than fifty years after they were taken—were the original photographs commissioned to illustrate the essay discovered by the late photographer’s son. Also found among the negatives were previously unknown portraits of Capote; none of the photos had ever been published. Now, with the publication of Brooklyn: A Personal Memoir, with the lost photographs of David Attie, the words and images are united for the first time. With an introduction by George Plimpton and afterword by Eli Attie.

A Girl from Brooklyn

A Girl from Brooklyn PDF Author: Barbara Ponte
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781489524959
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 138

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Book Description
The Memoir of a New Jersey woman born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.

Five-Finger Discount

Five-Finger Discount PDF Author: Helene Stapinski
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0375758704
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Now a PBS documentary, this astonishing memoir of growing up in rough-and-tumble Jersey City “will steal your heart” (People) With deadpan humor and obvious affection, Five-Finger Discount recounts the story of an unforgettable New Jersey family of swindlers, bookies, embezzlers, and mobster-wannabes. In the memoir Mary Karr calls “a page-turner,” Helene Stapinski ingeniously weaves the checkered history of her hometown of Jersey City—a place known for its political corruption and industrial blight—with the tales that have swirled around her relatives for decades. Navigating a childhood of toxic waste and tough love, Stapinski tells an extraordinary tale at once heartbreaking and hysterically funny. Praise for Five-Finger Discount “By turns hilarious and alarming, [Helene Stapinski’s] book reads on the surface like something by Damon Runyon and Elmore Leonard, with a dark undertow of real-life pain and disillusion.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “It’s a brilliant book, a darling book. It is the blessedly modest chronicle of a magical consciousness that seems to have been born pulling diamonds out of the muck, hearing angels’ voices in the fiercest thunder. . . . I adored every word of this wondrous book. Get it. Read it.”—Michael Pakenham, The Baltimore Sun “In the tradition of . . . Rita Mae Brown and Amy Tan, Ms. Stapinski is an exciting writer, unabashedly candid, and at the same time unashamedly self-contained. Five-Finger Discount is a must-read.”—Victoria Gotti, The New York Observer “What [Frank] McCourt did for Limerick, Ireland, Helene Stapinski does for Jersey City.”—The Star-Ledger “Hugely entertaining.”—The Sunday Times (London)

Duck and Cover

Duck and Cover PDF Author: Rosemary Neri Villanella
Publisher: Xulon Press
ISBN: 9781498499736
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
Duck and Cover is a memoir born of Rosemary's desire to transport readers back to the beloved 1960's Brooklyn of her youth, with its familiar streets and stoops, during a more innocent time in this fabled borough. Yet Duck and Cover is also a coming-of-age tale, spotlighting the universal struggle of a young girl forging an individual identity- and trying not to attract too much attention-while carefully navigating her way across that crucial border between childhood and adolescence.

Brooklyn Boy: a Memoir

Brooklyn Boy: a Memoir PDF Author: Lanie Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781671992405
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Ken Fischman takes us on an intoxicating romp through a childhood--his--navigating the travails of "coming of age" during a couple of turbulent decades in Brooklyn. As one of the few Jewish kids in the neighborhood, he struggles with constant bullying and the pining after the treasures and glitter of Christmas celebrations that surrounded him, but do not include him. Whether clamoring after his first pre-teen kiss from his crush, or awkwardly discovering his own awaking sexuality, Ken's rollicking writing style propels us through the 1930s and '40s as he finds his balance through the beginning of WWII, Franklin Roosevelt's death, basketball thrills at Madison Square Garden, and his years at the historic Erasmus High School. "'Shut your mouth up or I'll shut it for you.'" I looked around, perhaps in amazement to see who had said that, but no one around me had spoken. It dawned on me that voice was all too familiar. It was mine. Somewhere, in absolute rage, that voice had risen from perhaps the depths of my soul. I was as shocked by it as anyone else." Blacky turned toward me as though seeing me for the first time-ever! He slowly pointed his bony index finger at me. 'I'm going to get you after school. But good! I'll see you down at the school yard. 'There were three hours until the end of school. These were the longest three hours of my life...

Giovanni, Street Urchin of Naples

Giovanni, Street Urchin of Naples PDF Author: Joseph Polacco
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578763767
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The slums of early 20th century Naples is a dangerous place. Threatened by violence and disease, thirteen-year-old scugnizzo-street urchin-Giovanni survives by his wits and by alliances with the few he can trust. He and beautiful Filomena eventually escape to Brooklyn, America, founding their own business and home. Their Brooklyn family sends offshoots to LA, Las Vegas and the Ivy League. Family members serve America in both World Wars and in Korea.As Giovanni integrates into American life he maintains his good humor and finds family among Americans of all origins. But creeping racist attitudes threaten that broader family. Giovanni's scugnizzo experiences sharpen his own eye for underhanded and illegal activities by American authorities. Some question Giovanni's loyalty and whether he fully washed himself free of the filth of Naples' harbor.

The Body of Brooklyn

The Body of Brooklyn PDF Author: David Lazar
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Even before the controversy that surrounded the publication of A Million Little Pieces, the question of truth has been at the heart of memoir. From Elie Wiesel to Benjamin Wilkomirski to David Sedaris, the veracity of writers' claims has been suspect. In this fascinating and timely collection of essays, leading writers meditate on the subject of truth in literary nonfiction. As David Lazar writes in his introduction, "How do we verify? Do we care to? (Do we dare to eat the apple of knowledge and say it's true? Or is it a peach?) Do we choose to? Is it a subcategory of faith? How do you respond when someone says, 'This is really true'? Why do they choose to say it then?" The past and the truth are slippery things, and the art of non-fiction writing requires the writer to shape as well as explore. In personal essays, meditations on the nature of memory, considerations of the genres of memoir, prose poetry, essay, fiction, and film, the contributors to this provocative collection attempt to find answers to the question of what truth in nonfiction means. Contributors: John D'Agata, Mark Doty, Su Friedrich, Joanna Frueh, Ray González, Vivian Gornick, Barbara Hammer, Kathryn Harrison, Marianne Hirsch, Wayne Koestenbaum, Leonard Kriegel, David Lazar, Alphonso Lingis, Paul Lisicky, Nancy Mairs, Nancy K. Miller, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Phyllis Rose, Oliver Sacks, David Shields, and Leo Spitzer.

Brooklyn Boy

Brooklyn Boy PDF Author: Mike Getz
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780960807628
Category : Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description