These Precious Days

These Precious Days PDF Author: Ann Patchett
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0063092808
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
The beloved New York Times bestselling author reflects on home, family, friendships and writing in this deeply personal collection of essays. "The elegance of Patchett’s prose is seductive and inviting: with Patchett as a guide, readers will really get to grips with the power of struggles, failures, and triumphs alike." —Publisher's Weekly “Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart. At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores “what it means to be seen, to find someone with whom you can be your best and most complete self.” When Patchett chose an early galley of actor and producer Tom Hanks’ short story collection to read one night before bed, she had no idea that this single choice would be life changing. It would introduce her to a remarkable woman—Tom’s brilliant assistant Sooki—with whom she would form a profound bond that held monumental consequences for them both. A literary alchemist, Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: engaging and moving pieces that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight. Turning her writer’s eye on her own experiences, she transforms the private into the universal, providing us all a way to look at our own worlds anew, and reminds how fleeting and enigmatic life can be. From the enchantments of Kate DiCamillo’s children’s books (author of The Beatryce Prophecy) to youthful memories of Paris; the cherished life gifts given by her three fathers to the unexpected influence of Charles Schultz’s Snoopy; the expansive vision of Eudora Welty to the importance of knitting, Patchett connects life and art as she illuminates what matters most. Infused with the author’s grace, wit, and warmth, the pieces in These Precious Days resonate deep in the soul, leaving an indelible mark—and demonstrate why Ann Patchett is one of the most celebrated writers of our time.

These Precious Days

These Precious Days PDF Author: Ann Patchett
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0063092808
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book Here

Book Description
The beloved New York Times bestselling author reflects on home, family, friendships and writing in this deeply personal collection of essays. "The elegance of Patchett’s prose is seductive and inviting: with Patchett as a guide, readers will really get to grips with the power of struggles, failures, and triumphs alike." —Publisher's Weekly “Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart. At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores “what it means to be seen, to find someone with whom you can be your best and most complete self.” When Patchett chose an early galley of actor and producer Tom Hanks’ short story collection to read one night before bed, she had no idea that this single choice would be life changing. It would introduce her to a remarkable woman—Tom’s brilliant assistant Sooki—with whom she would form a profound bond that held monumental consequences for them both. A literary alchemist, Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: engaging and moving pieces that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight. Turning her writer’s eye on her own experiences, she transforms the private into the universal, providing us all a way to look at our own worlds anew, and reminds how fleeting and enigmatic life can be. From the enchantments of Kate DiCamillo’s children’s books (author of The Beatryce Prophecy) to youthful memories of Paris; the cherished life gifts given by her three fathers to the unexpected influence of Charles Schultz’s Snoopy; the expansive vision of Eudora Welty to the importance of knitting, Patchett connects life and art as she illuminates what matters most. Infused with the author’s grace, wit, and warmth, the pieces in These Precious Days resonate deep in the soul, leaving an indelible mark—and demonstrate why Ann Patchett is one of the most celebrated writers of our time.

First Ask Why

First Ask Why PDF Author: Shelly Wildman
Publisher: Kregel Publications
ISBN: 0825444861
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
It's no secret that parenting is tricky business. With advice flooding in from all sides, strong-willed children pushing against boundaries, and our own human flaws, it's easy to get bogged down in every how-to that we're not doing well. But maybe that isn't the right approach. Maybe the first step is not to ask "how" but to ask "why." Like most parents, when Shelly Wildman had children, she consulted books, sermons, and lectures on how to raise the best children possible. Yet every resource focused on how to get external results: children who behave the way others expected them to. For Shelly and her husband, the turning point happened when they started asking why instead--shifting their focus to internal change. That's when their purpose as parents became clear: parents are called to do their best to show kids how to know and love Jesus, to love others, and to make a difference in the world. There are no rules here, no inflexible series of steps that lead to perfect parenting. Instead, Shelly encourages parents to think about their unique family and why each child's needs for spiritual growth might look different. She walks you through intentional questioning, focusing on building a firm foundation for lasting discipleship. And in the end, you'll discover that God wants the same outcome you do: a child who knows Christ intimately, loves him deeply, and has a heart to serve him fully.

Journey Through Fire and Ice

Journey Through Fire and Ice PDF Author: Deanne Burch
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781949642599
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
At the age of twenty-three, Deanne Burch accompanied her husband, Ernest "Tiger" Burch to the Inuit village of Kivalina, Alaska, a barrier island 23 miles above the Arctic Circle. Tiger was conducting a participant study of the natives, whereas Deanne was a city girl - ethnocentric, naïve, and completely unprepared for the journey she was about to embark on. In Kivalina, she lived on the edge of two worlds - the one she left behind and the one where she reluctantly participated in all aspects of the women's lives. Skinning seals, cleaning and drying fish, cutting beluga and caribou to store became her way of life. Plumbing, running water and electricity were not available. Loneliness was a constant companion, although she tried to be accepted by the Inuit women who were suspicious of all white women. Gradually Deanne adapted to living in a culture she knew nothing about. The midnight sun was followed by relentless darkness and brutal weather. With this came a journey into the unknown. First was a fateful camping trip where they nearly lost their lives, followed six days later by a fire in their house, an event that left Tiger badly burned. During the three months Tiger spent in the hospital, his only wish was to return to Kivalina and finish what he had started. Despite horrific burns on his face and hands and seared lungs from which he never recuperated, Tiger and Deanne returned to the village to complete the study. Instead of believing in fairy tales and happy endings, Deanne became a woman of strength ready to face the next challenge. Over fifty years later she remembers the young girl who left on an unknown journey. A journey that will live in her heart forever.

Before I Say Goodbye

Before I Say Goodbye PDF Author: Ruth Picardie
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780805066128
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
A collection of essays, letters, and personal recollections in which Ruth Picardie records her feelings in the year before she died of breast cancer.

Spoken From the Heart

Spoken From the Heart PDF Author: Laura Bush
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1847378994
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
In a captivating and compelling voice that ranks with many of our greatest memoirists, Laura Bush tells the story of her unique path from dusty Midland, Texas to the world stage and the White House. An only child, Laura Welch grew up in a family that lost three babies to miscarriage or infant death. She masterfully recreates the rugged, oil boom-and-bust culture of Midland, her close relationship with her father, and the bonds of early friendships that she retains to this day. For the first time, in heart-wrenching detail, she writes about her tragic car accident that left her friend Mike Douglas dead. Laura Welch attended Southern Methodist University in an era on the cusp of monumental change. After graduating, she became an elementary school teacher, working in inner city schools, then trained as a librarian. At age thirty, she met George W. Bush, whom she had last passed in the hallway in seventh grade. Three months later, 'the old maid of Midland married Midland's most eligible bachelor'. As First Lady of Texas, Laura Bush championed education and launched the Texas Book Festival, passions she brought to the White House. Here, she captures presidential life in the frantic and fearful months after 9-11, when fighter jet cover echoed through the walls. She writes openly about the threats, the withering media spotlight, and the transformation of her role. One of the first U.S. officials to visit war-torn Afghanistan, she reached out to disease-stricken African nations and tirelessly advocated for women in the Middle East and dissidents in Burma. With deft humor and a sharp eye, Laura Bush lifts the curtain on what really happens inside the White House. And she writes with honesty and eloquence about her family, political life, and her eight remarkable Washington years. Laura Bush's compassion, her sense of humour, her grace, and her uncommon willingness to bare her heart make this story deeply revelatory, beautifully rendered, and unlike any other First Lady's memoir ever written.

Together in a Sudden Strangeness

Together in a Sudden Strangeness PDF Author: Alice Quinn
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0593318722
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
In this urgent outpouring of American voices, our poets speak to us as they shelter in place, addressing our collective fear, grief, and hope from eloquent and diverse individual perspectives. “One of the best books of poetry of the year . . . Quinn has accomplished something dizzying here: arranged a stellar cast of poets . . . It is what all anthologies must be: comprehensive, contradictory, stirring.” —The Millions **Featuring 107 poets, from A to Z—Julia Alvarez to Matthew Zapruder—with work in between by Jericho Brown, Billy Collins, Fanny Howe, Ada Limón, Sharon Olds, Tommy Orange, Claudia Rankine, Vijay Seshadri, and Jeffrey Yang** As the novel coronavirus and its devastating effects began to spread in the United States and around the world, Alice Quinn reached out to poets across the country to see if, and what, they were writing under quarantine. Moved and galvanized by the response, the onetime New Yorker poetry editor and recent former director of the Poetry Society of America began collecting the poems arriving in her inbox, assembling this various, intimate, and intricate portrait of our suddenly altered reality. In these pages, we find poets grieving for relatives they are separated from or recovering from illness themselves, attending to suddenly complicated household tasks or turning to literature for strength, considering the bravery of medical workers or working their own shifts at the hospital, and, as the Black Lives Matter movement has swept the globe, reflecting on the inequities in our society that amplify sorrow and demand our engagement. From fierce and resilient to wistful, darkly humorous, and emblematically reverent about the earth and the vulnerability of human beings in frightening times, the poems in this collection find the words to describe what can feel unspeakably difficult and strange, providing wisdom, companionship, and depths of feeling that enliven our spirits. A portion of the advance for this book was generously donated by Alice Quinn and the poets to Chefs for America, an organization helping feed communities in need across the country during the pandemic.

Memoir of a Debulked Woman: Enduring Ovarian Cancer

Memoir of a Debulked Woman: Enduring Ovarian Cancer PDF Author: Susan Gubar
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393084280
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
A 2012 New York Times Book Review Notable Book "Staggering, searing…Ms. Gubar deserves the highest admiration for her bravery and honesty." —New York Times Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2008, Susan Gubar underwent radical debulking surgery, an attempt to excise the cancer by removing part or all of many organs in the lower abdomen. Her memoir mines the deepest levels of anguish and devotion as she struggles to come to terms with her body’s betrayal and the frightful protocols of contemporary medicine. She finds solace in the abiding love of her husband, children, and friends while she searches for understanding in works of literature, visual art, and the testimonies of others who suffer with various forms of cancer. Ovarian cancer remains an incurable disease for most of those diagnosed, even those lucky enough to find caring and skilled physicians. Memoir of a Debulked Woman is both a polemic against the ineffectual and injurious medical responses to which thousands of women are subjected and a meditation on the gifts of companionship, art, and literature that sustain people in need.

Eat Up!

Eat Up! PDF Author: Ruby Tandoh
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0593466845
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
In this bestselling tour de force of a culinary manifesto, Great British Bake Off alum and former Guardian columnist Ruby Tandoh will help you fall back in love with food—from a great selection of recipes to straight-talking, sympathetic advice on mental health and body image “I read it greedily.” —Nigella Lawson Ruby Tandoh implores us to enjoy and appreciate food in all of its many forms. Food is, after all, what nourishes our bodies, helps us commemorate important milestones, cheers us up when we're down, expands our minds, and connects us with the people we love. But too often, it’s a source of anxiety and unhappiness. With Eat Up!, Tandoh celebrates one of life’s greatest pleasures, drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as Julia Child to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, flavor memories to jellied eels. She takes on the wellness industry and fad diets, and rejects the snobbery surrounding “good” and “bad” food, in wide-ranging essays that will reshape the way you think about eating.

Betting on You

Betting on You PDF Author: Laurie Ruettimann
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 1250269792
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
"Indispensable reading for anyone seeking to improve their professional selves." —Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of When An essential guide for how to snap out of autopilot and become your own best advocate, with candid anecdotes and easy-to-adopt steps, from veteran HR specialist and popular podcast host Laurie Ruettimann Chances are you've spent the past few months cooped up inside, buried under a relentless news cycle and work that never seems to switch off. Millions of us worldwide are overworked, exhausted, and trying our hardest—yet not getting the recognition we deserve. It’s time for a fix. Top career coach and HR consultant Laurie Ruettimann knows firsthand that work can get a hell of a lot better. A decade ago, Ruettimann was uninspired, blaming others and herself for the unhappiness she felt. Until she had an epiphany: if she wanted a fulfilling existence, she couldn’t sit around and wait for change. She had to be her own leader. She had to truly take ahold of life—the good, the bad, and the downright ugly—in order to transform her future. Today, as businesses prioritize their bottom line over employee satisfaction and workers become increasingly isolated, the need to safeguard your well-being is crucial. And though this sounds intimidating, it’s easier to do than you think. Through tactical advice on how to approach work in a smart and healthy manner, which includes knowing when to sign off for the day, doubling down on our capacity to learn, fixing those finances, and beating impostor syndrome once and for all, Ruettimann lays out the framework necessary to champion your interests and create a life you actually enjoy. Packed with advice and stories of others who regained control of their lives, Betting on You is a game-changing must-read for how to radically improve your day-to-day, working more effectively and enthusiastically starting now.

Spin with Me

Spin with Me PDF Author: Ami Polonsky
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ISBN: 0374313490
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
From the author of the critically acclaimed Gracefully Grayson comes a thoughtful and sensitive middle-grade novel about non-binary identity and first love, Ami Polonsky's Spin with Me. In this elegant dual narrative, Essie is a thirteen-year-old girl feeling glum about starting a new school after her professor dad takes a temporary teaching position in a different town. She has 110 days here and can't wait for them to end. Then she meets Ollie, who is nonbinary. Ollie has beautiful blue eyes and a confident smile. Soon, Essie isn’t counting down the days until she can leave so much as she’s dreading when her time with Ollie will come to an end. Meanwhile, Ollie is experiencing a crush of their own . . . on Essie. As Ollie struggles to balance their passion for queer advocacy with their other interests, they slowly find themselves falling for a girl whose stay is about to come to an end. Can the two unwind their merry-go-round of feelings before it's too late?