Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
I want to read the book!
All characters reduced
The Pleasure of Their Company - A Memoir - cover

The Pleasure of Their Company - A Memoir

Doris Grumbach

Publisher: Open Road Media

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

A literary master looks ahead to her eighties As her eightieth birthday approaches, Doris Grumbach does not feel melancholy or saddened by the upcoming event, despite the loss of friends such as Kay Boyle and Dorothy Day—instead she takes it as an opportunity both to look backward and to grow. In this, her summer of unexpected content, Grumbach weaves the elegiac and the practical into a delightful tapestry of experience.   She looks deep into her own history, telling stories of her life in the hardscrabble New York of the 1940s, working as a copyeditor. She details her near encounter with a seventy-two-year-old Bertrand Russell, calling it the closest she has ever come to sleeping with a Nobel Laureate. Grumbach lets us into her life and introduces us to the characters that have peopled her nearly eight decades on Earth. As the fateful day of her celebration draws near, the main topic on Doris Grumbach’s mind is not herself; it’s her guests.  The Pleasure of Their Company is a meticulously planned party that any reader would be honored to attend.
Available since: 12/02/2014.
Print length: 122 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • Scottish by Inclination - cover

    Scottish by Inclination

    Barbara Henderson

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    'Gradually I forgot I was a foreigner.'
Barbara Henderson has been Scottish by inclination for 30 years. She fell in love with Scotland and its people when she left Germany at the age of 19. Now a children's author, storyteller and teacher in the Highlands, she gives us a lively glimpse of Scotland through the eyes of an EU immigrant – from her first ceilidh to Brexit and the choppy seas of citizenship.
Scottish by Inclination also celebrates the varied contributions of 30 remarkable Europeans – beer brewers, entrepreneurs, academics, artists and activists – who have chosen to call Scotland home.
'All voices matter and deserve to belong.
Belonging is more than a privilege.
Belonging, I am now convinced, can be a choice.'
    Show book
  • Contemporary Legends U2 & Sting - The Hidden History - cover

    Contemporary Legends U2 & Sting...

    Geoffrey Giuliano

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    In this dynamic, hard-hitting audiobook, music biographer Geoffrey Giuliano examines the turbulent life and times of contemporary legends U2 and Sting. With an in-depth, insightful narration by the author, as well as rare archival, unheard interviews - here is the perfect collection celebrating the great U2 and Sting for every dedicated fan, music historian, the media, as well as all school, library, institutional, and university collections. An ultra-rare, exciting audio biography!  Geoffrey Giuliano is the author of 32 popular international best-selling biographies on the Beatles and other iconic rock groups of the 1960s. He is also a well-known Hollywood screenwriter, the voice on more than 500 popular audiobooks, as well as an actor in some 25 classic films.   Series producer Avalon Giuliano based in New York. Produced by Alex Franchi in Milan. Edited and mixed by Macc Kay in Bangkok. ICON intern Eden Giuliano. Music by AudioNautix.
    Show book
  • Growing Up Torres Strait Islander in Australia - cover

    Growing Up Torres Strait...

    Samantha Faulkner

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    A journey through Torres Strait Islander culture and identity, past and present 
 
"My people are expert navigators, adventurers, innovators, ambassadors, teachers, storytellers, performers, strategists, chefs and advocates for change. The blood runs deep when I reflect on the past and the present and imagine what our future might look like." —Leilani Bin-Juda 
 
What makes Zenadth Kes/Torres Strait unique? And what is it like to be a Torres Strait Islander in contemporary Australia? Growing Up Torres Strait Islander in Australia, compiled by poet and author Samantha Faulkner, showcases the distinct identity of Torres Strait Islanders through their diverse voices and journeys. 
 
Hear from emerging and established writers from both today and the recent past, including Eddie Mabo, Thomas Mayo, Aaron Fa'Aoso, Jimi Bani, Ellie Gaffney, Jillian Boyd-Bowie and Lenora Thaker. These and many more storytellers, mentors, traditional owners, doctors and teachers from the Torres Strait share their joy, culture, good eating, lessons learned and love of family, language and Country. 
 
Discover stories of going dugong hunting and eating mango marinated in soy sauce. The smell of sugar cane and frangipani-scented sea breeze. Family, grandmothers and canoe time. Dancing, singing, weaving hats and making furniture from bamboo. Training as a doctor and advocating for healthcare for the Torres Strait. The loneliness of being caught between two cultures. Mission life, disconnection and being evacuated to the mainland during World War II. "Is that really your mum? Why is she black?". Not being Islander enough. Working hard to reconnect to your roots, and claiming back land and culture. 
 
A book to treasure and share, this groundbreaking collection provides a unique perspective on the Torres Strait Islander experience. 
 
With contributions by: Ellen Armstrong, Tetei Bakic, Jimi Bani, Leilani Bin-Juda, Jillian Boyd-Bowie, Tahlia Bowie, Aaliyah Jade Bradbury, John Doolah, Donisha Duff, Aaron Fa'Aoso with Michelle Scott Tucker, Ellie Gaffney, Velma Gara, Jaqui Hughes, Adam Lees, Rhett Loban, Thomas Lowah, Edward Koiki Mabo with Noel Loos, Thomas Mayo, Lenora Thaker, Sorren Thomas, Ina Titasey as told to Catherine Titasey, Lockeah Wapau and Daniella Williams.
    Show book
  • A Country of Vast Designs - James K Polk the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent - cover

    A Country of Vast Designs -...

    Robert W. Merry

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    When James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, the United States was locked in a bitter diplomatic struggle with Britain over the rich lands of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Texas, not yet part of the Union, was threatened by a more powerful Mexico. And the territories north and west of Texas—what would become California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado—belonged to Mexico. When Polk relinquished office four years later, the country had grown by more than a third as all these lands were added. The continental United States as we know it today was established—facing two oceans and positioned to dominate both.In a one-term presidency, Polk completed the story of America's Manifest Destiny—extending its territory across the continent, from sea to sea, by threatening England and manufacturing a controversial and unpopular two-year war with Mexico that Abraham Lincoln, in Congress at the time, opposed as preemptive.Robert W. Merry tells this story through powerful debates and towering figures—the outgoing President John Tyler and Polk's great mentor, Andrew Jackson; his defeated Whig opponent, Henry Clay; two famous generals, Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott; Secretary of State James Buchanan (who would precede Lincoln as president); Senate giants Thomas Hart Benton and Lewis Cass; Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun; and ex-president Martin Van Buren, like Polk a Jackson protégé but now a Polk rival.This was a time of tremendous clashing forces. A surging antislavery sentiment was at the center of the territorial fight. The struggle between a slave-owning South and an opposing North was leading inexorably to Civil War. In a gripping narrative, Merry illuminates a crucial epoch in U.S. history.
    Show book
  • Love in a Time of Hate - The Story of Magda and André Trocmé and the Village That Said No to the Nazis - cover

    Love in a Time of Hate - The...

    Hanna Schott

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Love in a Time of Hate tells the gripping tale of Magda and André Trocmé, the couple that transformed a small town in the mountains of southern France into a place of safety during the Holocaust. At great risk to their own lives, the Trocmés led efforts in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon to hide more than three thousand Jewish children and adults who were fleeing the Nazis. In this astonishing story of courage, romance, and resistance, learn what prompted André and Magda to risk everything for the sake of strangers who showed up at their door. Building on the story told in Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, German journalist Hanna Schott portrays a vivid story of resisting evil and sheltering refugees with striking resonance for today.Free downloadable study guide available here.
    Show book
  • (un)Broken - Songs My Father Taught Me - cover

    (un)Broken - Songs My Father...

    Tatiana Cameron

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    In this multimedia memoir, the author uses a unique blend of storytelling, poetry, diary entries, music and photography to write about turning the anxiety of an artist's block into a safe space. This is how she was able to dig deep into the anxiety, and, with the guidance of her therapist, allow each song she records (for an album she wasn't planning to make), to bring her healing but also an unexpected resolution. 
“Tatiana (Tajci) Cameron is a portrait in vulnerability and authenticity. I am overjoyed that she is sharing the fruits of her transformative journey in this multi-media feast of expressive arts! She beautifully shares from the depths of her heart, seamlessly weaving in stories, photographs, songs and deep spiritual reflections. Step in and accept this invitation to dance with Tajci’s loving spirit! I thank Tajci for the gift of her humanity to us all.”  
- Dr. Jamie Marich, clinical trauma specialist, author, expressive artist, The Institute for Creative Mindfulness
    Show book