Other books that might interest you

• 

  Slow Road to San Francisco -...

  David Reynolds

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Travel with David Reynolds as he sets off to explore route US Route 50, one of the few remaining two-lane highways running right across the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific.  Driving as slowly as safety permits, stopping frequently and often going backwards to have a second look at something glimpsed in passing, Reynolds talks to people on the streets, in bars and cafes, motels and gas stations. They talk about everything from cannabis in Colorado to slavery, from Aaron Burr to Marilyn Monroe via Truman Capote, and everyone has something to say about Donald Trump. Beautifully observed, with candour, insight and humour, this is a vivid and timely portrait of small-town USA as we head towards the US elections.

  Show book

• 

  Emily Brontë - A Biography

  Agnes Mary Frances Robinson

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  “Only Jane Austen did it and Emily Brontë. ... 
   
  “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” ... 
   
  “Do I want to live?.. Would you like to live with your soul in the grave?” 
   
  Emily Brontë (1818-1848) is best known for her only novel, "Wuthering Heights." She was born in Yorkshire, northern England, where her father was an Anglican curate. When Brontë was three years old her mother died of cancer. At the age of six, she joined her three sisters briefly at the Clergy Daughters' School, where privations and abuse contributed to the deaths of two of them. Her elder sister, Charlotte, immortalized this terrible place in "Jane Eyre." In 1846 Emily Brontë, under the pseudonym, Ellis Bell published a selection of her poetry. In 1847 appeared her dark, gothic novel, "Wuthering Heights," with its Byronic anti-hero, Heathcliff. Brontë was shy, even reclusive, and never married. In the fall of 1848, she fell ill with inflammation of the lungs, probably due to rapidly-progressive tuberculosis, and died in December of that year, aged twenty-nine. This is a short biography of Brontë written by the British poet, novelist, and critic, Agnes Mary Frances Robinson 

  Show book

• 

  Worst President Ever - James...

  Robert Strauss

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Worst. President. Ever. flips the great presidential biography on its head, offering an enlightening—and highly entertaining—account of poor James Buchanan's presidency to prove once and for all that, well, few leaders could have done worse. 
   
   
   
  But author Robert Strauss does much more, leading listeners out of Buchanan's terrible term in office—meddling in the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, exacerbating the Panic of 1857, helping foment the John Brown uprisings and "Bloody Kansas," virtually inviting a half-dozen states to secede from the Union as a lame duck, and on and on—to explore with insight and humor his own obsession with presidents, and ultimately the entire notion of ranking our presidents. He guides us through the POTUS rating game of historians and others who have made their own Mount Rushmores—or Marianas Trenches—of presidential achievement, showing why Buchanan easily loses to any of the others, but also offering insights into presidential history buffs like himself, the forgotten "lesser" presidential sites, sex and the presidency, the presidency itself, and how and why it can often take the best measures out of even the most dedicated men.

  Show book

• 

  The Time Machine

  Donald Davis

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  When Donald Davis walked into his 45th high-school reunion, he had two startling visions. The first was that the only signage he saw read, WELCOME HARLEY RIDERS. 
  After discovering that he and his classmates would be sharing space with the bikers, Davis had his second surprise: "I was amazed to see how many parents had come."
   
  In The Time Machine, Davis offers us both the story of the reunion and the collectively remembered story of his classmates' senior year. In 1962, Waynesville, North Carolina, was that small town where the school principal also served as a teacher, the football coach, and the Sunday-school superintendent. One classmate spends his time in the bar wishing for a time machine, so he can go back to his teenage years with his accumulated experience.

  Show book

• 

  Jimi and Me - The Experience of...

  Jonathan Stathakis, Chris Epting

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  In 1969, a twenty-something screenwriter with one movie credit to his name is approached by Jimi Hendrix's management after the legendary guitarist saw the obscure indie film in London and wanted to collaborate on a project of his own. Jonathan Stathakis had no idea how thrilling the next eighteen months would be, as he and Hendrix formed not just a working partnership but a unique friendship. Hendrix ushered Jonathan into his world, where plenty of sex and drugs surrounded the rock 'n' roll. From Woodstock to Electric Ladyland, Jonathan leads listeners inside one of the craziest trips ever taken in music history. 
   
   
   
  While writing their script, Jonathan and Hendrix talked about life and where their roads were leading. Hendrix the performer was a flamboyant unpredictable force of nature. But Hendrix the friend was a thoughtful, frustrated, dedicated artist who oftentimes just needed somebody to talk to. Sadly, Hendrix's journey ended far too soon, and his last phone call to Jonathan—just two days before his death in London—almost seemed to foretell his fate. 
   
   
   
  With many never-before-told stories, Jimi Hendrix comes back to life as you've never experienced him before. Backstage, on stage, and everyplace in between, get ready to ride through the purple haze and experience one of the most creative and powerful cultural eras in history.

  Show book

• 

  Latest Readings

  Clive James

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  “[A] collection of Clive James’s essays on a variety of literary topics . . . This is sanity, humor and acuity in the face of death” (The Wall Street Journal).   In 2010, Clive James was diagnosed with terminal leukemia. Deciding that “if you don’t know the exact moment when the lights will go out, you might as well read until they do,” James moved his library to his Cambridge house, where he would “live, read, and perhaps even write.” James is the award-winning author of dozens of works of literary criticism, poetry, and history, and this volume contains his reflections on what may well be his last reading list. A look at some of James’s old favorites as well as some of his recent discoveries, this book also offers a revealing look at the author himself, sharing his evocative musings on literature and family, and on living and dying.   As thoughtful and erudite as the works of Alberto Manguel, and as moving and inspiring as Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture and Will Schwalbe’s The End of Your Life Book Club, this valediction to James’s lifelong engagement with the written word is a captivating valentine from one of the great literary minds of our time.   “These essays and poems are death-haunted but radiant with the felt experience of what it means to be alive, even when mortally sick, especially when mortally sick.” —Financial Times   “Latest Readings is a plain demonstration that Mr. James remains as learned and as funny as any critic on earth.” —The New York Times

  Show book