Written with the indelible power of Girl, Interrupted, Brain on Fire, and Reasons to Stay Alive, a lyrical, poignant memoir by a young woman about her childhood battle with debilitating obsessive compulsive disorder, and her hard-won journey to recovery.By the age of thirteen, Lily Bailey was convinced she was bad. She had killed someone with a thought, spread untold disease, and ogled the bodies of other children. Only by performing an exhausting series of secret routines could she make up for what she'd done. But no matter how intricate or repetitive, no act of penance was ever enough.Beautifully written and astonishingly intimate, Because We Are Bad recounts a childhood consumed by obsessive compulsive disorder. As a child, Bailey created a second personality inside herself—"I" became "we"—to help manifest compulsions that drove every minute of every day of her young life. Now she writes about the forces beneath her skin, and how they ordered,... Views: 64
(Chronicles of Kastania Book 1)The Kastanian Empire had stood for a thousand years. A decade of civil war and corrupt leadership has reduced it to a shadow of its former self. Beset by enemies beyond its shrinking borders and from competing factions within, it seems the end is near. One man, though, believes the empire can be saved. Astiras Koros, general and governor of a province wracked with rebellion, seizes power and in so doing propels his family to the imperial throne. Astiras will have to display all his strength and courage to keep his dreams alive, for not only will he have to crush the rebellion in the province of Bragal, he will also have to purge the ruling elite of all opposition. It will not be an easy task, for many of his enemies are influential people, some of whom are very close to the throne itself. He will also be forced to send his eldest son and only daughter on hazardous missions, tasks that will test both to their limits as well as avoid the killers on each of their trails. Isbel, Astiras’ wife, is left to cope alone with establishing the new Court in the face of rival interests, while her husband campaigns. Argan, the younger son of Astiras, is thrown into the strange world of intrigue and conflict at the royal court, and the four year old has to try to adapt to his new surroundings, and the dangers that holds.** Views: 64
*Most twentysomethings spend a lot of time avoiding awkwardness.Not Alexandra Petri.*Afraid of rejection? Alexandra Petri has auditioned for America’s Next Top Model. Afraid of looking like an idiot? Alexandra Petri lostJeopardy! by answering “Who is that dude?” on national TV. Afraid of bad jokes? Alexandra Petri won an international pun championship.Petri has been a debutante, reenacted the Civil War, and fended off suitors at a Star Warsconvention while wearing a Jabba the Hutt suit. One time, she let some cult members she met on the street baptize her, just to be polite. She’s a connoisseur of the kind of awkwardness that most people spend whole lifetimes trying to avoid. If John Hodgman and Amy Sedaris had a baby…they would never let Petri babysit it.But Petri is here to tell you: Everything you fear is not so bad. Trust her. She’s tried it. And in the course of her misadventures, she’s learned that there are worse things out there than awkwardness—and that interesting things start to happen when you stop caring what people think. Views: 64
At the heart of the galaxy-spanning tyrannical Empire lies Golgotha, the planet of the Iron Throne. Once it was impregnable. Now . . . the Iron Bitch may have made a fatal mistake. In outlawing Owen Deathstalker, she has awakened a lust for revenge in a quite man - and unwittingly created a focus for a galaxy full of hatred for her loathsome rule. At last the espers and clones, the AIs and the freak, the innocent and the damned have someone to lead them in rebellion . . . Views: 64
Founding member and guitarist of Joy Division and the lead singer of New Order, Bernard Sumner has been famous over the years for his reticence. Until now… An integral part of the Manchester music scene since the late 1970s, his is the definitive version of the events that created two of the most influential bands of all time. Chapter and Verse includes a vivid and illuminating account of Bernard’s Salford childhood, the early days of Joy Division, the band’s enormous critical and popular success, and the subsequent tragic death of Ian Curtis. Bernard describes the formation of New Order, takes us behind the scenes at the birth of classics such as 'Blue Monday' and gives his first-hand account of the ecstasy and the agony of the Haçienda days.Sometimes moving, often hilarious and occasionally completely out of control, this is a tale populated by some of the most colourful and creative characters in music history, such as Ian Curtis, Tony Wilson, Rob Gretton and Martin Hannett. Others have told parts of the story, in film and book form. Now, for the first time, Bernard Sumner gives you chapter and verse. Views: 64
Written with the indelible power of Girl, Interrupted, Brain on Fire, and Reasons to Stay Alive, a lyrical, poignant memoir by a young woman about her childhood battle with debilitating obsessive compulsive disorder, and her hard-won journey to recovery.By the age of thirteen, Lily Bailey was convinced she was bad. She had killed someone with a thought, spread untold disease, and ogled the bodies of other children. Only by performing an exhausting series of secret routines could she make up for what she'd done. But no matter how intricate or repetitive, no act of penance was ever enough.Beautifully written and astonishingly intimate, Because We Are Bad recounts a childhood consumed by obsessive compulsive disorder. As a child, Bailey created a second personality inside herself—"I" became "we"—to help manifest compulsions that drove every minute of every day of her young life. Now she writes about the forces beneath her skin, and how they ordered,... Views: 63
In a narrative that flows like a late-night confession, Bibish recounts her story... Born into an impoverished family in a deeply religious village, Bibish was named 'Hadjarbibi' in honour of her grandfather's hadj, his pilgrimage to Mecca. But her holy name could not protect her when, at the age of eight, she was brutally abused, and left for dead in the desert. Bibish's tenacity helped her survive the attack - she instinctively knew to keep her experience a secret rather than risk further punishment. But soon her love for dancing - prohibited by Islamic custom - resulted in her being beaten, victimized, and ostracized from her family and her community. Despite all this, Bibish secretly cultivated her own dreams of freedom - of dancing, of raising a family, and of escaping to tell her story to the world. The Dancer from Khiva is testament to Bibish's extraordinary resilience and spirit: the harrowing and ultimately inspiring story of a woman who risked everything. Views: 63
In June of 1961, A.E. Hotchner visited an old friend in the psychiatric ward of St. Mary's Hospital. It would be the last time they spoke-a few weeks later, Ernest Hemingway was released home, where he took his own life. Their final conversation was also the final installment in a story whose telling Hemingway had spread over more than a decade. In characteristically pragmatic terms, Hemingway revealed to Hotchner the details of the affair that destroyed his first marriage: the truth of his romantic life in Paris and how he lost Hadley, the true part of each literary woman he'd later create and the great love he spent the rest of his life seeking. And he told of the mischief that made him a legend: of impotence cured in a house of God; of a plane crash in the African bush, from which Hemingway stumbled with a bunch of bananas and a bottle of gin in hand; of F. Scott Fitzgerald dispensing romantic advice and champagne in the buff with Josephine Baker; of adventure,... Views: 63
A "gorgeous" (New York Times) memoir that braids the evolution of one of America's most iconic branding campaigns with the stirring tales of the women who lived behind its facade - told by the inheritor of their stories.One of People Magazine's Best Books of Summer An Amazon Best Book of the MonthAn Indie Next PickA Real Simple Best Book of 2018In 1899, Allie Rowbottom's great-great-great-uncle bought the patent to Jell-O from its inventor for $450. The sale would turn out to be one of the most profitable business deals in American history, and the generations that followed enjoyed immense privilege - but they were also haunted by suicides, cancer, alcoholism, and mysterious ailments. More than 100 years after that deal was struck, Allie's mother Mary was diagnosed with the same incurable cancer, a disease that had also claimed her own mother's life. Determined to combat what she had come to consider the "Jell-O curse"... Views: 63
