A passionate look at the history of the most popular sport - football - in the most romantic of countries - Brazil The Brazilian football team is one of the modern wonders of the world. At its best it exudes a skill, flamboyance and romantic pull like nothing else on earth. Football is how the world sees Brazil and how Brazilians see themselves. The game symbolises racial harmony, flamboyance, youth, innovation and skill, and yet football is also a microcosm of Latin America's largest country and contains all of its contradictions. Travelling extensively from the Uruguayan border to the northeastern backlands, from the coastal cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo to the Amazon jungle -Bellos shows how Brazil changed football and how football shaped Brazil. He tells the stories behind the great players, like Pele and Garrincha, between the great teams, like Corinthians and Vasco de Gama, and the great matches, as well as extraordinary stories from people and pitches all over... Views: 44
The acclaimed, award-winning novelist takes us on some of his most memorable journeys in this revelatory collection of travel essays that spans the globe, from the Caribbean to Scotland to the HimalayasNow in his mid-seventies, Russell Banks has indulged his wanderlust for more than half a century. In this compelling anthology, he writes that since childhood he has "longed for escape, for rejuvenation, for wealth untold, for erotic and narcotic and sybaritic fresh starts, for high romance, mystery, and intrigue." The longing for escape has taken him from the "bright green islands and turquoise seas" of the Caribbean islands to peaks in the Himalayas, the Andes, and beyond. In Voyager, Russell Banks, a lifelong explorer, shares highlights from his travels: interviewing Fidel Castro in Cuba; motoring to a hippie reunion with college friends in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; eloping to Edinburgh to marry his fourth wife, Chase; driving a sunset-orange metallic Hummer... Views: 44
"Rick Brant and his pal Scotty discover that there is more to life than just adventure as they team up with Barby and Jan to solve the most remarkable mystery they have ever encountered, the mystery of the Magic Talisman"--P. 4 of cover. Views: 44
For readers of Unbroken and The Boys in the Boat comes an unforgettable tale of courage from America's "forgotten war" in Korea, by the New York Times bestselling author of A Higher Call. Devotion tells the inspirational story of the U.S. Navy's most famous aviator duo: Lieutenant Tom Hudner, a white New Englander from the country-club scene, and Ensign Jesse Brown, an African American sharecropper's son from Mississippi. Tom passed up Harvard to fly fighter planes for his country. Jesse became the navy's first black carrier pilot to defend a nation that wouldn't even serve him in a bar. While much of America remained divided by segregation, Jesse and Tom joined forces as wingmen in Fighter Squadron 32. Adam Makos takes us into the cockpit as these bold young aviators cut their teeth at the world's most dangerous job--landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier--a line of work that Jesse's young wife,... Views: 44
Inthis exquisitely written memoir, poet Patrick Lane describes his raw and tenderemergence at age sixty from a lifetime of alcohol and drug addiction. He spentthe first year of his sobriety close to home, tending his garden, where he casthis mind back over his life, searching for the memories he'd tried to drown invodka. Lane has gardened for as long as he can remember, and his garden's lifehas become inseparable from his own. A new bloom on a plant, a skirmish amongthe birds, the way a tree bends in the wind, and the slow, measured change ofseasons invariably bring to his mind an episode from his eventful past. Whatthe Stones Rememberis the emerging chronicle of Lane's attempt to face those memories, as well ashis new self—to rediscover his life. In this powerful and beautifully writtenbook, Lane offers readers an unflinching and unsentimental account of coming toone's senses in the presence of nature. Views: 44
A clear-sighted revelation, a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the The Looming Tower, the now-classic study of al-Qaeda's 9/11 attack. Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with both current and former Scientologists--both famous and less well known--and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative ability to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology. At the book's center, two men whom Wright brings vividly to life, showing how they have made Scientology what it is today: The darkly brilliant science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, whose restless, expansive mind invented a new religion. And his successor, David Miscavige--tough and driven, with the unenviable task of preserving the church after the death of Hubbard. We learn about Scientology's complicated cosmology and special language. We see the ways in which the church pursues... Views: 44
Peter sets out into the Australian bush on his pony that leaps like lightning to find a princess to rescue from a dragon—something only a brave and good person can attempt. Along the way he meets a trusty companion, a kangaroo with a bottomless pouch, and together they follow the directions of the helpful Willy Willy Man across the landscape. With a trip to the moon with the Pale Witch to sweep it clear of Russian and American cameras, a journey across the Plain of Clutching Grass, a visit to a giant's castle and a battle with the Doubt Cats, Peter's bravery and kindness are put to the test.This humorous and enchanting Australian fairy tale will enthrall readers of all ages.Alan Marshall, born in 1902, was an Australian writer, story teller, humanist and social documenter. Marshall received the Australian Literature Society Short Story Award three times. He died in 1984. Views: 44
A magical concoction of the mischievous, tender, whimsical, and debauched real-life adventures of Alan Cumming, told in his own words and pictures. Described by the New York Times as “a bawdy countercultural sprite” and named one of the most fun people in show business by Time magazine, Alan Cumming is a genuine quadruple threat—an internationally acclaimed, award-winning star of stage, television, and film, as well as a New York Times best-selling author whose real-life vivacity, wit, and charm shine through every page of his third book, You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams. In these forty-five picture essays, Cumming recounts his real-life adventures (and often, misadventures), illustrated by his own equally entertaining photographs. From an awkward bonding session with Elizabeth Taylor to poignant stories about his family and friends to some harsh words of wisdom imparted by Oprah that make up the title of this collection, You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams is as eclectic, enchanting, and alive as its author.
**About the Author
Alan Cumming is the author of two books: Tommy’s Tale: A Novel of Sex, Confusion, and Happy Endings and the #1 New York Times best-selling memoir Not My Father’s Son. He has also had an exhibition of his photographs, Alan Cumming Snaps! His day job is acting, and most recently he was seen on TV as Eli Gold in the CBS drama The Good Wife, on Broadway in his Tony Award–winning role as the Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret, and in concert, touring the world with his cabaret show, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs, which was also released as a live album. Alan is also a loudmouth—sorry, activist—who believes that knowledge is power and equality is a right, not a privilege. To find out every single thing he’ s ever done, visit www.alancumming.com, and to find out what he’s doing on a daily basis follow @alancumming on Twitter and @alancummingsnaps on Instagram. Views: 44
Hailed by The New York Times Book Review as "a gifted observer, able to discern the exact details that bring whole worlds into being" and "a storyteller who could keep a sultan on the edge of his throne for a thousand and one nights," A. S. Byatt writes some of the most engaging and skillful novels of our time. Time magazine calls her "a novelist of dazzling inventiveness." Possession, for which Byatt won England's prestigious Booker Prize, was praised by critics on both sides of the Atlantic when it was first published in 1990. "On academic rivalry and obsession, Byatt is delicious. On the nature of possession--the lover by the beloved, the biographer by his subject--she is profound," said The Sunday Times (London). The New Yorker dubbed it "more fun to read than The Name of the Rose . . . Its prankish verve [and] monstrous richness of detail [make for] a one-woman variety show of literary styles and types." The novel... Views: 44
The characters in Angela Huth's marvellous collection of stories are all winners or losers in the game of love: from the two friends competing in a gruelling cross-country marathon for the man they both wish to marry, to the lonely Cheltenham widow abandoning all decorum after too many Irish Coffees; from a seaside donkey owner giving away his favourite animal for the sake of a pair of sad grey eyes, to the husband taking up secret dancing lessons to please his dance-mad wife.A shrewd observer of human foibles with a fine sense of the comic and absurd, Angela Huth has written a blissfully entertaining, poignant and funny book of stories, which explore the nature and difficulties of love. Views: 44
