Hippy Days, Arabian Nights


Book Description

Spanning five decades and as many continents, Hippy Days, Arabian Nights is a funny, moving, and compelling story of a woman whose extraordinary life will never be summarised by the words ‘could have’, ‘might have’, or ‘should have’. Whether it’s following her dreams pursuing what she believes in, or chasing matters of the heart, from the outset Australian artist Katherine Boland has grabbed life by the throat and jumped in feet first. Part One: Hippy Days. One woman’s experience of life in a hippy community that sprang up in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales as part of the counterculture movement––an overlooked and relatively untapped period in Australian modern history. In 1976, Katherine and her boyfriend John, like many idealistic young students of the time, abandon their university studies and leave Melbourne to pursue a sustainable and independent life in the bush. Their earnest quest for a Utopian life in harmony with nature is both hilarious and serious: John finds himself reviving their dying goat with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in the back of a ute while on the way to the vet; and, under the stars, alone in the bush, a pregnant and groaning Katherine goes into labour to the accompaniment of New Year’s Eve fireworks and the sympathetic mooing of a neighbour’s cow. However, as Katherine reveals, even the strongest woman is vulnerable and the noblest of dreams can perish, observing as she does that in many families ‘peace, harmony and mung beans’ can founder on the back of drug addiction with its many consequences including family violence and child neglect. Part Two: Arabian Nights. Prior to the Egyptian revolution in 2010, Katherine receives an invitation from the Egyptian Ministry of Culture to participate in an International Artists’ Symposium. And so begins her next fateful and totally unplanned foray into the unknown: falling head over heels in love (or is it lust!) for an Egyptian journalist 27 years her junior – at first sight. Her ideas and preconceptions about Islam and the Middle East are challenged as her relationship evolves and deepens over the next 6 years.




HIPPY DAYS, ARABIAN NIGHTS


Book Description




North Africa


Book Description

This first guidebook dedicated to the Roman Coast of North Africa--Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya--brings the ruins to life with colorful stories of the characters that lived and died within their walls. It also covers contemporary attractions, appealing to both ruin-seeker and beach-lover alike.




How To Recover From Open Heart Surgery


Book Description

Step inside the mind of 'Ben', an open heart surgery patient, as he takes the journey from initial diagnosis through lying on the slab, his heart literally in somebody else’s hands, and the subsequent roller-coaster of emotions as he seeks 'recovery'. Share his hopes, expectations, frustrations, joy, laughter, camaraderie and loneliness as he takes the journey. Written for the hundreds of thousands of people who will find themselves in a similar position each year. You are not alone. After the initial shock of being told that he needed open heart surgery, his thoughts quickly turned to practical matters. He was self-employed and so lived by the “No show, no dough” edict. Not working could quickly have repercussions that he needed to plan for. He wanted to be able to give people who would be affected some sort of an idea of what to expect while he recovered. And recover he would. He had no doubt about that. When you have an idea of what to expect, you can handle adversity a whole lot more effectively. All he needed was to have general guidelines to three simple questions: - What should he expect? - What could he do to speed up a recovery? - And how long was he really likely to be out of action for? He expected standard answers to be readily available. The success rate was encouragingly high – way over ninety per cent - and it was performed hundreds of thousands of times a year around the globe. It would be bizarre if there wasn’t a well-established set of standards by now. But there wasn’t. Or at least there wasn’t one he could find, no matter how hard he looked. And the more he looked and asked for it, the more vague was the answer. “It’s complicated. It depends.” Feedback from readers and reviewers include heart-warming comments about how the story has helped to explain events affecting loved ones that they were ‘protected’ from when they were small children. "This book is brilliant. It takes you through so many emotions and you get a real insight into not only how the patient feels but also what the family goes through during times like this. Suitable for people before an op, post op as well as friends and family going through this ordeal, but also a great read in general! The emotions hit hard in some places, but at the same time provides a lot of entertainment! A must read for everyone!!" “This will be immensely reassuring to anyone going through this experience.” “Enthralling. I didn’t want to put it down. Everyone knows somebody who has had similar fears.” “Hugely encouraging and enlightening.” “Great to highlight this, so other families will know what to expect.” “Breaks down so many unknowns” “I was hooked after the first few pages” “I do believe this would help enormously” “As a story I was eager to find out what lay ahead in the journey; as an education I was keen to get a better understanding to the whole experience, and having read it I feel like I would have so much more empathy / be more effective” “Read it right through in one sitting” “I'm not too proud to admit that I shed a tear reading it”




The Ruins of Us


Book Description

More than two decades after moving to Saudi Arabia and marrying powerful Abdullah Baylani, American-born Rosalie learns that her husband has taken a second wife. That discovery plunges their family into chaos as Rosalie grapples with leaving Saudi Arabia, her life, and her family behind. Meanwhile, Abdullah and Rosalie’s consuming personal entanglements blind them to the crisis approaching their sixteen-year-old son, Faisal, whose deepening resentment toward their lifestyle has led to his involvement with a controversial sheikh. When Faisal makes a choice that could destroy everything his embattled family holds dear, all must confront difficult truths as they fight to preserve what remains of their world. The Ruins of Us is a timely story about intolerance, family, and the injustices we endure for love that heralds the arrival of an extraordinary new voice in contemporary fiction.




Time Enough for Love


Book Description

The capstone and crowning achievement of the Future History series, from the New York Times bestselling Grand Master of Science Fiction... Time Enough for Love follows Lazarus Long through a vast and magnificent timescape of centuries and worlds. Heinlein's longest and most ambitious work, it is the story of a man so in love with Life that he refused to stop living it; and so in love with Time that he became his own ancestor.




Year of the Monkey


Book Description

From the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids and M Train, a profound, beautifully realized memoir in which dreams and reality are vividly woven into a tapestry of one transformative year. Following a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs--including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, "Anything is possible: after all, it's the Year of the Monkey." For Smith--inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing--the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life's gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America. Smith melds the western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places, this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment set in. But as Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope for a better world. Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith's signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.




Books and Bookmen


Book Description




Castles Made Of Sand


Book Description

The BOLD AS LOVE series is a world of daring, dread and enchantment, a world that could almost be ours: a brilliant combination of myth, magic and pop culture. Ax Preston, Sage Pender and Fiorinda, charismatic leaders of the Rock-n-Roll Reich, have beaten the cascade of disasters that followed the collapse of the former United Kingdom. Now they have to find some resolution to the impossible dynamics of their own relationship, while the world keeps falling apart. There are fearsome things going on in England's rural hinterland, and in Continental Europe the green nazis are planning a final solution to desperate environmental damage. But there's nothing the Triumvirate can't handle - until Fiorinda's father, a monster of the kind the world has never before known, reaches out to reclaim his magical child, the flower-bride. And that's when darkness falls over Ax's England . . . Harrowing . . . enchanting - a dark fairy tale with an epic sweep, set in a world very like our own.




Tasting Grace


Book Description

The winner of The Next Food Network Star season five and New York Times best-selling author of Ten Dollar Dinners shares how God used food to invite her into His love. It wasn't until Melissa d'Arabian evaluated her relationship with food in light of her relationship with God that she began to appreciate food as not only a gift from him but also as a deeper invitation into his love. As she prayed, studied Scripture, and reflected on the stories from her own life, Melissa saw how God had used food to draw her into community, to redeem her moments of greatest tragedy, and ultimately to connect her more to him. In Tasting Grace, Melissa shares sixteen invitations that will transform your perception of food and the role it plays in your own life, from equality to connection to hospitality to stewardship and more. She explains how through her experiences, she learned to trust the ingredients--in recipes and in life--and join God in the act of creation. Whether you are a mom struggling to throw together a healthy meal for your family each night or a single woman longing for fellowship around your table, you will draw encouragement and inspiration from Melissa's reminder that all food, first and foremost, is a gift from God. When you return to him as the source, you will find the freedom to enjoy his beautiful and delicious creation. Advance praise for Tasting Grace “What a beautiful book. Using stories of her own triumphs and pain, Melissa digs past the surface layers of food as we see it on television, in cookbooks, and on social media. Rather, she helps us think about it in a whole new way—as nothing short of a spiritual force, a vessel through which we can experience (and extend) compassion, comfort, fellowship, love, enjoyment, and grace. It has given me a brand-new lens with which to examine the deeper significance of the food I cook, eat, and share.”—Ree Drummond, author of The Pioneer Woman Cooks “The intersection between faith and food is endlessly interesting to me, and Melissa articulates the significance and beauty of that intersection so well. Melissa is a great storyteller, and she invites us into her story and gives us a seat at her table with graciousness and wisdom. This is a lovely, meaningful book.”—Shauna Niequist, New York Times best-selling author of Present Over Perfect and Bread and Wine “This is a beautifully written book. These aren’t just words on pages; they are an invitation to a feast, to hospitality, and to finding lasting purpose in your life. Melissa has set a table fit for a King, pulled our chairs, and reminded us there’s a place for us here. This is a book that will not only feed your imagination but also your soul.” —Bob Goff, author of New York Times bestsellers Love Does and Everybody Always