My Life, Not Yours


Book Description

As the stage curtains begin to close and you look back on your life, what memories will replay themselves in your mind? What will stick out the most? Each of us has a story to tell, a lifetime of trips and parties, first loves and heart breaks, the joys of birth and the grief of death. Each life creates a beautifully unique tapestry. My Life, Not Yours is the tapestry of one man’s life, from his childhood up until becoming a grandparent, and with those years comes a tremendous amount of wisdom and even more laughs. About the Author James R. Long was born in Bucyrus, Ohio. A veteran of the United States Army, Long received a bachelor’s degree in Education from The Ohio State University and a master’s in Business Administration from Ashland College. He holds both a miliary instructor’s certification and a pilot’s license, and is Airborne and Ranger qualified. Though retired, Long still works as a substitute teacher. Additionally, he has officiated high school basketball for 43 years, is the treasurer of his church, and runs a local golf league. He and his wife Helga have three children together.




Love Your Life Not Theirs


Book Description

In Love Your Life, Not Theirs, Rachel Cruze shines a spotlight on the most damaging money habit we have: comparing ourselves to others. Then she unpacks seven essential money habits for living the life we really want--a life in line with our values, where we can afford the things we want to buy without being buried under debt, stress, and worry. The Joneses are broke. Life looks good, but hidden beneath that glossy exterior are credit card bills, student loans, car payments, and an out-of-control mortgage. Their money situation is a mess, and they're trying to live a life they simply can't afford. So why exactly do we try so hard to keep up with the Joneses? Are we really living the lives we want, or are we chasing someone else's dream, just trying to keep up appearances on social media, at church, and in our community? Why are we letting other people set the pace for our own family's finances? In Love Your Life, Not Theirs, Rachel shows you how to buy and do the things that are important to you--the right way. That starts by choosing to quit the comparisons, reframing the way you think about money, and developing new habits like avoiding debt, living on a plan, watching your spending, saving for the future, having healthy conversations about money, and giving. These habits work, and Rachel is living proof. Now, she wants to empower you to live the life you've always dreamed of without creating the debt, stress, and worry that are all too often part of the deal. Social media isn't real life, and trying to keep up with the Joneses will never get you anywhere. It's time to live--and love--your life, not theirs. "I've never read a book about money that takes this approach--and that's a good thing! Comparison has a way of weaving itself throughout all aspects of our lives, including our money. In Love Your Life, Not Theirs, Rachel Cruze outlines the seven money habits that really matter--and they have nothing to do with keeping up with the Joneses!" Candace Cameron-Bure Actress, author, and co-host of The View "Love Your Life, Not Theirs is full of the kind of practical, straightforward advice we've come to expect from Rachel Cruze. She offers guidance on paying down debt, smart saving, and the right way to talk to your spouse about money. These indispensable tips can help with day-to-day spending decisions and put you on a path to establishing healthy financial habits." Susan Spencer Editor-in-Chief for Woman's Day "Cruze's self-deprecating and honest voice is a great resource for anyone wanting to take charge of their money. With humor and approachability, she helps her readers set themselves up for success and happiness, no matter what current financial state they may be in." Kimberly Williams-Paisley New York Times best-selling author of Where the Light Gets In "In today's world of social media, the temptation to play the comparison game is stronger than ever. Love Your Life, Not Theirs is the perfect reminder that, when it comes to money, comparison is a game you can't win. A terrific--and much needed--read." Jean Chatzky Financial Editor, NBC TODAY and Host of HerMoney with Jean Chatzky Podcast




Writer's Doubt


Book Description

All writers doubt their ability. But Bryan Hutchinson's story shows doubt and fear don't have to define your writing future. In this part-memoir, part kick-in-the-pants, Bryan will show you how to live out your passion, write a book, and become an author, no matter if the so-called "experts" tell you that you can't.




The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt


Book Description

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE AND THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • One of Modern Library’s 100 best nonfiction books of all time • One of Esquire’s 50 best biographies of all time “A towering biography . . . a brilliant chronicle.”—Time This classic biography is the story of seven men—a naturalist, a writer, a lover, a hunter, a ranchman, a soldier, and a politician—who merged at age forty-two to become the youngest President in history. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt begins at the apex of his international prestige. That was on New Year’s Day, 1907, when TR, who had just won the Nobel Peace Prize, threw open the doors of the White House to the American people and shook 8,150 hands. One visitor remarked afterward, “You go to the White House, you shake hands with Roosevelt and hear him talk—and then you go home to wring the personality out of your clothes.” The rest of this book tells the story of TR’s irresistible rise to power. During the years 1858–1901, Theodore Roosevelt transformed himself from a frail, asthmatic boy into a full-blooded man. Fresh out of Harvard, he simultaneously published a distinguished work of naval history and became the fist-swinging leader of a Republican insurgency in the New York State Assembly. He chased thieves across the Badlands of North Dakota with a copy of Anna Karenina in one hand and a Winchester rifle in the other. Married to his childhood sweetheart in 1886, he became the country squire of Sagamore Hill on Long Island, a flamboyant civil service reformer in Washington, D.C., and a night-stalking police commissioner in New York City. As assistant secretary of the navy, he almost single-handedly brought about the Spanish-American War. After leading “Roosevelt’s Rough Riders” in the famous charge up San Juan Hill, Cuba, he returned home a military hero, and was rewarded with the governorship of New York. In what he called his “spare hours” he fathered six children and wrote fourteen books. By 1901, the man Senator Mark Hanna called “that damned cowboy” was vice president. Seven months later, an assassin’s bullet gave TR the national leadership he had always craved. His is a story so prodigal in its variety, so surprising in its turns of fate, that previous biographers have treated it as a series of haphazard episodes. This book, the only full study of TR’s pre-presidential years, shows that he was an inevitable chief executive. “It was as if he were subconsciously aware that he was a man of many selves,” the author writes, “and set about developing each one in turn, knowing that one day he would be President of all the people.”




It's Not Fair


Book Description

Hey, you. Are you debating whether to destroy something with your bare hands or curl up on the couch for a decade or two? This book will solve all of your problems. (Sheesh, that's aiming a bit high.) This book is a cup of hot coffee, a ginormous bar of chocolate, or the magical fairy that comes over and does your dishes while you lie in the fetal position clutching a fluffy pillow. Sometimes when life falls apart the only acceptable response is hysterical laughter. When things get so far gone, so spectacularly a world away from any plans you made or dreams you dreamed, you feel it bubbling up inside of you and you scream, "It's not fair!" And it isn't. Fair is an illusion, and life is weird. This book will help you laugh at life's absurd backhands. This book is an empathetic groan of our collective unfairnesses. You might want to throw it across the room, and you might want to hug it like your new best friend. This book is about us sitting down together in our shared mess, taking a deep breath, gripping hands, looking the hard stuff in its beady little eyeballs, and bahahahaaing at it. Life's not fair, but we can learn to love this life we didn't choose.




Etiquette: The Least You Need to Know


Book Description

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression." Have you ever heard this saying? Before we get a chance to say a word, our gestures and manners have already spoken for us. Though some of the rules of good manners change, others remain constant. This book is about the constants: the least you need to know to make a good first impression. As Clarence Thomas once said, "Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot." Use this book as a master key to open those doors.




I Liked My Life


Book Description

A husband and teen daughter are challenged to redefine their understandings of family when a devoted wife and mother commits suicide and begins meddling from beyond the grave.




What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours


Book Description

"Transcendent." —The New York Times Book Review "Flawless. . . another masterpiece from an author who seems incapable of writing anything that's less than brilliant." —NPR From the award-winning author of Boy, Snow, Bird and Peaces comes an enchanting collection of intertwined stories. Playful, ambitious, and exquisitely imagined, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is cleverly built around the idea of keys, literal and metaphorical. The key to a house, the key to a heart, the key to a secret—Oyeyemi’s keys not only unlock elements of her characters’ lives, they promise further labyrinths on the other side. In “Books and Roses” one special key opens a library, a garden, and clues to at least two lovers’ fates. In “Is Your Blood as Red as This?” an unlikely key opens the heart of a student at a puppeteering school. “‘Sorry’ Doesn’t Sweeten Her Tea” involves a “house of locks,” where doors can be closed only with a key—with surprising, unobservable developments. And in “If a Book Is Locked There’s Probably a Good Reason for That Don't You Think,” a key keeps a mystical diary locked (for good reason). Oyeyemi’s tales span multiple times and landscapes as they tease boundaries between coexisting realities. Is a key a gate, a gift, or an invitation? What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours captivates as it explores the many possible answers.




Words from Awaki


Book Description

Dont believe the hype; believe what you see. Apocalypse, as we have come to fear, is not apocalypse as it truly is. We live today in the time of apocalypse, and for some, it is pure torment. For those around the world living with bombs raining down on them, yes, that is apocalyptic torture as we feared. For those thousands and millions, throughout the universe, visited and killed by the deadly flu and flu-like diseases (SARS, swine flu, bird flu, West Nile virus, etc.), Ebola, tuberculosis, measles, cholera, dengue fever, EV-D68, and HIV/AIDS, yes, those are apocalyptic diseases as we feared. For those ravished, killed, left homeless, and totally dispossessed by these record-breaking seemingly wicked weather events we are currently experiencing, yes, they would agree that these are for certain apocalyptic changes as we feared. However, given there are over seven billion of us on the planet and those apocalyptic events mentioned have only killed millions, not billions, of us, they dont seem to rise to the level of chaos and destruction we have been conditioned to fear as being apocalyptic. Nevertheless, our over exaggerated, deep-seated, and conditioned fears notwithstanding, Armageddon is upon us, and the signs of it have been for almost twenty years that we know of. Those above mentioned apocalyptic occurrences are the signs we were all told would be by John the Revelator in Revelation. November 1995 to May 1996, no fewer than seventy of us were told by an angel, Awaki, and his Angels of God that the signs had already begun and that Armageddon would begin in the year 2000. Our story, no matter how far-fetched it may seem, is true. The evidentiary events of war, disease, and bizarre weather changes we witness daily provide for us the credibility of what we were told. The angel Shakardak told us, Some will see and they will believe, some will not see and they will believe, some will hear and they will believe, and some will not hear and they will believe; and then there will be those who will see and they will not believe, and there will be those who will hear and they will not believe.




The Battle Is Not Yours


Book Description

Living in this world of chaos I have often found myself in battle or a struggling conflict where I have strived to keep my head above the water. Battle, behind weary battle I found myself on the losing side. Angry, confused, beat up, and bruised, I prepare for another battle, hoping to come out the victor. This time using proper technique, I invite God in on this fight, but before going to the battle ground a voice speaks out to me I am a God that needs no help. Stand, trust, and lean on me for the battle is not yours; it is the Lords!