Furiously Happy


Book Description

In Furiously Happy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. But terrible ideas are what Jenny does best. As Jenny says: "Some people might think that being 'furiously happy' is just an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos over to your house without telling your husband first because you suspect he would say no since he's never particularly liked kangaroos. And that would be ridiculous because no one would invite a herd of kangaroos into their house. Two is the limit. I speak from personal experience. My husband says that none is the new limit. I say he should have been clearer about that before I rented all those kangaroos. "Most of my favorite people are dangerously fucked-up but you'd never guess because we've learned to bare it so honestly that it becomes the new normal. Like John Hughes wrote in The Breakfast Club, 'We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it.' Except go back and cross out the word 'hiding.'" Furiously Happy is about "taking those moments when things are fine and making them amazing, because those moments are what make us who we are, and they're the same moments we take into battle with us when our brains declare war on our very existence. It's the difference between "surviving life" and "living life". It's the difference between "taking a shower" and "teaching your monkey butler how to shampoo your hair." It's the difference between being "sane" and being "furiously happy." Lawson is beloved around the world for her inimitable humor and honesty, and in Furiously Happy, she is at her snort-inducing funniest. This is a book about embracing everything that makes us who we are - the beautiful and the flawed - and then using it to find joy in fantastic and outrageous ways. Because as Jenny's mom says, "Maybe 'crazy' isn't so bad after all." Sometimes crazy is just right.




Animals and Animal Symbols in World Culture


Book Description

A comprehensive guide to the history of human interaction with the creatures of the earth, air, and water. This book provides historical perspective on mankind's complicated relationship with all creatures, from tiny insects to larger beasts. From the alligator to the wryneck, key animals from every continent are profiled, with articles focusing on how different cultures viewed the creatures with which they shared land, and the ones they considered omens of gods and devils. In addition to the numerous articles on specific animals, there are also entries on the role of animals in Christian art, and how shamans took the form and power of animals in key ceremonies. The work is highly illustrated, and subjects of major interest are provided with individual bibliographies of further reading on the subject at the end of each article.










Tales of the Fallen Beasts


Book Description

Save the spirit animals in this gripping special edition in the New York Times–bestselling series, tied to the new multiplatform Fall of the Beasts arc. All across the world, legends are appearing. Great Beasts—once the most powerful beings in Erdas—are being summoned as spirit animals. Bonded to special kids, they unite the human and animal worlds. But a mysterious stranger is hunting these legends, just as they are reborn. And he’s crushing anyone who stands in his way. These are the stories of those stolen legends, and of the young heroes who will stop at nothing to get them back. These are the Tales of the Fallen Beasts.




Delivered Fast


Book Description

A Portland restaurant owner succumbs to temptation in this gay romance novella. “Sometimes an author just gets everything right . . . Absolutely perfect.” —Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews Sure, Chris O’Neal has problems. His restaurant is still co-owned by his ex. His flannel-and-tattoos style is making him accidentally trendy. He can’t remember the last time he went out and had fun. But he’s not lonely, he’s driven. And the hot bakery delivery boy is not his problem, no matter how sweet his buns. Chris is old enough to know Lance Degrassi’s sculpted good looks and clever double-entendre’s spell nothing but trouble. Lance is still in college—he should be hitting the clubs and the books, chasing guys his own age, not pursuing some gruff motorcycle-riding workaholic. Especially when he’ll be leaving for grad school in a few months. But Lance keeps hanging around, lending a hand, charming Chris to distraction. Maybe some steaming hot no-strings indulgence won’t hurt. Then again, maybe it will . . . Praise for the Portland Heat series “Tremendously charming and sexy, Served Hot is a knockout!” —RT Book Reviews “A charming read, a warm, feel-good story with just the right amount of angst (and steam!) featuring two likeable characters.” —All About Romance on Served Hot “A really enjoyable story.” —Joyfully Jay on Baked Fresh




Imaginative Methodologies in the Social Sciences


Book Description

Challenging the mainstream orthodoxy of social scientific methodology, which closely guards the boundaries between the social sciences and the arts and humanities, this volume reveals that authors and artists are often engaged in projects parallel to those of the social sciences and vice versa, thus demonstrating that artistic and cultural production does not necessarily constitute a specialist field, but is in fact integral to social reality.




The Dogs of Newtown


Book Description




Sexuality and Eroticism in a Post-pandemic World


Book Description

The cultural change denominated as “the new normal” goes far beyond the adaptation to habits like physical distancing, limited person-to-person contact, teleworking, and self-isolation established with the COVID-19 pandemic. A series of significant transformations in human behavior spreads today in societies all around the world: physical intimacy decreases while virtual reality expands and alterity declines while artificial intelligence emerges, leading to structural reconfigurations of sex, relationships, gender awareness, and subjectivity. Sexuality and Eroticism in a Post-pandemic World explores this new cultural atmosphere through twelve interdisciplinary essays questioning global governmentality and challenging the biopolitics of the new normal—the administration of self-control societies so politically correct that repressed desire for otherness only finds a simulation of its satisfaction with the forced abnormality, outrageousness, and violence of mainstream porn—, going from ars erotica to alternative pornography, from online dating to gender fluidity, from LGBTQI+ artivism to sex life cultivation, and more.