Hard Laughter

Hard Laughter

Author: Anne Lamott

Publisher: Viking

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13:

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Anne Lamott's poignant first novel, reissued in an attractive new edition. Writer (and sometime housecleaner) Jennifer is twenty-three when her beloved father, Wallace, is diagnosed with a brain tumor. This catastrophic discovery sets off Anne Lamott's unexpectedly sweet and funny first novel, which is made dramatic not so much by Wallace's illness as by the emotional wake it sweeps under Jen and her brothers, self-contained Ben and feckless, lovable Randy. With characteristic affection and accuracy, Lamott sketches this offbeat family and their nearest and dearest as they draw ever closer in the intimacy Jen prizes "among the other estimable things: good music, good hard laughter, good sex, good industry, and good books."


Book Synopsis Hard Laughter by : Anne Lamott

Download or read book Hard Laughter written by Anne Lamott and published by Viking. This book was released on 1980 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anne Lamott's poignant first novel, reissued in an attractive new edition. Writer (and sometime housecleaner) Jennifer is twenty-three when her beloved father, Wallace, is diagnosed with a brain tumor. This catastrophic discovery sets off Anne Lamott's unexpectedly sweet and funny first novel, which is made dramatic not so much by Wallace's illness as by the emotional wake it sweeps under Jen and her brothers, self-contained Ben and feckless, lovable Randy. With characteristic affection and accuracy, Lamott sketches this offbeat family and their nearest and dearest as they draw ever closer in the intimacy Jen prizes "among the other estimable things: good music, good hard laughter, good sex, good industry, and good books."


The Mars Room

The Mars Room

Author: Rachel Kushner

Publisher: Scribner

Published: 2019-05-07

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1476756589

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TIME’S #1 FICTION TITLE OF THE YEAR • NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018 FINALIST for the MAN BOOKER PRIZE and the NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD LONGLISTED for the ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL An instant New York Times bestseller from two-time National Book Award finalist Rachel Kushner, The Mars Room earned tweets from Margaret Atwood—“gritty, empathic, finely rendered, no sugar toppings, and a lot of punches, none of them pulled”—and from Stephen King—“The Mars Room is the real deal, jarring, horrible, compassionate, funny.” It’s 2003 and Romy Hall, named after a German actress, is at the start of two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility, deep in California’s Central Valley. Outside is the world from which she has been severed: her young son, Jackson, and the San Francisco of her youth. Inside is a new reality: thousands of women hustling for the bare essentials needed to survive; the bluffing and pageantry and casual acts of violence by guards and prisoners alike; and the deadpan absurdities of institutional living, portrayed with great humor and precision. Stunning and unsentimental, The Mars Room is “wholly authentic…profound…luminous” (The Wall Street Journal), “one of those books that enrage you even as they break your heart” (The New York Times Book Review, cover review)—a spectacularly compelling, heart-stopping novel about a life gone off the rails in contemporary America. It is audacious and tragic, propulsive and yet beautifully refined and “affirms Rachel Kushner as one of our best novelists” (Entertainment Weekly).


Book Synopsis The Mars Room by : Rachel Kushner

Download or read book The Mars Room written by Rachel Kushner and published by Scribner. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TIME’S #1 FICTION TITLE OF THE YEAR • NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018 FINALIST for the MAN BOOKER PRIZE and the NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD LONGLISTED for the ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL An instant New York Times bestseller from two-time National Book Award finalist Rachel Kushner, The Mars Room earned tweets from Margaret Atwood—“gritty, empathic, finely rendered, no sugar toppings, and a lot of punches, none of them pulled”—and from Stephen King—“The Mars Room is the real deal, jarring, horrible, compassionate, funny.” It’s 2003 and Romy Hall, named after a German actress, is at the start of two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility, deep in California’s Central Valley. Outside is the world from which she has been severed: her young son, Jackson, and the San Francisco of her youth. Inside is a new reality: thousands of women hustling for the bare essentials needed to survive; the bluffing and pageantry and casual acts of violence by guards and prisoners alike; and the deadpan absurdities of institutional living, portrayed with great humor and precision. Stunning and unsentimental, The Mars Room is “wholly authentic…profound…luminous” (The Wall Street Journal), “one of those books that enrage you even as they break your heart” (The New York Times Book Review, cover review)—a spectacularly compelling, heart-stopping novel about a life gone off the rails in contemporary America. It is audacious and tragic, propulsive and yet beautifully refined and “affirms Rachel Kushner as one of our best novelists” (Entertainment Weekly).


Attention Spans

Attention Spans

Author: Garrett Stewart

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2024-01-25

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13:

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Attention Spans' chronological review of Garrett Stewart's critical approach tracks and maps the evolution of intersecting disciplines from late New Criticism through structuralism, deconstruction, narrative theory (by way of narratography), poetics, and media studies, in which Stewart's has been so persistent and so eloquent a voice. Excerpts from his twenty books are framed by editorial retrospect, then linked by Stewart's own commentary on the variety – and underlying vectors – of his interpretive career across aesthetic forms, from Victorian narrative to recent American fiction, classic celluloid cinema to postfilmic digital effects, inert book sculpture and literary wordplay to the soundscape of singing on screen. Accompanied by a glossary of his many influential coinages, this cornucopia of analyses is also a chronicle of evolving paradigms in the work of intensive reading.


Book Synopsis Attention Spans by : Garrett Stewart

Download or read book Attention Spans written by Garrett Stewart and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2024-01-25 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Attention Spans' chronological review of Garrett Stewart's critical approach tracks and maps the evolution of intersecting disciplines from late New Criticism through structuralism, deconstruction, narrative theory (by way of narratography), poetics, and media studies, in which Stewart's has been so persistent and so eloquent a voice. Excerpts from his twenty books are framed by editorial retrospect, then linked by Stewart's own commentary on the variety – and underlying vectors – of his interpretive career across aesthetic forms, from Victorian narrative to recent American fiction, classic celluloid cinema to postfilmic digital effects, inert book sculpture and literary wordplay to the soundscape of singing on screen. Accompanied by a glossary of his many influential coinages, this cornucopia of analyses is also a chronicle of evolving paradigms in the work of intensive reading.


Stories for Short Attention Spans

Stories for Short Attention Spans

Author: Ann Loewen

Publisher: FriesenPress

Published: 2015-02-26

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 146025757X

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I AM DEEPLY, REMORSELESSLY, UNSENTIMENTAL. Passionate, provocative, perceptive, warm, romantic (more likely Romantic), sensual, all these, but not a sentimental bone in my body. I’ll take unhappy endings, misconstrued meanings, novels without punctuation or compromise over heart-warming any day. In this collection of seventeen short stories the reader is treated to a cross-section of humanity and its ongoing struggle to overcome loneliness and misunderstanding. Whether a grieving widower questioning his wife’s last words, an art thief fleeing with her guilty haul, a family doctor doubting her clinical decisions or a horse pining for his herd, the characters seek connection in the midst of their isolation. Arranged in ascending order of length so as to entice the reader to lose themselves in the story, Stories for Short Attention Spans opens the window on the essence of hope.


Book Synopsis Stories for Short Attention Spans by : Ann Loewen

Download or read book Stories for Short Attention Spans written by Ann Loewen and published by FriesenPress. This book was released on 2015-02-26 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I AM DEEPLY, REMORSELESSLY, UNSENTIMENTAL. Passionate, provocative, perceptive, warm, romantic (more likely Romantic), sensual, all these, but not a sentimental bone in my body. I’ll take unhappy endings, misconstrued meanings, novels without punctuation or compromise over heart-warming any day. In this collection of seventeen short stories the reader is treated to a cross-section of humanity and its ongoing struggle to overcome loneliness and misunderstanding. Whether a grieving widower questioning his wife’s last words, an art thief fleeing with her guilty haul, a family doctor doubting her clinical decisions or a horse pining for his herd, the characters seek connection in the midst of their isolation. Arranged in ascending order of length so as to entice the reader to lose themselves in the story, Stories for Short Attention Spans opens the window on the essence of hope.


What Is Your One Sentence?

What Is Your One Sentence?

Author: Mimi Goss

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2012-04-03

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1101580283

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Your "one sentence" is that irreducible part of your message that you want your audience to remember. A good sentence stops people in their tracks. It surprises them. It makes them think. And in today's age of information overload and short attention spans, getting your point across is more important and more difficult than ever. What Is Your One Sentence? will help you be a better communicator-fast. Mimi Goss teaches her unique One Sentence Method, which shows you how to distill your message into one sentence that captures your listeners' attention, moves your ideas forward, focuses the problem, and helps you achieve your goals. You'll learn to: Use the one sentence approach to tackle complex messages Take five simple steps to find one sentence that launches a dialogue Identify the basics of a memorable one sentence Speak in an authentic voice Whether you're teaching kindergartners, pleading for your life, or presenting the budget to Congress, What Is Your One Sentence? provides exercises and examples, looks at the psychology of communication, and takes you through a step-by-step process to find your core message and craft that one memorable sentence to hook listeners and keep them engaged.


Book Synopsis What Is Your One Sentence? by : Mimi Goss

Download or read book What Is Your One Sentence? written by Mimi Goss and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-04-03 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Your "one sentence" is that irreducible part of your message that you want your audience to remember. A good sentence stops people in their tracks. It surprises them. It makes them think. And in today's age of information overload and short attention spans, getting your point across is more important and more difficult than ever. What Is Your One Sentence? will help you be a better communicator-fast. Mimi Goss teaches her unique One Sentence Method, which shows you how to distill your message into one sentence that captures your listeners' attention, moves your ideas forward, focuses the problem, and helps you achieve your goals. You'll learn to: Use the one sentence approach to tackle complex messages Take five simple steps to find one sentence that launches a dialogue Identify the basics of a memorable one sentence Speak in an authentic voice Whether you're teaching kindergartners, pleading for your life, or presenting the budget to Congress, What Is Your One Sentence? provides exercises and examples, looks at the psychology of communication, and takes you through a step-by-step process to find your core message and craft that one memorable sentence to hook listeners and keep them engaged.


Teach Me to Talk

Teach Me to Talk

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2011-05-01

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780988600720

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Book Synopsis Teach Me to Talk by :

Download or read book Teach Me to Talk written by and published by . This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


The Essential 20

The Essential 20

Author: David Cornish

Publisher: Dorrance Publishing

Published: 2009-10

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 1434995550

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Book Synopsis The Essential 20 by : David Cornish

Download or read book The Essential 20 written by David Cornish and published by Dorrance Publishing. This book was released on 2009-10 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Got Your Attention?

Got Your Attention?

Author: Sam Horn

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Published: 2015-04-06

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1626562520

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A communication strategist shares her eight-stage process for connecting with any number of people with two-way interactions. Did you know: • Goldfish, yes, goldfish, have longer attention spans than we humans do? • One in four people abandons a website if it takes longer than four seconds to load? Imagine if there were ways, in a world of impatience and INFObesity, to quickly intrigue busy, distracted people and earn their interest, trust and buy-in. Imagine if there was a process for pleasantly surprising decision-makers and convincing them you're the right person for the job, position, project or contract. You don’t have to imagine it, Sam Horn has created it. Sam’s innovative techniques have helped her clients close deals and raise millions of dollars, and will be your “secret sauce” to getting funded, hired, elected, promoted or referred. “These accessible techniques transcend generations and read like a modern-day version of How to Win Friends and Influence People.” —Miki Agrawal, one of Forbes’s “Top 20 Millennials on a Mission” and founder of THINX “Sam Horn’s smart and snappy book will teach you how to get people’s attention—and keep it.” —Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of To Sell Is Human “If you can’t get people’s attention, you’ll never get their business. Sam Horn’s new book shows how to quickly earn respect so people are motivated to listen.” —Terry Jones, founder of Travelocity and WayBlazer and chair of Kayak “A must-read for those in the workplace who want to contribute at their highest level and create more strategic networks.” —Betsy Myers, former executive director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School “Horn offers innovative ways to initiate genuine conversations and meaningful connections that turn strangers into friends.” —Keith Ferrazzi, author of the #1 bestseller Never Eat Alone


Book Synopsis Got Your Attention? by : Sam Horn

Download or read book Got Your Attention? written by Sam Horn and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2015-04-06 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A communication strategist shares her eight-stage process for connecting with any number of people with two-way interactions. Did you know: • Goldfish, yes, goldfish, have longer attention spans than we humans do? • One in four people abandons a website if it takes longer than four seconds to load? Imagine if there were ways, in a world of impatience and INFObesity, to quickly intrigue busy, distracted people and earn their interest, trust and buy-in. Imagine if there was a process for pleasantly surprising decision-makers and convincing them you're the right person for the job, position, project or contract. You don’t have to imagine it, Sam Horn has created it. Sam’s innovative techniques have helped her clients close deals and raise millions of dollars, and will be your “secret sauce” to getting funded, hired, elected, promoted or referred. “These accessible techniques transcend generations and read like a modern-day version of How to Win Friends and Influence People.” —Miki Agrawal, one of Forbes’s “Top 20 Millennials on a Mission” and founder of THINX “Sam Horn’s smart and snappy book will teach you how to get people’s attention—and keep it.” —Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of To Sell Is Human “If you can’t get people’s attention, you’ll never get their business. Sam Horn’s new book shows how to quickly earn respect so people are motivated to listen.” —Terry Jones, founder of Travelocity and WayBlazer and chair of Kayak “A must-read for those in the workplace who want to contribute at their highest level and create more strategic networks.” —Betsy Myers, former executive director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School “Horn offers innovative ways to initiate genuine conversations and meaningful connections that turn strangers into friends.” —Keith Ferrazzi, author of the #1 bestseller Never Eat Alone


The Knowledge Gap

The Knowledge Gap

Author: Natalie Wexler

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2020-08-04

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 0735213569

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The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.


Book Synopsis The Knowledge Gap by : Natalie Wexler

Download or read book The Knowledge Gap written by Natalie Wexler and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.


My Reading Adventures

My Reading Adventures

Author: Anne Bogel

Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

Published: 2022-08-02

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 0736983090

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This unique journal encourages young readers to spend more time enjoying books, gives them great suggestions for what to read next, and helps them remember what they’ve read. Do you have a junior bookworm in your home? Or would like to see your child develop a greater interest in reading? This journal was designed with your child in mind. Anne Bogel, creator of the Modern Mrs Darcy blog, wants to help instill a lifelong love of reading in your child with a journal that’s just for them. Inside, kids will find fun lists of book recommendations for different genres and interests, creative reading-related activities, and space to record what they’ve read and what they would like to read. This journal is an ideal companion for all your child’s reading adventures. Anne’s book journal for adults, My Reading Life, is available now wherever books are sold.


Book Synopsis My Reading Adventures by : Anne Bogel

Download or read book My Reading Adventures written by Anne Bogel and published by Harvest House Publishers. This book was released on 2022-08-02 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique journal encourages young readers to spend more time enjoying books, gives them great suggestions for what to read next, and helps them remember what they’ve read. Do you have a junior bookworm in your home? Or would like to see your child develop a greater interest in reading? This journal was designed with your child in mind. Anne Bogel, creator of the Modern Mrs Darcy blog, wants to help instill a lifelong love of reading in your child with a journal that’s just for them. Inside, kids will find fun lists of book recommendations for different genres and interests, creative reading-related activities, and space to record what they’ve read and what they would like to read. This journal is an ideal companion for all your child’s reading adventures. Anne’s book journal for adults, My Reading Life, is available now wherever books are sold.