Calling for a Blanket Dance

Calling for a Blanket Dance

Author: Oscar Hokeah

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Published: 2022-07-26

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1643752995

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Winner of the PEN America/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel * Finalist for the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize * Finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize/Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction “A profound reflection on the intergenerational nature of cultural trauma… Hokeah’s characters exist at the intersection of Kiowa, Cherokee and Mexican identity, which provides a vital exploration of indigeneity in contemporary American letters.” —The New York Times Book Review A moving and deeply engaging novel about a young Native American man as he learns to find strength in his familial identity. ​ Oscar Hokeah’s electric debut takes us into the life of Ever Geimausaddle, whose family—part Mexican, part Native American—is determined to hold onto their community despite obstacles everywhere they turn. Ever’s father is injured at the hands of corrupt police on the border when he goes to visit family in Mexico, while his mother struggles both to keep her job and care for her husband. And young Ever is lost and angry at all that he doesn’t understand, at this world that seems to undermine his sense of safety. Ever’s relatives all have ideas about who he is and who he should be. His Cherokee grandmother, knowing the importance of proximity, urges the family to move across Oklahoma to be near her, while his grandfather, watching their traditions slip away, tries to reunite Ever with his heritage through traditional gourd dances. Through it all, every relative wants the same: to remind Ever of the rich and supportive communities that surround him, there to hold him tight, and for Ever to learn to take the strength given to him to save not only himself but also the next generation. How will this young man visualize a place for himself when the world hasn’t made room for him to start with? Honest, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting, Calling for a Blanket Dance is the story of how Ever Geimausaddle finds his way home. "STUNNING." —Susan Power, author of The Grass Dancer


Book Synopsis Calling for a Blanket Dance by : Oscar Hokeah

Download or read book Calling for a Blanket Dance written by Oscar Hokeah and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2022-07-26 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the PEN America/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel * Finalist for the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize * Finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize/Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction “A profound reflection on the intergenerational nature of cultural trauma… Hokeah’s characters exist at the intersection of Kiowa, Cherokee and Mexican identity, which provides a vital exploration of indigeneity in contemporary American letters.” —The New York Times Book Review A moving and deeply engaging novel about a young Native American man as he learns to find strength in his familial identity. ​ Oscar Hokeah’s electric debut takes us into the life of Ever Geimausaddle, whose family—part Mexican, part Native American—is determined to hold onto their community despite obstacles everywhere they turn. Ever’s father is injured at the hands of corrupt police on the border when he goes to visit family in Mexico, while his mother struggles both to keep her job and care for her husband. And young Ever is lost and angry at all that he doesn’t understand, at this world that seems to undermine his sense of safety. Ever’s relatives all have ideas about who he is and who he should be. His Cherokee grandmother, knowing the importance of proximity, urges the family to move across Oklahoma to be near her, while his grandfather, watching their traditions slip away, tries to reunite Ever with his heritage through traditional gourd dances. Through it all, every relative wants the same: to remind Ever of the rich and supportive communities that surround him, there to hold him tight, and for Ever to learn to take the strength given to him to save not only himself but also the next generation. How will this young man visualize a place for himself when the world hasn’t made room for him to start with? Honest, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting, Calling for a Blanket Dance is the story of how Ever Geimausaddle finds his way home. "STUNNING." —Susan Power, author of The Grass Dancer


Calling for a Blanket Dance

Calling for a Blanket Dance

Author: Oscar Hokeah

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781643753546

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Book Synopsis Calling for a Blanket Dance by : Oscar Hokeah

Download or read book Calling for a Blanket Dance written by Oscar Hokeah and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


A Thousand Ways to Pay Attention: Discovering the Beauty of My ADHD Mind - A Memoir

A Thousand Ways to Pay Attention: Discovering the Beauty of My ADHD Mind - A Memoir

Author: Rebecca Schiller

Publisher: The Experiment, LLC

Published: 2023-03-28

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 1615198814

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Now in paperback: A captivating, heralded memoir, "unflinching and full of truth" (Katherine May), of a woman making a home on a small farm while grappling with an unexpected ADHD diagnosis “When you think about ADHD . . . do you picture a woman in the bucolic English countryside, raising her children along with an assortment of animals and vegetables? Why not?”—Salon Moving to a small farm is Rebeca Schiller’s dream come true. But as her young family adjusts to a new life in the countryside, her dream is threatened by something within. I’m aware of everything, all at once, which is too much. As Rebecca’s symptoms mount—frequent falls, rages, and strange lapses in memory—her doctors are baffled and her family unmoored. Finally comes a diagnosis: severe ADHD. For Rebecca, it is the start, not the end, of a quest for understanding. As she scrambles to support both family and farm, her focus spirals: from our current climate crisis to long-extinct lynx in the shadows of ancient oaks and the forgotten women who tended this land before her, their stories hidden just beneath the surface of history. In this luminous, heralded memoir of one woman’s newfound neurodivergence, attention is not deficient—but abundant. Publisher’s Note: A different version of this book has been published under the title Earthed in the United Kingdom.


Book Synopsis A Thousand Ways to Pay Attention: Discovering the Beauty of My ADHD Mind - A Memoir by : Rebecca Schiller

Download or read book A Thousand Ways to Pay Attention: Discovering the Beauty of My ADHD Mind - A Memoir written by Rebecca Schiller and published by The Experiment, LLC. This book was released on 2023-03-28 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in paperback: A captivating, heralded memoir, "unflinching and full of truth" (Katherine May), of a woman making a home on a small farm while grappling with an unexpected ADHD diagnosis “When you think about ADHD . . . do you picture a woman in the bucolic English countryside, raising her children along with an assortment of animals and vegetables? Why not?”—Salon Moving to a small farm is Rebeca Schiller’s dream come true. But as her young family adjusts to a new life in the countryside, her dream is threatened by something within. I’m aware of everything, all at once, which is too much. As Rebecca’s symptoms mount—frequent falls, rages, and strange lapses in memory—her doctors are baffled and her family unmoored. Finally comes a diagnosis: severe ADHD. For Rebecca, it is the start, not the end, of a quest for understanding. As she scrambles to support both family and farm, her focus spirals: from our current climate crisis to long-extinct lynx in the shadows of ancient oaks and the forgotten women who tended this land before her, their stories hidden just beneath the surface of history. In this luminous, heralded memoir of one woman’s newfound neurodivergence, attention is not deficient—but abundant. Publisher’s Note: A different version of this book has been published under the title Earthed in the United Kingdom.


A Dream Called Home

A Dream Called Home

Author: Reyna Grande

Publisher: Washington Square Press

Published: 2019-07-02

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1501171437

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From bestselling author of the remarkable memoir, The Distance Between Us comes an inspiring account of one woman’s quest to find her place in America as a first-generation Latina university student and aspiring writer determined to build a new life for her family one fearless word at a time. “Here is a life story so unbelievable, it could only be true” (Sandra Cisneros, bestselling author of The House on Mango Street). As an immigrant in an unfamiliar country, with an indifferent mother and abusive father, Reyna had few resources at her disposal. Taking refuge in words, Reyna’s love of reading and writing propels her to rise above until she achieves the impossible and is accepted to the University of California, Santa Cruz. Although her acceptance is a triumph, the actual experience of American college life is intimidating and unfamiliar for someone like Reyna, who is now estranged from her family and support system. Again, she finds solace in words, holding fast to her vision of becoming a writer, only to discover she knows nothing about what it takes to make a career out of a dream. Through it all, Reyna is determined to make the impossible possible, going from undocumented immigrant of little means to “a fierce, smart, shimmering light of a writer” (Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild); a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist whose “power is growing with every book” (Luis Alberto Urrea, Pultizer Prize finalist); and a proud mother of two beautiful children who will never have to know the pain of poverty and neglect. Told in Reyna’s exquisite, heartfelt prose, A Dream Called Home demonstrates how, by daring to pursue her dreams, Reyna was able to build the one thing she had always longed for: a home that would endure.


Book Synopsis A Dream Called Home by : Reyna Grande

Download or read book A Dream Called Home written by Reyna Grande and published by Washington Square Press. This book was released on 2019-07-02 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From bestselling author of the remarkable memoir, The Distance Between Us comes an inspiring account of one woman’s quest to find her place in America as a first-generation Latina university student and aspiring writer determined to build a new life for her family one fearless word at a time. “Here is a life story so unbelievable, it could only be true” (Sandra Cisneros, bestselling author of The House on Mango Street). As an immigrant in an unfamiliar country, with an indifferent mother and abusive father, Reyna had few resources at her disposal. Taking refuge in words, Reyna’s love of reading and writing propels her to rise above until she achieves the impossible and is accepted to the University of California, Santa Cruz. Although her acceptance is a triumph, the actual experience of American college life is intimidating and unfamiliar for someone like Reyna, who is now estranged from her family and support system. Again, she finds solace in words, holding fast to her vision of becoming a writer, only to discover she knows nothing about what it takes to make a career out of a dream. Through it all, Reyna is determined to make the impossible possible, going from undocumented immigrant of little means to “a fierce, smart, shimmering light of a writer” (Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild); a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist whose “power is growing with every book” (Luis Alberto Urrea, Pultizer Prize finalist); and a proud mother of two beautiful children who will never have to know the pain of poverty and neglect. Told in Reyna’s exquisite, heartfelt prose, A Dream Called Home demonstrates how, by daring to pursue her dreams, Reyna was able to build the one thing she had always longed for: a home that would endure.


The Grass Dancer

The Grass Dancer

Author: Mona Susan Power

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 1997-04-01

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0593819446

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Inspired by the lore of her Sioux heritage, this “captivating”(New York Times Book Review) critically-acclaimed novel from Mona Susan Power weaves the stories of the old and the young, of broken families, romantic rivals, men and women in love and at war... Set on a North Dakota reservation, The Grass Dancer reveals the harsh price of unfulfilled longings and the healing power of mystery and hope. Rich with drama and infused with the magic of the everyday, it takes readers on a journey through both past and present—in a tale as resonant and haunting as an ancestor's memory, and as promising as a child's dream. WINNER OF THE PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT NOVEL


Book Synopsis The Grass Dancer by : Mona Susan Power

Download or read book The Grass Dancer written by Mona Susan Power and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1997-04-01 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspired by the lore of her Sioux heritage, this “captivating”(New York Times Book Review) critically-acclaimed novel from Mona Susan Power weaves the stories of the old and the young, of broken families, romantic rivals, men and women in love and at war... Set on a North Dakota reservation, The Grass Dancer reveals the harsh price of unfulfilled longings and the healing power of mystery and hope. Rich with drama and infused with the magic of the everyday, it takes readers on a journey through both past and present—in a tale as resonant and haunting as an ancestor's memory, and as promising as a child's dream. WINNER OF THE PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT NOVEL


A Place to Stand

A Place to Stand

Author: Jimmy Santiago Baca

Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

Published: 2007-12-01

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 1555848907

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The Pushcart Prize–winning poet’s memoir of his criminal youth and years in prison: a “brave and heartbreaking” tale of triumph over brutal adversity (The Nation). Jimmy Santiago Baca’s “astonishing narrative” of his life before, during, and immediately after the years he spent in the maximum-security prison garnered tremendous critical acclaim. An important chronicle that “affirms the triumph of the human spirit,” it went on to win the prestigious 2001 International Prize (Arizona Daily Star). Long considered one of the best poets in America today, Baca was illiterate at the age of twenty-one when he was sentenced to five years in Florence State Prison for selling drugs in Arizona. This raw, unflinching memoir is the remarkable tale of how he emerged after his years in the penitentiary—much of it spent in isolation—with the ability to read and a passion for writing poetry. “Proof there is always hope in even the most desperate lives.” —Fort Worth Star-Telegram “A hell of a book, quite literally. You won’t soon forget it.” —The San Diego U-T “This book will have a permanent place in American letters.” —Jim Harrison, New York Times–bestselling author of A Good Day to Die


Book Synopsis A Place to Stand by : Jimmy Santiago Baca

Download or read book A Place to Stand written by Jimmy Santiago Baca and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Pushcart Prize–winning poet’s memoir of his criminal youth and years in prison: a “brave and heartbreaking” tale of triumph over brutal adversity (The Nation). Jimmy Santiago Baca’s “astonishing narrative” of his life before, during, and immediately after the years he spent in the maximum-security prison garnered tremendous critical acclaim. An important chronicle that “affirms the triumph of the human spirit,” it went on to win the prestigious 2001 International Prize (Arizona Daily Star). Long considered one of the best poets in America today, Baca was illiterate at the age of twenty-one when he was sentenced to five years in Florence State Prison for selling drugs in Arizona. This raw, unflinching memoir is the remarkable tale of how he emerged after his years in the penitentiary—much of it spent in isolation—with the ability to read and a passion for writing poetry. “Proof there is always hope in even the most desperate lives.” —Fort Worth Star-Telegram “A hell of a book, quite literally. You won’t soon forget it.” —The San Diego U-T “This book will have a permanent place in American letters.” —Jim Harrison, New York Times–bestselling author of A Good Day to Die


Leave It As It Is

Leave It As It Is

Author: David Gessner

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2020-08-11

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1982105062

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Bestselling author David Gessner’s wilderness road trip inspired by America’s greatest conservationist, Theodore Roosevelt, is “a rallying cry in the age of climate change” (Robert Redford). “Leave it as it is,” Theodore Roosevelt announced while viewing the Grand Canyon for the first time. “The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.” Roosevelt’s pronouncement signaled the beginning of an environmental fight that still wages today. To reconnect with the American wilderness and with the president who courageously protected it, acclaimed nature writer and New York Times bestselling author David Gessner embarks on a great American road trip guided by Roosevelt’s crusading environmental legacy. Gessner travels to the Dakota badlands where Roosevelt awakened as a naturalist; to Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon where Roosevelt escaped during the grind of his reelection tour; and finally, to Bears Ears, Utah, a monument proposed by Native Tribes that is currently embroiled in a national conservation fight. Along the way, Gessner questions and reimagines Roosevelt’s vision for today’s lands. “Insightful, observant, and wry,” (BookPage) Leave It As It Is offers an arresting history of Roosevelt’s pioneering conservationism, a powerful call to arms, and a profound meditation on our environmental future.


Book Synopsis Leave It As It Is by : David Gessner

Download or read book Leave It As It Is written by David Gessner and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-08-11 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bestselling author David Gessner’s wilderness road trip inspired by America’s greatest conservationist, Theodore Roosevelt, is “a rallying cry in the age of climate change” (Robert Redford). “Leave it as it is,” Theodore Roosevelt announced while viewing the Grand Canyon for the first time. “The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.” Roosevelt’s pronouncement signaled the beginning of an environmental fight that still wages today. To reconnect with the American wilderness and with the president who courageously protected it, acclaimed nature writer and New York Times bestselling author David Gessner embarks on a great American road trip guided by Roosevelt’s crusading environmental legacy. Gessner travels to the Dakota badlands where Roosevelt awakened as a naturalist; to Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon where Roosevelt escaped during the grind of his reelection tour; and finally, to Bears Ears, Utah, a monument proposed by Native Tribes that is currently embroiled in a national conservation fight. Along the way, Gessner questions and reimagines Roosevelt’s vision for today’s lands. “Insightful, observant, and wry,” (BookPage) Leave It As It Is offers an arresting history of Roosevelt’s pioneering conservationism, a powerful call to arms, and a profound meditation on our environmental future.


Pigs in a Blanket

Pigs in a Blanket

Author: Hans Wilhelm

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2020-02-11

Total Pages: 17

ISBN-13: 1452166935

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Follow the daily adventures of three spirited pigs and the importance of bedtime. Three little piglets are all bundled up and as cozy as can be. Young readers will follow their wacky antics and ever-changing wardrobes as these energetic pigs jump, prance, and dance through a fun-filled day before finally climbing back into bed. A delightful rhyme reinforces key daily rituals and the importance of winding down the day and going to sleep. Hans Wilhelm has written and illustrated over 200 books for children and adults including the popular Guess Which Hand. Fans of Giraffes Can't Dance and If Animals Kissed Good Night will love taking the excited piglets through their adventure-filled day and putting them to bed at night. Great book for preschoolers and early readers that reinforces daily routines and the importance of bedtime.


Book Synopsis Pigs in a Blanket by : Hans Wilhelm

Download or read book Pigs in a Blanket written by Hans Wilhelm and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2020-02-11 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Follow the daily adventures of three spirited pigs and the importance of bedtime. Three little piglets are all bundled up and as cozy as can be. Young readers will follow their wacky antics and ever-changing wardrobes as these energetic pigs jump, prance, and dance through a fun-filled day before finally climbing back into bed. A delightful rhyme reinforces key daily rituals and the importance of winding down the day and going to sleep. Hans Wilhelm has written and illustrated over 200 books for children and adults including the popular Guess Which Hand. Fans of Giraffes Can't Dance and If Animals Kissed Good Night will love taking the excited piglets through their adventure-filled day and putting them to bed at night. Great book for preschoolers and early readers that reinforces daily routines and the importance of bedtime.


Every Other Weekend

Every Other Weekend

Author: Zulema Renee Summerfield

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2018-04-17

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0316434760

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A debut novel about an imaginative girl in the year following her parents' divorce, and what happens when her creeping premonition that something terrible will happen comes true in the most unexpected of ways. A Barnes & Noble Discover Pick The year is 1988, and America is full of broken homes. EVERY OTHER WEEKEND drops us into the sun-scorched suburbs of southern California, amid Bret Michaels mania and Cold War hysteria, with Nenny, a wildly precocious, nervous nelly of an eight-year-old, as our guide to the newly rearranged life she finds herself leading after her parents split. Nenny and her mother and two brothers have just moved in with her new stepfather and his two kids. Her old life replaced by this new configuration, Nenny's natural anxieties intensify, and both real and imagined dangers entwine: earthquakes and home invasions, ghosts of her stepfather's days in Vietnam, Gorbachev knocking down the door of her third grade class and recruiting them all into the Red Army. Knock-kneed and a little stormy-eyed, she is far too small for the thoughts that haunt her, yet her fears are not entirely unfounded. Indeed, tragedy does come, but it comes at her sideways, in a way she never had imagined. With an irresistible voice, Summerfield has managed to tap the very truth of what it is to have been a child of her generation, bottle it, and serve it up in devastating, hilarious, heartfelt doses. EVERY OTHER WEEKEND beautifully and unsettlingly captures the terrible wisdom that children often possess, as well as the surprising ways in which families fracture and reform.


Book Synopsis Every Other Weekend by : Zulema Renee Summerfield

Download or read book Every Other Weekend written by Zulema Renee Summerfield and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A debut novel about an imaginative girl in the year following her parents' divorce, and what happens when her creeping premonition that something terrible will happen comes true in the most unexpected of ways. A Barnes & Noble Discover Pick The year is 1988, and America is full of broken homes. EVERY OTHER WEEKEND drops us into the sun-scorched suburbs of southern California, amid Bret Michaels mania and Cold War hysteria, with Nenny, a wildly precocious, nervous nelly of an eight-year-old, as our guide to the newly rearranged life she finds herself leading after her parents split. Nenny and her mother and two brothers have just moved in with her new stepfather and his two kids. Her old life replaced by this new configuration, Nenny's natural anxieties intensify, and both real and imagined dangers entwine: earthquakes and home invasions, ghosts of her stepfather's days in Vietnam, Gorbachev knocking down the door of her third grade class and recruiting them all into the Red Army. Knock-kneed and a little stormy-eyed, she is far too small for the thoughts that haunt her, yet her fears are not entirely unfounded. Indeed, tragedy does come, but it comes at her sideways, in a way she never had imagined. With an irresistible voice, Summerfield has managed to tap the very truth of what it is to have been a child of her generation, bottle it, and serve it up in devastating, hilarious, heartfelt doses. EVERY OTHER WEEKEND beautifully and unsettlingly captures the terrible wisdom that children often possess, as well as the surprising ways in which families fracture and reform.


Last Chance Texaco

Last Chance Texaco

Author: Rickie Lee Jones

Publisher: Grove Press

Published: 2021-04-06

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 080218880X

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A candid and colorful memoir by the singer, songwriter, and “Duchess of Coolsville” (Time). This troubadour life is only for the fiercest hearts, only for those vessels that can be broken to smithereens and still keep beating out the rhythm for a new song . . . Last Chance Texaco is the first-ever no-holds-barred account of the life of two-time Grammy Award-winner and Rickie Lee Jones in her own words (Hilton Als). It is a tale of desperate chances and impossible triumphs, an adventure story of a girl who beat the odds and grew up to become one of the most legendary artists of her time, turning adversity and hopelessness into timeless music. With candor and lyricism, she takes us on a singular journey through her nomadic childhood, her years as a teenage runaway, her legendary love affair with Tom Waits, and ultimately her longevity as the hardest working woman in rock and roll. Rickie Lee’s stories are rich with the infamous characters of her early songs—“Chuck E’s in Love,” “Weasel and the White Boys Cool,” “Danny’s All-Star Joint,” and “Easy Money”—but long before her notoriety in show business, there was a vaudevillian cast of hitchhikers, bank robbers, jail breaks, drug mules, and a pimp with a heart of gold, and tales of her fabled ancestors. This intimate memoir by one of the most trailblazing and tenacious women in music is filled with never-before-told stories of the girl in the raspberry beret, whose songs defied categorization and inspired American pop culture for decades. “A striking, distinctive self-portrait.” —The New York Times “Terrific . . . Jones is as fearless in prose as she is on stage.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune “Men leave, fame fizzles, family breaks your heart . . . but Jones knows a good story and how to tell it.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “[The] premiere song-stylist and songwriter of her generation.” —Hilton Als, Pulitzer Prize–winner and author of White Girls


Book Synopsis Last Chance Texaco by : Rickie Lee Jones

Download or read book Last Chance Texaco written by Rickie Lee Jones and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A candid and colorful memoir by the singer, songwriter, and “Duchess of Coolsville” (Time). This troubadour life is only for the fiercest hearts, only for those vessels that can be broken to smithereens and still keep beating out the rhythm for a new song . . . Last Chance Texaco is the first-ever no-holds-barred account of the life of two-time Grammy Award-winner and Rickie Lee Jones in her own words (Hilton Als). It is a tale of desperate chances and impossible triumphs, an adventure story of a girl who beat the odds and grew up to become one of the most legendary artists of her time, turning adversity and hopelessness into timeless music. With candor and lyricism, she takes us on a singular journey through her nomadic childhood, her years as a teenage runaway, her legendary love affair with Tom Waits, and ultimately her longevity as the hardest working woman in rock and roll. Rickie Lee’s stories are rich with the infamous characters of her early songs—“Chuck E’s in Love,” “Weasel and the White Boys Cool,” “Danny’s All-Star Joint,” and “Easy Money”—but long before her notoriety in show business, there was a vaudevillian cast of hitchhikers, bank robbers, jail breaks, drug mules, and a pimp with a heart of gold, and tales of her fabled ancestors. This intimate memoir by one of the most trailblazing and tenacious women in music is filled with never-before-told stories of the girl in the raspberry beret, whose songs defied categorization and inspired American pop culture for decades. “A striking, distinctive self-portrait.” —The New York Times “Terrific . . . Jones is as fearless in prose as she is on stage.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune “Men leave, fame fizzles, family breaks your heart . . . but Jones knows a good story and how to tell it.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “[The] premiere song-stylist and songwriter of her generation.” —Hilton Als, Pulitzer Prize–winner and author of White Girls