The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice

The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice

Author: Nathan Leslie

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780984040506

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Fiction. When Tommy's parents abandon him as a baby, his grandmother Gaga takes him to her reclusive house at the top of Pike's Peak. Gaga's parenting methods are extreme, but Tommy soon learns her eccentricities are nothing compared to the rest of his family. As he's passed between his outlandish aunts, Tommy's journey takes him to the country homestead of Aunt Tess (who hides surprising objects in her voluminous hair), the four city houses of Aunt Penny (who prefers to communicate by ESP), and the cave-like desert home of Aunt Chelsea the coyote hunter. As his cross-country romp reveals how bizarrely different families can be, Tommy begins to wonder if the conventional home he's dreamed of might not be for him after all. THE TALL TALE OF TOMMY TWICE captures the unmoored feelings of young adulthood and the complexities of American identity. It's a dazzling novel about the ineffability of childhood and the nature of family and relationships in the increasingly rootless American experience.


Book Synopsis The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice by : Nathan Leslie

Download or read book The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice written by Nathan Leslie and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fiction. When Tommy's parents abandon him as a baby, his grandmother Gaga takes him to her reclusive house at the top of Pike's Peak. Gaga's parenting methods are extreme, but Tommy soon learns her eccentricities are nothing compared to the rest of his family. As he's passed between his outlandish aunts, Tommy's journey takes him to the country homestead of Aunt Tess (who hides surprising objects in her voluminous hair), the four city houses of Aunt Penny (who prefers to communicate by ESP), and the cave-like desert home of Aunt Chelsea the coyote hunter. As his cross-country romp reveals how bizarrely different families can be, Tommy begins to wonder if the conventional home he's dreamed of might not be for him after all. THE TALL TALE OF TOMMY TWICE captures the unmoored feelings of young adulthood and the complexities of American identity. It's a dazzling novel about the ineffability of childhood and the nature of family and relationships in the increasingly rootless American experience.


FLASH!: Writing the Very Short Story

FLASH!: Writing the Very Short Story

Author: John Dufresne

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2018-02-13

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0393352366

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An engaging and frank guide to writing the very short story, full of sound advice, exemplary models, and provocative exercises. The history of fiction has been dominated by the novel and the short story. But now a brave new genre has emerged: very brief fiction. FLASH! identifies the qualities that make for excellent flash fiction, demystifies the writing process, and guides writers by exercise and example through the world of the very short story. John Dufresne’s characteristic warmth, wit, and humor remind writers of the joy in the creative process, making this a perfect guide for any writer interested in trying a new form.


Book Synopsis FLASH!: Writing the Very Short Story by : John Dufresne

Download or read book FLASH!: Writing the Very Short Story written by John Dufresne and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2018-02-13 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An engaging and frank guide to writing the very short story, full of sound advice, exemplary models, and provocative exercises. The history of fiction has been dominated by the novel and the short story. But now a brave new genre has emerged: very brief fiction. FLASH! identifies the qualities that make for excellent flash fiction, demystifies the writing process, and guides writers by exercise and example through the world of the very short story. John Dufresne’s characteristic warmth, wit, and humor remind writers of the joy in the creative process, making this a perfect guide for any writer interested in trying a new form.


They Tell Me of a Home

They Tell Me of a Home

Author: Daniel Black

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2006-11-28

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 1429929111

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A stunning literary debut about coming back home again. Twenty-eight-year-old protagonist Tommy Lee Tyson steps off the Greyhound bus in his hometown of Swamp Creek, Arkansas—a place he left when he was eighteen, vowing never to return. Yet fate and a Ph.D. in black studies force him back to his rural origins as he seeks to understand himself and the black community that produced him. A cold, nonchalant father and an emotionally indifferent mother make his return, after a ten-year hiatus, practically unbearable, and the discovery of his baby sister's death and her burial in the backyard almost consumes him. His mother watches his agony when he discovers his sister's tombstone, but neither she nor other family members is willing to disclose the secret of her death. Only after being prodded incessantly does his older brother, Willie James, relent and provide Tommy Lee with enough knowledge to figure out exactly what happened and why. Meanwhile, Tommy's seventy-year-old teacher—lying on her deathbed—asks him to remain in Swamp Creek and assume her position as the headmaster of the one-room schoolhouse. He refuses vehemently and she dies having bequeathed him her five thousand–book collection in the hopes that he will change his mind. Over the course of a one-week visit, riddled with tension, heartache, and revelation, Tommy Lee Tyson discovers truths about his family, his community, and his undeniable connection to rural Southern black folk and their ways. "A thrilling literary debut...Daniel Black wields a powerful pen, a sharp eye, and muscular prose in giving us a memorable, even haunting story of the ties that bind." -- Michael Eric Dyson


Book Synopsis They Tell Me of a Home by : Daniel Black

Download or read book They Tell Me of a Home written by Daniel Black and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2006-11-28 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning literary debut about coming back home again. Twenty-eight-year-old protagonist Tommy Lee Tyson steps off the Greyhound bus in his hometown of Swamp Creek, Arkansas—a place he left when he was eighteen, vowing never to return. Yet fate and a Ph.D. in black studies force him back to his rural origins as he seeks to understand himself and the black community that produced him. A cold, nonchalant father and an emotionally indifferent mother make his return, after a ten-year hiatus, practically unbearable, and the discovery of his baby sister's death and her burial in the backyard almost consumes him. His mother watches his agony when he discovers his sister's tombstone, but neither she nor other family members is willing to disclose the secret of her death. Only after being prodded incessantly does his older brother, Willie James, relent and provide Tommy Lee with enough knowledge to figure out exactly what happened and why. Meanwhile, Tommy's seventy-year-old teacher—lying on her deathbed—asks him to remain in Swamp Creek and assume her position as the headmaster of the one-room schoolhouse. He refuses vehemently and she dies having bequeathed him her five thousand–book collection in the hopes that he will change his mind. Over the course of a one-week visit, riddled with tension, heartache, and revelation, Tommy Lee Tyson discovers truths about his family, his community, and his undeniable connection to rural Southern black folk and their ways. "A thrilling literary debut...Daniel Black wields a powerful pen, a sharp eye, and muscular prose in giving us a memorable, even haunting story of the ties that bind." -- Michael Eric Dyson


The Elephant in the Room

The Elephant in the Room

Author: Tommy Tomlinson

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: 2020-01-14

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1501111620

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019 A “warm and funny and honest…genuinely unputdownable” (Curtis Sittenfeld) memoir chronicling what it’s like to live in today’s world as a fat man, from acclaimed journalist Tommy Tomlinson, who, as he neared the age of fifty, weighed 460 pounds and decided he had to change his life. When he was almost fifty years old, Tommy Tomlinson weighed an astonishing—and dangerous—460 pounds, at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, unable to climb a flight of stairs without having to catch his breath, or travel on an airplane without buying two seats. Raised in a family that loved food, he had been aware of the problem for years, seeing doctors and trying diets from the time he was a preteen. But nothing worked, and every time he tried to make a change, it didn’t go the way he planned—in fact, he wasn’t sure that he really wanted to change. In The Elephant in the Room, Tomlinson chronicles his lifelong battle with weight in a voice that combines the urgency of Roxane Gay’s Hunger with the intimacy of Rick Bragg’s All Over but the Shoutin’. He also hits the road to meet other members of the plus-sized tribe in an attempt to understand how, as a nation, we got to this point. From buying a Fitbit and setting exercise goals to contemplating the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, America’s “capital of food porn,” and modifying his own diet, Tomlinson brings us along on a candid and sometimes brutal look at the everyday experience of being constantly aware of your size. Over the course of the book, he confronts these issues head-on and chronicles the practical steps he has to take to lose weight by the end. “What could have been a wallow in memoir self-pity is raised to art by Tomlinson’s wit and prose” (Rolling Stone). Affecting and searingly honest, The Elephant in the Room is an “inspirational” (The New York Times) memoir that will resonate with anyone who has grappled with addiction, shame, or self-consciousness. “Add this to your reading list ASAP” (Charlotte Magazine).


Book Synopsis The Elephant in the Room by : Tommy Tomlinson

Download or read book The Elephant in the Room written by Tommy Tomlinson and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-01-14 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019 A “warm and funny and honest…genuinely unputdownable” (Curtis Sittenfeld) memoir chronicling what it’s like to live in today’s world as a fat man, from acclaimed journalist Tommy Tomlinson, who, as he neared the age of fifty, weighed 460 pounds and decided he had to change his life. When he was almost fifty years old, Tommy Tomlinson weighed an astonishing—and dangerous—460 pounds, at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, unable to climb a flight of stairs without having to catch his breath, or travel on an airplane without buying two seats. Raised in a family that loved food, he had been aware of the problem for years, seeing doctors and trying diets from the time he was a preteen. But nothing worked, and every time he tried to make a change, it didn’t go the way he planned—in fact, he wasn’t sure that he really wanted to change. In The Elephant in the Room, Tomlinson chronicles his lifelong battle with weight in a voice that combines the urgency of Roxane Gay’s Hunger with the intimacy of Rick Bragg’s All Over but the Shoutin’. He also hits the road to meet other members of the plus-sized tribe in an attempt to understand how, as a nation, we got to this point. From buying a Fitbit and setting exercise goals to contemplating the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, America’s “capital of food porn,” and modifying his own diet, Tomlinson brings us along on a candid and sometimes brutal look at the everyday experience of being constantly aware of your size. Over the course of the book, he confronts these issues head-on and chronicles the practical steps he has to take to lose weight by the end. “What could have been a wallow in memoir self-pity is raised to art by Tomlinson’s wit and prose” (Rolling Stone). Affecting and searingly honest, The Elephant in the Room is an “inspirational” (The New York Times) memoir that will resonate with anyone who has grappled with addiction, shame, or self-consciousness. “Add this to your reading list ASAP” (Charlotte Magazine).


Tall Tale America

Tall Tale America

Author: Walter Blair

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1987-01-15

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9780226055961

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The stories of American tall tale heroes- Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and others.


Book Synopsis Tall Tale America by : Walter Blair

Download or read book Tall Tale America written by Walter Blair and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1987-01-15 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The stories of American tall tale heroes- Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and others.


Sibs

Sibs

Author: Nathan Leslie

Publisher:

Published: 2014-04-30

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 9780989238755

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Fiction. The thematically intertwined stories in Nathan Leslie's SIBS, the author's seventh collection, center around brothers and sisters. Often gritty and vivid, we see siblings bond, scrap, and everything in between. Many of these intense stories revolve around childhood and the stresses that siblings must overcome; others are concerned with brothers and sisters doing their best to make do with often tenuous, dysfunctional situations. Playing chess in a local park, two brothers are confronted by a strange young girl. Two sisters struggle with shopaholic behavior. A brother and sister defy spousal abuse. In 1970s America, two sisters move to a hippie commune and experience the unexpected. SIBS is set in remote corners of California, run-down Western Maryland towns, and in post-Industrial wastelands: this is America barely clinging to its sense of family and purpose. Stories from SIBS were originally published in North American Review, Gargoyle, Prick of the Spindle, StorySouth, JMWW, and Scribble.


Book Synopsis Sibs by : Nathan Leslie

Download or read book Sibs written by Nathan Leslie and published by . This book was released on 2014-04-30 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fiction. The thematically intertwined stories in Nathan Leslie's SIBS, the author's seventh collection, center around brothers and sisters. Often gritty and vivid, we see siblings bond, scrap, and everything in between. Many of these intense stories revolve around childhood and the stresses that siblings must overcome; others are concerned with brothers and sisters doing their best to make do with often tenuous, dysfunctional situations. Playing chess in a local park, two brothers are confronted by a strange young girl. Two sisters struggle with shopaholic behavior. A brother and sister defy spousal abuse. In 1970s America, two sisters move to a hippie commune and experience the unexpected. SIBS is set in remote corners of California, run-down Western Maryland towns, and in post-Industrial wastelands: this is America barely clinging to its sense of family and purpose. Stories from SIBS were originally published in North American Review, Gargoyle, Prick of the Spindle, StorySouth, JMWW, and Scribble.


Tommy's World (The Hopkins Family Saga, Book 3)

Tommy's World (The Hopkins Family Saga, Book 3)

Author: Billy Hopkins

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2010-08-05

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 0755359607

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A Manchester lad's life in the early twentieth century - the slums, Smithfield market and the search for love... Billy Hopkins bases his engaging novel, Tommy's World, on the fascinating and inspiring life of his father Tommy, born in a Manchester slum in 1886. Perfect for fans of Lindsey Hutchinson and Maureen Lee. 'The characters will stay with you after you've finished the book, but what you won't be left with is the sickly sweet taste of nostalgia. If you like to learn something from a good story then this could well be the book for you' - The Bookbag Tommy Hopkins' early years aren't very promising. Born at the end of the nineteenth century in a slum district of Manchester, he's blessed with a loving, hard-working mam and dad, but they don't have two ha'pennies to rub together. The family is struck by tragedy not once but twice - but Tommy is a survivor. He quickly makes friends at school, and together they plot money-making schemes, settle scores and play lots of football. Then, at last, it's time to leave the playground behind. Denied the chance of a promising career as an engineer, Tommy finds employment at Manchester's Smithfield market and works his way up, finally becoming a porter. He's turning into a man, and amongst the young women who catch his eye is Kate Lally, who may just be the love of his life... What readers are saying about Tommy's World: 'Well written and the characters are just so great... you enter a different world when you read a Billy Hopkins book' 'Brilliant author, his books are really ones that you can't put down!' 'Tommy's World was superb. Fascinating detail about life as it was. Unputdownable'


Book Synopsis Tommy's World (The Hopkins Family Saga, Book 3) by : Billy Hopkins

Download or read book Tommy's World (The Hopkins Family Saga, Book 3) written by Billy Hopkins and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2010-08-05 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Manchester lad's life in the early twentieth century - the slums, Smithfield market and the search for love... Billy Hopkins bases his engaging novel, Tommy's World, on the fascinating and inspiring life of his father Tommy, born in a Manchester slum in 1886. Perfect for fans of Lindsey Hutchinson and Maureen Lee. 'The characters will stay with you after you've finished the book, but what you won't be left with is the sickly sweet taste of nostalgia. If you like to learn something from a good story then this could well be the book for you' - The Bookbag Tommy Hopkins' early years aren't very promising. Born at the end of the nineteenth century in a slum district of Manchester, he's blessed with a loving, hard-working mam and dad, but they don't have two ha'pennies to rub together. The family is struck by tragedy not once but twice - but Tommy is a survivor. He quickly makes friends at school, and together they plot money-making schemes, settle scores and play lots of football. Then, at last, it's time to leave the playground behind. Denied the chance of a promising career as an engineer, Tommy finds employment at Manchester's Smithfield market and works his way up, finally becoming a porter. He's turning into a man, and amongst the young women who catch his eye is Kate Lally, who may just be the love of his life... What readers are saying about Tommy's World: 'Well written and the characters are just so great... you enter a different world when you read a Billy Hopkins book' 'Brilliant author, his books are really ones that you can't put down!' 'Tommy's World was superb. Fascinating detail about life as it was. Unputdownable'


Root and Shoot

Root and Shoot

Author: Nathan Leslie

Publisher: Texture Press

Published: 2015-09-05

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 9780692520482

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Root and Shoot offers fifty two of Nathan Leslie's best new flash and short fiction pieces. Featuring stories published in Boulevard, Shenandoah, Gargoyle, Red Rock Review, JMWW, Hobart and Cimarron Review, among many others, Root and Shoot pokes its warm muzzle into the fictional loam. There is a bit of everything for everyone in this eclectic collection: crab islands, subway surfers, make out clubs, lizard-outfit-wearers, toll road operators, obsessive children, the indigent and homeless, the rankled and weary, the neurotic and fearful, the resentful and lonely, and those who defy description. Seven years in the making, Root and Shoot is a comprehensive tour-de-force by an author stretching his wings.


Book Synopsis Root and Shoot by : Nathan Leslie

Download or read book Root and Shoot written by Nathan Leslie and published by Texture Press. This book was released on 2015-09-05 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Root and Shoot offers fifty two of Nathan Leslie's best new flash and short fiction pieces. Featuring stories published in Boulevard, Shenandoah, Gargoyle, Red Rock Review, JMWW, Hobart and Cimarron Review, among many others, Root and Shoot pokes its warm muzzle into the fictional loam. There is a bit of everything for everyone in this eclectic collection: crab islands, subway surfers, make out clubs, lizard-outfit-wearers, toll road operators, obsessive children, the indigent and homeless, the rankled and weary, the neurotic and fearful, the resentful and lonely, and those who defy description. Seven years in the making, Root and Shoot is a comprehensive tour-de-force by an author stretching his wings.


Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales

Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales

Author: Robert S. Bader

Publisher: Applause Theatre & Cinema

Published: 2011-10-01

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 1557839212

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

(Applause Books). Groucho Marx was a comic genius who starred on stage and in film, radio, and television. But he was also a gifted writer the author of a play, two screenplays, seven books, and over 100 articles and essays. This newly expanded collection presents the best of Groucho's short comic pieces, written over a period of more than fifty years between 1919 and 1973 for the New York Times , the New Yorker , the Saturday Evening Post , Variety , the Hollywood Reporter , and other newspapers and magazines. Here is the one and only Groucho on his family, his days in vaudeville, his career, World War II, taxes, and other topics from his love of a good cigar to his chronic insomnia, from "Why Harpo Doesn't Talk" to "The Truth About Captain Spalding." The familiar irreverence, wordplay, and a dash of self-deprecation bring Groucho's wisecracking voice to life in these pages, firmly establishing him as one of the world's great humorists. Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales (a title of Groucho's own choosing) is essential reading for Marx Brothers fans, and a hilarious and nostalgic trip through the twentieth century.


Book Synopsis Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales by : Robert S. Bader

Download or read book Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales written by Robert S. Bader and published by Applause Theatre & Cinema. This book was released on 2011-10-01 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Applause Books). Groucho Marx was a comic genius who starred on stage and in film, radio, and television. But he was also a gifted writer the author of a play, two screenplays, seven books, and over 100 articles and essays. This newly expanded collection presents the best of Groucho's short comic pieces, written over a period of more than fifty years between 1919 and 1973 for the New York Times , the New Yorker , the Saturday Evening Post , Variety , the Hollywood Reporter , and other newspapers and magazines. Here is the one and only Groucho on his family, his days in vaudeville, his career, World War II, taxes, and other topics from his love of a good cigar to his chronic insomnia, from "Why Harpo Doesn't Talk" to "The Truth About Captain Spalding." The familiar irreverence, wordplay, and a dash of self-deprecation bring Groucho's wisecracking voice to life in these pages, firmly establishing him as one of the world's great humorists. Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales (a title of Groucho's own choosing) is essential reading for Marx Brothers fans, and a hilarious and nostalgic trip through the twentieth century.


Don't Forget Me, Bro

Don't Forget Me, Bro

Author: John Michael Cummings

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this heartfelt journey, families contain all of it. There?s simply no tidy, predictable emotional or dynamic boundary to draw around these most primal of human units. Even those who don?t know their biological families have collective relationships that daily test their autonomy, individuality, self-worth and dreams.


Book Synopsis Don't Forget Me, Bro by : John Michael Cummings

Download or read book Don't Forget Me, Bro written by John Michael Cummings and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this heartfelt journey, families contain all of it. There?s simply no tidy, predictable emotional or dynamic boundary to draw around these most primal of human units. Even those who don?t know their biological families have collective relationships that daily test their autonomy, individuality, self-worth and dreams.