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Los sueños de mi padre. Edición para jóvenes / Dreams from My Father (Adapted for Young Adults)
by Barack ObamaAhora adaptadas para jóvenes, las memorias bestseller #1 del New York Times que Toni Morrison llamó “realmente extraordinarias” ofrecen una mirada íntima a los primeros años de Barack Obama. Se trata de un viaje fascinante que traza la odisea familiar, racial y de identidad del futuro cuadragésimo cuarto presidente. El retrato revelador de un joven hombre negro cuestionándose sobre el autodescubrimiento y la pertenencia… mucho antes de convertirse en una de las voces más importantes de Estados Unidos. Esta edición única incluye una nueva introducción del autor, un inserto de imágenes a color y un árbol genealógico. Hijo de una madre blanca de Estados Unidos y un padre negro de Kenya, Obama nació en Hawai, donde vivió hasta los seis años, cuando se mudó con su madre y su padrastro a Indonesia. A los doce años regresó a Hawai para vivir con sus abuelos. Obama lleva a sus lectores consigo mientras enfrenta los retos en high school y universidad, en su vida en Nueva York, al convertirse en organizador comunitario en Chicago y al viajar a Kenya. A través de tales experiencias forma un compromiso duradero con el liderazgo y la justicia. Contado a través de las relaciones con su familia —la madre y los abuelos que lo criaron, el padre que consideraba más mito que hombre y el clan familiar que conoció en Kenya por primera vez—, Obama hace frente a la complicada verdad de la vida y el legado de su padre, y termina por abrazar su origen dividido. En su viaje hacia la edad adulta desde sus humildes inicios, se forja su propio camino mediante ensayo y error, mientras permanece siempre conectado con sus raíces. Barack Obama está decidido a llevar una vida de servicio, con propósito y autenticidad. Su poderosa autobiografía inspirará a los lectores a examinar de dónde vienen y hasta dónde son capaces de llegar.
Los sueños de la niña de la montaña: Memoria de una utopia cumplida
by Eufrosina Cruz MendozaEste libro cuenta una historia de terquedad y rebeldía. La de una niña que a los 12 años decidió escribir su destino y, de paso, ayudar a miles y miles de mexicanas a cambiar su suerte Soy Eufrosina Cruz y nací en la montaña zapoteca. A los 27 años gané la presidencia de mi pueblo, pero no me dejaron gobernar porque era mujer. En ese momento supe que, para cambiar mi vida y la de las mujeres indígenas, debía transformar la ley más importante de mi país. Desde entonces, mi lucha ha sido para que los pueblos indígenas y afro no sean considerados menores de edad y para que las mujeres no sean personas de segunda. En este viaje he logrado modificar la Constitución de mi estado, cambiar la Constitución de México y que la onu adoptara mi iniciativa contra el sexismo y la discriminación. Pero lo que más me enorgullece es que he podido decirles a las niñas que tienen derecho a ser quienes quieran, a que su origen no defina su destino y a que pueden cumplir sus sueños, tal como lo hizo esta niña de las montañas.
Los sueños de mi padre: Una historia de raza y herencia
by Barack ObamaEn estas memorias líricas y absorbentes, publicadas originalmente en 1995, el hijo de un africano negro y una estadounidense blanca busca su camino como afroamericano. Las memorias que Obama relata en Los sueños de mi padre comienzan en Nueva York, donde se entera de que su padre ha fallecido en un accidente automovilístico. La inesperada noticia provoca en él un viaje físico y emocional que lo lleva de Kansas a Hawái y más tarde a Kenia, en una emotiva odisea que le permitirá conocer realmente a su familia, la amarga verdad de la vida de su padre y conciliar al fin las distintas partes de su fragmentada herencia. Reseñas:«Provocador... Describe convincentemente el hecho de pertenecer a dos mundos diferentes y, por tanto, de no pertenecer a ninguno.»New York Times Book Review «De una manera fluida, tranquila y perceptiva, Obama nos guía directamente al sitio donde se cruzan los interrogantes más serios sobre identidad, clase y raza.»Washington Post Book World
Los sueños descalzos de Petra Luna
by Alda P. DobbsBasado en una historia real, este es el intrépido y arriesgado viaje de una niña que va rumbo a cruzar la frontera hacia los Estados Unidos para trasladar a su familia a un lugar seguro durante la Revolución Mexicana. Es 1913 y la mamá de Petra Luna, una niña de doce años, ha muerto mientras la Revolución hace estragos en México. Antes de que los soldados se llevaran a su papá, Petra le promete que cuidará de la familia que le queda: su abuelita, su hermana pequeña Amelia y su hermanito Luisito, hasta que puedan reunirse con él. Juntos huyen hacia el norte mientras arde la ciudad que dejaron atrás, y cruzan el desierto cruel e inhumano en busca de un refugio seguro en un mundo que no ofrece muchos. Cada noche cuando Petra cierra los ojos, añora todos sus sueños, especialmente su anhelado deseo de aprender a leer. Abuelita llama a esos sueños “sueños descalzos”: "Son como nosotros, indios y campesinos descalzos. . . no están destinados a ir muy lejos". Pero Petra se niega a escuchar. Atravesando desiertos y campos de batalla, hambre y miedo, Petra no se detendrá ante nada para mantener a salvo a su familia y guiarlos hacia una vida mejor al otro lado de la frontera de EE. UU., un lugar donde sus sueños descalzos finalmente podrían convertirse en realidad.
Los Últimos Cien: Una Novela De Las Guerras Apaches
by Jim EllisLa década de 1920 en México y el suroeste de Estados Unidos tienen muchos peligros, ya que los últimos bastiones Apaches persisten contra los invasores extranjeros. Duro como clavos, el militar confederado Jock MacNeil recibe una invitación inesperada para guiar a los fugitivos de una reserva a una fortaleza en Sierra Madre. Frente a las autoridades mexicanas y estadounidenses, y a las Guerras Apaches propagándose alrededor de ellos, Jock es testigo de primera mano de los terrores de la guerra y de su propia transformación de ser un hombre de fe a la Espiritualidad Apache.
Los Últimos días de Jesús (The Last Days of Jesus)
by Bill O'Reilly William Low Carlos Uxo Cobalt Illustrations Studio, IncHace dos mil años, Jesús caminó por Galilea; allá donde viajaba, más y más personas se convertían en sus seguidores. Sus contemporáneos son figuras históricas conocidas: Julio César, César Augusto, Herodes, Poncio Pilatos. Aquella era una época de una opresión omnipresente, en la que hombres, mujeres y niños se hallaban bajo el brutal poder del Imperio Romano. Jesús vivió en este mundo; en un contexto política e históricamente volátil en el que también murió, cambiando el mundo para siempre. Adaptado del gran éxito de ventas de Bill O'Reilly, el thriller histórico Matar a Jesús, y con vistosas y detalladas ilustraciones, Los últimos días de Jesús es una explicación, fascinante y basada en hechos, de la vida y los tiempos de Jesús, ahora disponible en español.
Los últimos días de Roger Federer: y otros finales
by Geoff DyerUnapoderosa reflexión sobre hallar propósito en el ocaso de nuestras vidas.«Dyer, que se ha propuesto escribir un libro sobre los finales, se siente atraído por la infinitud, por la forma en que una cosa lleva a la otra [...]. Hay pasajes realmente magníficos, algunos fragmentos de crítica maravillosos, algunas apasionantes descripciones de psicodélicos».The New York Times¿Qué ocurre con la carrera de grandes artistas y atletas cuando llegan a la vejez? ¿Alcanzan una serenidad renovada o sucumben al tormento? A medida que nuestro cuerpo y nuestra mente se deterioran, ¿cómo seguir adelante?Geoff Dyer reflexiona sobre las secuelas del paso del tiempo y se fija en los últimos días de grandes escritores, pintores, futbolistas, músicos y estrellas del tenis (sí, también Roger Federer). Con un tono mordaz y una lucidez inigualables, Dyer nos acerca a momentos críticos de genios que cedieron física o mentalmente cuando sus carreras alcanzaron la cúspide o que se reinventaron desafiando las convenciones. Entre su exquisita selección, Dyer nos confía el deterioro mental de Nietzsche, los nuevos sonidos que Dylan encontró tras una crisis creativa, las últimas pinturas con cierto aire abstracto de Turner, la brillante pluma de Jean Rhys en su madurez y los mágicos cuartetos finales de Beethoven.Los últimos días de Roger Federer es una ingeniosa y festiva reflexión sobre la finitud y sobre el arte como modo de perdurar en el tiempo. Una obra conmovedora, ágil y lúcida que nos devuelve la esperanza de hallar sentido a los últimos años de la vida. La crítica ha dicho:«Un tesoro nacional».Zadie Smith«Dulcemente transcendental. [...] Un libro que, a pesar de tratar un tema sombrío, rebosa energía y su voz resuena alegremente».The Sunday Times«Qué sensibilidad tiene charlando con el lector de una manera cálidamenteamigable,con su prosa salpicada de humor autocrítico y notas al pie, su erudición para nada pomposa o trivial».The Daily Telegraph«La madurez le ha llegado, pero la juventud no se ha ido. Son los soportes para las rodillas en ambas piernas los que ahora lo mantienen en la cancha de tenis, pero, al igual que Federer, lo que lo mantiene en el juego es una mezcla de estilo, toque, sincronización y buen ojo».The Guardian
Los últimos días del Che
by Juan Ignacio Siles del ValleMucho se ha escrito sobre la trayectoria, vida y mito de Ernesto Che Guevara. Sin embargo, son escasos los trabajos de investigación histórica que permiten conocer de primera mano -gracias a un pormenorizado estudio de documentación inédita, fuentes orales y expedientes- la aventura del Che en Bolivia, el periplo que le costó la vida al «guerrillero heroico» un ya lejano octubre de 1967. Juan Ignacio Siles, profesor y especialista en guerrilla latinoamericana, ha tenido acceso a numerosos diarios de guerrilleros, escuchado a los campesinos que le conocieron, recuperado informes de la policía y el ejército que par ticipó en la captura, y analizado con detalle el Diario de Bolivia del Che con el fin de escribir un texto brillante y preciso, poético y analítico, donde la información se cruza con la tragedia, el dato con el sentimiento y la verdad con la pasión narrativa. Escrito con el brío de las mejores novelas de acción, este texto posibilita una lectura coral y poética de unos de los momentos estelares de la guerrilla latinoamericana. Paisaje con figuras, evocación histórica, política y literaria, esta obra retrata con detalle la pasión y muerte de uno de los iconos del siglo XX.
Lose Weight 4 Life: My blueprint for long-term, sustainable weight loss through Motivation, Measurement, Movement, Maintenance
by Tom Watson'An honest and fascinating account of the journey that Tom made from discovering he was a type 2 diabetic to doing something about it. This book will change lives.' Michael Mosley, on The Sunday Time's bestseller DownsizingFrom the bestselling author of Downsizing, a guide to losing weight - and keeping it off - as well as improving health, from someone who has successfully done both, Lose Weight 4 Life outlines the programme Tom Watson followed for his own remarkable 8-stone (50kg) weight loss. Divided into 4 sections - Motivation, Movement, Measurement and Maintenance - it includes relatable examples of Tom's own, often bumpy, journey to better health, which saw him transform from someone who mindlessly hoovered up entire packets of biscuits at one go and had to rummage in the XXXL bin for exercise gear into someone who rowed the length of the UK. Packed with practical advice backed up by the latest research, Lose Weight 4 Life demonstrates that it is never too late to turn things around, even if you are someone who has failed umpteen times before.
Lose Well: False Starts, Beautiful Disasters, Public Humiliations, and Other Secrets to Success
by Chris Gethard“If anyone can get you to give your dreams an honest shot, it’s Chris Gethard, the king of somehow turning defeats into victories.” —Judd Apatow, comedian, writer, and directorA laugh-out-loud, kick-in-the-pants self-help narrative for anyone who ever felt like they didn’t fit in or couldn’t catch a break—comedian and cult hero Chris Gethard shows us how to get over our fear of failure and start living life on our own terms.Setting flame to vision boards and tossing out the “seven simple steps” to achieving anything, the host of the eponymous TruTV talk show and the wildly popular podcast Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People illustrates his personal and professional manifesto with hilarious and ultimately empowering stories about his own set-backs, missteps, and public failures, from the cancellation of his Comedy Central sitcom after seven episodes to rediscovering his comedic voice and life’s purpose on a public access channel.With his trademark wit and inspiring storytelling—a cross between David Sedaris and Jenny Lawson—Gethard teaches us how to power through our own hero’s journey, whether we’re a fifteen-year-old starting a punk band or a fifty-year-old mother of three launching an Etsy page. In the process, he shows us how to fail with grace, laugh on the way down, and as we dust ourselves off, how to transform inevitable failures into endless opportunities.“Chris speaks inspirational life truths to the outsider in all of us. A pithy road map of the antiestablishment path by which one can succeed in comedy and life” —Nick Offerman“Will change the way you think about failure. It’s funny, heartfelt, and full of advice that every creative person needs to hear.” —Hello Giggles
Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route
by Saidiya HartmanIn Lose Your Mother, Saidiya Hartman traces the history of the Atlantic slave trade by recounting a journey she took along a slave route in Ghana. Following the trail of captives from the hinterland to the Atlantic coast, Hartman reckons with the blank slate of her own genealogy and vividly dramatizes the effects of slavery on three centuries of African and African-American history. The slave, Hartman observes, is a stranger, one torn from family, home, and country. To lose your mother is to be severed from your kin, to forget your past, and to inhabit the world as an outsider, an alien. There are no known survivors of Hartman's lineage, no relatives in Ghana whom she came hoping to find. She is a stranger in search of strangers, and this fact leads her into intimate engagements with the people she encounters along the way and draws her deeper into the heartland of slavery. She passes through the holding cells of military forts and castles, the ruins of towns and villages devastated by the trade, and the fortified settlements built to repel predatory armies and kidnappers. In artful passages of historical portraiture, she shows us an Akan prince who granted the Portuguese permission to build the first permanent trading fort in West Africa, a girl murdered aboard a slave ship, and a community of fugitives seeking a haven from slave raiders.
Lose to Find: Change of Control
by Roger LamRoger Lam thought he was done with writing after pouring 46 years&’ worth of his life lessons into his first book, Lost and Found: Money vs. Riches. That was almost certainly the case until multimedia messages from God led him to liquidate his entire equity portfolio in early February 2018, followed by an unbelievably supernatural confirmation the following morning. Immediately, deep in Roger Lam&’s heart he knew this was a story that had to be told for the glory of God, but little did he know that this dramatic conclusion to his pledge for church premises pales in comparison to what God had planned ahead for him in the rest of 2018.Lose to Find: Change of Control reads like a Christ follower&’s diary of wrestling with surrender. Despite constantly feeling like the most unlikely spokesperson and champion for stewardship and generosity, it became clear to Roger Lam that God was not satisfied to leave the other areas of his life besides money remaining in his control--his vocation, safety and purpose. Continuing in the same authenticity and conversational tone for which readers around the world have shown appreciation in his first book, Roger Lam humorously shares his continued God-ordained spiritual transformation, going beyond the area of money which (he thought) he had already mastered. This new leg of his Spirit-filled journey entails unimaginable, interlinked supernatural adventures starting in Hong Kong, followed by divine appointments in Beijing, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, South India, Shanghai and Washington D.C. all within a calendar year.
Loser Goes First: My Thirty-something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation
by Dan KennedyIt all begins on Christmas morning, 1978. Dan Kennedy is ten years old and wants a black Gibson Les Paul guitar, the kind Peter Frampton plays. It will be his passport to the coolest (only) band in the neighborhood--Jokerz. He doesn't get it. Instead, his parents present him with what they think he wants most, a real-estate loan calculator (called the Loan Arranger) and a maroon velour pullover shirt with a tan stripe across the chest. It is the first of what will become a lifetime of various-sized failures, misunderstandings, comical humiliations, and just plain silly choices that have dogged this "hipster Proust of youthful loserdom," as author Jerry Stahl has so eloquently called Mr. Kennedy. Dan's hilarious and painfully awkward youth soon develops into a . . . uh . . . hilarious and painfully awkward adulthood. His first two choices for university are Yale (Lit or Drama) and Harvard (Business), so he reviews his high school transcripts and decides on Butte Community College in Oroville, California, where he studies for about four and a half weeks. We could go on here and describe in detail all of Dan's good-natured stabs at ambition, but he, himself, sums it all up quite nicely: "If you've ever tried and failed miserably at being a rock star (no guitar/talent), a professional bass fisherman, an extra in the movie Sleepless in Seattle (guy drinking martini in bar while Tom Hanks makes a phone call), a Madison Avenue advertising executive, a clerk/towel person at a suburban health club (named Kangaroo Kourts), an espresso street-cart owner and operator (in the one neighborhood of that coffee-swilling town, Seattle, where, remarkably, no one really seems to drink coffee), a dot. com millionaire, an MTV VJ, or a forest fire fighter, this book is for you. " Along the way, a few lessons are learned and we are treated to one of the most original, riotously funny, unsentimental, and offbeat memoirs in recent history. Dan's a favorite in McSweeney's and at the very popular Moth readings in New York City. We should be happy that he failed so miserably at so many things--and took notes! From the Hardcover edition.
Losers Like Us: Redefining Discipleship after Epic Failure
by Daniel HochhalterIn 2008, after seven years of preparation, Daniel Hochhalter permanently failed his PhD, leaving him with no refunds, no transferable credits, no recourse to appeal or try again, and no hope of gaining the qualifications needed for his desired career. Then he lost his job. Devastated and in crisis, with no Plan B and no clue how to redeem his future, he looked to the twelve disciples and discovered that--despite their gaping faults and sins--God still loved them and used them to change the world. With fresh warmth and wisdom, ample hope and humor, Losers Like Us skillfully intertwines Dan's own story with theirs to show how our worst mistakes and greatest failures bring us to a place of teachableness, egolessness, brokenness, and empathy--the very qualifications required to receive God's love and grace, and to manifest his kingdom on earth.
Losers: Historias de famosos perdedores del rock
by Maximiliano PoterMaxi Poter (re)descubre a esos músicos a los que el destino les jugó una broma pesada que los dejó en el backstage de la gloria. Los artistas que -por azar, tragedias, desencuentros, traiciones, pifies, pelotas en el palo, confusiones y tropiezos cósmicos- se quedaron viendo la consagración desde afuera. Alguna vez The Police fue un desastroso cuarteto. Los Rolling Stones eran seis, pero a uno lo echaron por "feo". En varios países, los Beatles fueron John, Paul, George y un tal "Jimmie". Kiss tuvo un guitarrista con artrosis y Led Zeppelin casi elige al cantante más desafortunado del mundo. La biografía de los más grandes íconos del rock está llena de ilustres desconocidos que, por diversas razones, se quedaron al borde de la fama y hoy son ocultas notas al pie de mitos y leyendas. Maximiliano Poter (re)descubre y (re)valoriza a los otros "Pete Best" de la historia: esos músicos que aun teniendo todo lo que hace falta (talento, carisma, atractivo, dedicación, oportunismo, contactos y hasta la imprescindible "suerte") se quedaron en el backstage de la gloria. Losers reúne las maravillosas y agridulces vidas de esos desdichados que son parte fundamental de la crónica universal del rock pero que -por azar, tragedias, peleas, traiciones, pifies, confusiones, macanas, pelotas en el palo y hasta injusticias cósmicas- no recibieron su merecida consagración. Estos son los más exitosos "casi famosos".
Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency
by Robert C. ByrdThe long-time Democratic Senator from West Virginia gives his perspective on Bush's policies, drawing on his experience as a senator since the Kennedy era, as well as his knowledge of America's history and Constitution.
Losing Amma, Finding Home: A Memoir about Love, Loss and Life's Detours
by Uma GirishUma Girish’s Losing Amma, Finding Home is a heart-rending narrative of losing a parent, living through the pain and transforming it to discover one true-calling and life’s purpose. This is a breathtaking inspirational and personal memoir that will ring true with every reader! When Uma arrives to start life in a Chicago suburb with her husband, 14-year-old daughter and her dreams in the spring of 2008, she has no clue of the cosmic wheels in motion. Barely four weeks later, her 68-year-old mother, in India, is diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. Eight months later, she passes away. Losing her mother plunges Uma into the deepest despair, but more importantly, awakens a sudden clarity and knowing that ‘there has to be more to life than this’. As she begins to navigate a new country and culture, she is also called on to navigate the lonely terrain of grief. Life begins to open doors and Uma finds comfort, connection and purpose in working with seniors at a retirement community. Every relationship that she forms with the seniors opens her heart a little wider as she seeks answers to the only questions that matter. Who am I? Why am I here? What am I meant to do with this life? Interweaving two cultures through a textured narrative, Uma uncovers the truths of her inner journey as she transforms – one event, one person at a time.
Losing Cooper: Finding Hope To Grieve Well
by J. J. JasperA true story of hope in the midst of great personal tragedy. Losing Cooper: Finding Hope to Grieve Well, is the moving story of the Jasper family after the tragic death of their five-year-old son Cooper. The book chronicles their journey through darkness, but offers real hope to anyone experiencing trouble, trials or tragedy. It shows how a strong Christian family deals with shock, loss and grief from a Biblical perspective.
Losing Everything
by David Lozell MartinIn Losing Everything, his first book of nonfiction, acclaimed novelist David Lozell Martin tells his wildest, most outlandish story yet -- his own. One evening in the mountainous forest of his isolated West Virginia farmhouse, Martin became disoriented when searching for a horse who had wandered off the property. Wading through the dark and guiding his horse with a belt around its neck, Martin felt as though every step was taking him deeper into the mountains. Instead, he unknowingly spent the night walking in a wide circle that brought him back to where he started. This quickly became a metaphor for Martin's life. "The more lost I get, the closer to home I come." After growing up with a violent father who nearly killed Martin's clinically insane mother, Martin pursued a writer's life with a vengeance, becoming vulnerable to struggles with alcohol, financial ruin, and legal feuds. Then, after a betrayal by his soul mate, Martin's sanity was in as much jeopardy as his mother's had ever been -- a state of mind that in his case led to gunfire, divorce, and at least one trip to the emergency room. But Losing Everything is less about getting lost and more about finding your way home again. In his pursuit of stability, Martin uncovered lessons that might help others who have encountered loss: take pleasure in something as small as an ampersand, keep a list of people you know who have died, meet your own death like a warrior, and be glad you don't own a monkey. Deeply personal yet surprisingly universal, Martin's story is for anyone who has wandered astray. If not a road map, his journey is a guide, providing hard-earned wisdom to illuminate the path home.
Losing Isn't Everything: The Untold Stories and Hidden Lessons Behind the Toughest Losses in Sports History
by Michael Arkush Curt MenefeeA refreshing and thought-provoking look at athletes whose legacies have been reduced to one defining moment of defeat—those on the flip side of an epic triumph—and what their experiences can teach us about competition, life, and the human spirit.Every sports fan recalls with amazing accuracy a pivotal winning moment involving a favorite team or player—Henry Aaron hitting his 715th home run to pass Babe Ruth; Christian Laettner’s famous buzzer beating shot in the NCAA tournament for Duke. Yet lost are the stories on the other side of these history-making moments, the athletes who experienced not transcendent glory but crushing disappointment: the cornerback who missed the tackle on the big touchdown; the relief pitcher who lost the series; the world-record holding Olympian who fell on the ice.In Losing Isn’t Everything, famed sportscaster Curt Menefee, joined by bestselling writer Michael Arkush, examines a range of signature "disappointments" from the wide world of sports, interviewing the subject at the heart of each loss and uncovering what it means—months, years, or decades later—to be associated with failure. While history is written by the victorious, Menefee argues that these moments when an athlete has fallen short are equally valuable to sports history, offering deep insights into the individuals who suffered them and about humanity itself.Telling the losing stories behind such famous moments as the Patriots’ Rodney Harrison guarding the Giants' David Tyree during the "Helmet Catch" in Super Bowl XLII, Mary Decker’s fall in the 1984 Olympic 1500m, and Craig Ehlo who gave up "The Shot" to Michael Jordan in the 1989 NBA playoffs, Menefee examines the legacy of the hardest loses, revealing the unique path that athletes have to walk after they lose on their sport’s biggest stage. Shedding new light some of the most accepted scapegoat stories in the sports cannon, he also revisits both the Baltimore Colts' loss to the Jets in Super Bowl III, as well as the Red Sox loss in the 1986 World Series, showing why, despite years of humiliation, it might not be all Bill Buckner's fault.Illustrated with sixteen pages of color photos, this considered and compassionate study offers invaluable lessons about pain, resilience, disappointment, remorse, and acceptance that can help us look at our lives and ourselves in a profound new way.
Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time
by Valerie BertinelliValerie Bertinelli, then: bubbly sitcom star and America's Sweetheart turned tabloid headline and rock star wife. Now: actress, single working mother of teenage rock star, and weight-loss inspiration to millions. We all knew and loved Valerie Bertinelli years ago when she played girl-next-door cutie Barbara Cooper in the hit TV show One Day at a Time, and then starred in numerous TV movies. From wholesome primetime in America's living rooms, Valerie moved to late nights with the hardest-partying band of the decadent eighties when she became, at twenty, wife to rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Losing It is Valerie's frank account of her life backstage and in the spotlight. Here are the ups and downs of teen stardom, of her complicated marriage to a brilliant, tormented musical genius, and of her very public struggle with her weight. Surprising, uplifting, and empowering, Losing It takes you behind the scenes of Valerie's acting career and marriage, recalling the comforts, friendships, and problems of her television family, her close relationships with her parents and brothers, the stress and worries of being the wife of a rock star, and the joys of motherhood. Like many women, Valerie often remembers the state of her life by the food she ate and the numbers on her scale. So despite her celebrity, Valerie's voice is so down-to-earth, honest, and appealing that you'll feel as if you're talking with a girlfriend over coffee. Funny and candid, Valerie recounts her attempts to maintain a healthy self-image while dealing with social pressures to look and act a certain way, and to overcome career insecurities and relationship problems, all of which will be familiar to the hundreds of thousands of women who struggle every day with these same issues. From marital turmoil to the joys of a new career, from being named among Penthouse's ten sexiest women in the world to overhearing whispers about her weight gain in the grocery store, this is Valerie's inspiring journey as she finds new love, raises a terrific kid, and motivates other women as a spokesperson for Jenny Craig.
Losing Jon: A Teen's Tragic Death, a Police Cover-Up, a Community's Fight for Justice
by David ParrishA Chilling True Story of Injustice David Parrish was in disbelief when he learned that nineteen-year-old Jon Bowie&’s body had been found hanged from a backstop at the local high school&’s baseball field and the death declared a suicide. David had known Jon and his twin brother since they were boys. He had coached them on the baseball field and welcomed them into his home for sleepovers with his own sons. However, when David learned how Jon&’s body was found, he felt compelled to find the facts behind the incomprehensible tragedy. Soon, David would learn of a brutal incident at a local motel where Jon and his brother had been severely beaten by police officers, the charges filed against those officers, and the months of harassment and intimidation Jon and his brother endured. Few in the utopian community of Columbia, Maryland, believed Jon could commit such a final act. Like many others, David wondered how a fateful night of teens blowing off steam could lead to such a tragic end. As law enforcement failed to find answers and seemed intent on preventing the truth from surfacing, David uncovered a system of cover-ups that could only lead to one conclusion—Jon&’s death was an act of murder. &“A true page turner, filled with almost-too-unbelievable-to-be-true details of one community&’s fight to find justice for one of its own . . . the issues raised, particularly when it comes to questions of police brutality and cover-ups, are very much relevant today.&”—New York Times bestselling author Lisa Pulitzer Includes 8 Pages of Photographs Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com
Losing Music: A Memoir
by John Cotter“In his moving memoir, John Cotter anticipates a world without sound . . . a compelling portrait of how deafness isolates people.” —The Washington PostJohn Cotter was thirty years old when he first began to notice a ringing in his ears. Soon the ringing became a roar inside his head. Next came partial deafness, then dizziness and vertigo that rendered him unable to walk, work, sleep, or even communicate. At a stage of life when he expected to be emerging fully into adulthood, teaching and writing books, he found himself “crippled and dependent,” and in search of care.When he is first told that his debilitating condition is likely Ménière’s Disease, but that there is “no reliable test, no reliable treatment, and no consensus on its cause,” Cotter quits teaching, stops writing, and commences upon a series of visits to doctors and treatment centers. What begins as an expedition across the country navigating and battling the limits of the American healthcare system, quickly becomes something else entirely: a journey through hopelessness and adaptation to disability. Along the way, hearing aids become inseparable from his sense of self, as does a growing understanding that the possibilities in his life are narrowing rather than expanding. And with this understanding of his own travails comes reflection on age-old questions around fate, coincidence, and making meaning of inexplicable misfortune.A devastating memoir that sheds urgent, bracingly honest light on both the taboos surrounding disability and the limits of medical science, Losing Music is refreshingly vulnerable and singularly illuminating—a story that will make readers see their own lives anew.
Losing My Cool
by Williams Thomas ChattertonA pitch-perfect account of how hip-hop culture drew in the author and how his father drew him out again-with love, perseverance, and fifteen thousand books. Into Williams's childhood home-a one-story ranch house-his father crammed more books than the local library could hold. "Pappy" used some of these volumes to run an academic prep service; the rest he used in his unending pursuit of wisdom. His son's pursuits were quite different-"money, hoes, and clothes. " The teenage Williams wore Medusa- faced Versace sunglasses and a hefty gold medallion, dumbed down and thugged up his speech, and did whatever else he could to fit into the intoxicating hip-hop culture that surrounded him. Like all his friends, he knew exactly where he was the day Biggie Smalls died, he could recite the lyrics to any Nas or Tupac song, and he kept his woman in line, with force if necessary. But Pappy, who grew up in the segregated South and hid in closets so he could read Aesop and Plato, had a different destiny in mind for his son. For years, Williams managed to juggle two disparate lifestyles- "keeping it real" in his friends' eyes and studying for the SATs under his father's strict tutelage. As college approached and the stakes of the thug lifestyle escalated, the revolving door between Williams's street life and home life threatened to spin out of control. Ultimately, Williams would have to decide between hip-hop and his future. Would he choose "street dreams" or a radically different dream- the one Martin Luther King spoke of or the one Pappy held out to him now? Williams is the first of his generation to measure the seductive power of hip-hop against its restrictive worldview, which ultimately leaves those who live it powerless. Losing My Cool portrays the allure and the danger of hip-hop culture like no book has before. Even more remarkably, Williams evokes the subtle salvation that literature offers and recounts with breathtaking clarity a burgeoning bond between father and son. Watch a Video .
Losing My Faculties
by Brendan HalpinIn his first nine years as a teacher, Brendan Halpin goes from wide-eyed idealist to cynical, heartbroken idealist. Unique among teaching memoirs, Losing My Faculties is not the story of a heroic teacher who transforms the lives of his hardbitten students; rather, it's the inspirational and often unpretty truth about people who choose to get up ridiculously early day after day and year after year to go stand in front of teenagers. It's also a rarely-seen, all-access view of both suburban and urban education, including the ugly truth behind the mythology at a much-hyped charter school.