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The Love You Save: A Memoir
by Goldie Taylor*A Zibby's Most Anticipated Book of 2023**One of The Root's Most Anticipated Books of January**A Good Morning America Best Book of January?**An Essence Must Read Book of the Year*&“The Love You Save will console and inspire countless people."—J.R. Moehringer, New York Times bestselling author of The Tender BarI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings meets Educated in this harrowing, deeply hopeful memoir of family, faith and the power of books—from acclaimed journalist and human rights activist Goldie Taylor Aunt Gerald takes in anyone who asks, but the conditions are harsh. For her young niece Goldie Taylor, abandoned by her mother and coping with trauma of her own, life in Gerald&’s East St. Louis comes with nothing but a threadbare blanket on the living room floor. But amid the pain and anguish, Goldie discovers a secret. She can find kinship among writers like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. She can find hope in a nurturing teacher who helps her find her voice. And books, she realizes, can save her life. Goldie Taylor's debut memoir shines a light on the strictures of race, class and gender in a post–Jim Crow America while offering a nuanced, empathetic portrait of a family in a pitched battle for its very soul.Profoundly moving, exquisitely rendered and ultimately uplifting, The Love You Save is a story about hidden strength, perseverance against unimaginable odds, the beauty and pain of girlhood, and the power of the written word.
The Love of the Game: Parenthood, Sport and Me
by Mark ChapmanBBC sports presenter Mark Chapman is no longer in his physical prime. There is an argument to suggest he has never been in his physical prime. Now in his forties, he is facing a world of knee replacements and ever-expanding waistlines, whilst his children are thriving.There is huge pride that they are doing so well, mixed with a fair amount of jealousy that actually they are better at a wide range of sport than he ever was. He is passionate about sport and it has played a huge part in his life. His parents encouraged him from a very early age and he wants to pass the baton on to his son and daughters. Although there is every chance he might drop it and have a massive strop instead. He is also very aware of the huge changes in sport today compared to when he was growing up; and he is determined that his own attitude to his son and daughters' sport - be it football, netball, cricket or gymnastics - will be exactly the same. And he wants to shine a light on grass roots sports - the incredible and largely unsung contribution that volunteers make in the sporting commnity, without whom - for example - no professional footballer would be in the game today.Funny, touching, passionate about sport and parenthood, Mark Chapman paints sport as a touchstone for everything important: growing up, becoming a parent, enjoying family time, getting old, learning how to win (and how to lose gracefully), the legacy we all hope to leave our children; in short, life and all that goes into it.
The Love of the Game: Parenthood, Sport and Me
by Mark ChapmanBBC sports presenter Mark Chapman is no longer in his physical prime. There is an argument to suggest he has never been in his physical prime. Now in his forties, he is facing a world of knee replacements and ever-expanding waistlines, whilst his children are thriving.There is huge pride that they are doing so well, mixed with a fair amount of jealousy that actually they are better at a wide range of sport than he ever was. He is passionate about sport and it has played a huge part in his life. His parents encouraged him from a very early age and he wants to pass the baton on to his son and daughters. Although there is every chance he might drop it and have a massive strop instead. He is also very aware of the huge changes in sport today compared to when he was growing up; and he is determined that his own attitude to his son and daughters' sport - be it football, netball, cricket or gymnastics - will be exactly the same. And he wants to shine a light on grass roots sports - the incredible and largely unsung contribution that volunteers make in the sporting commnity, without whom - for example - no professional footballer would be in the game today.Funny, touching, passionate about sport and parenthood, Mark Chapman paints sport as a touchstone for everything important: growing up, becoming a parent, enjoying family time, getting old, learning how to win (and how to lose gracefully), the legacy we all hope to leave our children; in short, life and all that goes into it.
The Love of the Game: Parenthood, Sport and Me
by Mark ChapmanA brilliant exploration of the relationship between parents and children in sport, written and narrated by MATCH OF THE DAY 2 presenter Mark Chapman.BBC sports presenter Mark Chapman is no longer in his physical prime. There is an argument to suggest he has never been in his physical prime. Now in his forties, his early forties as he is often at pains to point out, he is facing a world of knee replacements and ever-expanding waistlines, whilst his children are thriving.There is huge pride that they are doing so well, but it is mixed with a bittersweet sadness that he will never get his own sporting heyday back. It is also mixed with a fair amount of jealousy that actually they are better than he ever was - and a large amount of sulking that they are now able to beat him at a wide range of sports.He is passionate about sport and it has played a huge part in his life. His parents encouraged him from a very early age and he wants to pass the baton on to his son and daughters. Although there is every chance he might drop it and have a massive strop instead.THE LOVE OF THE GAME is about the constant battle not to become the sporting pariah, the biggest baddie in the world of kids' sport; the nightmare sporting dad. But beyond that it paints sport as a touchstone for everything importance: growing up, becoming a parent, getting old, learning how to win (and how to lose gracefully), the legacy we all hope to leave our children; in short, life and all that goes into it.(p) 2016 Orion Publishing Group
The Love that Keeps Us Sane
by Marc FoleyAnother book for those who love St. Therese of Lisieu, her little way of spirituality.
The Loveliest Woman in America: A Tragic Actress, Her Lost Diaries, and Her Granddaughter's Search for Home
by Bibi GastonHer name was Rosamond Pinchot: hailed as "The Loveliest Woman in America," she was a niece of Pennsylvania governor Gifford Pinchot; cousin to Edie Sedgwick; half sister of Mary Pinchot Meyer, JFK's lover; friend to Eleanor Roosevelt and Elizabeth Arden. At nineteen she was discovered aboard a cruise ship, at twenty-three she married the playboy scion of a political Boston family, but by thirty-three she was dead by her own hand. Seventy years later, her granddaughter, a noted landscape architect, received Rosamond's diaries and embarked on a search to discover the real Rosamond Pinchot.Unearthing what appeared to be a glamorous fairy-tale existence, Bibi Gaston discovers the roots of the ties that bind and break a family, and uncovers the legacy of two great American dynasties torn apart by her grandmother's untimely death. This is a tale of three lives and five generations, mothers and grandmothers, longing, holding on and letting go, men, beauty, diets, and letting beauty slip. This is the story of how we make the most of our brief, beautiful lives.
The Lovely Wanton
by Constance FecherAnne Oldfield's life spanned the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 18th century. This book covers her roles and her relationships with various colleagues, playwrights and rivals. Also, because she loved and became mistress of a member of the nobility who was a writer and heavily involved with the politics of the time, there is almost more coverage of the politics of the time during the reigns of William (after the so-called Glorious Rebellion when William and Mary replaced James II who had abdicated and fled to France, Queen Anne, his Successor, the last of the Stuart rulers and George I, who succeeded Anne and was the first of the Hanoverian rulers. There were also wars going on at the time: The War of the Spanish Succession, and this affected people with whom Anne, because of her relationship with her lover and the father of her son, Arthur Waynwaring. Was involved. The book is a biography, a love story and a history
The Lovers
by Rod NordlandA riveting, real-life equivalent of The Kite Runner-an astonishingly powerful and profoundly moving story of a young couple willing to risk everything for love that puts a human face on the ongoing debate about women's rights in the Muslim world."She is his Juliet and he is her Romeo, and her family has threatened to kill them both..."This is the heartrending account of Zakia and Mohammad Ali, a couple from opposing Islamic sects, who defying their society's norms have left behind everything they know and are quite literally risking their lives for their love.She is a Sunni, he is a Shia, but as friends from childhood Zakia and Mohammad Ali could never have predicted that their love would anger their families so much that they would be forced to leave their homes finding refuge in the harsh terrain of the Afghani mountains. Without money or passports they rely on the kindness of strangers to house them for a couple of days at a time as they remain on the run, never deterred.New York Times journalist, Rod Nordland, has chronicled the plight of the young lovers telling their extraordinary story of courage, perseverance and love in one of the world's most troubled countries. This moving love story is told against the bigger backdrop of the horrific but widespread practices that women are subjected to in Afghanistan.
The Lovers: Afghanistan's Romeo and Juliet, the True Story of How They Defied Their Families and Escaped an Honor Killing
by Rod NordlandA riveting, real-life equivalent of The Kite Runner—an astonishingly powerful and profoundly moving story of a young couple willing to risk everything for love that puts a human face on the ongoing debate about women’s rights in the Muslim world.Zakia and Ali were from different tribes, but they grew up on neighboring farms in the hinterlands of Afghanistan. By the time they were young teenagers, Zakia, strikingly beautiful and fiercely opinionated, and Ali, shy and tender, had fallen in love. Defying their families, sectarian differences, cultural conventions, and Afghan civil and Islamic law, they ran away together only to live under constant threat from Zakia’s large and vengeful family, who have vowed to kill her to restore the family’s honor. They are still in hiding.Despite a decade of American good intentions, women in Afghanistan are still subjected to some of the worst human rights violations in the world. Rod Nordland, then the Kabul bureau chief of the New York Times, had watched these abuses unfold for years when he came upon Zakia and Ali, and has not only chronicled their plight, but has also shepherded them from danger.The Lovers will do for women’s rights generally what Malala’s story did for women’s education. It is an astonishing story about self-determination and the meaning of love that illustrates, as no policy book could, the limits of Western influence on fundamentalist Islamic culture and, at the same time, the need for change.
The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President
by Edward F. O'KeefeAn &“elegant and illuminating&” (Jon Meacham) family love story, revealing how an icon of rugged American masculinity was profoundly shaped by the women in his life, especially his mother, sisters, and wives.Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his senior thesis for Harvard in 1880 that women ought to be paid equal to men and have the option of keeping their maiden names upon marriage. It&’s little surprise he&’d be a feminist, given the women he grew up with. His mother, Mittie, was witty and decisive, a Southern belle raising four young children in New York while her husband spent long stretches away with the Union Army. Theodore&’s college sweetheart and first wife, Alice—so vivacious she was known as Sunshine—steered her beau away from science (he&’d roam campus with taxidermy specimens in his pockets) and towards politics. Older sister Bamie would soon become her brother&’s key political strategist and advisor; journalists called her Washington, DC, home &“the Little White House.&” Younger sister Conie served as her brother&’s press secretary before the role existed, slipping stories of his heroics in Cuba and his rambunctious home life to reporters to create the legend of the Rough Rider we remember today. And Edith—Theodore&’s childhood playmate and second wife—would elevate the role of presidential spouse to an American institution, curating both the White House and her husband&’s legacy. A &“graceful and powerful book&” (Candice Millard) filled with &“meticulous research [and] perceptive insights&” (The New York Times), The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt celebrates these five extraordinary yet unsung women who opened the door to the American Century and pushed Theodore Roosevelt through it.
The Lowells of Massachusetts: An American Family
by Nina SankovitchThe Lowells of Massachusetts were a remarkable family. They were settlers in the New World in the 1600s, revolutionaries creating a new nation in the 1700s, merchants and manufacturers building prosperity in the 1800s, and scientists and artists flourishing in the 1900s. For the first time, Nina Sankovitch tells the story of this fascinating and powerful dynasty in The Lowells of Massachusetts.Though not without scoundrels and certainly no strangers to controversy , the family boasted some of the most astonishing individuals in America’s history: Percival Lowle, the patriarch who arrived in America in the seventeenth to plant the roots of the family tree; Reverend John Lowell, the preacher; Judge John Lowell, a member of the Continental Congress; Francis Cabot Lowell, manufacturer and, some say, founder of the Industrial Revolution in the US; James Russell Lowell, American Romantic poet; Lawrence Lowell, one of Harvard’s longest-serving and most controversial presidents; and Amy Lowell, the twentieth century poet who lived openly in a Boston Marriage with the actress Ada Dwyer Russell.The Lowells realized the promise of America as the land of opportunity by uniting Puritan values of hard work, community service, and individual responsibility with a deep-seated optimism that became a well-known family trait. Long before the Kennedys put their stamp on Massachusetts, the Lowells claimed the bedrock.
The Loyal Lieutenant
by Craig Hummer George HincapieGeorge Hincapie is one of the most recognized cyclists in the world--a record seventeen-time Tour de France participant, Olympian, beloved teammate, and celebrated lead-out man for Lance Armstrong. It was his sterling reputation that enabled him to publicly rise above a doping confession that shocked not only the cycling community but the entire sports world when he became a key witness in the case of Lance Armstrong and drugs in cycling. For the first time since that confession, "Big George" reflects on his years as a world-class rider, offering an honest and compelling account of not only a dark period in professional cycling but the demands required of the best in the field. Hincapie's life has been intrinsically tied to the sport he loves. Raised in Queens, New York, in a tight-knit Colombian family, he grew up with his father's love of cycling and the Colombian "cycling warrior" archetype. Chronicling the exhilarating ride of his career, he takes us through his adrenaline-junkie amateur years to the Olympics, going professional, and reaching his true calling as Lance Armstrong's most prized "domestique"--a role in which Hincapie would lead his then best friend to seven straight Tour de France victories. In The Loyal Lieutenant, Hincapie speaks openly about his relationship with Armstrong, which was so integral to both of their successes. He addresses how he himself began doping and why he chose to quit long before the headline-making revelations--and, finally, what led to the testimony that broke Armstrong's case. The Loyal Lieutenant is George Hincapie's story: the per-sonal evolution of a cycling superhero coming clean about his past to, he hopes, help restore honor to the sport he loves.
The Loyal Son: The War in Ben Franklin's House
by Daniel Mark EpsteinThe dramatic story of a founding father, his illegitimate son, and the tragedy of their conflict during the American Revolution—from the acclaimed author of The Lincolns. Ben Franklin is the most lovable of America’s founding fathers. His wit, his charm, his inventiveness—even his grandfatherly appearance—are legendary. But this image obscures the scandals that dogged him throughout his life. In The Loyal Son, award-winning historian Daniel Mark Epstein throws the spotlight on one of the more enigmatic aspects of Franklin’s biography: his complex and confounding relationship with his illegitimate son William. When he was twenty-four, Franklin fathered a child with a woman who was not his wife. He adopted the boy, raised him, and educated him to be his aide. Ben and William became inseparable. After the famous kite-in-a-thunderstorm experiment, it was William who proved that the electrical charge in a lightning bolt travels from the ground up, not from the clouds down. On a diplomatic mission to London, it was William who charmed London society. He was invited to walk in the procession of the coronation of George III; Ben was not. The outbreak of the American Revolution caused a devastating split between father and son. By then, William was royal governor of New Jersey, while Ben was one of the foremost champions of American independence. In 1776, the Continental Congress imprisoned William for treason. George Washington made efforts to win William’s release, while his father, to the world’s astonishment, appeared to have abandoned him to his fate. A fresh take on the combustible politics of the age of independence, The Loyal Son is a gripping account of how the agony of the American Revolution devastated one of America’s most distinguished families. Like Nathaniel Philbrick and David McCullough, Epstein is a storyteller first and foremost, a historian who weaves together fascinating incidents discovered in long-neglected documents to draw us into the private world of the men and women who made America.Advance praise for The Loyal Son “A riveting narrative about the bizarre turmoil between Benjamin Franklin and his son William. The amount of new research undertaken is deeply impressive. And the writing is elegant and always informative. Highly recommended!”—Douglas Brinkley, professor of history, Rice University, CNN presidential historian, and author of Rightful Heritage “This poignant, absorbing portrait of Benjamin Franklin and his son William is a powerful reminder that America’s fight for independence was also an agonizing civil war, in this case pitting a father against his beloved son. In exploring Franklin’s tormented relationship with William, the royal governor of New Jersey, who remained loyal to Britain, Epstein brilliantly illuminates the American Revolution’s tragic human cost.”—Lynne Olson, New York Times bestselling author of Citizens of London and Last Hope Island “Epstein has written a textured, sympathetic account of a fallen founder, William Franklin: patriot, public servant, son, and political partner of Benjamin. Epstein shows, from the inside, his ambitions, yearnings, decisions good and bad, and final, crushing failure.”—Richard Brookhiser, author of Founders’ Son “Epstein tells the story with zest, passion, and compassion.”—John Ferling, author of Whirlwind and Jefferson and Hamilton
The Lucille Ball Story
by James GregoryHer life in public, in private, her triumphs and her troubles, with a never-before-published interview with the famous actress.
The Luck Of A Countryman: Tales from the Dales
by Max HardcastleA vivid and charming portrait of life in the Yorkshire DalesThe enchanting sequel to A Countryman's Lot, which told the story of Max Hardcastle's move to the Yorkshire Dales and the richness of life as an antiques dealer, The Luck of a Countryman contains an array of eccentric characters and curious situations which are guaranteed to delight and amuse. Old favourites reappear in new -- and sometimes alarming -- situations. And a myriad of new personalities join in the ups and downs of life in the Dales.Life is not all plain sailing, but the Hardcastles join in wholeheartedly with the trials and triumphs that beset the peaceful village of Ramsthwaite. How will they ever shift Thievin' Jack's van from the pond? And will the wedding of the year go off smoothly?
The Luck Of A Countryman: Tales from the Dales
by Max HardcastleA vivid and charming portrait of life in the Yorkshire DalesThe enchanting sequel to A Countryman's Lot, which told the story of Max Hardcastle's move to the Yorkshire Dales and the richness of life as an antiques dealer, The Luck of a Countryman contains an array of eccentric characters and curious situations which are guaranteed to delight and amuse. Old favourites reappear in new -- and sometimes alarming -- situations. And a myriad of new personalities join in the ups and downs of life in the Dales.Life is not all plain sailing, but the Hardcastles join in wholeheartedly with the trials and triumphs that beset the peaceful village of Ramsthwaite. How will they ever shift Thievin' Jack's van from the pond? And will the wedding of the year go off smoothly?
The Luck of Friendship: The Letters Of Tennessee Williams And James Laughlin
by James Laughlin Tennessee Williams Thomas Keith Peggy FoxThe chronicle of Tennessee Williams and James Laughlin’s unlikely yet enduring literary and personal relationship. In December 1942, two guests at a Lincoln Kirstein mixer bonded over their shared love of Hart Crane’s poetry. One of them was James Laughlin, the founder of a small publishing company called New Directions, which he had begun only seven years earlier as a sophomore at Harvard. The other was a young playwright named Thomas Lanier Williams, or "Tennessee," as he had just started to call himself. A little more than a week after that first encounter, Tennessee sent a letter to Jay—as he always addressed Laughlin in writing— expressing a desire to get together for an informal discussion of some of Tennessee’s poetry. "I promise you it would be extremely simple," he wrote, "and we would inevitably part on good terms even if you advised me to devote myself exclusively to the theatre for the rest of my life." So began a deep friendship that would last for forty-one years, through critical acclaim and rejection, commercial success and failure, manic highs, bouts of depression, and serious and not-so-serious liaisons. Williams called Laughlin his "literary conscience," and New Directions serves to this day as Williams’s publisher, not only for The Glass Menagerie and his other celebrated plays but for his highly acclaimed novels, short stories, and volumes of poetry as well. Their story provides a window into the literary history of the mid-twentieth century and reveals the struggles of a great artist, supported in his endeavors by the publisher he considered a true friend.
The Luck of O'Reilly: A Biography of Tony O'Reilly
by Ivan FallonFilled with star-studded names from business, politics, and show business - including Nelson Mandela, Paul Newman, Robert Megabee, Paul Jeating, Margaret Thatcher and George Bush - The Luck Of O'Reilly is an important, intimate potrait of a complex, multidimensional man and of international business as it is played by the world's heavy hitters. It is also the story of modern Ireland, and its new place in the world.
The Luck of the Draw: The Memoir of a World War II Submariner: From Savo Island to the Silent Service
by John Bruning C. Kenneth RuizA coin flip likely saved the life of Kenneth C. Ruiz. It was August 1942 and he was fresh out of the U.S. Naval Academy. He and a classmate flipped a coin to see who would stand watch on the bridge of their heavy cruiser, the USS Vincennes, off Savo Island as the Marines were landing on Guadalcanal. Ruiz was on the bridge when the ship took a direct hit and sank. He ended up in the Pacific without a life jacket, but his classmate and the entire radio room crew perished in the attack. "The luck of the draw" is a recurring theme in this powerful memoir. Following the demise of the Vincennes, Ruiz volunteered to serve on submarines for the balance of the war and had numerous harrowing experiences. He spent most of his time on the USS Pollack, which was sub-standard in terms of technology, but was still deadly and made a significant impact on Japanese shipping in the far reaches of the Pacific. A worthy addition to the litany of WWII books on submariners, The Luck of the Draw is filled with heartbreaking stories of how the smallest decisions made the difference between life and death for soldiers and sailors in the war.
The Luckiest Guy in the World: My Journey in Politics
by Robert AbramsThe Remarkable True Story of Robert Abrams, the man who changed the New York Attorney General's Office for Good. At the heart of this political memoir is the story of how the office of state attorney general, an historically sleepy backwater post, has evolved into a front line major protector of the rights of citizens across the country. New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams exercised leadership in organizing attorneys general throughout the nation to take collective action against the Reagan administration&’s punishing laissez-faire anti-regulatory policies. Abrams and his fellow attorneys general set the precedent for the successful challenges mounted by today&’s attorneys general against the Trump administration&’s immigration policies and rollback of consumer and civil rights protections. Through lively anecdotes, Abrams captures the Bronx of his childhood, his early insurgent grassroots campaigns taking on the powerful Democratic Party machine, the urban challenges of being Bronx Borough President, the turbulent Vietnam anti-war years, and the beginnings of the environmental justice movement. He revisits the explosive Tawana Brawley case where an African American teenage girl alleged rape and brutality by a group of white men that included law enforcement officials. Abrams provides behind-the-scenes interactions with important figures ranging from Golda Meir, George McGovern, Mario Cuomo, Robert Moses, and Cesar Chavez to Shirley Chisholm. The book demonstrates how ordinary people battling unequal odds against corporate and other powerful forces can prevail when laws are enforced to protect their rights. A chapter about the infamous Love Canal case details the shocking revelation that buried beneath the seemingly placid upstate New York working class community lay tons of toxic waste spawning chronic health problems for residents. Abrams in a landmark lawsuit took on Occidental Petroleum for its callous actions, paved the way for the passage of the Superfund Act and a victory for the emerging environmental justice movement. He describes dramatic confrontations with the radical anti-abortion group, Operation Rescue, and its increasingly violent efforts to deny a woman&’s right to choose. His courageous, path-breaking support of LGBT rights, seeking to end the prevailing bigotry with legal victories that ultimately led to marriage equality is also revisited. In The Luckiest Guy in the World, Robert Abrams wears his progressive values on his sleeve, providing an optimistic view about our nation&’s return to its fundamental values. Visit luckiestguyintheworldbobabrams.com for more information.
The Luckiest Man: Life with John McCain
by Mark SalterA deeply personal and candid remembrance of the late Senator John McCain from one of his closest and most trusted confidants, friends, and political advisors. More so than almost anyone outside of McCain&’s immediate family, Mark Salter had unparalleled access to and served to influence the Senator&’s thoughts and actions, cowriting seven books with him and acting as a valued confidant. Now, in The Luckiest Man, Salter draws on the storied facets of McCain&’s early biography as well as the later-in-life political philosophy for which the nation knew and loved him, delivering an intimate and comprehensive account of McCain&’s life and philosophy. Salter covers all the major events of McCain&’s life—his peripatetic childhood, his naval service—but introduces, too, aspects of the man that the public rarely saw and hardly knew. Woven throughout this narrative is also the story of Salter and McCain&’s close relationship, including how they met, and why their friendship stood the test of time in a political world known for its fickle personalities and frail bonds. Through Salter&’s revealing portrayal of one of our country&’s finest public servants, McCain emerges as both the man we knew him to be and also someone entirely new. Glimpses of his restlessness, his curiosity, his courage, and sentimentality are rendered with sensitivity and care—as only Mark Salter could provide. The capstone to Salter&’s intimate and decades-spanning time with the Senator, The Luckiest Man is the authoritative last word on the stories McCain was too modest to tell himself and an influential life not soon to be forgotten.
The Lucky Few: Finding God's Best in the Most Unlikely Places
by Heather Avis Lysa TerKeurst, New York Times bestselling authorThese are the faces that call me “mom,” the three children who made me a mother. When I started my journey into parenthood I never thought it would look like this. I never planned on having three adopted children, and I certainly never imagined that two of them would have Down syndrome. But like most of the things God does, once we stepped into the craziness and confusion of the unknown and unplanned, we quickly realized that we were indeed among the lucky few. When my husband and I decided to grow our family ten years ago, we were surprised to find that getting pregnant was not as easy as we had thought it would be. And as we navigated the ups and downs of infertility, God led us down the path of adoption. Of course, we would adopt! Not what we had originally planned, but certainly a wonderful option. But just as we began to get a comfortable grasp on growing our family through adoption, God introduced us to Macyn Hope, a very sick little girl with Down syndrome who desperately needed a family. As we continued to follow God’s calling, first with Macyn, and later with Truly and then August, we found ourselves further and further from the comfortable paths we thought our lives would take, and instead moving down some very scary, and often painful roads. Even though at times His plan seemed terrifying and even downright foolish, little could we have known how much goodness, blessing, and joy would flow out of loving these three little people He’s put into our lives. No, it’s not been easy: not the open-heart surgeries or the challenges of raising two children with Down syndrome or the complexities of dealing with birth-families or the struggles we’ve had with the public education system. But through it all, every new and uncomfortable situation has only proven to be another chance to see how very good God’s plan is for our lives and how downright lucky we are to be able to live it out. It’s only the lucky few that recognize that the most beautiful things in this life are often found in the differences. What some would see as misfortune, I’ve learned to see as nothing more than pure luck.
The Lucky Ones
by Jenny BrownJonathan Safran Foer meets Jeffrey Moussaieff Mason in a poignant, provocative memoir of survival, compassion, and awakening to the reality of our food system. Jenny Brown was ten years old when she lost a leg to bone cancer. Throughout the ordeal, her constant companion was a cat named Boogie. Years later, she would make the connection between her feline friend and the farm animals she ate, acknowledging that most of America's domesticated animals live on industrialized farms, and are viewed as mere production units. Raised in a conservative Southern Baptist family in Kentucky, Brown had been taught to avoid asking questions. But she found her passion and the courage to speak out. The Lucky Ones introduces readers to Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary which Brown established with her husband in 2004. With a cast of unforgettable survivors, including a fugitive slaughterhouse cow named Kayli; Albie, the three-legged goat; and Quincy, an Easter duckling found abandoned in New York City, The Lucky Ones reveals shocking statistics about the prevalence of animal abuse throughout America's agribusinesses. Blending wry humor with unflinching honesty, Brown brings a compelling new voice to the healthy-living movement--and to the vulnerable, voiceless creatures among us.
The Lucky Ones: A Memoir
by Zara ChowdharyA moving memoir by a survivor of anti-Muslim violence in contemporary India that delicately weaves political and family histories in a tribute to her country&’s unique Islamic heritage—&“a must-read in our warring world today&” (NPR)&“A harrowing survivor&’s tale, an important history lesson, and a desperate warning from someone who has seen the tragic effects of ethnic violence.&”—TimeIn 2002, Zara Chowdhary is sixteen years old and living with her family in Ahmedabad, one of India&’s fastest-growing cities, when a gruesome train fire claims the lives of sixty Hindu right-wing volunteers and upends the life of five million Muslims. Instead of taking her school exams that week, Zara is put under a three-month siege, with her family and thousands of others fearing for their lives as Hindu neighbors, friends, and members of civil society transform overnight into bloodthirsty mobs, hunting and massacring their fellow citizens. The chief minister of the state at the time, Narendra Modi, will later be accused of fomenting the massacre, and yet a decade later, will rise to become India&’s prime minister, sending the &“world&’s largest democracy&” hurtling toward cacophonous Hindu nationalism. The Lucky Ones traces the past of a multigenerational Muslim family to India&’s brave but bloody origins, a segregated city&’s ancient past, and the lingering hurt causing bloodshed on the streets. Symphonic interludes offer glimpses into the precious, ordinary lives of Muslims, all locked together in a crumbling apartment building in the city&’s old quarters, with their ability to forgive and find laughter, to offer grace even as the world outside, and their place in it, falls apart. The Lucky Ones entwines lost histories across a subcontinent, examines forgotten myths, prods a family&’s secrets, and gazes unflinchingly back at a country rushing to move past the biggest pogrom in its modern history. It is a warning thrown to the world by a young survivor, to democracies that fail to protect their vulnerable, and to homes that won&’t listen to their daughters. It is an ode to the rebellion of a young woman who insists she will belong to her land, family, and faith on her own terms.
The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America
by Mae NgaiIf you're Irish American or African American or Eastern European Jewish American, there's a rich literature to give you a sense of your family's arrival-in-America story. Until now, that hasn't been the case for Chinese Americans. From noted historian Mae Ngai, The Lucky Ones uncovers the three-generational saga of the Tape family. It's a sweeping story centered on patriarch Jeu Dip's (Joseph Tape's) self-invention as an immigration broker in post-gold rush, racially explosive San Francisco, and the extraordinary rise it enables. Ngai's portrayal of the Tapes as the first of a brand-new social type--middle-class Chinese Americans, with touring cars, hunting dogs, and society weddings to broadcast it--will astonish. Again and again, Tape family history illuminates American history. Seven-year-old Mamie Tape attempts to integrate California schools, resulting in the landmark 1885 Tape v. Hurley. The family's intimate involvement in the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair reveals how the Chinese American culture brokers essentially invented Chinatown--and so Chinese culture--for American audiences. Finally, Mae Ngai reveals aspects--timely, haunting, and hopeful--of the lasting legacy of the immigrant experience for all Americans.