- Table View
- List View
Bedpans And Bobby Socks: Five British Nurses on the American Road Trip of a Lifetime
by Barbara Fox'In my dreams, I was always in some vast landscape on a long, straight road. Driving. Always driving.'Gwenda had always loved the open road, but her home town of Newcastle didn't really offer the sort of adventure she longed for. So, in 1957, with friend and fellow nurse Pat in tow, she left the dismal British winter behind, and embarked on an amazing American adventure.After a year nursing in Cleveland, Gwenda, Pat and three new friends set off on a road trip around North America, driving in a rickety 1949 Ford. What follows is the charming true story of five remarkable young women. Over the course of eighteen months, the girls go to a 4th July rodeo, visit San Francisco and Las Vegas, learn to surf in Hawaii, spot movie stars in Hollywood and celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans.Wherever they go, the travelling nurses cause a sensation. This is a delightfully nostalgic memoir of friendship and the romance of the open road.
Bedpans and Bobby Socks: Five British Nurses on the American Road Trip of a Lifetime
by Barbara Fox`In my dreams, I was always in some vast landscape on a long, straight road. Driving. Always driving.? Gwenda had always loved the open road, but her home town of Newcastle didn?t really offer the sort of adventure she longed for. So, in 1957, with friend and fellow nurse Pat in tow, she left the dismal British winter behind, and embarked on an amazing American adventure. After a year nursing in Cleveland, Gwenda, Pat and three new friends set off on a road trip around North America, driving in a rickety 1949 Ford. What follows is the charming true story of five remarkable young women. Over the course of eighteen months, the girls go to a 4th July rodeo, visit San Francisco and Las Vegas, learn to surf in Hawaii, spot movie stars in Hollywood and celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Wherever they go, the travelling nurses cause a sensation. This is a delightfully nostalgic memoir of friendship and the romance of the open road.
Bedroom Philosopher Diaries
by Justin HeazlewoodA collection of hilarious and melancholic reports from Justin Heazlewood, aka The Bedroom Philosopher, and his wealth of experience as a touring Folkstar. Read about his epic battles with drunk punters, scatty rockstars, aloof groupies and, mostly, himself. These tell-all tales allow exclusive access to the depths of the performer psyche -Boho Stripped Bare. Each entry grooves with The Bedroom Philosopher's trademark wordplay, Gen-Y commentary and commitment to emotional honesty. Under the glare of the stage lights he explores the ungainly labyrinth of his alter-ego and the puzzling mechanics of the Australian entertainment scene.
Bedroom Rapper: Cadence Weapon on Hip-Hop, Resistance and Surviving the Music Industry
by Rollie PembertonBedroom Rapper is a book for obsessive music fans who are looking for the definitive take on what&’s happened in the last two decades of hip hop, from Cadence Weapon, aka Rollie Pemberton: Pitchfork critic, award-winning musician, producer, DJ, and poet laureate.Tracing his roots from recording beats in his mom's attic in Edmonton to performing with some of the most recognizable names in rap and electronic music—De La Soul, Public Enemy, Mos Def, Questlove, Diplo, and more—Polaris Prize winner Rollie Pemberton, a.k.a Cadence Weapon, captures the joy in finding yourself, and how a sense of place and purpose entwines inextricably with a music scene. From competitive basement family karaoke to touring Europe, from fights with an exploitative label to finding his creative voice, from protesting against gentrification to using his music to centre political change, Rollie charts his own development alongside a shifting musical landscape. As Rollie finds his feet, the bottom falls out of the industry, and he captures the way so many artists were able to make a nimble name for themselves while labels floundered. Bedroom Rapper also offers us a wide-ranging and crucial history of hip-hop. With an international perspective that's often missing from rap music journalism, he integrates the gestation of American hip hop with UK grime and niche scenes from the Canadian prairies, bringing his obsessive knowledge of hip-hop to bear on his subject. Rollie takes us into New York in the &’70s, Edmonton in the &’90s, the legendary Montreal DIY loft scene of the 2000s, and traces the ups and downs of trusting your gut and following your passion, obsessively. With a foreword by Gabriel Szatan, music fans and creators alike will relate to the dedication to craft, obsessive passion for what came before, and desire to shift the future that is embodied in every creative project Rollie takes on.
Bedside Book of Bad Girls: Outlaw Women of the American West
by Michael RutterMuch has been written about the outlaws of the American West, from Jesse James to Butch Cassidy. But what about the western woman who chose to pick up a Colt and take on the law?
Bedside Book of Bad Girls: Outlaw Women of the American West
by Michael RutterMeet Kate Bender, who brutally murdered as many as thirty people in Kansas, including children, and buried them in her family's orchard; Laura Bullion, the only woman to participate in a Wild Bunch train robbery; and Madam Vestal, a one-time Confederate spy who organized the famous Deadwood stagecoach robberies. Witness the execution of Elizabeth Potts and Ellen Watson, the first women hanged in Nevada and Wyoming.Drawing on fact and folklore, author and historian Michael Rutter brings 21 gun-slinging "bad girls" to life, and explores their motives, hopes, and dreams. He dispels many of the myths about these female outlaws, for sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.Featuring forty-two historical images, Bedside Book of Bad Girls sheds light on figures and events often shrouded in fabrication and fantasy. Meet these fascinating characters, complete with their pistols and petticoats, their knives and knaves, their vices and victims.
Bedside Manners
by David WattsHave you ever wondered what life is like on the other side of the stethoscope? Combining the grace and precision of a poet with a down-to-earth, compassionate manner, physician and NPR commentator David Watts reveals what it’s really like to be a doctor today. From difficult diagnoses, irreverent colleagues, brave survivors, and examining room embarrassments, Watts uncovers the world of contemporary medicine and shares the emotional truths and practical realities at the heart of every doctor-patient relationship. Watts’s warmhearted and understanding attitude toward his patients— and their foibles— is evident on every page of this surprising, poignant, and intimate look inside the life of a doctor who could very easily be your own.
Bedsit Disco Queen: How I Grew Up and Tried to be a Pop Star
by Tracey ThornI was only sixteen when I bought an electric guitar and joined a band. A year later, I formed an all-girl band called the Marine Girls and played gigs, and signed to an indie label, and started releasing records.Then, for eighteen years, between 1982 and 2000, I was one half of the group Everything But the Girl. In that time, we released nine albums and sold nine million records. We went on countless tours, had hit singles and flop singles, were reviewed and interviewed to within an inch of our lives. I've been in the charts, out of them, back in. I've seen myself described as an indie darling, a middle-of-the-road nobody and a disco diva. I haven't always fitted in, you see, and that's made me face up to the realities of a pop career - there are thrills and wonders to be experienced, yes, but also moments of doubt, mistakes, violent lifestyle changes from luxury to squalor and back again, sometimes within minutes.
Bedsit Disco Queen: How I grew up and tried to be a pop star
by Tracey ThornI was only sixteen when I bought an electric guitar and joined a band. A year later, I formed an all-girl band called the Marine Girls and played gigs, and signed to an indie label, and started releasing records.Then, for eighteen years, between 1982 and 2000, I was one half of the group Everything But the Girl. In that time, we released nine albums and sold nine million records. We went on countless tours, had hit singles and flop singles, were reviewed and interviewed to within an inch of our lives. I've been in the charts, out of them, back in. I've seen myself described as an indie darling, a middle-of-the-road nobody and a disco diva. I haven't always fitted in, you see, and that's made me face up to the realities of a pop career - there are thrills and wonders to be experienced, yes, but also moments of doubt, mistakes, violent lifestyle changes from luxury to squalor and back again, sometimes within minutes.
Bedsit Disco Queen: How I grew up and tried to be a pop star
by Tracey ThornI was only sixteen when I bought an electric guitar and joined a band. A year later, I formed an all-girl band called the Marine Girls and played gigs, and signed to an indie label, and started releasing records.Then, for eighteen years, between 1982 and 2000, I was one half of the group Everything But the Girl. In that time, we released nine albums and sold nine million records. We went on countless tours, had hit singles and flop singles, were reviewed and interviewed to within an inch of our lives. I've been in the charts, out of them, back in. I've seen myself described as an indie darling, a middle-of-the-road nobody and a disco diva. I haven't always fitted in, you see, and that's made me face up to the realities of a pop career - there are thrills and wonders to be experienced, yes, but also moments of doubt, mistakes, violent lifestyle changes from luxury to squalor and back again, sometimes within minutes.
Bedtime Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different
by Ben BrooksWho wants to fall asleep to tales of dragons being slain, wars being fought, and princesses being rescued who, quite frankly, could have rescued themselves?Our boys need a new kind of hero. Rule-breakers and innovators who aren't afraid to think outside and be themselves, whatever people think about how men should behave. Bedtime Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different is a collection of the lives of 200 incredible men from all over the world - from David Attenborough to Beethoven to Stormzy - who succeeded through brains, not brawn, and who will inspire young boys everywhere to follow their dreams.
Bedtime Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different
by Ben BrooksWho wants to fall asleep to tales of dragons being slain, wars being fought, and princesses being rescued who, quite frankly, could have rescued themselves?Our boys need a new kind of hero. Rule-breakers and innovators who aren't afraid to think outside and be themselves, whatever people think about how men should behave. Bedtime Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different is a collection of the lives of 200 incredible men from all over the world - from David Attenborough to Beethoven to Stormzy - who succeeded through brains, not brawn, and who will inspire young boys everywhere to follow their dreams.
Bedtime Stories for Stressed Out Adults
by VariousPICKED FOR WORLD BOOK NIGHT 2020THE PERFECT READ TO CALM YOUR MIND IN TIMES OF STRESS**** As recommended by RED magazine ****'Dreamy' STYLIST'Calm and restore an anxious mind before sleep... the most beautiful book that will, without a doubt, put you in the mood for some zzzzzs.' the SUN'Hurrah for a book that draws us away from the cold blue light of the smart phone and into the soothing glow of poems, short stories and extracts' THE SIMPLE THINGS Introduced by Lucy Mangan* * * Tales to soothe tired souls. A night time companion for frazzled adults, including calming stories and poems for a good night's sleep. * * *This cheering book of best loved short tales, extracts and poems will calm and restore an anxious mind before sleep.A good night's sleep is essential for our well being and our health, but in our busy lives sleep is often poor and overlooked. Now is the time to stop a while and find consolation and wonder in other worlds where all is well and sleep just a page or two away. From classic stories by Oscar Wilde, Guy de Maupassant and Katherine Mansfield, to friendly tales of our childhoods, to poetry that reminds us of the simple joys of life, this lovingly curated book will soothe a tired mind and gently carry you to the peaceful land of sleep.So switch off, snuggle down and allow yourself to escape into new worlds and old; magical, mysterious and tender realms that will accompany you to your own sweet dreams.
Bedtime Stories: Adventures in the Land of Single-Fatherhood
by Trey EllisHow is a single dad supposed to navigate a new girlfriend into and out of his California king bed without his son or daughter noticing? For Trey Ellis, raising children while trying to find his way through the unfamiliar nuances of the contemporary dating scene as a single father has been a a sometimes nerve-racking challenge.A Don Juan with a heart of gold, Ellis tracks both his sexy life as a swinging single father—his dates have included a model, a French actress, and even an Italian contessa—and his nurturing and loving relationship with his two young children. The result is Bedtime Stories, a charmingly poignant and hilarious story that shows what happens when the glamorous life of an LA singleton collides with the life of a less than glamorous dad who eats frozen dinners and changes dirty diapers.
Bedtime Story
by Chloe HooperFrom the best-selling author of The Tall Man and The Arsonist, a personal tale about death, life and the enchantment of stories. With illustrations by Anna Walker.Let me tell you a story…When Chloe Hooper&’s partner is diagnosed with a rare and aggressive illness, she has to find a way to tell their two young sons. By instinct, she turns to the bookshelf. Can the news be broken as a bedtime tale? Is there a perfect book to prepare children for loss?Hooper embarks on a quest to find what practical lessons children&’s literature—with its innocent orphans and evil adults, magic, monsters and anthropomorphic animals—can teach about grief and resilience in real life. From the Brothers Grimm to Frances Hodgson Burnett and Tolkien and Dahl—all of whom suffered childhood bereavements—she follows the breadcrumbs of the world&’s favourite authors, searching for the deep wisdom in their books and lives.Both memoir and manual, Bedtime Story is stunningly illustrated by the New York Times award-winning Anna Walker. In an age of worldwide uncertainty, here is a profound and moving exploration of the dark and light of storytelling.'Everything you&’d ever want in a bedtime story – heroes and heroines, puzzles and dangers, invisible forces, birds, trees, beasts, poetry, sadness and joy. Stories within stories. I was spellbound from the start. As for the ending... I can&’t tell you that.' Paul Kelly OA&‘Chloe Hooper has a formidable talent to take complex stories and ideas and truths, and to distil them into a language of direct and powerful beauty. This is a story of grief and of patience, of hope and acceptance. It is also a reminder of the solace that books give us, and of how the imaginary worlds we dive into as children remain with is for all our lives, of how they guide us into adulthood and maturity. There is a quiet courage and strength in this book. It is both gentle and uncompromising, a love letter to family and to literature that is bracingly unsentimental. I was profoundly moved, and profoundly grateful.&’ Christos Tsiolkas, author of The Slap and Damascus&‘This book is a miracle of light and meaning-making from one of our finest writers. Venturing inward with extraordinary grace, Hooper explores – and extends – the long literary line surging with our deepest inherited wisdom about how to embrace our finite lives. The result is nothing less than the hero's journey we have been collectively starving for. Telling you this is like trying to describe the sun; it is a book so powerful and beautiful – so utterly its own – that it can only be experienced directly.&’ Sarah Krasnostein, author of The Trauma Cleaner and The Believer&‘Exquisitely beautiful. This book is an act of love.&’ Anna Funder, author of All That I Am and Stasiland 'Deeply engrossing and honest, human, full of love and tenderness, with moments of sparkling humour in the struggle. I loved everything about Bedtime Story. I loved particularly what it taught me about authors who write for children, the ways that writing and reading provides compensation, balancing the scales between loss and love.&’ Sofie Laguna, author of The Eye of the Sheep and Too Loud Lily
Bee Reaved (Semiotext(e) / Native Agents)
by Dodie BellamyA new collection of essays from Dodie Bellamy on disenfranchisement, vulgarity, American working-class life, aesthetic values, and profound embarrassment.So. Much. Information. When does one expand? Cut back? Stop researching? When is enough enough? Like Colette's aging courtesan Lea in the Chéri books, I straddle two centuries that are drifting further and further apart.--Dodie Bellamy, "Hoarding as Ecriture"This new collection of essays, selected by Dodie Bellamy after the death of Kevin Killian, her companion and husband of thirty-three years, circles around loss and abandonment large and small. Bellamy's highly focused selection comprises pieces written over three decades, in which the themes consistent within her work emerge with new force and clarity: disenfranchisement, vulgarity, American working-class life, aesthetic values, profound embarrassment. Bellamy writes with shocking, and often hilarious, candor about the experience of turning her literary archive over to the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale and about being targeted by an enraged online anti-capitalist stalker. Just as she did in her previous essay collection, When The Sick Rule The World, Bellamy examines aspects of contemporary life with deep intelligence, intimacy, ambivalence, and calm.
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson: An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man
by G. I. GurdjieffWith Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, G. I. Gurdjieff intended to "destroy, mercilessly . . . the beliefs and views about everything existing in the world." This novel beautifully brings to life the visions of humanity for which Gurdjieff has become esteemed. Beelzebub, a man of worldly (and other-worldly) wisdom, shares with his grandson the anecdotes, personal philosophies, and lessons learned from his own life.The reader is given a detailed discussion of all matters physical, natural, and spiritual, from the creation of the cosmos to man's teleological purpose in the universe. This edition of Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson--the first single-volume paperback to appear in English--restores the original, authoritative translation.
Been So Long: My Life and Music
by Jorma Kaukonen"A modern parable." —from the foreword by Grace Slick“Jorma Kaukonen is a force in American music, equally adept at fingerpicked acoustic folk and blues as he is at wailing on an electric.” – Acoustic Guitar“Jorma Kaukonen lit a fuse and transformed his electric guitar into a firework.” – Live For Live MusicIncludes a CD of live music as a companion to the book!From the man who made a name for himself as a founding member and lead guitarist of Jefferson Airplane comes a memoir that offers a rare glimpse into the heart and soul of a musical genius—and a vivid journey through the psychedelic era in America. “Music is the reward for being alive,” writes Jorma Kaukonen in this candid and emotional account of his life and work. “It stirs memory in a singular way that is unmatched.” In a career that has already spanned a half century—one that has earned him induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, among other honors—Jorma is best known for his legendary bands Jefferson Airplane and the still-touring Hot Tuna. But before he won worldwide recognition he was just a young man with a passion and a dream.Been So Long is the story of how Jorma found his place in the world of music and beyond. The grandson of Finnish and Russian-Jewish immigrants whose formative years were spent abroad with his American-born diplomat father, Jorma channeled his life experiences—from his coming-of-age in Pakistan and the Philippines to his early gigs with Jack Casady in D.C. to his jam sessions in San Francisco with Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, and other contemporaries—into his art in unique and revelatory ways. Been So Long charts not only Jorma’s association with the bands that made him famous but goes into never-before-told details about his addiction and recovery, his troubled first marriage and still-thriving second, and more. Interspersed with diary entries, personal correspondence, and song lyrics, this memoir is as unforgettable and inspiring as Jorma’s music itself.
Been There, Done That
by David Fisher Eddie FisherEddie sang at local fairs, talent contests, and bar mitzvahs, until at age fourteen, he got a job singing on Philadelphia radio shows for twenty-five dollars a week. A few years later, a stint at the Copacabana lunched him into Dreamland. By the time he was twenty-one he was one of the most popular entertainers in America, bigger even than Frank Sinatra, with an income in the millions. His life quickly evolved into a whirl of women, money, and fame. <p><p> Eddie's story is more than just an entertainer's memoir: it's the insider tale of two decades of American pop culture and celebrity royalty. Here is a man who romanced, charmed, seduced, and married Debbie Reynolds, Connle Stevens, and Elizabeth Taylor. He drank and caroused far into the night with the likes of Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. His affairs with women from Ann-Margret to Mamie Van Doren were legendary. He shared mistresses with JFK, Sam Giancana, and Sinatra, and was welcomed everywhere from the White House to Las Vegas, back when such a thing actually meant something.
Been to Yesterdays: Poems of a Life
by Lee Bennett HopkinsNow celebrating its 25th year in print, this powerful and moving memoir by acclaimed poet and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins tells the story of his challenging childhood through poignant poems.Growing up in the 1950s, young Lee Bennett Hopkins navigated the painful realities of his parents' divorce, an unstable home life, and a struggle to make ends meet. Amidst these hardships, he found solace in the memory of his beloved grandmother and held onto his dream of becoming a writer. Through these deeply emotional autobiographical poems, Hopkins vividly captures the raw feelings, experiences, and dreams of a boy enduring a turbulent time in his life.
Beer Money: A Memoir of Privilege and Loss
by Frances Stroh“Beautiful and unflinching . . . a riveting story about the fall of an American family, an American city, and possibly the American Dream itself.” —Janis Cooke Newman, author of Mary, Mrs. A. LincolnFrances Stroh’s earliest memories are ones of great privilege: shopping trips to London and New York, lunches served by black-tied waiters at the Regency Hotel, and a house filled with precious antiques, which she was forbidden to touch. Established in Detroit in 1850, by 1984 the Stroh Brewing Company had become the largest private beer fortune in America and a brand emblematic of the American dream itself; while Stroh was coming of age, the Stroh family fortune was estimated to be worth $700 million.But behind the beautiful façade lay a crumbling foundation. Detroit’s economy collapsed with the retreat of the automotive industry to the suburbs and abroad and likewise the Stroh family found their wealth and legacy disappearing. As their fortune dissolved in little over a decade, the family was torn apart internally by divorce and one family member’s drug bust; disagreements over the management of the business; and disputes over the remaining money they possessed. Even as they turned against one another, looking for a scapegoat on whom to blame the unraveling of their family, they could not anticipate that even far greater tragedy lay in store.Featuring beautiful evocative photos throughout, Stroh’s memoir is elegantly spare in structure and mercilessly clear-eyed in its self-appraisal—at once a universally relatable family drama and a great American story.“Stroh’s absorbing memoir suggests that most cocoons are permeable and that privilege is relative.” —The New York Times Book Review
Beerspit Night and Cursing
by Charles BukowskiUnmasks the tough, street-smart persona of Charles Bukowski-America's "Ultimate Outsider" Amazing letters filled with passionate, literary, and personal observation Insights into the author of Tales of Ordinary Madness, Notes of a Dirty Old Man, and Run with the Hunted Insights into Sheri Martinelli: the protege of Anais Nin, an accomplished painter, and the mistress of Ezra Pound Charels Bukowski's persona as the Dirty Old Man of American Literature is just that: a persona, a mask beneath which there was a man better read and more cultured than most people realize. Sheri Martinelli was one of the favored few for whom Bukowski dropped the mask and engaged in serious discussion of literature and art, and for that reason the discovery and publication of his letters to her give us a more complete picture of this complicated man.
Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice 1967-1975
by Richard ThompsonAn intimate look at the early years of one of the world&’s most significant and influential guitarists and songwriters. In this moving and immersive memoir, Richard Thompson, international and longtime beloved music legend, recreates the spirit of the 1960s, where he found, and then lost, and then found his way again. Known for his brilliant songwriting, his extraordinary guitar playing, and his haunting voice, Thompson is considered one of the top twenty guitarists of all time, in the songwriting pantheon alongside Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Randy Newman. Now, in his long-awaited memoir, the British folk musician takes us back to the late 1960s, a period of great change and creativity—both for him and for the world at large. Thompson packed more than a lifetime of experiences into his late teens and twenties. During the pivotal years of 1967 to 1975, just as he was discovering his passion for music, he formed the band Fairport Convention with some schoolmates and helped establish the genre of British folk rock. That led to a heady period of songwriting and massive tours, where Thompson was on the road both in the UK and the US, and where he crossed paths with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix. But those eight years were also marked by change, upheaval, and tragedy. Then, at the height of the band&’s popularity, Thompson left to form a duo act with his wife Linda. And as he writes revealingly here, his discovery and ultimate embrace of Sufism dramatically reshaped his approach to music—and of course everything else. An honest, moving, and compelling memoir, Beeswing vividly captures the life of a remarkable artist during a period of creative intensity in a world on the cusp of change.
Beethoven
by Anne Pimlott BakerConsidered by many the world’s greatest composer, Ludwig van Beethoven achieved his ambitions against the difficulties of a bullying and drunken father, growing deafness and mounting ill-health. Here, Anne Pimlott Baker tells the story of the German composer’s life and work, from his birth in Bonn in 1770 and his early employment as a court musician, to his death in Vienna in 1827. She describes his studies with Haydn in Vienna and his work during the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon. His most financially successful period followed the Congress of Vienna in 1815, despite several unhappy love affairs and continuous worry over his nephew, Karl. Beethoven is a concise, illuminating biography of a true virtuoso.
Beethoven
by Maynard SolomonBiography of the composer with selective bibliography and an index of his compositions