This heartfelt memoir captures the joys and hardships of a boyhood shaped by love, labor, and the unyielding land. Childhood isn't always easy. With two older sisters at home-spoiling him one moment and teasing him the next-Robert learns to navigate the joys and sorrows of growing up. His mother's words, "Big boys don't cry," echo in his ears as he strives to be as strong and resilient as his hardworking father. Caught between childhood tenderness and the expectation to be "tough like Dad....

Grappling with Gravity explores the physiological changes that will occur in humans and the plants and animals that accompany humans as we move to new worlds, be it to colony in the emptiness of space or settlements on the Moon, Mars, or other moons or planets. This book focuses on the biomedical aspects, while not ignoring other life-changing influences of space living. For example, what happens to people physiologically in the microgravity of space, where weight and the direction "up" be...

Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction — ShortlistedFor Elinor Greystone, the only way forward is back into the past.At ninety years of age, Elinor, a Saskatchewan Cree artist, inveterate roll-your-own smoker, and talker to rivers and stuffed bison, sets out to find something that was stolen almost a lifetime ago. With what little time she has left, she is determined to find the child taken from her after she, only a child herself, was raped at ...

Told in her own words, A Girl from Yamhill is Newbery Medal–winning author Beverly Cleary’s heartfelt and relatable memoir—now with a beautifully redesigned cover!Generations of children have read Beverly Cleary’s books. From Ramona Quimby to Henry Huggins, Ralph S. Mouse to Ellen Tebbits, she has created an evergreen body of work based on the humorous tales and heartfelt anxieties of middle graders.But in A Girl from Yamhill, Beverly Cleary tells a more personal story—her ...

From New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard comes three poignant and unforgettable novels.Labor Day—The story of a mother and son forever changed during a long summer weekend when a mysterious man comes into their lives. Labor Day is a beautiful, poignant tale of love, sex, adolescence, and devastating treachery as seen through the eyes of a young teenager—and the man he later becomes.The Good Daughters—A spellbinding novel about friendship, family secrets, and the...

Told in her own words, My Own Two Feet is Newbery Medal–winning author Beverly Cleary’s second heartfelt and relatable memoir.The New Yorker called Beverly Cleary's first volume of memoirs, A Girl From Yamhill, "a warm, honest book, as interesting as any novel."Now the creator of the classic children's stories millions grew up with continues her own fascinating story. Here is Beverly Cleary, from college years to the publication of her first book. It is a f...

From a Pulitzer Prize finalist comes a hilarious and heartbreaking novel about a musician climbing back from rock bottom.As winter deepens in snowbound Pollard, Illinois, thirty-something Francis Falbo is holed up in his attic apartment, recovering from a series of traumas: his mother's death, his beloved wife's desertion, and his once-ascendant rock band's irreconcilable break-up. Francis hasn't shaved in months, hasn't so much as changed out of his bathrobe-"the ...

Another wonderful poetry anthology from Garrison Keillor-rooted in the American landscape.Greatness comes in many forms, and as Garrison Keillor demonstrates daily on The Writer's Almanac, the most affecting poems in the canon are in plain English. Third in Keillor's series of anthologies, Good Poems, American Places brings together poems that celebrate the geography and culture that bind us together as a nation. Think of these poems as postcards ...

He is ruthless and amoral, and he feels nothing but fury and a burning desire for revenge upon "Nameless," the man he believes is responsible for ruining his life. So he plots a horrible, lingering death for his victim.One night, "Nameless" is abducted by his unknown enemy, taken to a mountain cabin, chained to a wall, and left there to die once the scanty provisions left for him run out. In the icy whiteness of dead winter, "Nameless" has nothing to do but search his memory. Who is his ca...

"The Farm" is not in the form of a novel nor is it necessarily chronological. Sections 1-29 however will follow the memories as recorded by the author. Part one is the essence of the narrative; Part two is an addendum written years later to reflect life of a schoolboy in Kansas in what I like to call the "Age of Innocence", that is, the 1940s and 1950s.

Established early in the last century as a memorial to O. Henry, throughout its history this annual collection has consistently offered a remarkable sampling of contemporary short stories. Each year, stories are chosen from large and small literary magazines, and a panel of distinguished writers is enlisted to award top prizes. The result is a superb collection of seventeen inventive, full-bodied stories representing the very best in American and Canadian fiction.FIRST PRIZE...

In the first collection of Lake Wobegon monologues, Keillor tells readers more about some of the people from Lake Wobegon Days and introduces some new faces.