Birdbaths and Paper Cranes

Birdbaths and Paper Cranes
Author: Sharon Randall
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2002-08-27
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0452283698

Syndicated columnist Sharon Randall's writing style is intensely personal and unmistakably authentic, as if she were writing a letter to a trusted friend. She shares stories of how her blind brother once tried to drive a car; her sister lost a wig on a bumper car ride; her husband coached basketball while battling cancer; and her oldest child grew up to be "not a real doctor, but play one on TV." In Randall's hands, even stories about ordinary things—from a broken birdbath to a rusty porch swing to a thousand paper cranes—all shine with extraordinary meaning and grace. Laughing or crying, readers will surely see in her stories some of their own, and may look at life in a new way.

Treat Your Poker Like a Business

Treat Your Poker Like a Business
Author:
Publisher: FastPencil Inc
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2009-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 160746277X

Poker star Dusty Schmidt presents his first book [¬" one that stands to shake up poker in the same way Moneyball did for baseball. Schmidt offers an inspiring look at how in just five years, he went from not knowing a thing about poker to netting a seven-figure annual income. Far from a mathematical or technological genius, Schmidt says what guides him through is a fundamental understanding of business. Treat Your Poker Like A Business provides a foundation upon which all poker will be evaluated in the future, and will help an entire generation of poker players evolve their games into empires. A consummate "grinder," Dusty Schmidt has played nearly 7 million hands of online poker over more than 10,000 hours during his five-year career. He's won over $3 million during that period, and has never experienced a losing month. In 2007, he achieved Poker Stars' SuperNova Elite status in just eight months while playing high-stakes cash games exclusively. Schmidt posted the world's highest win rate in both 5/10 NL and 10/20 NL in both 2007 and 2008. In a four-month period between Nov. 2007 and Feb. 2008, Schmidt won in excess of $600,000 in high-stakes cash games. He is now a highly respected instructor at Stoxpoker.com, and plays as high as 25/50 NL. As a young man, Schmidt was a top-ranked golfer. He broke two of Tiger Woods' junior records, and was the leading money winner on the Golden States Tour when, at age 23, he suffered a career-ending heart attack. Schmidt returned to golf in 2009, winning medalist honors in qualifying for the Oregon Amateur Championship. Later that year, Schmidt famously represented himself in federal court in his suit against the United States Golf Association, which controversially stripped him of his amateur status, in part due to his poker profession. Schmidt is now a volunteer assistant coach for the University of Oregon's men's golf team, working under his good friend, Head Coach Casey Martin. Schmidt is also a successful entrepreneur. He is part-owner of Stoxpoker.com and Imagine Media, and the creator of 10thGreen.com, the first social network for golfers. His story has been featured in Sports Illustrated, Card Player, Poker News, Golf Magazine, Fairways and Greens, Golf Week, Golf World and the Portland Oregonian, as well as on ESPN, cnn.com, wallstreetjournal.com, forbes.com, fortune.com, espn.com, golfdigest.com and golf.com, among many others. He recently founded the House of Cards Project, a philanthropic effort to provide food and shelter to disadvantaged families. His life story will be told in the book [¬Raise: The Impossibly True Tale of Dusty Schmidt, [¬? to be released later in 2010. He lives in Portland, Ore., with his wife, Nicole, and daughter, Lennon.

Midlife Mamas on the Moon

Midlife Mamas on the Moon
Author: Sunny Hersh
Publisher: Fast Forward Publications
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2003
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9780974309378

A fun, inspirational guide to positive choices for women over 40! Packed with useful checklists, honest personal stories, and no-nonsense resources, this book has the latest information on health, sex, and hormones and shows how to transform relationships, finances, and careers.

The World and Then Some

The World and Then Some
Author: Sharon Randall
Publisher:
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2020-10-13
Genre:
ISBN: 9781735801117

There on the road stood a child. Cora knew her at once. She had her father's green eyes and her mother's gorgeous face. Scuffing lines in the dust with the toe of her shoe, the little girl looked up at her. "Ma'am," she said, "I'm here." In this beautiful debut novel from columnist Sharon Randall, we meet a woman whose family has been cradled for generations by a valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, where love and heartbreak and the bonds of family create a harrowing and heartfelt tale. Cora Lacy is born in August,1898, on a day that will be her mother's last. She grows up a child of the mountains, loving the land beneath her feet like the mother she never knew. Her life will be marked by tragedy, but every loss brings gifts. One man will break her heart; another will never leave her. When her sons go off to war, she finds comfort in caring for her fiery, pregnant daughter-in-law. And when her first grandchild is born-and disappears-she suffers the agony of losing a child. Years later, when a little girl in a tattered dress shows up at her door, Cora finds new reason to live, and vows to stop at nothing, even risking her own life, to protect her. Told in a voice that sings of the mountains, this sweeping family saga weaves a story of hope with the ever-present thread of unwavering love that parents-and grandparents-feel for children, who to them, mean the world and then some.

Bird Tales from Near & Far

Bird Tales from Near & Far
Author: Susan Milord
Publisher: WorthyKids
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2000-01-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781885593184

Presents folktales and facts about birds from around the world. Includes related handicraft, nature, science, and cooking activities.

There Goes Gravity

There Goes Gravity
Author: Lisa Robinson
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2015-04-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1594632952

From a legendary music journalist with four decades of unprecedented access, an insider’s behind-the-scenes look at the major personalities of rock and roll. Lisa Robinson has interviewed the biggest names in music—including Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Patti Smith, U2, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Jay Z, and Kanye West. She visited the teenage Michael Jackson many times at his Encino home. She spent hours talking to John Lennon at his Dakota apartment—and in recording studios just weeks before his murder. She introduced David Bowie to Lou Reed at a private dinner in a Manhattan restaurant, helped the Clash and Elvis Costello get their record deals, was with the Rolling Stones on their jet during a frightening storm, and was mid-flight with Led Zeppelin when their tour manager pulled out a gun. A pioneering female journalist in an exclusive boys’ club, Lisa Robinson is a preeminent authority on the personalities and influences that have shaped the music world; she has been recognized as rock journalism’s ultimate insider. A keenly observed and lovingly recounted look back on years spent with countless musicians backstage, after-hours, and on the road, There Goes Gravity documents a lifetime of riveting stories, told together here for the first time.

The Dry Grass of August

The Dry Grass of August
Author: Anna Jean Mayhew
Publisher: Kensington
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2019-01-29
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1496722264

In this beautifully written debut, Anna Jean Mayhew offers a riveting depiction of Southern life in the throes of segregation, what it will mean for a young girl on her way to adulthood—and for the woman who means the world to her . . . On a scorching day in August 1954, thirteen-year-old Jubie Watts leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation. Crammed into the Packard along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family’s black maid, Mary Luther. For as long as Jubie can remember, Mary has been there—cooking, cleaning, compensating for her father’s rages and her mother’s benign neglect, and loving Jubie unconditionally. Bright and curious, Jubie takes note of the anti-integration signs they pass, and of the racial tension that builds as they journey further south. But she could never have predicted the shocking turn their trip will take. Now, in the wake of tragedy, Jubie must confront her parents’ failings and limitations, decide where her own convictions lie, and make the tumultuous leap to independence . . . Infused with the intensity of a changing time, here is a story of hope, heartbreak, and the love and courage that can transform us—from child to adult, from wounded to indomitable. “Mayhew keeps the story taut, thoughtful and complex, elevating it from the throng of coming-of-age books.” —Publishers Weekly “Beautifully written, with complex characters, an urgent plot, and an ending so shocking and real it had me in tears.” —Eleanor Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Weird Sisters “A must-read for fans of The Help.” —Woman’s World

Thank Heaven

Thank Heaven
Author: Leslie Caron
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2009-11-25
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1101152443

One of the best-loved stars of classic American cinema tells all in this wry, funny, and poignant memoir Leslie Caron is one of the most cherished and admired international film stars of our time. She made her film debut with Gene Kelly in the classic MGM musical An American in Paris, created one of the most enduring roles in American musicals as Gigi, danced with Fred Astaire in Daddy Long Legs, and starred with Cary Grant in Father Goose. In Thank Heaven (an homage to ?Thank Heaven for Little Girls,? the song Maurice Chevalier sings about her in Gigi) Caron shares her remarkable life story. From her childhood with her American mother and French father in occupied France to her early success as a young ballerina; to her meeting Gene Kelly and her years in Hollywood; to her love affairs (including a very funny and very public one with Warren Beatty) and motherhood; to her alcoholism and depression; and finally her recovery and continuing success in film and television, Caron offers an illuminating account of her career. Thank Heaven is filled with reminiscences of MGM at the end of its Golden Era, of the great stars with whom Caron worked, and of her own struggles as an actress. This is a sharp, unsentimental, and moving memoir for everyone who loves classic American movies.