The Year of the Rat

The Year of the Rat
Author: Clare Furniss
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2014-11-04
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1481421018

Pearl deals with death, life, and family in this haunting, humorous, and poignant debut that School Library Journal calls a “well-written depiction of adolescence and the pervasive, perplexing nature of loss.” The world can tip at any moment…a fact that fifteen-year-old Pearl is all too aware of when her mom dies after giving birth to her baby sister, Rose. Rose, who looks exactly like a baby rat, all pink, wrinkled, and writhing. This little Rat has destroyed everything, even ruined the wonderful relationship that Pearl had with her stepfather, the Rat’s biological father. Mom, though…Mom’s dead but she can’t seem to leave. She keeps visiting Pearl. Smoking, cursing, guiding. Told across the year following her mother’s death, Pearl’s story is full of bittersweet humor and heartbreaking honesty about how you deal with grief that cuts you to the bone, as she tries not only to come to terms with losing her mother, but also the fact that her sister—The Rat—is a constant reminder of why her mom is no longer around.

The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt

The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt
Author: Michael G. Vann
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2019
Genre: Hanoi (Vietnam)
ISBN: 9780190602697

"Tells the darkly humorous story of the French colonial state's failed efforts to impose its vision of modernity upon the colonial city of Hanoi, Vietnam. This book offers a case study in the history of imperialism, highlighting the racialized economic inequalities of empire, colonization as a form of modernization, and industrial capitalism's creation of a radical power differential between "the West and the rest." On a deeper level, The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt will engage the contradictions unique to the French Third Republic's colonial "civilizing mission," the development of Vietnamese resistance to French rule, the history of disease, and aspects of environmental history"--

The Tragic Odes of Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead

The Tragic Odes of Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead
Author: Brent Wood
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2020-03-26
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0429582218

The Tragic Odes of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead is a multifaceted study of tragedy in the group’s live performances showing how Garcia brought about catharsis through dance by leading songs of grief, mortality, and ironic fate in a collective theatrical context. This musical, literary, and historical analysis of thirty-five songs with tragic dimensions performed by Garcia in concert with the Grateful Dead illustrates the syncretic approach and acute editorial ear he applied in adapting songs of Robert Hunter, Bob Dylan, and folk tradition. Tragically ironic situations in which Garcia found himself when performing these songs are revealed, including those related to his opiate addiction and final decline. This book examines Garcia’s musical craftsmanship and the Grateful Dead’s collective art in terms of the mystery-rites of ancient Greece, Friedrich Nietzsche’s Dionysus, 20th century American music rooted in New Orleans, Hermann Hesse’s Magic Theater, and the Greek Theatre at Berkeley, offering a clear prospect on an often misunderstood phenomenon. Featuring interdisciplinary analysis, close attention to musical and poetic strategies, and historical and critical contexts, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of Popular Music, Musicology, Cultural Studies, and American Studies, as well as to the Grateful Dead’s avid listeners.

The Influence Peddlers

The Influence Peddlers
Author: Hédi Kaddour
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2017-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0300222882

The eagerly awaited English translation of Kaddour's award-winning novel of clashing cultures during the French colonial years Gather together French colonialists, young nationalists eager for independence, and local Maghreb leaders in a small North African city of the 1920s. Bring a collection of brash American filmmakers and celebrities into the picture. Dangerous cultural collisions are the inevitable result in Hédi Kaddour's best-selling novel of French colonial rule and its persisting legacy of human chaos and cultural tragedy. In this commanding novel, the author plumbs the contradictions of colonialism and the impact on individual lives. With insight, humor, and a profound sense of irony he introduces Les Prépondérants--"The Preponderants," an unofficial group of peddlers of influence who operate at every level of colonial society. American "Hollywood" values, Islamic and secular politics, French manners--none of them escapes Kaddour's skewering wit. Filled with rich irony and wonderful characters, this is a novel that grapples forcefully with colonial relations in the Arabic, North African, and French worlds, while also journeying into the simmering Europe and United States of the Roaring Twenties.

The Uninvited

The Uninvited
Author: Heather Graham
Publisher: MIRA
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2022-01-24
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0369720911

Rediscover book 9 of New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham’s Krewe of Hunters series. The Krewe of Hunters must find the ghosts of Philadelphia’s past before another murder takes place. 1777: In the throes of the Revolutionary War, Landon Mansion is commandeered by British Lord “Butcher” Bedford. He stabs Lucy Tarleton — who spurned his king and his love — leaving her to die in her father’s arms. Now: After the day’s final tour, docent Allison Leigh makes her rounds while locking up…and finds a colleague slumped over Bedford’s desk, impaled on his own replica bayonet. Resident ghosts may be the stock-in-trade of stately Philadelphia homes, but Allison — a noted historian — is indignant at the prospect of “ghost hunters” investigating this apparent murder. Agent Tyler Montague knows his hauntings and his history. But while Allison is skeptical of the newcomer, a second mysterious murder occurs. Has “Butcher” Bedford resurfaced? Or is there another malevolent force at work in Landon Mansion? Wary, yet deeply attracted, Allison has to trust in Tyler and work with him to discover just what uninvited guest — dead or alive — has taken over the house. Or their lives could become history!

Coconut Therapy for Pets

Coconut Therapy for Pets
Author: Bruce Fife
Publisher: Piccadilly Books, Ltd.
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2017-08-14
Genre: Pets
ISBN: 0941599957

What can you do if your cat has worms? Use coconut oil. What can you do about smelly doggy breath? Try coconut oil. What if your cat has an ear infection? Again, coconut oil. Believe it or not, coconut oil is a highly effective treatment for a wide variety of common health problems. For this reason, coconut oil has gained a reputation as a superfood—a food that provides health benefits far beyond it nutritional content. Coconuts and coconut oil have a long history of safe and effective use as food and as medicine for both humans and animals. Most animals love the taste of coconut. Whether you own cats, dogs, ferrets, parrots, canaries, chickens, horses, goats, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits, or other animals, they can all benefit from the nutritional and medicinal properties of coconut oil. Some of the many benefits include: ● Improves the appearance of the skin, hair, and feathers ● Reduces or eliminates body odor and bad breath ● Improves energy and balances metabolism ● Helps reduce excess body fat and maintain proper weight ● Prevents and fights bacterial, viral, and yeast infections ● Strengthens immune function ● Helps relieve kennel cough ● Improves oral health and whitens teeth ● Helps ease allergy symptoms ● Soothes itchy or irritated skin ● Improves digestion and nutrient absorption ● Protects against digestive disorders such as ulcers and colitis ● Expels or kills intestinal parasites ● Helps keep blood sugar in balance ● Helps build strong bones ● Helps prevent and ease joint pain and ligament problems ● Speeds healing from cuts, burns, insect bites, and other injuries ● Protects against fleas, ticks, mites, and other parasites