Willie's Bar and Grill

Willie's Bar and Grill
Author: Rob Hirst
Publisher: Momentum
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2012-07-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1743340559

" ... a terrific read. Hirst writes with some genuine flair and tempers his sharp eye for detail with a seen-it-all-before rock veteran cool. (He) is also insightful enough to recognise the not-yet-spoiled delights that lurk just off the USA's smog-choked, SUV-clogged interstates. Think Bill Bryson rewriting Almost Famous." – Rolling Stone Part tour diary, part war commentary, part history brush-up and cultural junket, Willie's Bar and Grill charts legendary Australian band Midnight Oil's progress through North America shortly after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack on the US. Rob Hirst, the band's drummer/songwriter, relates his version of life on the road in an alternately serious, light-hearted but always entertaining, fashion, introducing the group's American tour manager, Willie, as well as the band members and the often bizarre characters they meet. Get on the bus and take the trip. "Hirst's strengths are his satirical tone, critical eye and marvellous sense of humour ... (this) marvellous book is a view of rock music as corporatised and the music of the almost-old. But it is also a work that gives a clear-eyed view of America on the road." – The Age "A true rock 'n' roll odyssey." – NW "Required reading for Oils fans and anyone interested in what's involve din taking a rock show on the road." – Voyeur

A Stranger to Myself

A Stranger to Myself
Author: Willy Peter Reese
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2005-11-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 142999875X

A Stranger to Myself: The Inhumanity of War, Russia 1941-44 is the haunting memoir of a young German soldier on the Russian front during World War II. Willy Peter Reese was only twenty years old when he found himself marching through Russia with orders to take no prisoners. Three years later he was dead. Bearing witness to--and participating in--the atrocities of war, Reese recorded his reflections in his diary, leaving behind an intelligent, touching, and illuminating perspective on life on the eastern front. He documented the carnage perpetrated by both sides, the destruction which was exacerbated by the young soldiers' hunger, frostbite, exhaustion, and their daily struggle to survive. And he wrestled with his own sins, with the realization that what he and his fellow soldiers had done to civilians and enemies alike was unforgivable, with his growing awareness of the Nazi policies toward Jews, and with his deep disillusionment with himself and his fellow men. An international sensation, A Stranger to Myself is an unforgettable account of men at war.

Stone Motel

Stone Motel
Author: Morris Ardoin
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2020-04-15
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1496827759

In the summers of the early 1970s, Morris Ardoin and his siblings helped run their family's roadside motel in a hot, buggy, bayou town in Cajun Louisiana. The stifling, sticky heat inspired them to find creative ways to stay cool and out of trouble. When they were not doing their chores—handling a colorful cast of customers, scrubbing motel-room toilets, plucking chicken bones and used condoms from under the beds—they played canasta, an old ladies’ game that provided them with a refuge from the sun and helped them avoid their violent, troubled father. Morris was successful at occupying his time with his siblings and the children of families staying in the motel’s kitchenette apartments but was not so successful at keeping clear of his father, a man unable to shake the horrors he had experienced as a child and, later, as a soldier. The preteen would learn as he matured that his father had reserved his most ferocious attacks for him because of an inability to accept a gay or, to his mind, broken, son. It became his dad’s mission to “fix” his son, and Morris’s mission to resist—and survive intact. He was aided in his struggle immeasurably by the love and encouragement of a selfless and generous grandmother, who provides his story with much of its warmth, wisdom, and humor. There’s also suspense, awkward romance, naughty French lessons, and an insider’s take on a truly remarkable, not-yet-homogenized pocket of American culture.

Willy's Stories

Willy's Stories
Author: Anthony Browne
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Total Pages: 31
Release: 2015-11-10
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0763677612

From "Peter Pan" to "The Wind in the Willows," a chimpanzee finds himself inside a different classic tale each time he visits the library.

Pretty Paper

Pretty Paper
Author: Willie Nelson
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2016-10-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0735211566

A perfect Christmas gift for music lovers, Pretty Paper is Willie Nelson’s inspiring Christmas fable, based on his holiday classic “Pretty Paper.” More than fifty years ago, Willie Nelson’s beloved Christmas song “Pretty Paper” first hit the airwaves. And for all these years, Willie has wondered about the real-life Texas street vendor, selling wrappings and ribbons, who inspired his song. Who was this poor soul? What did his painful trials say about our loves, our hopes, our dreams in this holiday season—and in the rest of our lives? It’s the early sixties and Willie Nelson is down and out, barely eking out a living as a singer-songwriter. The week before Christmas, he spots a legless man on a cart, selling wares in front of Leonard’s Department Store in Fort Worth, Texas. The humble figure, by the name of Vernon Clay, piques Willie’s curiosity, but Vernon is stubbornly private and—despite Willie’s charming queries—has no interest in telling his story. Willie is tenacious, though, and he eventually learns that Vernon is a fellow musician, a fine guitarist and singer. When Vernon disappears, he leaves behind only a diary, which tells an epic tale of life-altering tragedies, broken hearts, and crooked record men, not to mention backroad honky-tonks, down-home cooking, and country songwriting genius. Deeply moved and spurred on by Vernon’s pages, Willie aims to give the man one last shot at redemption and a chance to embody the holiday spirit.

John Willy and Freddy McGee

John Willy and Freddy McGee
Author: Holly Meade
Publisher: Two Lions
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2007
Genre: Board books
ISBN: 9780761453635

Two guinea pigs escape from their safe but boring cage and have an adventure in the tunnels of the family's pool table.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: the Last Straw

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: the Last Straw
Author: Jeff Kinney
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre:
ISBN:

Middle-schooler Greg Heffley nimbly sidesteps his father's attempts to change Greg's wimpy ways until his father threatens to send him to military school.

Willy Maykit in Space

Willy Maykit in Space
Author: Greg Trine
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2015
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0544313518

Willy Maykit is stranded on Planet Ed during a class trip to outer space. But will he be able to outwit the monsters inhabiting Ed and find his way back home?

Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson
Author: Havard S. Johansen
Publisher: NBM
Total Pages: 98
Release: 2020-09-15
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1681122634

Since he was a child in Hill County, Texas, he has been writing and performing for adoring crowds. Though his mainstream success did not come until later in his life, he has been determined to take his unique sound and voice to the people even before he was a household name. There have been tragedies, missteps, IRS troubles, good times and bad along the way, but Willie continues to shine his positive outlook and project his humble voice out into the world. In this graphic novel biography, all the chapters represent a different era of his life and struggles - each illustrated by a unique indie comics talent.