Tales of the Country Eccentrics

Tales of the Country Eccentrics
Author: Tom Quinn
Publisher: David & Charles Publishers
Total Pages: 191
Release: 1996
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 9780715303474

A celebration of all that is quirky about the way the British live, told through the words of a range of living eccentrics and some examples from the past. Figures include the former nun who now collects Lego sets, the car salesman who races lawnmowers and the inventor who rides a penny farthing.

Tales of English Eccentrics

Tales of English Eccentrics
Author: Tony Grumley-Grennan
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2010-10-25
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0953892247

Throughout the long history of England there have been eccentrics from all walks of life but none more so than those attached to the church. The aristocrat and squirarchy have also been strangely drawn to this calling. The sense of infallibility peculiar to the English has been the hallmark of their eccentricity.

The Teapots Are Out and Other Eccentric Tales from Ireland

The Teapots Are Out and Other Eccentric Tales from Ireland
Author: John B. Keane
Publisher: Running Press Adult
Total Pages: 143
Release: 2004-02-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0786748990

A fitting tribute to John B. Keane, for decades Ireland's favorite storyteller, this winning short story collection typifies the late author's folkloric imagination and storytelling arts. These are congenial tales, too, as this literary legend views the foibles and fallibilities of Irish country folk with abundant compassion as well as a shrewd, sometimes sardonic eye. Add to that Keane's glorious sense of fun and roguery that will make readers relish all the more how and why, in "Fred Rimble," Jim Conlon kills the best friend he ever had. Or how Willie Ramley determines that his future wife will be "Guaranteed Pure." Or how, to tragic as well as comic effect, a gasp, garlic, and gossip undo Denny Bruder in "The Hanging." In all, Keane uncovers the folly in the romantic pangs, exalted aspirations, misguided mischief, and everyday shortcomings of the characters in the village of his storyteller's mind-and beyond the folly finds their humanity.

Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country

Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country
Author: Louise Erdrich
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2003
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0792257197

"An account of Louise Erdrich's trip through the lakes and islands of southern Ontario with her 18-month old baby and the baby's father, an Ojibwe spiritual leader and guide"--

Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley

Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley
Author: Richard Schwartz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2007
Genre: History
ISBN:

The seventeen stories Schwartz tells here remond us of an often-overlooked reality: that the face of humanity of the past is the same as our own. Although the world of these colorful characters inhabit is in so many ways different from ours, their spirit rings true to our modern sensibilities, Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cuttthroats of Old Berkeley shows how deeply we share the emotions and motivations of our ancestors...whetehr she's a Native American girl trapped as a Berkeley domestic, a Civil War veteran gossiping and reminiscing his way down Shattuck Avenue in a horse-drawn wagon, or an African American dairyman whose keen observations and inventive skill bring him riches in a community that embraced him as a town founder. Schwartz brings forth these long-forgotten people from their resting place, and does so with such skill as a storyteller that we can, for a time, straddle two worlds and sense their profound continuity.

Call the Nurse

Call the Nurse
Author: Mary J. MacLeod
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2013-04-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1611459176

Tired of the pace and noise of life near London and longing for a better place to raise their young children, Mary J. MacLeod and her husband encountered their dream while vacationing on a remote island in the Scottish Hebrides. Enthralled by its windswept beauty, they soon were the proud owners of a near-derelict croft house—a farmer’s stone cottage—on “a small acre” of land. Mary assumed duties as the island’s district nurse. Call the Nurse is her account of the enchanted years she and her family spent there, coming to know its folk as both patients and friends. In anecdotes that are by turns funny, sad, moving, and tragic, she recalls them all, the crofters and their laird, the boatmen and tradesmen, young lovers and forbidding churchmen. Against the old-fashioned island culture and the grandeur of mountain and sea unfold indelible stories: a young woman carried through snow for airlift to the hospital; a rescue by boat; the marriage of a gentle giant and the island beauty; a ghostly encounter; the shocking discovery of a woman in chains; the flames of a heather fire at night; an unexploded bomb from World War II; and the joyful, tipsy celebration of a ceilidh. Gaelic fortitude meets a nurse’s compassion in these wonderful true stories from rural Scotland.

No Country for Old Gnomes

No Country for Old Gnomes
Author: Kevin Hearne
Publisher: Del Rey
Total Pages: 435
Release: 2019-04-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1524797782

Go big or go gnome. The New York Times bestselling authors of Kill the Farm Boy welcome you to the world of Pell, the irreverent fantasy universe that recalls Monty Python and Terry Pratchett. “A complete delight, as fluffy and fun as The Lego Movie and as heartfelt as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”—Locus War is coming, and it’s gonna be Pell. On one side stand the gnomes: smol, cheerful, possessing tidy cardigans and no taste for cruelty. On the other side sit the halflings, proudly astride their war alpacas, carrying bags of grenades and hungry for a fight. And pretty much anything else. It takes only one halfling bomb and Offi Numminen’s world is turned upside down—or downside up, really, since he lives in a hole in the ground. His goth cardigans and aggressive melancholy set him apart from the other gnomes, as does his decision to fight back against their halfling oppressors. Suddenly Offi is the leader of a band of lovable misfits and outcasts—from a gryphon who would literally kill for omelets to a young dwarf herbalist who is better with bees than with his cudgel to an assertive and cheerful teen witch with a beard as long as her book of curses—all on a journey to the Toot Towers to confront the dastardly villain intent on tearing Pell asunder. These adventurers never fit in anywhere else, but as they become friends, fight mermaids, and get really angry at this one raccoon, they learn that there’s nothing more heroic than being yourself. In No Country for Old Gnomes, Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne lovingly tweak the tropes of fantasy and fairy tales. Here you’ll find goofy jokes and whimsical puns, but you’ll also find a diverse, feminist, and lighthearted approach to fantasy that will bring a smile to your face and many fine cheeses to your plate.

American Eccentrics

American Eccentrics
Author: Carl Sifakis
Publisher: Facts on File
Total Pages: 320
Release: 1986-01-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9780816013876

Tales of the Old Villagers

Tales of the Old Villagers
Author: Brian P. Martin
Publisher:
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1999
Genre: History
ISBN:

Traditional village life has almost gone from our countryside. This book contains recollections from people who experienced village life when doors didn't need to be locked and when everyone mucked in at harvest time.