The Revolving Door of Life

Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0345811704
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
44 Scotland Street -- Book 10 Excitement abounds when the revolving door of life brings fresh faces and hilarious new developments to the residents of 44 Scotland Street. Things are looking up for seven-year-old Bertie Pollock. The arrival of his spirited grandmother and the absence of his meddlesome mother—who is currently running a book club in a Bedouin harem (don’t ask)—bring unforeseen blessings: no psychotherapy, no Italian lessons, and no yoga classes. Meanwhile, surprises await Scotland Street’s grown-ups. Matthew makes a discovery that could be a major windfall for his family, but also presents a worrisome dilemma. Pat learns a secret about her father’s fiancée that may shake up her family, unless she can convince the perpetually narcissistic Bruce to help her out. And the Duke of Johannesburg finds himself in sudden need of an explanation—and an escape route—when accosted by a determined guest at a soirée. From the cunning schemes of the Association of Scottish Nudists to the myriad expressive possibilities of the word “aye,” Alexander McCall Smith guides us through the risks and rewards of friendship, love, and family with his usual inimitable wit and irresistible charm.

The Revolving Door

Author: Bernard Montpeirous
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781523920174
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 234

Book Description
As a young boy riding in his father's taxi, Bernard Montpeirous never imagined the adventures that awaited him in the streets (and doorways) of New York City. In his engaging memoir, he recounts his childhood experiences as a first-generation Haitian American and shares highlights of his career as a doorman for two of the city's luxury hotels. While on the job, Montpeirous met some of the biggest stars of all time and bore witness to what they were like when the cameras were gone. From Sylvester Stallone to Mick Jagger, Montpeirous's clients partied hard and were often happy to let the doorman in on the fun. The Revolving Door, however, isn't all about the high life. Montpeirous also focuses on the moments that forced him to grow and change. As a young man, he was up for almost anything, but Montpeirous now has learned the importance of family and fatherhood and has confronted the demons he ran from for half his life. In The Revolving Door, Montpeirous shares entertaining anecdotes about hobnobbing with celebrities as well as insightful advice on facing up to your shortcomings. You won't soon forget the tremendous highs and the terrifying lows of his life's journey.

The Doors of Death and Life

Author: Brenda W. Clough
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 1429972149
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
Part political thriller, part fantasy, part near-future science fiction, part family drama, Doors of Death and Life is both exciting and thoughtful, a literate excursion into X-Files territory. In How Like a God, Rob Lewis gave his friend Edwin Barbarossa the Pearl of Immortality that had once belonged to Gilgamesh. Seven years later, the space shuttle ferrying Edwin home from a stint on the new moon colony catches fire. Everyone dies except Edwin. First he's hailed as a hero. Then he disappears. It's up to Rob to rescue him from the man who will stop at nothing to take the secret of immortality for himself. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Keep the Doors Open

Author: Kristin Berry
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
ISBN: 0736976698
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
Will You Open Your Heart and Home to Children in Need? As a teenager, Kristin Berry had heard all the horror stories surrounding foster care and adoption—abuse, neglect, rejection, anger, and misunderstandings. But instead of closing her heart, God opened it wide. This is Kristin’s honest, unvarnished story of some of her experiences as a foster parent of twenty-three children over the course of nine years. What she learned is that living in a foster home is like living with a revolving door. You never know who will arrive or who you will have to say goodbye to. Leaving the door open means there will be heartache and pain, but also adventure and unexpected joy. Kristin and her husband, Mike, have been through it all in their unique parenting journey. If you have ever wondered what it’s really like to be a foster parent, this book will help you gain a true understanding of the everyday trials and triumphs these moms and dads face. It will also inspire you to consider opening your door…and to leave it wide open.

44 Scotland Street

Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1400079446
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
44 SCOTLAND STREET - Book 1 The residents and neighbors of 44 Scotland Street and the city of Edinburgh come to vivid life in these gently satirical, wonderfully perceptive serial novels, featuring six-year-old Bertie, a remarkably precocious boy—just ask his mother. Welcome to 44 Scotland Street, home to some of Edinburgh's most colorful characters. There's Pat, a twenty-year-old who has recently moved into a flat with Bruce, an athletic young man with a keen awareness of his own appearance. Their neighbor, Domenica, is an eccentric and insightful widow. In the flat below are Irene and her appealing son Bertie, who is the victim of his mother’s desire for him to learn the saxophone and italian–all at the tender age of five. Love triangles, a lost painting, intriguing new friends, and an encounter with a famous Scottish crime writer are just a few of the ingredients that add to this delightful and witty portrait of Edinburgh society, which was first published as a serial in The Scotsman newspaper.

Still Life with Monkey

Author: Katharine Weber
Publisher: Paul Dry Books
ISBN: 158988129X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Book Description
“A brilliantly crafted novel, brimming with heart.”―Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage “Rich and compelling . . . Her characters are vividly, achingly real, including the tiny, furry one at the novel’s center.”―Ann Packer, author of The Dive From Clausen’s Pier “Stark and compelling . . . rigorously unsentimental yet suffused with emotion.”―Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Duncan Wheeler is a successful architect who savors the quotidian pleasures in life until a car accident leaves him severely paralyzed and haunted by the death of his young assistant. Now, Duncan isn’t sure what there is left to live for, when every day has become “a broken series of unsuccessful gestures.” Duncan and his wife, Laura, find themselves in conflict as Duncan’s will to live falters. Laura grows desperate to help him. An art conservator who has her own relationship to the repair of broken things, Laura brings home a highly trained helper monkey―a tufted capuchin named Ottoline―to assist Duncan with basic tasks. Duncan and Laura fall for this sweet, comical, Nutella-gobbling little creature, and Duncan’s life appears to become more tolerable, fuller, and funnier. Yet the question persists: Is it enough? Katharine Weber is a masterful observer of humanity, and Still Life with Monkey, full of tenderness and melancholy, explores the conflict between the will to live and the desire to die.

Bertie Plays the Blues

Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307948501
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Book Description
44 SCOTLAND STREET - Book 7 The residents and neighbors of 44 Scotland Street and the city of Edinburgh come to vivid life in these gently satirical, wonderfully perceptive serial novels, featuring six-year-old Bertie, a remarkably precocious boy—just ask his mother. If you haven’t met the residents of 44 Scotland Street yet, there is no better time, since everyone seems to be in the midst of new beginnings. New parents Matthew and Elspeth must muddle through the difficulties of raising their triplets Rognvald, Tobermory and Fegus—there's normal sleep deprivation, and then there's trying to tell the children apart from one another. Angus and Domenica are newly engaged, and now they must negotiate the complex merger of two households. Domenica is also forced to deal with the return of an old flame, while Big Lou has begun the search for a new one, boldly exploring the new world of online dating and coming up with an Elvis impersonator on the first try. And in Bertie’s family, there's a shift in power as his father Stuart starts to stand up to overbearing mother, Irene—and then there’s Bertie, who has been thinking that he might want to start over with a new family and so puts himself up for adoption on eBay. With his signature charm and gentle wit Alexander McCall Smith vividly portrays the lives of Edinburgh’s most unique and beloved characters.

The Bertie Project

Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0525433015
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 318

Book Description
Our beloved cast of characters are back, as are the joys and trials of life at 44 Scotland Street in this latest installment of Alexander McCall Smith’s delightfully charming series. Bertie’s mother, Irene, returns from the Middle East to discover that, in her absence, her son has been exposed to the worst of evils—television shows, ice cream parlors, and even unsanctioned art at the National Portrait Gallery. Her wrath descends on Bertie’s long-suffering father, Stuart. But Stuart has found a reason to spend more time outside of the house and seems to have a new spring in his step. What does this mean for the residents of 44 Scotland Street? The winds of change have come to the others as well. Angus undergoes a spiritual transformation after falling victim to an unexpected defenestration. Bruce has fallen in a rather different sense for a young woman who is determined to share with him her enthusiasm for extreme sports. Matthew and Elspeth have a falling out with their triplets’ au pair, while Big Lou continues to fall in love with her new role as a mother. And as Irene resumes work on what she calls her Bertie Project, reinstating Bertie’s Italian lessons, yoga classes, and psychotherapy, Bertie begins to hatch a project of his own—one that promises freedom.

Sunshine on Scotland Street

Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1405520388
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 239

Book Description
Scotland Street witnesses the wedding of the century of Angus Lordie to Domenica Macdonald, but as the newlyweds depart on honeymoon Edinburgh is in disarray. Recovering from the trauma of being best man, Matthew is taken up by a Dane called Bo, while Cyril eludes his dog-sitter and embarks on an odyssey involving fox-holes and the official residence of a cardinal. Narcissist Bruce meets his match in the form of a sinister doppelganger; Bertie, set up by his mother for fresh embarrassment at school, yearns for freedom; and Big Lou goes viral. But the residents of Scotland Street rally, and order - and Cyril - is restored by the combined effects of understanding, kindness, and, most of all, friendship.

An Ordinary Age

Author: Rainesford Stauffer
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062999028
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
Best Book of 2021 —Esquire? Featured on Good Morning America "A meticulous cartography of how outer forces shape young people’s inner lives." —Esquire, Best Books of 2021 In conversation with young adults and experts alike, journalist Rainesford Stauffer explores how the incessant pursuit of a “best life” has put extraordinary pressure on young adults today, across our personal and professional lives—and how ordinary, meaningful experiences may instead be the foundation of a fulfilled and contented life. Young adulthood: the time of our lives when, theoretically, anything can happen, and the pressure is on to make sure everything does. Social media has long been the scapegoat for a generation of unhappy young people, but perhaps the forces working beneath us—wage stagnation, student debt, perfectionism, and inflated costs of living—have a larger, more detrimental impact on the world we post to our feeds. An Ordinary Age puts young adults at the center as Rainesford Stauffer examines our obsessive need to live and post our #bestlife, and the culture that has defined that life on narrow, and often unattainable, terms. From the now required slate of (often unpaid) internships, to the loneliness epidemic, to the stress of "finding yourself" through school, work, and hobbies—the world is demanding more of young people these days than ever before. And worse, it’s leaving little room for our generation to ask the big questions about who they want to be, and what makes a life feel meaningful. Perhaps we’re losing sight of the things that fulfill us: strong relationships, real roots in a community, and the ability to question how we want our lives to look and feel, even when that’s different from what we see on the ‘Gram. Stauffer makes the case that many of our most formative young adult moments are the ordinary ones: finding our people and sticking with them, learning to care for ourselves on our own terms, and figuring out who we are when the other stuff—the GPAs, job titles, the filters—fall away.