Sane new world

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Joey Goebel

Vincent Spinetti is the archetypal tortured artist-a sensitive young writer who suffers from alienation, parental neglect, poverty, depression, alcoholism, illness, nervous breakdowns, and unrequited love. However, he is unaware that these torments are due to the secret manipulations of New Renaissance, an experimental organization that hopes to improve mindless main-stream culture by raising writers who emphasize artistic quality over commerce. New Renaissance hires ex-musician Harlan Eiffler to manipulate its most promising prodigy, Vincent. Wickedly antisocial and disgusted by what passes for entertainment in the twenty-first century, Harlan ensures that Vincent remains a true artist. He poses as Vincent's manager and nurtures his career, all the while continuing to torture him. Smart, funny, and poignant, Torture the Artist examines the timeless idea that true art can only result from suffering. About the author: Joey Goebel was born and raised in Henderson, Kentucky. He has a B.A. in English from Brescia University. He is the author of The Anomalies and former lead singer of the Mullets and Novembrists.

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Lee Woodruff

"You can tell a woman's whole life story from the possessions in her jewelry box. Like reading a palm, you can trace the points where her life has intersected with memorable events, people, places, and loves. You can speculate on the essence of her personality, all from what she has accumulated in that box."--from Perfectly ImperfectIn her acclaimed first book, In an Instant, Lee Woodruff, along with her husband, ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff, wrote eloquently and honestly about the struggles they faced together as Bob recovered from a traumatic brain injury sustained in Iraq. Now, with the same candor and clarity, Lee Woodruff chronicles her life as wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend.Woodruff's deeply personal and, at times, uproariously funny stories highlight such universal topics as family, marriage, friends, and how life never seems to go as planned. On raising teenagers: "Now with a boy and girl on the precipice of serious adolescence, the bathroom door is sealed tighter than a government nuclear testing ground." On her changing body: "Over the last ten years my own knees had begun to form those dreaded smiley faces, sagging underneath." How she copes with tragedy: "Swimming surrounds me in the velvet wet of a bluish green world where I can dive deep down and sob with no trace." Even her sense of style: "I've always been more Leave It to Beaver than Sex in the City."In a voice that is fresh, irreverently funny, and irresistible, Lee Woodruff traces the quiet moments and memorable events that have shaped her life in progress. Perfectly Imperfect is the testimonial of a woman who embraces the chaos of her surroundings, discovers the splendor of life's flaws, and accepts that perfection is as impossible to achieve as a spotless kitchen floor.From the Hardcover edition.

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James D. Weinrich

This is a fascinating book on our gender and sexual rituals and preferences, written by a sexologist from a sociobiological perspective. Organized as a series of provocative puzzles or questions on such subjects as male-female differences, homosexuality, transsexualism, and courtship rituals, it offers a refreshing new perspective, part Mendelian genetics, part common sense.

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Shawn Klomparens

An earnest journey from heartache to heartthrob and all the emotions along the way; at once an old-fashioned love story and a cautionary tale of self-reinvention.In San Diego County, it hasn't rained in 580 days. But for weatherman Andy Dunne, everything else is changing fast...Only a few weeks ago, he was a newly divorced, slightly overweight meteorologist for an obscure satellite radio station, hiding his secret love for a colleague, the beautiful--and very much married--Hillary Hsing. But nearly overnight, Andy has landed a new gig, flying a magic carpet in a bizarre live-action children's TV show. So what is affable, basically decent Andy Dunne going to do now that he can do practically anything he wants? With a parade of hot moms begging for his autograph and a family that needs his help more than ever, Andy has a lot of choices. First, though, there's this thing with Hillary, their heated text messages, a long-awaited forecast for rain -- and a few other surprises he never saw coming...From the Trade Paperback edition.