The rope swing

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B.D. Hyman

According to the author, the Mother Goddam of movies for four decades was something else offscreen. The paranoid figure saw herself as a feminine version of Gulliver. "Never relax," she warned B.D., "or the Lilliputians will climb up your legs and devour your soul." No defect goes uncharted, from the star's alcoholism to violent maledictions from her fourth husband, Actor Gary Merrill: "The only people who can be around you for long without wanting to kill you are faggots." Physical catastrophes of old age, among them strokes and a mastectomy, follow like biblical punishments. If pity is contained in these pages, it is intended for the author, not her subject. B.D. now lives in the Bahamas, 3,000 miles from Hollywood, but My Mother's Keeper has distanced her even further from her mother, and from reticence and common decency.

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Joan W. Blos

A series of letters and newspaper articles reveals life in California in the 1850s, especially for thirteen-year-old Eldora, who was raised in Massachusetts as an orphan only to meet her influential mother in San Francisco, and Luke, who hopes to find a fortune in gold.

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Lilibet Snellings

"When 22-year-old Lilibet Snellings moved to Los Angeles on a whim, she unintentionally became a "slash" to keep her head above water-a writer/waitress/actress/Box Girl. One night each week, Lilibet would go to The Standard Hotel in West Hollywood, don a pair of white boy shorts with a matching tank, touch up her lip gloss, and crawl into a giant glass case behind the front desk. There, she could do whatever she wanted-check email, catch up on reading, even sleep-as long as she ignored the many hotel guests who would point and ask the staff, "Is she allowed to use the bathroom?" (Yes.) Dog-paddling through her twenties, Snellings resisted financial bailouts (for the most part) from her sweet Southern mother and business-oriented dad, while pondering her peculiar position as a human art installation. Was she a piece of art or a piece of ass? Was she allowed to read both Walt Whitman and US Weekly as she lounged in an oversized, waterless aquarium behind a hotel concierge desk? From misinterpreting a modeling agency interview as a talent audition, to avoiding Bond-girl-style deaths at New Year's Eve parties, Snellings shares and laughs at her many mishaps while living in LA. "--

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Tony Albano

Has your life gone smoothly - or have you hit a bump (or ten) along the way? You need to hear about Tony AIbano's life. In 28 short stories about his road, Tony will make you smile - even laugh - and certainly give you pause ... to think about those bumps that make life interesting. Tony has been a New York hippie, a musician, a deli owner, a Mets lover, and a lover of women. He loves animals, too, especially dogs. Then he hit a real bump. He lost a leg, just like his grandfather had. And just like Brie, the lovable canine who is now one of his best California friends. In addition to being a good writer, Tony is a highly entertaining storyteller. People who hear his stories come away with a truly richer sense of their own lives.