by Robert M. Pirsig (1984)
"The real cycle you're working on is a cycle called 'yourself.'"One of the most important and influential books of the past half-century, Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful, moving, and penetrating examination of how we live and a meditation on how to live better. The narrative of a father on a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest with his young son, it becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions. A true modern classic, it remains at once touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward.
David Yelland
Since his Mum died Leo's dad has changed and gets drunk regularly - Leo tries to cover it up but realises that he must do something to help - but what? Leo's dad has changed. Since Mum died, his drinking is worse and now he's a different person, someone Leo doesn't recognize. The truth is that Leo is covering up for him and when things get bad Leo escapes into his own head, pretending everything's OK.
Randy Fritz
""An intimate, first-person account of the Bastrop County Complex fire of 2011, which was the third worst wildfire in U.S. history and the worst in the history of Texas. This is Fritz's memoir of the emotional turmoil and hard-won insights that come with rebuilding one's life after a calamitous event"-- "Every year people watch in shock as homes are destroyed and communities devastated by natural disasters. As the media arrives, the information that is reported is mainly statistical. The horror of living through and recovering from the experience is rarely told because almost no one has the emotional strength to speak out while the smoke is still in the air or the floodwaters are still receding. The stories of a disaster's most important effects--which unfold slowly and invisibly for months and sometimes years--are never told. That is, until now. Hail of Fire : A Man and His Family Face Natural Disaster is an intimate account of the third worst wildfire in U.S. history, and the worst in the history of Texas. It is a memoir about what happened to Randy Fritz, an artist turned politician turned public policy leader, and his family during and after, combining a searing account of the fire as it grew to apocalyptic strength with universal themes of loss, grief, and the rebuilding of one's life after a calamitous event. The wildfire itself was traumatic to those who witnessed it and suffered its immediate aftermath. But the most significant impact came in the months and years following, as families grieved, struggled to adapt to their new world, and accepted the destruction of an iconic forest of internationally acclaimed great natural beauty--the Lost Pines. Neighbors once close worried about or could not find one another, while others discovered new friendships that transcended the boundaries of race, class, and family lineage. Fritz, a man who previously held the highest elective office in his local community, struggled as his wife, Holly, and their youngest daughter, Miranda, tried to make sense of their losses. He never imagined the impact this disaster would have on them individually and as a family, as well as the emotional toll he would pay and the journey to make sense of it all. While natural disasters seem increasingly common, deeply personal and redemptive accounts of them are less so. Hail of Fire is an unflinching story of how a man and his tight-knit family found grace after a wildfire took everything. Fritz's hard-won insights provide inspiration to anyone with a quest to figure out what truly matters, particularly those who have undergone an unexpected and life-changing event and those who love and care for them"--
Mary Anne Radmacher and Liz Kalloch
"A celebration of greatness in every womne. It is your personal book of hours. Allow it to inspire you and call you to courageous ways of seeing how lovely, how awesome, how amazing you truly are."--Jacket.
René Weis
Shakespeare authority René Weis brings the man and his milieu to the fore in a compelling reassessment. He reveals how the works themselves contain a rich seam of clues about Shakespeare's life, from his heretical dalliances with Catholicism to his grief at the death of his son Hamnet.