Books with category Life Journeys
Displaying 9 books

The Ways of Autumn

2017

by William Graney

The misty sea spray caressing Catherine's face portends the unclear path ahead as she contemplates the beginning of her new life in California. Her ten-year journey will include a new relationship, a trek to the highest summit in the contiguous United States, and a poignant hospice experience that will challenge her to rise from the ashes of despair.

Catherine decides to leave Boston when a company from the Silicon Valley presents an offer for her very successful website design company. After accepting the buyout, she signs a contract with a Los Angeles based health care corporation to work as a consultant and thus begins her decade-long stay on the west coast. As time passes in her sunny new environment, Catherine grows increasingly homesick despite the thrill of falling in love and her passion for hiking the Southern California trails.

Conflicts arise when the desire to return to her native New England dominates her thoughts and she meets Kenny, a young man who is facing his final days. As Catherine sits at Kenny's bedside, she helps him work through his struggles to understand love and devotion while facing the fear of a completed life's journey. Their conversations inspire her to reflect deeply upon her own life, the decisions she has made, and the path she must follow.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

2012

by Jonas Jonasson

After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he’s still in good health, and one day, he turns 100. A big celebration is in the works, but Allan really isn’t interested (and he’d like a bit more control over his alcohol consumption). So he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey.

It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but Allan has a larger-than-life backstory: Not only has he witnessed some of the most important events of the twentieth century, he has actually played a key role in them. Quirky and utterly unique, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared has charmed readers across the world.

When God Was a Rabbit

2012

by Sarah Winman

When God Was a Rabbit is an incredibly exciting debut from an extraordinary new voice in fiction. Spanning four decades, from 1968 onwards, this is the story of a fabulous but flawed family and the slew of ordinary and extraordinary incidents that shape their everyday lives.

It is a story about childhood and growing up, loss of innocence, eccentricity, familial ties and friendships, love and life. Stripped down to its bare bones, it’s about the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister.

From Essex and Cornwall to the streets of New York, from 1968 to the events of 9/11, it follows the evolving bond of love and secrets between Elly and her brother, Joe, and her increasing concern for her best friend, Jenny Penny, who has secrets of her own. Funny, quirky, utterly compelling, and poignant, too, When God Was a Rabbit heralds the start of a remarkable new literary career.

Cemetery Street

2011

by John Zunski

In a world of presumptuous people, irony is alive and well, concludes James Morrison, the narrator of this touching coming of age novel. A view Shannie Ortolan - James’s longtime friend, sometimes lover, and full-time obsession - wouldn’t argue. From their first encounter as teenagers until Shannie’s death, experience the twists, turns, and enthralling characters that populate Cemetery Street.

On the cusp of the new millennium, James fulfills a promise. Reenacting a childhood ritual, he places a mud pie upon a grave. This simple act triggers powerful memories.

Meet the people that shaped James’s life. Shannie, who among other things, introduces him to the sport of dodging freight trains. Count, the cemetery caretaker's son, helps James navigate the minefields of adolescence until destiny is met in Desert Storm. Russell, an aging blind African-American, guards a horrifying secret behind a cloud of cigar smoke. Diane, Shannie’s mother, a college professor, dispels the notion of tweed jackets and elbow patches. Steve Lucas, a mortician’s son, who despite bizarre obsessions, stands by James during his most challenging times.

Laugh, cry, and blush as James recounts events of late twentieth-century American life.

Love You Hate You Miss You

2010

by Elizabeth Scott

Get this, I'm supposed to be starting a journal about "my journey." Please. I can see it now: Dear Diary, As I'm set adrift on this crazy sea called "life"... I don't think so.

It's been seventy-five days. Amy's sick of her parents suddenly taking an interest in her. And she's really sick of people asking her about Julia. Julia's gone now, and she doesn't want to talk about it. They wouldn't get it, anyway. They wouldn't understand what it feels like to have your best friend ripped away from you. They wouldn't understand what it feels like to know it's your fault.

Amy's shrink thinks it would help to start a diary. Instead, Amy starts writing letters to Julia. But as she writes letter after letter, she begins to realize that the past wasn't as perfect as she thought it was—and the present deserves a chance too.

A Dog's Life: The Autobiography of a Stray

2010

by Ann M. Martin

A Dog's Life: The Autobiography of a Stray is a captivating tale by Newbery Honor author Ann M. Martin. This heartwrenching yet heartwarming story follows the journey of a stray dog named Squirrel.

Squirrel and her brother, Bone, begin their lives in a toolshed behind a summer house. Their mother lovingly nurtures them and imparts the essential skills needed to survive as stray dogs. However, their world is shattered when their mother is taken from them too soon.

Faced with the harsh realities of life, the puppies must navigate a world filled with humans who are both gentle and brutal, busy highways, other animals, and the ever-changing seasons. When Bone and Squirrel are separated, Squirrel must rely on her instincts to fend for herself.

In her journey of survival, Squirrel forms two friendships that, in very distinct ways, come to define her fate.

La suma de los días

2008

by Isabel Allende

La suma de los días es una obra al tiempo emotiva y escrita en el tono irónico y apasionado que caracteriza a la autora, Isabel Allende. Nos entrega la suma de sus días como mujer y como escritora.

En las páginas de este libro, Isabel Allende narra con franqueza la historia reciente de su vida y la de su peculiar familia en California. Viven en una casa abierta, llena de gente y de personajes literarios, y protegida por un espíritu. El libro abarca hijas perdidas, nietos y libros que nacen, éxitos y dolores, un viaje al mundo de las adicciones y otros a lugares remotos del mundo en busca de inspiración. Además, trata de divorcios, encuentros, amores, separaciones, crisis de pareja y reconciliaciones.

También es una historia de amor entre un hombre y una mujer maduros, que han salvado juntos muchos escollos sin perder ni la pasión ni el humor. Es una mirada a una familia moderna, desgarrada por conflictos y unida, a pesar de todo, por el cariño y la decisión de salir adelante.

Broken Music

2005

by Sting

Having been a songwriter most of my life, condensing my ideas and emotions into short rhyming couplets and setting them to music, I had never really considered writing a book. But upon arriving at the reflective age of fifty, I found myself drawn, for the first time, to write long passages that were as stimulating and intriguing to me as any songwriting I had ever done.

And so Broken Music began to take shape. It is a book about the early part of my life, from childhood through adolescence, right up to the eve of my success with the Police. It is a story very few people know.

I had no interest in writing a traditional autobiographical recitation of everything that’s ever happened to me. Instead, I found myself drawn to exploring specific moments, certain people and relationships, and particular events which still resonate powerfully for me as I try to understand the child I was, and the man I became.

The English Teacher

1990

by R.K. Narayan

Krishna, an English teacher in the town of Malgudi, is constantly nagged by the feeling that he's doing the wrong work. Despite this, he is delighted by his domestic life, where his wife and young daughter wait for him outside the house every afternoon.

Devastated by the death of his wife, Krishna comes to realize what he truly wants to do. He makes a decision that will change his life forever.

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