Ask yourself, if you heard that Cinderella was not living happily ever after with her Prince Charming, would you want descriptions of her ballroom gowns or would you just want to now the whys, the hows and the did he? "Faint Heart and Other Stories" is a collection of light-hearted short stories designed to reach a satisfying conclusion before the reader has forgotten the beginning. It's perfect for bringing a smile on a miserable bus or a crowded train, or a wonderful book to go to bed with. The animals that often feature in these stories owe nothing to Attenborough, though perhaps a little to Beatrix Potter and Chaucer. There is no time for description and page-turning cliffhangers that force the reader to miss their stop or move too long into valuable sleep time - the aim is to get to the end with a satisfying, neatly tied off bow.

“A Faint Heart” is a fantastic short story by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821 – 1881), a Russian novelist, essayist, short story writer, journalist, and philosopher. His literature examines human psychology during the turbulent social, spiritual and political atmosphere of 19th-century Russia, and he is considered one of the greatest psychologists in world literature. A prolific writer, Dostoevsky produced 11 novels, three novellas, 17 short stories and numerous other works. This volume will appeal to lovers of the short story form, and it is not to be missed by fans and collectors of Dostoyevsky's marvellous work. Other notable works by this author include: “Crime and Punishment” (1866), “Notes from the Underground” (1864), and “The Idiot” (1869).

Masterful, hopeful stories about ordinary people taking small, bold steps into the unknown These ten compelling and delightful stories highlight ordinary people, introverts, mostly living quiet lives -- until they take the chance to leap toward small, meaningful adventure. A young woman is given a painting by Picasso by her stepfather, and she must acquire a wall to hang it on. A hippie family picks up a cello-playing hitchhiker who convinces them to get a television. And a man winds up taking his girlfriend?s son on a road trip -- an unexpected expedition for them both. Filled with a sense of hope, these stories explore the tangled bonds of family and the complex web that holds them together. Cary Fagan is an undisputed master of the short story, and Great Adventures for the Faint of Heart is a brilliant and warm collection that expands our acceptance of human frailty and our unpredictable capacity for change.

Simple techniques for securing your food supply in an insecure world. There are books you merely read. There are books you read, recommend to others and pass along. Then there are those books you read, lay aside, jump to your feet, throw your hands in the air, and holler, "Yes!!" Food Security for the Faint of Heart is one of the latter. Robin Wheeler has managed to extract logic from hysteria, package it with a strong environmental perspective, an abundance of practical suggestions and enough good humour to make this a must-have for every soul interested in surviving whatever natural disaster comes along. Wheeler wastes no time in addressing the central theme of her book: Anything can happen so you better be prepared--and here's how. In her impressive list of "Good Things to Have in an Emergency", she catalogues essential items, including lesser touted items such as cooking oil and salt. If Wheeler has done anything by writing this book, she's pulled thr proverbial rug from under our feet when it ocmes to excuses for not eating well through any disaster. — Reviewed by Linda Wegner, Country LIfe in BC Where would you find your groceries if your supermarket’s shelves were suddenly empty? The threat of earthquakes, trucker strikes, power outages, or a global market collapse makes us vulnerable like never before. With spiraling fuel prices and unstable world economies, individuals and communities are demanding more control over their food supply. Food Security for the Faint of Heart is designed to gently ease readers into a more empowered place so that shocks to our food supply can be handled confidently. As well as acquiring new skills and ideas, there are other compelling reasons to get better prepared. The local economy gains support and encouragement to expand, in turn boosting food’s taste and nutritional value, along with the health of people and ecosystems. Community support helps low-income families eat higher quality food, and the preparation provides a psychological edge in an emergency. Chapters are devoted to useful, transferable skills, including: Preserving garden food Saving freezer food during a power outage Managing through an earthquake Preparing quick herbal medicinals Foraging for wild food A humorous treatment of a sometimes threatening topic, this book will appeal to both long-time food security advocates and newcomers to the topic who are wary of it all and would prefer to avoid it. Robin Wheeler teaches traditional skills, sustenance gardening, and medicinals at Edible Landscapes (www.ediblelandscapes.ca), a nursery and teaching garden in Roberts Creek, British Columbia. She is also the author of Gardening for the Faint of Heart (New Catalyst Books).

Before she wrote the bestselling Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proulx was already producing some of the finest short fiction in the country. Here are her collected stories, including two new works never before anthologized. These stories reverberate with rural tradition, the rites of nature, and the rituals of small town life. The country is blue collar New England; the characters are native families and the dispossessed working class, whose heritage is challenged by the neorural bourgeoisie from the city; and the themes are as elemental as the landscape: revenge, malice, greed, passion. Told with skill and profundity and crafted by a master storyteller, these are lean, tough tales of an extraordinary place and its people.

Distinguished diplomat Ambassador Wendy Sherman brings readers inside the negotiating room to show how to put diplomatic values like courage, power, and persistence to work in their own lives. Few people have sat across from the Iranians and the North Koreans at the negotiating table. Wendy Sherman has done both. During her time as the lead US negotiator of the historic Iran nuclear deal and throughout her distinguished career, Wendy Sherman has amassed tremendous expertise in the most pressing foreign policy issues of our time. Throughout her life -- from growing up in civil-rights-era Baltimore, to stints as a social worker, campaign manager, and business owner, to advising multiple presidents -- she has relied on values that have shaped her approach to work and leadership: authenticity, effective use of power and persistence, acceptance of change, and commitment to the team. Not for the Faint of Heart takes readers inside the world of international diplomacy and into the mind of one of our most effective negotiators -- often the only woman in the room. She shows why good work in her field is so hard to do, and how we can learn to apply core skills of diplomacy to the challenges in our own lives.

"Pool's behind-the-scenes look at the institution of book reviewing analyzes how it works and why it often fails, describes how editors choose books for review and assign them to reviewers, examines the additional roles played by publishers, authors, and readers and contrasts traditional reviewing with newer, alternative book coverage"--Provided by publisher.