Back When We Were Grownups
Title | Back When We Were Grownups PDF eBook |
Author | Anne Tyler |
Publisher | Vintage |
Pages | 288 |
Release | 2001-07-31 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 0375413499 |
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • "Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered that she had turned into the wrong person." The woman is Rebecca Davitch, a fifty-three-year-old grandmother. "You’ll want to turn back to the first chapter the moment you finish the last.” —PEOPLE On the surface, Beck, as she is known to the Davitch clan, is outgoing, joyous, a natural celebrator. Giving parties is, after all, her vocation—something she married into after Joe Davitch spotted her at an engagement party in his family’s crumbling nineteenth-century Baltimore row house, where giving parties was his family business. What caught Joe's fancy was that she seemed to be having such a wonderful time. Soon this large-spirited divorcé with three little girls swept Beck into his orbit, and before she knew it she was embracing his extended family—plus a child of their own—and hosting endless parties in the ornate, high-ceilinged rooms of The Open Arms. Now, some thirty years later, after presiding over a disastrous family party, Rebecca is caught un-awares by the question of who she really is. Is she an impostor in her own life? Is it indeed her own life? How she answers—how she tries to recover her girlhood self, that dignified grownup she had once been—is the story told in this beguiling, funny, and deeply moving novel.
How to Survive Without Grown-Ups
Title | How to Survive Without Grown-Ups PDF eBook |
Author | Larry Hayes |
Publisher | Simon and Schuster |
Pages | 199 |
Release | 2021-08-19 |
Genre | Juvenile Fiction |
ISBN | 1471198359 |
Get set for the new hilarious out-of-this-world adventure series for readers aged 8+ – this is the perfect new series for fans of Tom Gates, David Solomons and Star Wars! Highly illustrated throughout by the brilliantly funny Katie Abey. Mum and Dad have left – gone to Mars, and they’re never coming back . . . FREEDOM AT LAST! But this isn’t one of Dad’s weird jokes; it’s REAL. It’s up to ten-year-old Eliza and her genius little brother, Johnnie, to find out what’s going on, and launch a rescue . . . Can they handle vampire squids, a suspicious villain, a secret island full of traps and a trip into space? And – more importantly – will they ever get their parents back? The funniest, zaniest, most out-of-this-world adventure you’ll read all year! Look out for Eliza and Johnnie's second adventure, How to Survive Time Travel. Out now!
Becoming Better Grownups
Title | Becoming Better Grownups PDF eBook |
Author | Brad Montague |
Publisher | Penguin |
Pages | 322 |
Release | 2020-03-31 |
Genre | Self-Help |
ISBN | 0525537856 |
A New York Times-bestselling author looks for the meaning of a good life by seeking advice from the very young and the very old. When his first book tour ended, Brad Montague missed hearing other people's stories so much that he launched what he dubbed a Listening Tour. First visiting elementary schools and later also nursing homes and retirement communities, he hoped to glean new wisdom as to how he might become a better grownup. Now, in this playful and buoyant book, he shares those insights with rest of us --timeless, often surprising lessons that bypass the head we're always stuck in, and go straight to the heart we sometimes forget. Each of the book's three sections begins with the illustrated story of "The Incredible Floating Girl." Brad weaves this story together with lessons of success, fear, regret, gratitude, love, happiness, and dreams to reveal the true reason we are here: to fly, and to help others fly. Beautifully designed and featuring Montague's own whimsical 4-color illustrations that appeal to the kid in all of us, Becoming Better Grownups shares the purpose and meaning we can all discover merely by listening, and reveals that--in a world that seems increasingly childish--the secret to joy is in fact to become more childlike.
Grown Ups
Title | Grown Ups PDF eBook |
Author | Marian Keyes |
Publisher | Doubleday Canada |
Pages | 656 |
Release | 2020-06-30 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 038569590X |
INSTANT #1 BESTSELLER! A brand-new book from the #1 bestselling author of The Break and The Woman Who Stole My Life. They're a glamorous family, the Caseys. Johnny Casey, his two brothers Ed and Liam, their beautiful, talented wives and all their kids spend a lot of time together--birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, weekends away. And they're a happy family. Johnny's wife, Jessie--who has the most money--insists on it. Under the surface, though, conditions are murkier. While some people clash, other people like each other far too much . . . Still, everything manages to stay under control--that is, until Ed's wife, Cara, gets a concussion and can't keep her thoughts or opinions to herself. One careless remark at Johnny's birthday party, with the entire family present, and Cara starts spilling all their secrets. As everything unravels, each of the adults finds themselves wondering if it's--finally--the time to grow up.
Searching for Caleb
Title | Searching for Caleb PDF eBook |
Author | Anne Tyler |
Publisher | Vintage |
Pages | 337 |
Release | 1996-08-27 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 0449911748 |
The beloved bestselling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author brings us a novel that is “funny and lyric and true" (The New Yorker). Through the syncopated rhythms of the ragtime era to the thumping, rocking beats of the 1970s, generations of Pecks have maintained a determined steadiness. Adamantly middle class—Peck-proud, as the family slogan goes—they are quick to sweep under the rug those members who do not live up to their standards. Maybe that’s why Caleb Peck took off with his violincello as a boy? Sixty years later, his brother Daniel is still wondering. No longer willing to live without answers, he turns to his daughter-in-law, Justine, another Peck family eccentric. A studied tarot card reader, Justine comes across one message over and over in the cards: change is coming. With Daniel’s help, she’s hoping to find the courage to embrace whatever happens next. An unlikely pair struggling against a stifling family, Daniel and Justine believe they’ll find freedom in just the right mix of magic, music, and mystery.
The Clock Winder
Title | The Clock Winder PDF eBook |
Author | Anne Tyler |
Publisher | Vintage |
Pages | 322 |
Release | 2011-01-26 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 030778844X |
With wondrous observations and bittersweet humor, the beloved best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author tells the story of an unsuspecting young woman who becomes the North star that helps a stumbling, dysfunctional family find its footing. Mrs. Emerson, widowed with seven adult children, lives alone in crumbling Victorian mansion outside Baltimore with only a collection of antique clocks to keep her company. Elizabeth Abbott—twenty-three years old, aimless, bohemian, and beautiful—leads a vagabond lifestyle until she happens upon Mrs. Emerson’s home and convinces the older woman to hire her as a handyman. When three of the strange, idiosyncratic Emerson children return to their childhood home for a visit, they are irresistibly drawn to Elizabeth.
Sorry, Grown-Ups, You Can't Go to School!
Title | Sorry, Grown-Ups, You Can't Go to School! PDF eBook |
Author | Christina Geist |
Publisher | Random House Books for Young Readers |
Pages | 22 |
Release | 2019-07-16 |
Genre | Juvenile Fiction |
ISBN | 1524770868 |
This fun role-reversal picture book will help reluctant students get excited to go back to school! It's just another school morning...until Mom, Dad, Grandma, and even Bow-wow the dog BEG the kids to let them come to school, too! Dad can tie his own shoes--why can't he come? Mom is all ready with her brand-new backpack--she's allowed, right? No! Only kids and teachers! Christina Geist's warm, interactive story is the perfect tool for parents of kids who are reluctant or nervous about going to school. The fun refrain--"Sorry, grown-ups! You can't go to school! Only kids and teachers! Only kids and teachers!"--brilliantly paints school as something exclusive and desirable...which kids can access! Tim Bowers's lively illustrations enhance the fun and heighten the hilarity. This is sure to be a back-to-school classic in many families and classrooms!