Mona Lisas Pajamas

High-class armchair travel at its very best! Mona Lisa’s Pajamas gives readers a round-trip ticket for a journey around the world, carrying them to distant destinations most of us will never visit. Originally written for The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News, A. Craig Copetas’s delightfully surprising columns are now collected in book form for the first time. Covering exotic locales, improbable business ventures, artisan winemakers, and memorably oddball characters, Copetas’s vivid writing brings his subjects alive with richly-textured descriptions only a truly gifted observer can capture. From Sparta’s souvenir sword-makers swamped with demand thanks to the hit movie 300, to a Russian golf pro whose favorite clubs were built from the scrapped metal of a Soviet nuclear missile, Copetas writes of unorthodox business pursuits and faraway locations with an infectious joie de vivre and an unerring eye for what makes enjoyable reading. Unforgettable visits for the armchair traveler: -Israel's Sacred Golf Course: where bomb craters have become bunkers -How to Succeed in Business and Avoid Serious Head Trauma: near Stockholm, a former British Special Air Services commando teaches executives how to survive a kidnapping -An Honorable and Ancient Solution to Boardroom Disputes: the 21st-century duel -Propulsion Is a Real Plus with Clubs Made in a Missile Factory: A Russian treasures his set of golf clubs--made from an old Soviet missile once aimed at the US -Da Vinci Code Fans Dig Up the Dead: Dan Brown’s devotees swarm a town central to the blockbuster’s story

After witnessing the gruesome murder of her entire family, then having to undergo years of pain and suffering, while living with the foster family from hell, Mona Lisa reluctantly accepted her awful fate in life as being the unluckiest human being alive. She thought that she finally caught a major break after falling into the arms of Gator, only to find out that he was a no-good, smooth-talking pimp, who would be sure to keep his foot deep in her ass for as long as time allowed him to. It wasn’t until she mustered up enough courage to break free from the mental shackles Gator placed upon her, then linked up with a blood thirsty, money hungry team of bandits, that she finally realizes her true purpose in life… ‘…Suck the world dry of all its riches and slaughter anyone who tried standing in her way.…’ That was until she met Shakeem, her knight and shining armor. Shakeem was just released from state Prison, and he has only one wthing on his mind …. Revenge!! After serving 3 years in one of Pennsylvania’s most dangerous penitentiaries, he realizes that the only way he’ll ever obtain true success in life is if he takes his mentor, Sonny Black’s advice and contacts his Son Redz, who just happens to be the biggest dope boy down in Memphis. Everything seems to be finally looking up for Shakeem, that is until he meets Mona Lisa …. If there was a such thing as soulmates, Shakeem was convinced that Mona Lisa was most definitely made exclusively for him. It’s as if destiny grew a pair of hands and somehow pulled these two strangers together. Come embark upon this twisted roller coaster filled with love, lies, betrayal, trauma, heartache, death, and survival. Mona Lisa is an action packed, fast paced urban thriller, with tons of twists and turns that’ll keep you guessing and holding onto your breath until the very last page.

A revealing collection of interviews with the shape-shifting, genre-bending, wildly influential musician and song writer David Bowie was an icon, not only his stunning musical output, but also his fascinating refusal to stay the same—the same as other trending artists, or even the same as himself. In this remarkable collection, Bowie reveals the fierce intellectualism, artistry, and humor behind it all. From his very first interview—as a teenager on the BBC, before he was even a musician—to his last, Bowie takes on the most probing questions, candidly discussing his sexuality, his drug use, his sense of fashion, his method of composition, and more. For fans still mourning his passing, as well as for those who know little about him, it’s a revealing, interesting, and inspiring look at one of the most influential artists of the last fifty years.

In 1962, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy tirelessly campaigned to debut Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" in New York. And as only Jacqueline Kennedy could do, she infused America's first museum blockbuster show with a unique sense of pageantry, igniting a national love affair with the arts.

Former burglar on demand, Emily Atterberry has left her life of crime behind. Or so she thinks until she stumbles on a piece of her past holding clues to her biological family's identity. She feels guilty but steals it hoping it will lead her to the answers she is searching for. Detective Armand Lecavalier is investigating recent luxury car thefts and is convinced Emily knows more than she's saying. He needs to find out what she knows to prove to the big-time police precincts he's more than just a small-town officer. Thrown together, Emily and Armand find it hard to remain professional. All they want to do is have fun—with and without handcuffs. But can Armand look past his code of conduct for love or is Emily facing time behind bars?

When one sees the title of this book, the first questions that might come to mind is what kind of title is that? And what is so challenging about pajamas? The answer is that while pajamas are comfortable clothes that we put on for comfort, there is much they can teach us. Using the analogy of pajamas to martial arts uniforms, the book Pajama Lessons: Living an Eastern Discipline in a Western World shows readers that if they can learn to appreciate both the simplicity and complexity of their pajamas and sashes. They can apply the martial arts lessons learned in those pajamas and from those pajamas to their daily lives. By learning to look at something relatively mundane from another perspective, the reader can gain understanding of how martial arts pajamas and the lessons learned while wearing them can increase strength, both physical and mental, and ignite a passion for whatever the reader attempts to accomplish. Pajama Lessons is a thought-provoking book that encourages readers to truly observe the ordinary things they do, wear, and sometimes take for granted, to glean knowledge from them to better live their lives, both in and out of the dojo.

Pyjama Profit is a guide for millennials to get started with a self-sustained online freelance practice, while developing their skills needed to succeed. The book talks about in-demand online skills and the different paths one can take to become an expert in these fields. A stable income from freelancing in college was the bedrock that had allowed the authors to explore their ambitions further and get to where they are today. In the process, they've worked with many of their own batch mates, colleagues and friends to help them set up highly successful freelance careers. The author duo decided to detail their story of what worked for them and how anyone in the country could thrive without being tied down to a full-time job. The authors feel the timing of the book is perfect because of the growing freelance economy and growing aspirations among millennials to find a job they love and not just something that pays their bills.

Queer survivors piece together the clues to discover their own lives! Dangerous Families: Queer Writing on Surviving goes beyond the recovery narrative to create a new queer literature of investigation, exploration, and transformation. Twenty-six stories illuminate the reality of growing up in fear, struggling to rebuild lives damaged by sexual, physical, and/or emotional abuse. The book explores how abuse turns queer survivors—male, female, and transgendered—into healers, heartbreakers, and homicidal maniacs, presenting brilliant stories that sear and soar. Dangerous Families: Queer Writing on Surviving addresses all forms of abuse head-on, representing a cross-section of queer survivors in terms of race, class, ethnicity, education, origin, sexuality, and gender. Contributors use their own life experiences to create a book that takes back control from well-meaning “outsiders,” as they recount the daily struggle to overcome the damage done to their minds, bodies, and spirits in a world that denies their gender, sexual, and social identities. From the editor: “Dangerous Families consists entirely of writing by survivors of childhood abuse. That's right—no therapists analyzing our plight, no talk-show hosts exploiting us—just survivors, exploring our complicated, frightening, and fulfilling lives. These stories dispense with the usual technique of carefully massaging the reader's fragile worldview before plunging this unsuspecting innocent into a world of horror. They go right to the horror, the beauty, and the joy, often throwing the reader off-guard, revealing layers of meaning before the reader can step back.” Dangerous Families: Queer Writing on Surviving is an anthology of 26 true stories of growing up queer in families that magnify the horrors of the outside world instead of offering protection. The book is an essential read for therapists, caseworkers, cultural studies specialists, and anyone struggling to survive childhood abuse.