Save Your Own Life

Erica Jong--like Isadora Wing, her fictional doppelganger--was rich and famous, brainy and beautiful, and soaring high with erotica and marijuana in 1977, the year this book was first published. Erica/Isadora are the perfect literary and libidinous guides for those readers who want to learn about-or just be reminded of-the sheer hedonistic innocence of the time. How to Save Your Own Life was praised by People for being "shameless, sex-saturated and a joy," and hailed by Anthony Burgess as one of the ninety-nine best novels published in English since 1939.

Michael Gill's lemons-to-lemonade memoir chronicled his transformative years working at Starbucks after losing his high-powered job, his marriage, and his health (he developed a brain tumor). In response to overwhelming requests from readers who wanted to know how they, too, could weather downturns, he has distilled his lessons into fifteen meaningful lessons, including: ·Leap...With Faith: Sometimes it pays to leap without looking and say yes without thinking (Gill accepted the Starbucks job immediately, on a whim). ·Let Yourself...Be Helped: Pride is even more paralyzing than fear. ·Look...with Respect at Every Individual You See: Gill was raised to avoid eye contact with those who were different, cloistered in a privileged world. Now he realizes the potential in all who cross his daily path. ·Lose...Your Watch (and Cell Phone and PDA!): Our obsession with productivity produces madness, not gladness. Offering living proof that extraordinary happiness is found in ordinary moments, How to Save Your Own Life provides empowering words and hope for anyone facing a reversal of fortune. True fortune, Gill discovered, lies not in fate but in discovering the innate capacity we all possess to rescue ourselves. Watch a Video

Jill's life lost all meaning when her dad died. Friends, boyfriend, college – nothing matters any more. Then her mom drops a bombshell: she's going to adopt a baby. Mandy is desperate for her life to change. Seventeen, pregnant and leaving home, she is sure of only one thing – her baby must never have a life like hers, whatever it takes. As their worlds change around them, Jill and Mandy must learn both how to hold on and how to let go, finding that nothing is as easy - or as difficult - as it seems. Heart-achingly beautiful, moving and funny, How to Save a Life has been named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2011, a School Library Journal Best Book of 2011 and an American Library Assocation 2012 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults. "A rich tapestry of love and survival that will resonate with even the most cynical readers." - Booklist

Elie tells the story of four modern American Catholics who made literature out of their search for God: Thomas Merton; Dorothy Day; Walker Percy; and Flannery OConnor.

Drooling fanatic, n. 1. One who drools in the presence of beloved rock stars. 2. Any of a genus of rock-and-roll wannabes/geeks who walk around with songs constantly ringing in their ears, own more than 3,000 albums, and fall in love with at least one record per week. With a life that’s spanned the phonographic era and the digital age, Steve Almond lives to Rawk. Like you, he’s secretly longed to live the life of a rock star, complete with insane talent, famous friends, and hotel rooms to be trashed. Also like you, he’s content (sort of) to live the life of a rabid fan, one who has converted his unrequited desires into a (sort of) noble obsession. Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life traces Almond’s passion from his earliest (and most wretched) rock criticism to his eventual discovery of a music-crazed soul mate and their subsequent production of two little superfans. Along the way, Almond reflects on the delusional power of songs, the awkward mating habits of drooling fanatics, and why Depression Songs actually make us feel so much better. The book also includes: • sometimes drunken interviews with America’s finest songwriters • a recap of the author’s terrifying visit to Graceland while stoned • a vigorous and credibility-shattering endorsement of Styx’s Paradise Theater • recommendations you will often choose to ignore • a reluctant exegesis of the Toto song “Africa” • obnoxious lists sure to piss off rock critics But wait, there’s more. Readers will also be able to listen to a special free mix designed by the author, available online at www.stevenalmond.com, for the express purpose of eliciting your drool. For those about to rock—we salute you!

This is not a typical self help book. This is a book of action. This is a book that is going to light a fire under your ass. In this refreshingly entertaining do it yourself-self help book, life coach, podcaster and inspirational speaker, Jessica Jeboult, will show you how to save your own damn life. By upholding the 4 commitments outlined in this book, you will track where your life needs improvement and learn the tools and strategies to successfully implement a solution immediately. Through hilariously inspiring stories, sage advice and simple, user friendly exercises, you will learn how to: -improve your health-override self doubt-live a life you're proud of-cultivate fulfilling relationships-build an endless source of confidence-love your job and career -take action You will get the cheat codes to living a happy, healthy, productive life filled with love. "Anything I can do, you can do too. If you want to take control of your life, let's get to work!

These are stories rooted in Kansas soil, in country roads and small towns, in characters you swear you have met before, men and women who tug at your heart and get under your skin. The landscape where they live is both familiar and exotic, deeply felt and vividly described, from a writer clearly at home in the natural world. Save Your Own Life is a strong and satisfying collection, with language that can punch you in the solar plexus-just the right phrase, just what you have always known. -Sharman Apt Russell, author of Standing in the Light: My Life as a Pantheist and Hunger: An Unnatural History In Save Your Own Life Amy Sage Webb establishes herself as a major Midwestern voice who is not afraid to both love and critique the people of her region. Webb cares about her characters, and she instills them with personality and heart-and with needs we can both feel and understand. She knows the world of work, and what she turns her narrative lens upon teaches us something about who we are and how we can live: fully, completely, intentionally. Her characters' struggles-for love, for appreciation, for success-mirror our own. Webb is a writer who knows her stuff. From the details within her stories to the architecture of story itself, her hand is steady, her gaze is sure. -Kevin Rabas, author of Bird's Horn, Lisa's Flying Electric Piano, Spider Face Reading Amy Sage Webb is a delight. Save Your Own Life is full of mismatched people attracting and repelling each other. Brothers are in love with the same woman at different times. An LA artist and KC food writer meet in his mis-built studio. The husband of a mentally ill woman remains "fixed and ever-blooming," like dreams doomed in a desert. In "The Memory of Water" a woman older than any in her veterinary class has the task of running donor horses until they die, but dealing with death brings her warmth and romance. "The Wedding Gift" is a gift in itself. The robust stories in Save Your Own Life are full of surprises, are clear, open and singing all through. -Thomas Fox Averill, author of rode and Secrets of the Tsil Cafe

Using her background as a journalist, professor of journalism, author and storyteller, Michele Weldon masterfully outlines the steps for you to tell your own story. Whether you intend to write a memoir or essays for publication, or articulate your story for yourself, using the trademarked method of Scribotherapy, Weldon offers insights, lessons and examples of writing to forge a clear path to telling your story. The author of four nonfiction books and several book chapters, a columnist and popular keynote speaker, Weldon is the owner of her own Writing To Save Your Life memoir workshops. With this writing pedigree, Weldon is positioned to instruct and inspire anyone who wishes to embark on a personal writing journey or to polish skills already in practice.

In this insightful and courageous body of work, the author demonstrates with integrity, conviction and rare insight how a youth's childhood conditioning and environmental influences define society's future and determine a child's fate.Rahim is a community and academically educated intervention outreach advocate. In the past decade he has spoken to over 1,000 high school students, including at-risk teens, college students, grand juries, and legislators. He was a facilitator of educational and rehabilitative programs at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. He served 26 years of a life plus 20 sentence at the Tennessee Department of Correction, receiving parole in 2015.

Argues that for the first time in history we're in a position to end extreme poverty throughout the world, both because of our unprecedented wealth and advances in technology, therefore we can no longer consider ourselves good people unless we give more to the poor. Reprint.