"This haunting memoir tells the brutal story of the Vietnam War from the perspective of an innocent victim whose childhood was dominated by violence, devastation, and conflicts between the teachings of her culture and the realities of war. Le Ly Hayslip— the youngest in a close-knit Buddhist family— was 12 years old when U.S. helicopters landed in her village. She was raped and 'ruined' for marriage by Viet Cong soldiers, imprisoned and tortured by the South Vietnamese, and sentenced to death by the Viet Cong. Ultimately fleeing to the U.S. with her children, Le Ly finally found peace, and in 1986, she was reunited with her family in Vietnam. The story of her homecoming— interwoven with her memories of the war years— paints a vivid picture of a noble, optimistic woman and her native country."
"The spellbinding Julie Harris takes us on a magic carpet into the beautiful and haunting world of writer Isak Dinesen (pen name of Karen Blixen), romantic author and heroine of Out of Africa. Through her fanciful pact with Lucifer, Dinesen becomes a defiant spirit, an eccentric storytelling sorceress—passionate and wickedly witty.
Act I opens on New Year's Eve 1958, as Karen Blixen prepares for a three-month visit to the United States. Addressing the audience as an unseen ghost, she weaves together stories of her fascinating, complex, and courageous life. In Act II, the writer has returned to Denmark and is dying—yet her life-affirming spirit continues to shine through the brilliant performance of Julie Harris."
"Sit right back and take a nostalgic, first-hand look into the world of Gilligan's Island— everything you ever wanted to know about the show from the Professor himself, Russell Johnson. Directly from the ship's log, Johnson takes you to the day when Sherwood Schwartz shipwrecked seven strangers on a tiny desert isle— and America hasn't been the same since. Here on Gilligan's Isle is a treasure trove for true fans, featuring original interviews with all the cast, behind-the-scenes gossip, and trivia. Don't be fooled by imitations: this is the audiobook for anyone who ever loved— or even watched— Gilligan's Island!"
"Legendary money manager Peter Lynch explains his own strategies for investing and offers advice for how to pick stocks and mutual funds to assemble a successful investment portfolio.
Develop a Winning Investment Strategy—with Expert Advice from “The Nation’s #1 Money Manager.” Peter Lynch’s “invest in what you know” strategy has made him a household name with investors both big and small.
An important key to investing, Lynch says, is to remember that stocks are not lottery tickets. There’s a company behind every stock and a reason companies—and their stocks—perform the way they do. In this book, Peter Lynch shows you how you can become an expert in a company and how you can build a profitable investment portfolio, based on your own experience and insights and on straightforward do-it-yourself research.
In Beating the Street, Lynch for the first time explains how to devise a mutual fund strategy, shows his step-by-step strategies for picking stock, and describes how the individual investor can improve his or her investment performance to rival that of the experts.
There’s no reason the individual investor can’t match wits with the experts, and this book will show you how."
"Gospel Birds is a collection of nine classic and very funny monologues from the early years of A Prairie Home Companion. In addition to the title story (about Irma and Ernie Lundeen's traveling flock of acrobatic, bible-reciting birds), contents include:
- Pastor Ingquist's Trip to Orlando
- Mammoth Concert Tickets
- Bruno, the Fishing Dog
- Gospel Birds
- Meeting Donny Hart at the Bus Stop
- A Day at the Circus with Mazumbo
- The Tollerud's Korean Baby
- Sylvester Krueger's Desk
- Babe Ruth visits Lake Wobegon
Gospel Birds is Garrison Keillor at his very best—endearing insights, gentle humor and warm affection for the human foibles we all share."
"Legendary folk singer and activist, Woody Guthrie and his songs changed the world. Born in an Oklahoma oil-boom town, Guthrie traveled America by boxcar, thumb, and foot. Along the journey, he composed and sang songs that have become a national heritage. His songs, however, are but part of his legacy. This remarkable autobiography brings to life both his vibrant personality and a vision of America we cannot afford to let die. Funny, cynical, and earthy, Bound for Glory is the stirring account of Guthrie's life and a superb portrait of America's Depression years. This Grammy-nominated recording is performed by his son, Arlo Guthrie, who—like his father—is known for engaging storytelling and performing songs of protest against social injustice."
"Lake Wobegon U.S.A. is the eagerly anticipated successor to News From Lake Wobegon (one of the bestselling spoken-word audio ever) and More News From Lake Wobegon. This collection contains 17 touching, exquisitely funny monologues from Garrison Keillor recorded during American Radio Company broadcasts from tour stops all over the country. The tales, says Keillor, are about 'the luxury of rhubarb pie, the perils of prophecy, Florian and Myrtle's thrifty vacation, the vapor lights of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility. . . .' They are also about joy, grief, dreams, luck, and mysteries—about the extraordinary moments of wonder that illuminate our ordinary lives.
Contents:
Fertility: The Kresbach's Vacation; Prophet; The Six Labors of Father Wilmer; Fertility
Patience: Aunt Ellie; Duke's 25th; Jobhunting; You're Not the Only One
Youth: Blue Devils; Nostalgia; O Christmas Tree; Pageant; Messy Shoes
Rhubarb: Rhubarb; Sweet Corn; The Sun's Gonna Shine Someday; Yellow Ribbon"
"As millions of radio listeners already know, no one has had a life quite like storyteller Daniel Pinkwater. In this comical collection of memories, Pinkwater tells of how he grew into the beloved figure he is today: a robust genius of the printed page and rotund genie of the radio. He shares a conversation with his father about art school that changed the course of his career, describes his inauguration as a sculptor in a sleazy Chicago art factory, and recounts setting off for a bright center of the American art scene— or at least as close as Hoboken, New Jersey. Finally, we hear as Pinkwater pictures his first true audience, children. Chicago Days / Hoboken Nights is a memoir about how a visual artist turned to writing, only to be hailed as a 'comic master' by the Washington Post Book World."
"For more than thirty years, Andy Rooney had the last word on the most-watched television program in history. 'A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney'— a segment on 60 Minutes— aired from 1978 to 2011. A man of wit, gruffness, and common sense, Rooney spoke candidly about what drove him— and us— crazy, what brought us joy, and what made us human. Hear the man himself as he reads some of his finest newspaper essays, offering his observations on a variety of topics, including politics and politicians, the economy, doctors, sex, clothes, football, toilet paper, ice cream, and cough drops."
"In 1980, Brandon Tartikoff became president of NBC Entertainment. At the age of 31, he was the youngest person ever to hold such a position. When he left NBC a decade later, he had held the job longer than anyone, and NBC had attained a streak of dominance never equaled. A list of his successes include some of the greatest shows in television history, such as Cheers, Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, L.A. Law, The Golden Girls, Law & Order, and Seinfeld. In The Last Great Ride, Tartikoff chronicles television history in this insightful and sometimes hilarious account of what goes into the job of providing viewers with 24-hour-a-day programming."
"The famous and the obscure are illuminated under the penetrating, sometimes jaundiced eyes of author Henry Miller.
Henry Miller's gifts of profundity, humor, and spiritual sensitivity are well displayed in this collection of insights into the human character. The pieces range from the delightfully raucous to the metaphysically illuminating. Included here are mini-portraits of the renowned—Swiss astrologer Conrad Moricand, collage artist Jean Varda, Swiss-French novelist Blaise Cendrars, and American painter Beauford Delaney—as well as the anonymous figures who crossed Miller's path, including his first high school romance; a prostitute named Mademoiselle Claude; Miller's alcoholic, philandering Uncle Harry; and a murderer that Miller dubs 'Bud Clausen.' Thanks to Miller's penetrating prose, all of these figures become real to the listener, even 19th century poet What Whitman.
This recording contains material that may offend some listeners. Listener discretion is advised."
"Ben Hamper vowed never to be an autoworker. Life had other plans. In the 1970s and '80s, the General Motors assembly plant in Flint, Michigan provided steady work for the town's citizens. But at what cost? The man the Detroit Free Press calls 'a blue-collar Tom Wolfe' delivers a full-barreled blast of truth and gritty reality in Rivethead, a no-holds-barred journey through the belly of the American industrial beast. With the perspective of the blue-collar voice that is rarely heard, Hamper chronicles ten years spent in the drudgery of factory labor and its mind-numbing working conditions."
