Books
The Big Yank : J.P. Sexton
The Big Yank – Memoir of a Boy Growing Up Irish
Life is not easy growing up in dire poverty. More so, if it is in rural Ireland in the 70’s.
Young J.P. Sexton was to find this out the hard way. He went from having a nice roof over his head and plenty of food on the table and toys at Christmas, to living without electricity or running water, in a double-deck bus on the side of a blustery Donegal mountain.
The author’s first job was as a smuggler along the Donegal/Derry border. His father (The Big Yank) made a hefty profit smuggling food from the North of Ireland, into the South and used his three young sons as part of his clandestine operations.
Future ventures were as erratic, if not as profitable. By the time the author had entered secondary (high) school, at 12 years of age, he was already performing duties of an adult male on the run-down family farm.
The memoir introduces the reader to a host of eclectic, if not downright insane family characters, spearheaded by his father – who couldn’t decide whether he wanted to be a cowboy or a songwriter.
His mother was a far cry from any of the other mothers he saw when he visited friends’ homes, but she paled in comparison to her own father – Danny Houton.
The boys’ grandfather was nothing less than a force of nature. His crazy antics, fueled by his love of whiskey and poitin (moonshine), knew no bounds. Up until the day he died, he remained as wild as the wind which blows off the Atlantic Ocean, on the doorstep of his native Malin Head.
Stepping Across the Desert : Kat Caldwell
Sold into slavery at seventeen, Rowena Brayemore has worked for five years as simply Fatia. She sees no hope of ever leaving until one evening when she is given away to an Englishman, Christophe Sutton.
A staunch abolitionist, Christophe feels obligated to take her to Spanish Melilla and set her free, but along the way he finds himself caring for her. Once in Melilla, Sutton searches for ways for an English gentleman and former slave to be together, but before he finds the solution, Rowena disappears without saying a word.
Back in England, Rowena finds ignoring the hurts of her past is not easy. While she begins to relearn the customs of the culture, she realizes she is forever different from the other pampered, rich girls in London. When she and Christophe meet again, Rowena realizes she is not the only one who holds secrets.
As rumors, lies and prejudice threaten to run her out of England, Rowena must decide what is more important: being accepted by society through a lie, or embracing her past and the love that Christophe wishes to offer her.
Cheat Day Rules! : Josephine Fitzpatrick
Cheat Day Rules!
The world is abuzz about cheat days.
From Good Morning America, to People Magazine, to Oprah, to just about everyone thinking about food.
What do you dream of eating on your cheat day?
It’s true, you can eat what you want and still lose weight.
Josephine Fitzpatrick harnesses the power behind a cheat day in Cheat Day Rules!
The formula is simple: Six days on the program and one day to eat whatever you like. The results are amazing.
And the beauty of it all is the program’s 99% success rate.
Palace Cat and the Shadow Dog : Robyn Walshe
Palace Cat and the Shadow Dog
Every home needs a pet to look after it. Even if that home is a palace…
Palace Cat is a big cat, with an even bigger job to do.
He lives with his family, who just happen to be the royal family, in a huge palace. His job is to make sure that palace life runs smoothly, that everyone in his family is happy, and most importantly, that no unauthorized mice get into the palace!
Fortunately for Palace Cat, he has the help of his friends when things go wrong, and sometimes he even makes a new one along the way.
Palace Cat leads a very comfortable existence in the Palace. He eats his favourite foods, sleeps in his scruffy basket, and chats to his best friend. However, sometimes things go wrong, and it’s Palace Cat’s job to sort it out, and make sure Palace life gets back to normal.
The first book in the Adventures of Palace Cat series sees Palace Cat having to solve the mystery of a very sad dog, who is also a very important dog, as she is part of the Queen’s pack of Shadow Dogs, sworn to protect the kingdom from bandits outside the city walls…
Looking for America : Chris Glennie
Looking for America: Personal Travels in US History
Looking for America is one Englishman’s quest to understand the United States through a mixture of personal experience – including raising “haff-and-hawf” children with his American wife – wide-ranging travel and a deep dive into history.
Visiting 13 different places, in homage to the 13 original colonies, the author puts key events in American history under the spotlight and uses them to explore what they tell us about contemporary American politics, society and culture. An ideal companion in the age of Trump and “Hamilton”.
It starts in Plymouth, with the Pilgrims, who no more intended to be there than the author did (for the Pilgrims it was the tides that prevented them from leaving, for the author and his family, an Icelandic volcano).
The book then moves to Boston and Philadelphia because, well… without them, no USA (no Battles of Lexington and Concord or Bunker Hill, no Declaration of Independence, no Constitution).
In Washington, DC, the author tackles the War of 1812 and explores the reasons the USA has the tune of an English drinking song for a National Anthem.
California is visited in search of gold and a reflection on how America “is not a colonial nation”.
Chapter 6 focusses on the Civil War based on a visit to Gettysburg, with thoughts on the author’s hero Abraham Lincoln and a reflection on how the Civil War still infuses American politics.
In the Black Hills the reader encounters the Lakota Indians at the Crazy Horse Memorial, the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre and later at the Little Bighorn battlefield (“Custer’s Last Stand”).
Following this, the author heads to Tombstone, Arizona, where he nearly re-enacts the famous Gunfight at the OK Corral and tries to comprehend the implications of and current debates around the “right to bear arms.”
Next up: Prohibition, Al Capone and the St Valentine’s Day Massacre, but not before the author and his wife are warned off taking the “El” on their way to watch baseball.
Pearl Harbor is next, but again not until the author discovers that the US was already “in” the war even before the Japanese paid their own visit in 1941.
After that, back to Washington, DC to meet Martin Luther King and his dream at the Lincoln Memorial.
A trip to Cape Canaveral, interrupting a perfectly good Florida vacation as far as the author’s children were concerned, covers at the Space Race and the Cold War.
The book concludes in New York City on 9/11, witnessed from a rapidly-deserted Chicago, where the author misses a Cubs game and reflects on America’s place on the world stage today.
Looking for America is a great introduction to the USA for those who like their history pithy, witty and never knowingly post-truth.
The Shadow of David : Romy Erikson
The Shadow of David
The Shadow of David is an illustrated poetry collection by Romy Erikson about power, love, hope, depression and insanity as a poet awaits her lover who is in reality a cruel non-empathetic demon called David who devotes his attention to the poet with the only purpose of destroying her, resulting in her sainthood upon death, and her return to life as a spirit free of shadows.
Law Firm Down : Stephen Hollevy
Law Firm Down: A Story of Greed, Envy, Sloth and Ego
Law Firm Down is the fictional story of the rise and fall of a mid-size, mid-town Manhattan law firm, written by a lawyer with 40 years experience as a partner in three Manhattan law firms.
The failings, dirty laundry and crimes that make up the long arc of moral and professional decay of the fictional firm holds a bright light to the transformation of the practice of law over the past five decades from a profession to a business and highlights the price paid along the way by all those involved.
It is a story of greed, envy, sloth and ego.
The World Of Ato : Patrick Borosky
The World of Ato
Ato was never one to shy away from adventure. She traveled her small world with her friend Reed to discover lands that others could only dream about. However, unlike Reed who sought to unravel the mysteries of the world, Ato had a different reason for her adventures – her art.
It was her deepest desire to share her art with others and show them the entire world, but that was before she met Iro. The tiny dragon opens the door that leads Ato into her art and into a world of her own creation.
Ice Cold and Deadly : WM Korkie
Ice Cold and Deadly: A True Crime story of one man’s redemption and another’s destruction
A recently divorced father battling addiction and severe depression finds his recovery in the sport he loves. Mike Korkie’s journey across America playing hockey and rebuilding his life inadvertently lands him in a drug infested, Los Angeles underbelly.
There, he befriends a dangerous man and encounters an even more dangerous woman. Mike watches helplessly as the woman exploits his new friend’s weaknesses and pushes him over the edge, destroying him, his business, and his entire family. Get deep inside this ten-year True Crime saga of drugs, prostitution, murder, and finally, triumph.
Hidden Commonalities : Saye Carrie
Hidden Commonalities: Identifying Cultural Similarities among Africans and African Descendants
Hidden Commonalities focuses on Africa and the African diaspora, which includes people of African descent and immigrants from Africa.
This book also explores the conflicts that have emerged among these groups because of different historical experiences and environments.
Hidden Commonalities attempts to erase stereotypes that Africans and Africans of the diaspora hold against each other.
This book seeks to create black solidarity by sharing our commonalities through cuisine, music and dance.
Lastly, Hidden Commonalities empowers the black/African race by celebrating their rich history and contributions worldwide.
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