A young woman recently relocated to California with dreams of becoming a journalist is stricken with a brain trauma and must work to regain her independence in this "must read" memoir (Mary Karr, author of The Liar's Club) "Having just graduated from college, Krug and her dreamy French boyfriend, Claude (a man given to wearing his button–down shirts buttoned halfway up), leave the flatlands of Kansas for Santa Barbara, California—there, Krug finds a reporting job covering high society 'gardens, weddings, and pets,' and Claude gets a gig with a local paper. Young, in love, gainfully employed, and living close to the coast, post–collegiate life couldn't be better—day after day 'they drink Mexican beer and wear bathing suits indoors. They do drugs and wander through organic markets, spotting celebrities.' But just weeks after settling in, Krug suffers a 'severe' cavernous angioma in her brain. She gets dizzy, she can't walk, and it soon becomes clear that brain surgery is inevitable, and life will never be the same. In gracefully stark prose, Krug narrates in the third person the implosion of what should've been her gilded life, the sad and prolonged dissolution of her relationship with Claude, and her transformation from 'the kind of girl other girls only pretended to like' to a wife, mother, and PhD candidate back in Kansas. Interspersed throughout are fictional imaginings of the perspectives of her loved ones as she endures numerous surgeries and years of physically and emotionally excruciating rehab. Supplemented with facsimiles of the 'Illustrated Facial Exercises' she used to work damaged muscles, as well as other medical documents, Krug's story is an immediate, unsparing, and beautifully rendered account of loss and recovery. —Publishers Weekly, starred review

A young woman recently relocated to California with dreams of becoming a journalist is stricken with a brain trauma and must work to regain her independence in this "must read" memoir (Mary Karr, author of The Liar's Club) "Having just graduated from college, Krug and her dreamy French boyfriend, Claude (a man given to wearing his button–down shirts buttoned halfway up), leave the flatlands of Kansas for Santa Barbara, California—there, Krug finds a reporting job covering high society 'gardens, weddings, and pets,' and Claude gets a gig with a local paper. Young, in love, gainfully employed, and living close to the coast, post–collegiate life couldn't be better—day after day 'they drink Mexican beer and wear bathing suits indoors. They do drugs and wander through organic markets, spotting celebrities.' But just weeks after settling in, Krug suffers a 'severe' cavernous angioma in her brain. She gets dizzy, she can't walk, and it soon becomes clear that brain surgery is inevitable, and life will never be the same. In gracefully stark prose, Krug narrates in the third person the implosion of what should've been her gilded life, the sad and prolonged dissolution of her relationship with Claude, and her transformation from 'the kind of girl other girls only pretended to like' to a wife, mother, and PhD candidate back in Kansas. Interspersed throughout are fictional imaginings of the perspectives of her loved ones as she endures numerous surgeries and years of physically and emotionally excruciating rehab. Supplemented with facsimiles of the 'Illustrated Facial Exercises' she used to work damaged muscles, as well as other medical documents, Krug's story is an immediate, unsparing, and beautifully rendered account of loss and recovery. —Publishers Weekly, starred review

In this touching novel, a Boston divorcée buys a Maine B&B where she juggles the demands of a celebrity wedding with being a single mother. When Louise Bessire was living in Boston, she dreamed of another way of life, far from the phony smiles and small-talk of corporate dinners. Now she’s got what she wanted—though not exactly in the way she hoped. Blindsided by her husband’s affair, Louise has used her divorce settlement to buy Blueberry Bay, a picturesque bed and breakfast in Ogunquit. And with a celebrity wedding taking place on the premises this summer, business is looking up. While Louise deals with paparazzi and wedding planners, her sixteen-year-old daughter, Isobel, is falling hard for local boy Jeff Otten. Being singled out by Jeff—nineteen, handsome, and from a wealthy family—almost makes up for her father’s increasing neglect. Yet even in the glow of golden beach days there are sudden, heart-wrenching revelations for both Louise and Isobel. It will be a summer that tests their strength and courage and proves that through every changing season, nothing is as steadfast as a mother’s love . . .

Literary Nonfiction. Disability Studies. When she was 22, Louise Krug had brain surgery that saved her life but left her with physical impairments. Now, ten years later and embarking on marriage, motherhood, and a college teaching career, she still struggles with knowing how to live. In her startling and hilarious memoir, TILTED: THE POST-BRAIN SURGERY JOURNALS, Krug uses the third person to explore driving to hearing aids, neighbors and mom-friends. With both deadpan humor and keen introspection, Krug examines the micro and macro challenges of living a tilted life. Simple acts like posing for photographs, riding a bicycle, and even haircuts are suddenly major hurdles. But so are more complex issues like the relationship with her mother and parenting. Krug gives readers a ringside seat as she grapples with her increasingly complicated self- image. A story of dealing with her demons and learning about inner strength, TILTED teaches us that, ultimately, your opinion of yourself is the one that matters most.

In this thrilling tale of fear, a desperate scholar is driven by love into the darkest corners of the world When Aurek Nuiken travels to Richemulot to search for a spellbook that lies buried within the dark bowels of the undercity, little does he know the horrors that await. As two beautiful women vie for the interest of the enigmatic scholar and his handsome younger brother, a family of wererats and a double dose of sibling rivalry conspire to endanger not only Aurek but the object he holds most dear: his wife, who has been attacked and made prisoner by an evil mage. Faced with his own personal torment and the all-too-real monsters of Ravenloft, the scholar is pushed to the edge of madness and a choice no man should ever have to make.

Hoping to get some good deals at the Bethesda Garden Club's spring plant sale, Louise Eldridge, Host of "Gardening with Nature," finds herself cultivating a murder investigation instead when the club president is murdered. Reprint.

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