The down and dirty world of one autism mom's journey from sex-ed to Santa...

A gripping memoir that challenges our perceptions and understanding of...

"David Sedaris's ability to transform the mortification of everyday life into wildly entertaining art," (The Christian Science Monitor) is elevated to wilder and more entertaining heights than ever in this remarkable new book. Trying to make coffee when the water is shut off, David considers using the water in a vase of flowers and his chain of associations takes him from the French countryside to a hilariously uncomfortable memory of buying drugs in a mobile home in rural North Carolina. In essay after essay, Sedaris proceeds from bizarre conundrums of daily life-having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger on a plane or armoring the windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds-to the most deeply resonant human truths. Culminating in a brilliant account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, David Sedaris's sixth essay collection is a new masterpiece of comic writing from "a writer worth treasuring" (Seattle Times). Praise for When You Are Engulfed in Flames: "Older, wiser, smarter and meaner, Sedaris...defies the odds once again by delivering an intelligent take on the banalities of an absurd life." --Kirkus Reviews This latest collection proves that not only does Sedaris still have it, but he's also getting better....Sedaris's best stuff will still--after all this time--move, surprise, and entertain." --Booklist Table of Contents: It's Catching Keeping Up The Understudy This Old House Buddy, Can You Spare a Tie? Road Trips What I Learned That's Amore The Monster Mash In the Waiting Room Solutions to Saturday's Puzzle Adult Figures Charging Toward a Concrete Toadstool Memento Mori All the Beauty You Will Ever Need Town and Country Aerial The Man in the Hut Of Mice and Men April in Paris Crybaby Old Faithful The Smoking Section

This book collects parent narratives, personal experience, and academic research to portray the lives of parent caregivers, looking at both the trials and the triumphs inherent in raising a child with special needs. It presents parents as moral individuals struggling to find their own way through relatively unexplored territory, in order to provide for their child the best life possible.

"A gripping tale told by a gifted writer."--Beverly Lewis Caroline Fletcher is caught in a nation split apart and torn between the ones she loves and a truth she can't deny The daughter of a wealthy slave-holding family from Richmond, Virginia, Caroline Fletcher is raised to believe slavery is God-ordained and acceptable. But on awakening to its cruelty and injustice, her eyes are opened to the men and women who have cared tirelessly for her. At the same time, her father and her fiance, Charles St. John, are fighting for the Confederacy and their beloved way of life and traditions. Where does Caroline's loyalty lie? Emboldened by her passion to make a difference and her growing faith, will she risk everything she holds dear?

A must for fans of epic fantasy fiction—this exclusive eBook package includes the inaugural novels of four monumental series by bestselling author Terry Brooks! THE SWORD OF SHANNARA The original breakout bestseller that began the classic Shannara series! Long ago, wars of the ancient evil ruined the world. Now the dreaded Warlock Lord is returning to destroy all he sees. And half-elfin Shea Ohmsford, the last of his bloodline, must stand against the power of darkness—with the only weapon that can stop it. MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE—SOLD! Mere mortal Ben Holiday gets far more than expected when he buys a genuine kingdom and topples into an enchanted world of wizards, demons, dragons, and palace intrigue. Now he must prove his mettle against mishaps and monsters alike in order to claim his place as king. The first novel in the beloved, bestselling Kingdom of Landover series. RUNNING WITH THE DEMON In book one of the Word and the Void series, a teenage girl with untold powers and a wandering man with an uncanny destiny must join together to save an American town—and all the world—from a force of evil bent upon a reign of damnation. ARMAGEDDON’S CHILDREN The stunning Genesis of Shannara series debuts with this novel set in the ruins of the once modern world, laid to waste by a demon apocalypse. Battling to survive against a host of horrors, humanity’s remnants rally behind a lone agent of good and his powerful talisman—to stand or die against a hellish enemy. Includes excerpts of the second book in each series, as well as a special preview of Terry Brooks’s new novel, The Wards of Faerie! “A great storyteller, Terry Brooks creates rich epics filled with mystery, magic, and memorable characters. If you haven’t read Terry Brooks, you haven’t read fantasy.”—Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon and Brisingr “Terry’s place is at the head of the fantasy world.”—Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass

Set amidst the devastation of climate change and global pandemics, Lost Girl is a dystopian nightmare from the master of horror Adam Nevill. How far will he go to save his daughter? How far will he go to get revenge? It's 2053 and climate change has left billions homeless and starving - easy prey for the pandemics that sweep across the globe, scything through the refugee populations. Easy prey, too, for the violent gangs and people-smugglers who thrive in the crumbling world where 'King Death' reigns supreme. The father's world went to hell two years ago. His four-year-old daughter was snatched from his garden when he should have been watching. The moments before her disappearance play in a perpetual loop in his mind. But the police aren't interested; amidst floods, hurricanes and global chaos, who cares about one more missing child? Now it's all down to him to find her, him alone . . .

After miraculously surviving a plane crash in Myanmar, Allan Lokos shares what his long and painful recovery process is teaching him about humanity’s ability to survive—and even thrive—in the face of suffering. In Through the Flames, Allan Lokos tells the terrifying story of being on board a plane on Christmas Day with his wife, Susanna, when it crashed and exploded in flames. Lokos was severely burned in the accident, and in the days and weeks following the crash, Susanna was told by the many doctors who examined Lokos that he would not survive. As founder and guiding teacher of the Community Meditation Center in New York City, Lokos had spent decades cultivating compassion and non-attachment. Since the plane crash, his Buddhist practice has been mightily tested. In this inspiring account of his against-all-odds recovery, Lokos uses his experience as a window through which to examine the challenge of human suffering in general and addresses the question of how we can thrive in the midst of pain and uncertainty.

Strong-willed Tirzah wants to join her people in driving the enemy from the land of Israel and undergoes training for a secret mission inside the stronghold of Shechem. But soon after she has infiltrated the ruthless Aramean commander's kitchen, she makes a reckless decision that puts her and her allies in grave danger. Fresh off the battlefield, Liyam returns home to discover his beloved daughter is dead. After his vow to hunt down her killer leads to months of fruitless pursuit, his last hope is in a family connection that comes with strings attached. Strings that force him to pose as a mercenary and rescue an infuriating woman who refuses to leave her mission uncompleted. When an opportunity to pave a path to a Hebrew victory arises, can Tirzah convince Liyam to fight alongside her in the refuge city of her birth? Or will Liyam's thirst for vengeance outweigh his duty to his people, his God, and the woman he's come to love?