Online Recreational Reading

The complete illustrated story of the Beatles from their formation, through the Beatlemania phenomenom, and all the way through their breakup. Readers see how the band evolved and amplified the uproar of the sixties, became politically and socially active, and achieved a lasting impact unparalleled in pop music.

Born in Baltimore in 1915, and dead too early in New York in 1959, Billie Holiday became a legendary jazz singer, even mythical. With her voice even now managing to touch so many people, we follow a reporter on the trail of the artist on behalf of a New York daily. Beyond the public scandals that marred the life of the star (alcohol, drugs, violence...), he seeks to restore the truth, revisiting the memory of Billie. Through this investigation, Munoz and Sampayo trace, through the undertones of racism, and in the wake of the blues, the slow drift of a singer who expressed the deepest emotions in jazz. By internationally renowned Argentine artists, featuring Munoz strikingly raw heavy blacks, this is not just a biography but a spell-binding art book tribute.

In the middle of a depressing youth in a ghetto of Kingston, Jamaica, Robert Nesta Marley sees only one way out: music. It is Marley who brings the unmistakable beat of reggae to the entire world. From small stages in Jamaica, his partners of the Wailers accompany him all the way around the world to fame and adulation. Beyond a rocketing musical career, the most famous rasta wants to shake things up and proclaim his humanitarian and egalitarian values. This next volume of the sellout In Comics series tells the story of the man who brought reggae to the world.

The Clash thought they could change the world. They never did, but they created some of the greatest rock music of all time in the attempt. Clash interviews were mesmerizing. Infused with the messianic spirit of punk, the Clash engaged with the press like no rock group before or since, treating interviews almost as addresses to the nation. Their pronouncements were welcomed but were hardly uncritically reported. The Clash's back pages are voluminous, crackle with controversy, and constitute a snapshot of a uniquely thoughtful and fractious period in modern history. Included in this compendium are the Clash's encounters with the most brilliant music writers of their time, including Lester Bangs, Nick Kent, Mikal Gilmore, Chris Salewicz, Charles Shaar Murray, Mick Farren, Kris Needs, and Lenny Kaye. Whether it be their audience with the (mainly) simpatico likes of punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue , their testy encounters with the correspondents of pious UK weeklies like New Musical Express , Melody Maker , and Sounds , or their friendlier but no less eyebrow-raising conversations with US periodicals like Creem and Rolling Stone , the Clash consistently created copy that lived up to their sobriquet "The Only Band That Matters."

In a 1969 conversation with Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner, Bob Dylan proclaimed, "I don't give interviews." But in truth, he has spoken at length with print publications large and small and with broadcast media around the world, given numerous press conferences, and even answered listeners' questions on call-in radio shows. Dylan can be as evasive and abstruse as he is witty; he can also be cranky and sarcastic. But in the right moments, he offers candid, revealing commentary about his groundbreaking music and creative process. These engrossing provide glimpses into the mind of one of the most important performers and songwriters of the last hundred years. Dylan on Dylan is an authoritative, chronologically arranged anthology of interviews, speeches, and press conferences, as well as excerpts from more than eighty additional Q&As spanning Dylan's entire career--from 1961 through 2016. The majority have not been previously anthologized and some have never before appeared in print. The material comes from renowned media outlets like Rolling Stone and TV's 60 Minutes and from obscure periodicals like Minnesota Daily , a student newspaper at Dylan's alma mater. Interviewers include some of the top writers of our time, such as Jonathan Lethem, Douglas Brinkley, and Mikal Gilmore, as well as musicians like Pete Seeger and Happy Traum. Introductions put each piece in context and, in many cases, include the interviewer's reminiscences about the encounter.

Stepping into Sun Studios in 1954 Elvis Aaron Presley recorded his first single 'That's All Right'. Little did he know he would soon revolutionise music and culture worldwide. This graphic novel biography starts with the story of 'The King's' humble beginnings in Mississippi, detailing, every step of the way, his meteoric rise to the stratosphere of stardom. It includes his service in the military, his extensive record as a Hollywood film star, his complicated family life, finally ending on the last days of the Hound Dog.

The Famous Quartet of Piraeus was formed in 1934 as a café band. It was the first group featuring the bouzouki and the baglama, and consisted of frontman Markos Vamvakaris, Giorgos Batis, Anestos Delias, and Stratos Pagioumtzis. Markos' fiery love for Zingoala, his first wife, is the main and painful source of inspiration for the founder of rebetiko music. Starting as a skinner at a slaughterhouse, Markos becomes a pioneer who paves new paths for traditional Greek music and entertainment, running constantly afoul of the musical mores of the era—as well as the police, his wife, and the dictatorship of Metaxas. And all the while, war is approaching in the background like an inevitable chorus...

The music of Queen and powerhouse lead singer Freddie Mercury are best experienced with the volume turned all the way up. Alfonso Casas's Freddie Mercury delivers a sonorous homage to the formidable singer and the turning points that produced a game-changing body of music that continues to inspire fans around the globe. First published in Spain and now available worldwide, this luminous work covers Freddie's three births: his birth as Farrokh Bulsara in Tanzania; his adoption of the last name of Mercury and the launch of Queen with Brian May and Roger Taylor; and the emergence of the lasting legend after Freddie's death at the age of forty-five. Casas's evocative illustrations highlight the key moments in the singer's transformation from child prodigy to superstar, bringing to life the bold innovator who broke free of his conventional upbringing. Chronicling events from Freddie's marriage to Mary Austin and early fame in London's 1970s glam scene, to the making of multiple megahits (including the six-minute chart-topper Bohemian Rhapsody), to his final years in a lasting relationship with Jim Hutton, Freddie Mercury is an exhilarating, poignant portrait of a creative genius who lived life to the hilt.

Glenn Gould was a Canadian pianist, a child genius who became a worldwide superstar of classical music remembered for, among other things, his almost revolutionary interpretations of Bach. This graphic novel biography seeks to understand the eccentric personality behind the persona. Who is the mysterious Glenn Gould? Sandrine Revel delves into the life of Gould with hand-painted illustrations and the viewpoint of an adoring fan.

A biography in comics of the amazing rock singer Janis Joplin with the highlights of her journey from childhood after the Second World War to her abrupt death in late 1970. It is one of the most fabulous musical adventures in America of the second half of the twentieth century, yet it lasted only five years. How did a very young, messed up woman, a drug addict filled with doubt, become a planetary icon of rock music in a few years? Thanks to a worldwide movement of emancipation which would consecrate for a long time the ideals and modes of alternative lifestyles from counterculture to the flower power generation, Janis, the ugly duckling, gave free rein to her impulses. Fed by the thirst for freedom of the Beat Generation and the desire for emancipation expressed by American youth in the early 1960s, Janis Joplin left for San Francisco, the epicenter of cultural innovation. There, she abandoned herself to all impulses, overcoming without hesitation all the taboos of the time: bisexuality, alcohol, and drugs, doing so not only with delight, but with the taste for excess which came naturally from her spontaneous character.

"Aretha was private. I respected this and she trusted me." Linda Solomon met Aretha Franklin in 1983 when she was just beginning her career as a photojournalist and newspaper columnist. Franklin's brother and business manager arranged for Solomon to capture the singer's major career events--just as she was coming back home to Detroit from California--while Franklin requested that Solomon document everything else. Everything. And she did just that. What developed over these years of photographing birthday and Christmas parties in her home, annual celebrity galas, private backstage moments during national awards ceremonies, photo shoots with the iconic pink Cadillac, and more was a friendship between two women who grew to enjoy and respect one another. The Queen Next Door: Aretha Franklin, An Intimate Portrait is a book full of firsts as Solomon was invited not only to capture historical events in Aretha's music career showcasing Detroit but to join in with the Franklin family's most intimate and cherished moments in her beloved hometown. From performance rehearsals with James Brown to off-camera shenanigans while filming a music video with the Rolling Stones, from her first television special to her first time performing with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, to her last performance with her sisters at her father's church and her son's college graduation celebration.

Experience the riveting, powerful story of the Native American civil rights movement and the resulting struggle for identity told through the high-flying career of west coast rock n' roll pioneers, Redbone. You've heard the hit song "Come and Get Your Love" in the movie Guardians of the Galaxy, but the story of the band behind it is one of cultural, political, and social importance. Brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas were talented Native American rock musicians that took the 1960s Sunset Strip by storm. They influenced The Doors and jammed with Jimmy Hendrix before he was "Jimi," and the idea of a band made up of completely Native Americans soon followed. Determined to control their creative vision and maintain their cultural identity, they eventually signed a deal with Epic Records in 1969. But as the American Indian Movement gained momentum the band took a stand, choosing pride in their ancestry over continued commercial reward. Created with the cooperation of the Vegas family, painstaking steps were taken to ensure the historical accuracy of this important and often overlooked story of America's past. Part biography and part research journalism, Redbone provides a voice to a people long neglected in American history.

When the Rolling Stones hit the scene in the 60s it was to play Rhythm & Blues, nothing more. They were far from imagining that they are not just going to change music but also become the mouthpiece of a changing world. Sticking their tongue out at the establishment with their brilliant music and hard-hitting lyrics, they achieve planet-wide success. With Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in the lead, the Rolling Stones has become, over fifty years, not just music, but a whole attitude! Through twenty-one stories in comics accompanied by biographical texts and a rich iconography, this book makes you relive, in a totally new way, the incredible epic of one of the biggest rock bands ever.

From his love of accordions and Hawaiian print shirts to his popular puns and trademark dance moves, "Weird Al" Yankovic has made a career out of making us laugh. Funny music is often dismissed as light and irrelevant, but Yankovic's fourteen successful studio albums prove there is more going on than comedic music's reputation suggests. In this book, for the first time, the parodies, original compositions, and polka medleys of the Weird Al universe finally receive their due respect. Lily Hirsch weaves together original interviews with the prince of parody himself, creating a fresh take on comedy and music's complicated romance. She reveals that Yankovic's jests have always had a deeper meaning, addressing such topics as bullying, celebrity, and racial and gender stereotypes. Weird Al is undeterred by those who say funny music is nothing but a low-brow pastime. And thank goodness. With his good-guy grace still intact, Yankovic remains unapologetically and unmistakably himself. Reveling in the mischief and wisdom of Yankovic's forty-year career, this book is an Al-expense-paid tour of a true comedic and musical genius.

Alone Together: Love, Grief, and Comfort During the Time of COVID-19 is a collection of essays, poems, and interviews to serve as a lifeline for negotiating how to connect and thrive during this stressful time of isolation as well as a historical perspective that will remain relevant for years to come. Jennifer Haupt, editor and curator of this anthology, and Central Avenue Publishing, as well as all contributing authors, are donating net profits to The Book Industry Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit organization that coordinates charitable programs to strengthen the bookselling community. In response to the pandemic, Ms. Haupt rallied more than 90 authors to contribute their work to Alone Together, free of charge, to support struggling independent booksellers forced to close their doors. The roster of diverse voices includes Kwame Alexander, Jenna Blum, Andre Dubus III, Jamie Ford, Nikki Giovanni, Pam Houston, Jean Kwok, Major Jackson, Caroline Leavitt, Ada Limón, Dani Shapiro, David Sheff, Garth Stein, Luis Alberto Urrea, Steve Yarbrough, and Lidia Yuknavitch. Alone Together is divided into five sections: Love, Grief, Comfort, Grace, and Possibilities. The overarching theme is how this age of isolation and uncertainty is changing us as individuals and a society.

Break free from anxiety—once and for all! From the authors of The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, this powerful yet portable guide offers fifty-two in-the-moment mindfulness strategies you can use anytime, anywhere to cultivate calm and radically transform your life.We live in an age of anxiety, and studies show that it's only getting worse. Anxiety forces itself into our awareness and can deplete our energy, resources, and resolve. It screams “pay attention to me—or else.” We may confront it the moment we wake up in the morning, and it can even keep us from getting to sleep at night. In short, it can run our lives. But it doesn't have to be this way.Building on the success of The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety, this quick reference guide offers fifty-two simple tools and strategies—one for each week of the year—based in proven-effective acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you break free from worry, fear, and panic. In addition to “in-the-moment” tools for staying calm, you'll learn about the underlying causes of your anxiety, why avoidance just doesn't work, how to move past your negative inner voice, and how focusing on your values can help you move past anxiety and live a rich, meaningful life.If—like many people—you're fed up with anxiety getting in the way of living your life, the powerful little exercises in this guide will show you how to break the cycle of anxiety for good.

What is the difference between fear and excitement and how can you tell them apart? How do the mind and body make emotions? When can anxiety be good? This science-based graphic book addresses these questions and more, revealing just how strange anxiety is, but also how to unravel its mysteries and relieve its effects. Understanding how anxiety is created by our nervous system, and how our fight-or-flight mechanisms can get stuck, can significantly lessen the fear experienced during anxiety attacks. In this guide, anxiety is explained in an easy-to-understand, engaging graphic format with tips and strategies to relieve its symptoms, and to change the mind's habits for a more positive outlook.

We live in a world which experiences dramatic loss of life due to natural disasters and hazards.This comprehensive book by Rajni Sibal, formerly the additional secretary (disaster management), Government of India, outlines methods for preparing households, businesses, and commercial establishments to address the substantial risk of disasters at home, the workplace and communities at large.Rajni Sibal addresses considerations important in planning for disaster management, from cyclones, chemical spills, floods and landslides to catastrophic events. The book not only includes the procedures used by safety experts but also focuses on areas often overlooked during the reactive and post disaster periods.Packed with information, important contact details and numbers, this book contains a extensive list of the how-to's for avoiding mistakes which turn natural and man-made catastrophes into larger disasters, and makes preparing for disaster less intimidating.

You were the last one here, before I closed the door of Burntcoat. Before we all closed our doors ... In an unnamed British city, the virus is spreading, and like everyone else, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness retreats inside. She isolates herself in her immense studio, Burntcoat, with Halit, the lover she barely knows. As life outside changes irreparably, inside Burntcoat, Edith and Halit find themselves changed as well: by the histories and responsibilities each carries and bears, by the fears and dangers of the world outside, and by the progressions of their new relationship. And Burntcoat will be transformed, too, into a new and feverish world, a place in which Edith comes to an understanding of how we survive the impossible—and what is left after we have. A sharp and stunning novel of art and ambition, mortality and connection, Burntcoat is... an intimate and vital examination of how and why we create—make art, form relationships, build a life—and an urgent exploration of an unprecedented crisis, the repercussions of which are still years in the learning.

How worried should I be? What information can I trust? What should I tell the children? Can I survive the panic, let alone the virus? These are certainly challenging, unprecedented times. Allow pre-eminent psychiatrist Dr. Brendan Kelly to help you understand and cope with the unique stresses of today, as we all try to deal with the threat of COVID-19 within our homes, communities and throughout the world. The anxiety associated with the coronavirus crisis is different to the anxiety seen in traditional disorders, because demonstrably there is something to fear, and that's what makes this worry so ubiquitous, so persistent and so challenging to manage. The good news is that, just as we are capable of finding sophisticated ways to make ourselves more anxious, we are equally good at finding sophisticated ways to manage our mental health, once we put our minds to it. Anxiety-management techniques help hugely once they are modified to suit the new situation we face, and in Coping with Coronavirus, Dr Brendan Kelly will give you all the practical tools you and your family need to navigate these dark, uncertain days.

COVID-19 is reshaping and challenging governments, social order and the world economy in previously unimaginable ways—including changes to the illegal flow of goods and services. Livelihoods are shrinking or disappearing altogether, and mafias, gangsters and profiteers are adapting to find new routes for illegal commodities, from counterfeit drugs to trafficked wildlife and people. Shortages, lockdowns and citizen responses have brought the underworld and upperworld into greater convergence, as criminals strive to meet needs, maximize opportunities and fill governance vacuums. Unscrupulous fraudsters are touting fake remedies to desperate people: counterfeit drugs and illicit wildlife used in traditional medicine. Social distancing and lockdowns have seen online financial transactions and cyber-communication and -operations replacing or supplementing physical shipments and interactions, again affording new opportunities for fraudsters and cyber-criminals. Heavy-handed state responses have also, quite literally, created new illicit markets by prohibiting the sale of particular goods and services, while some elites have capitalized on the pandemic for personal or political gain. The pandemic has cast a long shadow over the rule of law. Criminal Contagion uncovers its impacts on the global illicit economy, and unpacks the long-term implications of these extraordinary developments.

The very things we do to control anxiety can make anxiety worse. This unique guide offers a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based approach to help you recognize the constant chatter of your anxious “monkey mind,” stop feeding anxious thoughts, and find the personal peace you crave.Ancient sages compared the human mind to a monkey: constantly chattering, hopping from branch to branch—endlessly moving from fear to safety. If you are one of the millions of people whose life is affected by anxiety, you are familiar with this process. Unfortunately, you can't switch off the “monkey mind,” but you can stop feeding the monkey—or stop rewarding it by avoiding the things you fear.Written by psychotherapist Jennifer Shannon, this book shows you how to stop anxious thoughts from taking over using proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness techniques, as well as fun illustrations. By following the exercises in this book, you'll learn to identify your own anxious thoughts, question those thoughts, and uncover the core fears at play.Once you stop feeding the monkey, there are no limits to how expansive your life can feel. This book will show you how anxiety can only continue as long as you try to avoid it. And, paradoxically, only by seeking out and confronting the things that make you anxious can you reverse the cycle that keeps your fears alive.

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Imagine your perfect day. What if that perfect day was every day? You're probably doing a lot—taking care of your family, killing it at your job, volunteering, organizing, scheduling, delegating. At the end of all of that, do you have any time or energy left to take care of the most important person: you? Self-care movement leader Suzanne Falter gets it. In fact, she lived the life that every woman today feels expected to lead, chasing career goals while balancing the commitment of raising a family. But after facing an unthinkable tragedy, Suzanne transformed her identity as a stressed-out workaholic to find her way back to wholeness and balance. In The Extremely Busy Woman's Guide to Self-Care, Suzanne shares simple, bite-sized suggestions to help you ease onto the path of effective self-care in a way that feels doable rather than demanding. The road to soothing self-care is right in front of you—all you have to do is say yes to the journey and take the first step.

Fear, the most powerful force in our life, is the least understood. Every one of us experiences it. Many arrange their lives to avoid it. Yet nearly every one of us needs to find more fear. Most of us know fear as the unwanted force that drives phobias, anxieties, unhappiness, and inhibits self-actualization. Ironically, fear is the underlying phenomenon that heightens awareness and optimizes physical performance, and can drive ambition, courage, and success. Harnessing fear can heighten emotional intelligence and bring success to every aspect of your life. Neuroscience and current research on how the brain processes and uses fear have torn the lid off the possibilities of human performance; yet most people are not reaching their complete potential because of a psychological roadblock Sweeney calls the Fear Frontier. Identifying your Fear Frontier and addressing it, Sweeney illustrates in these pages, is the path to success, happiness and fulfillment in almost all aspects of your life. He also provides the most effective steps toward rewiring your mind for a healthier longer life based on courage. Fear is Fuel is a practical guide that instructs everyday readers, business & military leaders, activists, humanitarians, and educators on a unique path toward translating fear into optimal living. By facing fears, and challenging new ones, readers can harness the power of unique motivations to achieve more, experience more, and enjoy more. The path to a fulfilling life is not to avoid fear but to recognize it, understand it, harness it, and unleash its power.

From the Sibert Honor-winning creator behind The Unwanted and Drowned City comes a graphic novel of one of the darkest episodes in American history: the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918.   New Year's Day, 1918. America has declared war on Germany and is gathering troops to fight. But there's something coming that is deadlier than any war.   When people begin to fall ill, most Americans don't suspect influenza. The flu is known to be dangerous to the very old, young, or frail. But the Spanish flu is exceptionally violent. Soon, thousands of people succumb. Then tens of thousands . . . hundreds of thousands and more. Graves can't be dug quickly enough.   What made the influenza of 1918 so exceptionally deadly--and what can modern science help us understand about this tragic episode in history? With a journalist's discerning eye for facts and an artist's instinct for true emotion, Sibert Honor recipient Don Brown sets out to answer these questions and more in Fever Year.

Finding Comfort is a book about easing grief and trauma after unimaginable horrors - mass shootings, catastrophic natural disasters and terrorist acts. Personal recollections of responding to tragedy, combined with a practical application, Earl Johnson offers readers the tools they need to seek support and offer it to those in need. The book walks through the life-cycle of disaster care from the first hours and days to the years that follow. Having been a care provider in a variety of events, Johnson shares valuable wisdom from those who have worked in the worst situations. Whether you're a first responder, a care professional, a victim of a disaster, a family member, or following a disaster on television or social media, Finding Comfort gives readers guidance and support. Readers don't have to wait for tragedy. this work helps one be prepared through examples and practical suggestions. This book is a ready resource to both those in need looking for help and to those wishing to provide it.

A friendly, candid, and comforting guide for isolating times when we have no one to count on. Despite the inclusive promise of social media, loneliness is a growing epidemic in the United States. Social isolation can shatter our confidence. In isolating times, we're not only lonely, we're also ashamed because our society stigmatizes people who appear to be without support. As a single, fifty-eight-year-old woman, Val Walker found herself stranded and alone after major surgery when her friends didn't show up. As a professional rehabilitation counselor, she was too embarrassed to reveal how utterly isolated she was by asking for someone to help, and it felt agonizingly awkward calling colleagues out of the blue. As she recovered, Val found her voice and developed a plan of action for people who lack social support, not only to heal from the pain of isolation, but to create a solid strategy for rebuilding a sense of community. 400 Friends and No One to Call spells out the how-tos for befriending our wider community, building a social safety net, and fostering our sense of belonging. On a deeper level, we are invited to befriend our loneliness, rather than feel ashamed of it, and open our hearts and minds to others trapped in isolation.

Achieve your back-to-the-land dreams without breaking the bank Build your homesteading dreams with all the affordable DIY innovations, tips, and stories you need to successfully launch you on a path to self-sufficiency. Raise and grow your own food, connect with nature, and consume less while producing more! The Frugal Homesteader is a fun, inspirational, and educational guide filled with a lifetime of learning that comes along with becoming a homesteader. Following dozens of successful families who have been motivated to make do, make new, and make more while saving money and living off the land, this book covers such topics as: Outfitting your garden Equipping your barn and outbuildings Protecting and providing for your animals Harvesting rainwater Heating with wood Foraging Producing more of what you need to thrive in harder times. Whether you're just starting out and looking for new, sustainable, and affordable ideas, approaches, and techniques, or you're a small-scale farmer in regenerative agriculture, The Frugal Homesteader is the DIY manual to help you succeed.

From the beloved author of Insomniac City, a poignant and profound tribute in stories and images to a city amidst a pandemic. A bookstore where readers shout their orders from the street. A neighborhood restaurant turned to-go place where one has a shared drink—on either end of a bar—with the owner. These scenes, among many others, became the new normal as soon as the world began to face the COVID-19 pandemic. In How We Live Now, author and photographer Bill Hayes offers an ode to our shared humanity—capturing in real time this strange new world we're now in (for who knows how long?) with his signature insight and grace. As he wanders the increasingly empty streets of Manhattan, Hayes meets fellow New Yorkers and discovers stories to tell, but he also shares the unexpected moments of gratitude he finds from within his apartment, where he lives alone and—like everyone else—is staying home, trying to keep busy and not bored as he adjusts to enforced solitude with reading, cooking, reconnecting with loved ones, reflecting on the past—and writing. Featuring Hayes's inimitable street photographs, How We Live Now chronicles an unimaginable moment in time, offering a long-lasting reminder that what will get us through this unprecedented, deadly crisis is each other.

Freshly baked bread. Cloud-like pillows. Lavender tea. Katie Vaz's book on self-care shows readers how slow, cozy warmth can help them deal with the anxieties and challenges of everyday life. Filled with tips for creating the perfect atmosphere of coziness (super soft blankets, fluffy robes, and something binge-worthy on TV) as well as sweet, gentle prompts that inspire readers to fill in their own content (“Fill these clouds with words that make you feel light and free”), this book encourages all of us to slow down and find joy in the little things.

The ultimate guide to getting your life in order--with hundreds of practical and empowering ideas, projects, and tips--from America's most trusted lifestyle authority Trust Martha to help you master all things organizing--sorting, purging, tidying, and simplifying your life--with smart solutions and inspiration. Here, she offers her best guidance, methods, and DIY projects for organizing in and around your home. Topics include room-by-room strategies (how to sort office paperwork, when to purge the garage or attic), seasonal advice (when to swap out bedding and clothing, how to put away holiday decorations), and day-by-day or week-by-week plans for projects such as de-cluttering, house cleaning, creating a filing system, overhauling the closet, and more. Martha's indispensable expertise walks you through goal-setting, principles of organizing, useful supplies, and creating systems for ongoing success. A look into Martha's own personal calendars offers a template for scheduling essential tasks. Last, plenty of strategies, how-tos, timelines, and checklists will help you stay organized all year long.

Some days you need a pick-me-up, some days you need a life preserver. "For most of us," writes Anna Borges, "self-care is a wide spectrum of decisions and actions that soothe and fortify us against all the shit we deal with." You may already practice some form of self-care, whether it's taking an extra-long shower after a stressful day, splurging on a ~fancy~ dinner, or choosing Netflix over that friend-of-a-friend's birthday party. But when life gets so overwhelming that you want to stay in bed, some more radical care is crucial to maintain your sanity. The More or Less Definitive Guide to Self-Care is here to help you exist in the world. Borges gathers over 200 tips, activities, and stories (from experts and everyday people alike) into an A-to-Z list--from asking for help and burning negative thoughts to the importance of touch and catching some Zzz's. Make any day a little more OK with new skills in your self-care toolkit--and energy to show up for yourself.

For more than two decades, Ronna Welsh has been empowering home cooks and chefs with radically simple strategies for cooking creatively and efficiently. In this sweeping masterwork with 400 recipes, she shows how to make varied, impromptu, economical, and delicious meals by coaxing the most flavor from common ingredients. The Nimble Cook teaches optimal prep methods, like the perfect way to dry and store greens--forget the salad spinner--for a salad made in seconds to pair with a vinaigrette composed of refrigerator door condiments. It provides hundreds of "starting point" recipes to transform basic dishes into luxurious ones, like an onion jam for burgers; a cheese stock for decadent risotto; or a mix of salt and whirred bay leaves that takes roasted shrimp or fish from ordinary to extraordinary. Welsh teaches nimble cooks irresistible uses for parts that otherwise go to waste, whether cucumber peels in kimchi or apple cores in a sweet-and-sour syrup for a bourbon cocktail. Graceful illustrations throughout provide further inspiration, making this book an essential addition to any creative cook's kitchen.

Containing important information about the coronavirus, this comprehensive, easy-to-follow primer on pandemics, epidemics, and the panics they ignite around the world also shares solutions for a safer, healthier future. Authored by a leading epidemiologist, this engrossing book answers our questions about animal diseases that jump to humans—called zoonoses—including what attracts them to humans, why they have become more common in recent history, and how we can keep them at bay. Almost all pandemics and epidemics have been caused by diseases that come to us from animals, including SARS, mad cow disease, and—now—Covid-19. Epidemiologist, veterinarian, and ecosystem health specialist, David Waltner-Toews, gathers the latest research to profile dozens of illnesses in On Pandemics. Chapters are broken into short, dynamic explainers, each one tackling a different disease. Readers will discover: Why zoonotic diseases jump from animals to humans—and why some decide to stick around for good. How governments have responded to pandemics and epidemics throughout history, for better or for worse. The role of climate change, industrialized farming, cultural practices, biodiversity loss, and globalization in making these diseases not only possible, but inevitable outcomes of our modern lifestyles. Coronaviruses, such as those that cause SARS and Covid-19, have likely made bats their home for centuries. Until SARS came along, we didn't know they were there, nor do we know how many other death-dealing viruses might be living undetected in wildlife. On Pandemics shows the greater impact of animal-borne diseases on our world, and encourages us to re-examine our role in pandemics, if not for our own health, then for the health of our planet.

It’s March 2020 and a calamity is unfolding. A group of friends and friends-of-friends gathers in a country house to wait out the pandemic. Over the next six months, new friendships and romances will take hold, while old betrayals will emerge, forcing each character to reevaluate whom they love and what matters most. The unlikely cast of characters includes a Russian-born novelist; his Russian-born psychiatrist wife; their precocious child obsessed with K-pop; a struggling Indian American writer; a wildly successful Korean American app developer; a global dandy with three passports; a Southern flamethrower of an essayist; and a movie star, the Actor, whose arrival upsets the equilibrium of this chosen family. Both elegiac and very, very funny, Our Country Friends is the most ambitious book yet by the author of the beloved bestseller Super Sad True Love Story.

In times of crisis, when institutions of power are laid bare, people turn to one another. Pandemic Solidarity collects firsthand experiences from around the world of people creating their own narratives of solidarity and mutual aid in the time of the global crisis of Covid-19. The world's media was quick to weave a narrative of selfish individualism, full of empty supermarket shelves and con-men. However, if you scratch the surface, you find a different story of community and self-sacrifice. Looking at eighteen countries and regions, including India, Rojava, Taiwan, South Africa, Iraq and North America, the personal accounts in the book weave together to create a larger picture, revealing a universality of experience.Moving beyond the present, these stories reveal what an alternative society could look like, and reflect the skills and relationships we already have to create that society, challenging institutions of power that have already shown their fragility.

An award-winning graphic memoir of lockdown life, Quarantine Comix is a funny, tender, heartfelt and insightful look at isolation. Written and drawn every day during the 2020 lockdown and shared online with #QuarantineComix, 2020 Comedy Women in Print-shortlisted Rachael Smith's delightful comics helped people who were isolated all over the world to feel connected. At times laugh-out-loud funny, at others bitter-sweet, philosophical or downright silly, this collection of 200 drawings tells the story of one woman overcoming loneliness and self-doubt with exquisite, wry humour and raw honesty. During a time when many feel anxious and apart from loved ones, Quarantine Comix offers relief in shared experiences.

In this new collection of comics strips published throughout 2020, transgender cartoonist Sophie Labelle tackles the pandemic with the wit and sassiness that caracterizes her work. Through a diverse cast of characters, her comics shine a light on important issues, as her heroes navigate quarantine, lock-down or social distanciation.

40 authors from around the world set out to record their innermost feelings— to offer inspiring, heartfelt, creative takes on the Covid-19 pandemic. Crime fiction, elegant and angry poetry, and gut-wrenching personal essays: all paint a picture of the year and help us make sense of the sacrifices we've made in 2020. A brainchild of editor Lise McClendon, the anthology was shepherded by her with her co-editors— Taffy Cannon, Kate Flora, and Gary Phillips— to bear witness to the events taking place all around us, and especially within us, as we grapple with disease, isolation, death, and, yes, a healthy dose of chaos. Some writers chose to mine their own psyches and experiences, whether the challenges of life in lockdown or their struggles with productivity and focus. Others felt called to wry, dark fiction or poetry. Across the globe the reactions portray a similar anger, pain, and struggle from writers from the US, Canada, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Northern Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Romania. Our lives have been forever changed by these times. Whether a chance encounter with a mural on a utility box, to the lockdown in New York City and dystopian fiction, these writers never stopped imagining and exploring their worlds. Stuck at home, watching the news in horror, helping others: these writers' imaginations kept clicking right along (although their productivity sometimes took a hit.)

This kaleidoscopic portrait of an unprecedented time brings together some of our most treasured writers today—Edwidge Danticat, Layli Long Soldier, Monica Youn, Julia Alvarez, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor—to give voice to the unthinkable grief and hopeful possibilities born in an era of revolution and change.“A maelstrom of grief, anger, fear and confusion, with glimmers of gratitude and hope: a comprehensive emotional document of a moment.”—New York Times Book Review Now is an extraordinary time. Across the country, people are losing their loved ones, their livelihoods, their homes, and even their own lives to COVID-19. Despite the pandemic, countless protests erupted this summer over the recurring loss of Black lives. Reverberations of shock and outrage remain with us all. There's a Revolution Outside, My Love captures and articulates all of these roiling sentiments unleashed by a profound national reckoning. Drawing its title from a powerful letter to her son by Kirsten West Savali, the book fans out from there, offering a rich and intimate view of the change we underwent. Composed of searing letters, essays, poems, reflections, and screeds, There's a Revolution Outside, My Love highlights the work of some of our most powerful and insightful writers who hail from across a range of backgrounds and from almost all fifty states. Among them, these writers have brought home four Pulitzers, two National Book Awards, a fistful of Whitings, and numerous citations in best American poetry, short story, and essay compilations. They are noisy with beauty, and their pieces ring louder and clearer than ever before. Galvanizing and lyrical, this is a deeply profound anthology of writing filled with pain and beauty, warmth and intimacy. A remarkable feat of empathy, There's a Revolution Outside, My Love offers solace in a time of swirling protest, change, and violence—reminding us of the human scale of the upheaval, and providing hope for a kinder future.

How viruses emerge to cause pandemics, how our immune system combats them, and how diagnostic tests, vaccines, and antiviral therapies work. Throughout history, humans have contended with pandemics. History is replete with references to plagues, pestilence, and contagion, but the devastation wrought by pandemics had been largely forgotten by the twenty-first century. Now, the enormous human and economic toll of the rapidly spreading COVID-19 disease offers a vivid reminder that infectious disease pandemics are one of the greatest existential threats to humanity. This book provides an accessible explanation of how viruses emerge to cause pandemics, how our immune system combats them, and how diagnostic tests, vaccines, and antiviral therapies work—concepts that are a foundation for our public health policies.

From Jill Stark, bestselling author of Happy Never After, comes this warm and practical book of tips and wisdom to help guide you through the tough times. This is a self-care manual for the days when you feel alone -- the days when you worry that you're too weird or broken or unfixable to be normal. With compassion, humour, and honesty, Jill offers signposts to help you findthe path back to yourself. Whether you're having a bad day, or a run of bad days that seems never-ending, When You're Not OKis an emotional first-aid kit for your body, mind, and soul, written by someone who's been there too.

Disease -- specifically infectious disease -- is what eventually kills the overwhelming majority of us. In fact, it's amazing that it doesn't get us sooner: we fight off millions of disease-causing germs every day. So how come we're not dead yet? In this lively and accessible book, Idan Ben-Barak tells us why. He explores the immune system and what keeps it running, how germs are destroyed, and why we develop immunities to certain disease-causing agents. He also examines the role of antibiotics and vaccines, and looks at what the future holds for our collective chances of not being dead. This is entertaining and thoughtful science writing to inspire the student interested in a career in medicine or immunology, or to inform the reader who just wants to understand more about their body while having a laugh along the way.