A Breath of Fresh Air

A Breath of Fresh Air
Author: Amulya Malladi
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2007-12-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 030741437X

On the night of December 3, 1984, Anjali waits for her army officer husband to pick her up at the train station in Bhopal, India. In an instant, her world changes forever. Her anger at his being late turns to horror when a catastrophic gas leak poisons the city air. Anjali miraculously survives. Her marriage does not. A smart, successful schoolteacher, Anjali is now remarried to Sandeep, a loving and stable professor. Their lives would be nearly perfect, if not for their young son’s declining health. But when Anjali’s first husband suddenly reappears in her life, she is thrown back to the troubling days of their marriage with a force that impacts everyone around her. Her first husband’s return brings back all the uncertainty Anjali thought time and conviction had healed–about her decision to divorce, and about her place in a society that views her as scandalous for having walked away from her arranged marriage. As events unfold, feelings she had guarded like gold begin to leak away from her, spreading out into the world and challenging her once firm beliefs. Rich in insight into Indian culture and psychology, A Breath of Fresh Air resonates with meaning and the abiding power of love. In a landscape as intriguing as it is unfamiliar, Anjali’s struggles to reconcile the roles of wife and ex-wife, working woman and mother, illuminate both the fascinating duality of the modern Indian woman and the difficult choices all women must make. From the Hardcover edition.

Ring of Bright Water

Ring of Bright Water
Author: Gavin Maxwell
Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2016-04-15
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1567924840

This volume weaves together the Scottish otter stories from Gavin Maxwell's three non-fiction books, Ring of Bright Water (1960), The Rocks Remain (1963), and Raven Meet Thy Brother (1969). Maxwell was both an extraordinarily evocative writer and a highly unusual man. While touring the Iraqi marshes, he was captivated by an otter and became a devoted advocate of and spokesman for the species. He moved to a remote house in the Scottish highlands, co-habiting there with three otters and living an idyllic and isolated life – at least for a while. Fate, fame, and fire conspired against this paradise, and it, too, came to an end, though the journey was filled with incident and wonder. Maxwell was also talented as an artist, and his sinuous line drawings of these amphibious and engaging creatures, and the homes they occupied, illustrate his story. This book stands as a lasting tribute to a man, his work, and his passion. It was received and has endured as a classic for its portrait not only of otters but also of a man who endured heartaches and disappointments, whose life embodied both greatness and tragedy. He writes with rare eloquence about his birth, his devotion to the beloved Scottish highlands, and the wildlife he loved, while refusing to ignore the darker aspects of his nature and of nature in its larger sense.

Summon the Bright Water

Summon the Bright Water
Author: Geoffrey Household
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2015-04-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1504006526

On a walk in the woods, a historian is drawn into a conspiracy of murder Piers Colet is about to fly to Spain when his plane’s engine catches fire. His research trip delayed, he decides to spend the week exploring the banks of the Severn, the ancient river that winds through the backwoods of Wales. Searching for a place to bed down for the evening, he finds himself in Simeon Marrin’s commune, where a group of people disgusted with the course of modern civilization have gathered to wait for the coming end of the world. Here he meets the charming Elsa, who intrigues him only slightly less than the rumors that the Severn runs rich with gold. When a trip into the water with Marrin nearly costs Colet his life, the economic historian goes to ground, taking shelter in the mysterious Forest of Dean. Where ancient Romans once fought, where Druids once worshipped, Colet must now learn to kill.

Water

Water
Author: Frank Asch
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2000
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780152023485

Water is beautiful and useful and, in its many forms, vital to life. In this lyrical companion to The Earth and I, Frank Asch encourages young readers to appreciate anew one of our most precious resources.

Hope's Ante

Hope's Ante
Author: Floyd Yamyamin
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2012-03-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1468559052

Can tragedy ever lead to triumph? Can doubts ever propel convictions? Can transgressions deliver one into redemption? Can gut wrenching agony spark epiphany? Can someone ever love another so much that they would be willing to trade places with them even as they are about to die? Thom Vines used his decades of spiritual searching and then the horrible pain of losing a child to propel the story of the novel Hope's Ante. "I've laughed, cried, questioned, believed, sat on the edge of my chair... in short, gone through the gamut of emotions in this roller-coaster ride of a read." -Debbie Thompson

Outdoors

Outdoors
Author: Nelson Bryant
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 376
Release: 1990-06-15
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0671693727

Bryant has been writing a column called "Outdoors" for the New York Times for over 20 years. Though he states in the introduction that he tackles current environmental issues, he's left them out of this anthology, choosing instead the more timeless and universal pieces. The topics, presented in an evocative style with subtle wit, are arranged seasonally. For example, spring concerns include trout fishing and an outdoorsman's spring cleaning. The pieces deal mostly with hunting and fishing, with an occasional foray into television reviewing and literary criticism. ISBN 0-671-69372-7 (pbk): $10.95.

Field & Stream

Field & Stream
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 176
Release: 1971-08
Genre:
ISBN:

FIELD & STREAM, America’s largest outdoor sports magazine, celebrates the outdoor experience with great stories, compelling photography, and sound advice while honoring the traditions hunters and fishermen have passed down for generations.

Lives

Lives
Author: Lucas Hunt
Publisher: Vagabond Press
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2006
Genre:
ISBN: 9780975571620

Poetry. LIVES is a lyrical, passionate, and occasionally ironical account of life in a modern world of infinite possibility. Filled with vivid imagery of work, love, dreams, and death, these poems celebrate the phenomenal aspects of existence while acknowledging the futility of our continual search for meaning. They confront both reality and the beyond, communicating powerful truths about eternal situations. Lucas Hunt has won a John Steinbeck Award for poetry. His poems have been published in Confrontation, The Iconoclast, Hidden Oaks, Proteus, Mad Poets Review, and Meet the Writers. "There is a kind of Keatsian ardor underlying his Eliotesque grapplings with the existential void...Lucas Hunt's LIVES marks the debut of a very fine poet"--Southhampton Press. "...insights into the uniqueness of not only individual life, but also the seemingly commonplace phenomena that affect it"--Midwest Book Review.