Short Essays

A selection from the John Updike audio collection. These extraordinarily evocative stories depict the generation born in a small-town America during the Depression and growing up in a world where the old sexual morality was turned around and material comforts were easily had. Yet, as these stories reflect so accurately, life was still unsettling, and Updike chronicles telling moments both joyful and painful.

In this dazzling report from the campaign trail, Erik Jensen homes in on the insecurities that drive Bill Shorten and the certainties that helped Scott Morrison win. He considers how each man reflects, challenges and comforts the national character. Who are Morrison’s 'quiet Australians'? What did Shorten Labor fail to see? And will fear always trump hope in politics? The Prosperity Gospel sheds new light on the politics of a divided nation.

Short stories include biographical, humorous and imaginative fiction. Poetry is sprinkled throughout the book. Stories, essays and poetry cover both serious topics and fun insights. This book includes uplifting, positive and thought-provoking insights. Also, several Christmas stories. Audio version is done in three parts.

Según el Génesis, el primer castigo fue botánico, y consistió en expulsarnos de un paraíso, de un jardín. Desde entonces vivimos en la añoranza. Bajo esta tensión entre exilio y pertenencia, Clara Obligado nos invita, con su escritura híbrida, a un paseo por la naturaleza en el que se mezclan pensamiento y literatura, ensayo y memorias. Un itinerario por los espacios más indómitos y los más sometidos que chocan y crecen dentro de nosotros. Desde la niñez, desde la semilla, desde distintas partes del mundo, una reflexión poética y conmovedora, un canto a todo lo que crece.

A simple writing style coupled with almost prophetic content characterize George Orwell's works. Orwell's most famous pieces include the satirical novel Animal Farm and dystopian masterpiece 1984. His colorful autobiographical novel Down and Out in Paris and London is also an unforgettable read. Throughout his writings, Orwell accurately and scathingly criticized totalitarianism while supporting democratic socialism.

About this collection: This is the a collection of seven of the author's best short stories, including "The Killing of Train-Man Brown","Send Me a Friend","Then Her Wig Fell Off","Let the Dog Drive","Selma at 4 A.M.","Young Turk", and "Slow Foreplay on a Fast Bus".

A Sardinian wedding feast, the search for the perfect seaside pasta with wild fennel, meeting a risotto master: Laura Fraser journeys from the SpaghettiOs of her American childhood to savor the best of Italian cuisine and the culture that cooked it up. Using the same dreamy, delicious type of prose that made An Italian Affair a best-selling memoir, these essays will delight listeners who loved that book and all who love Italian food and culture.

In this delightful collection, Ruskin Bond introduces us to the Dehradun he knows intimately and loves unreservedly - the town in which he had spent many years of his childhood and youth. A town which, when he knew it, was one of pony-drawn tongas and rickshaws; a town fond of gossip but tolerant of human foibles; a town of lush lichi trees; charming winter gardens and cool streams; a small town; a sleepy town; a town called "Dehra".

Oltre cinquanta autori italiani e stranieri – tra scrittori, artisti, editori, giornalisti, librai e blogger – accomunati dalla passione per i viaggi sulle tombe di poeti e romanzieri. Tombe sfarzose, come quella di Oscar Wilde, o semplici lapidi in un prato, come quelle di Jack Kerouac e James Joyce, tombe ospitate in cimiteri celebri – il Père-Lachaise di Parigi o l’acattolico di Roma – oppure nascoste in mezzo a monti desertici, coperte dal segreto di un monastero, come quella di Javsandamba Zanabazar, artista e poeta mongolo, in patria venerato come un santo.

In Quarterly Essay 49, Latham argues that the time has come to go beyond criticism to solutions. In that spirit, he offers a timely assessment of the future for Labor. He examines the key challenges: the union nexus, the Keating settlement, a real education revolution, a new war on poverty, climate change, and handling the Greens. With wit and insight, he suggests that Labor's biggest problem is the steady erosion of its traditional working-class base.

Sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, madness, and sadness. It’s all here, and as best Pat King can recall, it’s all true. Lyrical, quiet, hip, and deranged. A mind-bender. A trip.

Bread Out of Stone is an original and forceful study of race, sex and politics in contemporary culture. Personal and poetic, these essays speak of matters close to the heart of a black writer. This evocative and insightful collection has been fully updated and includes four previously unpublished essays. She turns her clear, unflinching eye to issues of sex and sexism; male violence toward women; how Black women learn the erotic; the stereotypes of Black females in popular culture and the centrality of Whiteness in definitions of Canadian culture.

This collection of five stories and four essays showcases the work of Mike Heppner, the writer whom Entertainment Weekly calls, "A fearsome cultural critic disguised in a novelist's clothing," and whose funny and biting fiction has been praised in Esquire, The Washington Post, and The Millions. Most of these pieces have not been published before. Featured performers include: A deluded Lothario, a man obsessed with corn, Charlie Watts, the dude from Def Leppard, and a sweet old lady who meets her untimely end at a Boston Market.

This is some of the most popular stuff I wrote and published in 2021. These are some of the short stories, essays, and poetry that bubbled up into my brain and made it onto the page and out into the world. Enjoy.

This Yuletide collection of stories, poems, and essays has been rescued from obscurity by the editor, who has also edited and annotated them to make these wonderful classics more easily accessible to modern listeners. While some of these authors may be unknown to you, their works have been included in this collection because of their capacity to instantly intrigue and delight. Give them a try, and don't be surprised if a few of them make their way onto your list of all-time personal Christmas favorites!

A few years ago, Erica Heller realized how universal the longing is for one more moment with a lost loved one. It could be a parent, a sibling, a mentor, or a friend, but who wouldn't love the opportunity to sit down, break bread, and just talk? Who wouldn't jump at the chance to ask those unasked questions, or share those unvoiced feelings?

Bruce Pascoe has been described as a ‘living national treasure’ and his work as ‘revelatory’. This volume of his best and most celebrated stories and essays, collected here for the first time, ranges across his long career, and explores his enduring fascination with Australia’s landscape, culture, land management and history. Featuring new and previously unpublished fiction alongside his most revered and thought-provoking nonfiction - including extracts from his modern classic Dark Emu - this collection is perfect for Pascoe fans and new listeners alike.

Does This Beach Make Me Look Fat? is a collection of funny stories and true confessions that every woman can relate to by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella - the unstoppable, irreverent mother-daughter team.

Winner of the 2013 Eric Hoffer E-book Fiction Award, The War Is Language is a destruction of narrative, an experimental collection of flash fiction. These often humorous pieces exist at story's amorphous limit of spoken word and deconstruction. This disordered collection makes a mosaic with cathartic, inflammatory language.

All of the contributors to this book were friends and family of author Ellen Gray Massey, and all of them considered her a model of a strong woman. There was a consensus among contributors that their proceeds from the sale of this book be donated to charities that helped women. The charities chosen are: New Life Project, Lebanon, Missouri, and Tostan, Dignity for All.