Mother, Stranger (Kindle Single)
February 21, 2012 by admin · 3 Comments
Mother, Stranger (Kindle Single)
Author Cris Beam left her mother’s home at age 14, driven out by a suburban household of hidden chaos and mental illness. Her mother, a descendant of William Faulkner, told neighbors and family that her daughter had died. The two never saw each other again. Nearly twenty-five years later, after building her own family and happy home life, a lawyer called to say her mother was dead. In this story about the fragility of memory and the complexity of family, Beam decides to look back at her own dark history, and for the secret to her mother’s madness. Praise for Mother, Stranger:
"I was drawn into this compelling book fast and deep. It’s full of Beam’s usual vitality, and yet almost unbelievably sad. In her first book, in one unsettling paragraph, Cris Beam contemplates how being abandoned by her mother shaped her relationship with the transgirl she fostered. I’ve never known the rest of the backstory, and now that I do, it’s a stake to the heart." —Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, winner of the National Book Award
“I read Cris Beam's Mother, Stranger in one sitting, riveted in place, unable to take my eyes of her words. What shines through this wrenching and clear-eyed examination of a child caught inside her mother’s madness is the writer's courage, her wisdom, her unshakable compassion.” —Alison Smith, author of Name All the Animals
Cris Beam is an author and professor in New York City. She is the author of the young adult novel I Am J, as well as Transparent, a nonfiction book that covers seven years in the lives of four transgender teenagers, which won the Lambda Literary Award for best transgender book in 2008 and was a Stonewall Honor book. She is currently at work on a book about the foster-care system.Author Cris Beam left her mother’s home at age 14, driven out by a suburban household of hidden chaos and mental illness. Her mother, a descendant of William Faulkner, told neighbors and family that her daughter had died. The two never saw each other again. Nearly twenty-five years later, after building her own family and happy home life, a lawyer called to say her mother was dead. In this story about the fragility of memory and the complexity of family, Beam decides to look back at her own dark history, and for the secret to her mother’s madness.
Praise for Mother, Stranger:
"I was drawn into this compelling book fast and deep. It’s full of Beam’s usual vitality, and yet almost unbelievably sad. In her first book, in one unsettling paragraph, Cris Beam contemplates how being abandoned by her mother shaped her relationship with the transgirl she fostered. I’ve never known the rest of the backstory, and now that I do, it’s a stake to the heart." —Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, winner of the National Book Award
“I read Cris Beam's Mother, Stranger in one sitting, riveted in place, unable to take my eyes of her words. What shines through this wrenching and clear-eyed examination of a child caught inside her mother’s madness is the writer's courage, her wisdom, her unshakable compassion.” —Alison Smith, author of Name All the Animals
Cris Beam is an author and professor in New York City. She is the author of the young adult novel I Am J, as well as Transparent, a nonfiction book that covers seven years in the lives of four transgender teenagers, which won the Lambda Literary Award for best transgender book in 2008 and was a Stonewall Honor book. She is currently at work on a book about the foster-care system.
How to Unspoil Your Child Fast: A Speedy, Complete Guide to Contented Children and Happy Parents
February 14, 2012 by admin · 3 Comments
How to Unspoil Your Child Fast: A Speedy, Complete Guide to Contented Children and Happy Parents
You don't have to say yes to prove that you love them.
"Describes helpful, pertinent, and loving ways to correct spoiled behavior before it becomes a serious problem."
-ParentWorld
Nearly 95% of parents feel like they are overindulging their children, but feel powerless to stopping themselves.
How to Unspoil Your Child Fast offers a straightforward and practical solution to fixing and preventing the problems of spoiling your children and offers concrete tips, simple strategies, and easy action steps for reversing the effects almost immediately. Feel more confident, competent, and parent more consistently while instilling character and self-reliance in your children today.
What parents are saying:
"Wonderful, trenchant, and desperately needed."
"Short, sweet and to the point for those of us who don't have time to waste."
"Truly sensible and useful."
"Although my daughters like being doted on, they think I parent better...when I utilize many of Dr. Bromfield's suggestions. I highly recommend this book."
"A snappy read, so you can't claim you don't have time. And the method's simple, so you can't pretend you aren't qualified to use it."
-Newsday
You don't have to say yes to prove that you love them.
"Describes helpful, pertinent, and loving ways to correct spoiled behavior before it becomes a serious problem."
-ParentWorld
Nearly 95% of parents feel like they are overindulging their children, but feel powerless to stopping themselves.
How to Unspoil Your Child Fast offers a straightforward and practical solution to fixing and preventing the problems of spoiling your children and offers concrete tips, simple strategies, and easy action steps for reversing the effects almost immediately. Feel more confident, competent, and parent more consistently while instilling character and self-reliance in your children today.
What parents are saying:
"Wonderful, trenchant, and desperately needed."
"Short, sweet and to the point for those of us who don't have time to waste."
"Truly sensible and useful."
"Although my daughters like being doted on, they think I parent better...when I utilize many of Dr. Bromfield's suggestions. I highly recommend this book."
"A snappy read, so you can't claim you don't have time. And the method's simple, so you can't pretend you aren't qualified to use it."
-Newsday
Kiss Me Like You Mean It: Solomon’s Crazy in Love How-To Manual
February 9, 2012 by admin · 3 Comments
Kiss Me Like You Mean It: Solomon's Crazy in Love How-To Manual
Goodbye, passion? Not so fast. Yes, it's true--that glorious, heart-pumping feeling of love and desire does seem to vanish in the wake of kids, careers, and, well, life. But you can reclaim that mad-for-you, crazy-in-love feeling, and this time it will be deeper and more intimate than ever before. Dr. David Clarke and the Song of Solomon teach you how to troubleshoot problems and conflicts, put each other first, have fun, flirt, and be more playful and sensual.Goodbye, passion? Not so fast.
Yes, it's true--that glorious, heart-pumping feeling of love and desire does seem to vanish in the wake of kids, careers, and, well, life. But you can reclaim that mad-for-you, crazy-in-love feeling, and this time it will be deeper and more intimate than ever before. Dr. David Clarke and the Song of Solomon teach you how to troubleshoot problems and conflicts, put each other first, have fun, flirt, and be more playful and sensual.
Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch
January 19, 2012 by admin · 3 Comments
Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch
In this magisterial new biography, New York Times bestselling author Sally Bedell Smith brings to life one of the world’s most fascinating and enigmatic women: Queen Elizabeth II. From the moment of her ascension to the throne in 1952 at the age of twenty-five, Queen Elizabeth II has been the object of unparalleled scrutiny. But through the fog of glamour and gossip, how well do we really know the world’s most famous monarch? Drawing on numerous interviews and never-before-revealed documents, acclaimed biographer Sally Bedell Smith pulls back the curtain to show in intimate detail the public and private lives of Queen Elizabeth II, who has led her country and Commonwealth through the wars and upheavals of the last sixty years with unparalleled composure, intelligence, and grace.
In Elizabeth the Queen, we meet the young girl who suddenly becomes “heiress presumptive” when her uncle abdicates the throne. We meet the thirteen-year-old Lilibet as she falls in love with a young navy cadet named Philip and becomes determined to marry him, even though her parents prefer wealthier English aristocrats. We see the teenage Lilibet repairing army trucks during World War II and standing with Winston Churchill on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on V-E Day. We see the young Queen struggling to balance the demands of her job with her role as the mother of two young children. Sally Bedell Smith brings us inside the palace doors and into the Queen’s daily routines—the “red boxes” of documents she reviews each day, the weekly meetings she has had with twelve prime ministers, her physically demanding tours abroad, and the constant scrutiny of the press—as well as her personal relationships: with Prince Philip, her husband of sixty-four years and the love of her life; her children and their often-disastrous marriages; her grandchildren and friends.
Compulsively readable and scrupulously researched, Elizabeth the Queen is a close-up view of a woman we’ve known only from a distance, illuminating the lively personality, sense of humor, and canny intelligence with which she meets the most demanding work and family obligations. It is also a fascinating window into life at the center of the last great monarchy.A Letter from Sally Bedell Smith
As a five-year-old, I first glimpsed Queen Elizabeth II on the black and white screen in my parents’ mahogany television cabinet in 1953: a glamorous ingenue draped in gleaming robes and wearing a glittering crown during her coronation in Westminster Abbey. Two generations later, children watched her as a proud and bespectacled grandmother in the same majestic setting during the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton.
For sixty years, the Queen has been a constant presence as the longest serving head of state--iconic, distant, mysterious, dutiful--the only person about whom it can truly be said that all the world is a stage.
I first met her in 2007 at a garden party at the British ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C. In a spirited conversation with my husband about the Kentucky Derby, she showed the animated gestures, sparkling blue eyes and flashing smile familiar to her friends but rare in public. I remembered what British artist Howard Morgan had told me after painting her portrait: “Her private side took me totally by surprise. She talks like an Italian! She waves her hands about.”
Nine months later I began my three year exploration of the Queen’s epic life. I was determined to make her accessible, to bring readers into her world and show that private side in an intimate and humanizing way. I also wanted to explain how she has been so successful in her unique role, and how she became “the sheet anchor in the middle for people to hang on to in times of turbulence,” in the words of David Airlie, her lifelong friend and former senior adviser.
As a woman I was intrigued by how she thrived in a man’s world, juggling her roles as dedicated professional as well as wife and mother. I also wanted to describe for the first time her close relationship with the United States--her eleven visits, five of them private, and her friendships with an array of fascinating Americans including all the presidents since Harry Truman--except Lyndon Johnson, who desperately tried to meet her.
There seemed to be a surprise around every corner: her physical courage when she was attacked by a wounded pheasant and charged by “dive bombing colts,” her compassion while mothering a teenaged cousin who had been nearly killed in a terrorist attack, her earthiness while crawling on her belly stalking deer, her joie de vivre while blowing bubbles at a friend’s birthday party, her fierce reaction to one of her top advisers in the days after the death of Diana, her tenderness toward Margaret Thatcher during the former prime minister’s 80th birthday party.
After two years of research and interviewing, it took another year to write the Queen’s story--to weave together the threads of a life of richness and variety with a great cast of characters both famous and little-known. I hope the result will enable readers to immerse themselves in her life--from the grouse moors of Scotland and kitchen tables of her friends to the state banquets and time-honored pageantry, where even in the middle of the solemn ritual of her coronation, the Archbishop of Canterbury could sneak the 27-year-old Queen sips from a hidden flask of brandy for a pick-me-up.
In this magisterial new biography, New York Times bestselling author Sally Bedell Smith brings to life one of the world’s most fascinating and enigmatic women: Queen Elizabeth II.From the moment of her ascension to the throne in 1952 at the age of twenty-five, Queen Elizabeth II has been the object of unparalleled scrutiny. But through the fog of glamour and gossip, how well do we really know the world’s most famous monarch? Drawing on numerous interviews and never-before-revealed documents, acclaimed biographer Sally Bedell Smith pulls back the curtain to show in intimate detail the public and private lives of Queen Elizabeth II, who has led her country and Commonwealth through the wars and upheavals of the last sixty years with unparalleled composure, intelligence, and grace.
In Elizabeth the Queen, we meet the young girl who suddenly becomes “heiress presumptive” when her uncle abdicates the throne. We meet the thirteen-year-old Lilibet as she falls in love with a young navy cadet named Philip and becomes determined to marry him, even though her parents prefer wealthier English aristocrats. We see the teenage Lilibet repairing army trucks during World War II and standing with Winston Churchill on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on V-E Day. We see the young Queen struggling to balance the demands of her job with her role as the mother of two young children. Sally Bedell Smith brings us inside the palace doors and into the Queen’s daily routines—the “red boxes” of documents she reviews each day, the weekly meetings she has had with twelve prime ministers, her physically demanding tours abroad, and the constant scrutiny of the press—as well as her personal relationships: with Prince Philip, her husband of sixty-four years and the love of her life; her children and their often-disastrous marriages; her grandchildren and friends.
Compulsively readable and scrupulously researched, Elizabeth the Queen is a close-up view of a woman we’ve known only from a distance, illuminating the lively personality, sense of humor, and canny intelligence with which she meets the most demanding work and family obligations. It is also a fascinating window into life at the center of the last great monarchy.
10 Mindful Minutes: Giving Our Children–and Ourselves–the Social and Emotional Skills to Reduce Stress and Anxiety for Healthier, Happy Lives
January 15, 2012 by admin · 3 Comments
10 Mindful Minutes: Giving Our Children--and Ourselves--the Social and Emotional Skills to Reduce Stress and Anxiety for Healthier, Happy Lives
Goldie Hawn embodies delight and joy, and 10 Mindful Minutes radiates these. Her book can help any adult-parent, grandparent, teacher-make double use of their moments with the children they love and have a terrific time while helping shape that child's brain for a lifetime of resilience and happiness."
-Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence
Across the country, the revolutionary MindUP program, which was developed under the auspices of the Hawn Foundation, established by Goldie Hawn, is teaching children vital social and emotional skills. By understanding how their brains work, children discover where their emotions come from and become more self-aware. They learn to appreciate the sensory aspects of their lives and to value the positive effects of mindfulness, compassion, and kindness. This, in turn, empowers them to manage and reduce their own stress-and helps them be happy.
Those who have seen the remarkable effects of this program have been eager to learn how to implement it in their own homes and use its practices for themselves, too. Now, for the first time, its secrets are being shared with all parents and children in 10 Mindful Minutes.
"
Goldie Hawn embodies delight and joy, and 10 Mindful Minutes radiates these. Her book can help any adult-parent, grandparent, teacher-make double use of their moments with the children they love and have a terrific time while helping shape that child's brain for a lifetime of resilience and happiness."
-Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence
Across the country, the revolutionary MindUP program, which was developed under the auspices of the Hawn Foundation, established by Goldie Hawn, is teaching children vital social and emotional skills. By understanding how their brains work, children discover where their emotions come from and become more self-aware. They learn to appreciate the sensory aspects of their lives and to value the positive effects of mindfulness, compassion, and kindness. This, in turn, empowers them to manage and reduce their own stress-and helps them be happy.
Those who have seen the remarkable effects of this program have been eager to learn how to implement it in their own homes and use its practices for themselves, too. Now, for the first time, its secrets are being shared with all parents and children in 10 Mindful Minutes.
"
