Personal Essay

In 2014, Lacy Johnson was giving a reading from The Other Side, her “instant classic” (Kirkus Reviews) memoir of kidnapping and rape, when a woman asked her what she would like to happen to her rapist. This collection, a meditative extension of that answer, draws from philosophy, art, literature, mythology, anthropology, film, and other fields, as well as Johnson’s personal experience, to consider how our ideas about justice might be expanded beyond vengeance and retribution to include acts of compassion, patience, mercy, and grace.

Life is never peaceful in Chris Erskine's house, what with the four kids, 300-pound beagle, chronically leaky roof, and long-suffering wife, Posh. And that's exactly the way he likes it, except when he doesn't. Every week in the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune (and now and then in many other papers), Erskine distills, mocks, and makes us laugh at the absurdities of suburban fatherhood. And now, he's gathered the very best of these witty and wise essays - and invited his kids (and maybe even Posh) to annotate them with updated commentary.

Augusta National is golf’s Holy Grail. Navigating the azaleas to play the exclusive course that hosts The Masters is a pipe dream for every golfer. Imagine being afforded the opportunity not only to play the course, but to be able to bring your father along for the ride. To complete the priceless fantasy, Jack Nicklaus - “The Golden Bear” - hosts the round. Through fate, coincidence and good fortune, Joe Wessel managed to find a way to make that happen. In White Fang and The Golden Bear, Wessel recounts that special round, how it came about, and what happened....

Limit Breaker and Tough Love are collections of stories designed to help you improve your communication skills.

When our lives are imbalanced at any level of our self, i.e. physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, or relationally, we can experience stress, discomfort, unhappiness, and illness. In his audiobook Healing and Dealing: Essays on Becoming Wholed, Peter Cloud Panjoyah offers a road map toward an elusive balance point, outlining possibilities for healing inwardly and outwardly. This audiobook lays out the nuts and bolts of how to heal the emotional denial that has plagued humanity, impacted our health, and created dangerous dramas on the world stage.

In this anthology of creative nonfiction, 28 writers set out to discover what they know, and don't know, about the person they call Mother. Celebrated writers Samia Serageldin and Lee Smith have curated a diverse and insightful collection that challenges stereotypes about mothers and expands our notions of motherhood in the South. The mothers in these essays were shaped, for good and bad, by the economic and political crosswinds of their time.

Rediscover the power of perspective with heartfelt stories from people who went through unthinkable circumstances - but came out ahead. This book will motivate you, inspire you, and help you see life from a fresh new lens. Each carefully worded story lets you peer into someone's soul and see how they came out of tough times with their head held high. You're sure to find a story that resonates with you; you owe it to yourself.

In his book-length essay Spirituality and the Writer, Larson surveys the literary insights of authors old and new who have shaped religious autobiography and spiritual memoir - from Augustine to Thomas Merton, from Peter Matthiessen to Cheryl Strayed. He holds them to an exacting standard: They must render transcendent experience in the writing itself.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Concepts and learn about the definition of woke.

Both men and women enjoy thrillers, mystery, and crime. Yet it may still feel not quite respectable, somehow a guilty (sorry!) pleasure. Do these novels so often categorized as genre offer something the literary novel does not? The market is enormous, perhaps the largest in publishing. It is a cliché which may be true that only the Bible – say - outsells Agatha Christie. And then there are films and television, either original or adapted from novels.

In Struck Inside Out, writer and blogger Danielle Bertoli delivers lessons on cultivating daily inspiration, overcoming heartbreak, and loving yourself unconditionally. This moving companion offers reminders that no matter what you’re going through, you can handle it. Through reflections in poetry and prose, Danielle shares her story of overcoming obstacles to transform self-doubt into self-love.

Stories include How to Remember Names Better, Too Smart for Your Own Good?, How to Write Every Day, FOREVER, How to Get Rid of a Nasal Voice, Why Do Authors Use Tension in a Story?, Why Study History As An Adult?, and more. Listen today!

What songs have made up your life's soundtrack? Which have captured your every mood and deepest sentiments? Pop music, like no other form of entertainment or art, is capable of articulating our feelings, desires, joy, and pain. In a few soul-grabbing minutes, artists from every genre - from Little Richard to Lou Reed, Willie Nelson to Wu-Tang Clan, Sly and the Family Stone to the Rolling Stones - can help us understand our place in our own lives.

Tough Love is a collection of 101 short stories, essays, and insights to improve communication skills. Knowledge which has the most practical value is not easy to learn because it challenges a lot of pre-existing paradigms. Therefore, Tough Love introduces the listener to knowledge that will lead to becoming a high valued member of society to create a long-lasting legacy.

Limit Breaker is a collection of 101 short stories, essays, and insights to improve communication skills. In this book, you will gain the skill set of gargantuan thinking. The ability to think large allows you to become a high performer and deal better with people. Each story is geared to enhance your perception and break limiting beliefs. Soon, you will become a Limit Breaker, and shatter one goal at a time.

"Childfree" and "childless" ...these are the labels society gives to women who do not bear children, due to choice or genetics. Being Fruitful without Multiplyingstarted as one woman's quest to come to terms with her decision not to bear children. In conversation with Renee and Janice - two close relatives from different generations - Patricia found that they shared another, unexpected bond: each belonged to childless or childfree social networks.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Compass and learn to improve your communication skills.

Are you tired of chasing happiness and only to find it elusive and temporary? Do you yearn for a deeper understanding of the true meaning of life? Look no further than Happiness: Essays on the Meaning of Life, a book that will send you on a transformative journey toward lasting joy and fulfillment.

In Traveling without Moving, Coleman shares intimate essays from her life: her childhood in Chicago—growing up in poverty with four siblings and a single mother—and the empowering decision to leave her first marriage. She writes about being the only Black student in a prestigious and predominantly White creative writing program, about institutional racism and implicit bias in writing instruction, about the violent legacies of racism in the US housing market, about the maternal health disparities seen across the country and their implication in her own miscarriage.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Full Circle: 101 Short Stories, Essays, and Insights to Improve Communication Skills by Toastmaster Arman N. Chowdhury to learn about how to improve your social and communication skills.