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Tags: apathy

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  Dave Pelzer's Memoirs: Book 1

  A Child Called "It"

  One Child's Courage to Survive

  by Dave J. Pelzer

  This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. As a child Dave Pelzer was abused in ways one cannot begin to imagine; his alcoholic mother brutally beat, starved, and isolated him. She played tortuous, unpredictable games--games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer... (more)
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  Apathy and Other Small Victories

  by Paul Neilan

  The only thing Shane cares about is leaving. Usually on a Greyhound bus, right before his life falls apart again. Just like he planned. But this time it’s complicated: there's a sadistic corporate climber who thinks she’s his girlfriend, a rent-subsidized affair with his landlord’s wife, and the bizarrely appealing deaf assistant to Shane’s cosmically unstable dentist. When one of the women is murdered, and... (more)
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  Acedia & Me

  A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life

  by Kathleen Norris

  Kathleen Norris’s masterpiece: a personal and moving memoir that resurrects the ancient term acedia , or soul-weariness, and brilliantly explores its relevancy to the modern individual and culture. Kathleen Norris had written several much loved books, yet she couldn’t drag herself out of bed in the morning, couldn’t summon the energy for daily tasks. Even as she struggled, Norris recognized her familiar battle... (more)
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  The Sirens of Titan

  by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

  The Sirens of Titan is a Hugo Award-nominated novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., first published in 1959. His second novel, it involves issues of free will, omniscience, and the overall purpose of human history.When Winston Niles Rumfoord flies his spaceship into a chrono-synclastic infundibulum he is converted into pure energy and only materializes when his waveforms intercept Earth or some other planet. As a... (more)
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  Pierre: A Cautionary Tale

  In Five Chapters and a Prologue

  by Maurice Sendak

  Pierre’s ‘I don’t care!’ intrigues a hungry lion.‘A story with a moral air about Pierre, who learned to care.’
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  Brave New World

  by Aldous Huxley

  "Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's Utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of Soma, to fight depression. Babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a "Feelie," (a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, touch and tastes). Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and... (more)
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  The Oxford Book of American Poetry

  by David Lehman

  Here is the eagerly awaited new edition of The Oxford Book of American Poetry brought completely up to date and dramatically expanded by poet David Lehman. It is a rich, capacious volume, featuring the work of more than 200 poets-almost three times as many as the 1976 edition. With a succinct and often witty head note introducing each author, it is certain to become the definitive anthology of American poetry for... (more)
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  A Good Death

  by Gil Courtemanche

  On Christmas Eve, a family has gathered around the table for the obligatory dinner. The father, once an imposing figure who terrorized his children, has suddenly fallen prey to Parkinson’s. Yesterday’s tyrant is now trapped inside a disintegrating body. André, the eldest child, is nearing 60. He has never loved the father who lied too much, abused too much, manipulated too much. But still, this holiday week, André... (more)
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  War is Boring: Bored Stiff, Scared to Death in the World's Worst War Zones

  by David Axe, Matt Bors

  The war memoir as graphic novel-an utterly unforgettable and highly original look at war in the 21st century. Street battles with spears and arrows in sweltering East Timor. Bone- jarring artillery duels in Afghanistan's mountains. Long patrols on the sandy wastes of southern Iraq. For four years, war was life for David Axe. He was alternately bored out of his mind and completely terrified. It was strangely... (more)
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  Thrift

  by Phil Church

  A failing secondary school. A selection of confused teenagers. A play doomed for disaster. A distinctly below average teacher. Being a successful teacher is difficult, especially when you are not overly keen on doing any actual work. Still, the narrator of Thrift is undeterred as he lies and cheats his way through the Christmas term, hoping that he can save his career, and perhaps even earn himself a thoroughly... (more)
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  The Last Werewolf (Duncan): Book 1

  The Last Werewolf

  by Glen Duncan

  One last full moon then it will all be over.A veil of melancholy has fallen over Jacob Marlowe. He's the last of his kind. Hunted by his enemies and haunted by his past, he is worn out by centuries of decadence and debauchery, and by the demands of his lunatic appetites. He decides to submit to the authorities at the next full moon. However, as Jacob counts down to suicide, a violent murder and... (more)
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  A View of The Republic: Contemporary Observations About American Society

  by John DeSantis

  Readers will find that this book is written by a citizen such as themselves and reflects the concerns that each of us share in one way or another. Although some may agree with what the author say's and some may not, but all will agree that the topics that I comment on are primary problems within American society. It is a unique perspective from an ordinary citizen and not from an analyst from a big think tank.... (more)
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  Where's Unimportant

  by Daniel Shortell

  Jack Addington is stuck. A carefree life wandering the globe has morphed into a monotonous existence working for an oppressive Manhattan-based software company peddling products which destroy the lives of decent people. Jack struggles through soul-sucking affairs with despotic executives and eccentric scientists by mentally projecting himself out of the present and into past adventures. Avoidance, however, is... (more)
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  Getting Beyond "Whatever": The Guide to Teen Self-Esteem and Happiness

  by Dr. Shale Preston

  Being a teenager is not easy but it doesn't have to be that way. In this book of transformational wisdom, Dr. Shale Preston shows teenagers how to ditch the "whatever" attitude so that they can find enduring happiness, self-esteem, confidence, success and fulfilment. In an accessible "A to Z" format, Dr. Preston provides tools and techniques to neutralize the damaging power of the word "whatever". Justifiably,... (more)
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  Choking Butterflies

  by Maryann Austin

  Something is happening. People are changing. She is pretty on the outside, but beneath Jane's skin lies a torrent of apathy, rage, and malice. Caught between two vastly different generations, her mother vacillates between denial and the horror of what her daughter has become. Filled with symbolism, Choking Butterflies is a descriptive chronicle of a decaying humanity and those who passively watch.
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  Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians

  by Paul Marshall

  Christians are the world’s most widely persecuted religious group, according to studies by the Pew Research Center, Newsweek , and the Economist , among others . A woman is caught with a Bible and publicly shot to death. An elderly priest is abducted and never seen again. Three buses full of students and teachers are struck by roadside bombs. These are not casualties of a war. These are Christian... (more)
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  Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life

  by Kathleen Norris

  Kathleen Norris’s masterpiece: a personal and moving memoir that resurrects the ancient term acedia , or soul-weariness, and brilliantly explores its relevancy to the modern individual and culture. Kathleen Norris had written several much loved books, yet she couldn’t drag herself out of bed in the morning, couldn’t summon the energy for daily tasks. Even as she struggled, Norris recognized her familiar battle... (more)
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  The Slap

  by Christos Tsiolkas

  The sensational international bestseller by Australia's "preeminent contemporary novelist" ( The Age ), in his United States debut Winner of the 2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Christos Tsiolkas's The Slap is a riveting page-turner and a powerful, haunting rumination on contemporary middle-class family life. When a man slaps a child who is not his own at a neighborhood barbecue, the act triggers a series... (more)
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  The Mission

  by Jason Myers

  Wake up and do something! Kaden Norris's life is shattered when his older brother -- his best friend and hero -- is killed in Iraq. All Kaden has left of Kenny is a letter, urging him to break away from his sheltered life and to go to San Francisco to visit his cousin, James. Kaden is blown away, as James introduces him to a life filled with drugs, sex, and apathy. He goes from extreme high to extreme low,... (more)
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  A Tale of Two Cities

  by Charles Dickens

  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ...” With these famous words, Charles Dickens plunges the reader into one of history’s most explosive eras — the French Revolution. From the storming of the Bastille to the relentless drop of the guillotine, Dickens vividly captures the terror and upheaval of that tumultuous period. At the center is the novel’s hero, Sydney Carton, a lazy, alcoholic attorney... (more)