My Pear Shaped Life

Download or read book My Pear-Shaped Life written by Carmel Harrington and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-03-01 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘So many women will find this book speaks to them. It makes you laugh and cry but it is truly inspiring’ Katie Fforde ‘Sweet, sad, insightful and joyful – this book pressed all the emotion buttons and I’m so glad it did’ Milly Johnson ‘A beautiful, tender and joyful story.’ Susan Lewis

Download or read book When Life Gives You Pears written by Jeannie Gaffigan and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Big Sick meets Dad is Fat in this funny and heartfelt New York Times bestselling memoir from writer, director, wife, and mother, Jeannie Gaffigan, as she reflects on the life-changing impact of her battle with a pear-sized brain tumor. In 2017, Jeannie's life came to a crashing halt when she was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor. As the mother of 5 kids -- 6 if you include her husband -- sat in the neurosurgery department in star-covered sweats too whimsical for the seriousness of the situation, all she could think was "Am I going to die?" Thankfully, Jeannie and her family were able to survive their time of crisis, and now she is sharing her deeply personal journey through this miraculous story: the challenging conversations she had with her children; how she came to terms with feeling powerless and ferociously crabby while bedridden and unable to eat for a month; and how she ultimately learned, re-learned and re re-learned to be more present in life. With sincerity and hilarity, Jeannie invites you into her heart (and brain) during this trying time, emphasizing the importance of family, faith and humor as keys to her recovery and leading a more fulfilling life.

Download or read book Pear Shaped written by Adam Blain and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-06-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of Adam Blain, a 44-year-old London lawyer and family man who one day, ends up in A&E after a series of headaches and consistent nausea. Expecting to be sent home with a packet of Paracetamol, he's shocked when harassed doctors are suddenly offering to buy him gourmet coffee. Worse still, the diagnosis of a late-stage brain tumour is made by his oncologist wife. So far, so not funny. Adam, however, is determined not to slide into defeatist misery, and approaches the saga of surgery and chemotherapy with a chirpy, irreverent black humour. What else can he do when every outing risks bits of his brain dripping out of his nose without warning? Wondering constantly what the pear-shaped part of his brain that's been removed is thinking, and whether it's having a better time than he is, Adam takes us through the myriad but necessary indignities inflicted on the brain cancer sufferer. A test, for example, on whether he can he determine whether pictures of faces are smiling? Something his wife is more than happy to help him revise for... The 'revision' involves me sitting in a pub or restaurant with Lu who makes a variety of different facial expressions at me covering the full range of human emotions. It is just like being back at kindergarten... Lu hides behind the menu whilst deciding upon and practising the next expression. She then sticks her head over the top of the menu and I give it my best shot. It would be more dignified for me if she didn't shout "Peekaboo!" each time. Or regular appointments with a psychiatrist to determine whether he's a suicide risk? "I appreciate your lateral thinking to my problem. However, isn't suicide completely contrary to the point? I am scared of death and dying, I'm also undergoing horrendous treatments to (hopefully) delay my death. So why would I kill myself? What would be the point? That's been taken care of for me." The psychologist scribbled some stuff down and ticked a box. The box must have been: "No suicide risk", or "Suicide risk but in denial" or most likely... "Smart Arse". Even the bald patch left after the surgery, which resembles A pale pair of boxer shorts shaved into my head. Adam keeps himself going by looking for joy in everything - the radiation mask that resembles an S&M prop, or counting the amount of times he's greeted by a cotton bud being swabbed up his nose and then along the crease of a groin by a nurse to check for MRSA... While his wife encourages him to spend time with fellow cancer sufferers, with their spouses; diarrhea, constipation and catheters making for interesting dinner party conversation... "Let me introduce you to my good friend, Mike. Funny story how we met. Anyway, we get on so well because we are both dying of exactly the same disease. Ain't that right, Micky?" ... his old friends take him out on lads' weekends, their desire to show their mate a good time inhibited by middle-age, children and having, essentially, to babysit a grown man. Pear Shaped is a heartfelt, funny exploration of one man's real-life experiences as he undergoes treatment and simultaneously tries to seize the life he has left, all with the knowledge that a pear-shaped part of his brain is out there somewhere, fending for survival the same way he is.

Download or read book Hitching for Hope written by Ruairí McKiernan and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2020-03-26 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 Irish Times Bestseller! A modern travel tale—part personal pilgrimage, part political quest—that captures the power of human resilience "McKiernan sticks his thumb out, and somehow a healthy dose of humanity manages to roll up alongside him. . . . This book is a paean to nuance, decency and possibility."—Colum McCann, National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author of Let the Great World Spin and Apeirogon. Following the collapse of Ireland’s Celtic Tiger economy, social activist Ruairí McKiernan questions whether he should join the mounting number of emigrants searching for greater opportunity elsewhere. McKiernan embarks on a hitchhiking odyssey with no money, no itinerary and no idea where he might end up each night. His mission: to give voice to those emerging from one of the most painful periods of economic and social turmoil in Ireland’s history. Engaging, provocative and sincere, Hitching for Hope is a testimony to the spirit of Ireland. It is an inspirational manifesto for hope and healing in troubled times.

Download or read book Life Is Tough (But So Are You) written by Briony Benjamin and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2021-08-03 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sharing wise guidance on how to navigate difficult times, this is a funny, warm and practical guide to help you gain perspective on what's truly important in life - from a young woman who never expected to survive The Big C. Perfect for fans of life-changing personal development manuals like The Resilience Project, The Happiness Project and When Life Is Not Peachy. 'This is the book everyone needs to read when life takes an unexpected turn.' - Mia Freedman, MamaMia Not all storms come to disrupt your life. Some come to clear your path. Viral video producer Briony Benjamin was a few months into a new job when she started feeling crappy… All. The. Time. Doctors told her she was just stressed and should rest more and learn to meditate. But it turns out she had cancer all through her body. Turning the camera on herself, Briony started documenting her journey in the short video 'You Only Get One Life'. Its raw portrayal of her experience went viral, touching millions. Here Briony shares some of the important lessons learnt through her illness and recovery - everything from how to assemble your A Team in times of crisis and learning to make friends with the pain, to happy hacks for cutting yourself some slack and some great tips on being a kick-arse support human when a friend is going through the rough stuff. If you want to live the richest version of your life, bring some more joy into your day-to-day existence and have some tools up your sleeve for when things get tricksy, this book is for you. Because - spoiler alert - we all have to deal with our fair share of tough times sooner or later. It's how we handle them and bounce back afterwards that really matters.

Download or read book My Life as a Girl written by Elizabeth Mosier and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2009-06-03 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's the long, hot summer between high school and college, and Jaime Cody is working a double shift. Days at a greasy spoon called Franklin's All-American Diner; night at the Phoenix, a restaurant at a glitzy resort. She's hoping to earn the college money her father stole from her -- and leave herself no time to think. A whole country lies between where Jaime is -- Arizona -- and where she wants to be -- Bryn Mawr, a college for women in Pennsylvania. The jobs mean the difference between making a life for herself and being duped by a man, the way her mother was. The plan is perfect -- until a boy named Buddy appears, reminding her of a character in the romantic stories her mother still loves to tell. No one has to know about Buddy. He's Jaime's secret. Just for the summer.

Download or read book Medieval Bodies written by Jack Hartnell and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2018-03-29 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A triumph' Guardian 'Glorious ... makes the past at once familiar, exotic and thrilling.' Dominic Sandbrook 'A brilliant book' Mail on Sunday Just like us, medieval men and women worried about growing old, got blisters and indigestion, fell in love and had children. And yet their lives were full of miraculous and richly metaphorical experiences radically different to our own, unfolding in a world where deadly wounds might be healed overnight by divine intervention, or the heart of a king, plucked from his corpse, could be held aloft as a powerful symbol of political rule. In this richly-illustrated and unusual history, Jack Hartnell uncovers the fascinating ways in which people thought about, explored and experienced their physical selves in the Middle Ages, from Constantinople to Cairo and Canterbury. Unfolding like a medieval pageant, and filled with saints, soldiers, caliphs, queens, monks and monstrous beasts, it throws light on the medieval body from head to toe - revealing the surprisingly sophisticated medical knowledge of the time in the process. Bringing together medicine, art, music, politics, philosophy and social history, there is no better guide to what life was really like for the men and women who lived and died in the Middle Ages. Medieval Bodies is published in association with Wellcome Collection.