As My Father Said

This book is intended to introduce you to twelve major principles that my father lived by, although I do not think that he numbered them or even gave a thought to categorizing them. However, he did live by them and expected his family to do likewise. He never preached them to us because he had the ability to insert their meaning into everyday situations. Putting the following chapters together required assembling numerous notes. I had slips of paper with scribbling on them recalling my father's words, complete pieces of paper-some even typed-with sayings on them, and the sense to take notes, whenever I was with family, to remember the times and circumstances when these principles were applied. During these gatherings of friends and family, one story relevant to my father's philosophies always led to another, most times with a small unexpected revelation for someone in the group. I considered each and every saying I collected as to what my father might have been feeling when he spoke those words to us, and I organized his comments into topical categories. A majority of these sayings could have gone into different categories than the one I chose; however, it was with a sense of Pop's disposition (and mine) as I remember it at the time that I arranged his statements. As you turn these pages, welcome to the world of being surrounded by the principles of one who loved life and whose philosophies about that life were both realistic as well as practical.

“This book is ridiculously hilarious, and makes my father look like a normal member of society.” —Chelsea Handler “Read this unless you’re allergic to laughing.” —Kristen Bell “If you’re wondering if there is a real man behind the quotes on Twitter, the answer is a definite and laugh-out-loud yes.” —Christian Lander, New York Times bestselling author of Stuff White People Like Tuesdays with Morrie meets F My Life in this hilarious book about a son’s relationship with his foul-mouthed father by the 29-year-old comedy writer who created the massively popular Twitter feed of the same name.

Dunbar H. Ogden's profile and case study in the courage of his father (also named Dunbar H. Ogden), a white Presbyterian minister who stood up to racism in his town and in his congregation during the Little Rock, Arkansas, school integration episode in 1957, and the deep mental depression this clergyman fell into later in his life.

Amy Carmichael voices the inner thoughts we all have that bring discouragement, doubt and fear, and gives a godly response that dispels these false ideas. Read a short portion in a free moment or pore over its pages prayerfully for hours as it provides bite-sized, biblical answers to your unspoken questions.

Janices memoir leads her readers on a sometimes sad, often jubilant jaunt through her young years in a long-gone rural Iowa. Poverty, the death of her young father, and stints in an orphanage, a foster home and a convent all propel her to an adulthood where she finds peace -- with herself and with God. Janices stories -- of smoking nuns, illicit fudge, wash day, sibling rivalry, learning to drive, secret viewing of White Christmas, working at Rays Drive Inn, and searching for diamonds in the privy -- engage the adventuresome and the quirky sides of all of us. And they reveal why her mother so often declared her father would be turning over in his grave if he knew what they were doing! Readers will find hope, faith and trust in a Power greater than we are as they travel this journey with her.

An incredible collection of celebrity stories and photographs from 1934 to the present, from the archives of "The Lyons Den" by eminent New York Post columnist Leonard Lyons, compiled by his son, movie critic Jeffrey Lyons. This amazing collection of choice anecdotes takes us right back to the Golden Age of New York City nightlife, when top restaurants like Toots Shor’s, “21,” and Sardi’s, as well as glittering nightclubs like the Stork Club, Latin Quarter, and El Morocco, were the nightly gathering spots for great figures of that era: movie and Broadway stars, baseball players, champion boxers, comedians, diplomats, British royalty, prize-winning authors, and famous painters. From Charlie Chaplin to Winston Churchill, from Ethel Barrymore to Sophia Loren, from George Burns to Ernest Hemingway, from Joe DiMaggio to the Duke of Windsor: Leonard Lyons knew them all. For forty glorious years, from 1934 to 1974, he made the daily rounds of Gotham nightspots, collecting the exclusive scoops and revelations that were at the core of his famous newspaper column, “The Lyons Den.” In this entertaining volume Jeffrey Lyons has assembled a considerable compilation of anecdotes from his father’s best columns, and has also contributed a selection of his own interviews with stars of today, including Penélope Cruz and George Clooney, among others. Organized chronologically by decade and subdivided by celebrity, Stories My Father Told Me offers fascinating, amusing stories that are illustrated by approximately seventy photographs. He so captured the tenor of those exciting times that the great Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg said: “Imagine how much richer American history would have been had there been a Leonard Lyons in Lincoln’s time.”

Hal Sirowitz, the Poet Laureate of Queens, offers a funny and tender portrait of his father in this follow up to his acclaimed Mother Said and My Therapist Said. Sirowitz's mother may have dominated the household with her overly protective advice, but his father had a few bon mots to impart to his son as well. In Father Said, he teaches Hal important lessons such as "What to Do When You Burp" and "How to Avoid Being Idle." Mr. Sirowitz's cautionary tales are as idiosyncratic as his wife's: "When your mother tells me don't I think / it's time we got a better washing machine, / Father said, I tell her, Let it decide. / If it breaks down, we'll get a better one."