At Least In The City Someone Would Hear Me Scream

We all dream about it, but Wade Rouse actually did it. Discover his journey to live the simple life in this hilarious memoir. Finally fed up with the frenzy of city life and a job he hates, Wade Rouse decided to make either the bravest decision of his life or the worst mistake since his botched Ogilvie home perm: to uproot his life and try, as Thoreau did some 160 years earlier, to "live a plain, simple life in radically reduced conditions." In this rollicking and hilarious memoir, Wade and his partner, Gary, leave culture, cable, and consumerism behind and strike out for rural Michigan—a place with fewer people than in their former spinning class. There, Wade discovers the simple life isn’t so simple. Battling blizzards, bloodthirsty critters, and nosy neighbors equipped with night-vision goggles, Wade and his spirit, sanity, relationship, and Kenneth Cole pointy-toed boots are sorely tested with humorous and humiliating frequency. And though he never does learn where his well water actually comes from or how to survive without Kashi cereal, he does discover some things in the woods outside his knotty-pine cottage in Saugatuck, Michigan, that he always dreamed of but never imagined he’d find–happiness and a home. At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream is a sidesplitting and heartwarming look at taking a risk, fulfilling a dream, and finding a home–with very thick and very dark curtains.

How come the only thing my family tree ever grows is nuts? Wade Rouse attempts to answer that question in his blisteringly funny new memoir by looking at the yearly celebrations that unite us all and bring out the very best and worst in our nearest and dearest. Family is truly the only gift that keeps on giving—namely, the gifts of dysfunction and eccentricity—and Wade Rouse’s family has been especially charitable: His chatty yet loving mother dresses her son as a Ubangi tribesman, in blackface, for Halloween in the rural Ozarks; his unconventional engineer of a father buries his children’s Easter eggs; his marvelously Martha Stewart–esque partner believes Barbie is his baby; his garage-sale obsessed set of in-laws are convinced they can earn more than Warren Buffett by selling their broken lamps and Nehru jackets; his mutt Marge speaks her own language; and his oddball collection of relatives includes a tipsy Santa Claus with an affinity for showing off his jingle balls. In the end, though, the Rouse House gifted Wade with love, laughter, understanding, superb comic timing, and a humbling appreciation for humiliation. Whether Wade dates a mime on his birthday to overcome his phobia of clowns or outruns a chubchasing boss on Secretary’s Day, he captures our holidays with his trademark self-deprecating humor and acerbic wit. He paints a funny, sad, poignant, and outlandish portrait of an an all-too-typical family that will have you appreciating—or bemoaning—your own and shrieking in laughter. Praise for It’s All Relative “[Filled with] sparkling humor . . . Listen to Wade Rouse—which you most assuredly should, especially if you value laughter and wisdom.”—Chicago Tribune “[Wade Rouse’s] stories are not only laugh-inducing, but also truly revealing of what it means to be a family through all stages of life, and show that no matter how kooky his family might be, love is what brings them together and defines them.”—St. Louis Magazine “Filled with uproarious one-liners and enough soul to truly satisfy, readers are going to clamor for a seat at Rouse’s holiday table! I can’t tell you how much I loved this book.”—Jen Lancaster, New York Times bestselling author of My Fair Lazy

A journalist remembers his childhood struggles to gain acceptance from the jeans-wearing set, his envy of his admired older brother, his parent's atypical personalities, and the Fourth of July accident that ended his brother's life.

An anthology of bark-out-loud original essays about dogs from some of today's most popular writers. Critically acclaimed memoirist Wade Rouse has gathered some of America's best known humorists- authors, comedians, and actors-to offer biting commentary on what it means to share a life, and a heart, with a dog. From battling for bed space to trying to transform a pampered NYC pup into a Texas rawhide, and from helping a shelter rescue navigate through her new life to interpreting dog run dynamics (and politics), being a canine companion has challenges as tough as any agility course, but laughter is just a tail-wag away. This collection features uncanny insight and witty prose from... Jen Lancaster Rita Mae Brown Laurie Notaro Jane Green Beth Harbison W. Bruce Cameron and many others, including a Foreword by Chelsea Handler's dog, Chunk

At an elite prep school, the devil wears Lilly Pulitzer pink. When Wade Rouse, who grew up more Hee-Haw than Dynasty, was hired as the director of publicity at the prestigious Tate Academy, he quickly discovered his real job: to make the very pretty, very rich, very mean mommies of the elite students very happy. Enter Wade’s VIP volunteer and perfectly coiffed nightmare, former beauty queen and sports star Katherine Isabelle Ludington—Kitsy to her friends. In between designing Louis Vuitton–inspired reunion invitations, dressing as Ronald Reagan for Halloween, and surviving surprise Botox parties, Wade tries to tame Kitsy and her pink Lilly Pulitzer–clad posse while retaining a shred of self-esteem. Following a year in the life of the super rich and super spoiled, Confessions of a Prep School Mommy Handler is hilarious, heartbreaking, and deliciously catty.

An essential tool for assisting leisure readers interested in topics surrounding food, this unique book contains annotations and read-alikes for hundreds of nonfiction titles about the joys of comestibles and cooking. Food Lit: A Reader's Guide to Epicurean Nonfiction provides a much-needed resource for librarians assisting adult readers interested in the topic of food—a group that is continuing to grow rapidly. Containing annotations of hundreds of nonfiction titles about food that are arranged into genre and subject interest categories for easy reference, the book addresses a diversity of reading experiences by covering everything from foodie memoirs and histories of food to extreme cuisine and food exposés. Author Melissa Stoeger has organized and described hundreds of nonfiction titles centered on the themes of food and eating, including life stories, history, science, and investigative nonfiction. The work emphasizes titles published in the past decade without overlooking significant benchmark and classic titles. It also provides lists of suggested read-alikes for those titles, and includes several helpful appendices of fiction titles featuring food, food magazines, and food blogs.

This is an inspirational account of a typical dad's extraordinary journey through several forgotten life lessons -- and the discovery of one life-changing gift. Jim Higley was a forty-year-old bobblehead. Just like those collectible figurines -- with an oversized head on a bouncy spring -- he had put on a smiling face and bobble through his hectic, overflowing days. Higley's bobbling comes to a screeching halt with the diagnosis of cancer and a summer of healing. But this is not only a cancer story. This book gives the reader a front row seat in the author's discovery of illuminating parallels between the events of his childhood and adulthood, as he delves into his family history with rich, vivid detail. Through humorous and poignant memories, "Bobblehead Dad" unwraps lessons from the past -- revealing meaning in simple moments and the people who fill them -- including the surprise discovery of Higley's most important lesson, quietly waiting for over thirty years. Written in an informal but eloquent voice, the book keeps readers laughing, crying and -- most importantly -- thinking about their own life journey. Higley's distinctive storytelling rhythm, combined with a knack for handling heavy topics with an embraceable voice, quickly draws readers into his experiences -- while launching them on their own journey of self-discovery and reflection.

If you want to put your life story down in words, where do you start? Exactly what story are you hoping to tell? How are you going to fill hundreds of pages? How do you plan it out? Memoirist, blogger, and writing teacher Kim Brittingham shares her insight into getting started with your writing and crafting your memoir. Starting with the basic questions every writer should ask themselves, such as why do you want to write a memoir; what story do you want to tell; what form should your story take; who is the audience; and most importantly, why does anyone care? Kim shares her experience and her wisdom, reviewing key aspects of the writing process, including characterization, plotting, theme, focus, point of view, editing, and revising. And she adds extra information on the business of getting published and ways to get your story read.