Somewhere Down A Crazy River

Robyn Catchlove wasn't destined for married life and two and half kids in the suburbs of Adelaide. So, in her early twenties, she walks away from a passionless marriage to seek out adventure and lead the life she always dreamed of. As a spunky 25-year-old, she meets her match, Les Coles, in balmy Cairns, and together they set about building the boat of their dreams. By the time the Jean King launches, Robyn and Les are fiercely in love and ready to take on the challenges of the professional fishing game. This is the start of a gripping eight-year sea journey set in the hallucinogenic tropics of Far North Queensland. It also takes Robyn deep into the heart of the exclusively male world of professional fishing. It is physical, tough, and often perilous, but Robyn won't give up until she has not just silenced, but completely won over, even her toughest critics. Along the way, Robyn develops a remarkable bond with the environment, experiences a deep relationship with indigenous Australians, and collects a swag of colourful and gutsy fishing mates. But when her one true ally unexpectedly turns on her, Robyn is going to need more resilience and courage than she ever needed - even in the toughest storm at sea. Robyn's is a quintessentially Australian story about passions: where they can take you, how to walk away from them if they threaten to destroy you, and what is left if you have the courage to do so. Somewhere Down a Crazy River is also the only factual book ever written about the wild rivers area of Far North Queensland - hers is a wonderfully vivid and exciting adventure, recounting a true story of the land, as well as the amazing people who inhabit it.

On the fortieth anniversary of The Band’s legendary The Last Waltz concert, Robbie Robertson finally tells his own spellbinding story of the band that changed music history, his extraordinary personal journey, and his creative friendships with some of the greatest artists of the last half-century. Robbie Robertson’s singular contributions to popular music have made him one of the most beloved songwriters and guitarists of his time. With songs like “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” and “Up on Cripple Creek,” he and his partners in The Band fashioned music that has endured for decades, influencing countless musicians. In this captivating memoir, written over five years of reflection, Robbie Robertson employs his unique storyteller’s voice to weave together the journey that led him to some of the most pivotal events in music history. He recounts the adventures of his half-Jewish, half-Mohawk upbringing on the Six Nations Indian Reserve and on the gritty streets of Toronto; his odyssey at sixteen to the Mississippi Delta, the fountainhead of American music; the wild, early years on the road with rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks; his unexpected ties to the Cosa Nostra underworld; the gripping trial-by-fire “going electric” with Bob Dylan on his 1966 world tour, and their ensuing celebrated collaborations; the formation of The Band and the forging of their unique sound, culminating with history’s most famous farewell concert, brought to life for all time in Martin Scorsese’s great movie The Last Waltz. This is the story of a time and place—the moment when rock ʼnʼ roll became life, when legends like Buddy Holly and Bo Diddley crisscrossed the circuit of clubs and roadhouses from Texas to Toronto, when The Beatles, Hendrix, The Stones, and Warhol moved through the same streets and hotel rooms. It’s the story of exciting change as the world tumbled through the ʼ60s and early ʼ70s, and a generation came of age, built on music, love, and freedom. Above all, it’s the moving story of the profound friendship among five young men who together created a new kind of popular music. Testimony is Robbie Robertson’s story, lyrical and true, as only he could tell it.

From the acclaimed author of Dispatches From Pluto and Deepest South of All comes a rollicking travelogue from East Africa. NO ONE TRAVELS QUITE LIKE RICHARD GRANT and, really, no one should. In his last book, the adventure classic God’s Middle Finger, he narrowly escaped death in Mexico’s lawless Sierra Madre. Now, Grant has plunged with his trademark recklessness, wit, and curiosity into East Africa. Setting out to make the first descent of an unexplored river in Tanzania, he gets waylaid in Zanzibar by thieves, whores, and a charismatic former golf pro before crossing the Indian Ocean in a rickety cargo boat. And then the real adventure begins. Known to local tribes as “the river of bad spirits,” the Malagarasi River is a daunting adversary even with a heavily armed Tanzanian crew as travel companions. Dodging bullets, hippos, and crocodiles, Grant finally emerges in war-torn Burundi, where he befriends some ethnic street gangsters and trails a notorious man-eating crocodile known as Gustave. He concludes his journey by interviewing the dictatorial president of Rwanda and visiting the true source of the Nile. Gripping, illuminating, sometimes harrowing, often hilarious, Crazy River is a brilliantly rendered account of a modern-day exploration of Africa, and the unraveling of Grant’s peeled, battered mind as he tries to take it all in.

Ellie Frias disappeared long before she vanished. Tormented throughout middle school, Ellie begins her freshman year with a new look: she doesn’t need to be popular; she just needs to blend in with the wallpaper. But when the unthinkable happens, Ellie finds herself trapped after a brutal assault. She wasn't the first victim, and now she watches it happen again and again. She tries to hold on to her happier memories in order to get past the cold days, waiting for someone to find her. The problem is, no one searches for a girl they never noticed in the first place. TE Carter’s stirring and visceral debut not only discusses and dismantles rape culture, but it also reminds us what it is to be human.

Robyn Catchlove wasn't destined for married life and two and half kids in the suburbs of Adelaide. So, in her early twenties, she walks away from a passionless marriage to seek out adventure and lead the life she always dreamed of. As a spunky 25-year-old, she meets her match, Les Coles, in balmy Cairns, and together they set about building the boat of their dreams. By the time the Jean King launches, Robyn and Les are fiercely in love and ready to take on the challenges of the professional fishing game.This is the start of a gripping eight-year sea journey set in the hallucinogenic tropics of Far North Queensland. It also takes Robyn deep into the heart of the exclusively male world of professional fishing. It is physical, tough, and often perilous, but Robyn won't give up until she has not just silenced, but completely won over, even her toughest critics.Along the way, Robyn develops a remarkable bond with the environment, experiences a deep relationship with indigenous Australians, and collects a swag of colourful and gutsy fishing mates.But when her one true ally unexpectedly turns on her, Robyn is going to need more resilience and courage than she ever needed – even in the toughest storm at sea.Robyn's is a quintessentially Australian story about passions: where they can take you, how to walk away from them if they threaten to destroy you, and what is left if you have the courage to do so.Somewhere Down a Crazy River is also the only factual book ever written about the wild rivers area of Far North Queensland – hers is a wonderfully vivid and exciting adventure, recounting a true story of the land, as well as the amazing people who inhabit it.

I’m Jeremy Wade, biologist and fishing detective. For twenty-five years, I’ve explored our planet’s remotest rivers and lakes, hunting for monster-sized fish. It’s become something of an obsession for me. . . . Called “the greatest angling explorer of his generation” (Independent on Sunday), Jeremy Wade, host of Animal Planet’s wildly popular TV series River Monsters, takes viewers where no wildlife program has gone before, revealing the creatures that lurk in the murky depths of our planet’s inland waterways. Now, Wade goes truly beneath the surface, disclosing full details of how he tracks down and catches each species while also recounting the off-camera highlights of his extraordinary life. From his arrest as a suspected spy in Southeast Asia to a plane crash in the Amazon, every page of River Monsters is packed with adventure. Each chapter unfolds an enthralling detective story, where fishermen’s tales of underwater man-eaters and aquatic killers are subjected to scientific scrutiny. Follow Wade step-by-step as, armed with just a fishing line, he closes in on his prey and separates fact from fiction. From the heart of the Congo, where he wrestles with supernatural goliath tigerfish, to the depths of the Amazon, where the most feared creature is one that could fit in your palm, the results are fish of staggering proportions and terrifying demeanor. Wade also reveals monsters from upcoming episodes, including deadly electric eels, a giant described as a cross between a shark and a chainsaw, and a snake-like beast that truly is the stuff of legend. In the tradition of the most gripping adventure writing, River Monsters shows that there’s more to this world than what’s visible on the surface. As Wade says, with a fishing line anything is possible—sometimes it can even reveal the future, or at least one possible version of it. In similar fashion, Wade’s writings are much more than exhilarating stories: they reveal a vision of the world more awe-inspiring than any individual myth made flesh. Ultimately, River Monsters explores the real mysteries that still exist, capturing the story of one man’s obsession—and his relentless pursuit of the truth.