This Is The Country

Listen up chumps, basically the Vicar asked us to edit the parish newsletter this month, we weren't gonna do it at first cos the vicar said 'I want you to channel your energy into doing something creative', which he knows brings back Kurtan's PTSD cos our old woodwork teacher Mr Perkins used to say it to him all the time, and when Kurtan actually DID channel his energy into something creative he managed to sand down some MDF to make a back scratcher and Darren Lacey pointed at it and laughed and called it an 'abomination to woodwork', which made Kurtan throw a chair across the room in rage and one of the chair legs hit Rob Robinson and left a dent in his forehead. So we decided to write this newsletter cos people need to the know the REAL s*** that goes down in our village, it ain't just fetes and duck races you know - it's proper f***** up. All the best, Kerry and Kurtan p.s. Kurtan wants to make it clear that although this newsletter is in book format it does not make him any of the following: Book worm Book bummer Boffin Nerd alert The lion, the witch and the book worm p.p.s If you don't buy this newsletter that's fine, but we are getting a percent of the profits to donate to the Kerry Mucklowe eating fund, so if you don't buy it I'll basically starve. Which is fine if your conscience can deal with that utter headf***. p.p.p.s If you were offended by any of the contents in this newsletter please post your complaints to PO BOX GET STUFFED.

In an Ireland far removed from the familiar images of travel brochures, a bright teenager is heading for trouble: son of a single mother who has given up, rarely at school, taking drugs, and hovering on the fringes of the city's criminal underworld. When he falls for Pat The Baker's sister his life changes irrevocably, not least because when she gets pregnant, Pat breaks his legs. But as he tries to make a new start and adjust to being a lover and father, he realises he cannot evade vengeance forever. THIS IS THE COUNTRY is a hard-hitting, tense and deeply moving novel that sets power and corruption against the fragile defences of love, friendship and family. As gritty as it is tender, as funny as it is dark, it tells a riveting tale of survival against the odds.

A celebration of five decades of country music magic with all the stars and legendary entertainers who brought the beloved Academy of Country Music Awards to life, pubbing in anticipation of the 50th anniversary show. From the first informal awards ceremony at the Hollywood Palladium in 1966 to today’s star-studded show on CBS, generations of country’s biggest superstars have graced the Academy of Country Music Awards stage. Now, for the first time ever, the ACM is opening its archive to reveal candid, never-before-seen photographs and memorabilia capturing some of the greatest moments in the history of country music. Rich with backstage and performance photographs, compelling behind-the-scenes stories, and firsthand accounts from country legends and contemporary artists, This Is Country: A Backstage Pass to the Academy of Country Music Awards offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the history, trends, and evolutions of the genre. With contributions by Reba McEntire, Loretta Lynn, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Alabama’s Randy Owen, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Marty Stuart, and many more, this book is a trove of history and celebrity, and a must-have for fans of country music.

Parents who play Grammy winner Lil Nas X's 12-times platinum single Old Town Road on repeat will want to take their kids and ride on over to this New York Times bestselling ABC picture book from the music mega-star! A is for adventure. Every day is a brand-new start! B is for boots—whether they're big or small, short or tall. And C is for country. Join superstar Lil Nas X—who boasts the longest-running #1 song in history—and Panini the pony on a joyous journey through the alphabet from sunup to sundown. Experience wide-open pastures, farm animals, guitar music, cowboy hats, and all things country in this debut picture book that's perfect for music lovers learning their ABCs and for anyone who loves Nas's signature genre-blending style. Featuring bold, bright art from Theodore Taylor III, with plenty of hidden surprises for Nas's biggest fans, C Is for Country is a celebration of song and the power inside us all.

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD “Nothing short of magic.” —Elizabeth Acevedo, New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X From the acclaimed poet featured on Forbes Africa’s “30 Under 30” list, this powerful novel-in-verse captures one girl, caught between cultures, on an unexpected journey to face the ephemeral girl she might have been. Woven through with moments of lyrical beauty, this is a tender meditation on family, belonging, and home. my mother meant to name me for her favorite flower its sweetness garlands made for pretty girls i imagine her yasmeen bright & alive & i ache to have been born her instead Nima wishes she were someone else. She doesn’t feel understood by her mother, who grew up in a different land. She doesn’t feel accepted in her suburban town; yet somehow, she isn't different enough to belong elsewhere. Her best friend, Haitham, is the only person with whom she can truly be herself. Until she can't, and suddenly her only refuge is gone. As the ground is pulled out from under her, Nima must grapple with the phantom of a life not chosen—the name her parents meant to give her at birth—Yasmeen. But that other name, that other girl, might be more real than Nima knows. And the life Nima wishes were someone else's. . . is one she will need to fight for with a fierceness she never knew she possessed.

"These stories, set in Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Spain and Barbados, all have ties to India. This Is Not Your Country captures the plight of the "new immigrant": savvy, cosmopolitan, connected by cell phone and video chat, but lonelier than ever, and yearning for connection. Such characters as an emergency-room doctor, a genius computer programmer, a lonely livery car driver, and a teenage runaway desperately seek solace in the bodies and lives of others. The book won the G. S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction, selected by Stephanie Powell Watts"--

In the early 1960s, novelist and journalist John A. Williams was commissioned by Holiday magazine to test the winds of racial change across the USA. Williams set out on a cross-country tour in a shiny new car (a station wagon) and with, as the cover states, "a fistful of credit cards". This book is a searingly honest account of both the good and the bad he encountered.

Winner of the 2007 B.C. Award for Canadian Non-fiction A Globe and Mail Best 100 Book (2006) National Post Best Books (2006) A bold cultural portrait of contemporary Canada through the work of its most celebrated novelists, short story writers, and storytellers. Stories are the surest way to know a place, and at a time when the fabric of the country seems daily more uncertain, Noah Richler looks to our authors for evidence of the true nature of Canada. He argues why fiction matters and seeks to discover — in the extra-ordinary diversity of communities these writers represent — what stories, if any, bind us as a nation. Over two years, Richler has criss-crossed the country and interviewed close to one hundred authors — a who’s who of Canadian literature, including Wayne Johnston, Michael Crummey, Alistair MacLeod, Gil Courtemanche, Jane Urquhart, Joseph Boyden, Miriam Toews, Yann Martel, Fred Stenson, Douglas Coupland, and Rohinton Mistry — about the places and ideas that are most meaningful to their work. The result is a journey through the reality of Canada and its imagination at a critical point in the country’s evolution. Within thematic chapters he exposes our “Myths of Disappointment” and considers the stories of our native peoples, the rise of the city, and how our history as a colony shapes our society and politics even today. This Is My Country, What's Yours? is an impassioned literary travelogue and a vivid portrayal of our society, the work of Canadian authors, and the idea of writing itself. This Is My Country, What's Yours? is based on Noah Richler’s ten-part documentary of the same name originally broadcast on CBC Radio’s flagship Ideas program in spring 2005.