Where I Live Now

The author writes of her experiences dealing with the death of her husband and adjusting to life in the city after leaving the ranchlands of southwest Saskatchewan.

“Every war has turning points and every person too.” Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy. As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way. A riveting and astonishing story.

"In Where We Live Now, John Iceland documents the levels and changes in residential segregation of African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans from Census 2000. Although the concentration of new immigrants in neighborhoods with more co-ethnics temporarily increases segregation, there is a clear trend toward lowered residential segregation of native born Hispanics and Asians, especially for those with higher socioeconomic status. There has been a modest decrease in black-white segregation, especially in multi-ethnic cities, but African Americans, including black immigrants, continue to experience much higher levels of housing discrimination than any other group. These important findings are clearly explained in a well written story of the continuing American struggle to live the promise of E Pluribus Unum."—Charles Hirschman, University of Washington "Where We Live Now puts on dazzling display all the virtues of rigorous social science to go beyond mere headlines about contemporary American neighborhoods. Iceland's book reveals much more complex developments than can be summarized in a simple storyline and dissects them with admirable precision to identify their dynamics and implications. The reader comes away with a more sophisticated understanding of the ways in which residential patterns are moving in the direction of the American ideal of integration and the ways in which they come grossly short of it."—Richard Alba, co-author of Remaking the American Mainstream "A unique work that takes on immigration, race and ethnicity in a novel way. It presents cutting-edge research and scholarship in a manner that policy makers and other nonspecialist social scientists can easily see how the trends he examines are reshaping American life."—Andrew A. Beveridge, Queens College and the Graduate Center of City University of New York “This is the new major book about racial residential segregation; one that will influence research in this field for several decades. Using new measures, John Iceland convincingly shows that the Asian and Hispanic immigrants who are arriving in large numbers gradually adopt the residential patterns of whites. The presence of many immigrants, he demonstrates, is also linked to declining black-white segregation. His analysis shows that the era of 'white flight' has ended since many racially mixed neighborhoods now are stable over time. This careful analysis cogently explains how race, economic status, nativity and length of residence in the United States contribute to declining residential segregation. Future investigators who conduct research about racial and ethnic residential patterns will begin by citing Iceland's Where We Live Now.”—Reynolds Farley, Research Scientist, University of Michigan Population Studies Center "Where We Live Now is both a very timely and highly significant study of changes in living patterns among racial/ethnic groups in the United States, showing how such groups are being affected by immigration, and what this means for racial/ethnic relations today and tomorrow. This book is a must-read for all persons interested in the country's new diversity."—Frank D. Bean, Director, Center for Research on Immigration "In Where We Live Now, John Iceland paints a clear yet nuanced picture of the complex racial and ethnic residential landscape that characterizes contemporary metropolitan America. No other book of which I am aware places residential segregation so squarely or effectively in the context of immigration-fueled diversity. Thanks to its rare blend of theoretical insight, empirical rigor, and readability, Where We Live Now should appeal to audiences ranging from research and policy experts to undergraduate students."—Barrett Lee, Professor of Sociology and Demography, Pennsylvania State University

The New York Times–bestselling author of So Long contemplates the human condition in this short story collection for fans of Grace Paley & Alice Munro. The elusive nature of happiness is a compelling theme in Where I Live Now. The survivors in these stories—many of them society's marginal or excluded people, fighting alcohol or drug addiction, bearing emotional scars—recognize it all too well. They mourn the lost dreams of youth, the roads not taken. They suffer the damage life inflicts: the ache of loneliness, the pain of separation, the fear of death. Set mainly in Los Angeles, Lucia Berlin’s gritty working-class stories bridge the gap between the Americas—rich and poor, North and South, Anglo and Hispanic. While her style has been compared to Raymond Carver’s, and her dream- and drink-addicted characters to Richard Yates’s, her fictional territory and fatalistic humor are hers alone. Praise for Where I Live Now “Berlin’s literary model is Chekhov, but there are extra-literary models too, including the extended jazz solo, with its surges, convolutions, and asides. This is writing of a very high order.” —August Kleinzahler, London Review of Books “This remarkable collection occasionally put me in mind of Annie Proulx’s Accordion Crimes, with its sweep of American origins and places. Berlin is our Scheherazade, continually surprising her readers with a startling variety of voices, vividly drawn characters, and settings alive with sight and sound.” —Barbara Barnard, American Book Review “Berlin is marvelously successful, placing her memorable characters in gripping situations, plumbing their messed-up lives for pathos and allowing us to see deeply into their souls.” —Publishers Weekly

A close-up examination and exploration, How We Live Now challenges our old concepts of what it means to be a family and have a home, opening the door to the many diverse and thriving experiments of living in twenty-first century America. Across America and around the world, in cities and suburbs and small towns, people from all walks of life are redefining our “lifespaces”—the way we live and who we live with. The traditional nuclear family in their single-family home on a suburban lot has lost its place of prominence in contemporary life. Today, Americans have more choices than ever before in creating new ways to live and meet their personal needs and desires. Social scientist, researcher, and writer Bella DePaulo has traveled across America to interview people experimenting with the paradigm of how we live. In How We Live Now, she explores everything from multi-generational homes to cohousing communities where one’s “family” is made up of friends and neighbors to couples “living apart together” to single-living, and ultimately uncovers a pioneering landscape for living that throws the old blueprint out the window. Through personal interviews and stories, media accounts, and in-depth research, How We Live Now explores thriving lifespaces, and offers the reader choices that are freer, more diverse, and more attuned to our modern needs for the twenty-first century and beyond.

Mila has an exceptional talent for reading a room--sensing hidden facts and unspoken emotions from clues that others overlook... So when her father's best friend, Matthew, goes missing from his upstate New York home, Mila and her beloved father travel from London to find him. She collects information about Matthew from his belongings, from his wife and baby, from the dog he left behind and from the ghosts of his past--slowly piecing together the story everyone else has missed. But just when she's closest to solving the mystery, a shocking betrayal calls into question her trust in the one person she thought she could read best.

Justin Case is convinced fate has in for him. And he's right. After finding his younger brother teetering on the edge of his balcony, fifteen-year-old David Case realizes the fragility of life and senses impending doom. Without looking back, he changes his name to Justin and assumes a new identity, new clothing and new friends, and dares to fall in love with the seductive Agnes Day. With his imaginary dog Boy in tow, Justin struggles to fit into his new role and above all, to survive in a world where tragedy is around every corner. He's got to be prepared, just in case.