Essays Life

As former tutor and adviser to Emperor Nero, philosopher and statesman Seneca was acutely aware of how short life can be - his own life was cut short when the emperor ordered him to commit suicide (for alleged involvement in a conspiracy). And Seneca proved true to his words - his lifelong avowal to Stoicism enabled him to conduct himself with dignity to the end. During his rich and busy life, Seneca wrote a series of essays that have advised and enriched the lives of generations down to the present day.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An essential volume for generations of writers young and old. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this modern classic will continue to spark creative minds for years to come. Anne Lamott is "a warm, generous, and hilarious guide through the writer’s world and...

A unique survivor memoir. Essays that range from heartwarming to brutal. Individual trigger warnings (TW) allow listeners to practice self-care. Washington State native Mary Knight, MSW, experienced various forms of child sex trafficking, sometimes in her own home. Her parents were her pimps. Knight's current life is filled with safety, love, joy, and children. Happily married, she is a child advocate, a foster parent, and a grandmother.

The first ever collection of John Edgar Wideman’s most influential essays and articles, five decades of cultural and literary criticism that paint a vivid portrait of America’s changing landscape and chronicle the emergence and evolution of a major presence in fiction. “A towering figure...

For most of her youth and early adulthood, Tara Couture had a deep fear of death. When her mother left the house, Tara would beg her to stay, certain that death was right around the corner. As the threat loomed in her mind, distraction in its many forms became her only relief. In her twenties, determined to manifest her long-time dream of owning a farm, Tara worked alongside a cattleman, Richard, whose perspectives on life and death would come to transform her own.

From the award-winning author of An Everlasting Meal comes a record of daily delights from inside the kitchen and just outside it; designed to help you find joy every day. “Delight in food, in eating, in cooking, in serving, in recognizing our luck when we feel full is available to all of us...

The final and most personal work from Pulitzer Prize - winning author and historian Will Durant - discovered 32 years after his death - is a message of insight for everyone who has sought meaning in life or the council of a wise friend in navigating life's journey. From 1968 to 1978, Will Durant made four public allusions to the existence of Fallen Leaves. One, in 1975, hinted at its contents: "a not very serious book that answers the questions of what I think about government, life, death, and God."

'These beautiful essays, inspired by a life of exploring other cultures through the riturals of cooking and eating - and thinking about cooking and eating - are manna for the hungry listener. Times Audiobooks of the Year 'One of her finest books yet.' Bee Wilson, the Sunday Times 'Diana Henry's...

A marvelous new essay collection from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Somebody's Fool and The Destiny Thief Life and Art—these are the twin subjects considered in Richard Russo’s twelve masterful new essays—how they inform each other and how the stories we tell ourselves about both...

In her own words, here is the captivating story of Julia Child’s years in France, where she fell in love with French food and found her “true calling.” From the moment the ship docked in Le Havre, en route to Paris, in the fall of 1948, Julia had an awakening that changed her life. Soon...

From Reggie “Fieldy” Arvizu, legendary bassist of nu-metal pioneers KORN, comes Got the Life: a no-holds-barred look at his extreme highs, drug- and-booze-fueled lows, and, finally, redemption through a conversion to Christianity. Got the Life is simultaneously an insider’s look at rock...

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and his ideology was disseminated through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures. Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of transcendentalism in his 1836 essay Nature.

When Jackie Schuld’s therapist suggested she might be autistic, she scoffed. She knew there was no way she could be autistic. She was in her mid-30s and ran her own therapy private practice. Everything she learned about autism in her Master’s program in mental health counseling didn’t apply to her. She could make excellent eye contact. She could engage in deep conversations. She could attend social gatherings. She could make it through abrupt changes and remain flexible. How could she be autistic? The more she learned about autism — how it internally impacts autistics and how it can...

We’re All A Mess. It’s OK. From the #1 bestselling author of The Amy Binegar-Kimmes-Lyle Book of Failures comes another laugh-out-loud collection of real-life chaos, cringe, and comedy. If you’ve ever tripped over your own shoelace in front of your boss, brought home the wrong dog, or accidentally said “I love you” (to someone who wasn’t the waiter), you’ve found your people. Think Jenny Lawson meets Chicken Soup for the Soul—if the soup were spiked with sarcasm, dating disasters, and stories about mistaken identities, ER visits, and fractured... body parts. This hilarious, ...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER This essay collection from the “bitches gotta eat” blogger, writer on Hulu’s Shrill and HBO's And Just Like That, and “one of our country’s most fierce and foulmouthed authors” (Amber Tamblyn, Vulture) is sure to make you alternately cackle with glee and...

From drawing a map of a remembered neighborhood to signing a form releasing yourself to take risks in your work, Roorbach offers innovative techniques that will trigger ideas for all writers. Writing Life Stories is a classic text that appears on countless creative nonfiction and composition syllabi the world over. This updated 10th anniversary edition gives you the same friendly instruction and stimulating exercises along with updated information on current memoir writing trends, ethics, internet research, and even marketing ideas.

With humor and self-deprecation, poignancy and bite, this audiobook presents observations on my life before the law, my forty-one years in the law, and my life after I left. If you are considering a career pivot, you will find that these essays are both funny and on point; and you will experience a sense of community—you are not alone.

One of the most beloved stories of the Tibetan people and a great literary example of the contemplative life The Life of Milarepa, a biography and a dramatic tale from a culture now in crisis, can be read on several levels. A personal and moving introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, it is also a...

Read by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony Award-winning creator and star of the musical Hamilton, and Tony Award-winning actress, Karen Olivo. This brilliant narration adds another layer of lyricism and depth to this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic novel. Things have never been easy for Oscar...

Martín Prechtel continues the narrative of his unique life in Santiago, Atitlan in Long Life, Honey in the Heart, an eloquent memoir replete with the subtle intelligence and sophistication of Mayan culture. Set against the dramatic backdrop of Guatemala's political upheaval in the 1980s, this...