But when I'm in a room on a one-to-one basis, I get lost. I can never find the right word. Except for that phrase - hold me.' Michael Harding's wife has departed for a six-week trip, and he has been left alone in their home in Leitrim.

Author: Michael Harding

Publisher: Hachette UK

ISBN: 9781444783124

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 320

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'A compelling memoir. Absorbing and graced with a deceptive lightness of touch, [Hanging with the Elephant] is clever and brilliantly pieced together. Harding writes like an angel' Sunday Times From the No.1 bestselling author of Staring at Lakes, Talking to Strangers and On Tuesdays I'm A Buddhist 'In public or on stage, it's different. I'm fine. I have no bother talking to three hundred people, and sharing my feelings. But when I'm in a room on a one-to-one basis, I get lost. I can never find the right word. Except for that phrase - hold me.' Michael Harding's wife has departed for a six-week trip, and he has been left alone in their home in Leitrim. Faced with the realities of caring for himself for the first time since his illness two years before, Harding endeavours to tame the 'elephant' - an Asian metaphor for the unruly mind. As he does, he finds himself finally coming to terms with the death of his mother - a loss that has changed him more than he knows. Funny, searingly honest and profound, Hanging with the Elephant pulls back the curtain and reveals what it is really like to be alive.

In his new book, Hanging with the Elephant, writer Michael Harding is back in Leitrim in the north-west of Ireland.

Author: Michael Harding

Publisher: Hachette Ireland

ISBN: 1444783130

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 0

View: 300

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In his new book, Hanging with the Elephant, writer Michael Harding is back in Leitrim in the north-west of Ireland. His wife has left for a six-week trip to Poland and he is alone for the first time since his illness two years earlier. Faced with this time on his own, Harding resolves to examine the threat of depression that is a constant presence in his life and his dependency on his wife, the beloved, since his illness. But, as he attempts to tame the 'elephant' - an Asian metaphor for the unruly mind - he finds himself drawn back to the death of his mother during the summer of 2012. Written with unflinching honesty, Hanging with the Elephant begins as one man's quest to overcome his demons, but becomes a journey into the depths of the soul, where we are given a glimpse of the one thing that holds us all.

“Did you cover the hanging of the elephant?” he asked. "Cover it?” The old reporter smiled. For several moments he continued to tap bits of tobacco out of the little cotton drawstring pouch and into a little square of rolling paper.

Author: Sharyn McCrumb

Publisher: Macmillan

ISBN: 142992120X

Category: Fiction

Page: 336

View: 253

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"Ms. McCrumb writes with quiet fire and maybe a little mountain magic. . . . She plucks the mysteries from people's lives and works these dark narrative threads into Appalachian legends older than the hills. Like every true storyteller, she has the Sight."—The New York Times Book Review In 1935, a beautiful young schoolteacher is accused of murdering her coal-miner father in a Virginia mountain community. National journalists descend on Wise County, intent upon exonerating the defendant, and on stereotyping the mountain community to satisfy their Depression-era readers. But local cub reporter Carl Jennings writes what he sees: an ordinary town and a defendant who is probably guilty. The novel resonates with the present: an economic depression; a deadly Japanese earthquake; the rise of political fanatics; and a media culture turning news stories into soap operas for the diversion of the masses. A literary tour de force, The Devil Amongst the Lawyers continues the Ballard saga by examining social issues that go well beyond the fate of one defendant. It is a testament to Sharyn McCrumb's lyrical and poetic writing about the mountain South.

Fifteen elephants fell on the field of battle , as their legs , being pierced with arrows , became as motionless as if ... a group of four armored elephants rambles to the city gate with a heavy iron - tipped battering ram hanging by ...

Author: John M. Kistler

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

ISBN: 0803260040

Category: History

Page: 356

View: 212

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Elephants have fought in human armies for more than three thousand years. This is the largely forgotten tale of the credit they deserve and the sacrifices they endured.

elephants routinely fetched in the vicinity of $8,000—a huge amount of money in those days. ... Public hangings of human criminals weren't entirely uncommon during this era, so the hanging of an elephant would have drawn much interest ...

Author: Shane S. Simmons

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

ISBN: 9781439657317

Category: Travel

Page: 128

View: 501

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Author Shane Simmons explores tales of bravery, lore and bizarre customs within the East Tennessee region. The mountains of East Tennessee are chock full of unique folklore passed down through generations. Locals spin age-old yarns of legends like Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone and Dragging Canoe. Stories of snake-handling churches and the myths behind the death crown superstitions dot the landscape. The mysteries surrounding the Sensabaugh Tunnel still haunt residents.

If the two essays are taken simply as essays, it matters little whether Orwell witnessed a hanging or shot an elephant," but in a literary biography this must be touched upon. His statement that he once watched a man hang (which must ...

Author: P. Davison

Publisher: Springer

ISBN: 9780230371408

Category: Literary Criticism

Page: 175

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This account of Orwell's life is chiefly concerned with what influenced Orwell, his relations with publishers and editors, and the analysis of certain key experiences - the deposition that during the Spanish Civil War he was guilty of espionage and high treason; his work at the BBC; his interest in pamphlet literature; and his time as a war correspondent. There is a detailed assessment of his earnings from 1922 to 1945 and a fresh look at his attitudes to class, women, and religious belief. Special attention is paid to his essays.

HANGING. WITH. THE. ELEPHANT. Left alone in his home in Leitrim, Michael Harding is faced with the realities of caring for himself for the first time since his illness two years before. Harding endeavours to tame the 'elephant' – an ...

Author: Michael Harding

Publisher: Hachette UK

ISBN: 9781473623583

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 336

View: 684

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'Harding writes like an angel' Sunday Times Talking to Strangers, from the No.1 bestselling author of Staring at Lakes, Hanging with the Elephant and On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist is a book about love, about the stories we share with others, and the stories we leave behind us. Too much wine and a casual browse of an airline website - this is how Michael Harding found himself in a strange flat in Bucharest in early January, which set the tone for the rest of that year. After an intense stint in a high-profile production of The Field, Harding returned to the tranquil hills above Lough Allen and started to plan some dramatic changes to his little cottage. Surely an extension would give him a renewed sense of purpose in life as he approached old age. But as the walls of his home crumbled, so too did his mental health, and he fell, once again, into depression -- that great darkness where life feels like nothing more than a waste of time. And yet, it is in that great darkness that we discover what really makes us human. 'Michael Harding is no ordinary man or memoirist ... a book that champions the kindness (or at least company) of strangers as essential for that elusive state known as happiness' RTÉ Guide

The elephant's a gentleman. —R UDYARD KIPLING, Oonts “INCOMING FROM THE SOUTHEAST!” I always felt like Captain Ahab when I said that, hanging from the ladder of the tower with one hand and looking through my binoculars, as if hanging ...

Author: Caitlin O'Connell

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

ISBN: 9780226616742

Category: Nature

Page: 264

View: 947

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From an internationally renowned field scientist comes this fascinating story of her unexpected discovery of a RsecretS new mode of elephant communication. This unforgettable journey takes readers into the wilds of Africa where naturalists do their difficult work in a troubled land.

The uzis would be hanging on to these straps when the elephants joyfully submerged themselves occasionally during their swim. It was time to ask the elephants to cross. Williams gave the order for silence among the riders.

Author: Vicki Croke

Publisher: Random House

ISBN: 9780679603993

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 368

View: 284

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK The remarkable story of James Howard “Billy” Williams, whose uncanny rapport with the world’s largest land animals transformed him from a carefree young man into the charismatic war hero known as Elephant Bill In 1920, Billy Williams came to colonial Burma as a “forest man” for a British teak company. Mesmerized by the intelligence and character of the great animals who hauled logs through the jungle, he became a gifted “elephant wallah.” In Elephant Company, Vicki Constantine Croke chronicles Williams’s growing love for elephants as the animals provide him lessons in courage, trust, and gratitude. Elephant Company is also a tale of war and daring. When Japanese forces invaded Burma in 1942, Williams joined the elite British Force 136 and operated behind enemy lines. His war elephants carried supplies, helped build bridges, and transported the sick and elderly over treacherous mountain terrain. As the occupying authorities put a price on his head, Williams and his elephants faced their most perilous test. Elephant Company, cornered by the enemy, attempted a desperate escape: a risky trek over the mountainous border to India, with a bedraggled group of refugees in tow. Part biography, part war epic, Elephant Company is an inspirational narrative that illuminates a little-known chapter in the annals of wartime heroism. Praise for Elephant Company “This book is about far more than just the war, or even elephants. This is the story of friendship, loyalty and breathtaking bravery that transcends species. . . . Elephant Company is nothing less than a sweeping tale, masterfully written.”—Sara Gruen, The New York Times Book Review “Splendid . . . Blending biography, history, and wildlife biology, [Vicki Constantine] Croke’s story is an often moving account of [Billy] Williams, who earned the sobriquet ‘Elephant Bill,’ and his unusual bond with the largest land mammals on earth.”—The Boston Globe “Some of the biggest heroes of World War II were even bigger than you thought. . . . You may never call the lion the king of the jungle again.”—New York Post “Vicki Constantine Croke delivers an exciting tale of this elephant whisperer–cum–war hero, while beautifully reminding us of the enduring bonds between animals and humans.”—Mitchell Zuckoff, author of Lost in Shangri-La and Frozen in Time

According to Cr, this thus lends the half verse the sense of “having raised a hand on which the ornament was hanging, like an elephant shaking his trunk (lambābharanam lambāyamānam abharanam yasmin tam karam utksipya dvipah karam iva ...

Author:

Publisher: Princeton University Press

ISBN: 9780691182926

Category: Religion

Page: 1544

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The seventh and final book of the monumental Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki, the Uttarakāṇḍa, brings the epic saga to a close with an account of the dramatic events of King Rāma’s millennia-long reign. It opens with a colorful history of the demonic race of the rākṣasas and the violent career of Rāma’s villainous foe Rāvaṇa, and later recounts Rāma’s grateful discharge of his allies in the great war at Lankā as well as his romantic reunion with his wife Sītā. But dark clouds gather as Rāma makes the agonizing decision to banish his beloved wife, now pregnant. As Rāma continues as king, marvelous tales and events unfurl, illustrating the benefits of righteous rule and the perils that await monarchs who fail to address the needs of their subjects. The Uttarakāṇḍa has long served as a point of social and religious controversy largely for its accounts of the banishment of Sītā, as well as of Rāma’s killing of a low-caste ascetic. This seventh volume in the critical edition and translation of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa includes an extensive introduction and describes the complex reception history of the Uttarakāṇḍa, as well as exhaustive notes and a comprehensive bibliography.