NEW The Just Friends Syndrome: Memoirs of a Shy Guy's S

“Sidney Offit has devised a marvelous mirror of his unique personality as well as a one of a kind tour of the New York literary world in the last half century. Anyone even faintly interested in books will find it impossible to put down.”---Thomas Fleming, bestselling author of Liberty! The American RevolutionSidney Offit’s charming memoir of a writer’s life ingeniously reflects some of the greatest (and most infamous) literary, political, and sports personalities of our century. His early days in Baltimore (where he met H. L. Mencken and entertained Robert Frost) are as engaging as his later encounters with Dylan Thomas, John Steinbeck, Pablo Neruda, Heinrich Böll, and some of the era’s greatest ballplayers: Robinson, Mantle, Mays, and Williams. Mixing with a remarkable and diverse crowd, led Sidney to run-ins and adventures with Truman Capote (“What kind of guy are you?”), Jackie Kennedy (in a corner), Kurt Vonnegut (who identified Sidney as his “best friend”), the incomparable Toni Morrison, and other bards, muses, and just plain folk. Their conversations are recalled with gentle humor and a keen eye for a New York where casual and spontaneous encounters may shape what the country reads or where a stroll around the corner can change a life. Praise for Sidney Offit's "Friends, Writers, and Other Countrymen": “It is possible that Sidney Offit knows more famous and interesting people than anyone else on earth, and what is more, has a funny and shrewdly observed story about each of them.... He is truly 20th Century New York City’s answer to Samuel Pepys.”---Michael Korda, author of Charmed Lives and Ike“Sidney Offit was the man. He was there.... For more than a half century Offit has interacted with one big cheese after another. And now he recounts to our utter glee, what he saw, did, and heard. Sid pushes the reader---already satiated---to the greedy expectation after each chapter of: who’s next?”--- Barry Beckham, author of My Main Mother“What a wonderful book—as they say in Dublin, “I couldn’t leave it down!” His novelist’s eye, boundless generosity of spirit, and robust delight in the strenuous pleasures of metropolitan life are evident on every page of this irresistible memoir by a perennially youthful gentleman of letters.”--Joel Connaroe, President Emeritus, J.S. Guggenheim Foundation“[Sidney Offit’s] latest contribution to American letters is wise, intimate and historically invaluable. I gulped it down with amazement. Offit made me laugh. And in just one sentence, he made me cry…I love every word. I even love the commas. But most of all, I love a big-hearted gentleman curious about people who writes like an angel.”--Patricia Volk, author of To My Dearest Friends“This astonishing memoir proves that if you know Sidney Offit, as I do, you are no more than one degree of separation from everybody you ever heard of, and I mean Pearl Buck, Sly Stallone, Borges, Pele....”---Roy Blount Jr. Long Time Leaving: Dispatches From Up South“This book stands in the first rank of American autobiographies, and gives us a matchless contribution to our recent social and cultural history.”---Charles Bracelen Flood, Former President, PEN, American Center.“More than a memoir about the writers life, this is a book about how at their best writers speak and dream for us all.”---Marita Golden author of After“Knowing Sid has been one of the great pleasures of my life—he is unique in today’s world: a true man-about-town, but one who views his friends and acquaintances with the greatest generosity and compassion.”---Mary Pope Osborne, author of The Magic Tree House series“Offit has been as important to American arts and letters as any of those to whom he characteristically defers. He is our wise and cheerful host. And the nation’s writers would be lost without him.”---Roger Rosenblatt, author of Lapham Rising and Beet“There’s a rumor that if you wake Sidney in the

Release Date: June 23, 2009

Can you imagine why a pornographer would be shy? Are you satisfied with the state of (a) World Society (b) your soul (c) American writing? Are you in the habit of reading books that could have been written by anybody? Do you really want the truth? Do you know how angels learn to fly? What would you feed a green deer? Do you think a profound social message can be conveyed by a book that is comic in character? When Kenneth Patchen's comic masterpiece, The Memoirs of a Shy Pornographer first appeared in 1945, these questions were asked on the dust jacket. They have never seemed more relevant. The hilarious saga of Alfred Budd of Bivalve, New Jersey-a Candide-like innocent and part-time pornographer, written with what Diane DiPrima called Patchen's "tender silliness, " should inspire a new generation of readers

Director: Lisa Gottlieb; Stars: Joyce Hyser; Release Date: February 24, 2004

Just as Neil Simon's plays do not fit easily into the space of one act, his memoirs too demand a continuation, a second act, which this book provides. In his critically acclaimed "Rewrites, " Simon wrote about his beginnings -- growing up with longing, the early years of working in television, his first real love, his first play, his first success, his first brush with failure, and, most moving of all, his first great loss. The same willingness to open his heart to the reader is here in "The Play Goes On" as he continues the story, beginning where the earlier book left off, with the days immediately following the death of his beloved wife, Joan. From that moment of almost unbearable sadness, Simon moved quickly to work on another play, clearly an effort to keep himself busy and his mind off his loss. The work was therapeutic indeed, although perhaps more significant was the young actress who had a role in his play. Her name was Marsha Mason, and almost immediately a bond developed between her and Simon. That bond became a relationship and the relationship became a marriage. In Neil Simon's life, this was clearly the beginning of Act Two. There was a change of scenery shortly after this new start. When Mason's career required that she be in Hollywood, Simon and his two daughters from his first marriage moved there as well, and although there are few playwrights more closely identified with New York City than Neil Simon, he soon found himself at home in California -- or at least as much as he would ever be in a place with neither winters nor subways. Over the next several years, there were the perhaps inevitable shifts of life -- the marriage to Marsha Mason foundered, followed by a period of questioning, followed by a chance department store encounter with a young actress who eventually became the next Mrs. Neil Simon. But that was real life, and while reality has a way of showing up just when one least wants to deal with it, Simon managed to keep it at bay for a great part of the time, immersing himself almost completely in his work -- the creation of his plays and films. As it is with most artists, of course, the escape from reality is mostly imaginary, for Simon's personal life has always been the source of much of his best work, and the period covered in "The Play Goes On" is rich with examples of art imitating life. In fact, Simon's most acclaimed plays -- one of which won him not only Broadway's Tony Award but the Pulitzer Prize as well -- were written during this time and were a look backward at his younger life. Just as he created the play "Chapter Two" out of his earlier experience of loss and remarriage, so out of his childhood and his years in the army and his early days as a writer he created the wonderful "Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound, " and "Lost in Yonkers" -- an extraordinary body of work. In the creative process, life and art become inseparable, the artist struggling to live a "real life, " yet constantly holding up a mirror for all the world to see. In "The Play Goes On, " in many ways a deeper and more personal book than his earlier memoir, Neil Simon has polished that mirror and deepened the reflection. The result is a stunningly revealing look at an artist in crisis but still able and willing to laugh at every misstep he takes, at once autobiography and -- what else? -- brilliant drama.

This course is on 4 CDS. Very often shy men know exactly what they "should" do with women. They "should" say hi. They "should" ask women out. But for some reason, they can't get themselves to do it. We now understand these reasons, and know how to overcome them--and so can you, with this new audio course. If you are a shy guy, all the "techniques, " "pickup lines, " or "motivational visualizations" in the world won't help you. The problem deeper than that, and has to be addressed, or you will stay shy. This course addresses those deeper reasons, and gives you concrete, tested ways to become less shy with women. Imagine going from feeling guilty, afraid, or ashamed with women to feeling good about showing romantic interest, and having it work for both you and the woman! That's what Overcoming the Nice Guy Syndrome is about. This course is for you if: • You often seem to end up a woman's "friend" when you would rather be lovers • You have an especially difficult time showing sexual interest in a woman • Deep down, you feel like showing romantic or sexual interest in a woman is "using" her in some way, unless you get into a relationship with her • Women feel safe with you, but then go with "bad boys, " whom you don't want to be like, no matter what the cost • You are especially shy with women and feel guilty when you try to talk with them

Release Date: May 26, 2009

Can you imagine why a pornographer would be shy? Are you satisfied with the state of (a) World Society (b) your soul (c) American writing? Are you in the habit of reading books that could have been written by anybody? Do you really want the truth? Do you know how angels learn to fly? What would you feed a green deer? Do you think a profound social message can be conveyed by a book that is comic in character? When Kenneth Patchen's comic masterpiece, The Memoirs of a Shy Pornographer first appeared in 1945, these questions were asked on the dust jacket. They have never seemed more relevant. The hilarious saga of Alfred Budd of Bivalve, New Jersey-a Candide-like innocent and part-time pornographer, written with what Diane DiPrima called Patchen's "tender silliness, " should inspire a new generation of readers

When Christina Haag was growing up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, John F. Kennedy, Jr., was just one of the boys in her circle of prep school friends, a skinny kid who lived with his mother and sister on Fifth Avenue and who happened to have a Secret Service detail following him at a discreet distance at all times. A decade later, after they had both graduated from Brown University and were living in New York City, Christina and John were cast in an off-Broadway play together. It was then that John confessed his long-standing crush on her, and they embarked on a five-year love affair. Glamorous and often in the public eye, but also passionate and deeply intimate, their relationship was transformative for both of them. With exquisite prose, Haag paints a portrait of a young man with an enormous capacity for love, and an adventurous spirit that drove him to live life to its fullest. A haunting book, Come to the Edge is a lasting evocation of a time and a place — of the indelible sting of the loss of young love, and of the people who shape you and remain with you, whether in person or in spirit. It is about being young and full of hope, with all the potential of your life as yet unfulfilled, and of coming of age at a moment in New York’s history when the city at once held danger, magic, and endless possibilities for self-discovery. Rarely has a love story been told so beautifully. Praise for Come to the edge “With unfailing grace, sensitivity, and tact, Christina Haag re-creates in poignant detail her prolonged romance with John F. Kennedy, Jr., who struggled to fathom the meaning of his life. The author never stoops to tabloid sensationalism or cheapens this rare glimpse into America’s royal family. However charming the hero or scenic the backdrop, the memoir is tinged with the tragic darkness that inevitably shadowed the Kennedy clan, with death and danger forever lurking just beyond camera range. Jackie Kennedy Onassis floats through the narrative as an enchanting presence who is appealing in her wisdom and bounty. This is a beautiful and, in the end, unutterably sad book about fleeting innocence, blighted hope, and the elusive nature of youthful love.” —Ron Chernow, author of Washington: A Life “Sensual and full of longing, Come to the Edge is a haunting, timeless love letter, a universal tale of romance. Christina Haag has crafted a delicate memoir of love for a man we think we know and lay claim to, but, in truth, she is writing about all of us: our youth, our hopes, our own first kisses and dreams of romance. From the first word, my soul leaped at recognition. Gorgeous!” —Erin Cressida Wilson, award-winning screenwriter of Secretary and Fur “We know how the story ends, of course. Girl loses boy. Boy loses everything. But in this finely drawn, indelible portrait of a friendship and love affair, Christina Haag illuminates the private world of one of our nation’s most legendary families. Come to the Edge should be read not only for its fascinating insider’s view, but because it’s a brave, human, beautiful, wrenching memoir.” —Dani Shapiro, author of Devotion

Release Date: January 06, 2009