Kirjahaku

"Laura Pedersen delivers . . . Throughout, you can't help but think how hilarious some of the scenes would play on the big screen."--The Hartford Courant "There could be no doubt left in anyone's mind that my life had all the makings of a country-and-western song." The second of seven children (with another on the way), Hallie Palmer has one dream: to make it to Vegas. Normally blessed with an uncanny gift for winning at games of chance, she's just hit a losing streak. She' s been kicked out of the casino she frequents during school hours, lost all her money for a car on a bad bet at the track, and has been grounded by her parents. Hallie decides the time as come to cut her losses. Answering an ad in the local paper, she lands a job as yard person at the elegant home of the sixty-ish Mrs. Olivia Stockton, a wonderfully eccentric rebel who scribes acclaimed poetry along with the occasional soft-core porn story. Under the same wild roof is Olivia's son, Bernard, an antiques dealer and gourmet cook who turns out mouthwatering cuisine and scathing witticisms, and Gil, Bernard's lover, whose down-to-earth sensibilities provide a perfect foil to the Stocktons' outrageous joie de vivre. Here, in this anything-goes household, Hallie has found a new family. And she's about to receive the education of her life. From a wonderful new voice in fiction comes the freshest and funniest novel to barrel down the pike since Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Caf . In Beginner's Luck, Laura Pedersen introduces us to the endearing oddballs and eccentrics of Cosgrove County, Ohio, who burst to life and steal our hearts-and none more so than Hallie Palmer, sixteen, savvy, and wise beyond her years, a young woman who knows life is a gamble . . . and sometimes you have to bet the house.

A collection of thoughtful, humorous and highly original short stories by award-winning novelist Laura Pedersen, author of BEGINNER'S LUCK, LAST CALL, HEART'S DESIRE, and FULL HOUSE.

That elusive Holy Grail of modern physics, A Theory of Everything (ToE), would explain the universe in a single set of equations. Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking tackled the problem during their lifetimes and the quest continues today in laboratories around the world. Leaving string theory, galaxy clusters, and supersymmetry to the Quantum Computer and Hadron Collider crowd, Pedersen has taken up the rest - that is, A Theory of Everything Else (ToEE), based on her own groundbreaking experiences as a dog walker, camp counselor, and Bingo caller. Pedersen's essays are a series of colorful helium balloons that entertain as well as affirm and uplift. Why, she ponders in one essay, are thousands perishing as a result of assault weapons, carbon emissions, forest fires, pesticides, and processed foods - and yet how lawn darts were banned in the 1980s after two people died? In A Theory of Everything Else, Pedersen vividly demonstrates how life can appear to grind us down while it's actually polishing us up - and why everyone wants to live a long time but no one wants to grow old.

As New York becomes the world's hardest-hit city by the coronavirus, best-selling author and former New York Times columnist Laura Pedersen reports on how the populace is turned upside-down. Practically overnight millions of people went from living according to facts and figures to being at the mercy of fever and fate. It's Come to This chronicles the pandemic year as it unfolded, with every week bringing a new set of seemingly impossible challenges and contradictions. Pedersen explains how people became more interested in baby wipes than babies, and in board games over boardrooms, along with many other pandemic conundrums and curiosities, such as how the expressions "going viral" and "pass the Corona" would never sound the same.

Writing about the economic collapse and social unrest of her 1970s childhood in Buffalo, New York, Laura Pedersen was struck by how things were finally improving in her beloved hometown. As 2008 began, Buffalo was poised to become the thriving metropolis it had been a hundred years earlier—only instead of grain and steel, the booming industries now included healthcare and banking, education and technology. Folks who'd moved away due to lack of opportunity in the 1980s talked excitedly about returning home. They mised the small-town friendliness and it wasn't nostalgia for a past that no longer existed—Buffalo has long held the well-deserved nickname the City of Good Neighbors. The diaspora has ended. Preservationists are winning out over demolition crews. The lights are back on in a city that's usually associated with blizzards and blight rather than its treasure trove of art, architecture, and culture.

"It is Pedersen's gift to be able to draw the reader into her world." --"Front Street Reviews" " Pedersen's] wicked, sarcastic, dry, self-deprecating sense of humor won me over and I absolutely loved it start to finish."--Printed Page, of "Buffalo Gal" India today is a nation caught between the rich heritage of its past and the great economic potential of its future. In this witty and insightful book, journalist and author Laura Pedersen reveals the tensions and contradictions facing the emerging world power. In particular, Pedersen explores the roles of women and children in India today, providing insight into this important and often neglected issue. Part travelogue, part history, and part cultural reflection, "Planes, Trains, and Auto-Rickshaws "provides an intimate glimpse of a nation at its turning point. It is a must-read for those who want to understand India beyond the headlines. Laura Pedersen has written for "The New York Times" and is the author of several books including "Play Money," "Going Away Party," "Beginner's Luck" (chosen as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection), "Buffalo Gal," and "Buffalo Unbound." In 1994 President Clinton honored her as one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans. She has appeared on "Oprah," "Good Morning America," "Primetime Live," and "The Late Show with David Letterman," and she writes for several well-known comedians. Pedersen lives in New York City.

Young Wanda is a girl on a mission; she wants to decide what to do when she grows up. Will she be a dancer? A landscape designer? Maybe a pastry chef? Her teachers and parents all make suggestions, but Wanda sets out to explore each option on her own. Along the way she invents a clever pulley system, a squirrel-proof bird feeder, and the best way to separate eggs. With the school career fair (and adulthood) looming on the horizon, what will Wanda decide? From the award-winning children’s author Laura Pedersen comes Wanda’s Better Way, an educational picture book about believing in yourself and pursuing your passion.