• Complain

J. Maarten Troost - Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story

Here you can read online J. Maarten Troost - Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 2013, publisher: Penguin Group US, genre: Art. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

J. Maarten Troost Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story
  • Book:
    Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story
  • Author:
  • Publisher:
    Penguin Group US
  • Genre:
  • Year:
    2013
  • Rating:
    5 / 5
  • Favourites:
    Add to favourites
  • Your mark:
    • 100
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

The bestselling author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals recounts his latest hilarious misadventures in the South Pacific, following in the footsteps of his unlikely idol, Robert Louis Stevenson
?
Readers and critics alike adore J. Maarten Troost for his signature wry and witty take on the adventure memoir. Hailed by Entertainment Weekly as a funny, candid, and down-to-earth travel companion, Troosts bestselling debut, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, is an enduring favorite about life in the South Seas.
?
Headhunters on My Doorstep chronicles Troosts return to the South Pacific after his struggle with alcoholism and time in rehab left him numb to life. Deciding to retrace the path once traveled by the author of Treasure Island, Troost follows Robert Louis Stevenson to the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, Tahiti, the Gilberts, and Samoa, tumbling from one comic misadventure to another as he confronts his newfound sobriety.
?
...

J. Maarten Troost: author's other books


Who wrote Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make
Headhunters on my doorstep a true treasure island ghost story - image 1
Headhunters on my doorstep a true treasure island ghost story - image 2

GOTHAM BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

New York, New York 10014, USA

Headhunters on my doorstep a true treasure island ghost story - image 3

USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia |
New Zealand | India | South Africa | China

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

For more information about the Penguin Group visit penguin.com.

Copyright 2013 by J. Maarten Troost

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Gotham Books and the skyscraper logo are trademarks
of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

has been applied for.

ISBN 978-1-101-62169-1

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Penguin is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity.

In that spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers;

however, the story, the experiences, and the words

are the authors alone.

For Lukas and Samuel

I never knew the world was so amusing Robert Louis Stevenson 1889 Chapter - photo 4

I never knew the world was so amusing.

Robert Louis Stevenson, 1889

Chapter One E veryone has problems Spend a few moments catching up with - photo 5
Chapter One

E veryone has problems. Spend a few moments catching up with friends and youre likely to hear a litany of catastrophes.

I lost my job at the prison, one might say.

Im going to prison, says another.

Im about to lose my home.

I blew mine up to collect the insurance.

My ferret died.

I ate mine.

...

Long story.

Tales of woe had become inescapable. What were once simple quandaries now seemed to come equipped with trapdoors. One misstep and youd tumble into the chute of doom, where demotions became terminations, homeowners became squatters, and Little Bandit was no longer safe. I was no exception. I too had problems. Multitudes of problems. If something could go wrong, it usually did. The only law that seemed to apply to me was Mr. Murphys. For a long while, decades even, the sun had shone upon me. Life had been an effortless glide. Id traveled the world, married my soul mate, sired two strapping boys, and wrote books thatIve been confidently informedlanded on the bestseller list in Eugene, Oregon. I couldnt explain why good things happened to me. They just did. But then, like a bad Chinese proverb, my good fortune evaporated like a spilled Slurpee in a Phoenix parking lot. Everything that could go wrong... was not a thought I dared to finish. It could always get worse, and usually it did.

Whatd happened? I wondered. Good luck seeks no antecedent, but bad luck demands an inquest. Was it simply written in the cosmos? Did the yin of happiness necessitate the yang of misery? Could it simply be bad karma? No, I thought, as I reflected on the causes of my misfortune. Behind every event, every circumstance, lay a cold, hard trail of facts. I needed only to follow the breadcrumbs of past experience to bring me to the source of my tribulations. And there, sadly, I found something immense and unmovable:

Continents.

Bad things happened to me on large land masses. Terrible things.

This was a most unfortunate realization, of course. How Id hoped to discover an unhappy childhood, an unjust prison sentence, or a soul-scarring bout of acne to explain the recent trajectory of my life. Who wants to blame their woes on something as inalterable as the North American tectonic plate? After all, continents areat the very leastnice to look at. I too could admire majestic, snow-glazed mountains, the rivers that flowed with the tide of history, the buzz of the megacity. I am, for the record, appreciative of boreal forests and rain forests, deserts, and the vast expanse of the northern tundra. I like New York and Los Angeles, as well as Mumbai, Shanghai, and Dubai. I am fond of small towns. Also apple pie and yak, though not together. All this can be found on continents. But, alas, experience tells me that if Im not surrounded by an ocean, my life crumbles like a stale cookie.

Its true.

Take my most recent sojourn in North America. Id protected my well-being by living on a peninsula. Surrounded by water on three sides, I navigated the perils of the modern world, and whenever events or situations threatened to leave my eyes agog and my head a-splitting, I retreated to a rented sailboat, where secure in a finite space surrounded by the infinite blue of the ocean, I navigated pitching waves and morning fog with an aplomb that failed me on dry land. On water I was free and sure; on land I felt like a lost fish. But then, chasing a job, I moved deeper into the continent, distant from familiar waters and sandy dunes, and there I fell.

Into the bottle to be precise. This wasnt entirely unexpected. In retrospect, it was probably a foregone conclusion. Id always had a temperamental shut-off valve. Open-minded to the mind-altering, Id long ago learned to be wary of the seductive offerings of both the street and the pharmacy. Id known that drugs could be a problem and that it was best to dispense with the experimentation early on. I pretty much maxed out on magic mushrooms. Instead, Id settled into the steady companionship of pint glasses and decanters. Like everyone. It was normal, no? A few beers at the bar; wine with dinner. It was all good. In fact, hard liquor was a no-no in my worlduntil, eventually, it wasnt, and there was that unknown moment when the proverbial invisible line was crossed, when everything started to tumble with a terrifying ferocity, and despite untold As-God-Is-My-Witness promises to get this under control, to show some restraint, I couldnt. I couldnt stop. Not until my wife, bless her, deposited me at rehab, where, sedated with Librium, I learned that lucky-ducky that I was, I had a fatal brain disease and should I ever pick up a drink again I might as well put five bullets in a six-shooter and shove it down my piehole.

So this was bad. And it happened on a continent. In my mind, the case was closed.

Now hold on right there, someone might say. Do you mean to suggest that there was a link between the pint of vodka you kept tucked in your sock during the last month of your drinking and the fact that you inhabited a continent?

Yes, I do. And furthermore, having noted the correlation between large landmasses and big problems in my own personal lifethe larger, the biggerI gave thanks every day that I didnt inhabit Asia, where I undoubtedly would have ended up a crackhead in Pyongyang. Its important to think positively, I figure. It

Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story»

Look at similar books to Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


Reviews about «Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story»

Discussion, reviews of the book Headhunters on my doorstep: a true treasure island ghost story and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.