A good story can teach us more about life than an entire book of proverbs. Revered Dada J.P.Vaswani is a raconteur 'par excellence' whose informal talks, discourses and books are liberally interspersed with thought provoking stories, captivating anecdotes and tales from myths and scriptures around the globe. A hundred of these memorable stories have been judiciously selected from Rev. Dada's endless repertoire, neatly packaged with a thought for your reflection and a practical exercise. Happy reading and happy reflections!
It is painfully difficult to watch a loved one decline as dementia ravages their mind, destroying memories, rational thinking, and judgment. In her touching memoir, I Will Never Forget, Elaine Pereira shares the heartbreaking and humorous story of her mother’s incredible journey through dementia. Pereira begins with entertaining glimpses into her own childhood and feisty teenage years, demonstrating her mother’s strength of character. Years later, as Betty Ward started to exhibit bizarre behaviors and paranoia, Pereira was mystified by her mom’s amazing ability to mask the truth. Not until a revealing incident over an innocuous drapery rod did Pereira recognize the extent of her mother’s Alzheimer’s. As their roles shifted and a new paradigm emerged, Pereira transformed into a caregiver blindly navigating dementia’s unpredictable haze. But before Betty’s passing, she orchestrated a stunning rally to control her own destiny via a masterful, Houdini-like escape. I Will Never Forget is a powerful heartwarming story that helps others know that they are not alone in their journey. “Poignant, shocking, and honest … far more than just words on paper. If you or someone you know is living through the hell of dementia, you need this book!” —Ionia Martin, developer of Readful Things Reviews and Alzheimer’s caregiver
In this provocative, bitingly funny debut collection, people attempt to use technology to escape their uncontrollable feelings of grief or rage or despair, only to reveal their most flawed and human selves An architect draws questionable inspiration from her daughter’s birth defect. A content moderator for “the world’s biggest search engine,” who spends her days culling videos of beheadings and suicides, turns from stalking her rapist online to following him in real life. At a camp for recovering internet trolls, a sensitive misfit goes missing. A wounded mother raises the second incarnation of her child. In You Will Never Be Forgotten, Mary South explores how technology can both collapse our relationships from within and provide opportunities for genuine connection. Formally inventive, darkly absurdist, savagely critical of the increasingly fraught cultural climates we inhabit, these ten stories also find hope in fleeting interactions and moments of tenderness. They reveal our grotesque selfishness and our intense need for love and acceptance, and the psychic pain that either shuts us off or allows us to discover our deepest reaches of empathy. This incendiary debut marks the arrival of a perceptive, idiosyncratic, instantly recognizable voice in fiction—one that could only belong to Mary South.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, shock waves rippled through the country as the United States came under terrorist attack. In New York, Washington, D.C., and Somerset County, Pennsylvania, four planes piloted by members of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization left death, shattered innocence, and incomprehensible destruction in their wake. While the attacks united all Americans in their shared horror and grief, the actual witnesses to these events often bear the heaviest weight of these painful memories. Never Forget is a collection of unbelievably moving stories of loss, heartache, and survival, as told in the words of those closest to the unfolding tragedy. In stark, haunting detail, these vivid personal accounts bring to life the events as they happened: from the harrowing moments after the planes hit the twin Towers of the World Trade Center to the overwhelming cloud of debris that enveloped lower Manhattan when the towers fell, the devastating conversations with loved ones on the hijacked flights, the terrifying hours spent trapped in the fallen buildings, and the painstaking recovery efforts at each site. Moses Lipson, an eighty-nine-year-old construction inspector, walks down from the eighty-eighth floor of Tower 1. Steven Bienkowski, a police officer in the New York Harbor Unit Scuba Team, watches helplessly from a helicopter as people trapped in the upper floors of Tower 1 reach from the windows to beg for a miracle rescue. Tim McGinn, a now-retired NYPD lieutenant, shoots out a window and saves at least thirty people from suffocation. Young Lyzbeth Glick's heart drops when she realizes that her husband, Jeremy, who changed his travel plans at the last moment, is now on the hijacked flight from Newark. As the Pentagon blazes, Lieutenant Colonel Ted Anderson plunges back inside to rescue civilians trapped by fallen debris. Weeks later, the rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero continue. Construction worker Joseph Bradley looks on as a firefighter gently closes the eyes and straightens the suit of a woman whose body is found in the rubble. Benjamin Garelick, seven years old, raises seven hundred dollars with a lemonade stand to "help the firemen buy a new truck." As these unforgettable stories reveal, many Americans transcended their own confusion and despair to help one another escape, to offer one another kindness, and to affirm life in the face of catastrophe. This concert of voices shows, as never before, the heartbreaking grief and slow but uplifting healing process that the people of this nation have experienced individually and as one.
“Charming. . . . A moving testament to the diversity and depths of love.” —Publishers Weekly You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be swept away—in less time than it takes to read this paragraph. Here are 175 true stories—honest, funny, tender and wise—each as moving as a lyric poem, all told in no more than one hundred words. An electrician lights up a woman’s life, a sister longs for her homeless brother, strangers dream of what might have been. Love lost, found and reclaimed. Love that’s romantic, familial, platonic and unexpected. Most of all, these stories celebrate love as it exists in real life: a silly remark that leads to a lifetime together, a father who struggles to remember his son, ordinary moments that burn bright.
What happened between two people on a cliff’s edge on the French coast is at the heart of “a tantalizing puzzle” in this twisting noir thriller (Kirkus Reviews). In the town of Yport, during a run along Europe’s tallest cliff, Jamal notices a red scarf hanging on a fence. Then he sees the woman, her dress torn, her back to the void, her eyes fixed on his own. Jamal holds the scarf out to her like a buoy. A few seconds later, the stranger’s lifeless body is found lying on the icy pebbles of the empty beach below. Around her neck, the red scarf. Everyone thinks he pushed her. He only wanted to save her. That’s Jamal’s version. Do you believe it? “One of France’s most ingenious crime writers.” —The Sunday Times Acclaim for Michel Bussi’s novels “Wonderfully ingenious and altogether satisfying.” —The New York Times Book Review “Harlan Coben fans will enjoy [the] intriguing characters and twisty conclusion.” —Library Journal “A well-constructed literary thriller with a strong sense of place and deep understanding of human nature.” —Kirkus Reviews
101 Stories that make up this most absorbing, educative and uplifting book have been lovingly chosen from the perennial treasure of Dada J.P. Vaswani’s witty anecdotes and stories. Each story is a gem-containing a precious pearl of strength and wisdom. Each story can fill you with faith, patience, fortitude and the courage to face the challenges of life in the right spirit. You can’t stop reading once you start, for you feel you have taken a breath of fresh air, or had a stimulating drink. Just try and see!
