Organ donation is in its infancy and Daisy Howard, who is giving a kidney to her aunt, is in the hands of a pioneering surgeon. After the operation, Daisy is desperate to get back to her family, yet the days go by and she remains in the hospital; meanwhile, an old friend keeps visiting with news of home, and Daisy becomes increasingly uneasy.
A splendid new translation of one of the greatest books on friendship ever written In a world where social media, online relationships, and relentless self-absorption threaten the very idea of deep and lasting friendships, the search for true friends is more important than ever. In this short book, which is one of the greatest ever written on the subject, the famous Roman politician and philosopher Cicero offers a compelling guide to finding, keeping, and appreciating friends. With wit and wisdom, Cicero shows us not only how to build friendships but also why they must be a key part of our lives. For, as Cicero says, life without friends is not worth living. Filled with timeless advice and insights, Cicero’s heartfelt and moving classic—written in 44 BC and originally titled De Amicitia—has inspired readers for more than two thousand years, from St. Augustine and Dante to Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Presented here in a lively new translation with the original Latin on facing pages and an inviting introduction, How to Be a Friend explores how to choose the right friends, how to avoid the pitfalls of friendship, and how to live with friends in good times and bad. Cicero also praises what he sees as the deepest kind of friendship—one in which two people find in each other “another self” or a kindred soul. An honest and eloquent guide to finding and treasuring true friends, How to Be a Friend speaks as powerfully today as when it was first written.
A close friendship is one of the most influential and important relationships a human life can contain. Anyone will tell you that! But for all the rosy sentiments surrounding friendship, most people don’t talk much about what it really takes to stay close for the long haul. Now two friends, Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, tell the story of their equally messy and life-affirming Big Friendship in this honest and hilarious book that chronicles their first decade in one another’s lives. As the hosts of the hit podcast Call Your Girlfriend, they’ve become known for frank and intimate conversations. In this book, they bring that energy to their own friendship—its joys and its pitfalls. Aminatou and Ann define Big Friendship as a strong, significant bond that transcends life phases, geographical locations, and emotional shifts. And they should know: the two have had moments of charmed bliss and deep frustration, of profound connection and gut-wrenching alienation. They have weathered life-threatening health scares, getting fired from their dream jobs, and one unfortunate Thanksgiving dinner eaten in a car in a parking lot in Rancho Cucamonga. Through interviews with friends and experts, they have come to understand that their struggles are not unique. And that the most important part of a Big Friendship is making the decision to invest in one another again and again. An inspiring and entertaining testament to the power of society’s most underappreciated relationship, Big Friendship will invite you to think about how your own bonds are formed, challenged, and preserved. It is a call to value your friendships in all of their complexity. Actively choose them. And, sometimes, fight for them.
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING NAOMI WATTS “A beautiful book . . . a world of insight into death, grief, art, and love.” —Wall Street Journal “A penetrating, moving meditation on loss, comfort, memory . . . Nunez has a wry, withering wit.” —NPR “Dry, allusive and charming . . . the comedy here writes itself.” —The New York Times The New York Times bestselling story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog. When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building. While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them. Elegiac and searching, The Friend is both a meditation on loss and a celebration of human-canine devotion.
Godfrey Sceats, 1888-1966, was an amateur musician (organist, composer) and by profession a linguist proficient in German, French and Spanish. He first heard Karg-Elert's music around 1910 when several accomplished Englishmen were starting to take note of it with enthusiasm. Many of the letters are published side by side, in German and English, and a comprehensive appendix completes the volume.
"An Ultimate Hero of the Dark" is a highly poignant tale about a socially marginalised slum boy Chandu, his spiny struggles, heart touching family love and sacrifices, beautiful but sketchy love story, exemplary friendship, heart-melting talks while dying and mind squeezing great immolation. This tale is full of emotions, sacred romance, thrills, suspense, betrayals, avenge, sacrifices and all the materials able to strongly hold the fiction lovers. This tale also shows the dark side of socially neglected people and the rough mentalities of a few affluent people about them. In order to curiously know how much was the mournful life of Chandu during birth; how his life becomes changed when came in the friendship of Shiwa; how he fell in the deep love of his fast friend Shiwa's sister, Shaumya; how he saves the life of his fast friends and others from the hands of scoundrels and gangsters; how the friendship of Chandu, Krishna, Sapna and Shiwa comes at their peaks following several critical and dangerous turns and twists of life; how he saves two families from the crocodile's mouth of Singhush, his scoundrel son, a cheater family friend; how chapters of innocent loves of Shaumya and Sapna for both friends cruelly remain unaccomplished and many more joyful and mournful twists; the reader must go till the end of the story. Readers will find all spices at one place in the form of highly interesting and thrilling story.
In this brief, readable time, Bayuk (Coping and Prevailing, 1986, etc.) recounts a lifetime of pulling away from and moving closer to God, before finally setting out to motivate others to do His will. In the prologue, the author tackles America's current ambivalence about the church's role in society. This section contains provocative statements and stories that take aim at the current trend toward political correctness, with its strict separation of God from government. In his 'points to ponder,' Bayuk notes meaningfully that a statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments stares down from the top of the Supreme Court building. On the whole, however, the author focuses on his vacillating relationship with God. Bayuk, who has written two books about coping with his multiple sclerosis, turns his struggles into warmhearted stories. He recalls in detail his long and happy relationship with his wife, his glory days of welling commercial real state, the ups and downs of owning a deli and a diner and of having learned to live with his disease. Throughout, the author recounts being torn between following his free will and following what he perceived as God's instructions. However, his major defiance of God's will seems to have been his reluctance to attend church. Bayuk recalls that he refused to go to mass for years, feeling frustrated when he spent hours at Pentecostal services and guilty when he did not. Readers may not view these moments as the powerful conflicts of God that Bayuk presents them as. The author later describes miracles that have occurred since he has become more spiritually involved. Here again, the reader may see his helpful daughter, a reconciliation between parents and children and the brother who raises some cash in a time of need, not as miracles but simply as blessings. Also, while the author is an engaging storyteller, he's also a bit repetitious. Nevertheless, Bayuk writes convincingly about the satisfactions of a faith-based life. A handy night stand book for those seeking spiritual affirmation.
Doubting Thomas...Doubting America" is an enlightening and uplifting narrative regarding the declining and doubtful existence of God for both the author and America. It takes you on a journey with candor, humor, humility and joy. Everyone who has seriously sought to know God personally will immediately identify with Toms struggle to find the answer to this question, could it be that God desires to have an intimate relationship with me? Tom takes us along on his journey of struggle and doubt and describes the many amazing and serendipitous experiences that regularly occurred which erased his doubt and convinced him that the God he was seeking was indeed in hot pursuit of him all the while. You will hear of the countless episodes and events that Tom encountered which revealed to him the presence and provision of God in extraordinary ways. Whether it came as a lone tomato and onion sitting on the vine in the dead of winter or thousands of dollars arriving in the nick of time, it became evident that the God he was pursuing was quite amazing. Toms spiritual quest brought him to this truth. To believe is to become convinced that God will reveal Himself to those who earnestly seek Him and that it is His joy to provide for His children, often in remarkable ways. Toms eyes were opened to the wonder of Gods love and to the creative ways His love was continually expressed in their lives. This knowledge has inspired and motivated him through his experience with multiple sclerosis and has been the passion that propelled him to write this book. It will also delve into the mystery and causes of our societies declining and sadly misguided path. An eye-opening and awakening chronicle of where we have come from and where we could go...if we choose.