I have a five-inch scar on my chest, right hand side, pointing towards my heart. I look at it every day and it tells me who I am. If you are looking at this book wondering what it's about, allow me to tell you. It's about one man's experience of leukaemia and all the fun and games that go with it. It is, more broadly, a book about life and a book about death. But greater still, this is a love story. A story about how true love cannot be destroyed by things as trivial as cancer and death. Some that remember me may do so in terms of my disease. That is to say, it will be the first thing they think of when they think of me and that I was taken so young. But the leukaemia that took me was not the defining force in my life, nor was it the strongest. That will always be love, and if I do say so myself, how we managed to get it so right in the brevity of our time together.
The popularity of the marathon and half marathon continues unabated. Up and down the country people are signing up in their thousands, many to raise money for their favourite charity, others simply as a means of getting fit. Whatever the motive, these are testing endurance events requiring serious preparation. Now in its second edition, Marathon and Half Marathon - A Training Guide is essential reading for anyone intending to enter a half or full marathon. Written by a highly experienced personal trainer who has helped hundreds of runners achieve their own personal goal, this acclaimed and best-selling book has everything you need, from advice on what to wear to staying fit during those long training sessions. This fully updated and revised edition features: New 'pre-hab' and core stability exercises to help prevent injury; the latest science on how, when and why to stretch; expert advice on how to use your time to train most effectively; a series of programmes aimed at beginner, intermediate and advanced runners and finally, inspirational real-life stories from runners. A fully updated second edition of this best-selling and highly acclaimed book, aimed at novices entering a full or half marathon for the first time in aid of their favourite charity and also aimed at the more experienced runners looking to improve their times. Fully illustrated with 126 colour images and diagrams.
A funny, heartwarming new romance about finding love the second time around—with a little help from an unexpected dating coach . . . Lonely widow Pippa opens a notebook written by her late husband and discovers that good-humored Dan has actually provided lots of advice on how to live without him—and fall in love again. After fifteen years of marriage and three kids, Dan believed he knew Pippa better than anyone. With detailed instructions on everything from what to wear to how she should act on a first date, Dan has all the bases covered. He even has someone in mind for her—and in Pippa’s opinion, he couldn’t have chosen a less suitable match. Discarding his directions to make a match with Mikey, she embarks on her own hilarious journey of self-discovery on the dating scene, supported by her children and two best friends. But it isn’t long before Pippa is struggling to ignore Dan’s advice . . . Praise for Lucy Mitchell “[Mitchell’s] writing is deliciously funny and has so much heart.” —Sandy Barker, author of One Summer in Santorini
The award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Children has created an unflinching yet deeply humane portrait of a young family’s journey through a medical crisis, laying bare a couple’s love and fears as they fight for everything that’s important to them. New York, 1993. Alice Culvert is a caring wife, a doting new mother, a loyal friend, and a soulful artist—a fashion designer who wears a baby carrier and haute couture with equal aplomb. In their loft in Manhattan’s gritty Meatpacking District, Alice and her husband, Oliver, are raising their infant daughter, Doe, delighting in the wonders of early parenthood. Their life together feels so vital and full of promise, which makes Alice’s sudden cancer diagnosis especially staggering. In the span of a single day, the couple’s focus narrows to the basic question of her survival. Though they do their best to remain brave, each faces enormous pressure: Oliver tries to navigate a labyrinthine healthcare system and handle their mounting medical bills; Alice tries to be hopeful as her body turns against her. Bracing themselves for the unthinkable, they must confront the new realities of their marriage, their strengths as partners and flaws as people, how to nourish love against all odds, and what it means to truly care for another person. Inspired by the author’s life, Alice & Oliver is a deeply affecting novel written with stunning reserves of compassion, humor, and wisdom. Alice Culvert is an extraordinary character—a woman of incredible heart and spirit—who will remain in memory long after the final page. Praise for Alice & Oliver “This hauntingly powerful novel follows a family’s fight for survival in the face of illness. A stirring elegy to a marriage.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “A rewarding reading experience . . . a testament to the resilience of humans and our willingness to forgive.”—San Francisco Chronicle “The novel’s power is in its two characters’ messy negotiation of their fears, errors and shifting affections. . . . Bock offers a forceful reminder that there are plenty of roiling emotions underneath that till-death-do-us-part.”—Los Angeles Times “[A] heart-wrenching story of a young couple whose lives change when Alice gets diagnosed with cancer . . . a refreshingly unsentimental look at the vicious disease.”—Entertainment Weekly “Alice & Oliver [has a] tough-minded commitment to truth-telling.”—The Washington Post “Even more than the meticulous details of drugs, treatments and side effects, Bock’s tender portrayal of [his characters] in all their desolation gives [Alice & Oliver] its ring of truth. . . . I loved this novel.”—Marion Winik, Newsday “Alice & Oliver shows that, even in a situation that’s about as terrible as it can be, there can still exist happiness, surprise, and life, that strange strong spirit that’s with us until the end.”—The Boston Globe “The most honest, unsentimentally powerful novel about cancer that I’ve ever read.”—Michael Christie, The Globe & Mail “Wrenchingly powerful . . . Bock chronicles the daily struggles of a young wife and mother facing her own imminent mortality. This is a soul portrait of a family in crisis, written with a fearless clarity and a deep understanding of the bonds that can hold two people together even in the darkest hour.”—Richard Price
Shay and Frankie are best friends and football crazy! They eat, sleep and breathe football (even when they're at school!). They dream about playing football, love a kick-about in the park, watch all the big games on TV... all that's missing in their lives is the chance to play for a real football team. All Cultures United is the best club around for miles and all the footie fans want to on their team... including Shay and Frankie. Are they good enough to impress Coach Reece at the AC United trials? Can their friendship survive the competitiveness of football? Will they ultimately fulfil their goal to become Baller Boys?
'This great detective story tells of a doctor unprepared to accept conventional medical wisdom when he was fit only for palliation, and tenacious enough to search for answers elsewhere. This was the nastiest form of leukaemia, one so rare and unresponsive to conventional treatments that many are experimental. Mark was 67 at time of diagnosis. His remarkable story of survival reminds us that chronology is but one measure of age, and a poor one at that. Whatever eventuates in his life, he will be measured by his courage, conviction and single-mindedness.' - Professor Mathew Vadas, AO, Executive Director Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology 'Medico Mark Awerbuch is blessed with the writing style of an accomplished suspense novelist and this is a gripping narrative. He has T-cell lymphoblastic leukaemia. He knows too much, but none of his experience and connections helps. Instead, he finds himself on a perilous medical adventure. In this exposé and tale of endurance, the marathon runner becomes the marathon patient. I could not put it down.' - Samela Harris, journalist, critic, blogger 'Mark Awerbuch is a man of considerable accomplishment and the embodiment of resilience. He teaches us by example how to hold on to dreams, relationships, and hope when faced with the most trying of personal odysseys: a raging, prolonged battle with the angel of death that recruits a still incomplete modern medicine. I found myself cheering him on.' - Emeritus Professor Nortin M. Hadler, author of Rethinking Aging and By The Bedside of the Patient 'You will feel compelled to read on for insights from a medical insider who defied the grim predictions.' - Keith Conlon, writer, TV presenter, radio talkback host 'An insightful journey into what happens when a doctor becomes a patient and how a simple, chance meeting can change the course of a lifetime.' - Sophie Scott, National Medical Reporter ABC
The Life and Times of 'Johnny One Punch' DaviesAfter enjoying an idyllic life on a hillside farm in South Wales until he was five, John Davies' life changed dramatically when his ten year old sister Heather suffered a fatal accident and the farm was sold and the family moved away. Brutalised by his father and bullied at school, he became afraid of 'his own shadow' until his uncle gave him a punch ball for his ninth birthday and discovered he had a rare talent. Unfortunately he abused it and spent over eight years in prison because of his extreme violence, before being sent to a psychiatric prison at the age of 45. Missing the opportunity to become a world champion, he became one of Wales' finest boxing coaches and trained his son to become a world-class fighter.Married for the fourth time at 65 to a girl half his age, he beat angina and fathered a son at 68. Arrested for growing millions of pounds worth of cannabis at 69, he has written his life story to leave a record for his son in case he is incarcerated.
"For decades, Vinnie Tortorich has been Hollywood's go-to guy for celebrities and athletes looking to get fit fast. Now, in this hilarious, R-rated memoir, Hollywood's most outrageous personal trainer exposes the fitness world while getting you into shape." --P. [4] of cover.
This updated edition features a new introduction, and an exclusive interview with long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe. It is the world's most iconic road race. It is twenty-six-point-two miles of iconic landmarks, cheers, tears, sweat, pain, courage, determination and inspiration. It is triumph over adversity on a colossal scale. It is the London Marathon - and it's an event unlike any other. Running The Smoke tells the story of what it's like to take part in this race in the most enlightening and enriching way possible: from the perspectives of twenty-six different people who have participated in it since its inception in 1981. Candid and inspiring if you are preparing for your first marathon or your 100th, Running The Smoke will give you the encouragement, insight and belief you need to cross that line.
THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE LONGEST-HELD AL QAEDA CAPTIVE IN THE WORLD Stephen McGown was en route from London to South Africa, on a once-in-a-lifetime trip by motorbike, returning home to Johannesburg. He had reached Timbuktu, in Mali, when he was captured, along with a Dutch and a Swedish national, by Al Qaeda Islamist militants. Steve was taken because he held a British passport. He was subsequently held hostage at various camps in the Sahara Desert in the north-west of Africa for nearly six years before eventually being released. Life as Steve had known it changed in that instant that he was taken at gunpoint. He had nothing to bargain with, and everything to lose. For the next six years, he reluctantly engaged in what he came to call the greatest chess game of his life. Thousands of kilometres to the south, in Johannesburg, the shock of Stephen's capture struck the McGown family and his wife, Cath, with whom he had, until recently, been living in London. They immediately began efforts to secure Steve's release, through diplomatic channels and in every other way they felt might have a chance of seeing Stephen freed. But as the months of captivity became years, Steve was compelled to go to extraordinary lengths to survive. Making it back home alive became his sole aim. To accomplish this, he realised that he would have to do everything he could to raise his status in the eyes of his captors. To this end, he taught himself Arabic and French, and also converted to Islam, accepting a new name, Lot. To this day, Steve retains the unenviable record of being the longest-held, surviving prisoner of Al Qaeda. While he was undoubtedly always Al Qaeda's captive, through the long years he spent in intimate proximity to his captors, Steve got to see the Islamist militants as few other Westerners have ever seen them. Six Years a Hostage is not only a remarkable story of mental strength, physical endurance and the resilience of the human spirit, but also, significantly, a unique and nuanced perspective on one of the world's most feared terrorist groups. Steve did not merely survive his terrible ordeal; he emerged from the desert a changed - stronger, more positive - human being. This is Stephen McGown's remarkable story, as told to Tudor Caradoc-Davies, a freelance writer, editor and author based in Cape Town, South Africa. After seven years spent working for glossy magazines such as Men's Health, GQ, Best Life and Women's Health, he now contributes to a range of publications. He also writes for the (South African) Sunday Times, and Red Bulletin.
