Invitation to Die

Invitation to Die

Author: Barbara Cleverly

Publisher: Soho Press

Published: 2019-08-06

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 1641290285

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An invitation to dine turns deadly as DI John Redfyre returns for his second investigation. Cambridge, 1924 in early summertime. May Balls, punting on the Cam, flirting and dancing the tango are the preoccupations of bright young people, but bright young Detective Inspector John Redfyre finds himself mired in multiple murders. One morning, his dog discovers a corpse neatly laid on a tombstone in the graveyard adjoining St. Bede’s College. An army greatcoat and well-worn boots suggest the dead man may have been a former soldier, though the empty bottle of brandy and a card bearing the words “An Invitation to Dine” on the victim ring a discordant note. Even more unsettling is the autopsy, which reveals death by strangulation and unusual contents in the stomach from the man’s last meal. Redfyre learns that this murder is one of several unsolved cases linked to a secretive and sinister dining club at St. Bede’s. Redfyre, himself an ex-rifleman, becomes caught in a dark tale of revenge, betrayal and injustice—a lingering mystery from a long-forgotten war. With the unlikely assistance of his lead suspect, he gradually unearths the dead man’s story and fights to right an ancient wrong.


An Invitation to Die

An Invitation to Die

Author: Tanushree Podder

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2021-08-25

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 9353579783

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It begins with a simple mystery - elderly widow Violet William's van goes missing after her granddaughter Pia forgets to lock the door when using it to cater for a wedding reception. But this is Ramsar, and soon, a simple case turns sinister when ASP Timothy Thapa finally finds the missing van, and promptly discovers a dead body inside it. Enter Colonel Acharya, Ramsar's resident amateur sleuth, with his merry band of bridge-playing Watsons. As the detective begins his investigation, he finds that things are not what they seem, and with few clues, several suspects, and no leads to go on, Colonel Acharya might be facing his most challenging case yet.


Invitation to a Beheading

Invitation to a Beheading

Author: Vladimir Nabokov

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 1989-09-19

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0679725318

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Like Kafka's The Castle, Invitation to a Beheading embodies a vision of a bizarre and irrational world. In an unnamed dream country, the young man Cincinnatus C. is condemned to death by beheading for "gnostical turpitude," an imaginary crime that defies definition. Cincinnatus spends his last days in an absurd jail, where he is visited by chimerical jailers, an executioner who masquerades as a fellow prisoner, and by his in-laws, who lug their furniture with them into his cell. When Cincinnatus is led out to be executed, he simply wills his executioners out of existence: they disappear, along with the whole world they inhabit.


Let's Talk about Death (over Dinner)

Let's Talk about Death (over Dinner)

Author: Michael Hebb

Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books

Published: 2018-10-02

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 0738235318

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For readers of Being Mortal and When Breath Becomes Air, the acclaimed founder of Death over Dinner offers a practical, inspiring guide to life's most difficult yet important conversation. Of the many critical conversations we will all have throughout our lifetime, few are as important as the ones discussing death—and not just the practical considerations, such as DNRs and wills, but what we fear, what we hope, and how we want to be remembered. Yet few of these conversations are actually happening. Inspired by his experience with his own father and countless stories from others who regret not having these conversations, Michael Hebb cofounded Death Over Dinner—an organization that encourages people to pull up a chair, break bread, and really talk about the one thing we all have in common. Death Over Dinner has been one of the most effective end-of-life awareness campaigns to date; in just three years, it has provided the framework and inspiration for more than a hundred thousand dinners focused on having these end-of-life conversations. As Arianna Huffington said, "We are such a fast-food culture, I love the idea of making the dinner last for hours. These are the conversations that will help us to evolve." Let's Talk About Death (over Dinner) offers keen practical advice on how to have these same conversations—not just at the dinner table, but anywhere. There's no one right way to talk about death, but Hebb shares time—and dinner—tested prompts to use as conversation starters, ranging from the spiritual to the practical, from analytical to downright funny and surprising. By transforming the most difficult conversations into an opportunity, they become celebratory and meaningful—ways that not only can change the way we die, but the way we live.


The Five Invitations

The Five Invitations

Author: Frank Ostaseski

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Published: 2017-03-14

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1250074665

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The cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project and pioneer behind the compassionate care movement shares an inspiring exploration of the lessons dying has to offer about living a fulfilling life. Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment. She is the secret teacher hiding in plain sight, helping us to discover what matters most. Life and death are a package deal. They cannot be pulled apart and we cannot truly live unless we are aware of death. The Five Invitations is an exhilarating meditation on the meaning of life and how maintaining an ever-present consciousness of death can bring us closer to our truest selves. As a renowned teacher of compassionate caregiving and the cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project, Frank Ostaseski has sat on the precipice of death with more than a thousand people. In The Five Invitations, he distills the lessons gleaned over the course of his career, offering an evocative and stirring guide that points to a radical path to transformation. The Five Invitations: -Don’t Wait -Welcome Everything, Push Away Nothing -Bring Your Whole Self to the Experience -Find a Place of Rest in the Middle of Things -Cultivate Don’t Know Mind These Five Invitations show us how to wake up fully to our lives. They can be understood as best practices for anyone coping with loss or navigating any sort of transition or crisis; they guide us toward appreciating life’s preciousness. Awareness of death can be a valuable companion on the road to living well, forging a rich and meaningful life, and letting go of regret. The Five Invitations is a powerful and inspiring exploration of the essential wisdom dying has to impart to all of us.


Alexander Vvedensky: An Invitation for Me to Think

Alexander Vvedensky: An Invitation for Me to Think

Author: Alexander Vvedensky

Publisher: New York Review of Books

Published: 2013-04-02

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 1590176308

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“Pussy Riot are Vvedensky's disciples and his heirs. Katya, Masha, and I are in jail but I don’t consider that we’ve been defeated.... According to the official report, Alexander Vvedensky died on December 20, 1941. We don’t know the cause, whether it was dysentery in the train after his arrest or a bullet from a guard. It was somewhere on the railway line between Voronezh and Kazan. His principle of ‘bad rhythm’ is our own. He wrote: ‘It happens that two rhythms will come into your head, a good one and a bad one and I choose the bad one. It will be the right one.’ ... It is believed that the OBERIU dissidents are dead, but they live on. They are persecuted but they do not die.” — Pussy Riot [Nadezhda Tolokonnikova’s closing statement at their trial in August 2012] “I raise[d] my hand against concepts,” wrote Alexander Vvedensky, “I enacted a poetic critique of reason.” This weirdly and wonderfully philosophical poet was born in 1904, grew up in the midst of war and revolution, and reached his artistic maturity as Stalin was twisting the meaning of words in grotesque and lethal ways. Vvedensky—with Daniil Kharms the major figure in the short–lived underground avant-garde group OBERIU (a neologism for “the union for real art”)—responded with a poetry that explodes stable meaning into shimmering streams of provocation and invention. A Vvedensky poem is like a crazy party full of theater, film, magic tricks, jugglery, and feasting. Curious characters appear and disappear, euphoria keeps company with despair, outrageous assertions lead to epic shouting matches, and perhaps it all breaks off with one lonely person singing a song. A Vvedensky poem doesn’t make a statement. It is an event. Vvedensky’s poetry was unpublishable during his lifetime—he made a living as a writer for children before dying under arrest in 1942—and he remains the least known of the great twentieth-century Russian poets. This is his first book to appear in English. The translations by Eugene Ostashevsky and Matvei Yankelevich, outstanding poets in their own right, are as astonishingly alert and alive as the originals.


Invitation to the Game

Invitation to the Game

Author: Monica Hughes

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 1993-06

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 0671866923

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Unemployed after high school in the highly robotic society of 2154, Lisse and seven friends resign themselves to a boring existence in their "Designated Area" until the government invites them to play The Game.


An Invitation to Joy

An Invitation to Joy

Author: Pope John Paul II

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 0684870339

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John Paul II, the most charismatic religious leader of our time, is a man whose actions truly reflect his beliefs. At the dawn of the new Millennium, AN INVITATION TO JOY brings together a selection of John Paul's messages with the most poignant photographs documenting his life both before and after his election to papacy. For the first time, here is an illustrated devotional keepsake album that distills the essence of his message and shows the intimate connection between his words and deeds. Three main sections, THE HUMAN FAMILY, THE PEOPLE OF GOD, THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON, encompass the themes that are most important to the Pontiff. Resonant passages on everything from love and family, suffering and evil, freedom and human rights, other religions and the role of women are coupled with striking photographs. A fourth section, A LIFETIME OF DEVOTION, provides a portrait of the Pope's entire life in pictures, from his early childhood to his current day-to-day activities in the Vatican. Reflecting the Pope's all-embracing outreach to people around the world, AN INVITATION TO JOY will inspire both those inside and outside the Catholic Church.


The Invitation

The Invitation

Author: Lucy Foley

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2016-08-02

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 0316272922

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From the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Paris Apartment and The Guest List, an evocative love story set along the Italian Riviera about a group of charismatic stars who all have secrets and pasts they try desperately — and dangerously — to hide. Rome, 1953: Hal, an itinerant journalist flailing in the post-war darkness, has come to the Eternal City to lose himself and to seek absolution for the thing that haunts him. One evening he finds himself on the steps of a palazzo, walking into a world of privilege and light. Here, on a rooftop above the city, he meets the mysterious Stella. Hal and Stella are from different worlds, but their connection is magnetic. Together, they escape the crowded party and imagine a different life, even if it's just for a night. Yet Stella vanishes all too quickly, and Hal is certain their paths won't cross again. But a year later they are unexpectedly thrown together, after Hal receives an invitation he cannot resist. An Italian Contessa asks him to assist on a trip of a lifetime -- acting as a reporter on a tremendous yacht, skimming its way along the Italian coast toward Cannes film festival, the most famous artists and movie stars of the day gathered to promote a new film. Of all the luminaries aboard — an Italian ingénue, an American star, a reclusive director — only one holds Hal in thrall: Stella. And while each has a past that belies the gilded surface, Stella has the most to hide. As Hal's obsession with Stella grows, he becomes determined to bring back the girl she once was, the girl who's been confined to history. An irresistibly entertaining and atmospheric novel set in some of the world's most glamorous locales, The Invitation is a sultry love story about the ways in which the secrets of the past stay with us — no matter how much we try to escape them.


An Invitation to Sin

An Invitation to Sin

Author: Sarah Morgan

Publisher: Harlequin

Published: 2013-05-21

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 0373131526

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Snapped and seduced: there's nothing more dangerous than a restless Corretti… Taylor Carmichael holds one thing precious: the reputation she's spent years rebuilding. Then one encounter with Corretti Lothario Luca, a bottle of chilled champagne and a skintight dress and the paparazzi have their shot. Cool, calm and irritatingly aloof, Luca couldn't care less. Splash his face over the papers—he has bigger fish to fry. But Taylor is fuming. Luca had the chance to halt the press and refused. Well, this time she'll make the headlines work for her: Stop the press—bad boy Luca Corretti to wed screen siren Taylor Carmichael!