The difficult story of what follows a terrible accident in Anything That Happens has me thinking about the word aftermath, how it means not only dire consequences but second-growth, as new grass after a harvest. Cheryl Wilder's poems are almost shatteringly direct: they explore guilt and suffering so cleanly and so precisely that every detail testifies, and mercy is ever possible. This is a brave and honorable book. -Nancy Eimers
Unimaginable loss yields to the power of human connection in this simple, moving story from the filmmakers of the eponymous Oscar-winning film. An elegy on grief. "Heavy pain exquisitely rendered." Kirkus Starred Review Based on the Academy Award-winning animated short by the same name, If Anything Happens I Love You is a young adult graphic novel that follows two parents as they reckon with the loss of their young daughter, Rose, in a school shooting. Readers follow Rose from “above” as she watches her parents slowly break down under the weight and pain of their loss. Throughout the novel, Rose’s soul seeks to help her parents reconnect. We learn who Rose was and how much life she lived in her short time. By incorporating a wide range of characters, her boyfriend, teacher, and her cat, Rose is able to introduce healing into the lives of the people she left behind. If Anything Happens I Love You may be a story about loss, but in it we see ourselves—in the grief, the pain, and, most importantly, in the fight toward human connection, love, and acceptance.
'We have to shift from a mindset of shame, which sees anxiety as evidence of brokenness, to a mindset of curiosity, which recognizes that anxiety is evidence of our sensitive heart, our imaginative mind and our soul's desire to grow towards wholeness.' Three million people are thought to suffer from anxiety in the UK, and it is an issue that affects a growing number of people across all ages. For anyone troubled by obsessive thoughts, insomnia and other manifestations of anxiety, counsellor Sheryl Paul offers shelter in the storm. In The Wisdom of Anxiety, Paul reveals that anxiety, like any emotion, is a signal - a clear bodily invitation to heal and renew your trust in your choices, self-image and core values. Weaving together practical exercises with personal stories, Paul offers medication-free approaches for accessing the gifts in different kinds of anxiety, and especially the anxiety summoned by life's transitions, for example a career change, becoming parents or becoming carers for loved ones. Chapters include recognising the symptoms of anxiety, its origins, the myth of 'normal', the expectation of happiness and a timeline of healing that includes exercises for the body and mind. There are also chapters on parenting in an age of anxiety and the vulnerability of connection and relationships.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A meditation on sense-making when there’s no sense to be made, on letting go when we can’t hold on, and on being unafraid even when we’re terrified.”—Lucy Kalanithi “Belongs on the shelf alongside other terrific books about this difficult subject, like Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air and Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal.”—Bill Gates NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY REAL SIMPLE Kate Bowler is a professor at Duke Divinity School with a modest Christian upbringing, but she specializes in the study of the prosperity gospel, a creed that sees fortune as a blessing from God and misfortune as a mark of God’s disapproval. At thirty-five, everything in her life seems to point toward “blessing.” She is thriving in her job, married to her high school sweetheart, and loves life with her newborn son. Then she is diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. The prospect of her own mortality forces Kate to realize that she has been tacitly subscribing to the prosperity gospel, living with the conviction that she can control the shape of her life with “a surge of determination.” Even as this type of Christianity celebrates the American can-do spirit, it implies that if you “can’t do” and succumb to illness or misfortune, you are a failure. Kate is very sick, and no amount of positive thinking will shrink her tumors. What does it mean to die, she wonders, in a society that insists everything happens for a reason? Kate is stripped of this certainty only to discover that without it, life is hard but beautiful in a way it never has been before. Frank and funny, dark and wise, Kate Bowler pulls the reader deeply into her life in an account she populates affectionately with a colorful, often hilarious retinue of friends, mega-church preachers, relatives, and doctors. Everything Happens for a Reason tells her story, offering up her irreverent, hard-won observations on dying and the ways it has taught her to live. Praise for Everything Happens for a Reason “I fell hard and fast for Kate Bowler. Her writing is naked, elegant, and gripping—she’s like a Christian Joan Didion. I left Kate’s story feeling more present, more grateful, and a hell of a lot less alone. And what else is art for?”—Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love Warrior and president of Together Rising
Bob Slocum was living the American dream. He had a beautiful wife, three lovely children, a nice house...and all the mistresses he desired. He had it all -- all, that is, but happiness. Slocum was discontent. Inevitably, inexorably, his discontent deteriorated into desolation until...something happened. Something Happened is Joseph Heller's wonderfully inventive and controversial second novel satirizing business life and American culture. The story is told as if the reader was overhearing the patter of Bob Slocum's brain -- recording what is going on at the office, as well as his fantasies and memories that complete the story of his life. The result is a novel as original and memorable as his Catch-22.
Perfect for fans of Holly Jackson and Karen McManus, this heart-pounding thriller from New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice follows two girls on the hunt for a murderer who's still on the loose. A Washington Post Best Book of Fall 2024! It's been eight months since the body of Eloise Parrish was found in the woods. Eloise's surviving sister, Oli, is numb with grief and shock. But Oli's also angry. Her sister's killer was never identified or caught. There are no leads, no clues. The case is growing cold, and only Oli seems to care. Until Oli finds another girl left for dead, in the exact spot Eloise's body was found. Except this girl is alive. She can't remember how she got there, but Oli knows that she's the key to solving Eloise's murder. The two girls join forces to unravel a mystery that is all too real -- and all too dangerous. As their search leads them around Oli's seemingly idyllic hometown and into the paths of people Oli knows well, Oli begins to wonder who she can trust... and how much she'll risk to learn the terrifying truth. New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice delivers a tour-de-force thriller, full of breathtaking writing and heart-pounding suspense, about sisters, secrets, and the lengths we're willing to go to for those we love the most.
Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of practicing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct complex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By completing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the methods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard keyboard, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the simple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Figure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcomponents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accurate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chainsaws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.
John Mannering (aka ‘The Baron’), retired jewel thief and shop owner in London’s Mayfair, sets off to find a missing girl and subsequently becomes involved in a convoluted plot involving blackmail, theft and murder. There is also danger lurking for Mannering as he nears what he assumes to be the finish, but is it?
The #1 New York Times bestselling second installment in the All Souls series, from the author of The Discovery of Witches and The Black Bird Oracle. Look for the hit series “A Discovery of Witches,” now streaming on AMC+, Sundance Now, and Shudder! Picking up from A Discovery of Witches’ cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night takes reluctant witch Diana Bishop and vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont on a trip through time to Elizabethan London, where they are plunged into a world of spies, magic, and a coterie of Matthew's old friends, the School of Night. As the search for Ashmole 782—the lost and enchanted manuscript whose mystery first pulled Diana and Matthew into one another's orbit—deepens and Diana seeks out a witch to tutor her in magic, the net of Matthew's past tightens around them. Together they find they must embark on a very different—and vastly more dangerous—journey. “A captivating and romantic ripping yarn,”* Shadow of Night confirms Deborah Harkness as a master storyteller, able to cast an “addictive tale of magic, mayhem and two lovers”(Chicago Tribune).
