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  All Gone - A Memoir of My...

  Alex Witchel

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  At just past seventy, Alex Witchel's smart, adoring, ultra-capable mother began to exhibit undeniable signs of dementia. Witchel reacted as she'd been raised: If something was broken, she would fix it. But as medical reality undid that hope, she retreated to the kitchen, trying to reclaim the mother who was disappearing in plain sight, by cooking the comforting foods that were her mother's signature.Reproducing the perfect meat loaf was no panacea, but it helped a grieving daughter come to terms with her predicament, the growing phenomenon of "ambiguous loss" - loss of a beloved one who lives on. Gradually Witchel developed a deeper appreciation for all the ways the mother she was losing lived on in her, starting with the daily commandment - "Tell me everything that happened today" - that set a future reporter and writer on her path. And she was inspired to turn her experience into this bittersweet account that offers true balm for an increasingly familiar form of heartbreak.

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  The Swedish Secret

  Cleo James

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  Following an intense chance meeting Mark leaves his wife to begin a new life with Cleo. What starts as a fairytale swiftly turns into a black comedy. Under the illusion she knows everything about the loveable rogue she has fallen for, Cleo is shocked to discover that he may not be so lovable after all. By the time realisation kicks in, Mark and Cleo are in the grips of a bad, mad love affair that neither of them seem able to walk away from. The story which is based on true events (unfortunately) gives an alternative viewpoint on topics that are current yet still somewhat taboo. Mental health, odd OCD tendencies, anger, jealousy, emotional abuse, an occasional fight, drinking too much, eating too little, unwanted pregnancies and a s_ _tload of swearing. Thinking things can't get any worse, Cleo marches on, telling her story with a dry sense of humour and a 'just get on with it' attitude. Only things do get worse. Very much worse. Has she got the strength to deal with a woman's worst nightmare? After everything she has been through will this be the final nail in the coffin or the chance of a new life. Spanning nearly two decades, this is a raw and honest account of an unconventional love story, funny, sad, jaw dropping and completely addictive. Cleo James lifts up the carpet where society sweeps things they would rather not talk about and brings them out in the open. Shameless and unapologetic with an ending you won't see coming however hard you look.

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  My Secret Life Vol 2 Chapter 5

  Anonymous Anonymous

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  My Secret Life, the anonymously written erotic memoirs of a Victorian English gentleman who refers to himself simply as 'Walter' is one of the most idiosyncratic and prurient books ever written. In this vast autobiographical confessional the author recounts, in meticulous detail, his sexual exploits throughout the course of a life devoted entirely to the pursuit of carnal pleasure. Through this compelling exploration of the author's sexual behavior we are left with a uniquely entertaining insight into life behind the closed doors of Victorian society. My Secret Life is funny, sorrowful, suspenseful, compulsively readable, obscene, titillating, exciting and erotic...in it we are privy to the thoughts, emotions and memories of one of the most unusual, unsung and colorful English eccentrics of the Victorian era. 
  Now, for the first time, the complete unabridged version of this unique text is being narrated and scored by film composer Dominic Crawford Collins as an 'audiofilm' (an audiobook in which the emotional landscape is explored through the music score). Each chapter of My Secret Life will be released at monthly intervals over the next ten to fifteen years culminating in what is likely to become the longest audio book ever to be produced.

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  Islam Struggles for Understanding

  PBS NewsHour

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  Demonstrations on both sides of the debate over whether an Islamic community center should be built a couple of blocks from ground zero took place in lower Manhattan over the weekend. Gwen Ifill gets three views from Rev. Welton Gaddy of Interfaith Alliance, Professor Abdullahi An-na'im, and Cynthia Mahmood a senior fellow at the University of Notre Dame.

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  Charlene - In Search of a Princess

  Arlene Prinsloo

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  When Charlene Wittstock married Prince Albert of Monaco in a star-studded wedding watched by millions across the world in 2011, rumours of her getting cold feet and her unhappiness about his love children swirled around the couple.
  Ever since then, the statuesque Olympic swimmer has been in the eye of the paparazzi and the centre of endless tabloid speculation and malicious rumour-mongering. Is the bubbly, down-to-earth South African lonely in glamorous Monaco? Is it a marriage of convenience? What is the status of her health? These are just some of the questions that roil so publicly around her.
  Journalist Arlene Prinsloo sifts fact from fiction in this revealing unauthorised biography of Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene. Prinsloo traces her life from humble beginnings in Zimbabwe, Johannesburg and Durban to the Olympic Games, her jet-set romance with the bachelor prince, a fairy-tale wedding and becoming a mother to twins. At its heart, it's the story of a woman in search of happiness for herself and her family – and also of the beginning of Charlene defining her own space amid the royal protocol.

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  Marquise de Brinvilliers -...

  Alexandre Dumas

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  To paraphrase the note from the translator, The Celebrated Crimes of Alexandre Dumas père was not written for children. The novelist has spared no language—has minced no words—to describe violent scenes of violent times.In this, the sixteenth of the series, Dumas, the novelist-historian, brings his story-telling skills to a subject no less than infamous at the time and which still holds a fascination for us: Marie-Madeleine-Marguerite d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers.The Marquise was tried, convicted, and executed for poisoning her father and two of her brothers. It appears that she learned the art of the poisoner from her lover, Godin de Sainte-Croix. She also targeted, but did not kill, her sister, a Carmelite nun. Her case launched what is known in French history as the Affair of the Poisons, a long-running judicial scandal which led to the execution or imprisonment of dozens of people, many of the highest rank in French society, including prominent members of the court of Louis XIV. Although Duma's book on Brinvilliers has been dismissed as mere historical fiction, in reality it is solidly based on the documents of the time and on prior historical treatments of the case. Shocking as it is to suppose, this beautiful and cultured Frenchwoman was indeed a formidable murderess.Of course, Dumas, the dramatist and novelist, cannot help embellishing the work of Dumas, the historian. It becomes clear that his true interest lies not in the events, but in the character of Brinvilliers herself, as she confronts the rapidly approaching fact of her own torture and execution. Approximately half the book is devoted to the conversations between the Marquise and Edmond Pirot, a theologian of the Sorbonne, who acted as her chaplain and confessor during the last days of her life. The give-and-take between them is an interesting dramatization of the workings of conscience and remorse.Dumas may have collaborated on this, as he frequently did in his works, with other writers. Nevertheless, it is clearly Dumas who has the final say on this work, as with all the other works in this series.Enjoy!

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