Other books that might interest you

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  The Magic Circle

  Charmaine Chan

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  I sit by your bed and watch you, as I sometimes do. There are days when you are so beautiful and vivacious and alive, we cannot believe that you are going to die. Other days, we are convinced you are at death's door and that this, this is the day that we will lose you … Now I bear witness to the disease that is eating you up alive, ravaging your physical shell. I look at your wasted body, once so slim and graceful; at the jaundiced pallor of your once perfect skin stretched tight around the still lovely bones of your face; at the way shadows collect in the hollows around your eyes and your collarbones. And very slowly, inside me, something small starts to crack. A tiny fissure that spreads and widens, before splitting open entirely to let something hot and liquid well up like molten lava, threatening to spill out the sides of my mouth, as rich and bitter and metallic as blood. Is this then what heartbreak feels like? 
   
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  The Magic Circle tells the story of what happens when Charmaine Chan’s sister Elaine is diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer. As the illness progresses, family members living on different continents gather together during Elaine’s last days. Striving to distract Elaine from the worst effects of the cancer, Charmaine takes to the pen: conjuring up the vanished world of their childhood in Singapore, and discovering a way to keep her promise to Elaine’s six-year-old daughter. 
   
   
  A contemplation on grief and loss, nostalgia and yearning, The Magic Circle is for anyone who’s been torn apart and put back again by the inexplicable power of memory.

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  Top 10 Short Stories The - The...

  Charles Dickens

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  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  Many say one language dominates literature, and from there one Country – England.  The sceptered isle does indeed have more than its fair share of literary behemoths.  And this is only the men. 
   
  1 - The Top 10 - The English - The Men - An Introduction 
  2 - The Baron of Grogzwig by Charles Dickens 
  3 - Odour of Chrysanthemums by D H Lawrence 
  4 - The Magic Shop by H G Wells 
  5 - Father Giles of Ballymoy by Anthony Trollope 
  6 - The Salvation of a Forsythe - Part 1 by John Galsworthy 
  7 - The Salvation of a Forsythe - Part 2 by John Galsworthy 
  8 - The Interlopers by Saki the pseudonym for H H Munro 
  9 - The Matador of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett 
  10 - Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad by M R James 
  11 - A Terribly Strange Bed by Wilkie Collins 
  12 - The House of Cobwebs by George Gissing

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  Giving students a leg-up with...

  PBS NewsHour

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  When applying to a job out of college, having a top-notch resume isn’t enough anymore. College graduates from top schools apply alongside dozens of similarly qualified candidates. In light of new hiring trends, a program at Georgetown University aims to make their students the best candidates possible, by teaching them skills that will give them a leg up on the job hunt. Hari Sreenivasan reports.

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  Mad Dog - The Maurice Vachon Story

  Bertrand Hébert, Pat Laprade

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  The true story of one of pro wrestling’s most charismatic, feared, and beloved icons
   
  Who was Maurice the man, and who was Mad Dog the character? Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon was a gold medalist, a pro-wrestling legend, and a pop culture icon — but he was also a son, husband, and father. Mad Dog explores Vachon’s career and personal struggles with painstakingly detailed historical research and through both Maurice’s own recollections and those of the people who knew him best.
   
  As a young man, Maurice could have chosen a dark criminal path, but then wrestling and family changed him. Chronicling his slow but steady rise to prominence across America and internationally in some of pro wrestling’s most important territories, this in-depth biography shows how Vachon’s life came to be defined by the words of Mark Twain: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” Fiercely proud, motivated, and supremely talented, Vachon’s story is also the amazing tale of how a lifelong make-believe heel became a real-life hero outside of the ring.
   
  With a foreword by his brother, Paul Vachon, and an afterword by his widow, Kathie Vachon.

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  Our Mutual Friend

  Charles Dickens

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  A satiric masterpiece about the allure and peril of money, Our Mutual Friend revolves around the inheritance of a dust-heap where the rich throw their trash. When the body of John Harmon, the dust-heap's expected heir, is found in the Thames, fortunes change hands surprisingly, raising to new heights "Noddy" Boffin, a low-born but kindly clerk who becomes "the Golden Dustman." Charles Dickens's last complete novel, Our Mutual Friend encompasses the great themes of his earlier works: the pretensions of the nouveaux riches, the ingenuousness of the aspiring poor, and the unfailing power of wealth to corrupt all who crave it. With its flavorful cast of characters and numerous subplots, Our Mutual Friend is one of Dickens's most complex—and satisfying—novels

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  A True Statesman - George H W...

  Robin Renwick

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  "What we have been missing" – Henry Kissinger
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  'If the United States does not lead, there will be no leadership. If the US instead turns inward, there will be a price to be paid later.' – George H. W. Bush
  Marking thirty years since the end of George H. W. Bush's presidency, Robin Renwick paints a warm, affectionate portrait of a President who sought to unify rather than divide his country, and whose staunch belief in diplomacy strengthened cooperation around the world.
  A True Statesman explores Bush's core belief in the United States as the 'indispensable nation' in helping to deal with world crises, charting his efforts to end the Cold War, secure the reunification of Germany and drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.
  Extending beyond Bush's time in office, it also reflects on US foreign policy over the past three decades, examining the consequences of his successors' differing approaches to America's role on the world stage.
  Incisively written by a former British Ambassador to Washington, this insider account offers fresh insights into both the 41st President and America's foreign policy from Iran–Contra to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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