Life is too short to be miserable. You can either live in silent agony or change everything about your life and start all over. The author of Eternal Autumn did just that. Faced with the deaths of his sister, mother, and pet German shepherd; breaking up with his younger girlfriend; crashing his brand-new SUV; feeling disgusted with his an unsatisfying career; and suffering through two depressing winters, the author left his hometown and relocated to Orlando, Florida. At the persistence of a friend, he became a driver for a ride-sharing company and began to feel reconnected through his riders to a positive environment again. Eternal Autumn chronicles the human interest and slice-of-life stories the author experienced while driving his clients around Orlando, Florida. The stories are sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious, sometimes unbelievable, but always entertaining.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER #1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline offers a sweeping and shattering epic of historical fiction fueled by shocking true events, the tale of a love triangle that unfolds in the heart of Rome...in the creeping shadow of fascism. What war destroys, only love can heal. Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro grow up as the best of friends despite their differences. Elisabetta is a feisty beauty who dreams of becoming a novelist; Marco the brash and athletic son in a family of professional cyclists; and Sandro a Jewish mathematics prodigy, kind-hearted and thoughtful, the son of a lawyer and a doctor. Their friendship blossoms to love, with both Sandro and Marco hoping to win Elisabetta's heart. But in the autumn of 1937, all of that begins to change as Mussolini asserts his power, aligning Italy's Fascists with Hitler's Nazis and altering the very laws that govern Rome. In time, everything that the three hold dear--their families, their homes, and their connection to one another--is tested in ways they never could have imagined. As anti-Semitism takes legal root and World War II erupts, the threesome realizes that Mussolini was only the beginning. The Nazis invade Rome, and with their occupation come new atrocities against the city's Jews, culminating in a final, horrific betrayal. Against this backdrop, the intertwined fates of Elisabetta, Marco, Sandro, and their families will be decided, in a heartbreaking story of both the best and the worst that the world has to offer. Unfolding over decades, Eternal is a tale of loyalty and loss, family and food, love and war--all set in one of the world's most beautiful cities at its darkest moment. This moving novel will be forever etched in the hearts and minds of readers.

When Morgana's nightmares spill into waking hours she becomes terrified that she has magic. Gaius is determined to keep her in the dark for her own good but Merlin won't stand by and watch his friend suffer. He knows exactly what she's going through and he knows she needs the truth. Is Merlin about to reveal his secret at last? Willfully disobeying Gaius, Merlin risks everything to help Morgana, little guessing what the far reaching consequences might be. Lives are put in danger, loyalties are tested, and Morgana is reunited with the strange young druid boy Mordred, who the Dragon predicted would one day kill Arthur . . .

In the end, he had to use his sword and go straight up to the third heaven. How could the will of a lifetime compare to that of a great Dao? Close]

"In seventeenth-century China, as formerly disparate social spheres grew closer, the theater began to occupy an important ideological niche among traditional cultural elites, and notions of performance and spectatorship came to animate diverse aspects of literati cultural production. In this study of late-imperial Chinese theater, Sophie Volpp offers fresh readings of major texts such as Tang Xianzu’s Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting) and Kong Shangren’s Peach Blossom Fan (Taohua shan), and unveils lesser-known materials such as Wang Jide’s play The Male Queen (Nan wanghou). In doing so, Volpp sheds new light on the capacity of seventeenth-century drama to comment on the cultural politics of the age. Worldly Stage arrives at a conception of theatricality particular to the classical Chinese theater and informed by historical stage practices. The transience of worldly phenomena and the vanity of reputation had long informed the Chinese conception of theatricality. But in the seventeenth century, these notions acquired a new verbalization, as theatrical models of spectatorship were now applied to the contemporary urban social spectacle in which the theater itself was deeply implicated."

Coming back to life is a book consisting of five short stories about the trajectories of five women who had no aims in life and no hope for a better life, but who eventually overcame their hardships and started over a new life. All the stories are based on real facts and they present particular nuances. After reading the stories attentively, we realize that when these women are enduring unbearable suffering, they find a way out. As they are all very determined and courageous and have strong will power, they manage to overcome all the obstacles and difficulties in their life course and become very successful. Some of them achieve extraordinary success. All is not lost in life and we can fulfill anything as long as we want to. We should have confidence in our own abilities and we should never give up. These women are led by this principle mainly when they are facing a new reality which seems to be very far from and beyond their reach. It is worth reading these stories because they will encourage us to reflect upon life. If by chance we face similar situations in life, we will be inspired by these women to be resilient and struggle for a better life. Living is not easy and it will never be, but it is always worth trying because we may encounter some unexpected surprises along our path that might change our life course and make us happy.