Every day, thousands of people quietly face decisions as agonizing as those made famous in the Terri Schiavo case. Throughout that controversy, all kinds of people--politicians, religious leaders, legal and medical experts--made emphatic statements about the facts and offered even more certain opinions about what should be done. To many, courts were either ordering Terri's death by starvation or vindicating her constitutional rights. Both sides called for simple answers. If That Ever Happens to Me details why these simple answers were not right for Terri Schiavo and why they are not right for end-of-life decisions today. Lois Shepherd looks behind labels like "starvation," "care," or "medical treatment" to consider what care and feeding really mean, when feeding tubes might be removed, and why disability groups, the faithful, and even the dying themselves often suggest end-of-life solutions that they might later regret. For example, Shepherd cautions against living wills as a pat answer. She provides evidence that demanding letter-perfect documents can actually weaken, rather than bolster, patient choice. The actions taken and decisions made during Terri Schiavo's final years will continue to have repercussions for thousands of others--those nearing death, their families, health-care professionals, attorneys, lawmakers, clergy, media, researchers, and ethicists. If That Ever Happens to Me is an excellent choice for anyone interested in end-of-life law, policy, and ethics--particularly readers seeking a deeper understanding of the issues raised by Terri Schiavo's case.

Presents a comprehensive analysis of the Terri Schiavo case that examines the medical, legal, and media history associated with it, providing help to those facing a similar situation.

This isn’t a romance of easy solutions. It’s a love story between two men who should never have come together. In Andrew’s world, nothing much happens. His days with his wife and son are content, if not passionate. The new neighbors are about to change all that Nathan is looking forward to the arrival of his new baby and his first teaching job. Then he meets Andrew, and his world turns upside down. Tension morphs into passion and it’s obvious to everyone, however hard they try to hide it. Even from each other. But Andrew and Nathan love their families too. Making decisions is never easy and in a small cul-de-sac, the two men have hard choices to make. Do they follow their hearts or their responsibilities? CW: Cheating

"When Brian told me of his affair, my whole world was shattered. Since the affair, and since the difficult recovery period, I have excelled in amazing ways in every area of my life. I look and feel better than I did when I was in my twenties. I have more energy, more zeal and more enthusiasm for life. Since I have gotten over my insecurities, I experience far better relationships with my husband, children and others. I also have more fun. No matter what tragedies happen in our lives, we always have a choice, not a choice over what will happen to us, but a choice over how we will react to it. Will we become bitter or better? I chose to become better, and now my greatest tragedy has also become my greatest personal victory." – Anne Bercht "Would I want to go back to our marriage before the affair? Not a chance! Would I have liked to have gotten to this point some other way? Absolutely! Would I recommend an affair to others so they can reach a greater love and better marriage? Absolutely not! If you have experienced an affair, is rebuilding your marriage worth it? You bet it is! As long as you love each other and are willing to do the work." – Brian Bercht

Warm and hopeful, this is a touching and honest depiction of a family changing together-and staying together. "I wonder what people would think if they could take the front off our house like a doll's house and watch us. All in the same house, but everyone separate. No one talking, but everyone thinking the same thing. Will we ever be a normal family again?" Izzy's family is under the spotlight when her dad comes out as Danielle, a trans woman. Izzy is terrified her family will be torn apart. Will she lose her dad? Will her parents break up? And what will people at school say? Now all eyes are on Izzy. Can she face her fears, find her voice, and stand up for her family and what's right?

You really can Get the Funk Out! When you belly flop into another one of life's funks, learn what to do next! "Finally, a common sense approach to an all too common malady. Ms. Bernstein has assembled the tools to overcome our personal demons in words that are clear and concise. When I find a good book, I usually ‘can’t put it down’ but Get The Funk Out! demands time to absorb the inspirational stories and ponder the question of how faith can be so strong."—Gary Pihl, former guitarist for Sammy Hagar and current member of the band Boston "I love this book! A radically transparent look that teaches us to face life's hard knocks—instead of running away—and heal from the gifts that emerge from them. This is a bedside keeper to remind you that grass grows through concrete." —Bryan E. Robinson, Ph.D., Psychotherapist and Author of #Chill: Turn Off Your Job and Turn On Your Life "The power of self-esteem is on full display in Get the Funk Out!. Janeane Bernstein pulls together an unlikely cast to write a prescription for dealing with life’s large and small challenges. Finding joy on the journey is possible, no matter how rocky the road." —Richard M. Cohen, Author of Blindsided and Strong at the Broken Places

After a young girl tells the zookeepers to send the animals to her house should anything go wrong at the zoo, a series of zoo emergencies results in some unusual houseguests for the girl and her family.

A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017 An electrifying first collection from one of the most exciting short story writers of our time "I can’t recall the last time I laughed this hard at a book. Simultaneously, I’m shocked and scandalized. She’s brilliant, this young woman."—David Sedaris Ottessa Moshfegh's debut novel Eileen was one of the literary events of 2015. Garlanded with critical acclaim, it was named a book of the year by The Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle, nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award, short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, and won the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction. But as many critics noted, Moshfegh is particularly held in awe for her short stories. Homesick for Another World is the rare case where an author's short story collection is if anything more anticipated than her novel. And for good reason. There's something eerily unsettling about Ottessa Moshfegh's stories, something almost dangerous, while also being delightful, and even laugh-out-loud funny. Her characters are all unsteady on their feet in one way or another; they all yearn for connection and betterment, though each in very different ways, but they are often tripped up by their own baser impulses and existential insecurities. Homesick for Another World is a master class in the varieties of self-deception across the gamut of individuals representing the human condition. But part of the unique quality of her voice, the echt Moshfeghian experience, is the way the grotesque and the outrageous are infused with tenderness and compassion. Moshfegh is our Flannery O'Connor, and Homesick for Another World is her Everything That Rises Must Converge or A Good Man is Hard to Find. The flesh is weak; the timber is crooked; people are cruel to each other, and stupid, and hurtful. But beauty comes from strange sources. And the dark energy surging through these stories is powerfully invigorating. We're in the hands of an author with a big mind, a big heart, blazing chops, and a political acuity that is needle-sharp. The needle hits the vein before we even feel the prick.

San Franciscan Eddie Mellish, during teenage adventures with friends Grizzy and Jomo, develops an obsession with whales. As a student of zoology, he books a whale-watching trip in Hawaii, where two people end up in the water. Years later, he finds himself studying under a professor who was on the same boat. But their friendship is stretched to breaking point when they realise both have incriminating secrets. Eddie also discovers truths about Grizzy which his best friend might not want to know. The action zips between San Francisco, Hawaii, Cambridge and the rugged Cornish coast. While romance and careers beckon from both sides of the Atlantic, Eddie is sucked into a web of blackmail, as this novel hurtles towards a nail-biting climax.

If a writer wanted to create a classic American character, he could hardly do better than to look to Jim Miller's extraordinary eighty-plus years for inspiration. Born in the midst of the Great Depression, Jim was an indifferent student who grew into a passionate and lifelong learner, inventor, and problem-solver. A high school dropout and blue-collar father of six before he was thirty, he never shied away from hard work. Whether heading south in his middle teens to work on a commercial fishing boat off the Florida Keys, strapping a .38 pistol to his waist when lobstering on the lawless waters of Long Island Sound, or founding companies that, over the years, have earned in excess of a billion dollars, Jim Miller always said yes to opportunity and made his own luck along the way.Here, in Jim's own words and those of his family, friends, and colleagues, is the story of a remarkable American life. Alternately funny, moving, and jaw-dropping in its twists and turns, Nothing Bad Ever Happens chronicles Jim's approach to life ("Nothing bad ever happens, only missed opportunities") and how it helped him manage every setback with optimism and grit. It's the story of the risks Jim and his family took through the years to make a better life for themselves--and the unbreakable bonds that held that family together through thick and often very, very thin. In scenes set all across the globe, from New York Harbor to the Gulf of Mexico, from the North Fork of Long Island to London, Japan, Panama, and beyond, a portrait emerges of a man whose creativity, optimism, and boundless capacity for hard work allowed him to seize opportunities where others saw only peril and the likelihood of loss. Over the years, Jim Miller has built several fortunes, raised a loving family with his wife of sixty years (the beautiful Barbara), and created enough stories to fill a fair-sized book.This is that book. This is the tale of a life well lived.