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Unbreakable: My Story, My Way
by Jenni RiveraJenni Rivera was a talented and beloved Mexican American singer in the male-dominated banda and norteño music scene who died in a tragic plane crash in December 2012. She had been working on her memoir, Unbreakable, for several years. Jenni Rivera was a mother of five, grandmother of two, singer-songwriter, actress, television producer, star of her own reality show, and entrepreneur. Hers was a life of trauma, tragedy, personal battles, perseverance, and extreme success. She became the most successful Spanish-language singer in the United States and had sold more than 15 million records worldwide. She had signed to star in an ABC television sitcom just before her death. Constantly in the media, Jenni's personal matters were at the center of many news stories that exposed her less-than-perfect-life; Jenni made it her mission to speak openly about her issues, building intimacy and trust with her fans. Consequently, she became a figure of strength and resilience and served as a source of encouragement to women of all ages. In Unbreakable, the late singer's only authorized autobiography, Jenni takes the reader back to the crucial times in her life, revealing the difficulties and struggles she has never discussed publicly. She writes candidly about her experiences with domestic and sexual abuse, divorce and body image issues, making her way in a male-dominated industry, and raising five children as a single mother. As she tells her inspirational story of hardship and triumph, it becomes clear that Jenni will always be the "Rivera rebel from Long Beach," the girl who never lost her sense of humor, her positivity, or her fighting spirit. "I can't get caught up in the negative because that destroys you. Perhaps trying to move away from my problems and focus on the positive is the best I can do. I am a woman like any other and ugly things happen to me like any other woman. The number of times I have fallen down is the number of times I have gotten up." --Jenni Rivera
Unbreakable: My New Autobiography
by Sharon OsbourneSharon Osbourne's life has always been an extreme rollercoaster ride. And despite her best efforts, the last few years have been the most dramatic and turbulent of all. In her gripping new autobiography Sharon reveals the truth behind the headlines. There have been times of huge joy and pleasure - becoming a grandmother for the first time and seeing both Jack and Kelly come through testing times to find happiness and contentment at last. But there has also been a lot of heartache. Sharon describes the shocking and unexpected battle to save her thirty-year marriage to Ozzy - and the devastating betrayal that lay behind their separation. She also lived through every mother's worst nightmare when Jack was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis - and writes movingly of her hopes and fears for her beloved son. A tough but fair judge on the X Factor, Sharon is just as hard on herself. She is honest about the mistakes she has made - from misguided plastic surgery to her battles with her weight and body image. Filled with laughter, tears and hard-won wisdom, Unbreakable is as funny, frank and fearless as Sharon herself.
Unbreakable
by Sharon OsbourneSharon Osbourne's life has always been an extreme rollercoaster ride. And despite her best efforts, the last few years have been the most dramatic and turbulent of all. In her gripping new autobiography Sharon reveals the truth behind the headlines. There have been times of huge joy and pleasure - becoming a grandmother for the first time and seeing both Jack and Kelly come through testing times to find happiness and contentment at last. But there has also been a lot of heartache. Sharon describes the shocking and unexpected battle to save her thirty-year marriage to Ozzy - and the devastating betrayal that lay behind their separation. She also lived through every mother's worst nightmare when Jack was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis - and writes movingly of her hopes and fears for her beloved son. A tough but fair judge on the X Factor, Sharon is just as hard on herself. She is honest about the mistakes she has made - from misguided plastic surgery to her battles with her weight and body image. Filled with laughter, tears and hard-won wisdom, Unbreakable is as funny, frank and fearless as Sharon herself.
Uncertain Tomorrows: Life In The Shadow Of Genetic Illness
by Miriam SachsA true story about life in the shadow of genetic illness <p><p> Miriam is a normal eleventh grader, trying to live a normal life with schoolwork, bake sales, and friends. Except that most days after school, she heads straight to the hospital. Except that she had a younger brother who never had a chance to grow up. Except that she has two sisters fighting for their lives. <p> For Miriam and her family live in the overwhelming shadow of genetic disease. <p> I try to keep the house together until my father comes home from work. I try to keep myself together. I try to keep all the threads in my life from unraveling. <p> Uncertain Tomorrows is a sensitively written, emotionally engaging story of one girl’s struggle to triumph over her fears and face the future with hope and faith.
Uncle Bill: The Authorised Biography of Field Marshal Viscount Slim
by Russell MillerMasterly biography of the 'greatest commander of the 20th century'.Field Marshal Slim is less well known than other Second World War generals, but is now widely regarded as the best. To the men under his command he was 'Uncle Bill', probably the most respected and loved military leader since the Duke of Marlborough. Born into an impoverished family in Bristol in 1891 and brought up in the Black Country, he was commissioned as a temporary Second Lieutenant on the outbreak of the First World War. Twice seriously wounded, in Gallipoli and Mesopotamia, he was awarded the Military Cross in 1918. After the war he was unable to remain an officer in the class-ridden British Army without private means and transferred to the Indian Army, where he developed an enduring affection for the Ghurkhas and began writing short stories to supplement his income.Slim's career stalled between the wars, but during this time he developed the leadership techniques that would make him a national hero within a decade and which are still taught today at Sandhurst. Promotion came rapidly with the Second World War, and in March 1942 he was sent to Burma to take command of the British-Indian First Burma Corps, then in full flight from the advancing Japanese. Through the force of his leadership, Slim turned disorderly panic into a controlled military withdrawal across the border into India. Two years later, having raised and retrained the largest army ever assembled by Britain, Slim drove the enemy out of Burma and shattered the myth of Japanese invincibility which had hamstrung the Allied operations in the East for so long. Slim returned to Britain laden with awards and honours. He became a popular Governor-General of Australia in 1953, was raised to the peerage, and died in London in 1970.This important biography will be written with the full cooperation of the Slim family, and Russell Miller has had access to all their papers.
Uncle Bill: The Authorised Biography of Field Marshal Viscount Slim
by Russell MillerMasterly biography of the 'greatest commander of the 20th century'.Field Marshal Slim is less well known than other Second World War generals, but is now widely regarded as the best. To the men under his command he was 'Uncle Bill', probably the most respected and loved military leader since the Duke of Marlborough. Born into an impoverished family in Bristol in 1891 and brought up in the Black Country, he was commissioned as a temporary Second Lieutenant on the outbreak of the First World War. Twice seriously wounded, in Gallipoli and Mesopotamia, he was awarded the Military Cross in 1918. After the war he was unable to remain an officer in the class-ridden British Army without private means and transferred to the Indian Army, where he developed an enduring affection for the Ghurkhas and began writing short stories to supplement his income.Slim's career stalled between the wars, but during this time he developed the leadership techniques that would make him a national hero within a decade and which are still taught today at Sandhurst. Promotion came rapidly with the Second World War, and in March 1942 he was sent to Burma to take command of the British-Indian First Burma Corps, then in full flight from the advancing Japanese. Through the force of his leadership, Slim turned disorderly panic into a controlled military withdrawal across the border into India. Two years later, having raised and retrained the largest army ever assembled by Britain, Slim drove the enemy out of Burma and shattered the myth of Japanese invincibility which had hamstrung the Allied operations in the East for so long. Slim returned to Britain laden with awards and honours. He became a popular Governor-General of Australia in 1953, was raised to the peerage, and died in London in 1970.This important biography will be written with the full cooperation of the Slim family, and Russell Miller has had access to all their papers.
Under a Mackerel Sky
by Rick Stein‘All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why’Rick Stein's childhood in 1950s rural Oxfordshire and North Cornwall was idyllic. His parents were charming and gregarious, their five children much-loved and given freedom typical of the time. As he grew older, the holidays were filled with loud and lively parties in his parents' Cornish barn. But ever-present was the unpredicatible mood of his bipolar father, with Rick frequently the focus of his anger and sadness.When Rick was 18 his father killed himself. Emotionally adrift, Rick left for Australia, carrying a suitcase stamped with his father's initials. Manual labour in the outback followed by adventures in America and Mexico toughened up the naive public schoolboy, but at heart he was still lost and unsure what to do with his life.Eventually, Cornwall called him home. From the entrepreneurial days of his mobile disco, the Purple Tiger, to his first, unlikely unlikely nightclub where much of the time was spent breaking up drink-fuelled fights, Rick charts his personal journey in a way that is both wry and perceptive; engaging and witty.Shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards 2013
Under the Blue Flag: My Mission in Kosovo
by Philip KearneySeeking to escape the monotony of his job as assistant District Attorney in San Francisco, Philip Kearney needed a change. His solution came one day in a casual email from a friend: “ U.N. has opening here for an international prosecutor doing war crimes stuff. You should apply.” “ Here” meant Pristina, Kosovo, and "stuff" Kearney soon found out— after landing the job despite his inexperience with international law and an inability to speak any foreign languages— meant a harrowing string of investigations involving the most brutal and devastating crimes imaginable. Abruptly removed from the comforts of home and the order and stability of America's justice system, Kearney found himself the sole international prosecutor assigned to a region of nearly one million people. Under the Blue Flag reads like an international legal thriller as Kearney and his colleagues are shuttled in armored vehicles between crime scenes and the makeshift courtrooms where Kosovo's fledgling legal system is tested daily. In the face of almost insurmountable obstacles— witness intimidation, corrupt law enforcement, and deep ethnic biases— the truth is slowly revealed. And with the truth emerges a cast of conflict-weary locals and displaced internationals, many of whom come to represent the war's most courageous and unheralded heroes. Under the Blue Flag is a passionate and eye-opening look at a post-war Kosovo that continues to straddle the stubborn gap between a past corrupted by violence and injustice and a future governed by the rule of law.
Under the Wire
by Paul ConroyDetermined to cover the Syrian regime's brutal crackdown on dissent and the devastating impact of the war on Syria's civilians, veteran photographer Paul Conroy and Marie Colvin, one of the foremost war correspondents of her generation, decided to smuggle themselves across enemy lines and into the blood and terror of Homs. But tragedy struck before the pair could finish documenting the slaughter. A rocket killed Colvin and ripped a hole in Conroy's leg. As Syrian ground forces closed in on his position, Conroy was forced to make a terrifying last-ditch attempt to escape from a regime that appeared determined to murder him. Under the Wire is the epic, untold account of Conroy and Colvin's last, tragic assignment together. A rare and touching portrait of an extraordinary woman driven by an unquenchable desire to 'bear witness', it is as much a tale of courage and survival as it is the poignant account of a friendship forged amid the carnage of war.
Undercover Cop: How I Brought Down the Real-Life Sopranos
by Mike Russell Patrick W. PicciarelliOne moment, New Jersey state trooper Mike Russell was working undercover, playing the role of an up-and-coming mobster hoping to infiltrate a Mafia family crew. The next, he was lying facedown in an alley after being ambushed and shot in the back of the head by a mobster over a dispute.Russell miraculously healed, and rather than press charges, he maintained his cover. Soon he had a stroke of good luck when he saved a man from an attack by two street thugs. The man he saved turned out to be Andy Gerardo, one of the ranking captains of the Genovese crime family. Quickly earning the trust of his new friend, Russell would orchestrate one of the biggest Mafia takedowns of all time.Urged by his police handlers, Russell used his cover story---an ex-cop fired for excessive force who now made his living from an oil-delivery business---and street skills to assimilate into the Genovese crime family in New Jersey, ultimately leading to more than fifty arrests of mobsters, corrupt prison officials, and even a state senator. Straddling the thin line between collecting evidence and participating in the very crimes he was leaking to the cops, Russell consistently placed himself at risk—especially when his police handlers disregarded his wishes and his well-being, conducting premature raids on the gangsters. With his marriage suffering and his family in danger, Russell took extraordinary steps to ensure his financial security and safety, demanding better terms from the police and allowing a film crew to document the final moments of the epic bust for a documentary that was later sold to HBO.A real-life version of The Sopranos, Undercover Cop immerses readers in the colorful yet harrowing trials of a standout cop who faced the mob on his own terms, crippled organized crime in New Jersey, and forever redefined undercover law enforcement.
Undiluted Hocus-Pocus: The Autobiography of Martin Gardner
by Martin GardnerThe autobiography of the beloved writer who inspired a generation to study math and scienceMartin Gardner wrote the Mathematical Games column for Scientific American for twenty-five years and published more than seventy books on topics as diverse as magic, religion, and Alice in Wonderland. Gardner's illuminating autobiography is a candid self-portrait by the man evolutionary theorist Stephen Jay Gould called our "single brightest beacon" for the defense of rationality and good science against mysticism and anti-intellectualism.Gardner takes readers from his childhood in Oklahoma to his varied and wide-ranging professional pursuits. He shares colorful anecdotes about the many fascinating people he met and mentored, and voices strong opinions on the subjects that matter to him most, from his love of mathematics to his uncompromising stance against pseudoscience. For Gardner, our mathematically structured universe is undiluted hocus-pocus—a marvelous enigma, in other words.Undiluted Hocus-Pocus offers a rare, intimate look at Gardner’s life and work, and the experiences that shaped both.
Undisputed Truth: My Autobiography
by Larry Sloman Mike TysonPhilosopher, Broadway headliner, fighter, felon--Mike Tyson has defied stereotypes, expectations, and a lot of conventional wisdom during his three decades in the public eye.<P><P> Bullied as a boy in the toughest, poorest neighborhood in Brooklyn, Tyson grew up to become one of the most ferocious boxers of all time--and the youngest heavyweight champion ever. But his brilliance in the ring was often compromised by reckless behavior. <P>Yet--even after hitting rock bottom--the man who once admitted being addicted "to everything" fought his way back, achieving triumphant success as an actor and newfound happiness and stability as a father and husband. Brutal, honest, raw, and often hilarious, Undisputed Truth is the singular journey of an inspiring American original. films, and his newfound happiness and stability as a father and husband, Tyson's story is an inspiring American original.Brutally honest, raw, and often hilarious, Tyson chronicles his tumultuous highs and lows in the same sincere, straightforward manner we have come to expect from this legendary athlete. <P>A singular journey from Brooklyn's ghettos to worldwide fame to notoriety, and, finally, to a tranquil wisdom, Undisputed Truth is not only a great sports memoir but an autobiography for the ages.
Unflinching Courage: Pioneering Women Who Shaped Texas
by Kay Bailey HutchisonIn Unflinching Courage, former United States Senator and New York Times bestselling author Kay Bailey Hutchison brings to life the incredible stories of the resourceful and brave women who shaped the state of Texas and influenced American history. A passionate storyteller, Senator Hutchison introduces the mothers and daughters who claimed a stake in the land when it was controlled by Spain, the wives and sisters who valiantly contributed to the Civil War effort, and ranchers and entrepreneurs who have helped Texas thrive. Unflinching Courage: Pioneering Women Who Shaped Texas is a celebration of the strength, bravery, and spirit of these remarkable women and their accomplishments.
An Unimaginable Act: Overcoming and Preventing Child Abuse Through Erin's Law
by Erin MerrynBy sharing her personal journey through the pain she has suffered at the hands of her perpetrators, author Erin Merryn proves that one person can make a difference in the lives of others. Simply by speaking out and bringing the subject of child sexual abuse to the forefront, she has created a wave of change—change not only in legislature, but also in the hearts of those around her and the world. In this thought-provoking book, readers will discover an in-depth, personal account of Erin's story and how—through using positive outlets—she was able to rebuild her life and heal from a childhood filled with sexual abuse. Part memoir, part resource guide, Erin shares with readers key organizations that provide essential support for victims and caregivers, warning signs that a child who is being abused might display, and why Erin's Law is so essential.
The Universe of Peter Max
by Peter MaxAn in-depth look at the personal and artistic life of renowned artist Peter Max...in his own wordsIn this intimate visual memoir, artist Peter Max details his life journey as an artist, providing a stirring account of himself as a young boy and as a successful artist eager to return to the days of wonderment and inspiration found only in dreams and childhood. Max charts his ascension in the art world and pauses to reflect on the nature of creativity, the universe at large, his many loves, and his ability to see beauty in the everyday. Vibrantly illustrated with Max's signature work, including some never-before-seen pieces, this colorful memoir reveals the personal inspiration behind the work of one of the world's most popular artists.With 200 full-color photographs
Unlikely Radicals: The Story of the Adams Mine Dump War
by Charlie AngusFor twenty-two years politicians and businessmen pushed for the Adams Mine landfill as a solution to Ontario’s garbage disposal crisis. This plan to dump millions of tonnes of waste into the fractured pits of the Adams Mine prompted five separate civil resistance campaigns by a rural region of 35,000 in Northern Ontario. Unlikely Radicals traces the compelling history of the First Nations people and farmers, environmentalists and miners, retirees and volunteers, Anglophones and Francophones who stood side by side to defend their community with mass demonstrations, blockades, and non-violent resistance.
The Unlikely Settler
by Lipika PelhamThe Israeli-Palestinian conflict seen by an outsider who craves to make sense of herself, her marriage, and the city she lives inThe Unlikely Settler is none other than a young Bengali journalist who moves to Jerusalem with her English-Jewish husband and two children. He speaks Arabic and is an arch believer in the peace process; she leaves her career behind to follow his dream. Jerusalem propels Pelham into a world where freedom from tribal allegiance is a challenging prospect. From the school you choose for your children to the wine you buy, you take sides at every turn.Pelham's complicated relationship with her husband, Leo, is as emotive as the city she lives in, as full of energy, pain, and contradictions. As she tries to navigate the complexities and absurdities of daily life in Jerusalem, often with hilarious results, Pelham achieves deep insights into the respective woes and guilt of her Palestinian and Israeli friends. Her intelligent analysis suggests a very different approach to a potential resolution of the conflict.
The Unmarried Mother
by Sheila TofieldSheila Tofield tells her moving true story about being a single mother in 1950s Britain, in The Unmarried Mother.'A searing, honest testimony' Lesley PearseSheila grew up in Rotherham, the daughter of an uncaring mother who made her believe she was useless, stupid and - most painfully of all - unlovable. As a young woman, her worst childhood fears were confirmed when her fiancé broke off their engagement without an explanation. Heartbroken and vulnerable, Sheila was easy prey to the worst type of man - a man who turned his back on her when she told him she was carrying his child. In Fifties Britain, an unmarried, pregnant girl received,not sympathy but censure and contempt. Shunned by most of her family, Sheila ended up in a Church of England home for unmarried mothers, with no apparent alternative than to give up her child for adoption. But when she held her newborn daughter in her arms for the first time, Sheila knew she had to do the unthinkable: bring up her baby on her own in a society that would condemn her for it.Sheila Tofield is a proud grandmother living in Chichester and The Unmarried Mother is her first book. Her touching story was picked up by Penguin when she entered the hugely successful life story competition with Saga Magazine.
Unremarried Widow: A Memoir
by Artis Henderson“A frank, poignant memoir about an unlikely marriage, a tragic death in Iraq, and the soul-testing work of picking up the pieces” (People) in the tradition of such powerful bestsellers as Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking and Carole Radziwill’s What Remains.Artis Henderson was a free-spirited young woman with dreams of traveling the world and one day becoming a writer. Marrying a conservative Texan soldier and becoming an Army wife was never part of her plan, but when she met Miles, Artis threw caution to the wind and moved with him to a series of Army bases in dusty Southern towns, far from the exotic future of her dreams. If this was true love, she was ready to embrace it.But when Miles was training and Artis was left alone, she experienced feelings of isolation and anxiety. It did not take long for a wife’s worst fears to come true. On November 6, 2006, the Apache helicopter carrying Miles crashed in Iraq, leaving twenty-six-year-old Artis—in official military terms—an “unremarried widow.” In this memoir Artis recounts not only the unlikely love story she shared with Miles and her unfathomable recovery in the wake of his death—from the dark hours following the military notification to the first fumbling attempts at new love—but also reveals how Miles’s death mirrored her own father’s, in a plane crash that Artis survived when she was five years old and that left her own mother a young widow. Unremarried Widow is “a powerful look at mourning as a military wife….You can finish it in a day and find yourself haunted weeks later” (The New York Times Book Review).
The Unreturning Army
by Huntly GordonIn the centenary year of the Great War, names such as Ypres, the Marne, the Somme, Passchendaele are heavy with meaning as settings for the near-destruction of a generation of men. It is this aura of tragedy that makes Huntly Gordon’s memoir, drawn from his letters written from the Front, such a potent one. He was sensitive, intelligent, unpretentious and, as his account reveals, capable of detached and trenchant judgement. As the summer of 1914 drew to a close, it was difficult for a16 year-old schoolboy to realize that the world for which he had been prepared at Clifton College was itself preparing for war. By 1916, he was commissioned in the Royal Field Artillery. By June 1917, he was at the Ypres Salient getting his ‘baptism’ at Hell Fire Corner in an intensive artillery duel that formed the prologue to Passchendaele itself. Early in 1918, his battery would fight a series of rearguard actions near Baupaume that would help turn the tide of the massive German Spring offensive. Huntly Gordon has given us an enduring and classic memoir: a poignant and extraordinarily human account of history as it happened.
Unsinkable: A Memoir
by Debbie Reynolds Dorian HannawayUnsinkable is the definitive memoir by film legend and Hollywood icon Debbie Reynolds.In Unsinkable, the late great actress, comedienne, singer, and dancer Debbie Reynolds shares the highs and lows of her life as an actress during Hollywood’s Golden Age, anecdotes about her lifelong friendship with Elizabeth Taylor, her experiences as the foremost collector of Hollywood memorabilia, and intimate details of her marriages and family life with her children, Carrie and Todd Fisher.A story of heartbreak, hope, and survival, “America’s Sweetheart” Debbie Reynolds picks up where she left off in her first memoir, Debbie: My Life, and is illustrated with previously unpublished photos from Reynolds’s personal collection.Debbie Reynolds died on December 28, 2016, at the age of 84, just one day after the death of her daughter, actress and author Carrie Fisher.
Unthinkable: The Shocking Scandal of Britain's Trafficked Children
by Kris HollingtonThe UK was shocked to its core in May 2012 when a gang of nine men was convicted of the systematic sexual abuse of disadvantaged teenage girls in the Rochdale area - the crimes including counts of rape, aiding and abetting rape, sexual assault and trafficking girls within the UK for sexual exploitation. Yet many childcare experts reckon these crimes are just the tip of an iceberg of wide scale exploitation occurring across the country. The Deputy Children's Commissioner Sue Berelowitz said in June 2012 that there 'isn't a town, village or hamlet in which children are not being sexually exploited'. As this book goes to press, a gang of men similar to those convicted in Rochdale stands trial for similar crimes in Oxford. What is happening in Britain that means young vulnerable girls can be exploited in this way? Award-winning journalist Kris Hollington tells the inside story of some of the most shocking and heartbreaking crimes of recent years, focusing on the Rochdale case but also analysing recent cases in the London area that have echoes of the brutality of organised slavery. His findings expose how the British justice system is failing to protect children in the 21stcentury. It is a scandal that cannot be ignored.
Unthinkable: The Shocking Scandal of Britain's Trafficked Children
by Kris HollingtonAward-winning journalist Kris Hollington investigates sex trafficking in the UK, in the light of the Rochdale scandal.
Until I Say Good-Bye: My Year of Living With Joy
by Susan Spencer-Wendel Bret WitterTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERWhat would you do with one last year? Susan Spencer-Wendel was determined to laugh instead of cry.In June 2011, Susan Spencer-Wendel learned she had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - Lou Gehrig's disease - an irreversible condition that systematically destroys the nerves that power the muscles. She was 44-years-old, with three young children, and she had only one year of health remaining.She decided to live that year with joy.She left her job as a journalist and spent time with her family. She built a meeting place for friends in her backyard. And she took seven trips with the seven most important people in her life. As her health declined, Susan journeyed to the Yukon, Hungary, the Bahamas, and Cyprus. She went to the beach with her sons and to Kleinfeld's bridal shop in New York City with her teenage daughter, Marina, for a glimpse of the wedding she would never attend.She also wrote this book. No longer able to walk or even lift her arms, she tapped it out letter by letter on her iPhone using only her right thumb, the last finger still working.And yet Until I Say Good-Bye is not angry or bitter. It is sad in parts - how could it not be? - but it is filled with Susan's optimism, joie de vivre and sens of humour. It is a book that, like Susan, will make everyone smile. From a hilarious family Christmas disaster to the decrepit monastery in eastern Cyprus where she rediscovered her heritage, Until I Say Good-Bye is Susan Spencer-Wendel's unforgettable gift to her loved ones and to us: a record of their final experiences together and a reminder that every day is better when it is lived with joy.
Until I Say Good-Bye: My Year of Living With Joy
by Bret Witter Susan Spencer-WendelTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERWhat would you do with one last year? Susan Spencer-Wendel was determined to laugh instead of cry.In June 2011, Susan Spencer-Wendel learned she had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - Lou Gehrig's disease - an irreversible condition that systematically destroys the nerves that power the muscles. She was 44-years-old, with three young children, and she had only one year of health remaining.She decided to live that year with joy.She left her job as a journalist and spent time with her family. She built a meeting place for friends in her backyard. And she took seven trips with the seven most important people in her life. As her health declined, Susan journeyed to the Yukon, Hungary, the Bahamas, and Cyprus. She went to the beach with her sons and to Kleinfeld's bridal shop in New York City with her teenage daughter, Marina, for a glimpse of the wedding she would never attend.She also wrote this book. No longer able to walk or even lift her arms, she tapped it out letter by letter on her iPhone using only her right thumb, the last finger still working.And yet Until I Say Good-Bye is not angry or bitter. It is sad in parts - how could it not be? - but it is filled with Susan's optimism, joie de vivre and sens of humour. It is a book that, like Susan, will make everyone smile. From a hilarious family Christmas disaster to the decrepit monastery in eastern Cyprus where she rediscovered her heritage, Until I Say Good-Bye is Susan Spencer-Wendel's unforgettable gift to her loved ones and to us: a record of their final experiences together and a reminder that every day is better when it is lived with joy.(P)2013 Hodder & Stoughton