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The Meryl Streep Movie Club by Mia March

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Book Description   In the bestselling tradition of The Friday Night Knitting Club and The Jane Austen Book Club , three women find unexpected answers, happiness, and one another, with Meryl Streep movies as their inspiration. Two sisters and the cousin they grew up with after a tragedy are summoned home to their family matriarch’s inn on the coast of Maine for a shocking announcement. Suddenly, Isabel, June, and Kat are sharing the attic bedroom—and barely speaking. But when innkeeper Lolly asks them to join her and the guests in the parlor for weekly Movie Night—it’s Meryl Streep month—they find themselves sharing secrets, talking long into the night . . . and questioning everything they thought they knew about life, love, and one another. Each woman sees her complicated life reflected through the magic of cinema: Isabel’s husband is having an affair, and an old pact may keep her from what she wants most . . . June has promised her seven-year-old son that she will somehow find

The Disease of More

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Book Description   The Disease of More chronicles the childhood, young adulthood and current life experiences of Eleanor R., a woman who overcame great odds to recover from the diseases of alcoholism and food addiction. It is the true story of one woman's journey toward becoming the person she always wanted to be, despite her disadvantaged upbringing and her early affliction with addictions that took her to places of extreme shame and humiliation. Eleanor is every woman who struggles with self medication through food, alcohol and things. She is a mother, a wife, an influential public servant in one of the largest states in the nation, but still, after 25 years, she must get up each day and be vigilant against slipping back into cravings and her fears that she does not have enough. This book is an inspiring story of surrender and ultimate victory. Every reader will discover nuggets of Eleanor's hard-won wisdom that drive home the truth of her journey and the triumph of her

The Fire and the Cloud

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  Book Description   In this beautiful and lucid translation of the popular Hebrew edition, Yoducha Rayonai, Rabbi David Bigman, rosh yeshivah of Yeshivat Ma'ale Gilboa, gives us a glimpse of his personal encounters with Tanach. These essays on the weekly Torah portions are based on Rabbi Bigman's Shabbat shiurim and were transcribed and adapted by a talented group of his students. Rabbi Bigman offers powerful, original insights into the parshiyot, inviting readers to participate with him in his creative involvement and interaction with the Torah. He inspires us to join him on a journey of discovering and uncovering the truths concealed in the revelations of the Torah, Prophets, and Writings and in so doing, to uncover the truths hidden in ourselves. Book Review   Growing up, one of the things that my parents instilled in me is the respect of ALL religions.  They felt that unless you spend time studying them, you will never truly understand them.  This book real

Eden

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Book Description   Seemingly overnight the world transforms into a barren wasteland ravaged by plague and overrun by hordes of flesh-eating zombies. A small band of desperate men and women stand their ground in a fortified compound in what had been Queens, New York. They've named their sanctuary Eden. Harris--the unusual honest man in this dead world--races against time to solve a murder while maintaining his own humanity. Because the danger posed by the dead and diseased mass clawing at Eden's walls pales in comparison to the deceit and treachery Harris faces within. Book Review   This book was so wildly disturbing to the imagination that it had me sleeping with the lights on!  First off, this was one of those books that is told from multiple perspectives.  Once you figure that out, it flows along nicely.  At first it was a little disconcerting, but I caught on pretty quickly. There wasn’t too much character development involved for the secondary characters. 

Spontaneous Happiness

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Book Description   Everyone wants to be happy. But what does that really mean? Increasingly, scientific evidence shows us that true satisfaction and well-being come only from within. Dr. Andrew Weil has proven that the best way to maintain optimum physical health is to draw on both conventional and alternative medicine. Now, in Spontaneous Happiness, he gives us the foundation for attaining and sustaining optimum emotional health. Rooted in Dr. Weil's pioneering work in integrative medicine, the book suggests a reinterpretation of the notion of happiness, discusses the limitations of the biomedical model in treating depression, and elaborates on the inseparability of body and mind. Dr. Weil offers an array of scientifically proven strategies from Eastern and Western psychology to counteract low mood and enhance contentment, comfort, resilience, serenity, and emotional balance. Drawn from psychotherapy, mindfulness training, Buddhist psychology, nutritional science, and mo

Grave Expectations

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Book Description   Bristly, sensitive, and meat-hungry Pip is a robust young whelp, an orphan born under a full moon.  Between hunting escaped convicts alongside zombified soldiers, trying not to become one of the hunted himself, and hiding his hairy hands from the supernaturally beautiful and haughty Estella, whose devilish moods keep him chomping at the bit, Pip is sure he will die penniless or a convict like the rest of his commonly uncommon kind. But then a mysterious benefactor sends him to London for the finest education money can buy.  In the company of other furry young gentlemen, Pip werewolf tempers his violent transformations and devours the secrets of his dark world.  When he discovers that his beloved Estella is a slayer of supernatural creatures, trained by the corpse-like vampire Miss Havisham, Pip’s desire for her grows stronger than his midnight hunger for rare fresh beef.  But can he risk his hide for a truth that will make Estella his forever – or will she dr

A Darkly Hidden Truth

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Book Description   Felicity has decided to become a nun. She departs to visit convents in spite of her mother's imminent arrival and Fr. Anselm's request that she and Fr. Antony recover a missing priceless Russian icon before the Patriarch of Moscow arrives at the community for Holy Week. Felicity's discernment journey takes her to Rempstone, Norwich, London, and Walsingham, but her discovery of a friend's murdered body in a shallow grave, the disappearance of more icons, the shooting of a London art expert just after she visits him, the disappearance of Antony, and finally the abduction of Felicity and her mother teach her far more about motherhood, life, and love than she could learn in any convent retreat. Breathtaking chase scenes, mystical worship services, dashes through remote water-logged landscapes, the wisdom of ancient holy women, and the arcane rites of The Knights of St. John of Malta keep the pages turning. And will Felicity choose the veil--or Ant