The Barefoot Lawyer: A Blind Man's Fight for Justice and Freedom in China


Chen Guangcheng - 2013
    Days later, he turned up at the American embassy in Beijing, and only a furious round of high-level negotiations made it possible for him to leave China and begin a new life in the United States.Chen Guangcheng is a unique figure on the world stage, but his story is even more remarkable than anyone knew. The son of a poor farmer in rural China, blinded by illness when he was an infant, Chen was fortunate to survive a difficult childhood. But despite his disability, he was determined to educate himself and fight for the rights of his country's poor, especially a legion of women who had endured forced sterilizations and abortions under the hated "one child" policy. Repeatedly harassed, beaten, and imprisoned by Chinese authorities, Chen was ultimately placed under house arrest. After nearly two years of increasing danger, he evaded his captors and fled to freedom.Both a riveting memoir and a revealing portrait of modern China, The Barefoot Lawyer tells the story of a man who has never accepted limits and always believed in the power of the human spirit to overcome any obstacle.

Jesse's Starship


Saxon Andrew - 2013
    Jesse Rollins’ family disappeared in the desert during a family camping trip. Jesse was ten years old when the event took place and they were never seen again. Jesse turned sixteen and ran away from the orphanage the state put him in after the disappearance and returned to the place they disappeared. He decided that if it happened once; it could happen again. He had no idea he would cause the world to be thrown into a world war with the Military Leaders in the United States, China, and Russia planning to overthrow the governments of the planet's three most powerful nations. He also had no idea he was right. Excerpt from; Jesse’s Starship Suddenly a bright spotlight lit up the night and the two aliens were frozen for an instant. They heard a voice said over a loud speaker, “You will stay where you are and raise your arms above your head.” The Apache swooped down the rise toward the two Neman with its machine guns targeted on them. One of them raised his arm and pointed it at the fast approaching helicopter. The Apache exploded and pieces rained down into the depression. The other Neman fired a beam at Gresam’s dead body as the first pressed his wrist unit extending the force field around their ship to cover them. They sprinted toward the open port as two Raptors came roaring in. The pilots were circling and saw the Apache’s destruction; the lead pilot contacted his commander, “The Apache has been hit and destroyed. We’re arming missiles and going in.” Two of the four Raptors roared in and locked their sights on the place in the depression where the two beings had disappeared. They toggled two hellfire missiles and fired them as they topped the rise. One of the Neman yelled, “Remove the hostiles!” Two bright white beams shot out of the ship’s hull and hit the two Raptors exploding them in midair as they passed overhead. The second pair of Raptors roared in a moment behind the first two and launched their missiles just before they were hit by white beams and destroyed. The wreckage of the four Raptors was scattered for a mile as the debris rained down on the desert at high speed. The wreckage that hit the force field surrounding the spaceship was vaporized. This review is from: Dahlia's Deception (The Annihilation Series) (Kindle Edition) I have all of Saxons books at least I hope so; adventure of the highest level await all who venture into his books. I have everyone in my family hooked on the series from The young teens to the old timer that's me at 73 thanks For the ride keep it up PLEASE. Visit us at on face book at www.facebook.com/SaxonAndrewsUniverse or our website at www.annihilationseries.com. You may contact us directly at saxonandrew@msn.com

Reunited at Christmas


Debra Ullrick - 2013
    Not only does she train search and rescue dogs, but she’s a bestselling suspense author who has waterfront property in the beautiful mountain town of Grand Lake, Colorado. All is well until she receives a call to bring her dog Max and her snowmobile to help rescue a man who is lost in a blizzard up on Gravel Mountain. That man is the one person she never wants to see again—Ryker Anderson—the man who broke her heart the day he called three months before their wedding to say goodbye with no explanation as to why.After being gone for eighteen months, Ryker Anderson is back in Grand Lake where he hopes to win back the woman he loves. He only hopes Shelby understands why he left. Will he be able to convince Shelby that she can trust him with her heart again even though he broke it before?

Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside


Quincy Carroll - 2015
    The first, Thomas, is an entitled deadbeat, content to pass the rest of his days in Asia skating by on the fact that he's white, while the second, a recent college graduate named Daniel, is an idealist at heart. Over the course of the novel, these two characters fight to establish primacy in Ningyuan, a remote town in the south of Hunan, with one of their more overzealous students, Bella, caught in between. Quincy Carroll's cleverly written debut novel examines what we bring from one country to another.

Hanging Man: The Arrest of Ai Weiwei


Barnaby Martin - 2013
    In April 2011, he was arrested and held for more than two months in terrible conditions. The most famous living Chinese artist and activist, Weiwei is a figure of extraordinary talent, courage, and integrity. From the beginning of his career, he has spoken out against the world's most powerful totalitarian regime, in part by creating some of the most beautiful and mysterious artworks of our age, works which have touched millions around the world.Just after Ai Weiwei's release from illegal detention, Barnaby Martin flew to Beijing to interview him about his imprisonment and to learn more about what is really going on behind the scenes in the upper echelons of the Chinese Communist Party. Based on these interviews and Martin's own intimate connections with China, Hanging Man is an exploration of Weiwei's life, art, and activism and also a meditation on the creative process, and on the history of art in modern China. It is a rich picture of the man and his milieu, of what he is trying to communicate with his art, and of the growing campaign for democracy and accountability in China. It is a book about courage and hope found in the absence of freedom and justice.

The Art of War


Sun TzuSun Tzu
    Since that time, all levels of military have used the teaching on Sun Tzu to warfare and civilization have adapted these teachings for use in politics, business and everyday life. The Art of War is a book which should be used to gain advantage of opponents in the boardroom and battlefield alike.

Sunshine Season


Nora Roberts - 2021
    But after her father suddenly passed away, leaving none of his fortune behind, Eden forced herself to grow up and become practical. Step one was accepting a job at Camp Liberty, a summer camp for girls. Even a year after her world fell apart, Eden is still grappling with her new responsibilities—especially keeping the campers out of their neighbor’s apple orchard. Chase Elliot is overbearing, and very strict about trespassers. Eden is more than happy to stay out of his way, but soon she finds Chase bumping into her every chance he gets. Eden’s past relationship proved to be a sham, so she constantly brushes Chase off, but sometimes temptation is too hard to resist!The Best MistakeEx-model Zoe Fleming is now a hardworking single mom—and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She does need a tenant to help with the household expenses, and when she enlists for one, comfirmed bachelor J. Cooper McKinnon signs the lease. Handsome as he is, Zoe is too busy for romance, and even if she wasn’t, Coop is not the type of man she had in mind: a sports reporter who admits he doesn’t understand kids. Coop wasn’t planning on settling down anyway, and he certainly didn’t sign up to be a father, but the more time he spends getting to know Zoe and her son, Keenan, the more he can picture their future as a family. If only he can convince Zoe he’s finally ready to commit…

Wild at Heart Expanded Edition: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul


John Eldredge - 2021
    He created us to live a life of passion, freedom and adventure. To be dangerous men living in a really big story.God designed men to be powerful. Simply look at the dreams and desires written in the heart of every boy: to be a hero, a warrior, to love a beauty, to live a life of adventure.But sometime between boyhood and the struggles of yesterday, most men lose heart. All those passions, dreams, and desires get buried under deadlines, pressures, and disappointments. Christianity feels irrelevant to the recovery of their heart. No wonder most men leads lives of quiet resignation, meanwhile looking for a little “life” on the side. In this provocative book, Eldredge invites men to wholeheartedness byrecovering their true masculine hearts;healing the wounds and trauma in their stories; anddelighting in the strength and wildness they were created to offer the world.In this updated and expanded edition of the timeless, bestselling classic, John Eldredge calls men—and the women who love them—to discover the true secret of a man’s soul and embrace the danger, passion, and freedom God intended for every man.

Return to the Outer Banks House


Diann Ducharme - 2014
    When we last saw Abigail Sinclair and Ben Whimble at the close of "The Outer Banks House," they'd overcome their differences in life stations and defied convention to begin their new life together.But now it's seven years later, and "Return to the Outer Banks House" finds the couple married and in hard times-riddled by poverty, miscarriages, and weakened family ties. The strong bonds that once held them together have eroded over time, and their marriage threatens to unravel, particularly when relationships from the past and ambitions for the future find their way into the mismatched couple's present predicament.Can their love survive? Or are the challenges they face insurmountable? "Return to the Outer Banks House" carries readers back to 1875 to answer these questions and explore the ebb and flow of a rocky marriage set against the enchanting North Carolina shoreline. Replete with history, intrigue, and plenty of maritime drama, it's an evocative tale of struggle in the Reconstruction-era South.

Across China


Peter Jenkins - 1986
    And here are the incredible characters he encountered. It became a journey as much into himself as it was across a country. By the author of A Walk Across America.

The Rise and Fall of the House of Bo


John Garnaut - 2012
    Now, as the Party's 18th National Congress oversees the biggest leadership transition in decades, and installs the Bo family's long-time rival Xi Jinping as president, China's rulers are finding it increasingly difficult to keep their poisonous internal divisions behind closed doors.Bo Xilai's breathtaking fall from grace is an extraordinary tale of excess, murder, defection, political purges and ideological clashes going back to Mao himself, as the princeling sons of the revolutionary heroes ascend to control of the Party. China watcher John Garnaut examines how Bo's stellar rise through the ranks troubled his more reformist peers, as he revived anti-'capitalist roader' sentiment, even while his family and associates enjoyed the more open economy's opportunities. Amid fears his imminent elevation to the powerful Standing Committee was leading China towards another destructive Cultural Revolution, have his opponents seized their chance now to destroy Bo and what he stands for? The trigger was his wife Gu Kailai's apparently paranoid murder of an English family friend, which exposed the corruption and brutality of Bo's outwardly successful administration of the massive city of Chongqing. It also led to the one of the highest-level attempted defections in Communist China's history when Bo's right-hand man, police chief Wang Lijun, tried to escape the ruins of his sponsor's reputation.Garnaut explains how this incredible glimpse into the very personal power struggles within the CCP exposes the myth of the unified one-party state. With China approaching super-power status, today's leadership shuffle may set the tone for international relations for decades. Here, Garnaut reveals a particularly Chinese spin on the old adage that the personal is political.

Taming Poison Dragons


Tim Murgatroyd - 2009
    But the "poison dragons" of misfortune shatter his orderly existence. First, when his village is threatened by a vicious civil war, his family stability is threatened by his second son, a brutal rebel officer. Meanwhile, Yun Cai struggles to free an old friend, P'ei Ti, from a hellish prison—no easy task when P'ei Ti is the rebels' most valuable hostage, and Yun Cai sees himself only as a frightened old man. Throughout his ordeals, Yun Cai draws from the glittering memories of his youth, when he journeyed to the capital to study poetry, joined the upper ranks of the civil service, and secured the friendship of P'ei Ti. Above all, he reflects Su Lin, a great love he won and lost, and for which he paid with his freedom and almost his life. Yun Cai is forced to reconsider all that he is and all that he has ever been in order to summon the wit and courage to confront the warlord General An-Shu and his beautiful but cruel consort, the Lady Ta-Chi.

The Power of the Blood


H.A. Maxwell Whyte - 1971
    A. Maxwell Whyte in this revealing exploration of the blessings to be found in Christ’s blood. As you delve deep into this newly revised and expanded version of Whyte’s classic best seller, you will find out how to…Experience God’s complete forgivenessBecome spiritually empowered, equipped, and energizedBreak the terrifying grip of fear and tormentCreate an atmosphere for miraclesDefeat oppression, addictions, and sickness Astounding results can take place in your life once you learn the value of this vital yet little-wielded weapon in the believer’s arsenal and how God wants us to use it in coping with life’s difficult situations. Discover the wonder-working power of the blood for yourself!

Strange Gods: A Novel About Faith, Murder, Sin, and Redemption


Peter J. Daly - 2016
    Somebody is killing cardinals. But what is going on and why? With the latest death, the Vatican is forced to act. The Church pulls Nate Condon, a young New York attorney, into the investigation. As the history of the crimes unfolds, we are drawn inside the magnificent city of Rome, her ancient secrets, and the most privileged inner sanctums of the Catholic hierarchy.In the midst of Nate’s investigation, more tragedy befalls the Church: The pope dies, a Vatican cardinal commits suicide, and the Mafia murders Nate’s primary contact, a self-loathing gay monsignor who is knee-deep in scandal. Soon after, an American cardinal, determined to change the corruption deep within the Church, is elected as the new pope. Will he be able to narrow the divide that is destroying everything he holds dear, or will the schism that separates the Church win out?Strange Gods is written by two priests with firsthand knowledge of the degree to which the Church will go to cover up financial corruption, abuse of power, sexual scandal, and evil. With an eye on the holiness and grace of ordinary people who keep the Church alive and want to change her future, Strange Gods promises to be an engaging and thought-provoking read.

The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy


John DeFrancis - 1984
    Describes some of the concepts underlying the Chinese language and writing system, and gives the author's position on a number of ideas about the language.