Before We Were Strangers


Book Description

From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City. To the Green-eyed Lovebird: We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House. You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more. We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other. Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding… I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello. After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half? M







Strangers and Cousins


Book Description

ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR One of Christian Science Monitor's BEST FICTION OF 2019 "Funny and tender but also provocative and wise. . . One of the most hopeful and insightful novels I've read in years." - Ron Charles, The Washington Post "Serious yet joyous comedy, reminiscent of the Pultizer-winning Less" - Out Magazine A novel about what happens when an already sprawling family hosts an even larger and more chaotic wedding: an entertaining story about family, culture, memory, and community. In the seemingly idyllic town of Rundle Junction, Bennie and Walter are preparing to host the wedding of their eldest daughter Clem. A marriage ceremony at their beloved, rambling home should be the happiest of occasions, but Walter and Bennie have a secret. A new community has moved to Rundle Junction, threatening the social order and forcing Bennie and Walter to confront uncomfortable truths about the lengths they would go to to maintain harmony. Meanwhile, Aunt Glad, the oldest member of the family, arrives for the wedding plagued by long-buried memories of a scarring event that occurred when she was a girl in Rundle Junction. As she uncovers details about her role in this event, the family begins to realize that Clem's wedding may not be exactly what it seemed. Clever, passionate, artistic Clem has her own agenda. What she doesn't know is that by the end, everyone will have roles to play in this richly imagined ceremony of familial connection-a brood of quirky relatives, effervescent college friends, ghosts emerging from the past, a determined little mouse, and even the very group of new neighbors whose presence has shaken Rundle Junction to its core. With Strangers and Cousins, Leah Hager Cohen delivers a story of pageantry and performance, hopefulness and growth, and introduces a winsome, unforgettable cast of characters whose lives are forever changed by events that unfold and reverberate across generations.




No Strangers Here


Book Description

Churches are traditionally among the first to respond to the call to aid strangers in distress. In this age of globalization, one group of strangers in particular--asylum seekers and refugees--is in urgent need of welcome as they flee their homelands in search of safety. This same group, however, faces hostility and rejection in many places. What should be the church's response? This book argues that Christian hospitality offers a powerful theological and pastoral response to such vulnerable strangers in our midst. For that to happen, the church must answer two questions: "What is Christian hospitality?" and "How do we put it into practice with refugees and asylum seekers?" Part One answers the first question with a cross-disciplinary study of sacred hospitality in both ancient and modern times. Part Two tackles the second with a fascinating case study of the church's outreach to refugees and asylum seekers in an international Chinese city. As communities worldwide receive refugees and asylum seekers, this book offers Christian hospitality and the Hong Kong experience as one hopeful response to needy strangers at our doorstep. It is a welcome theological and practical resource for refugee ministry in the twenty-first century.




The Bay of Strangers


Book Description




Always the Young Strangers


Book Description

The Pulitzer Prize–winning poet and historian recalls his midwestern boyhood in this classic memoir. Born in a tiny cottage in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1878, Carl Sandburg grew with America. As a boy he left school at the age of thirteen to embark on a life of work—driving a milk wagon and serving as a hotel porter, a bricklayer, and a farm laborer before eventually finding his place in the world of literature. In Always the Young Strangers, Sandburg delivers a nostalgic view of small-town life around the turn of the twentieth century and an invaluable perspective on American history.




On The Roof


Book Description

A look inside Off-Broadway's Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, the ground-breaking, award-winning musical. Samantha Hahn, the youngest member of the cast, tells the story of how "Yiddish Fiddler" came to be. Samantha has interviewed the cast, crew, and creative team - each with a unique take on the show and the impact it has had on their lives - for a behind-the-scenes look at what makes "Yiddish Fiddler" so special. On the Roof takes the reader on a never before seen journey - from rehearsals that end in tears and screaming in elevators, to the beautiful bonds between company members as strangers turn into family. "When we opened, something sort of miraculous happened. There we were - a hit. Our youngest member has written this altogether delightful recounting of the experience. Samantha Hahn is not only a gifted performer but a delightful documentarian; she takes you through our auditions, rehearsals, backstage life, mishaps, and relationships, and shares stories and intimate thoughts from the entire team. Come, sit in on a rehearsal or two..." Joel Grey




Strangers


Book Description

“The plot twists ingeniously...an engaging, often chilling book.”—The New York Times Book Review A writer in California. A doctor in Boston. A motel owner and his employee in Nevada. A priest in Chicago. A robber in New York. A little girl in Las Vegas. They’re a handful of people from across the country, living through eerie variations of the same nightmare. A dark memory is calling out to them. And soon they will be drawn together, deep in the heart of a sprawling desert, where the terrifying truth awaits...




A World of Strangers


Book Description

Toby Hood, a young Englishman, shuns the politics and the causes his liberal parents passionately support. Living in Johannesburg as a representative of his family's publishing company, Toby moves easily, carelessly, between the complacent wealthy white suburbs and the seething, vibrantly alive black townships. His friends include a wide variety of people, from mining directors to black journalists and musicians, and Toby's colonial-style weekends are often interspersed with clandestine evenings spent in black shanty towns. Toby's friendship with Steven Sithole, a dashing, embittered young African, touches him in ways he never thought possible, and when Steven's own sense of independence from the rules of society leads to tragedy, Toby's life is changed forever.




Strangers with God


Book Description

These pages represent the compendium of a long journey of more than twenty-five years. It would be simplistic to define this journey as exclusively intellectual, because it would be unthinkable without frequent visits to the Middle East, in particular to Turkey, the second Holy Land of Christianity, the ancient Asia Minor of biblical history, with its overwhelming Muslim population today. The fact is that, since many years now, the theme of hospitality has been the subject of numerous publications, studies, contributions and gatherings with protagonists of various opinions and expertise convening to give answers to questions related to the challenge of living together in the complex society of our contemporary world. It is precisely by letting ourselves be questioned by these complexities that we become aware that the challenge of hospitality is not merely economic or political but also spiritual. Claudio Monge addresses one of the key questions of today with an extremely ancient text from the deepest roots of our civilisation, Genesis 18, in which Abraham welcomes the three strangers who come to his tent and announce the conception of Isaac. Today, when millions are in movement, fleeing war and poverty, the question of how we are to receive strangers is urgent and inescapable. Monge explores this text through the traditions of three religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - which claim the assent of approximately half of the population of the world. Yet these three religions, all looking back in one way or another to Abraham, are often strangers to each other. If we could offer welcome to each other, what a powerful sign of hope this would be for our conflict torn world!