Stay True To Who You Are

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • A gripping memoir on friendship, grief, the search for self, and the solace that can be found through art, by the New Yorker staff writer Hua Hsu “This book is exquisite and excruciating and I will be thinking about it for years and years to come.” —Rachel Kushner, New York Times bestselling author of The Flamethrowers and The Mars Room In the eyes of eighteen-year-old Hua Hsu, the problem with Ken—with his passion for Dave Matthews, Abercrombie & Fitch, and his fraternity—is that he is exactly like everyone else. Ken, whose Japanese American family has been in the United States for generations, is mainstream; for Hua, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, who makes ’zines and haunts Bay Area record shops, Ken represents all that he defines himself in opposition to. The only thing Hua and Ken have in common is that, however they engage with it, American culture doesn’t seem to have a place for either of them. But despite his first impressions, Hua and Ken become friends, a friendship built on late-night conversations over cigarettes, long drives along the California coast, and the successes and humiliations of everyday college life. And then violently, senselessly, Ken is gone, killed in a carjacking, not even three years after the day they first meet. Determined to hold on to all that was left of one of his closest friends—his memories—Hua turned to writing. Stay True is the book he’s been working on ever since. A coming-of-age story that details both the ordinary and extraordinary, Stay True is a bracing memoir about growing up, and about moving through the world in search of meaning and belonging.

An Elin Hilderbrand Entertainment Weekly Summer Reading Pick “The book-equivalent of a perfect first date... Highly highly recommend.” —Elin Hilderbrand, #1 New York Times bestselling author “A heady kaleidoscope of romance, heartbreak, and healing that’s both rich in insight and enchantingly funny.” —Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author The author of the “emotional, hilarious, and thought-provoking” (People) novel The Bucket List returns with a witty and heartfelt romantic comedy featuring a wedding planner, her unexpected business partner, and their coworkers in a series of linked love stories—perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Casey McQuiston. For the past twenty years, Liv and Eliot Goldenhorn have run In Love in New York, Brooklyn’s beloved wedding-planning business. When Eliot dies unexpectedly, he even more unexpectedly leaves half of the business to his younger, blonder girlfriend, Savannah. Liv and Savannah are not a match made in heaven, to say the least. But what starts as a personal and professional nightmare transforms into something even savvy, cynical Liv Goldenhorn couldn’t begin to imagine. It Had to Be You cleverly unites Liv, Savannah, and couples as diverse and unique as New York City itself, in a joyous Love-Actually-style braided narrative. The result is a smart, modern love story that truly speaks to our times. Second chances, secret romance, and steamy soul mates are front and center in this sexy, tender, and utterly charming rom-com.

Drag Race Holland winner shares way to the top in tell all memoires: 'Stay true to who you are', the extraordinary life story of Vanessa van Cartier. In Stay true to who you are top artist Vanessa van Cartier shares her dramatic life story. Hundreds of thousands of viewers witnessed her victory on Drag Race Holland at the end of 2021, but few know how long and painful her path to the top actually was. In her book, van Cartier hopes to offer support and encouragement to those in a similar situation, telling fans and other readers: always believe in yourself. Step by step Vanessa has found her way. In her book she talks about drag, prostitution, her transition, discrimination, depression and suicidal thoughts. In addition she tells readers how she found the love of her life and how she persevered and healed by surrounding herself with positive and exceptional people who encourage and support her. ‘Vanessa's story and heart and words will move you and teach you what true kindness and courage looks like. I’m so happy to have Vanessa in my life and with this book you can as well’ – Sam Smith The book contains a lot of additional background information on the topics of bullying and sexual orientation, HIV and AIDS, child abuse, cross-dressing and drag, transgender people and depression. Topics that Vanessa herself had to deal with.

A collection of short stories by various authors, including Andrea Davis Pinkney, M.E. Kerr, and Anne Mazer, about adolescent girls coming of age.

Hear what the Bible says about how to be true to yourself. Our culture tells us that the way to be happy is to "be true to yourself". It’s posted on social media, promoted in adverts, taught in schools and, even, expressed in churches. But what does that mean, and does it actually work? Matt Fuller explores how true happiness, wholeness and freedom can be found not by turning inwards and listening to our fluctuating feelings, but by listening to our creator and allowing ourselves to be shaped by who the Bible says we are. In the process, this book draws on a broad range of fascinating research and examples to give us a fresh biblical take on some of today's biggest hot-button issues. By cutting through the confusion and showing us what the Bible says, this is a book to help every Christian live with confidence in today's culture.

BONUS: This edition contains a Staying True discussion guide. In this candid and compelling memoir, the first lady of South Carolina reveals the private ordeal behind her very public betrayal—and offers inspiration for anyone struggling to keep faith during life’s most trying times. She’s been a successful investment banker, a mother of four, and the campaign manager for one of American politics’ rising stars—her husband, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, once widely hailed as a possible candidate for president in 2012. Yet to most Americans, Jenny Sanford is best known for the one role she refused to play—that of conventional political spouse standing silently by while her husband went before the media and confessed his infidelity. Instead, she stayed true—to herself, to her faith, and to her highest ideals of parenthood and public service. She chose to let Mark Sanford deal with the embarrassment and political fallout from his own actions while focusing her own efforts privately on raising their children to be men of character, even in the face of the lies their father has told. In Staying True, Jenny Sanford recalls her shock and anguish upon discovering that her husband was having an affair with a woman in Argentina, and the further pain when she learned—just a day ahead of most Americans—that he had not ended the affair when she believed he had. She reveals the source of her determination to be honest and forthright instead of the victim in the tabloid passion play that gripped the nation in June 2009. But her story neither begins nor ends with Mark Sanford’s astounding fall from grace. Writing with uncommon candor from a deep well of spiritual strength, Sanford shares personal stories and life lessons from before and after she stepped into the public realm. She recounts the many stresses—as well as the myriad joys—that she experienced on a daily basis while living in the governmental spotlight. (Just try keeping four young boys out of mischief in the governor’s mansion!) And she describes the many ways that the seductions of power can drive apart even the most committed couples. At every step along her journey, Jenny Sanford has made choices: She gave up her career, moved far from her home state of Illinois, even changed her religious practices. Every choice was a glad concession to harmonious married life and, in some cases, to the support of her husband’s political aspirations. But the one thing she never gave up was her sense of self, her inner moral compass. Her remarkable poise and decency make her a role model for men and women alike. Her story will empower anyone who has fought to maintain independence and integrity—within a marriage or elsewhere in life.

Chase Insteadman is a handsome, inoffensive fixture on Manhattan's social scene, living off his earnings as a child star. Chase owes his current social status to an ongoing tragedy much covered in the tabloids: His teenage sweetheart and fiancée, Janice Trumbull, is trapped by a layer of low-orbit mines on the International Space Station, from which she sends him rapturous and heartbreaking love letters. Like Janice, Chase is adrift, and trapped in a vague routine punctuated only by Upper Eastside dinner parties and engagements. Into Chase's life enters Perkus Tooth, a wall-eyed free-range pop-critic, whose soaring conspiratorial riffs are fueled by high-grade marijuana, mammoth cheeseburgers and a desperate ache for meaning. Perkus' countercultural savvy and voracious paranoia draw Chase into another Manhattan, where questions of what is real, what is fake and who is complicit take on a life-shattering urgency. Together Chase and Perkus attempt to unearth the Truth - that rarest of artifacts on an island where everything can be bought. Beautiful and tawdry, tragic and forgiving, Lethem's new novel is as always, utterly unique.

Living in & Trusting Christ completely was what God wanted me to do, so that He could show a dying World His Strength through my weaknesses. Having had several falls in the last few years, I was becoming less able to care for myself, needing Gods help to make it through the day. Laying a desperate plea in my heart to tell others of His total Care for them, if they would turn all they were & had over to Jesus, & let Him Lead them down the Right Path He made just for them. He truly did give me Songs in my darkest hours of pain & suffering.