What We Tell

The average American watches 5 hours of TV every day. Collectively, we spend roughly $30 billion on movies each year. Simply put, we're entertainment junkies. But can we learn something from our insatiable addiction to stories? Mike Cosper thinks so. From horror flicks to rom-coms, the tales we tell and the myths we weave inevitably echo the narrative underlying all of history: the story of humanity's tragic sin and God's triumphant salvation. This entertaining book connects the dots between the stories we tell and the one, great Story—helping us better understand the longings of the human heart and thoughtfully engage with the movies and TV shows that capture our imaginations.

Throughout history we have told ourselves stories to try and make sense of our place in the universe. Richard Holloway takes us on a personal, scientific and philosophical journey to explore what he believes the answers to the biggest of questions are. He examines what we know about the universe into which we are propelled at birth and from which we are expelled at death, the stories we have told about where we come from, and the stories we tell to get through this muddling experience of life. Thought-provoking, revelatory, compassionate and playful, Stories We Tell Ourselves is a personal reckoning with life’s mysteries by one of the most important and beloved thinkers of our time.

In 1959 Virginia, Sarah, a black student who is one of the first to attend a newly integrated school, forces Linda, a white integration opponent's daughter, to confront harsh truths when they work together on a school project.

Friendship is a complicated experience, one filled with ups and downs, highs and lows, joy and sorrow. But true friendship, like true love, can withstand the tests of timeor can it? For three women, each accomplished in life and facing the challenges and rewards of midlife, friendship is everything. Each has a thriving psychology practice, a family, and security. And each has invested decades of caring, love, laughter, and support into her best friends. Their future looks bright. When secrets begin to mount and loyalties are betrayed, however, these mature friends struggle to find a balance between their loyalty to each other and their clients, as well as between their families and themselves. The women try to trust and support one another, just as they would advise their patients in similar circumstances. But behind each brave face lies a festering secret that the owner is understandably reluctant to share with anyone. No one knows to what lengths they will go to protect that secret until the test appears. As each struggles to face her past, the more troublesome skeletons in the closet begin rattling for attention. How will each woman survive the scandal if her secret is betrayed? Sometimes psychology is not enough to heal the wounds, and sometimes physician, heal thyself is easier said than done.

After tragedy and betrayal, trust comes slowly, love takes work. Lincoln and Kali are finally in a good place. A place of hope. But as Kali starts to accept her present and look to the future, her past gets in the way, forcing her question what she believes about her life and what she wants. As Lincoln learns the truths Kali kept secret, he must decide whether love is stronger than fear and if forgiveness is worth the pain. The finale to the Behind Our Lives is a story about the power of love to conquer fear even when starting over feels impossible, the power of forgiveness, and the strength of the human heart. ----------------------------------- The Stories We Tell is Book Three in a continuing three part story. Please don't read it without first reading Book One, Behind Our Lives and Book Two, What We See. If you do, you'll probably be confused and frustrated and won’t have a great reading experience.

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Imagine if all the worn-out, untrue, painful chapters of our lives started to quiet, and the beautiful, unique pieces of who we are were to rise. Imagine if the stories we tell brought us back to our true selves, back to one another. Imagine if they spoke of how we loved and lost and tried our best. How we saw it all, even the parts that hurt. Joanna Gaines' new book, The Stories We Tell, invites us on an authentic and deeply vulnerable journey into her story—and helps shine a light on the beauty of our own—guiding us to release the weights that hold us back so we may live and share our story in truth. We've all dropped anchor in places that suited us for a time: a city, a perspective, a lie we mistook as truth. This book is an invitation to a kind of life where you know how to hold what you believe—about yourself and the quiet worlds behind the people you pass—with gracious and open hands. To see your story as greater than any past or future thing, but for all the beauty and joy and hope it holds today. It’s an invitation to take stock of the chapters you’ve lived—the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly—glean what’s gold, and carry only that forward. Let it slow your feet and steady your life-in-motion so you can see where you stand today from a new point of view. No longer through weary or uncertain eyes, but a lens brimming with hope. ————— "The only way to break free was to rewrite my story. Because something would happen every time my pen stopped: It was like my soul was coming back to my body. Like the deepest parts of me that got knocked around and drowned out by all the crap I let the world convince me about who I was came back to the surface. And what was left was only what was real and true. I was, finally, standing in the fullness of my story. I felt hopeful. I felt full. Our story may crack us open, but it also pieces us back together. We all have a story to tell. This happens to be mine—every chapter a window into who I am, the journey I’m on, and the season I’m in right now. Because this is my story, maybe you won’t always relate, or maybe it will feel like you’re looking in a mirror. Whatever we have in common and whatever differences lie between us, I only hope my story can help shine a light on the beauty of yours. That my own soul work will stir something of your own. And that by the time you get to the end of my story, you’re also holding the beautiful beginnings of your own. A story only you can tell. And I hope that you will." -Joanna

Bestselling author Patti Callahan Henry is back with a powerful novel about the stories we tell and the people we trust. Eve and Cooper Morrison are Savannah's power couple. They're on every artistic board and deeply involved in the community. She owns and operates a letterpress studio specializing in the handmade; he runs a digital magazine featuring all things southern gentlemen. The perfect juxtaposition of the old and the new, Eve and Cooper are the beautiful people. The lucky ones. And they have the wealth and name that comes from being part of an old Georgia family. But things may not be as good as they seem. Eve's sister, Willa, is staying with the family until she gets "back on her feet." Their daughter, Gwen, is all adolescent rebellion. And Cooper thinks Eve works too much. Still, the Morrison marriage is strong. After twenty-one years together, Eve and Cooper know each other. They count on each other. They know what to expect. But when Cooper and Willa are involved in a car accident, the questions surrounding the event bring the family close to breaking point. Sifting between the stories—what Cooper says, what Willa remembers, what the evidence indicates—Eve has to find out what really happened. And what she's going to do about it. A riveting story about the power of truth, The Stories we Tell will open your eyes and rearrange your heart.

Dr. Chris Thurman brings understanding to the lies we tell ourselves in our daily lives. How do they damage us, why are we telling them, what can we do about them? In The Lies We Tell Ourselves, Dr. Thurman not only answers the questions, he brings about the freedom that can only come from believing the truth.