Life and Death in Shanghai

By Nien Cheng This book is an autobiography of Nien Cheng's life and imprisonment during the 10-year Cultural Revolution in China. The widow of a Shell Oil executive, Cheng served as a consultant to Shell for many years after her husbands death in 1957. She was able to preserve her way of life, living in a three-story home, filled with antiques and art, with her daughter until 1966, when she was evicted from her home and accused of being a spy. The Cultural Revolution was to set into motion by Mao Zedong, and was designed to further cement socialism in the country by removing capitalist elements from Chinese society. Red Guard groups were formed that raided homes and imprisoned people who were supposed to have capitalist ideas or were contradicting communism in some way. Cheng's home was raided, and was unjustly charged with being a spy at a neighborhood meeting. She was imprisoned for more than six years. The book details the years of torture and sickness because of her resolve to maintain her innocence. The interrogations she endured were a battle of wills in which she used silence and quotes from Zedong's little red book. She later learned the captors purpose was to use … [Read more...]

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Eat Pray Love

By Elizabeth Gilbert Eat Pray Love is an intimate, honest account of the author's year-long search for self in three different countries – Italy, India and Indonesia. The consuming panic and confusion she was feeling while living the life others dream of – married, living in a country home and being successful in her career – is what stimulated the journey. Gilbert pulled herself out of the marriage, which plummeted her into a depression and another relationship, before she realized she needed to stop the cycle and figure out who she was and what she really wanted. She chose to attack three aspects of her life – pleasure in Italy, devotion in India and a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence in Bali, Indonesia. In Italy, she works on learning the language and enjoying the food. Being alone is often a struggle, but she is determined to concentrate on her reasons for being there. In India, she spends her time at an Ashram learning the Sanskrit meditations, and ends up staying there longer than originally planned. In Bali, she learns from a medicine man she met in her previous travels, plus she builds relationships with local people and falls in … [Read more...]

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