In 1998, a determined Waterford hurling team made their way to their first All-Ireland semi-final in almost forty years, their sights firmly set on the final, which would be their first since 1963.But destiny conspired against them and they lost. Over the next twelve years they would, time and time again, play spell-binding hurling, reach the Semi-Finals seven times, Player of the Year Awards and multiple All-Star honours and come agonisingly close to winning one of the biggest prizes in Irish sport. In The Ecstasy and the Agony, Damien Tiernan goes behind the scenes and takes an unflinchingly honest look at how such a great team can come so close to major triumphs but still walked away without the top honours. In over sixty interviews with key players, backroom staff, selectors and managers including Justin McCarthy, Paul Flynn, Davy Fitzgerald, Dan Shanahan, Eoin Kelly, Stephen Molumphy, Ken McGrath, Gerald McCarthy, and many others - Tiernan examines the controversies that have dogged Waterford hurling in recent years. Who are the leaders? What are the key moments around which victory and defeat revolve? And what, ultimately, are the lessons learned? The Ecstasy and the Agony is the full and honest account of a team who will never stop believing.

This book was written by the wife of a pastor. The book contains experiences both awesome and belittling that has helped to shape her life and ministry. It goes on to explain that many of things that people see of the pastors wife is only a charade and not a true reflection of the life that the pastor's wife really lives. The book also brings about an awareness of how pastors wives feel, are treated, and ways in which aspiring pastors wives can prepare themselves for ministry.

This is the true story of my life, born into a family who lived in poverty on the edge of Bristol. In the early 1930s the economy of England started to improve. This improved my life in that I had my own pair of shoes to wear and some new clothes instead of hand me downs but never enough food. I relate some of my experiences as a child and teenager, then my Stonemasonry story. My career in the armed forces in England and Malaya. When I entered the army I was 5foot 4 inches tall. Upon de-mobilisation I had grown to 6foot 3 inches due to being fed properly. I trained as an Alabaster worker and Stonemason. I finally was made the National President of the Association of Natural Stone Industries. This gave me the great honour of sitting down to a banquet with Prince Charles. I also had the privilege of meeting Princess Margaret, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and Her majesty our present Queen. During my lifetime I have repaired many grand edifices and many Churches. It has been my good fortune to learn that from Saxon times onwards Stonemasons could do better work when their tools were made for them by Blacksmiths. This knowledge eluded most Masons but helped make me a much respected restorer in all periods of construction. I was appointed a lecturer at Bristol University and the Orton Trust in Northamptonshire. This was my real rags to riches story.

Irving Stone's powerful and passionate biographical novel of Michelangelo. His time: the turbulent Renaissance, the years of poisoning princes, warring popes, the all-powerful Medici family, the fanatic monk Savonarola. His loves: the frail and lovely daughter of Lorenzo de Medici; the ardent mistress of Marco Aldovrandi; and his last love - his greatest love - the beautiful, unhappy Vittoria Colonna. His genius: a God-driven fury from which he wrested the greatest art the world has ever known. Michelangelo Buonarotti, creator of David, painter of the Sistine ceiling, architect of the dome of St Peter's, lives once more in the tempestuous, powerful pages of Irving Stone's marvellous book.

Daria Klimentová's sizzling chemistry with Russian dancer Vadim Muntagirov, who is nearly 20 years her junior, has reignited the prima ballerina's career - and marks a metamorphosis after her Black Swan-style torments depicted in BBC Four's Agony and Ecstasy, the gripping documentary series aired last year. There has been a metamorphosis since the 'old ballerina' allowed herself to be browbeaten by domineering choreographer Derek Deane, and Daria and Vadim are being applauded as the new Fonteyn and Nureyev. But unlike Vadim, Daria wasn't raised in a ballet family. Born in Prague, she was talent-spotted as a gymnast when she was five. She had a ballet lesson once a week and her teacher advised her parents that ballet might offer a longer career. Daria didn't much care but changed her mind once she set her heart on dancing at Prague's National Theatre. She became a soloist there at 18, and then spent three years with the Scottish Ballet before joining the ENB in 1996. Her innate tenacity has seen Daria through some tough times. Her father, a factory mechanic and her greatest fan, died from lung cancer when she was newly arrived in London and didn't have many friends. When her only brother Radek was killed in a motorcycle accident, she cried all day then had to go on stage to dance Giselle. That was the greatest pain she has ever known, she says. It gave her a determination to enjoy life and keep ballet in perspective. Similarly when she fell pregnant with her first child, Daria explains how those around her where shocked that she was not more concerned with the upcoming performance of Sleeping Beauty. In her wonderful and insightful autobiography Daria reveals what life is like behind the scenes and how you really can have it all.

Not only is this a great and easy cookbook, but it tells you how you should never give up your dreams. I thought I lost everything inside of me on 9/11. I felt lost. But I found my self again, just in another place. No one is ever really lost. Never lose yourself.

A comprehensive history of the Football League Play-Offs from their relatively troubled conception to the current day boom. Born in English football's darkest hour, it has now become home to the richest match in sport. From the exquisite agony of losing to the unadulterated high of success, this is the Agony & the Ecstasy.

a poetic journey through the dark night of the soul