Showing results by publisher "Reader's Digest" in All Categories

I had no idea that a monster hid behind his perfect mask, but my normally affectionate dog, Toby, instantly sensed the danger - standing in front of me was a serial killer, a sadist whose days and nights were consumed by murderous obsession.

A few days after Christmas and still disappointed, the nine-year-old boy saw a box with his name on it under his aunt's tree. His spirits improved almost immediately, and his excitement was difficult to contain. The gift had been wrapped in thin paper, thin enough to see through.

Taking a friend's advice, Litty Matthew decided to try the opposite of shopping to boost her mood and escape the sense of constriction that had settled over her life. "And I don't mean just giving to Goodwill, honey," her friend had said. "You should try holding a giveaway."

Pam Sica's friends said she should put her dog to sleep. After all, Bullet was a 15-year-old golden retriever whose snout had gone grizzled with age, who moved with the grace and agility of a box turtle waddling across a highway, and - to make matters worse - who was now acting strangely.

The Best Life Stories by Reader's Digest are 150 of the best hand-picked real-life tales of resilience, joy, and hope - all in 150 words or less!

Real-life thrillers, mysteries, and tales of cold-blooded murder from the Reader's Digest archives.

The Best Life Stories by Reader's Digest are 150 of the best hand-picked real-life tales of resilience, joy, and hope - all in 150 words or less! Imagine your daughter. What does she look like?

The Best Life Stories by Reader's Digest are 150 of the best hand-picked real-life tales of resilience, joy, and hope - all in 150 words or less! We all know the term running away, but in March 2011, I started actively using the term in a different way.

Three years ago, a little painting caused big trouble for undercover agent Bob Wittman. Here, for the first time, he tells all.

Most of the strange and scary world looks remarkably familiar: dumb bosses and workers? Check. Silly governments and grumpy bureaucrats? Check. Cocktails made with human body parts? Check.

"You are fond of Bach?" asked a gentle but surprisingly penetrating voice on my right. I knew as much about Bach as I know about nuclear fission. I did, however, know one of the most famous faces in the world, with his renowned shock of untidy white hair and an ever-present pipe between his teeth.

Tammi Smith was at the register of a Cincinnati convenience store, holding a copy of The Shelbyville News, on a seemingly ordinary day in 2005 when a stocky man in a long-sleeved white shirt and jeans burst through the front door with a gun in his hand. "Everybody get out, or I'm going to kill you!" he shouted, marking the start of what would be a 20-hour hostage ordeal for the mother of five children and two stepchildren.

Joe "Rock" Musial was the real deal. He was a hero. As one fellow soldier put it, "Rock was an absolute legend.... I can remember guys in other units, when Rock walked around the perimeter, they'd stare and ask, 'Is what they say about him true?'"

The Best Life Stories by Reader's Digest are 150 of the best hand-picked real-life tales of resilience, joy, and hope - all in 150 words or less! I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a sister.

Nineteen-year-old Marcus Allen Paden was high on methamphetamine as he wandered aimlessly through a San Jose residential neighborhood on a sunny autumn morning, prowling through yards and testing back doors. Eventually, one clicked open.

It was a profound "Aha!" moment for Karen Lodrick: She suddenly realized how she knew the vaguely familiar looking woman in jeans and Gucci glasses, carrying a brown suede coat and a Prada purse, standing beside her at a local Starbucks. Karen's ID had been stolen five months earlier. Her bank account had been emptied, and her life sent reeling out of control. The suede coat was the same one she'd seen in the bank surveillance tape, worn by the woman who'd stolen Karen's ID.

A thief in Russia used heavy machinery to lift 82 concrete slabs, worth about $6,000 USD, onto three trucks. Unsurprisingly, he didn't get far.

Key West has the margarita. In Munich, Germany, it's the frothy stein of beer. And for one town deep in Canada's Yukon Territory, the signature drink is a cocktail made with a human toe.

The Best Life Stories by Reader's Digest are 150 of the best hand-picked real-life tales of resilience, joy, and hope - all in 150 words or less! 1. It's okay to date frogs; they'll help you recognize your prince.

Air Force Capt. Scott O'Grady and Capt. Bob Wright were on a routine combat air patrol mission in June 1995 when they were suddenly jarred by the buzz and amber flash of their cockpit missile-warning instruments. Two supersonic SA-6 SAMs, hidden by the overcast, were streaking toward them.