Piano player with no arms: toast to your life

More than a decade after losing both arms in a freak childhood accident, the 23-year-old Liu Wei, who said he had "totally lost hope in life" back then, has finally become a concert pianist, performing around the world, miraculously, with his toes.

Over the last several years, Liu put all of his energy into defying the odds that were stacked against him, never daring to allow himself to "look back at the miseries and hardships" throughout his journey.

The book's more than 160,000 words were typed out by Liu himself, again with his toes. The undertaking is a reflection of the young man's determination to overcome the setbacks and frustrations he encountered trying to "live with dignity, just like everyone else around me does," as Liu wrote.

As the winner of popular TV show China's Got Talent last year, Liu's misfortune is already known to many of us: He touched a live wire while playing hide-and-seek when he was 10 years old. Luckily, he was spared from death, but he lost his arms.

However, unlike many other stories of loss that tend to narrate miseries and misfortunes in a bleak, somber tone, Toast to Your Life, on the other hand, gives a bright hue between the lines. It doesn't make readers dissolve into tears, and in fact some moments in the book will make you unexpectedly burst out laughing.

"When Liu Wei told me that 'living in and of itself is worth being happy for' one day, I was both astonished and touched," famous TV anchor Yang Lan wrote in her preface for the book. "He simply tells his life story in the book, without a word of complaint."

The book recalls the more than 10 years of starting over since the accident, showing Liu's earnest gratitude toward life and to all who loved and helped him. There is not one single word elaborating on the miseries he and his family must have endured.