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Things We Couldn't Explain
By Betsy Tobin. 2014
Things We Couldn't Explain is a comic story of young love, thwarted desire and the slippery nature of faith. It's…
ideal for readers who have enjoyed The Fault in Our Stars and The Rosie Project. Some things just can't be explained. It's the summer of '79 and the small town of Jericho, Ohio is awash with mysteries. Anne-Marie is beautiful, blind, virginal - and pregnant. Ethan is the boy next door who would do anything to win her heart. But when the Virgin Mary starts to appear in the sunset, the town is besieged by zealots, tourists and profiteers. Can love survive amidst the madness? A comic tale of young love, thwarted desire and the slippery nature of faith... Author Information: Betsy Tobin is the acclaimed author of four novels: Bone House, short-listed for the Commonwealth Prize and winner of a Herodotus Prize in America, The Bounce, Ice Land, and Crimson China, a BBC Radio 4 Book-At-Bedtime and shortlisted for Epic Romantic Novel of the Year. Her books have been published throughout Europe and North America and two have been optioned for feature film. Betsy also writes for stage and radio, and is a past winner of the London Writers' Competition for her short story, Joyride. Born and raised in the American Midwest, she now lives in London and Wales with her husband and four children, and teaches writing with Arvon and First Story.I died in 1990, in an automobile accident in Alaska on the Seward Highway. Soon thereafter, I found myself sitting…
on the ground outside my home in south Anchorage. Only my home wasn't there. Actually, the whole subdivision was missing. Because I soon learned that it wasn't 1990 anymore; it was 1963. But how could that be? In 1963, I was a 9-year old boy living in upstate New York. How did I get here, and why? Could I get back the life I knew? I wanted my wife back! Meeting With The Well Known details my journey back to 1990 from 1963. The impossible circumstances, the delicate change of history, and the call of God to challenge the Church's misconception of time. An adventure so incredible, I dare not declare it as true.The Breath of God
By Jeffrey Small. 2011
A murder at the Taj Mahal. A kidnapping in a sacred city. A desperate chase through a cliffside monastery. All…
in the pursuit of a legend that could link the world's great religious faiths.In 1887, a Russian journalist made an explosive discovery in a remote Himalayan monastery only to be condemned and silenced for the heresy he proposed. His discovery vanished shortly thereafter.Now, graduate student Grant Matthews journeys to the Himalayas in search of this ancient mystery. But Matthews couldn't have anticipated the conspiracy of zealots who would go to any lengths to prevent him from bringing this secret public. Soon he is in a race to expose a truth that will change the world's understanding of religion. A truth that his university colleagues believe is mere myth. A truth that will change his life forever-if he survives.Hound
By Vincent Mccaffrey. 2009
Wigrum
By Daniel Canty, Oana Avasilichioaei. 2011
End of October 1944. Sebastian Wigrum absconds from his London flat. Very little is known about him, except his intense…
curiosity about the world and perhaps his disillusionment in love. The legacy of this man, who lived to collect has left in his wake an inventory of some hundred objects, which shed light on the history of our time.Hometown Tales
By Philip Gulley. 2001
Stories from a Place That Feels Like Home Master storyteller Philip Gulley envelops readers in an almost…
forgotten world of plainspoken and honest small-town values evoking a simpler time when people knew each other by name folks looked out for their neighbors and people were willing to do what was right--no matter the cost When Philip Gulley began writing newsletter essays for the twelve members of his Quaker meeting in Indiana he had no idea one of them would find its way to radio commentator Paul Harvey Jr and be read on the air to 24 million people Fourteen books later with more than a million books in print Gulley still entertains as well as inspires from his small-town front porchThe Life of God (as Told by Himself)
By Franco Ferrucci. 1996
At the center of Franco Ferrucci's inspired novel is a tender, troubled God. In the beginning is God's solitude, and…
because God is lonely he creates the world. He falls in love with earth, plunges into the oceans, lives as plant and reptile and bird. His every thought and mood serve to populate the planet, with consequences that run away from him—sometimes delightfully, sometimes unfortunately. When a new arrival emerges from the apes, God believes he has finally found the companion he needs to help him make sense of his unruly creation. Yet, as the centuries pass, God feels more and more out of place in the world he has created; by the close of his memoir, he is packing his bags. Highly praised and widely reviewed, The Life of God is a playful, wondrous, and irresistible book, recounting thousands of years of religious and philosophical thought. "A supreme but imperfect entity, the protagonist of this religiously enlightened and orthodoxically heretical novel is possessed by a raving love for his skewed, unbalanced world. . . . Blessed are the readers, for this tale of God's long insomnia will keep them happily awake. . . . Extraordinary. " —Umberto Eco "The Life of God is, in truth, the synthesis of a charming writer's . . . expression of his boundless hopes for, and poignant disappointments in, his own human kind. " —Jack Miles, New York Times Book Review "Rather endearing. . . . This exceedingly amusing novel . . . is a continuous provocation and delight; there isn't a dull page in it. " —Kirkus Reviews "A smart and charming knitting of secular and ecclesiastic views of the world. . . . The character of God is likable—sweet, utterly human. . . . The prose is delightful . . . the writing is consistently witty and intelligent and periodically hilarious. " —Allison Stark Draper, Boston Review "'God's only excuse is that he does not exist,' wrote Stendhal, but now Franco Ferrucci has provided the Supreme Being with another sort of alibi. " —James Morrow, Washington Post Book WorldAwake in the Dark
By Shira Nayman. 2006
Bold and deeply affecting, Awake in the Dark is a provocative and haunting work of fiction about who we are…
and how we are formed by history. These luminous stories portray the contemporary lives of the children of Holocaust victims and perpetrators as they struggle with the legacy of their parents -- their questions of identity, family, and faith. Awake in the Dark is peopled by characters embarking on journeys of self-discovery; they unearth the past and the secrets that shaped them. In "The House on Kronenstrasse," a woman returns to Germany to find her childhood home; in "The Porcelain Monkey," the shocking origins of an Orthodox Jewish woman's faith are revealed; in "The Lamp," the harrowing experiences of a young woman leave her with the perfect daughter and a strange light; and in "Dark Urgings of the Blood," a patient is convinced that she shares a disturbing history with her psychiatrist. Rendered in clear, unaffected prose, Shira Nayman's powerful and heartbreaking collection explores the burden of history. Awake in the Dark is an illuminating and startling book about the disguises we don, the secrets we keep, and the consequences of our silences.A Slepyng Hound to Wake
By Vincent Mccaffrey. 2011
Praise for Hound:"There's something charismatic and timeless about the way the story builds and McCaffrey opens Henry's life to the…
reader . . . McCaffrey is. . .just telling a compelling, old-school yarn, the kind of story a man who knows his literature tells."-Time Out Chicago"For the true bibliophile, this is a book you'll love."-The HippoGeoffrey Chaucer said, "It is nought good a slepyng hound to wake." Henry Sullivan, bookhound, is ready to be that sleeping dog: to settle down in his new apartment and enjoy life with his new girlfriend.But the underside of the literary world won't let him go. A bookscout sells Henry a book-and is murdered later that night. An old friend asks him to investigate a case of possible plagiarism involving a local best-selling author. To make matters worse, his violinist neighbor seems to have a stalker. And wherever Henry goes, there's a cop watching him.Henry can read the signs: to save those he loves he has to save himself.Vincent McCaffrey's novel Hound was chosen as a Must-Read Book by the Massachusetts Book Awards. He has owned the Avenue Victor Hugo Bookshop for more than thirty years. He has been paid to do lawn work, shovel snow, paint houses, and to be an office-boy, warehouse grunt, dishwasher, waiter, and hotel night clerk. He has chosen at various times to be a writer, editor, publisher, and bookseller. A Slepyng Hound to Wake is his second novel.The Passion of Mary Magdalen
By Elizabeth Cunningham. 2007
"Cunningham weaves Hebrew scripture, Celtic and Egyptian mythology, and early Christian legend into a nearly seamless whole, creating an unforgettable…
fifth gospel story in which the women most involved in Jesus's ministry are given far more representation."--Library Journal"This year's must-have summer reading."--KINK Radio"Lavish and lusty . . . Cunningham's Celtic Magdalen is as hot in the mouth as Irish whiskey."--Beliefnet (chosen as one of this year's "heretical beach-books")"Explodes off the page with its tales of love, hope, power, and redemption--book clubs looking for a great discussion, take note."--TheBookBrothel.comChristmas in Harmony
By Philip Gulley. 2002
Philip Gulley takes us to Harmony, Indiana, at Christmastime as inspiration strikes the inimitable Dale Hinshaw. Always looking for a…
way to increase the church's profit margins, Hinshaw brainstorms a progressive nativity scene that will involve the whole town, complete with a map like those for the Hollywood stars. Neither Pastor Sam Gardner nor the other members of the Harmony Friends meeting express any enthusiasm for this idea, but Dale is unstoppable. Meanwhile, Pastor Sam has his own concerns: he's having his annual argument with his wife, and he's worried that the four-slotted toaster he bought for her may be too lavish a gift. Amidst the bustle of the season, the citizens of Harmony experience the simple joys and sometime loneliness that often go unseen. Sam comes to the realization that Dale, in his own misguided way, is only trying to draw meaning from the eternal story of Christmas. "In this unsettled world, it is good to have this steadiness -- the Christmas Eve service, the peal of the bell. . . .There is a holiness to memory, a sense of God's presence in these mangers of the mind. Which might explain why it is that the occasions that change the least are often the very occasions that change us the most."Il Tempo e la Luce chiara. Diario di non meditazione.
By Apo Halmyris, Francesca Degani. 2017
Le cose devono essere nel modo in cui le troviamo. Ma i cercatori sono invitati a viaggiare nello spazio-tempo. La…
nostra vita è limitata, ma la conoscenza no. Un libro sapienziale. Un libro che è come una lanterna sulla spalla.Brick Shakespeare: The Comedies - A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Taming of the Shrew
By Becky Thomas, Monica Sweeney, John McCann. 2014
Explore four of Shakespeare’s comedies like never before-with LEGO bricks! This book presents Shakespeare’s most delightful comedies, A Midsummer Night’s…
Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Tempest, in one thousand amazing color photographs. This unique adaptation of the world’s most famous plays stays true to Shakespeare’s original text, while giving audiences an exciting new perspective as the stories are retold with the universally beloved construction toy.Get caught up in hilarious misadventures as brick Puck leads the lovers astray through the brick forests of Athens. Watch Cupid kill with traps in the plot to marry Beatrice and Benedict. Marvel at the changing disguises of the men vying for brick Bianca’s affections, and feel the churn of the ocean as Prospero sinks his brother’s ship into the brick sea. These iconic stories jump off the page with fun, creative sets built brick by brick, scene by scene!This incredible method of storytelling gives new life to Shakespeare’s masterpieces. With an abridged form that maintains original Shakespearean language and modern visuals, this ode to the Bard is sure to please all audiences, from the most versed Shakespeare enthusiasts to young students and newcomers alike!Summer Nights in Lantern Square: Part One of the Lantern Square series
By Helen Rolfe. 2019
This is Part One in the charming new four-part serial from Helen Rolfe, author of The Little Café at the…
End of the Pier - perfect for fans of Holly Hepburn and Cathy BramleyStep into the cosy community of Lantern Square... Since moving to the charming Cotswold village of Butterbury, Hannah has found her true home in the heart of the little community. Previously a high flyer in the city, she now runs her small business, Tied Up With String, from her cottage in Lantern Square.Her handmade gifts and care packages are the perfect way to show someone you care, and while her brown paper packages bring a smile to customers across the miles, Hannah also makes sure to deliver a special something to the people closer to home... But as Butterbury glows with the sunshine and sparkling lights of the Summer Fair, Hannah finds herself facing old memories, familiar faces, and perhaps even a new romance... ***The Little Cottage in Lantern Square is a delightfully heartwarming novel told in four parts. This is the first part.Victorian Cosmopolitanism and English Catholicity in the Mid-Century Novel
By Teresa Huffman Traver. 2019
Victorian Cosmopolitanism and English Catholicity in the Mid-Century Novel argues that the Creedal doctrines of “the communion of saints” and…
the “holy Catholic Church” provided Victorian novelists—both Roman Catholic and Protestant—with a means of exploring religious forms of cosmopolitanism. Building on research exploring the divisions between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism in Victorian literature and culture, Teresa Huffman Traver considers the extent to which anti-Catholicism, domesticity, and national identity were linked. Huffman Traver connects this research with cosmopolitan theory, and analyzes how the conception of Catholicity could be used to reach beyond national identity towards a transnational community. Investigating the idea of a “rooted” cosmopolitanism, grounded in the local and limited in scope, this Pivot book offers a new angle on how religion, domesticity, and national identity were constructed in nineteenth-century British culture.Compare worldwide religious regulations involving gay sex and masculinity! Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods: An Exploration into the Religious Significance…
of Male Homosexuality in World Perspective is an eye-opening look at the traditions of particular religions and their edicts concerning gay sex. This book examines the origins of holy directives involving homosexualitywhether forbidden, tolerated, or mandatoryand establishes a link between theology, sex roles, and the sensitive issue of masculinity. This text draws a parallel between homosexuality and the idea of religion, suggesting that gay rights can be understood as a freedom of religion issue. While most readers are familiar with the traditional Islamic, Christian, and Hebrew prohibitions against sex between two males, this book also reveals other historic religions from around the world that neither opposed nor looked down on homosexuality. Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods argues that masculinity is the universal theme that formed historical interpretationwarriors and men of high status could not be sexually receptive or feminine and still be called men. This intriguing text shows how the modern homophile movements are in effect redefining masculinity to obliterate the stigma of being a sexually receptive man. Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods examines the significance of homosexuality in such religions as: the Sambians of New Guinea the Taoists of Ancient China Plato and the later Stoics Islamic Sufism Native American culture Hebrew Scriptures early Christianity Buddhism Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods is an enlightening book that honors homosexual claims to moral integrity and appreciates religion and religious figures without rancor. Easy-to-read and free of technical language, this volume is for anyone who has an academic, professional, or personal interest in theology and homosexuality. The author is available for speaking engagements and can be contacted at Ronldlong@aol.comHarmattan: A Philosophical Fiction (Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture)
By Professor Michael D. Jackson. 2015
We all experience qualms and anxieties when we move from the known to the unknown. Though our fulfillment in life…
may depend on testing limits, our faintheartedness is a reminder of our need for security and our awareness of the risks of venturing into alien worlds. Evoking the hot, dust-filled Harmattan winds that blow from the Sahara to the Gulf of Guinea, this book creatively explores what it means to be buffeted by the unforeseen and the unknown. Celebrating the life-giving potential of people, places, and powers that lie beyond our established worlds, Harmattan connects existential vitality to the act of resisting prescribed customs and questioning received notions of truth. At the book's heart is the fictional story of Tom Lannon, a graduate student from Cambridge University, who remains ambivalent about pursuing a conventional life. After traveling to Sierra Leone in the aftermath of its devastating civil war, Tom meets a writer who helps him explore the possibilities of renewal. Illustrating the fact that certain aspects of human existence are common to all people regardless of culture and history, Harmattan remakes the distinction between home and world and the relationship between knowledge and life.I'm Just a Teenage Punchbag: POIGNANT AND FUNNY: A NOVEL FOR A GENERATION OF WOMEN
By Jackie Clune. 2020
'Obligatory reading for all parents of teenagers!' NIGELLA LAWSON'Bloody marvellous. Horribly familiar, funny, touching, sad, brutally honest...clutch this book to…
your stained T-shirt and never let it go.' JO BRAND'Terrific. A remarkable blend of hilarity and heartbreak with a really satisfying plot. Being childless never felt so good.' GRAHAM NORTON'Warm and witty... The competitive mothering, the hell that is other people's children, the fights and accusations of Homeland inquisition all rang deliciously true... a most entertaining read.' KATHY LETTE'Very poignant... A moving read as well as a funny one.' JANE GARVEY 'Honest, hilarious and painful' WOMAN & HOMEWarning!! This novel may lead you to make rash and life-changing decisions!**Probably don't read if you fear you may be ripe for liberation. Or if you sometimes wee when you laugh...First there was Having It All, then there was Bridget Jones' s Diary and I Don't Know How She Does It. Now there is Teenage Punchbag.I'm Just A Teenage Punchbag is a laugh-out-loud, sob-on-the bus journey through the so-called life of a middle-aged woman.Ciara is mother to three ungrateful, entitled teenagers, is married to steady Martin, a man with hairy udders, and is grieving for her mum who now lives in the wardrobe in a cardboard box from the crematorium. She finds solace in her anonymous blog, and in the daily chats she has with her mum's ashes (often the best conversations she has all day.)Despite the menopause, the invisibility of middle age and the daily self-esteem bashings, courtesy of her kids, Ciara manages to navigate the stormy waters of grief and family life - until her mask slips and she is cast out from the family bosom. She embarks on a mission to fulfil her mum's dying wishes to have her remains sprinkled from the top of the Empire State Building, finding company, distraction and - ultimately - herself in the process.If motherhood is a job - who says you can't resign?Not OK, Cupid: A sparkling rom-com you won't want to put down!
By Anna Kaling. 2020
Anna Kaling's sparkling debut rom-com, Not OK, Cupid, is perfect for fans of Sophie Ranald, Jo Watson and Sally Thorne.…
Readers are raving about Not OK, Cupid!'I'm pretty sure I have NEVER laughed so hard in my entire life...a rom-com fan's dream' 5* reader review'Great characters, lots of laughs, and oh-so-hot sex scenes' 5* reader review'Positively the best romantic comedy I've read in a long time' 5* reader reviewLove doesn't always follow the rules...Ally Rivers has three jobs, a disastrous dating record, and her gran won't stop talking about sex with eighty-year-old Melvin. Now her best friend Sam confesses his whole family think they're engaged. The longest relationship she's ever been in is fabricated, and her intended is gay. Playing Sam's besotted lover at a family party, Ally discovers the hot gardener she's been flirting with is Sam's dad, Marcus. She even sucks at fake relationships. But Marcus is on to them and embroils Ally in another scheme - encouraging Sam to come out. Scheming is not Ally's forte and, worse, she and Marcus are falling for each other. After years in an unhappy marriage, he's not letting Ally go without a fight, but she's torn between the best friend she'll ever have and the only man she's ever been in love with. Either choice will leave two broken hearts, and Gran will still have a more successful love life than her...A Patchwork Family - Part Four: Coming Home
By Cathy Bramley. 2019
This is part four in an uplifting four-part serial from bestseller Cathy Bramley. Everyone is feeling full of the festive…
spirit at The Evergreens: Christmas is a time when anything feels possible. And Gina has her heart pegged on that being the case as she waits to hear from the bank...Then a surprise visitor at her door helps her see everything in a new light. Family is the most important thing in the world - and can look so different for everyone. Gina has bravely fought for the patchwork family she's made for herself at The Evergreens, so will her Christmas wish come true...?Return to the village of Barnaby and the world of the bestselling novel, The Lemon Tree Cafe. A Patchwork Family is a heartwarming novel told in four parts, following the challenges and triumphs faced by Gina Moss as she swaps an easy life for a happy one. This is the fourth and final part. *****Praise for Cathy Bramley from some of your other favourite authors:'Delightful!' Katie Fforde'A page-turner of a story' Milly Johnson'Delightfully warm with plenty of twists and turns' Trisha Ashley'The perfect romantic tale, to warm your heart and make you smile' Ali McNamara