Author: Hubert Dreyfus
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9781439101704
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272
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Book Description
In unrelenting flow of choices confronts us at nearly every moment of our lives, and yet our culture offers us no clear way to choose. This predicament seems inevitable, but in fact it’s quite new. In medieval Europe, God’s calling was a grounding force. In ancient Greece, a whole pantheon of shining gods stood ready to draw an appropriate action out of you. Like an athlete in “the zone,” you were called to a harmonious attunement with the world, so absorbed in it that you couldn’t make a “wrong” choice. If our culture no longer takes for granted a belief in God, can we nevertheless get in touch with the Homeric moods of wonder and gratitude, and be guided by the meanings they reveal? All Things Shining says we can. Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly illuminate some of the greatest works of the West to reveal how we have lost our passionate engagement with and responsiveness to the world. Their journey takes us from the wonder and openness of Homer’s polytheism to the monotheism of Dante; from the autonomy of Kant to the multiple worlds of Melville; and, finally, to the spiritual difficulties evoked by modern authors such as David Foster Wallace and Elizabeth Gilbert. Dreyfus, a philosopher at the University of California, Berkeley, for forty years, is an original thinker who finds in the classic texts of our culture a new relevance for people’s everyday lives. His lively, thought-provoking lectures have earned him a podcast audience that often reaches the iTunesU Top 40. Kelly, chair of the philosophy department at Harvard University, is an eloquent new voice whose sensitivity to the sadness of the culture—and to what remains of the wonder and gratitude that could chase it away—captures a generation adrift. Re-envisioning modern spiritual life through their examination of literature, philosophy, and religious testimony, Dreyfus and Kelly unearth ancient sources of meaning, and teach us how to rediscover the sacred, shining things that surround us every day. This book will change the way we understand our culture, our history, our sacred practices, and ourselves. It offers a new—and very old—way to celebrate and be grateful for our existence in the modern world.
Author: Anna Claybourne
Publisher: Welbeck Children's Books
ISBN: 1913519937
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 64
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Book Description
Everything changes. From the birth of new stars to the endlessly shifting tides and tiniest life cycle. Some change happens right before your eyes, while other transformations happen so slowly that you won't notice them in your lifetime. And you change too, just like everything else in Nature - growing, learning and changing your thoughts and feelings. All Things Change is a lyrical and beautifully illustrated book looking at the many different processes of change in the natural world, covering geology, ecology, biology and more. It also embraces the philosophical topic of change - how do we approach changes that make us feel sad? How do we cope with changes we can't control? Ideal for children to explore independently or with parents, it holds a special appeal for anyone struggling to find stability in a rapidly changing world.
Author: Ernest Hill
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
ISBN: 0758277458
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336
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Book Description
An ambitious young black man transforms his life with the help of an unexpected ally I this “poignant portrait of a young man at a crossroads” (Booklist). It’s the 1970s and Maurice Dupree is the first person in his family to go to college. Now he’s on his way to becoming the first African American attorney in his hometown of Brownsville, Louisiana. If only the woman he loves was as happy for him as everyone else. But Omenita Jones isn’t planning on waiting three more years to start a life with Maurice. If he wants to go to law school, that’s fine. But she won’t be waiting when he’s finished. Feeling more alone than ever, Maurice finds an unexpected ally in a young white woman. Danielle Davenport is the daughter of an influential judge. Maurice’s mother is the Davenports’ longtime housekeeper. As his friendship with this compassionate woman grows, she becomes a source of strength when he makes a stunning choice, one that will put everything—and everyone—to the test.
Author: Cordelia Jensen
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1683352491
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368
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Book Description
In this beautifully constructed middle-grade novel, told half in prose and half in verse, Lauren prides herself on being a good sister, and Sierra is used to taking care of her mom. When Lauren’s parents send her brother to a therapeutic boarding school for teens on the autism spectrum and Sierra moves to a foster home in Lauren’s wealthy neighborhood, both girls are lost until they find a deep bond with each other. But when Lauren recruits Sierra to help with a Robin Hood scheme to raise money for autistic kids who don’t have her family’s resources, Sierra has a lot to lose if the plan goes wrong. Lauren must learn that having good intentions isn’t all that matters when you battle injustice, and Sierra needs to realize that sometimes, the person you need to take care of is yourself.
Author: Kathy Friedman
Publisher: House of Anansi
ISBN: 1487010419
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 207
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Book Description
Finalist, 2023 Trillium Book Award Finalist, Writers Union of Canada 2023 Daunta Gleed Literary Award Finalist, 2023 ReLit Award for Short Fiction Twelve exquisitely written stories depicting the search for human connection and the attempt to fit in far from home. All the Shining People explores migration, diaspora, and belonging within Toronto’s Jewish South African community, as individuals come to terms with the oppressive hierarchies that separate, and the connections that bind. Seeking a place to belong, the book’s characters — including a life-drawing model searching the streets for her lover; a woman confronting secrets from her past in the new South Africa; and a man grappling with the legacy of his father, a former political prisoner — crave authentic relationships that replicate the lost feeling of home. With its focus on family, culture, and identity, All the Shining People captures the experiences of immigrants and outsiders with honesty, subtlety, and deep sympathy.
Author: Sparrow Beckett
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0451492137
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 279
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Book Description
The author of Finding Master Right returns to the Master Unleashed series with a new erotic romance with an unexpected surprise. When Juliet Callahan's company lands a contract to renovate Catacombs, a mysterious private BDSM club, she's intrigued. The club's owner, William Ellis, is a bossy, dominant man who drives her up the wall. To find out what Catacombs needs, Juliet agrees to visit the club, never guessing she'll end up having a torrid night of submitting to Will's dominance. Will doesn't want a needy submissive he has to treat with kid gloves, but naïve and proper Juliet is too hard to resist. She responds to him beautifully, but after one scorching night, she runs scared. Before he can figure out what makes the interesting girl tick, an unexpected shock shows up on his doorstep. His ex's baby.
Author: Lauren Beukes
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0007464630
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 416
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Book Description
The jaw-dropping, page-turning, critically-acclaimed book of the year: a serial-killer thriller unlike any other from the award-winning Lauren Beukes. ‘GONE GIRL has not exactly gone. But THE SHINING GIRLS have arrived’ (The Times).
Author: William J. Buchanan
Publisher: UNM Press
ISBN: 9780826310163
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
Tells the story of John Baker, a runner, elementary school teacher, and girls track coach, who struggled with cancer.
Author: Harriet Kline
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
ISBN: 1984854909
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 337
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Book Description
A boy struggling to process an unexpected loss believes he has been given a series of clues to the biggest puzzle of all—the meaning of life—in this deeply felt debut novel. “An exquisitely beautiful and compelling novel about love, loss, and life.”—Rachel Joyce, New York Times bestselling author of Miss Benson’s Beetle Meet Ollie. He’s eleven years old. He hasn’t yet met a Killer Sudoku he can’t solve, but he finds the world around him difficult. People don’t say what they mean, and he hates being wrong. And now, a sudden tragedy teaches him there is no easy answer to the problem of grief. When Ollie’s happy-go-lucky father, Rich, dies of brain cancer, his mother, Ruth, has no idea how to keep living, and the entire family is thrown into disarray. The only thing that makes sense to Ollie is the puzzle he’s convinced his father left behind: one gift for each member of the family. If Ollie can find the connection between a pink vase and an old pair of binoculars, then somehow he’ll discover the secret he believes Rich wanted to share with them all: what it means to be alive. Interweaving the voices of each character in turn, this deeply felt novel paints a portrait of a family learning to come together through the darkest times. This Shining Life is a poignant yet ultimately uplifting meditation on grief, healing, and love.
Author: Marilynne Robinson
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374709416
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 224
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Book Description
Marilynne Robinson has built a sterling reputation as a writer of sharp, subtly moving prose, not only as a major American novelist, but also as a rigorous thinker and incisive essayist. In When I Was a Child I Read Books she returns to and expands upon the themes which have preoccupied her work with renewed vigor. In "Austerity as Ideology," she tackles the global debt crisis, and the charged political and social political climate in this country that makes finding a solution to our financial troubles so challenging. In "Open Thy Hand Wide" she searches out the deeply embedded role of generosity in Christian faith. And in "When I Was a Child," one of her most personal essays to date, an account of her childhood in Idaho becomes an exploration of individualism and the myth of the American West. Clear-eyed and forceful as ever, Robinson demonstrates once again why she is regarded as one of our essential writers.
