Amazon.com
Michael Byers grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and the stories in The Coast of Good Intentions evoke that region's cloudy and caffeinated landscape with impressive ease. He gives each location the particularity of a fingerprint: "The alders were in full leaf," Byers writes in a typical bit of Sensurround prose, "and the cranberry bog was a deep russet now in the middle of the summer. Down at the end of the road another little house sat, abandoned, its door gaping open as if to breathe, a tree growing through the windows. Somewhere we could hear a tractor. The ocean was a mile away, across the highway, invisible, but I could smell it, the salty air." Yet the author never indulges in merely bucolic scene-painting. Instead, he explores how the landscape shapes his characters, who seem alternately depressed and comforted by the perpetual sight of thunderheads "piling themselves against the Olympics, like gray balloons against a ceiling." What's more, Byers has a wonderful touch when it come to rendering the middle ground of happiness. In stories like "Shipmates Down Under" and "In Spain, One Thousand and Three," his protagonists seem to stagger under their allotments of disappointment--and remain surprisingly and persuasively alive to possibility. This would be a impressive debut for a late-blooming, middle-aged master. Coming from a 28-year-old, it's an astonishing performance, which makes the word precocious sound limp and irrelevant.
Book Description
Michael Byers's award-winning collection The Coast of Good Intentions tells graceful tales of achingly unresolved lives on the Pacific Northwest coast. Byers captures the lives of ferry workers, carpenters, park rangers, and adolescents leaving home, against a backdrop of crab factories, cranberry bogs, the fog-shrouded shore, and the Seattle skyline. A poignant debut collection, these stories are "richly peopled with compelling characters whose wisdom and experiences span the generations" (San Jose Mercury News).
Customer Reviews:
Quiet, expansive.......2004-06-25
One reviewer called these stories "wise, beautiful, and necessary" and I think that's right (Baxter). Here is a quote from the first story of the collection, "Settled on the Cranberry Coast," "I was drunk but not drunk enough to say what I wanted, that we don't live our lives so much as come to them, as different people and things collect mysteriously around us" (Byers 13). To my ear, Byers has a keen and compassionate wisdom about life and people, but that his aesthetic judgment wants something, especially in the endings to the stories, which seem to strain for the iconic, beautiful, and quaint in a way that the stories themselves fall into, without effort. Byers is a Seattle native and who, in his late twenties, is already winning some significant literary prizes. After publishing this collection, his first book, he went to teach at Stanford. They're all based in Seattle, or its surrounding cities, which would endear the collection to me even if the writing were not so good as it is.
A beautiful piece of work.......2004-02-04
The short stories here are honest, smart, lively, and wonderfully observed. They are often mysterious in the way that the best poetry is mysterious. There are two stories, "Shipmates Down Under" and "In Spain, One Thousand and Three," whose endings I found deeply moving in ways I still don't understand. Michael Byers writes beautifully. His sentences lightly carry a remarkable load of striking metaphors and real-life anomalies. More important, he doesn't judge his characters as most young writers do; he questions them, explores their motives and the claims they make about their lives. He gives them, and the reader, a bit of breathing room.
These stories floored me. I can't wait to read the man's novel.
Wonderful book, wonderful teacher.......2002-12-06
I bought this collection because Michael Byers was teaching my writing workshop at Oberlin College and I thought I should read his work while he was reading mine. Though I already had great respect for him as a teacher, I now have great respect for him as a writer. The prose is beautifully crafted and his characters are real and engaging. It's a cathartic read and I highly recommend it to anyone who thinks the art of the sentence is dead.
Superlative.......2000-08-07
One of the most astonishing debuts I can remember, Michael Byers' book is precisely, deftly observed and brilliantly unfolded. I find it amazing that a couple of other reviewers have called the stories cliched or tedious: I read a lot of fiction, and I can't remember the last time I encountered a new writer whose work seemed so powerful. Byers is wise beyond his years. Read this book!
Don't Waste Your Time.......2000-03-26
I've tried to read the stories in Byers' collection, but only finished 1 or 2 of them. The stories are boring, and sometimes plagued by very stereotypical characters. Even worse, Byers often drifts into worlds he clearly knows little about, resulting in rather unrealistic characters and behaviors. If you want to read some great short stories by a young writer, check out Amanda Davis' first collection, "Circling the Drain." Davis' stories, unlike Byers', are interesting, lyrical, and frighteningly realistic.
Book Description
In
Adventures in Darkness, Tom Sullivan takes readers through the adventures of his monumental eleventh year. Blind since birth, Tom lived in a challenging world of isolation and special treatment. But he was driven to break out and live as sighted people do. This book is a hair-raising, heart-warming experience that culminates in Tom's reliance upon God to realize his dreams of a "normal" life.
Customer Reviews:
Seeing Childhood.......2007-01-28
Tom Sullivan has "seen" more in a lifetime of accomplishments than anybody I know (come on: how many folks do you know who've played Augusta, run the Marine Corps marathon, appeared on Carson, sold out Vegas, built a blessed family life ... you get the point). It's a breathtaking record that blows away the boundaries most of us assume apply to the lives of the blind or people with similar physical challenges. Adventures in Darkness is the story of seemingly smaller successes - it tells of his pivotal 11th summer, when Sullivan's fierce desire to experience life as a "normie" led him into a series of adventures that make for hilarious, uplifting and deeply affecting reading.
Every child has felt alone, misunderstood and deeply conscious of not belonging. For most of us, it's a transitory part of growing up that hopefully leaves us with humility and empathy as character traits, and shallow enough scars that we're in no way disfigured. We know that the blind experience entirely another level of separation. We know, but with the mixture of embarrassment about our own good fortune and an unwillingness to delve into anything that might sadden us, too often we may hesitate to pick a story about someone who lives with a disability. So here's the good news about Adventures in Darkness: it's a tremendously fun read.
Sullivan's tale will feel familiar to every reader, but it's his storyteller's artistry that has you racing through the book, connected to the common smells, milestones and challenges of growing up, and to the special sense of how indomitable this particular human spirit was and is. What separates Adventures in Darkness from the "up from the bootstraps" mainstream is that it is a good story, well told and from an unexpected perspective. Sullivan is blind; he will make you see. You'll see his deeply loving and disastrously damaged parents; and most of all, you'll see a real kid. Tom Sullivan, as a boy and as a man, has a crushing disability ... and he deals with it. With humor, without pretense, and acutely conscious of human limitations well beyond his blindness, Tom Sullivan makes us share his conviction that while he may have unusual talents and a frightening handicap, he is deeply connected to each of us.
At 11, in the summer that propels him into Adventures in Darkness, Tom Sullivan learns that each of us is independent, dependent, and interdependent. We are defined by what we bring to the world and how we deal with others, and the sighted no less than the blind find ourselves depending on others. It's a lesson of a lifetime, and you'll seldom find it more convincingly or enjoyably brought home.
Customer Reviews:
Landry Brothers Series.......2006-08-18
After filling in at the last minute for a colleague on Montana's most popular morning talk show, psychiatrist Molly Jameson's life undergoes some radical changes. On the plus side, she meets the handsome, talented, and charming host and news anchor, Chandler Landry. (Verrrry nice.) On the downside, she has apparently attracted the interest of a deranged murderer.
To be honest, I found the mystery in this book to be confusing and, ultimately, uninspiring. But it serves as an acceptable vehicle to throw Molly and Chandler together in stressful situations. Molly and Chandler are interesting characters separately and have great chemistry together, so the weak mystery is not that big a deal. In addition to the hero/heroine, another big plus in the book is the relationship between the Landry brothers. The good-natured ribbing is both funny and so typical of a large family. Make no mistake, tho, these brothers are fiercely loyal and protective of one another. The author does a good job of mixing humor, danger, and intensity. (Look for an amusing scene w/ Molly and her germ-a-phobic office neighbor. The poor guy will definitely need therapy, but not from Molly.)
This short review doesn't do Film at Eleven justice, but it's a book well worth reading either as a stand alone or as part of the Landry Brothers series.
The Landry Brothers:
His Only Son
Landry's Law
Bedside Manner
Chasing Secrets
Film at Eleven
Charmed and Dangerous
The Last Landry
**Note: I know I can be overly fussy, but Harlequin needs to do a better job w/ typos. This book had so many, I finally got out a pencil and started underlining them just for my satisfaction. Typos can be very jarring and disruptive to the flow of the story. But I did have to laugh when, on the same page as a reference to the mother "load" (rather than lode), law enforcement officers were repeatedly referred to as "troupers" (rather than troopers).**
This was intense and scary in parts.......2006-03-27
This is Kelsey Roberts at her best. The stalker is creepy and the heroine is a hoot. Perfect for Chandler Landry.
Product Description
Three books for one low price! All 3 are Harlequin Intrigue books. Two by Kelsey Roberts (Film At Eleven and Chasing Secrets) are Landry Brothers stories. Shiver, by Cynthia Cooke is about Detective Riley MacIntyre and the scared woman who came to him for help. Breathtaking Romantic Suspense.
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THE ELEVEN BATTLEGROUNDS OF MARRIAGE (VIDEO 2)
TIM TIMMONS
Manufacturer: WORD
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
 General | Religion & Spirituality | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
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ASIN: B000NCWGFW |
Product Description
""Attention all units! A huge Xenoborg strike force is in space above your area. All resistance forces must evacuate immediately. CC operatives must stop this force from landing!" In this adventure, the characters are assigned to contact Major MacDonald, leader of a group of resistance fighters in southern Indiana, and secure his cooperation with the CCF. They must also deliver a new microwave device for cleaning up Xenoborg remains. But once they arrive, the situation heats up - the Xenoborgs have brought in reinforcements! With the help of a human traitor, they have captured several civilians, and plan to execute them on the six o'clock new unless the resistance fighters surrender. Once the execution has been stopped, the characters must locate the Xenoborg camp where the remaining hostages are being held. And there they find an even bigger threat - an Aerial Teleborg and its Xenoborg Captain! This booklet includes six ready-to-play characters (with both Basic and Advanced stats), maps of post invasion Indiana and Illinois, and a detail map of a Xenoborg camp. This is the second adventure for Cyborg Commando Game by Gary Gygax, Frank Mentzer, and Kim Mohan. You will need the game to use this accessory. This hard-science game is set fifty years in the future. In the year 2035, alien invaders conquer the Earth in a matter of days. Man's only hope is the Cyborg Commando Force - a cadre of super-soldiers who are part man and part machine. Pick up a copy today and join the Cyborg Commando Force!"
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Ocean's Eleven. Roman zum Film.
Dewey Gram
Manufacturer: Heyne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
All German Books | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 3453209419 |
Customer Reviews:
Don't waste your money!.......2004-03-08
This book reads like a transcript of the movie. The vocabulary is basic, the tone is flat, and it offers no new insight to a fan of the movie. I was really unimpressed.
Book Description
Bugs have invaded Capella! Capella is under attack. Giant killer locusts have descended on the planet and are destroying everything in their path. The castle has been surrounded and the Space Rangers have been called in to help.Dai Bando has a dream about a Princess who is trapped on a mountain by these terrible beasts. When the mountain in the middle of Capella matches the one in his dream, the crew decides to take the dream seriously, and Dai and Jerusha are sent out to find the missing ruler.Can Dai and Jerusha climb Mt. Wildersarn to save Princess Sanara before it's too late? Will the Daystar be forced to leave Capella, abandoning the two Rangers to face the locusts on their own? Join the crew of the Daystar as they discover that God has given each of His children different gifts and abilities. We were never meant to do the same things, and if we will obey Him, He will use our individual talents to accomplish His will.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2004-01-08
I love the Daystar books, well, at least all of the ones I have! And this one is one of my favorites. Although it's a little dissapointing at some points - it's still a really good book. I also enjoyed getting to know Dai a bit better in this one. I hope you all enjoy it!
Another Marvelous Daystar Adventure.......2000-05-06
Very Exciting, i couldn't put it down. it was wonderful. I loved it. great Christian values. there is humor in the book from Heck. Seriuosly a great buy.
Customer Reviews:
Keep a copy close by.......2005-07-15
We are living in a morally corrupt world right now. Our country is moving deeper and deeper into an endless pit of self-destruction. I believed and fell deep into this pit myself. This book gave me the courage and strength to pull myself out of the pit.
Scupoli points out that we are truly in a life or death struggle. Our eternal souls depend on the victory or defeat we face in this life.
Read this book, highlight it, and keep it close by for use in the future.
With faith in God, and in His Church, you will have victory!
Do you want to know your enemy?.......2004-03-09
If you want to know your enemy...and don't mind realizing some of your greatest battles are coming from within...then read on.
The Spiritual Combat has been changing lives for so many years..and still is today. Before reading this I had heard so much about it. Although I am not Catholic...I am a Christian, and looked very forward to benefiting spiritually from it's contents. This book has so greatly EXCEEDED my expectations...it is a book I will likely read many times over in my life time. Christ has granted brother Scupoli such divine wisdom and insight into the struggles each follower of Christ faces living in this world. I would have certainly given the book 5 instead of 4 stars, however I deducted one star only to point out that it can be a difficult read for the modern reader. I am not used to hearing Mary being addressed as the "Queen of Heaven" etc but these things can simply be overlooked. The book is also difficult to fully grasp at times because it has so much depth to it and the language used is very poetic and in some cases words are used that are not even familiar or used today.
It is a beautiful piece of work and should be in every follower of Christ's library who is serious about weeding out sin...and all the hidden vices of man's own heart. With all it's spiritual insight...can become a useful tool in the believers life... and an inspiration to press on to greater purity & holiness!
A Catholic Classic of Spirituality.......2003-08-02
Along with The Inmitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, and Introduction to the Devout Life by Francis De Sales, this book ranks as one of the all time classics of Catholic spirituality (and De Sales preferred this book to the Imitation of Christ because of the practical detail to be found in the Spiritual Combat).
I first read this book when I was starting seminary and found it instantly readable and inspiring. Like the Imitation of Christ it consists of many short concise chapters that merit being read and pondered. I would particularly recommend the book to anyone struggling for perfection, and with scrupulosity. The opening 6 chapters give great insights into the whole nature of what Christian perfection means, and how our frequent lapses into sin should not discourage us, but should rather be taken as opportunities for us to grow in our confidence in God and our distrust of ourselves. This is a book to be re-read often through life.
Review from the Publisher.......2001-03-16
One of the all-time greatest and best-known classics on the strategy for achieving spiritual perfection and salvation. First published in 1589, it was the favorite book of St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Doctor of the Church and master of the spiritual life. He carried a copy in his pocket for 18 years, read from it every day and recommended it to everyone under his direction. Based on the maxim that in the spiritual life one must either "fight or die," it shows how to combat one's passions and vices in order to arrive at victory. Explains how to acquire virtue and how to overcome impurity and sloth. Inspires and instructs today just as it has for 400 years. 240pp. PB. Imprimatur.
fascinating insights into a Christian's stuggle for purity.......1998-06-17
Very readible with many insights and practical "how to's" for a Christian's pursuit of spiritual growth. Being 500 years old, it also provides an historical background for more contemporary works, the absence of modern psychological jargon is refreshing. This version is theologically grounded in the Latin church and is the most literal translation. The Orthodox version from St. Vladimir's Press probably more suited to Protestant tastes, is loosly translated for content and embellished for a different school of thought, but tends to lose clarity in comparison. I suggest reading both versions concurrently. For Evangelicals, there are points for contention regardless, though neither invalidate the work's relavance for all Christians who strive after moral purity and virtue.
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An Herbal Feast: Herbalists Share Their Favorite Recipes
Risa Mornis
Manufacturer: Keats Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Baking
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Herbs, Spices & Condiments
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ASIN: 0879838019 |
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SHAKER TEXTILE ARTS
Beverly Gordon
Manufacturer: Published with the cooperation of the Merrimack Valley Textile Museum and Shaker Community, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Antiques & Collectibles
| Home & Garden
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Textiles & Costume
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ASIN: 0874512425 |
Book Description
A comprehensive book on the kinds of textiles the Shakers used, how they were produced, and their cultural and economic importance to the communities.
Customer Reviews:
tole painting traditional.......2000-06-22
Este libro es muy interesante pues muestra la decoración tradicional que hoy se encuentra nuevamente en auge en america con sus encantadores stenciles que dicen mucho sobre el pueblo americano.
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The Artful Home: Furniture, Sculpture & Objects
Manufacturer: Guild Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Furniture Design
| Design & Decorative Arts
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Decorating
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| Interior Design
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ASIN: 1880140500 |
Average customer rating:
- A display of fine museum pieces, and surely the next best thing to visiting the Hood Museum of Art in person
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Marks of Distinction: Two Hundred Years of American Drawings and Watercolors from the Hood Museum of Art, 1769-1969
Barbara J. MacAdam
Manufacturer: Hudson Hills Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1555952755 |
Book Description
The sterling collection of drawings and watercolors from the Hood Museum of Art is highlighted in this scholarly and engaging publication.
Customer Reviews:
A display of fine museum pieces, and surely the next best thing to visiting the Hood Museum of Art in person.......2005-07-04
Marks Of Distinction: Two Hundred Years Of American Drawings And Watercolors From The Hood Museum Of Art is the accompaniment of the centerpiece exhibition of a year-long celebration commemorating the Hood Museum of Art's twentieth anniversary as well is its permanent collection. An introductory essay leads into this elaborate visual tour of classic pastel, ink, and watercolor artworks by notable American artists ranging from John Singleton Copley to John James Audubon to James McNeill Whistler and many more. Each piece of art is featured on a two-page spread; to the right is an exquisite photograph of the work itself in full color, to the left is a detailed one-page essay concerning the history, composition, and other pertinent details concerning the work. Marks Of Distinction is as much a celebration of American artistic consciousness and legacy as it is a display of fine museum pieces, and surely the next best thing to visiting the Hood Museum of Art in person.
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- John Barry - A more personal view on the composer
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John Barry: A Sixties Theme: From James Bond to Midnight Cowboy
Eddi Fiegel
Manufacturer: Macmillan U.K.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Classical
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Popular
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ASIN: 0752220330 |
Book Description
John Barry has been called the most important popular British composer of the 20th century. Winner of five Oscars, and composer of the James Bond films, "Born Free," "Midnight Cowboy," "Out of Africa," and "Dances with Wolves," he has become a cultural icon and an inspiration to countless musicians. Throughout the 1960s Barry was at the heart of swinging London, and his career reflects the evolution of post-war British music from big band to rock and roll and the birth of pop, and his beginnings in the film world coincided with the renaissance of British cinema. Written with the cooperation of John Barry, and including insights from friends, John Barry: A Sixties Theme is a re-creation of a period when London was the international focus for music and film.
Customer Reviews:
John Barry - A more personal view on the composer.......2007-03-22
This book, more than anything else, offers a more private view on the man. In a musical and/or artistic point of view, the book doesn't have much to offer. It has many interesting facts, curious details, and a few insightful views on the man's music and the british culture as such. But most of it is relatively superficial, focusing probably on what the more commercial audience generally looks for.
Overall, it's a well compiled biography, and essential for any John Barry fan out there. It can also be a good source of information about the british culture in the sixties. But could've been better.
Books:
- The Cornelius Quartet: The Final Program, A Cure for Cancer, The English Assassin, The Condition of Muzak
- The Darker Passions: Dracula
- The Diaries of Adam & Eve: Translated by Mark Twain
- The Drowning Tree: A Novel
- The Empress of the Last Days: A Novel
- The Essential Tales of Chekhov
- The FALL OF A SPARROW: A NOVEL
- The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories: And Other Stories
- The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf: A Novel
- The Golems of Gotham: A Novel
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World
- Sunlight and Shadow
- Neurosciences at the Postgenomic Era
- Particles and Nuclei: An Introduction to the Physical Concepts
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
- The American Indian in Western Legal Thought: The Discourses of Conquest
- The Book of the Greyhound
- Kandinsky, Complete Writings on Art
- New Orleans Architecture Vol V: The Esplanade Ridge
- Steps to the Altar
Long for This World: A Novel
A Relative Stranger: Stories
Esther Stories
Half in Love : Stories
The Big Bad City (87th Precinct Mysteries)
