"Kiss of the Spider Woman and Two Other Plays" brings together three theater pieces by the great Argentine writer Manuel Puig. Both the title play and "Mystery of the Rose Bouquet" have been translated into English by Allan Baker; "Under a Mantle of Stars" has been rendered into English by Ronald Christ. Together, these three plays demonstrate the imaginative power, psychological insight, and compassion of a major artist.

"Kiss of the Spider Woman" is probably the best known of the three plays; it has been adapted into both a major motion picture and an award winning musical play. Telling the story of imprisoned cellmates--one a flamboyant gay man, the other a passionate political revolutionary--"Kiss" explores such themes as sexual identity, suffering, and self respect. "Under a Mantle of Stars" is a surreal piece that examines crime, violence, lust, and twisted family ties. The final play in the collection, "Mystery of the Rose Bouquet," is a moving drama about a hospitalized elderly woman and her nurse. "Mystery" deals with such issues as loss, duplicity, memory, and, ultimately, hope.

In "Under a Mantle of Stars," one character remarks that another character "dares to say whatever comes into her mind." To which a third character replies, "Which is one form of madness." Perhaps, like all great writers, Puig shared this special, naked "madness." But whether madness or genius, his works are memorable and powerful. This is an essential volume for those interested in Latin American literature, gay studies, or 20th century drama.

Most people who have read any Manuel Puig, are familiar with his Kiss of a Spiderwoman, which the film and the Tony winning musical are based on. Also included in this book are two other plays. Under a Mantel of Stars is an outrageous sexual farce. Mystery of the Rose Bouquet is the real treat of the bunch. The play is about two elderly women, a nurse and her patient. It shows what Puig did best- write women. His female characters are some of the strongest and most interesting that I have ever read. All of the plays have relatively small casts and should be relatively inexpensive to produce.

The movie critiques in this book show Borges at his best, up there with the stories, poems and essays. His reviews can be surprising--read "Citizen Kane" and "City Lights"--but are always the work of a master.

L. Luminata is a very clever book. Lector must be compromited with each pages, each lines. The literary space is Chile under the Pinochet's dictature that shows the torture, the horrors and marginality whom that was out his goverment. The woman is symbol of breaking, of opossition and unhapiness.

Great treatment of the Trinity. I never read any theological work by a man who once worked at the Ford motor company. If this man wrote other material please let me know.

Are your days a continuous run, in quiet desperation? Don't have time for classes, but realize something's missing in your life? Have you wondered how the message of Jesus might apply to your life's script? Ron Pasquariello from an education in both Catholic and Protestant centers, has written a winsome story about finding guidance when experiencing visitations from "Mother Mary." It's a different book, highly personal, dealing with the everyday pressures for high job performance. Some of the chapter titles, "God's Crazy Love for Us," "Tearing Open the Heavens," "So God Is a Woman, Too," "Taking Charge of Your Life," give you hints concerning how a disturbed man finds the message of love lifting his life from misery to solid satisfaction.

This ancient collection of prayers offers no dust to the modern reader, but instead a brutally honest and deeply profound outpouring of the heart. Suitable for use in public worship or in private devotions, these are the kind of prayers that overturn every stone in the heart and strip the soul bare before God.

You won't find an endless chatter of Christian chliches in this book, neither will you be bogged down in extranious "thee's" and "thou's". While it still maintains a poetic nature, these prayers will hit home with the modern (or more accurately, postmodern) reader who wants to bask in the mystery of God while still struggling to live a "real" life.

I picked up the book because I enjoyed an excerpt of a Kempis I read in college. I now treasure it as one of my top-ten most life impacting books. Don't read it unless you're ready to have your life turned inside-out. It's a sure-fire laugh and cry, rejoice and repent, powerhouse of a book.

An ealier edition of this book was given to my wife when her father passed away in November 1993 by a priest at the private school where she still works. She was very close to her father, and even though he died at the age of 91, it was hard for her (and me) to reconcile with the fact, implications, and inevitabilty of death.

The priest told her to read this book and said that she might find some answers or understanding of the helplessness of human beings with death and how we could cope with it.

She read a few chapters or pages, got some solace and went on to accept this event that she had dreaded all her life. She was surprised with the objectivity with which the author has handled each major and some minor religions of the world, and the extent to which he goes to explain the origin, basic principles, growth and maturity of each religion. The book also provides, in simple language, the evolution of the world religions and their interlocking relationships. The religions have, I understand now, much more in common than in contrast.

I know all this because I have read the book myself a few times, and was so excited, educated and impressed by it that we have since purchased many copies of the book and gave it as a gift to family and friends. And, every time, we had to special order it through the school! My humble thanks and gratitude to Mr. Wilkins about whom I'd like to know more!! I hope that the book is updated periodically.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, especially to the peoples in and from South Asia where many world religions flourish in the same community, most times in tolerance of each other, but frequently in conflict.

The stations of resurrection:
The liturgical press has never failed its readers, at least me, so far. An enlightened methodist minister, of ecumenical heart, retreated in a Cistercian monastery to take us from the stations of the Cross to those of our Lords fellowship in His resurrection.

Methodology:
The seven weekly stations,spaning the fifty holy days have a guiding theme of meditation of the glorified Christ from the empty tomb up to ascencion: a scripture reading, a homily, meditation in three stages; devotion of thought, silence, prayer.

Seven stages:
1. The empty tomb, 2. The Emmaus walk, 3. The upper room ,4. The doubting disciple, 5. On the shore of Tiberias, 6.On the road to Damascus,7. At the feet of the ascending Messiah.

The Emmaus Disciples:
since I was a kid I kept asking my self, what was that something that held Luke and Cleopas eyes from seeing the beloved Master?
Homily: did we not feel ower hearts on fire as he talked with us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?
Prayer:As we plead with you to stay, help us to know that we can never impison you in our transitory cultures and traditions,...
Hymn: Christ is alive! No longer bound to distant years in Palestine, He comes to claim the here and now and conquer every place and time.

By the sea of Tiberias:
Thomas , the doubting disciple again with Nathnael,who once said to philip that nothing good come out of Nazareth hear the Christ asking Peter three times "Simon son of John, do you love me?"
Homily:As the choice was to Peter, so it is to us today. are we for Christ?
Hymn:Be known to us in breaking bread, But do not then depart;Savior abide with us , and spread your table in our heart.

Superb for the mind and soul !

The definitive bibliography of Mormon history. An enormous, systematic undertaking. 1152 pages (in small but readable type). Two indices--by author and by topic. Also includes a hundred-page topical guide to social science publications on the Mormons prepared by Armand Mauss and Dynette Ivie Reynolds. This is an invaluable resource for students of Mormon history and/or sociology.

Sometimes, the most serious and deep messages are hidden in the form of light and funny literature (one book that jumps to mind is "Gulliver's Travels"). In this simply genial novel, the Peruvian military has a problem: the garrisons of the Amazonic regions are very short of women and feeling extremely sexual, so rapes are mounting. This, of course, is bad PR for the Army and a real problem for the chiefs. They decide to create the "Special Service", a well-oredered and efficient ring of disciplined prostitutes who will satisfy the soldiers' needs and erradicate the problem of rapes. Who is the perfect man to be in charge of the Service?: Captain Pantaleon Pantoja, a model solider, who lives with his lovely wife and his mother-in-law. Pantaleon is a sober and righteous guy, enemy of prostitutes, bars and fights. He is also the most efficient manager of the Army. He is dismayed at the task but, always disciplined, puts all his intelligence and efficiency to it. The learning process proves problematic for his marriage: since Pantaleon knows nothing about the night life, he has to learn it by visiting sordid brothels and buying drinks to informants. Of course, when he starts arriving home in the morning, extremely drunk, his wife gets very disappointed. But he convinces her of the importance and required sacrifices of his new mission. Eventually, the Special Service becomes the most efficient branch of the military, and it gets famous. The very funniest parts of the book are the official reports where Pantaleon informs to his superiors of the successes and problems he has in his job. The official language describing absurd and outrageous situations is just great. Of course, things get out of control, with dramatic but funny consequences.

The plot is rapidly developed, with the surfacing of a sect of fanatics as its counterpoint. These sect crucifies people and animals, and the story includes a harsh criticism of the Church as parallel to the Army. The reader wonders: why is it that Vargas Llosa decided to intertwine a satire of military discipline with another one of religious fanatism? And the conclusion is that it is an extremely smart and witty novel, hilarious and troubling at the same time. The characters are really, really great, including Panta, his wife, his mother-in-law, some of the prostitutes, and some of the officers. Great book by a great contemporary author.

A tale of prostitues and jungle. Stay clear of the arc for crucifiction jump former dog channels.

If you want to obtain a flavor of Peru this is a must-read. You could summarize this book by saying that it is a sex-related excellent comedy. However, I think this book is much more than this. Vargas Llosa provides a wonderful profile of our idiosincracy, values, and fears. In addition the style is agile. Vargas Llosa tells the story using military communications, radio programs, and personal letters from different characters so that you get everybodies' point of view. I strongly recommend it.