Reading of Johnny Thumper toil with his own thoughts & feelings of life was delightful & insiteful. Spirituality seems to be lost in today's society. Reading of one man's quest for this purpose on earth makes one think of their own spirituality. If only more people actually wanted to make a difference in the world like the semi-fictional Johnny.
Congrats to such a talented author.

This book is an American epic, written toward Aesop's predictions, Hemingway's poetry, esoteric dimensions. An American Gao Xingjian.

This is a true spiritual gem about the life of
Jesus Christ and his teachings,interpretated
by a Realized Master.
Thank you Yogananda!

True meaning of Christ words were explined to common man,which otherwise not available.By this explemary work to world true chirstian brotherhood will comeforeth.A must read for truth seekers

Joyce Carol Oates dedicates her latest collection of short stories, 'Small Avalanches' to 'The Bad Girls.' Be it Ingrid in 'Man Crazy,' or Anellia in 'Ill Take you There,' Oates has always been fascinated, really infatuated with the outcasts, the fringe dwellers, the lonely hearts. More to the point, Oates enjoys writing female characters that struggle and fight against what society considers 'normal' behavior'whatever the heck normal means in the society of Oates' world and in the world in general. It is the tension of this ambiguity that Oates revels in.
'Small Avalanches' begins with the story, 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?' which was the basis for the film 'Smooth Talk' starring Laura Dern as Connie and Treat Williams as Arnold Friend. Reading it again now, and even with the visuals of the film spinning around my head, I was struck by the smoldering sexuality of the story. Connie is 15 and she has one foot stuck in childhood and the other one, always ready to high-tail it to the highway roadhouses, in adulthood. Oates describes her: ''Everything about her as two sides to it, one for home and for anywhere that was not home: her walk, which could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make someone thinking she was hearing music in here head'her laugh, which was cynical and drawling at home but high pitched and nervous anywhere else.'
Arnold Friend becomes Connie's 'friend,' stalker really. Arnold is older, handsome, drives a spiffy car and is definitely dangerous and what he offers Connie is a view of adulthood she cannot turn down: it's glamour and attraction cannot be ignored. The denouement finds Connie more experienced in the adult world that she craves but is not ready for. The inevitability of the situation is decidedly sensual yet undeniably moralistic: Connie's story is ultimately a cautionary tale. One in which a bad girl gets what she deserves or is asking for. But is she better for it?
Oates mines this particular subject matter again in the more up to date, computer savvy story 'Capricorn' also included in this collection.
The title story of this collection, 'Small Avalanches' is cruel but slight: a young girl Nancy, through the unaffected, natural conceit and innocence of youth avoids the advances of an older man: 'He looked so funny, bent over and clutching at his chest, pretending to have a heart attack or maybe having one, a little one, for all I knew. This will teach you a lesson, I thought.'
It is this youthful innocence and lack of foresight that also imbues 'Bad Girls' a story about three daughters who set out to investigate their mother's boyfriend: 'Nor did we set out to destroy our mother's man friend Isaak Drumm, exactly'(but we) confirmed the neighborhood's and our relatives' judgment of us, that we were bad. And not only bad in ourselves but the cause of somebody else being bad, too.'
Throughout 'Small Avalanches' we encounter writing of uncommon grace: 'Her eyes were like washed glass, her eyebrows and lashes were almost white, she had a snub nose and Slavic cheekbones and a mouth that could be sweet or twisty and smirky depending on her mood.' Or razor sharp writing that cuts to the heart of a matter: 'It's true, all you have heard of the vanity of the old. Believing ourselves young, still, behind our aged faces'mere children, and so very innocent!'
'Small Avalanches' was intended for the young people's market as was Oates' earlier 'Big Mouth and Ugly Girl.' But Oates' has not toned down her natural gift for revealing the underside and the emotional truth of her characters actions and words. Far from it, she pulls no punches in revealing her patented, twisted yet humanistic worldview. Be forewarned, though: a visit to Oatesiana will leave you a bit shocked and warm under the collar but startlingly as refreshed as having just stepped out of a cool shower on a hot day.

Small Avalanches is a collection of short stories previously published by Joyce Carol Oates whose thematic link is that each centers around the life of an adolescent or teenage girl. The focus on this age group is appropriate for this extremely talented writer who has written in an incredible range of styles and voices, but has often focused on the lives of young woman especially in her novels such as Man Crazy, Blonde and I'll Take You There to name just a few.
Oates has said in an interview with Diane Rehm in 2002:

"I feel probably quintessentially very adolescent... I guess it's just that age of romance and yearning and some scepticism, sometimes a little bit of cynicism."

The temperament of this age group that Oates so readily identifies with is something that the author is able to ingeniously capture in this series of tales. She shows in her female characters those intense feelings she marks as emblematic of this age group from a variety of perspectives.

Despite the close ages of all these girls there is a tremendous diversity of voice within the stories. They are sometimes vulnerable as the girls are primarily perceived or surprisingly self-aware which gives them the ability to manipulate their own situation. This occurs in some of the stories like Capricorn where a girl named Melanie meets a man on the internet who begins obsessively watching her play tennis and Small Avalanches where a girl walking home is followed by a suspicious looking man she nearly escapes. Some of the girls from these stories are timid, naive and orbit danger with curious innocence. In others, like Bad Girls where three close sisters invade the privacy of their mother's new boyfriend and The Model where a girl meets a man in the park who starts paying her large sums to pose for sketches, the girls are defensive to a militant degree. These diverse perspectives give a refreshing perspective when contemplating an age group so heavily stereotyped. Oates also uses multifarious structures to tell the girls' stories producing a wide range of possible meanings and giving a unique accent to their particular situations. Some take on a creepy gothic tone as in The Sky Blue Ball where a girl begins throwing a ball back and forth with a faceless participant over a wall and Haunted in which a mysterious violent woman appears to two curious girls who were searching a house they thought was empty. The most experimental structure Oates uses is in the story How I Contemplated the World from the Detroit House of Correction and Began My Life Over Again where you read a girl's notes for a school paper that descend into an intense disjointed personal deliberation about her past and future. However, all the stories are incredibly accessible to read while still challenging the reader to think complexly about growing up and the nature of identity. Each gives a deep focus on the consciousness of these girls and presents in some way a close perspective of their point of view. The stories also examine the process in which these girls become self conscious about how they are viewed by the rest of the world. It is an extremely emotional, varied and pleasurable read.

I found this book to be very informative and useful. The knowledge passed on is very applicable to todays market trends. I have been studying the market for the past 9 years and have found this book to be one of the best I have ever read. Michael McDonald shows in this book why he is one of the best money market managers in the world today.

I took the time to read this incredibly detailed and insightful review on Michael McDonald's book; "The coming Roller-Coaster Market" I recommend this book to average investors and people that invest for a living. It has been written for the average Jo, but focuses on current and future trends. This is a must-read.

I really enjoyed this book. Intelligent, coherent, stylish, articulate, passionate, extremely well paced... just like a hockey game. I just can't believe a hockey player can skate so good on a keyboard! The only thing missing is the stats of his entire hockey career. I think it should have been added somewhere, maybe on the back cover, I don't know. Maybe in the next print? (Cause there will be several ones, I'm sure). Again, fabulous book! Go Pierre Go! Na-na-na-hey-hey-goodbye!

This rocks!!!! Pierre Turgeon is my idol!! He is so great---an extremely talented hockey player and an author too!! This book had a well-developed plot, and once i started reading it , I couldn't put it down!!! Go Pierre go!!!

This book is amazing. The material is practical and real. For anyone who is going through or has gone through a divorce, this book will help you to heal and move on.

This book is an excellent study in recovering over divorce or seperation. It is Godly and presents excellent advice and topics for discussion. A great resource to work through in a group setting.

"The Vigil" is a beautiful companion for anyone wanting to enter more deeply into the spirit of Advent and Christmastime. Poignant personal experiences, eloquently related, illustrate the author's profound insights into the Scriptural themes of the season. Being a musician as well as a theologian, she weaves in many of the Christmas carols, exploring their texts, background and musical styles. She writes simply and reverently on such themes as promise, preparation, rejoicing, wonder, peace and light. This is a book to be savored and read more than once.

I received this book four years ago and I have read it for every Advent/Christmas/Epiphany since. Though the circumstances of myself and those I love have changed every year, this book has continued to help me find a means of entering these seasons with faith. The author has stretched my understandings, brought me to tears with her very human approach to wonders of faith, and given me space from the dizzy commercial aspects of the season. I would recommend it to any Christian confronting the beginning of the liturgical year.

This book My Friend the Bear by Jez Alborough is wonderfully
written . And Children will love the way a wonderful friendship
developes between a boy and a bear. This book teaching children
that no matter what your new friend looks like to look inside their heart, as Eddie the boy did when he and the bear became
friends. We all could learn alot from Eddie and the Bear about
being friendly to each other.

Lively illustrations in bright colors, combined with an engaging and increasingly aniticipatory text, make Jez Alborough's "Watch out! Big Bro's coming!" an excellent candidate for a Caldecot nod.

Especially note-worthy is Alborough's use of varying perspective to enhance the reader's feeling of escape into the story. When little bro' comes running back toward his frightened friends who are hiding in the jungle underbrush, we are looking out from our hiding spot as well.

A fine book, and one which breaks from the current trend of picture books aimed more for adult buyers than juvenile readers. I read this for story hour the day I received it and the toddler crowd loved it.

Highly recommended.

I'm the author of a novel about a Jewish mother whose lesbian daughter wants a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony, so when I came on this true life account of a gay Jewish wedding, I had to read it. I was drawn to it also because I have a gay child myself, and am active in Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), an organization which offers support, education and advocacy for equal rights. I've seen even the most "accepting" parents draw back in dismay when their son or daughter desired a same-sex wedding ceremony.

As the book description notes, this story of one such wedding is told from four different viewpoints, the two halves of the gay couple, Douglas Wythe and Andrew Merling, and Andrew's parents, Roslyn and Sheldon Merling. Though the four viewpoints are presented as a dialog, alternating with one another, the narrative is blended into a coherent whole by a skilled editorial hand.

The Merlings consider themselves accepting of their gay children. (Andrew's older brother is also gay.) Roslyn, a social worker, helped found a synagogue-affiliated support group for parents of gays and lesbians. And Sheldon states over and over that he has no objection to a small, private "commitment ceremony" between Andrew and Doug. It's the vision of a big public affair that takes him aback. That, and the fact that both Doug and Andrew want to be married under a chuppah (canopy), an essential part of all Jewish weddings, and follow the other traditions that mark a Jewish wedding ceremony. Most of all, Sheldon adds, he wants to avoid having whatever ceremony is held turn into a political statement.

By the day of the wedding, it is clear to the other three, if not to Sheldon himself, that this is impossible. Like any other wedding, a wedding between a same-sex couple is a personal affirmation of love and commitment. But dignifying same-sex ceremonies with the term wedding, as opposed to commitment ceremony or holy union, seems upsetting to both homophobes and to those who believe themselves to be free of prejudice. This account by Doug, Andrew and Andrew's parents is both honest and moving as they describe both the conflicts that arise between them and their own internal struggles with the vestiges of homophobia and of concern with their wider community's reaction. Nor are these limited to the parents, as both young men describe their own struggles with self-acceptance. (As an example of the latter, the two decide against dancing with each other in a "first dance" at their wedding reception.)

With the aid of an understanding family therapist, both generations gain a greater understanding of the other's viewpoint. The parents overcome their initial shock to reach the point of walking their son down the aisle together (another Jewish tradition). It is this emotional journey that is the heart and strength of this book. So it's not giving anything away to say that yes, Andrew and Doug do have the blowout wedding of their dreams. Or to add that the somewhat scandalized congregation at their wedding gains a new appreciation both of their love for one another and of the rightness of their having a wedding to celebrate it. (As members of a close-knit Jewish community, Sheldon and Roslyn attended the weddings of the children of their many friends, and were obliged to return the favor with their own invitations to Andrew's ceremony.)

Toward the end of the book, Doug writes that when gay people are "not expending energy on hiding the fact, every moment is potentially political." This account underscores not only that fact, but the costs of being less than totally honest. One of the most poignant stories in the book for me was when Doug writes a letter to his parents, formally "coming out" to them. As he had brought Andrew home for several holiday dinners, he assumed that his parents understood that he was gay, without his ever having put it in words before. As it turns out, both his mother and father had separately made this assumption, but each, fearing the other could not bear to know it, had kept it to themselves, creating an unnecessary wall of silence in their marriage. It would seem (as PFLAG stresses in support groups) that honesty is not only the best cure for homophobia, but for strengthening family relationships as well.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly. About the only criticism I can make is that it would have been nice to have a few photos of the wedding, rather than just painting the elegant setting with words.

That's the ongoing question that confronts two of the authors of this fresh and insightful book as they progress through their plans to be married. The issue, of course, is that these same authors, Doug and Andrew, happen to be two gay men trying to pull off a wedding in a society that either doesn't recognize or simply doesn't know what to make of same-sex marriage. From the point they decide to become engaged, to the night of their wedding, Doug and Andrew find themselves constantly confronted by family and friends (including gay friends) who can't understand why they feel a need to have a wedding or what they are trying to prove by having one.

What makes this book such a good read is that it it is formatted as a dialogue between Doug, Andrew, and Andrew's conservative Jewish parents, Roslyn and Sheldon. The story is told from these four points of view, each often offering conflicting or significantly different interpretations of the same events leading up to Doug and Andrew's wedding. It is this approach that enables the book to be more than a simple advocacy of gay marriage -- by enabling the reader to see through the eyes of people on different sides of this issue, the book shows the many emotional and oftentimes humorous effects such a decision can have on a family. Ultimately, a compelling read that reinforces faith in the strength and love that one often finds in the best of families in the toughest of situations.