As we grow up, the special relationships with family, friends, and caregivers are what give us our sense of place in the world, make us feel loved, teach us the important things in life, and give us the courage to face each step from childhood to adulthood and beyond. Therefore I love books that celebrate these very special people in our lives.
This is one of my all-time favourite books. I’m a big fan of Lane Smith, I love his books and his illustrations are gorgeous – he has a wonderful ability to tweak his style to fit the specific book and storyline perfectly. Visually an intriguing delight, and a deeply touching narrative about shared time, memories, and love between Grandpa and Grandchild.
Grandpa Green wasn't always a gardener. He was a boy who lived on a farm and a child who had chickenpox. He was a soldier, a husband, and, most of all, an artist.
Grandpa Green wasn't always a gardener. He was a boy who lived on a farm and a child who had chickenpox. He was a soldier, a husband and, most of all, an artist.
Follow his grandson through a garden where memories are handed down through the shapes of topiary trees and imagination recreates things forgotten. Grandpa Green opens the door to a garden of wonder which parents and grandparents will be able to share with children for generations to come. An ode to the joys of a full life well lived as well as exploring some of the sorrow life…
No matter how you read it, the Bible is a strange book. It weaves together beautiful narratives and deadly-dull genealogies; uplifting messages with passages that many today find ethically repulsive. Yet it gained an extraordinary authority, in a predominantly pre-literate society. The question of how this happened has been an intellectual and scholarly preoccupation of mine for decades, and as a professor at Brown University I seek to bring my students and readers into this very foreign world in order to open their eyes to new possibilities in the present.
Although this is my fun pick, it is also a serious book that I use in the classroom. There have been countless attempts by modern authors to retell biblical stories. Horn’s book creatively transfers the biblical story of Joseph and his brothers to the modern period, with a feminist twist. This book is engaging and coherent enough that it can be read and enjoyed without any knowledge of the Bible or Jewish history, although such knowledge makes it all the better!
Software prodigy Josie Ashkenazi has invented an application that records everything its users do. When she visits the Library of Alexandria as a tech consultant, she is abducted in Egypt's postrevolutionary chaos with only a copy of the philosopher Maimonides' famous work to anchor her-leaving her jealous sister Judith free to take over her life. A century earlier, Cambridge professor Solomon Schechter arrives in Egypt, hunting for a medieval archive hidden in a Cairo synagogue. Their stories intertwine in this spellbinding novel of how technology changes memory and how memory shapes the soul.
As an EFL Professor for over 20 years, I have evolved from a language teacher into a generalist who is constantly asked to teach skills-based courses that help my college students learn life skills like presenting or job skills. As the old saying goes, you need to become somewhat of an expert in something to teach it well so I have become a much more proficient interviewer and job skills expert through 10+ years teaching students to excel in these areas. My book is a compilation of the best worksheets and activities compiled and created for my students and I hope others find them as useful and effective as my students have.
This fill-in workbook for the career classic What Color Is Your Parachute? is a helpful tool for recent grads, workers laid off mid-career, and anyone searching for an inspiring work-life change.
Featuring new information for the pandemic era job market, the classic Flower Exercise organizing your skills and preferences in one place; the Party Exercise to help you discover who you work best with, and the Transferable Skills Grid that helps you discover your most valuable skills.
Richard N. Bolles's helpful charts and activities allow job-hunters to dig in and discover how their unique interests, passions, and dreams will give them a picture of their dream job.
This book is much more hands-on and, when completed by the user, but the format and exercises may not appeal to every job applicant.
An interactive companion to the world’s most popular job-search book, updated for 2021, that helps you translate your personal interests into marketable job skills.
This fill-in workbook for the career classic What Color Is Your Parachute? is a helpful tool for recent grads, workers laid off mid-career, and anyone searching for an inspiring work-life change. Featuring
• New information that addresses the job-market in the pandemic era • The Flower Exercise that gets everything about your skills and preferences in one place • The Party Exercise to help you discover who you work best with • The Transferable Skills Grid…
I picked up And Then There Were None off my parents' shelf when I was probably about thirteen. It was my first Agatha Christie, and I was instantly entranced by her ability to build suspense, write witty dialogue, and plot the perfect murder. As I grew up I continued reading her prolific work, while, like her, making writing my career. When we decided to write our sixth book in the Science of Horror series, we wanted to step out of “horror” and explore more the mystery genre, and we knew Agatha Christie, the Queen of Crime, was the perfect point of view. The Science of Agatha Christie was born.
This one has recently gotten attention thanks to the movie adaptation, A Haunting in Venice hitting the theaters starring Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot.
As a horror fan, I was instantly intrigued by the title, and Christie doesn’t disappoint. Does she ever? A body is found in a tub for bobbing apples and evil spirits are suspected. This one is a fun change from a polite society poisoning. I’m always a fan of a little supernatural intrigue.
When a Halloween Party turns deadly, it falls to Hercule Poirots to unmask a murderer in Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery, Hallowe’en Party.
At a Halloween party, Joyce—a hostile thirteen-year-old—boasts that she once witnessed a murder. When no one believes her, she storms off home. But within hours her body is found, still in the house, drowned in an apple-bobbing tub.
That night, Hercule Poirot is called in to find the `evil presence'. But first he must establish whether he is looking for a murderer or a double-murderer...
The question I have for Christian authors is this: are we Christian authors or authors who are Christian? The realm of horror is the perfect genre to explore the human condition in all of its depravity. Why do Christians avoid this genre when at the end of the day? I grew up watching horror movies with my grandmother and I enjoy the thrills and chills, the questions the genre asks, and the various ways horror can be depicted. Christians understand the dark forces that underlie our natural world. And we understand the darkness within ourselves. But unlike Hollywood horror, we know what the solution – Christ. So that’s why this is a passion of mine.
I first heard the audio dramatization of this book on a podcast call The Untold Podcast, showcasing speculative fiction from Christian authors.
The story is short, telling of our unnamed narrator who is struggling with sin in his life. He reads the Bible verse, if thy hand offend then, cut if off. From there begins his meltdown into wanting to take off his hand because he has done sinful things with it.
What made this one so chilling is the rational outlook of the narrator. Then comes the grisly bits that make you squirm in your chair as you listen. Now, it’s in book form and I guarantee you, it’s a very good book. Thank God for grace!
I truly loved this storyline. Rosetta Diane Hoessli has penned a wonderful, powerful tale of the Indigenous people of America. I love history and learning.
Ms. Hoessli has managed to encapsulate not only the beauty, mystery, and legends of these wonderful nations, but the awful, shameful truths of their treatment. Whispers Through Time takes on its own unique stance with a romance, blending the impossible to possible. It is poignant, heart-warming, and brutally honest. A highly recommended read.
The only man Sierra Masters has ever loved appears with a proposition that could alter her future. She turns him down, but then after experiencing a foretelling dream, decides to take a risk in order to uncover the truth. Hunter Davenport realizes the evidence he's shared with Sierra could indeed destroy her--but it could free her as well. The decision is yanked from her hands when the past and present collide through a historical portal on sacred Native American land. Will she take the gift that is offered? And will Hunter do what he didn't do twelve years earlier--stand by…
My upbringing in refined Bucharest, surrounded by books and Romania's rich folklore, as well as my youth excursions in the idyllic Transylvanian countryside, instilled in me a love for storytelling. Although I have a medical degree, my insatiable curiosity about historical figures' lives, journeys, and the landscapes they encountered has driven me to investigate and write about these enthralling tales. This allowed me to share the wonders of travel through historical and contemporary fiction with a strong historical foundation - and a dog or two. On my blog I share enchanting gems from Romania’s past, while on social media I promote Romania’s history and culture under the hashtag #Im4Ro.
Even though I may not be able to visit Italy anytime soon, I decided to go there in spirit.
This book was chosen because it contains a diverse range of literary talents from all walks of life in Italy (poets, musicians, teachers, scientists, and even politicians). Each short story was told in a lively Italian voice. This collection spoke to me about everything that is Italy: landscapes, passions, food, and the country's turbulent political life.
After diving into the first pages, I was immediately transported into the narratives, completely forgetting that I was reading a translation. I was captivated by the stories themselves, a testament to their masterful storytelling. This is a fascinating anthology for readers interested in learning more about Italian culture.
This landmark collection brings together forty writers that reflect over a hundred years of Italy's vibrant and diverse short story tradition, from the birth of the modern nation to the end of the twentieth century.
Poets, journalists, visual artists, musicians, editors, critics, teachers, scientists, politicians, translators: the writers that inhabit these pages represent a dynamic cross section of Italian society, their powerful voices resonating through regional landscapes, private passions and dramatic political events.
This wide-ranging selection curated by Jhumpa Lahiri includes well known authors such as Italo Calvino, Elsa Morante and…
I am fascinated by work, especially women at work. I am an immigrant, a child of immigrants, a former scientist, and for most of life, have been conditioned to work because if I could not work, then why else was I here? Yet work is not strictly an emblem of immigrant grit or the model minority mindset. It can be made funny, surreal, existential, and it’s a rich subject to tackle. More often than not, work is treated as taboo. It’s ignored or deemed too prosaic to discuss. Who wants to see what goes on insidethe factory? I do. I’m obsessed with stories that showcase the factory.
A friend once described her early years of motherhood as non-stop work but also total idleness. Galchen’s slim book of collected observations and witticisms about babies and motherhood, some only one dazzling paragraph long, made me pause to savor each word. I liken reading this book to reading fun poetry or admiring a pop-up gallery. You can read a bit of this book every day, without losing the thread. Each chapter (they are very mini chapters) made me see the world in a new light. Many made me laugh out loud with joy.
In this enchanting miscellany, Galchen notes that literature has more dogs than babies (and also more abortions), that the tally of children for many great women writers-Jane Bowles, Elizabeth Bishop, Virginia Woolf, Janet Frame, Willa Cather, Patricia Highsmith, Iris Murdoch, Djuna Barnes, Mavis Gallant-is zero, that orange is the new baby pink, that The Tale of Genji has no plot but plenty of drama about paternity, that babies exude an intoxicating black magic, and that a baby is a goldmine.
You know that poem that instructs us to "see a world in a grain of sand?" I've done that, friend. It turns out that the world you see in a closely-examined grain of sand is largely covered with sand, each grain of which contains another world. For reasons that I can't explain (well, the Autism Spectrum Disorder might have something to do with it), I'm compelled to write novels that explore and exploit, obliquely or otherwise, the sub-worlds lurking within the grains of sand that are scattered across the American High Plains.
Another book that takes forever to read, and another book that I haven't yet finished. Why this particular edition? Because, in addition to the fragmentation that is inherent to all versions of The Bible, the NOABWA has footnotes. Enough footnotes to make the previously-mentioned Infinite Jest look like a half-assed high school research paper. Those footnotes ensure that, even when a plot threatens to show itself, the reader will be immediately distracted by a reminder that nobody actually knows how long a cubit is. If a book that hasn't even defined the value of its base units can become a bestseller, then, by gum, I can write a novel in which the concept of time is stretched and folded like the crust of a croissant. And so can you!
For over 50 years students, professors, clergy, and general readers have relied on The New Oxford Annotated Bible as an unparalleled authority in Study Bibles. This fifth edition of the Annotated remains the best way to study and understand the Bible at home or in the classroom. This thoroughly revised and substantially updated edition contains the best scholarship informed by recent discoveries and anchored in the solid Study Bible tradition.
* Introductions and extensive annotations for each book by acknowledged experts in the field provide context and guidance. * Introductory essays on major groups of biblical writings - Pentateuch, Prophets,…
Tim Keller’s Generous Justice walks through Scripture from Genesis to Jesus, from the early church to the new heaven and new earth of the Revelation, and help bridge the gap between “believing the right things” to “doing the right things”.
Keller laments the bifurcation of the Gospel that marks Christian communities, especially in the West. He notes that too many congregations who pride themselves on “the authority of Scripture” are often lax on the call to do the work of justice that is very clear in Scripture.
He notes, too, that congregations that take great pride in how they welcome, include, and serve others often treat Scripture like a buffet table, picking and choosing what they like, but ignore the unique and overriding authority of God’s word that, too is very clear in Scripture.
Keller’s book is steeped in Scripture and is a good book to read because that is…
Renowned pastor and bestselling author of The Prodigal Prophet Timothy Keller shares his most provocative and illuminating message yet.
It is commonly thought in secular society that the Bible is one of the greatest hindrances to doing justice. Isn’t it full of regressive views? Didn’t it condone slavery? Why look to the Bible for guidance on how to have a more just society? But Timothy Keller challenges these preconceived beliefs and presents the Bible as a fundamental source for promoting justice and compassion for those in need. In Generous Justice, he explores a life of justice empowered by an experience…
