Book Description
In 1975 Annie Dillard took up residence on an island in Puget Sound in a wooded room furnished with "one enormous window, one cat, one spider and one person." For the next two years she asked herself questions about time, reality, sacrifice death, and the will of God. In Holy the Firm she writes about a moth consumed in a candle flame, about a seven-year-old girl burned in an airplane accident, about a baptism on a cold beach. But behind the moving curtain of what she calls "the hard things -- rock mountain and salt sea," she sees, sometimes far off and sometimes as close by as a veil or air, the power play of holy fire.
This is a profound book about the natural world -- both its beauty and its cruelty -- the Pulitzer Prize-winning Dillard knows so well.
Customer Reviews:
Awe, sarcasm, hope and despair.......2007-09-02
This is a gift from Annie Dillard. She share her struggle with the question of "What kind of God would let --- happen?" Whose responsibility is it? Do we matter one whit to God? Dillard shares her pain, her longing for truth, her disappointment, her faith with grace and soaring language. It is a short book but is definitely not an easy read.
Ponder the definition of Holy the Firm, as believed by esoteric Christianity. "It is a created substance, lower than metals and minerals on a 'spiritual scale,' and lower than salts and earths, occurring beneath salts and earths in the waxy deepness of planets, but never on the surface of planets where men could discern it; and it is in touch with the Absolute, at base."
"Does something that touched something that touched Holy the Firm in touch with the Absolute at base seep into ground water, into grain; are islands rooted in it, and trees? Of course."
Then there is Dillard's description of the risk of losing someone you love.
"And you can get caught holding one end of a love, when your father drops, and your mother; when a land is lost, or a time, and your friend blotted out, gone, your brother's body spoiled, and cold, your infant dead, and you dying: you reel out love's long line alone, stripped like a live wire loosing its sparks to a cloud, like a live wire loosed in space to longing and grief everlasting."
Spilling the Beans.......2006-03-06
While attending Western Washington University I had the great good fortune to take a poetry class from Annie Dillard. My own poetry was abysmal and she gave me this advice, "writing is like prayer; you sit and listen for the still small voice." She had won the Pulitzer prize for Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and was in the process of writing Holy the Firm while at Fairhaven College at Western. She read us the bits about the moth and the flame. This is her slenderest book, but the one in which she most takes her own advice. It's prose that reads like poetry.
This is a book that makes me think that everything else I've ever read was only approximate use of language to convey some idea. In this book it seems like every word is carefully chosen, as if it comes from some place of meditation, of listening to a still small voice. It's a very human book, for all the sparks of the divine. By another accident I heard her read from it at the University of Washington. The final passage seemed to rise to a climax and hang in the air. No one spoke, no one left. It was one of those magical moments. Holy the Firm is all one piece and can be read through in one sitting as one experience. It's very much a writer's book, and I see most of the reviews are by writers finding some echo in a fellow writer. Some reviewers have put much better than I what it's about. I merely suggest that Dillardians (and other readers) may enjoy this oft-overlooked book.
Oh, that all writers could write like this........2006-02-23
Prose poetry -- a literary form that seems to be missing from the experience of many readers. It is the ambrosia of forms and I know of no one better to serve it than Annie Dillard.
I envy her skill at evoking imagery and emotions through her rhythmic, metophorical language. It is a language of her own, honed through years of practice.
She has fed my spirit and my soul. She has given me a desire to reside in a world of words that is unlike any other. She has lifted me to a new dimention -- a heaven of words dancing around and above and with each other --whirling in a dervish of linquistic rapture.
If I could choose to imitate one writer who ever lived, it would be Annie Dillard.
A real gem........2006-01-25
I was attracted initially to this book based on Dillard's other works and the idea that she holed herself up in the Puget Sound area for a couple of years to think things through. Wow. Maybe more of us should stop and watch and think and write for a couple years. There is an almost imperceptible inner longing that runs throughout this book. I imagine Dillard working very hard over every word and that effort comes through to the reader in the depth of each sentence. She's not always accessible and I know people who just can't get through her books. I don't argue - she's rarely breezy and always deep but I always find her writing to be satisfying and challenging. A rare gem.
What Is God Anyway?.......2005-08-30
Annie Dillard has a special way of speaking to her readers. Her language is light and airy, yet filled with great significance and meaning. She blithely covers the most difficult and complicated of human subjects, with terrific contemplation. And what she yields is a treasure, a gem to be internalized and imbued.
In this book, Annie discusses God. She is confused by the way in which random events that hurt and injure seem to be disconnected with the way in which we would like to live. If these random and terrible events take place, without willful malice; then how could it happen that God would let such terrible things occur?
She describes a day in her life. In that day there is a young girl visiting, to whom she is attracted and vice versa. They have a chemistry that brings them within each other's spheres. This beautiful girl becomes the casualty of an airplane crash. No one else is hurt. No one is dead. But this girl for a random reason, is hit with a globule of flaming kerosene, and her face is totally burned away.
This anomaly is the framework of the book. She could have chosen 1000 other examples that set up this question. But she chose this one of the girl, one that could be personal not just to her; but also to her readers. She reminds us that there is no everyday, omnipresent God directing things. And there is no way to figure out these random events. There are only DAYS. And those days are filled with things that we do or don't do. There is no God that will directly intervene and tell us what to do, or save us. He is as ruthless as he is merciful. His form, however, is quite another story. His form is spiritual, not worldly, and not mundane. And we must remember that we control most of the things in our lives directly. We need to assume that responsibility and leave the spiritual to whatever it is we seem to believe in as God.
This book creates highly complex philosophical problems; which have no direct answers. Yet the book is highly recommended for critical thinkers. The book is a special treatment on the concept of the Divine.
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Holy the Firm
Annie Dillard
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEIC6Q |
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How Firm a Foundation (Sheet Music)
Manufacturer: Genevox
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Sheet music
 Songbooks and Chorale Music
| Music
| Christianity
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ASIN: 063303911X |
Product Description
(From preface):
Compiled from the spoken ministry of Mr. Watchman Nee of Foochow and first published in Bombay. Sit, Walk, Stand continues to stir the hearts of readers with its arousing message. Although through successive editions the book has been slightly expanded, all the source material dates from a single period - the spacious days of evangelistic witness in China just prior to the Japanese war, when the author and his fellow Christians enjoyed a liberty in the service of God that is rare today. A message which expresses at once their triumphant assurance in the finished work of Christ and their humble sense of the high qualities called for in his servants has a fresh relevance for us now, when Christian work everywhere is on trial.
(From Introduction):
If the life of a Christian is to be pleasing to God it must be preperly adjusted to Him in all things. Too often we place the emphasis in our own lives upon the application of this principle to some single detail of our behavior or of our work for him. Often we fail therefore to appreciate either the extent of the adjustment called for or, at times even, the point from which it should begin. But God measures everything, from start to finish, by the perfections of His Son. Scripture clearly affirms that it is God's good pleasure "to sum up all things in Christ... in whom also we were made a heritage" (Eph. 1: 9-11).
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HOLY THE FIRM
Annie Dillard
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEVPYW |
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Holy the Firm
Annie Dillard
Manufacturer: Harper
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HKKAEY |
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Ask the Cards a Question: A Sharon McCone Mystery
Marcia Muller
Manufacturer: G K Hall & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | African American | Asian American | Classics | Collections & Readers | Drama | General | Hispanic | History & Criticism | Humor | Jewish American | Letters & Correspondence | Native American | Poetry | Short Stories | Women Writers
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The Cheshire Cat's Eye
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Edwin of the Iron Shoes
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Games to Keep the Dark Away
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There's Nothing to Be Afraid of
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Eye of the Storm
ASIN: 0783814801 |
Customer Reviews:
Part Millhone, part Plum, all lame..........2007-03-16
I read lots of mysteries and there aren't too many I don't like. But Ask the Cards a Question by Marcia Muller is not one of my favorites. In fact, I'd classify it as rather lame. Ask the Cards is part of Muller's Sharon McCone series. Unfortunately, McCone seems part Kinsey Millhone and part Stephanie Plum--without the charm of either.
Sharon McCone is a private eye living in San Francisco. She resides in a studio apartment, which she is now sharing with her best friend Linnea. Linnea is having an alcoholic meltdown over a pending divorce. When a neighbor is murdered and the murder weapon is a cord that came from McCone's apartment, the PI starts an "unofficial" investigation. She fears that maybe Linnea killed her in an alcoholic rage. But there are also a host of other suspicious characters in the neighborhood including Mr. Moe (a local grocer), Anya Neverman (a fortune teller) and a number of men affiliated with the Sunrise Blind Center.
Ask the Cards is extremely lightweight and the plot is very predictable. At only 209 pages, there isn't much depth to the story. The characters aren't very likable, and that goes for McCone as well. I know this is a popular series, and the only thing I can assume is that this is one of Muller's earlier efforts and that she has improved with each book. I will give Muller another try--only because I picked up several of her books lately. However, I'm hoping for some improvement in her later works.
The second Sharon McCone Mystery.......2002-06-05
In this second installment of the series, Investigator Sharon McCone has taken in her friend Linnea, who has just gone through a traumatic divorce. Added to this, one of Sharon's favorite neighbors, Molly Antonio, has been found murdered. Sharon is asked to investigate the murder, and she finds a group of suspects including a neighborhood grocer, a neighborhood fortune-teller and her husband, and the people who live in a nearby center for the blind. As always, Muller sketches out her characters and plot in an efficient manner and writes an interesting and coherant mystery.
Ask the Cards a Question.......2002-05-24
"Ask the Cards a Question" is the second of the Sharon McCone novels by Marcia Muller following the groundbreaking "Edwin of the Iron Shoes" which introduced McCone as the first hard-boiled female private investigator. Molly Antonio, a tenant in Sharon's building is found dead by her husband, Gus. She had been strangled. With things slow at the All Soul's Legal Cooperative where Sharon works, she is able to work on the case. She finds quite a few suspects along the way. The ending is sure to surprise. "Ask the Cards a Question" is a fine addition to this long-running series.
A simpler version of Kinsey Millhone.......2002-01-18
This is my first McCone book, and my first impression is it is very similar in style to Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, without quite as much of a hard edge. The writing style is simpler and faster to read than Grafton's, and the mystery was not too terribly hard to solve, given the abundance of bad characters (all of which being guilty of something). I was expecting McCone's houseguest to be the scapegoat, which never really happened. The interplay between McCone and the police was not very realistic. All in all, it was a fun read, but not extremely exciting. The story had the potential to be much more interesting.
A Fascinating Mystery.......2000-09-21
Sharon McCone, the unassuming detective, is having trouble in her own building.When she finds one of her neighbors dead, Sharon realizes she really hasn't noticed the people in the building. She's been too busy with her romantic life and solving crimes all over the city. While reading this fascinating mystery by Muller, we are continually amazed at the background information, locale description and vivid characters. I feel as if I know the whole staff at All Soul's (where Sharon is the detective). Muller has a gift for making characters come to life. It's an entertaining, spellbinding book.
Product Description
A Sharon McCone mystery.
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Ask the Cards a Question
Marcia Muller
Manufacturer: Books on Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
Muller, Marcia | ( M ) | Authors, A-Z | Mystery & Thrillers | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
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Muller, Marcia | ( M ) | Authors, A-Z | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0736634541 |
Product Description
2nd Sharon McCone detective novel set in San Francisco.
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ASK THE CARDS A QUESTION
Marcia Muller
Manufacturer: Mysterious Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0704343657 |
Product Description
Hardcover copy personally SIGNED by Marcia Muller on the title page.
Product Description
6 massmarket paperback Titles By Marcia Muller Sharon Mccone Series: Eye of the Storm - There's Something in a Sunday - The Shape of Dread - Ask the Cards a Question - The Chesire Cat's Eye - Listen to the Silence
Product Description
6 massmarket paperback Titles By Marcia Muller Sharon McCone Series: The Chesire Cat's Eye - Ask the Cards a Question - Leave a Message for Willie - Broken Promise Land - Till the Butchers Cut Him Down
Average customer rating:
- This is odd
- Swan Song
- McCammon Whereabouts
- madd about Mccammon
- RETIRED!
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Something Passed by Stories from the Blue World
Robert McCammon
Manufacturer: Audioworks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
Contemporary
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| Fantasy
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Fantasy
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ASIN: 0671700502 |
Customer Reviews:
This is odd.......2001-11-12
Have you noticed the other five reviews here haven't reviewed this book at all, but just talk about McCammon retiring? This has got to be the strangest set of reviews.
Anyways, who here like Domino's Pizza better than Pizza Hut?
Swan Song.......2001-08-23
I just discovered McCammon a few weeks ago when I picked up a copy of Swan Song at a thrift store. He is an amazing story teller. I now have a new favorite author and am trying to locate a copy of all of his works. I understand he no longer writes - our loss.
McCammon Whereabouts.......2000-05-20
For those of you wondering... I read on a website about a year ago that Robert was coming out with a new novel... they even had a picture of the cover art. I don't remember the naem, but Robert said it was going to be a real departure from his work with more supernatural leanings. Hope it comes out soon!
madd about Mccammon.......2000-04-18
he is one of my top 3 favorite writers , why has he stopped . King needes the competion,he is why I love bookes in the frist place I readed the wolf's hour when I was 14 and that is what got me in to reading
RETIRED!.......2000-01-06
I was wondering why I've seen nothing new lately from this favorite author. A short search has revealed that he has officially retired from writing as of November,1999. Anyone have any idea why?
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Something Passed by: Stories from Blue World
Mccammon
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
General
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General
| Occult
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ASIN: 0671881434 |
Book Description
'If you are suffering from an intractable illness, such as cancer, you must read this book. It goes be-yond the usual welter of pills, potions, remedies and diets to an understanding of the principles of health.' -Ralph Moss, author of the bestseller The Cancer Syndrome Unexpected Recoveries is a holistic wellness guide for those who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness or medi-cal condi-tion. While doctors may not be able to offer a cure for these ill-nesses, patients are able to take steps towards healing their bodies and minds. Author Tom Monte combines modern medical know-how, ancient healing practices, and macro-biotic dietary guide-lines in order to provide a comprehensive and inspiring guide-book for healing. Rather than concentrating on a specific disease, Monte's Seven Step program can help people suffering from: Cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, chronic pain conditions, Crohns disease, degenerative bone conditions, and more. This is a power-ful book that offers hope, purpose, and a proactive plan to those who are seriously ill.
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read for Anyone Recovering from a Severe Illness or Supporting Someone Who is.......2005-07-16
Tom Monte's book is a book written from his heart that details 7 steps involved in the healing process involved in recovering from a severe illness. Cancer and Cushing's Disease are among the illnesses written about. The book is both inspirational and self help. It provides a diet to follow and recipes conducive to recovery from severe illness. Tom talks about 12 people, 4 in detail that recovered from illnesses they were not expected to and then gleans the lifestyles, diet, exercise and other healing techniques that contributed to their recovery. If you are recovering from a severe illness or supporting someone who is....BUY THIS BOOK and read if from cover to cover!!!
Books:
- In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden: A Novel
- In the Midst of It All
- Leading from the Second Chair: Serving Your Church, Fulfilling Your Role, and Realizing Your Dreams (J-B Leadership Network Series)
- Leaving Home: A Novel
- Life and Times of Michael K
- Little Black Girl Lost 3
- Lone Star Cafe
- Midnight at the Dragon Cafe: A Novel (Alex Awards (Awards))
- Miracle on the 17th Green: A Novel about Life, Love, Family, Miracles ... and Golf
- Mrs. Mike
Books Index
Books Home
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