Average customer rating:
- Hardly a page-turner, but read it for the sheer joy of reading
- Seems written by someone trying to imitate Nicholson Baker's style
- A bit disappointing
- Nuanced, balanced.
- You've got to get cold to get warm
|
A Box of Matches: A Novel
Nicholson Baker
Manufacturer: Random House
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0375502874
Release Date: 2003-01-07 |
Amazon.com
One man's simple, colloquial meditations on his past, his family, and his life's daily minutia are the substance of Nicholson Baker's A Box of Matches. Feeling that life is passing him by, Emmett, a middle-aged medical textbook editor, decides to wake up early each day to sit by a fire in his country house and record his thoughts in a diary. "Good morning," Emmett begins, "it's January and its 4:17 a.m., and I'm going to sit here in the dark." From this vantage point, Emmett reflects stream-of-consciousness style on whatever occurs to him, no matter how mundane: his recent trip to Home Depot, how he met his wife, the habits of the family duck. Routines, such as how he makes his morning coffee in the dark or picks up his underwear with his toes, are described with childlike reverence and directness. All told, nothing much happens in A Box of Matches, which seems to be the point. Baker is more interested in the idea that for many, life is made up of such apparent trivialities, and that only by pausing to appreciate them can anyone gain any lasting satisfaction. Baker emphasizes this through the moments of understated wisdom and joy that Emmett derives from ordinary occurrences, such as the daylight through the window: "a simple light that goes everywhere but with no heat, aware that it is taken for granted and content to be so." This is the philosophical equivalent of a one-joke premise, however, and there are moments when Emmett's naiveté and laundry list-like narrative wear thin. Likely understanding this, Baker has wisely kept things short. A curious, often charming novel, A Box of Matches will inspire some readers, while inspiring frustration in others. --Ross Doll
Book Description
Emmett has a wife and two children, a cat, and a duck, and he wants to know what life is about. Every day he gets up before dawn, makes a cup of coffee in the dark, lights a fire with one wooden match, and thinks.
What Emmett thinks about is the subject of this wise and closely observed novel, which covers vast distances while moving no farther than Emmett’s hearth and home. Nicholson Baker’s extraordinary ability to describe and celebrate life in all its rich ordinariness has never been so beautifully achieved.
Baker won the National Book Critics Circle Award for
Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper. He now returns to fiction with this lovely book, reminiscent of the early novels—
Room Temperature and
The Mezzanine—that established his reputation.
Download Description
Emmett has a wife and two children, a cat, and a duck, and he wants to know what life is about. Every day he gets up before dawn, makes a cup of coffee in the dark, lights a fire with one wooden match, and thinks. What Emmett thinks about is the subject of this wise and closely observed novel, which covers vast distances while moving no farther than Emmett¿s hearth and home. Nicholson Baker¿s extraordinary ability to describe and celebrate life in all its rich ordinariness has never been so beautifully achieved. Baker won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper. He now returns to fiction with this lovely book, reminiscent of the early novels¿Room Temperature and The Mezzanine¿that established his reputation. From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Hardly a page-turner, but read it for the sheer joy of reading.......2007-04-06
This is one of those books where nothing really happens, but that's not really a bad thing! It is the story of a man who get up every morning very early, while it's still dark, to light the fire with a box of matches.
The narrative takes us through the motions of each of these mornings, and the subsequent day, through his thoughts, and via a series of flashbacks, over some of the events of his life.
Will it keep you on the edge of your seat? No. Is it worth reading for sheer skill of the storytelling? I think so
Seems written by someone trying to imitate Nicholson Baker's style.......2006-09-06
I have read many of N.B.'s novels and essays, and he is a favorite author of mine. This novel, however, seems more like it was written by someone else in his writing style, rather than written by Baker himself. It lacks the substantive punch of his earlier works, lacks the beauty and emotion of a narrator relating to others in his world. The pet duck in the story seems more real, compelling, and finely drawn than the narrator's wife and children. (Maybe this is intentional?) In addition, whereas past Baker narrators have described the minutiae of their lives with freshness and wonder, this narrator gets pedantic. Does the reader really need to be told how a rear-window defroster works, or how to wash a dish? I think for Baker fans, this might be a disappointment. For a first-time Baker reader, however, it's a peaceful little book that might lead to his better ones.
A bit disappointing.......2005-12-28
Count me among the many fans of Nicholson Baker's body of work. Upon first cracking the pages of A Box of Matches I was quite pleased to discover that it is a return to the style of writing that made him famous - focusing in on the beauty of detailed minutiae within a story-arc comprised of a few reflective moments. This is the same stuff that made me love The Mezzanine and Room Temperature. In this case, our protagonist is a medical texts editor who details his early morning ritual of making a cup of coffee, starting a fire in his fireplace, and ruminating on his life. Like any piece of fiction by Baker, the descriptive details are dazzling and his use of metaphor and simile unparalleled among his peers. Those who, like me, appreciate a particularly inventive turn of phrase will find much to delight in this small book. Ultimately however, I found A Box of Matches not entirely satisfying. I think it has to do with the age of the narrator. In The Mezzanine and Room Temperature, both narrators were experiencing things both new and old, but mostly new and came at things with a palpable sense of wonderment. By contrast, the narrator in A Box of Matches seems a bit world-weary and lacks that same sense of wonderment. I think that takes away from the soul of the narrative that really shines through in the earlier two tomes. Detailed descriptions of things new and exciting make for a stirring read. Detailed descriptions of the old, the tried and true, come out a bit dull and perfunctory. It has always been a tightrope walk for Baker to make the mundane details of everyday life come alive exquisitely, and unfortunately with A Box of Matches it seems he's lost his balance.
Nuanced, balanced........2005-12-01
Baker's prose and topics of discussion are incredibly nuanced here, and by the end of the book he's uncovered a whole new type of humor based on soft, delicate minutiae. He has a gift for the sort of highly personal aesthetic observations I would normally associate with a new friend or a lover's uniquely individual tastes, but here these things are communicated in a short and sweet book. Baker loves to observe things with a microscope, that's his style, but here he balances his desire for a radical literary form by channeling it through a very comfortable, somewhat bittersweat, and incredibly observant voice. I still hear the voice two years after reading this work, very subtle and very powerful.
You've got to get cold to get warm.......2005-11-29
Every one of the thirty-three chapters in `A Box of Matches' by Nicholson Baker begins with a "good morning" and the time. The main character is a forty-four year old man named Emmett who earns a living by editing medical textbooks. He's married to a woman named Claire and together they have two children: a fourteen-year-old daughter named Phoebe and an eight-year-old son named Henry. The family has two unusual pets: an aggressive, territorial cat and a duck that lives in a doghouse and enjoys antagonising the cat.
Every morning Emmett wakes up at around four in the morning, before the sun has risen, before he has to drop his daughter off at school and go to work. The first things that he does in the morning are make coffee and start a fire in the fireplace... all in the dark. As he performs this morning ritual, he is sometimes distracted and begins thinking about events that happened when he was much younger or even events in his life that happened as recently as the previous day. Each chapter, or morning rather, he shares amusing, interconnecting stories about things such as his old Fuji camera, the suitcase his father gave to him, tiles from an old railroad station that he and his father put into their fireplace, and how he came to have a duck for a pet.
Often whilst reading `A Box of Matches' I was struck by how entertaining it was despites its seeming ordinariness. This book is not ordinary, far from it. In my opinion, it was rather brave to write a book that will basically be love it or hate it with readers. Emmett has his idiosyncrasies that we recognise in others and ourselves. The stories may seem dull if you are not paying attention to Nicholson Baker's subtle sense of humour. His ruminations vary from memories to sentimentalities to observations about the world and the people around him.
If you enjoy the sort of comedy in shows like Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, there's a good chance that you will like this book.
Average customer rating:
|
Hot Cars
Manufacturer: Flying Frog Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1577557875 |
Product Description
Poster book
Book Description
Blind dates haven’t worked. Neither has the internet, or set-ups by mom or friends. Now what? How about something tried and true: the professional matchmaker! Matchmakers are back and better than ever—and this guide from the Matchmaking Institute explains everything you need to know to choose and use one. Find out all about the process, how to make the most of it, and exactly how he or she will make you a match. As you read the success stories with their “happily ever afters,” you’ll realize that matchmaking is an intelligent, practical way to go about dating today. In addition, there’s a list of matchmakers recommended by the Institute as well as smart dating and relationship advice from the professionals.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Book!!!.......2007-09-28
This book is a well written concise self help book on how to use and choose a matchmaker. I found it to be a realistic, helpful guide offering insight into this profession. A must read for those tired of on-line dating fiascos and bad dates.
Customer Reviews:
The adventure of the cardboard box: A scandal in bohemia.......2005-04-02
I have read three of Murray Shaw's revisals of the Sherlock Holmes Mysteries, and this is the most on edge one. If you like a good solid mystery, with a slight touch of shock (at the end of both mysteries) then this is definatly your book. In The Adventure of the Cardboard Box a very strange thing happens to a quiet woman, two ears arrive at her front door! The investigators don't know if it is a murder or a gross joke, and how come it is a quiet woman that it is sent to??? In A Scandal in Bohemia, a strange man arrives at 221 Baker Street. He needs Sherlock to get a painting for him at an ex lover's house, but what happens at the end of the story turns out to be "something" that not many people can do to Sherlock Holmes
Average customer rating:
|
Match, the Box and the Label
Joan Rendell
Manufacturer: David & Charles PLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0715383523 |
Customer Reviews:
A Nice Easy Read!!!.......2005-11-17
Thorn McCafferty is back home but not because he wants to be but instead because his half sister Randi is fighting for her life after being in a one car accident. The brothers (Slade, Matt and Thorn) had no idea that their baby half sister was in Montana to begin with and that she was pregnant to boot. There are more questions then answers and with both Randi and her baby fighting for their lives Thorn doesn't need any more problems. Well, what Thorn needs, and what Thorn gets...are two different things.
Dr. Nicole Stevenson is the admitting doctor when Randi comes into the E.R. She realizes right away who Randi is and what's about to walk through her doors, her past in the form of very handsome, very rich Thorn McCafferty. Nikki was once naïve enough to give her heart to this man. She won't do it again. No matter how nicely he apologizes for the past, and not matter how sweetly he kisses now. He's bad new and Nikki has had enough heartache to last her a lifetime. But, sometimes life doesn't go according to plan and feelings don't just go away. No matter how many years pass. Will Thorn and Nikki give their love another chance or will they let it slip through their fingers once again?
This was a very sweet story about a second chance at love. Ms. Jackson has created a very dominating arrogant hero but he's turned around by the love of a good woman. This was a fun quick read but the romance doesn't suffer for it.
Official Reviewer for Romance Designs
a terrific read.......2001-01-06
Jackson starts this miniseries with a tremendously powerful hook. The plot flows beautifully, piquing the reader's interest and delivering a first rate tale of love. Randi's accident ties all three books together in an originally unique method that both resolves the love story, yet leaves the larger purpose unanswered in THE MCCAFFERTYS: THORNE. I eagerly look forward to the next installment of the series! Highly recommended.
Product Description
the famous mccaffertys by lisa jackson!thorne/slade/matt/randi.a mystery baby leads three brothers to love under the wide montana sky....
Book Description
"Eckert's plotline is terrifying and provides the reader with intense action, character developments that reek with reality, and some of the finest mind-bending writing in a long, long time."
—Cincinnati Enquirer
"Intrigue, love, high imagination, politics, White House and residential drama, cunning skill, technique and an overpowering sense of disaster. A great experience, it all adds up to a sizzling novel."
—Edinborough Evening News
"Eckert thrusts us without warning into a breathtaking adventure. A gripping tale, monumental, captivating and enthralling, the story is a masterpiece!"
—Chicago Sun Times
Average customer rating:
|
The Hab Theory
Allan W. Eckert
Manufacturer: Sphere Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000OJN5Y0 |
Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of The New Revelations and Conversations with God comes a galvanizing vision of spirituality unlike anything you've experienced before....
Humanity is about to create a new form of spirituality on earth. Neale Donald Walsch believes that this New Spirituality will allow humans to express their natural impulse toward the Divine without making one another wrong for the way in which they are doing it...and without killing each other in the name of it. In Tomorrow's God, Walsch offers compelling reasons why adopting this new belief system is in the best interests of humankind -- now.
Tomorrow's God contains an astonishing prediction, one that comes from an astonishing source: God. Presented as a conversation between God and Walsch, this startling, profound book is offered in two parts: Part One deals with humanity's current conception of God, and the new ideas about the Deity that will characterize God in our not-too-distant future. Part Two examines how these ideals will be put into place -- and how they will impact our lives, and help us to create a newer, better world.
Controversial, challenging, and illuminating, Tomorrow's God provides both spiritual and down-to-earth advice on what each of us can do to cope with the current world crises -- and experience God in such a way that ourexperience of one another will be healed at last.
Download Description
"Something extraordinary is about to happen on this planet. Humanity is about to create a new form of spirituality. This New Spirituality will allow humans to express their natural impulse toward the Divine without making one another wrong for the way in which they are doing it, and without killing one another in the name of it. When the New Spirituality is embraced by humanity, it will, of course, change everything. And that is exactly what is needed now. This book contains an astonishing prediction. And that prediction comes from an astonishing source. Author Neale Donald Walsch says it comes directly from God. Whether you believe that or not, you will find it difficult not to be swept up in the startling and profound vision of our near future contained here. Tomorrow's God says, point-blank, that humanity will soon re-create its experience of God in such a way that our experience of one another will be healed at last. You may agree or disagree with the contents of this book, but you will never forget having read it. "
Customer Reviews:
an invitation to transformation of the human condition .......2007-05-20
Tomorrow's God explores the nature of a relationship with God that is remarkably empowering, and one which encompasses our relationship to our planet, humanity, and one another - including our most personal of relationships - seeing them all as vehicles for our spiritual evolution
"Consider the possiblility that you came into the relationship in order to remember how to be greater than you are. That's the purpose of all relationships, and of all of life. I've said the purpose of life is to recreate yourself anew in the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever you held about who you are."
Another powerful conversation for the possibility of being for human beings, consolidating and relating in clear, simple language a spectrum of knowledge ranging from the personal to the cosmic. I listened to this audiobook after What God Wants: A Compelling Answer to Humanity's Biggest Question, for which it is a natural progression of the subject, adding relief to the picture of a "New Spirituality", an expression of that grand relationship with outcomes which transform politics, economics, education and all areas of human endeavor
"In the days of the New Spirituality the priority of education will no longer be the dissemination of facts, but the increasing of sensitivity and awareness, and understanding and compassion and acceptance and celebration and of appreciation for the awe and wonder of life."
References Neale makes to related material from other authors are
Duane Elgin
Barbara Marx Hubbard
Karen Armstrong
Hazel Henderson
Jean Houston
Eleanor LeCain
Jack Reed
Dennis Weaver
with specific acknowledgement of the courageous movie production, What Dreams May Come
I recommend this to any reader wishing to explore a compelling vision of how life on the planet, and the human condition, could transform in response to our own personal spiritual evolution
I'm on next to The New Revelations: A Conversation with God
Potentials in self exploration.......2005-10-30
Mr. Walsch takes his reader through an amazing journey into quantum mechanics and the human potential through the first 19 chapters of his discusion with God about humanity. He really seems to "get it". Although his reference to his other works may cause a reader to wonder if he is using psychological tactics to gain sales for the parts he discusses without divulging their secrets, this book still offers a great deal of thought for self exploration.
Then one reaches the 20th chapter and Mr.Walsch's vision of an ideal new world. Understanding that Mr. Walsch is as human as the rest of us and thus not perfect, one can't help but wonder if he really believes what the first 19 chapters were all about. Although many of his visions for a new world are wonderful, he still seems to be stuck in the thought that control and manipulation need to be used to gain human cooperation. His reference to putting names of those who do not contribute to the whole in the local news to gain peer pressure to force cooperation examplifies this. The vision Mr. Walsch portrays has already been tried with both Western religious and communistic empires. They failed miserably
However, this book offers a lot to a seeking reader. I suggest reading it, throwing aside what does not fit and exploring what does.
We all evolve at our own pace and we do create our reality. My view of a new world does not include any type of manipulation to gain cooperation. I believe we are capable of evolving fully into a glorious loving future without such needs.
Tomorrows God.......2005-09-16
Tomorrows God is a culmination of Neal Donald Walschs Conversation with God books. All the books has given me Devine Inspiration to go deeper into my own divinity and to understand Gods presence in me and everything. My new claear belief creating new profound actions and results for myself and the World!
With Love & Light Of God To All Of Us - We Are One!
Jonas
Tomorrow's God.......2005-09-14
Answer to all my questions and more I have bought about 10 books and 6 CD to give to friends and family, Pastors, Practioners, teachers, I love this book, I am so glad this book has been read by so many. There will be peace on earth when everone reads this book.
Open Up To It And Call It Forth.......2005-08-13
"The truth about all of you is that you have deep insights and extraordinary wisdom, and all you have to do to experience that is open up to it and call it forth."
Average customer rating:
- an invitation to transformation of the human condition
|
Tomorrow's God: Our Greatest Spiritual Challenge {Unabridged Audio}
Manufacturer: Books on Tape, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
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ASIN: 141590166X |
Product Description
In his popular and controversial series, "CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD," Neale Donald Walsch asked questions of God, and got back answers by means of automatic writing. Now, through a further dialogue with the Almighty, Walsch outlines a new form of spirituality for the human race, one that will improve the life of every listener. TOMORROW'S GOD examines the impact of the "New Spirituality" on politics, society, economics, education, the media, and sexuality. Walsch tackles taboos, unravels mysteries, and offers ways to change negative patterns of behavior. Unique in its spiritual and prescriptive form, this book provides down-to-earth, practical advice on what every listener can do to cope with the crises of the modern world - and, more importantly, to help to solve them.
Customer Reviews:
an invitation to transformation of the human condition.......2007-05-20
Tomorrow's God explores the nature of a relationship with God that is remarkably empowering, and one which encompasses our relationship to our planet, humanity, and one another - including our most personal of relationships - seeing them all as vehicles for our spiritual evolution
"Consider the possiblility that you came into the relationship in order to remember how to be greater than you are. That's the purpose of all relationships, and of all of life. I've said the purpose of life is to recreate yourself anew in the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever you held about who you are."
Another powerful conversation for the possibility of being for human beings, consolidating and relating in clear, simple language a spectrum of knowledge ranging from the personal to the cosmic. I listened to this audiobook after What God Wants: A Compelling Answer to Humanity's Biggest Question, for which it is a natural progression of the subject, adding relief to the picture of a "New Spirituality", an expression of that grand relationship with outcomes which transform politics, economics, education and all areas of human endeavor
"In the days of the New Spirituality the priority of education will no longer be the dissemination of facts, but the increasing of sensitivity and awareness, and understanding and compassion and acceptance and celebration and of appreciation for the awe and wonder of life."
References Neale makes to related material from other authors are
Duane Elgin
Barbara Marx Hubbard
Karen Armstrong
Hazel Henderson
Jean Houston
Eleanor LeCain
Jack Reed
Dennis Weaver
with specific acknowledgement of the courageous movie production, What Dreams May Come
I recommend this to any reader wishing to explore a compelling vision of how life on the planet, and the human experience, could transform in response to our own personal spiritual evolution
I'm on next to The New Revelations: A Conversation with God
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- A Wild Ride Up the Cupboards: A Novel
- Amos : To Ride A Dead Horse
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