Amazon.com
In Big Fish, Daniel Wallace angles in search of a father and hooks instead a fictional debut as winning as any this year. From his son's standpoint, Edward Bloom leaves much to be desired. He was never around when William was growing up; he eludes serious questions with a string of tall tales and jokes. This is subject matter as old as the hills, but Wallace's take is nothing if not original. Desperate to know his father before he dies, William recreates his father's life as the stuff of legend itself. In chapters titled "In Which He Speaks to Animals," "How He Tamed the Giant," "His Immortality," and the like, Edward Bloom walks miles through a blizzard, charms the socks off a giant, even runs so fast that "he could arrive in a place before setting out to get there." In between these heroic episodes, Bloom dies not once but four times, working subtle variations on a single scene in which he counters his son's questions with stories--some of which are actually very witty, indeed. After all, he admits, "...if I shared my doubts with you, about God and love and life and death, that's all you'd have: a bunch of doubts. But now, see, you've got all these great jokes." The structure is a clever conceit, and the end product is both funny and wise. At the heart of both legends and death scenes live the same age-old questions: Who are you? What matters to you? Was I a good father? Was I a good son? In mapping the territory where myth meets everyday life, Wallace plunges straight through to fatherhood's archaic and mysterious heart. --Mary Park
Book Description
In his prime, Edward Bloom was an extraordinary man. Or at least that's what he told his son. Faced with the prospect of his father's death, William Bloom sets about to discover who the man really is. Daniel Wallace's magical first novel, Big Fish, is told as a series of legends and myths inspired by the few facts that William knows. Through these tall tales-hilarious and wrenching, tender and outrageous-William begins to understand his elusive father's great feats and great failings.
Customer Reviews:
Big Fish still a Big Thrill.......2007-08-12
I recently reacquainted myself with Big Fish, Daniel Wallace's impressive tale of a strained father/son relationship, ultimately healed through storied memories on the occassion of the father's death bed. The story still impresses and seems fresh despite having read it before. It is simply magical.
Magical.......2007-04-12
I read this book before seeing the movie, and unlike other reviewers, I found that the movie did not live up to the book.
Sure the book is small, but the stories in it are so large and wonderful. I only wish there had been more to read.
For once, I like the movie more.......2006-10-04
I have to agree with the other reviewers who felt that this was the rare instance where the movie was better than the book. The story in the book just didn't seem to flow as well as the movie. This does not mean that this was a bad book. Perhaps I would have rated this book higher if I hadn't seen the movie first. It is still an excellent story.
Beautiful.......2006-07-12
William's father is dying, and William knows little about him beyond that simple fact. By looking back at all the tales his dad told him over the years, William hopes to learn who his father really is. As readers, we know nothing about Edward Bloom that his son doesn't know; thus, our perceptions of him, like William's, are based largely on surreal, fantastic tales. More than that, though, we get a hint of who William is and how he really feels about his dad.
This is the type of book I could read over and over again. The stories themselves are beautiful, and they are subtle and poignant in the context of the entire plot. Wallace maintains a perfect mystery around the characters that makes me want to comb over the novel sentence by sentence for a glimpse into their psyches. I don't know whether there actually is a deep life lesson to be taken from each and every story Edward told his son, but it feels like there was. So many parts of this book touched me. I came away feeling, for a few hours, like I had been transformed.
A book of UN-mythical proportions.......2006-07-06
This book made me laugh. This book made me cry. This book toyed with my emotions. I found it to be rather short,almost too short. While the book is almost always better than the movie, I honestly have to say I enjoyed the movie better. While this wasn't a horrible book, it could've been a lot longer.
Product Description
5 Hours 21 Minutes on 4 compact disks, complete and unabridged.
Writer and illustrator Daniel Wallace has published stories in various literary magazines. Big Fish is a novel reminiscent of Garrison Keillor and Mark Twain. It is a surprising work, filled with imagination, homespun humor, and hyperbole. Edward Bloom, an aging salesman, is dying. As his grown son, William, cares for him, the young man tries to focus on what he knows about his fathers life. Story after story surfaces in Williams memory, and he shares mythic visions of a fantastic father who was loved by alla man who was the best runner, fisherman, businessman, and adventurer in the world. Big Fish tells these tall tales of Edward Blooms life. Punctuated with his vast repertory of jokes, they set the stage for Edwards final, wonderful transformation. Each chapter achieves an added richness through Tom Stechschultes distinctive narration. An interview with Daniel Wallace is the perfect conclusion to this audio production
Average customer rating:
- I loved this book
- Satisfying read
- An excellent story
- Puzzlingly implausible for a Brenda Joyce novel
- Great Read
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The Finer Things
Brenda Joyce
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Joyce, Brenda | ( J ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
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Joyce, Brenda | ( J ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0312961553 |
Book Description
The Power....The Passion....The Incomparable Romance of Brenda JoyceThe PretenderAn orphan from London's East End, a fugitive from the poorhouse, Violet Cooper was tired of sleeping on stoops and being huntry and cold. But she dared to enter a world forbidden to her and her kind. Even marriage to a gentle elderly knight and the title Lady Goodwin could not open closed doors, stop the cold stares, or hush the shadowy rumors of murder....The AristocratHe was a man of the world. The rules of Victorian society did not interest him, nor could a gauche pretender with a Cockney acent possibly turn his head. Yet Thodore Blake, second son fo the Earl of Harding, was immediately compelled by Violet--and soon found himself defending the investigation. But wedding vows were the only way to save her from a certain hanging....The Finer ThingsTwo people from different were brought together by passion, bund together by whispered accusations, and torn apart by scandal and misfortune. The world claimed they should never love each other. Their hearts claimed otherwise.
Customer Reviews:
I loved this book.......2007-05-19
This was the first book I read from Brenda Joyce. My friend lent it to me. I'm hooked, I cant get enough of her books. This book was great it has so many ups and downs in it. A really good read!
Satisfying read.......2005-07-13
This was my first Brenda Joyce novel, and I must say I was very impressed. The story was fun and captivating, the characters were decently likable, and it was easy to become emotionally involved --- which I think is essential in any novel but a romance especially.
I tend to be wary of most romance novels, simply because many of them have little or no intelligible story, and just as many are simply excuses to have the characters jump in bed together. This novel kept the sex scenes to a minimum, and they were more tastefully done than most. It was more a story of LOVE, not LUST. The story's progression was satisfying and the tension came from more than just ONE area. It was a more three-dimensional novel than most in the genre.
"The Finer Things" tells the story of Violet Cooper, a street urchin from St. Giles who vows to change her life and end up as one of the fancy "nobs" who grace the floors of fancy ballrooms. At 18, she marries an aging knight, Sir Thomas Goodwin, and becomes Lady Goodwin. She and her lifelong friend and practically-brother Ralph move into Goodwin Manor and Violet --- now Violette --- enters high society. But she is hardly well-received, thanks to her low-born background and her obviously low-class existence. Even her own daughter-in-law, a woman older than Violette, can't stand her and does nothing to promote goodwill toward her. When Sir Thomas dies six months after their marriage, she does everything in her power to put the blame on Violette.
The only people kind to Violette are the Harding family. The chemistry between Violette and the youngest Harding son, Blake, is undeniable, and she soon falls in love with him. But he has vowed, after being cruelly rejected eight years previously by a woman he loved, never to marry.
When official charges come against Violette for the murder of her husband, however, Blake cannot think of anything else to protect Violette than to marry her. But what he gets is NOT what he expected.
I really felt for the main character, Violette. I could FEEL everything she went through, thanks to the skill of the author. She wasn't a non-entity heroine, nor was she a flat, cookie-cutter character like thousands we've seen in other novels. She had guts to her that made her more real, more fleshed-out and not quite so stereotypical. There were times I even found myself close to tears in anguish for her.
There were some surprises, my favorite being the intentions of a well-known rake towards Violette. The minor characters --- including Blake's older brother Jon and their dear friend Catherine Dearfield --- are as charming as the main characters, and as interesting.
I WAS able to figure out long before it was revealed who was ACTUALLY responsible for Sir Thomas's death, but that was only a small part of that novel and didn't ruin anything for me. The rest of the story was incredibly satisfying. I can't wait to read more of Brenda Joyce's work!
An excellent story.......2004-09-28
This is the only Brenda Joyce book thus far that has made me cry.
I thought Violet Cooper was an endearing heroine. She never had opportunities for education and such, but when they were offered to her she didn't turn them down. Her goal throughout was to better herself. Some of the situations were implausible, yes, but isn't that why they call it fiction?
I was somewhat surprised by the ending although it was hinted at several times throughout the story.
I have enjoyed all of Brenda Joyce's books thus far, my favorite being "The Third Heiress," but I especially like the time and place of books like "The Finer Things."
Puzzlingly implausible for a Brenda Joyce novel.......2004-06-16
As a fan of Brenda Joyce's romances, I was surprised and mystified as I slogged through this novel because the problems were too big to ignore.
1) The heroine comes across unintelligent. Not that her strong Cockney accent is enough to imply stupidity -- but her words, analysis of her circumstances, and her actions come across dense and counter-productive to her own survival. It's hard to enjoy a book where you can't relate to the heroine much at all.
2) The heroine spends a lot of time throwing herself at the hero and the hero sends ambivalent signals to her, which is a turn-off for me and for a good number of other romance readers. I don't read romance to watch a woman chase a man. There's too much of that in the real world already. Usually B. Joyce gives us a strong hero who knows what he wants, but this one is just too out of touch with the heroine to make me love him.
3) Implausible scenarios present themselves over and over again. I simply didn't buy how quickly and thoroughly the Hardings and Lady Dearfield took the lower-class heroine under their wings. There was no really compelling reason for them to do so, given their social strictures and world-view. Also, I find it unlikely that Ralph, the heroine's constant companion, would hold off as long as he has in declaring himself to the heroine and making a move on her. Many more examples exist, but those are some of the blinding implausibilities.
4) There's much less sexual tension between the hero and heroine in this book than there usually is between the protagonists in B. Joyce's other romance novels. I recommend giving this book a pass unless you've read every single other B. Joyce novel and simply want to complete your bookshelf.
Great Read.......2002-08-22
I thought that this was a great book. Some of the reviews I read said that the story was not realistic, but don't we read romance novels for the fantasy - not the realism?
Average customer rating:
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The Finer Things
Brenda Joyce
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000W5FSOG |
Product Description
375 pages.
Average customer rating:
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FINER THINGS (Fortunes, No 5)
Faith Cavandish
Manufacturer: Ivy Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0804100748
Release Date: 1988-01-12 |
Customer Reviews:
Storyline ...........2002-06-12
Since Amazon didn't post an editorial review for this book, here's the description from the back of the book to help you decide if this book is for you: "She rose magically to a position of shimmering acclaim ... stunning Laurel Reed's honey-blond hair and sugar-sweet voice have made her American's favorite game show hostess. Newly married to screen idol Graham Burke, Laurel is the envy of every woman, proof that romantic fantasies sometimes do come true ... never dreaming she would have to fight to stay there. But Laurel is prey to secret insecurities and fears. As she struggles to emerge from the shadow cast by Graham's first wife, brilliant actress Minna Davis, her sense of inferiority is increased by the shame of her won dubious past. Unsure of herself, doubting her talents and abilitties, Laurel must also compete with two high-powered rivals for Graham's attention -- his publicist, Elinor Bloodworth, and his former lover, advertising executive Diana Scott -- both of whom intend to manipulate her to achieve their own ends ..."
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The Finer Things in Life
Kevin Prosch , and
Bryan Haworth
Manufacturer: Destiny Image Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
Christian | Religious & Sacred Music | Musical Genres | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0768401704 |
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The Finer Things in Life
Ann Morris
Manufacturer: Wings ePress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
ASIN: 1590889088 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Winnipeg Free Press, published by Thomson Gale on February 9, 2007. The length of the article is 993 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Fine young cannibal; Prequel blithely explains away a budding serial killer's taste for the finer things.(Movies - Reviews)(Movie review)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication:
Winnipeg Free Press (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 9, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: D1
Article Type: Movie review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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No finer thing. (American Public schools)(Editorial): An article from: Phi Delta Kappan
Ron Joekel
Manufacturer: Phi Delta Kappa, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
Nonfiction | Subjects | Books | Automotive | Books on CD | Books on Cassette | Crime & Criminals | Current Events | Economics | Education | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Government | Holidays | Law | Philosophy | Politics | Social Sciences | Transportation | True Accounts | Urban Planning & Development | Women's Studies
General | Nonfiction | HTML | Formats | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B00097OE2O
Release Date: 2005-07-28 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Phi Delta Kappan, published by Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. on June 1, 1997. The length of the article is 610 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
From the supplier: American politicians and the media believed that U.S.'s public schools failed to provide adequate services. However, the validity of the criticisms on the quality of public education was challenged by several concerned citizens.
Citation Details
Title: No finer thing. (American Public schools)(Editorial)
Author: Ron Joekel
Publication:
Phi Delta Kappan (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1997
Publisher: Phi Delta Kappa, Inc.
Volume: v78
Issue: n10
Page: p734(1)
Article Type: Editorial
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
'This is an exciting adventure story,and first-ratescience-fiction.' -ST.LOUIS GLOBE DEMOCRAT I n 1959 Andre Norton published The Beast Master, an exciting science fiction adventure that introduced Hosteen Storm, one of her most popular heroes. Storm is a Navajo scout for Earth's forces in the future. When Earth is destroyed by the alien Xik, Storm becomes a rancher on frontier planet Arzor. In telepathic rapport with a team of animals, he is the closest thing the planetary Confederacy has to law on Arzor. In this novel and its sequel, Lord of Thunder(1962), he finds that safeguarding the colonists, the native aboriginals, and the natural resources of the planet is a full-time job full of action and excitement. Arzor's ruins of a bygone race present their own puzzles and problems, but thwarting a genocidal plot of a crazed war vet turns his job into a deadly challenge.
Customer Reviews:
An Amerindian on Arzor.......2007-08-05
Beast Master's Planet (2005) is an omnibus edition of the first two SF novels in the Beast Master series. It includes The Beast Master and Lord of Thunder. The action takes place on Arzor, a human colonized planet, but with intelligent natives and alien ruins. The situation is much like that of the Spanish settlers among the southwestern tribes in the North American plains.
In The Beast Master (1959), Hosteen Storm is a native of Terra and an Amerindian. He is also a Galactic Commando and a Beast Master with an unusual affinity with animals, who is mustering out of the service to be repatriated on Arzor. "The last desperate thrust of the Xik invaders had left Terra...a deadly blue, radioactive cinder", leaving the native Terrans homeless and in shock. Some had gone mad, killing themselves and others. Finally, all Terran troops had been forcibly disarmed. Since Hosten has not displayed any symptoms of such delayed shock, the service medics reluctantly agreed they could not deny Storm's release.
Storm travels with Baku, Ho, Hing and Surra -- his commando team -- to Arzor on a troop ferry and then looks for employment herding horses to the auction to be held during the Gathering at Irrawady Crossing. To prove his ability to ride, he tames a young stallion and introduces him to Surra, the dune cat. When the horse tolerates the cat breathing in his nose, Storm gets the job without further questioning. He claims the stallion as his working mount and names him Rain-On-Dust.
Since the horse herd is an attraction for covetous natives as well as wild animals, Surra patrols the camp at night and Baku, the African Black Eagle, scouts the route by day as they proceed cross-country to the Gathering. On the first night, they encounter a yoris and Storm, Surra and Baku kill the lizard in a coordinated attack before it can harm the horses. But its scent and hissing causes the horses to stampede.
With the herd scattered all over the area, the drivemaster hires some Norbies, the local native sentients, to track down the horses. It soon becomes evident that someone has separated the herd and stashed the small bands in out of the way places. However, even the Norbie trackers cannot determine who has done this.
While the horses are being returned to the herd, Storm spends some time gentling a few of the wild stock to replace riding animals lost in the stampede. The other men soon come to respect his skills and he gains an even closer relationship with Put Larkin -- the drivemaster -- and Dort Lancin -- an old Arzor hand -- who is teaching him finger talk and other lore. However, Coll Bister has developed a hostile attitude toward Storm for some unknown reason.
Storm has also become accepted by the Norbies as a fighting man with a fighting bird totem. Gorgol, the youngest of the trackers, is drawn to Storm by admiration and curiosity, providing him with lots of chances to practice finger talk as he answers Gorgol's questions.
At the gathering, Storm fends off a couple of attempts to kill or maim him, in which Bister seems to be involved, and meets Brad Quade, the man he has come to Arzor to see, but not quite yet. He accepts a job with the Survey Service to locate and explore the Sealed Caves within the High Peaks.
In Lord of Thunder (1962), Storm is returning to the Quade place after staking his claim within the Peaks country. It's the Big Dry season, so nobody rides during the heat of the day. He takes shelter in a cave and finds the Norbie warrior Gorgol there before him.
Gorgol is working for Storm this season. Storm expected him to be back at the Quade spread watching the horses. After explaining that he had left the horses in the Quade corral, Gorgol tells Storm that all the natives have been recalled to their clans for medicine talk.
Storm knows better than to probe too deeply into medicine talk, but he is quite puzzled by the recalls. Usually the Norbies urge warriors to hire on with the settlers during Big Dry season, if for no other reason than to reduce the number of thirsty mouths drinking scarce water. Of course, these warriors are commonly paid in horses and the clans are always short of the offworld creatures.
This recall puts a cramp in a lot of plans. Most settlers in the Peaks will be short of riders with the natives gone back to their clans. After the land cools down, Gorgol heads into the mountains and Storm rides toward the Quade ranch.
Upon returning home, Storm finds Brad Quade hosting an impromptu settler conclave on the native recall. Rig Dumaroy is busily running his mouth about native uprisings, although he is finding fewer settlers willing to listen to him after his mistaken accusations during the Xik attacks a few months ago. Brad Quade, the Lancin brothers and a few other level-headed settlers are more concerned about the shortage of riders.
During this conversation, Storm learns that the natives have moved out of their home ranges and are heading into the Blue range. No settler knows much about that section of mountains, although Logan -- Storm's half-brother -- probably knows more than anyone else. But Logan has not returned from his visit with the Shosonna clan and is probably traveling with them toward the meeting.
When the conclave ends, Brad Quade points out that Storm has a claim to file. The next day, he should take a 'copter into Galwadi to make his claim and then he can find some extra riders to hire. He could also try to meet with Kelson and learn what the Peace Officer knows about this strange native behavior.
These stories introduce outside forces into Arzor affairs, raising the possibility of native uprisings. Even the Norbies, who are friendly and used to human customs, have problems with settlers such as Rig Dumaroy, who definitely doesn't hire native riders. On the other hand, Storm and the Quades have friends among the natives. Logan Quade has even been adopted into the Shosonna clan.
These novels are vintage Norton, but with an older protagonist than usual. However, there is the psionic bond between man and animal, natives who are strangely like his own kin, and a deadly danger that must be faced. Moreover, there is the element of hope that survives among disaster.
Highly recommended for Norton fans and anyone who enjoys tales of competent and talented persons, dangerous but friendly animals, and mysterious alien artifacts.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Grateful for this omnibus edition.......2007-07-30
My originals of the two books collected in this omnibus were so old and ragged that I was tremdously grateful that they were re-printed! Andre, or Mary Alice, Norton was one of the shining lights among women writers in science fiction, and we will miss her. And never was her writing better than in Beast Master and Lord of Thunder.
New readers, beware! Andre Norton is addicting, and mostly you have to locate her books in the Young Readers sections. The saving grace is that she was also a prolific writer (two whole shelves on my bookshelves!) so that it will take a while to read them all. She is one writer you can give a young reader without worry about too much violence or "adult" content, and she liked to write about younger heros/heroines before they were a more widespread phenomenon. But her books cover some wonderful, thought-provoking topics, as timely now as they were when she wrote them.
Beast Master's Planet.......2006-10-09
Ok--while I do not own this book--I do own the 2 stories that it contains (4 copies of Beast Master and 2 of Lord of Thunder--what can I say--I'm a major Andre Norton fan) and the 2 stories are GREAT. The little blurb provided by the publisher frankly does nothing to engage a possible reader's attention.
Basically Hosteen Storm (called only Storm by his own choice) is one of the few survivors of an Earth that has been totally destroyed during a war with an alien race. There are many human settled worlds tho, so there is still no shortage of humans in the galaxy. Storm, with his beast team, 2 meercats, an African Black Eagle and a Sand Cat (all genetically enhanced so that they are at least semi-intelligent and also able to telepathically communicate with Storm and each other) come to Arzor to settle. Altho there is a secondary agenda on Storm's part. While riding herd they become mixed up in other adventures.
These are the first 2 of a 5 part story arc. Altho many years elapsed between the publishing of these 2 and the other 3 books in the series. While I have enjoyed the other 3 books in the series (Beast Master's Ark, Beast Master's Circus and Beast Master's Quest) these 2 are my favourites in the arc of stories. Because of the almost 25 years between the publishing of books 1 and 2 (comprised in this book) and books 3,4 and 5, you can really see the difference in attitudes that have occured in even that short a time.
The stories in this book are also popular with younger fans (6th grade reading level and above), especially with boys. I was 13 myself when I found Andre and have been an addict ever since.
Omnibus Book.......2006-03-19
Excellent single book containg both stories. Saves shelf space. These are both intriguing narratives of a possible future.
Amazon.com
Though best known for his spiritual writings, Thomas Merton also made drawings, whose Eastern-style brushwork have a meditative power rivaling that of his finest prayers. In Dialogues with Silence, these (mostly unpublished) drawings--of human figures, churches, the crucifixion, and abstract forms--are paired on pages with the texts of his well-known prayers. Editor Jonathan Montaldo's introduction to this volume asserts that Merton, the author of classics including The Seven Storey Mountain, became a:
witness for his generation of the way out of self-defeating individualism by tracking anew the boundaries of that ancient other country, whose citizens recognize a hidden ground of unity and love among all living things.
He might have added that, for Merton, one direct escape from individualism was the act of loving other individuals, an aspect of Merton's character that shines clearly in the many portraits here. Notably, the most arresting of these images is a face without features. It hovers next to a prayer that begins, "O God, my God, why am I so mute?" --Michael Joseph Gross
Book Description
An intensely personal devotional book from Thomas Merton, the ultimate spiritual writer of our time, showing his contemplative and religious side through his prayers and rarely–seen drawings. The only Merton gift book available.
Dialogues with Silence contains a selection of prayers from throughout Merton's life––from his journals, letters, poetry, books––accompanied by all 100 of Merton's rarely seen, delightful Zen–like pen–and–ink drawings, and will attract new readers as well as Merton devotees. There is no other Merton devotional like this, and the paperback edition will be elegantly designed and packaged.
Customer Reviews:
Portrait of Prayer.......2006-04-23
While he was alive, Thomas Merton dedicated his life as a monk to contemplative meditation, constantly seeking a closer and ideal relationship with God. After becoming a Trappist monk at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, he searched for solace in a monk's life of solitude. But the more Merton expressed himself through his writing, and became better known in the outside world, the solitude that he sought was harder and harder for him to find. Johnathan Montaldo has done a wonderful job of editing this collection of Merton's prayers and private thoughts and pairing them with sketches from Merton's own hand. Together both represent the soul of a man who offers inspiration and insight to this very day.
"Dialogues with Silence" is a collection that is best read in small batches; while it is possible to read it through as one might a novel, the point of meditation and contemplation (especially on the prayers) would be lost. Some of the pictures and words go hand in hand and offer a look into Father Merton that many have never experienced before this book. The prayers are a candid glimpse into a struggling soul, and are juxtaposed with thoughts on nature and poems that are starkly beautiful. Every page is a testament to the magnificent talent that Merton had in transferring his thoughts into words.
There are many prayers I could single out to include as an example of the power of Merton's writing, but this prayer to Etienne Gilson struck me as most appropriate to one of the struggles that Merton underwent: "Please pray for me to Our Lord that, instead of merely writing something, I may 'be' something, and indeed that I may so fully be what I ought to be that there may be no further necessity for me to write, since the mere fact of being what I ought to be would be more eloquent than many books." It is extremely fortunate for us that Merton did feel the need to write so that his love of God might be an inspiration to all who read his works.
Silence is enough........2001-10-29
Before becoming a Trappist monk, Thomas Merton "loved books, women, ideas, art, jazz, hard drink, cigarettes, argument, and having his opinions heard" (p. x). At age 26, however, he abandoned that life for a life of prayer, silence, and anonymity "from the world's one thousand and one interesting things" (p. x). He ended his wanderlust by travelling instead the inner geography of his heart and soul. This collection of 183 prayers is the result of his twenty-seven-year journey as a monk at Gethsemany.
"This book is a partial harvest from over four hundred prayers collected from Merton's published and unpublished works" (p. xvii). Most of the prayers here are derived from Father Merton's THOUGHTS IN SOLITUDE and ENTERING THE SILENCE. (I have given this book four stars only when measured against his NEW SEEDS OF CONTEMPLATION, and these earlier books.) In his prayers, we find Merton entrusting himself "completely to the silence of a wide landscape of woods, and hills, or sea, or desert," his heart on fire, as he quietly searches for salvation. "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going," he prays. "I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end" (p. vii).
Although this may not be Father Merton's best book, it offers us the quiet prayers of a humble monk. Those prayers may be experienced as a powerful antidote to the troubling events unfolding in the world today.
G. Merritt
Average customer rating:
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Dialogues with Silence: Prayers & Drawings
Thomas Merton
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Merton, Thomas
| ( M )
| Authors, A-Z
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Paperback
| Merton, Thomas
| ( M )
| Authors, A-Z
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B000OF0J2A |
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- Blind Vengeance: The Roy Moody Mail Bomb Murders
- Circle of Stones: Woman's Journey to Herself (Circles of Stones , Vol 1)
- Clock Winder (1st Ballantine Books Trade ed)
- Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man: The Early Years
- Cordelia Underwood: Or, The Marvelous Beginnings of the Moosepath League
- Crawl Space: A Novel
- Crazy in Alabama
- Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s: The Postman Always Rings Twice / They Shoot Horses, Don't They? / Thieves Like Us / The Big Clock / Nightmare ... / I Married a Dead Man (Library of America)
- Days of Bitter Strength (Chung Kuo Series , No 7)
- Death Is Lighter Than a Feather
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Fear and Trembling
- The Politics of Jesus : Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus' Teachings and How They
- Selah's Bed: A Novel
- The Apprentice Mage, 1865-1914
- The Glass Castle: A Memoir
- The Physics of Baseball
- The Subsistence Perspective: Beyond the Globalized Economy
- The Burger King: Jim McLamore and the Building of an Empire
- State Tax Consequences of Ira Distributions for Nonresidents
- Commercial Espionage: 79 Ways Competitors Can Get Any Business Secrets
Big Fish
The Watermelon King
Ray in Reverse
The Hollywood Standard: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to Script Format and Style
Flash Fiction: Very Short Stories
