Book Description
The paper mill looms up from the riverbank in Abbott Falls, Maine, a town once drenched with ordinary hopes and dreams, now praying for a small drop of good fortune. Ernie Whitten, a pipe fitter, was three weeks away from a pension-secured retirement when the union went on strike eight months ago. Now his wife Marie is ill. Struck with sudden inspiration, Ernie builds a giant ark in his backyard. It is a work of art for his wife; a vessel to carry them both away; or a plea for God to spare Marie, come hell or high water. As the ark takes shape, the rest of the town carries on. There’s Dan Little, a building-code enforcer who comes to fine Ernie for the ark and makes a significant discovery about himself; Francine Love, a precocious thirteen-year-old who longs to be a part of the family-like world of the union workers; and Atlantic Pulp & Paper CEO Henry John McCoy, an impatient man wearily determined to be a good father to his twenty-six-year-old daughter. The people of Abbott Falls will try their best to hold a community together, against the fiercest of odds. . . .
Customer Reviews:
englishteacher23.......2005-09-03
I loved this Maine author! Our book club found many issues to discuss. Monica Wood has a deep understanding of Maine communities. This collection of stories weaves a fantastic tale about a mill community torn apart by a strike and the healing process that ensues. Her characters are appealing and her sense of humor is awesome.
Beautiful Read.......2005-04-27
Monica Wood's story is set in a small town which is affected by the closure of a local paper mill. Wood follows several characters, each with a unique and touching perspective. I cherished this book and often give it as a gift to other readers.
Book Description
Bargain Books are non-returnable.
Acclaimed novelist Monica Wood again turns her keen eye and wry humor to small town Maine. Nine interrelated stories create a layered and complex portrait of a community in the midst of crisis as a strike wears on at the paper mill, and the residents of Abbott Falls feel the reverberations of the town’s shifting fortune. Ernie, just days shy of retirement when the strike hits, finds new purpose in building an ark in the backyard. Written with a quiet grace and lyrical power, Ernie’s Ark is a moving work by a writer who understands the vagaries and hopes of the human heart.
Customer Reviews:
Another Winner for Monica Wood!.......2002-10-17
I *discovered* this writer when I read "My Only Story" which I absolutely loved. I then followed up with "The Secret Language", an entirely different but equally rewarding read. So when I heard about "Ernie's Ark" there was no doubt that I would read it! And it was a joy.
I always enjoy reading books of connected stories and this was one of the best. Wood created a foundation with the first story and proceeded to build on it until she finished constructing a marvelously detailed structure. I loved how each story started anew but then incorporated some character or event from a previous story, creating one of those "a-ha" moments.
Abbott Falls, Maine could have been Anytown, USA and showed Wood's familiarity with this kind of environment and with the effect that a mill, a union, and striking workers can have on the town. The wonderfully developed characters are people we have met before in our lives. Perhaps we did not know all their secrets, but we have known them, I am sure.
This is a book of life, death, love, hate, fear, anger, joy, and most of all, about redemption. I cannot wait for her next!
Mesmerizing.......2002-09-02
Mesmerizing
Ernie's Ark is a joy to read and reread. Unforgettable characters and the seasons themselves weave in and out of these nine connected stories. Author Monica Wood clearly knows small-town life, but the stories reach well beyond geographical boundary. A paper-mill strike defines the fictional Maine town, but all of the characters, even the CEO, have a distinct story to tell. A youngest brother, darling of the family, who must choose between crossing the picket line and defying family loyalty. One "heartbreaking eighth-grade girl" and a grieving widower who form an unlikely alliance. A young man reaching for a lifeline that will enable him to break away from the father who has simultaneously controlled and ignored him.
Wood's prose is golden: "A SIMPLE REQUEST FROM A NEIGHBOR GIRL, THE FIRST REQUEST FROM ANY HUMAN BEING SINCE MARIE'S BREATHLESS 'HOLD ME, ERNIE' WHEN HE'D FELT WHAT WAS LEFT OF HER LIFT FROM THE EARTH." And succinct: "WE USED TO BE A CLOSE FAMILY. BARBECUES AND BIRTHDAY PARTIES, LOTS OF BAD JOKES AND BELLY-LAUGHING, EVERYBODY'S KIDS MARCHING IN AND OUT OF ALL THE KITCHEN." And full of discovery: "HE STOOD ALONE FOR THE NEXT FIFTEEN MINUTES WATCHING THE OWL IN THE COLD. AT ONE POINT IT RAISED ITS PONDEROUS WINGS AND LIFTED FROM THE EARTH, DRIFTING DOWN A FEW FEET TO THE WEST. 'STAY, STAY,' HE WHISPERED, WHOLLY BELIEVING HE'D BEEN SUMMONED TO THIS PLACE BY A DEAD MAN TO WITNESS A MARVEL IN HIS STEAD."
Tempered with humor and moments of high suspense, the stories trace the multifaceted paths that lead to forgiveness and redemption. Wood explores the human heart in all its complexity. Throughout the book the ark stands tall, suggesting a myriad of subtleties as varied as the characters themselves.
Delight and insight!.......2002-08-30
This work compares very favorably with Richard Russo's Pulitzer-winning EMPIRE FALLS and covers much of the same territory. Like Russo, Wood is intimately and intricately familiar with the people she characterizes so well. Some of these stories could happen anywhere; some only in smalltown Maine. The stories are loosely connected and characters overlap in what in the hands of a lesser writer, might seem a contrived structure, but which here adds a depth of patterning to the already complicated relationships between these entirely lovable, if foible-full creations. You won't find Abbott Falls on any map of Maine, but towns and situations of similar ilk about everywhere, especailly in the smalltown Maine of the human heart.
Wow!.......2002-08-21
ERNIE'S ARK is an astounding book. This collection, like the ark of the title story, is built one piece at a time, one story on top of the last, until the reader is left with a magnificent monument to its characters. Set in the town of Abbott Falls, Maine, during a lengthy labor strike, the stories focus on those struggling to make connections with their loved ones during difficult times. In the title story, Ernie, a striking pipefitter who was days from retirement when the strike began, tends to his dying wife, Marie. In an uncharacteristic moment of artistic vision, he begins to build what he calls an "installment", a large ark in his backyard that gives him hope during a time when he should have none. In my personal favorite, "That One Autumn." Marie, on her deathbed, reflects on a frightening incident that solidified her marriage and which now allows her to leave it, loved. "The Temperature of Desire" explores the grief of the union man Danny when his beloved younger brother crosses the picket line. "Solidarity Is Not a Floor" follows Francine, the eighth grade daughter of an errant father and professor, who loses her right to an honor because hers is not a union family. When events take an unexpected turn, Francine is given a glimpse into the adult world, thus giving her the strength to confront her father.
Wood explores lives that touch each other, sometimes briefly, introducing the main character of each story as a cameo role in a preceding one. These stories are about making human connections, about love and confusion, about betrayal and faith. Taken separately, the stories would be admirable, but together they acquire an ever increasing power that resonates long after the reading.
I can't recommend this collection highly enough. I became a fan of Monica Wood's work when I read MY ONLY STORY, but this collection of stories, both heartbreaking and triumphant, shows the maturing talents of a writer just now hitting her stride.
Absolutely delightful!.......2002-06-05
I LOVE this book! If you have never read anything by Monica Wood, make this your first! You will fall in love with her after reading this book! What a touching and inspiring story (collection of stories) of a small town in Maine and the residents' response to it's economic crisis. The characters are so real and the events of their lives so familiar. . . makes you think Ms. Wood must've not only written about it, but LIVED it! Her ability to create such an accurate portrait of this town and it's residents is truly remarkable. She possesses an acute understanding of human nature and small town sensitivity. Monica Wood is on my "must read" list and I anxiously await her next book. Kudos to this supreme writer on this magnificent book!
Product Description
This is a set of 6 First Little Golden Books. It contains Thank You Pooh, The Muppets in Zip! Pop! Hop!, Baby Mickey's Book of Shapes and Book of Opposites, Animal Sounds, and Noah's Ark.
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Ernie's Ark
Monica Wood
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OVMCCO |
Customer Reviews:
What A Wonderful Guy!!!.......2003-07-20
To protect the family Mac Fortune marries his aunt's assistant Kelly Sinclair who is pregnant by his playboy younger brother. This book begins with the wedding and never seems to slow down a bit all the way through. This is the first book in a long time that was hard to put down and made me want more. The hero in this story is wonderful, maybe too wonderful, but I sure wouldn't mind someone like him. The story takes a strong in charge guy at work and shows that he is actually a very lonely man who needs this relationship just as much as the female lead in the story. I kept waiting for Mac to do something really inconsiderate to ruin it but it never happened. This certainly makes me want to read more books by this author and in this series.
Greene always delivers!.......1999-01-18
Jennifer Greene lives up to my expectations in this book! She writes the best heroes, truly the kind of guy a girl hopes for, and in this book, she has another winner hero. Whenever I put down one of Greene's books, I always have a smile on my face and hope in my heart for the future of humankind. She's a writer of warmth, tenderness, and ideas--and her honorable groom is one more terrific guy who deserves the heroine Greene gives him!
Book Description
Set in the same universe as The Parafaith War (but two centuries later, and intended to be read independently), The Ethos Factor is the story of Commander Van C. Albert of the Republic Space Force of Taran, a brave and resourceful officer who once defeated a larger enemy ship but indirectly caused the loss of a civilian liner in the process. Cleared by the board of inquiry, but an embarrassment to the high command, he retains his commission but is given only dead-end assignments. For a time, he must watch helplessly as cold war among economic, religious and political rivals evolves toward interstellar open warfare.Assigned as a military attacheacute; at the Taran embassy on Scandya, Van is seriously wounded foiling an assassination. Decorated, promoted and summarily retired while still in a coma, he wakes to find himself honorably but intolerably unemployed. Then the harmless sounding Integrated Information Systems foundation of the Eco-Tech Coalition recruits him to fly a starship, Van finds he now has a powerful new vantage point not just for observation, but for action. The IIS has interests everywhere and Van is not just a pilot, but their point man in a conflict that will shake the worlds.Modesitt uses a distinctive blend of space battles, political and economic intrigue, and issues of race and religion to address deep questions of good and evil, ethics and self-interest. Van Albert makes his decisions; it is for you to decide if he is a hero.
Customer Reviews:
Action Si-fi provides opportunity for reflection on values..........2006-07-20
With so many of today's government and business leaders more concerned with being re-elected; the bottom line; popularity; and enriching their bank accounts rather than their souls, The Ethos Effect provides an opportunity to reflect on where this type of behavior can lead and the disasterous consequenses that may result.
Boring.......2006-02-05
I spotted this book in the library, saw the cover art, and thought, "Oh boy, an action-packed sci-fi novel about spaceships!" I had never heard of Modesitt but the quotes on the back cover seemed to lend some credibility to the book.
As the chapters went by, I kept trying to convince myself I was engaged in an interesting book, but you know what? It's just plain boring. In a future galaxy of spaceships and planet colonization, the main character seems to spend all his time leisurely strolling around from embassy office to embassy office, mildly contemplating something. Modesitt made a grand effort but the overall effect is soporific and tepid. 500 pages of gentle boredom. Sorry.
Justifying Genocide.......2005-10-10
This sequel to "The Parafaith War" is not Modesitt's best book. As other reviewers have suggested, it presents large and small ethical dilemmas for its protagonist to puzzle over. But in the end, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the protagonist's actions were as much motivated by revenge as by some kind of pure ethical principles, however much he might protest.
Van Cassius Albert is from the Taran Republic and serves competently, if controversially, in its space navy. After he succeeds where he was supposed to fail, repeatedly disrupting his government's plans, he is retired from the service. When he is unable to find other work, he is rescued from mysterious assassins and winds up employed by Trystin Desoll, the near-immortal protagonist from "The Parafaith War." It's obvious to everyone but our ethically striving but dense protagonist that he is being groomed by Desoll to take over, and that the Tarans as well as the religious, zealot Revenants are Bad Guys, if in different ways.
You will have to decide for yourself if Desoll and Albert are ethical, or rationalizing fascists. Desoll, in "The Parafaith War," at least attempted persuasion from within before taking the more . . . drastic . . . measures here. Albert doesn't. The Taran Empire brutally killed most of the people Albert had known. How much of Albert's actions are driven by a personal need for revenge? Was Hiroshima justified? These are not new questions.
In some ways, this novel left the same sour taste in my mouth that Peter Hamilton's "Fallen Dragon" did: the conclusion is that selfishness and selfish choices can solve humanity's fundamental flaws. I think the Farkhans may share my opinion. You'll have to decide for yourself.
Good but not great. As much annoying as throught-provoking. Bonus points for Albert's amazing family.
responsible hero makes tough choices, wins through... reminiscent of Dune series..........2005-08-26
Modesitt's "ethics" sci-fi novels include the Parafaith (religion) and Ecolitan (ecology) series. I read "Ethos Effect" a second time for enjoyment and to check again, was Modesitt advocating a particular morality?
I like the novel for several reasons. It clearly proposes an ethical dilemma: Is there an absolute morality that everyone must follow, or is there an individual morality each person must follow on their own, at the risk that they are just personally justifying what to others are clearly immoral actions?
In this novel, the hero accomplishes what he sets out to do by acting several times according to the operational premise, "it's better that some die now in order that more live in the future". But the plot line requires the hero to continually reflect on, be responsible for, and clean up after the consequences of his actions.
Modesitt's main message is being responsible and accountable for one's choices in life, whatever they are. But it's told in the context of a rousing interstellar conflict, with excerpts from a sort of "encyclopedia galactica" discussing ethics, giving the book a stature reminiscent of Frank Herbert's Dune series,
Another Modesitt masterpiece about war, ethics, and personal responsibility.......2005-08-12
Imagine that you have fallen through a portal time and have been transported back in time to October, 1939. Germany has invaded Poland, and World War II has just begun. You find yourself in Berlin, and you think about what you should do with your knowledge of the future. You think about assassinating Hitler, but realize that it would be too late; even if you could succeed, his successor would continue to carry out his policies and little would have been accomplished.
You then see an object appear out of nowhere in front of you. It is a button that, exactly seven days after it is pushed, will detonate several hydrogen bombs, killing every person in Germany. By activating it, you would kill of millions of people, many of which have committed no crime themselves, but you would bring World War II to a quick end and save millions of others.
Do you press the button? If you did, could you live with yourself afterwards?
L. E. Modesitt, Jr. has written many stories of cultures at war, usually told through the eyes of one single individual in a position to alter the course of history. Is there a limit to how far you can go to protect yourself, your country, and your way of life when faced with an enemy that will continue plotting your destruction until one side or the other has been completely defeated? The Ethos Effect is one of his best novels, but you should be warned. This book is meant to be controversial and upsetting. It raises serious questions and provides answers, but deliberately leaves the reader wondering if the hero's solution to the problem of the evil he slowly uncovers throughout the novel was the right ones. You may not like this book, but you ought to read it and consider it carefully.
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The rhetoric of typography: effects on reading time, reading comprehension, and perceptions of ethos.(Applied Research): An article from: Technical Communication
Eva Brumberger
Manufacturer: Society for Technical Communication
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
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ASIN: B000826VE4
Release Date: 2005-07-31 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Technical Communication, published by Society for Technical Communication on February 1, 2004. The length of the article is 8823 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: The rhetoric of typography: effects on reading time, reading comprehension, and perceptions of ethos.(Applied Research)
Author: Eva Brumberger
Publication:
Technical Communication (Refereed)
Date: February 1, 2004
Publisher: Society for Technical Communication
Volume: 51
Issue: 1
Page: 13(12)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Product Description
**** ($3.99 USA POSTAGE FOR ALL 7 BOOKS, WHICH WILL BE MAILED AT THE MEDIA - BOOK RATE WHICH IS SLOW SURFACE MAIL AND FREQUENTLY HAS A SLOW DELIVERY TIME BY THE USA POST OFFICE).
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Ethos Effect
L E Jr Modesitt
Manufacturer: ST MARTINS PRESS *
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000Q1JR84 |
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Ethos Effect
L E Jr Modesitt
Manufacturer: ST MARTINS PRESS *
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SF251E |
Book Description
In this fascinating collection culled from teachings never before brought together in book form, Krishnamurti offers wise reflections and fresh perceptions on love, politics, society, death, self-censorship, relationships, solitude, meditation, spiritual growth, and much more.
Through provocative meditations and in-depth answers, Krishnamurti answers such timeless questions as:
- What are love and loneliness?
- What should our relationship to authority really be?
Meeting Life also features a number of Krishnamurti's talks, delivered in Switzerland, India, England, and California, Here is the profound wisdom of a beloved teacher who moved millions with his words. This thought-provoking and inspirational volume will provide strength and encouragement to anyone searching for insight.
Customer Reviews:
His Best yet!.......2006-04-01
This is my favorite book of his. Very refreshing book. I also like "commentaries on Living". All are great. "Think on these Things" is a good place to start. I don't see any similarities to the bible as the other reviewer. His is a unique voice.
The best Krishnamurti I have read........2002-03-06
I have read quite a few of his books, and this book is more like a mirror into my soul than a book. Whether you have read him for many years or just starting, this is the book for you. Like other reviewers, i must warn you about the power of his books. Do not read them if you do not want to look within yourself VERY deeply. This is one of the few books i carry around with me at all times.
Krishnamurti Makes you Think & Be!.......2002-01-18
This book guides my mind deeper & deeper onto a self-discovery journey. Krishnamurti's wisdom & questions are clear and profound. A must-read for all spiritual "lookers"! You don't seek, you see.
Was blind, but now I see.......2001-12-17
I have been re-reading this edition of 'Meeting Life' for the past week, and recommend it highly. In the past 10 years of reading K's books, I can with all humility say he has transformed my life. May he transform yours as well.
(see below for a short excerpt from the Chapter 'Is There a Meaning to Life?' page 192 of the current edition)
Note: If you seek truth, freedom, and an end to sorrow, buy it. If you desire solace, comfort, and other such 'feel goodies', I'm afraid this book is not for you. New Age this ain't. Alot of heavy lifting goes with the territory when encountering Krishnamurti.
Now for the excerpt:
'Religions have tried to offer [us] the meaning of life--that is, organized, propagandistic, ritualistic religions. But in spite of 2,000 or 10,000 years, man has merely asserted certain principles, certain ideals, certain conclusions, ALL verbal, superficial, non-realistic. So I think it becomes very important to discover a meaning for oneself, if one is at all serious--and one must be serious, otherwise one does not really live at all, which doesn't mean one never laughs or smiles--serious in the sense of a TOTAL COMMITMENT to the whole issue of life. So when we ask what is the meaning of life, we are faced with the fact that our brain is caught in a groove, caught in a habit, in tradition, in the conditioning of our education, cultivating only knowledge, information, and so making it more and more mechanical.
If we are to inquire into this very deeply, there must be great doubt. Doubt, scepticism are essential, because they bring a certain quality of freedom of mind through negation of everything than man has put together--his religions, rituals, dogmas, beliefs which are all the movements of thought.'
(and later on page 194, he says)
'We are asking what is the meaning and significance of life, and if there is any meaning at all. If you say there is, you have already committed yourself to something, therefore you cannot examine, you have already started with distortion. In the same way if you say there is no meaning to life, that is another form of distortion. So one must be completely free of both, the positive and the negative assertions. And this is the real beginning of meditation.'
Thank you to the Krishnamurti Foundation of America (kfa.org) for keeping his words in print. Cheers.
The Bible?.......2000-11-27
I must disagree with the previous person about similarities between "Meeting Life" and the Bible. I think the two things are very different. Meeting Life is a great book, but I don't recommend it as a first book to read by Krishnamurti. You should start with "Freedom From the Known", then maybe "The First and Last Freedom", "The Awakenning of Intelligence", and then you can read other books, such as "Meeting Life".
Books:
- Fancy Strut (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
- Her Body Knows: Two Novellas
- Her Own Place (Fawcett Columbine)
- I Stand in the Center of the Good: Interviews with Contemporary Native American Artists (American Indian Lives)
- I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin
- In the Palm of Darkness: A Novel
- Intoxicated: A Novel of Money, Madness, and the Invention of the World's Favorite Soft Drink
- Jerusalem's Hope (The Zion Legacy, Book VI)
- Katerina: A Novel
- Layover
Books Index
Books Home
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- An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory
- Working with Your Woodland: A Landowner's Guide
- Untitled
- The Poverty Curtain
- ExecRecs : Executive Recommendations for the Best Products, Services, and Intelligence Executives U
Secret Language (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Any Bitter Thing
Good Family: A Novel
Things Unspoken
Skylight Confessions: A Novel
