Book Description
Speed, Alabama, is frantically preparing for the event of a lifetime: Sesquicentennial Week. And all her proud citizens are kicking up their heels in a lively, pompous fancy strut....
Customer Reviews:
Good bedtime read.......2006-03-11
I have read most of Lee Smith's books, I found this one to be one of the best, It flows and keeps you guessing
My favorite Lee Smith novel.........2002-07-30
This book made me laugh so hard, so often, I had to run to the bathroom on more than one occasion to avoid wetting my pants. The characters are all a delight to get to know, even the ones you love to hate, and it made me wish I lived among fun folks like these. What better compliment could a writer get?
Not my favorite..........1999-09-25
I had a very hard time getting through this one. I have enjoyed some of Smith's other work, but I had to force myself through this one. The characters were one-dimensional caricatures and the plot seemed contrived and disjointed. This story was certainly not as tightly woven as FAMILY LINEN, which I enjoyed immensely.
on the march of progress.......1999-01-11
Smith certainly knows how to interweave characters' plots. This is a delightful book. A bit more obvious than her later books, it is also more humorous, with several laugh-out- loud moments. Mostly, it has a wry sense of irony, as people believably rail against the very vice they are illustrating, for instance. The title is ostensibly about an event in competitive baton twirling (a quintessentially Southern event in 1965, the time of the novel). But, the title is also about the self-congratulatory town celebrating its 150th anniversary, and all of the town's population are represented doing their own version of a "fancy strut." I think my favorite is Manly Neighbors (a too-obvious name, but fun), the owner/editor of the weekly paper, a happily complacent guy who knows he doesn't like to think too much. I also like batty, snobbish old Miss Iona Flowers, a belle left over from a finer era, as she alone sees it.
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FANCY STRUT
Lee Smith
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OW0C0W |
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Fancy Strut
Lee Smith
Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NQH496 |
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FANCY STRUT
LEE SMITH
Manufacturer: BALLANTINE/FAWCETT
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KUMJC2 |
Book Description
A LOST CHILD TOUCHER HER HEART. A MAN'S SECRETS THREATENED HER LIFE. How do you atone for the sins of the past? Nick Raine has been trying to answer that question for six years. Now he's a handyman at Rachel Goodman's preschool, desperate to put his violent life behind him. Rachel has her own painful memories. As a child, she witnessed her mother's murder and has vowed to use her preschool to help all children who have been victims of violence. But when a boy goes missing and threats on Rachel's life begin, Nick has no choice. He must return to a world of fear--only this time he's not alone. As he and Rachel race to save an innocent boy, they enter a danger zone of dark secrets. The only way out is to believe in the redeeming power of their newfound love. But a ruthless enemy is closing in...and there may be no escape.
Customer Reviews:
Fast-paced action.......2006-03-07
When Rachel Goodman was a child, she watched someone murder her mother. Now grown, she uses her teaching degree and troubled past to help children who have been affected by violence. She also befriends the lonely school custodian, Nick.
Nick was adopted by a crime lord when he was abandoned on the streets at a young age. He naturally progressed into a life of crime emulating his "father" Rennie. A former gun runner, Nick has vowed never to return to the life but is drawn back in when his former lover turns up dead and Rennie asks Nick to find the son she kept hidden from him. He makes Nick an offer he can't refuse by involving Rachel.
Once Rennie locates Isaac, it is pretty obvious that Rennie is not the kid's father, and together, Nick and Rachel race the clock to try to get Isaac back from a madman - Nick fears that Isaac will be brought into the same violent world he found himself in. His growing love for Rachel gives him a new lease on life.
Filled with plenty of action, this quick paced thriller is sure to keep you glued until the last page.
Good Debut.......2005-02-04
This is a really good suspenseful, heartwarming page-turner. Ms Solomon goes on my list of favorite authors.
WONDERFUL FAST-PACED SUSPENSE.......2003-05-21
This is the wonderfully written suspense story of Rachel Goodman, who as a yound child witnessed the murder of her mother. Growing up she wants to help others and takes a job running a preschool with children witnessing violent crimes committed against their parents. There she meets Nick Raines who has a past. Together, they race against time to save a missing boy.
Rachel falls for Nick but Nick does not want her to get involved because of his past.
If you are looking for a fast-pace gripping suspense book full of surprises that you would not want to put down, look no further! This is THE book to get!
TOP-NOTCH FAST PACE SUSPENSE!.......2003-05-21
Annie's novel "Like a Knife" is the wonderfully written suspense story of Rachel Goodman, who as a yound child witnessed the murder of her mother. Growing up she wants to help others and takes a job running a preschool with children witnessing violent crimes committed against their parents. There she meets Nick Raines who has a past. Together, they race against time to save a missing boy.
Rachel falls for Nick but Nick does not want her to get involved because of his past.
If you are looking for a fast-pace gripping suspense book full of surprises that you would not want to put down, look no further! This is THE book to get!
Gritty suspense and good debut.......2003-05-17
Redemption proves possible in this debut novel by Annie Soloman. Rachel Goodman hires Nick Raine, a former gunrunner who is trying to escape his past, as a handy man in the church where she teaches needed children. Rachel, who knows violence first hand having witnessed her motherýs knifing death and later has her fatherýs disappearance, brings in children from violent backgrounds to her school. When she finds out about Nickýs past, and is in fact kidnapped and delivered on his doorstep in a carpet, still gives him a chance to show he is not the same person he used to be. Nick discovers a child is missing and his former boss Spire insists he finds him or Rachel will be harmed. He sets out to do just that with Rachel at his side. This story moves at a fast pace, though the characters themselves are not developed to their full potential. Still, this is an enjoy suspense with lots of grit, shootings, and action to keep the reader interested!
Average customer rating:
- Dated but generally relevant
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Like a Knife: Ideology and Genre in Contemporary Chinese Popular Music (Cornell East Asia, Vol. 57) (Cornell East Asia Series Number 57)
Andrew F. Jones
Manufacturer: Cornell Univ East Asia Program
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Theory, Composition & Performance | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books | Appreciation | Composition | Conducting | Exercises | Instruction & Study | MIDI, Mixers, etc. | Sheet Music & Scores | Songbooks | Songwriting | Techniques | Theory | Vocal
General | China | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:
-
Acting in Concert: Music, Community, and Political Action
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China's New Voices: Popular Music, Ethnicity, Gender, and Politics, 1978-1997
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Yellow Music: Media Culture and Colonial Modernity in the Chinese Jazz Age
-
Globalization and Cultural Trends in China
-
Live at the Forbidden City: Musical Encounters in China and Taiwan
ASIN: 0939657570 |
Product Description
The first comprehensive study of Chinese popular music in a Western language. Drawing on extensive interviews with singers, songwriters and critics, as well as cultural, sociological, musical, and textual analysis, the book portrays the disparate ways in which China's state-run popular music industry and burgeoning underground rock music subculture represented by Cui Jian have been instrumental to the cultural and political struggles that culminated in the Tienanmen democracy movement of 1989. It also examines the links between popular music and contemporary debates about cultural identity and modernization, as well as the close connections between rock music, youth culture, and student protest.
Customer Reviews:
Dated but generally relevant.......2007-05-25
"Like a Knife" is a great look into the relationship between Chinese popular music ("tongsu yinyue") and contemporary rock music in China. The author discusses the dichotomy in terms of both the genres themselves and their musical styles, influences, and histories, but also in terms of ideology and opposition to state repression and censorship (in the case of rock).
The thesis that rock musicians, officially denied access to media by the state, and operating on the margins of the musical landscape, engage in both negotiated and oppositional social discourses, with the underlying ideology that rock music's purpose, as opposed to state sanctioned tongsu popular music, is that of providing an alternate public sphere in which fans and listeners are freed from the prohibitions of the mainstream Chinese society.
I agree with most of this, as it is mainly so in Western nations as well, where rock music is usually seen as an "anti" to whatever the prevailing cultural or political environment is. It is the Contrarian. However, the book suffers from its dated perspective (early 1990s). Since the publishing of the book Chinese rock musicians have become less "underground" and there are state produced and disseminated rock songs as well. It would be interesting to do a revisit of the rock scene to see how these new situations fit into the old theoretical framework. Is it the state that is liberalizing, or the artists that are capitulating to state demands in order to gain popularity and access to the media?
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World Like A Knife (Johns Hopkins: Poetry and Fiction)
Ellen Akins
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0801842891 |
Book Description
'World Like A Knife': It cuts both ways. These are the stories of people whose perception, dulled by the everyday or honed by the extraordinary event, have the power to set them free or send them spinning out of control.
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Like a Knife
Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739433695 |
Product Description
Great Read, Suspense, Romance
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Hidden treasures: a HideAway Knife like no other.: An article from: American Handgunner
Pat Covert
Manufacturer: Publishers' Development Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
Home & Garden | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
General | Travel | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
Home & Garden | HTML | Formats | e-Docs | Formats | Books
Travel | HTML | Formats | e-Docs | Formats | Books
General | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Travel | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000976FNU
Release Date: 2006-07-14 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from American Handgunner, published by Publishers' Development Corporation on May 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1474 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: Hidden treasures: a HideAway Knife like no other.
Author: Pat Covert
Publication:
American Handgunner (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2005
Publisher: Publishers' Development Corporation
Volume: 29
Issue: 175
Page: 62(4)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
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Like a Knife: Ideology and Genre in Contemporary Chinese Popular Music.: An article from: Notes
Joanna C. Lee
Manufacturer: Music Library Association, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
Entertainment | Subjects | Books | Humor | Movies | Music | Performing Arts | Pop Culture | Puzzles & Games | Radio | Sheet Music & Scores | Television
Online Books | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Science | Subjects | Books
Science & Technology | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
Entertainment | HTML | Formats | e-Docs | Formats | Books
Science | HTML | Formats | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B00093N18G
Release Date: 2005-07-28 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on June 1, 1995. The length of the article is 816 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: Like a Knife: Ideology and Genre in Contemporary Chinese Popular Music.
Author: Joanna C. Lee
Publication:
Notes (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1995
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: v51
Issue: n4
Page: p1344(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
Reprinting classic tales of cosmic adventure that originallyappeared in the 1960s, the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ARCHIVES VOL. 8 continuesthe 30th century escapades of tomorrow's greatest heroes. Presenting thesixth year of the super-powered teenaged group, this exciting editionincludes the origin of the Legion, Ultra Boy's election as leader, thefirst appearance of the Flash's descendants, the Tornado Twins, theexpulsion of Colossal Boy for treason, the addition of Timber Wolf andChemical King to the team, the diabolical debut of the Legion ofSuper-Villains, Mordro the Merciless's devastating attack on Smallville,and the introduction of the Legion Academy.
Amazon.com
As a novelist and memoirist, Frederick Buechner brings to these meditations on biblical passages a keen eye for narrative and detail. He brings as well an artist's love for language. As he says of James Weldon Johnson's poetic rendering of the creation story, this "is the language that man always uses when he tries to talk about the real mysteries of existence." So too is it the language Buechner brings to these reflections, which similarly explore the real mysteries. Written simply and directly (their original audience was a group of students at the private school where the author was a minister), Buechner delves into topics ranging from Jacob's wrestling with the angel (this is the "magnificent defeat" of the title) to the annunciation and birth of Jesus and beyond. Whatever the topic, Buechner writes with clarity and honesty. He does not present himself as among the saints so much as among the seekers. He doubts and questions but always comes back to the central place of beauty and of joy: here, he suggests, is where we must place our faith. Here is the true miracle of life, inviting us to "open our arms, our lives, to the deepest miracle of reality itself and call it by its proper name, which is King of kings and Lord of lords, or call it by any name we want, or call it nothing, but live our lives open to the fierce and transforming joy of it." --Doug Thorpe
Book Description
In The Magnificent Defeat, Frederick Buechner examines what it means to follow Christ, the lessons of Christmas and Easter, the miracles of grace, and "the magnificent defeat" of the human soul of God.
Customer Reviews:
Simply a masterpiece.......2001-04-05
Originally intended (as per Buechner's Introductory Note) for congregations consisting of predominantly young people, this compilation of 18 essay's speaks to every Christian who would sit down and read them. The Magnificent Defeat is broken down into 3 parts. I - The Challenge to Surrender , II - The Triumph of Love, III - The Mystery and Miracle of Grace. Each essay starts with a quote from scripture and then continues on with Buechners typical introspective point of view on the life of Christ, and in turn our own life as a result. While Buechner does touch on some theological points, a lot of his essays deal with the search for the Truth. Given the fact that it was originally intended for young people it does touch on the matters of the legitimacy of God (He does exist!) and why the person of Jesus Christ makes sense. As an apologetics resource, I think Buechner touches the most basic of subjects in an easy to understand AND relateable manner. These essays are powerful, and can also serve as a good topic of discussion during particular Christian seasons (i.e.: 2 essays on the Birth of Christ, 2 essays on the Death of Christ) as well. I highly recommend this book, along with all the other Buechner works. His style is unique, but just as relevant and just as strong as other great Christian writers, such as C.S. Lewis.
Insightful sermons about Jesus' birth and about surrender..........2000-03-12
This book contains a number of insightful sermons concerning the Christmas story. Frederick goes into great detail in explaining what might have went on inside the lives of the people involved in the "Christmas" story.
Somehow, he is always able to help the reader relate to the characters in the story. He does it by bringing in everyday life illustrations, and helps us see the characteristics in the characters to be very much like ourselves. One example is the way he describes the innkeeper who only gave Joseph and Mary a barn to spend the night.
The author is like Max Lucado in that he writes in very easy-to-read language but provides much food for thought.
Winsome insight into the giftedness of life and grace of God.......1998-04-20
This collection of sermons by one of America's most talented writers provides the reader with profound insight into not only the challenges of the human predicament and the foibles of endless human striving, but, more importantly, the giftedness of life and the grace of God. In his peculiarly winsome manner, Buechner reveals to us that the most extraordinary things in life are available to us not as a result of our own efforts, but as pure gift.
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THE MAGNIFICENT DEFEAT
FREDERICK BUECHNER
Manufacturer: The Seabury Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Buechner, Frederick
| ( B )
| Authors, A-Z
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B000LU6C06 |
Average customer rating:
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Magnificent Defeat
Manufacturer: Sparrow Records
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 7474005441 |
Books:
- 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
- Lens of an Infantryman: A World War II Memoir with Photographs from a Hidden Camera
Books Index
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