The Incomparable Atuk (New Canadian Library)

Book Description

Transplanted to Toronto from his native Baffin Island, Atuk the poet is an unlikely overnight success. Eagerly adapting to a society steeped in pretension, bigotry, and greed, Atuk soon abandons the literary life in favour of more lucrative – and hazardous – schemes.

Richler’s hilarious and devastating satire lampoons the self-deceptions of “the Canadian identity” and derides the hypocrisy of a nation that seeks cultural independence by slavishly pursuing the American dream.

Customer Reviews:

WOW.......2002-11-14

i just finished reading this book, and it amazing. It jumps back and forth between characters and situations, leaving you wondering what the heck is going on the whole time. SLowly, connections are revealed, and you can't wait to see what will happen next. After reading the last line i said out lou to my self "What the ****" it was great...i'm sick of reading books that are so straight forward that you don't even have to think when you read it. Highly recomended!!!!

Amazing Atuk.......2002-03-05

Mordecai Richler's characteristic wit pleases once again with his fifth novel, THE INCOMPARABLE ATUK. ATUK is delightfully funny and intelligently satiric. The book satirizes Canadian cultural "super-nationalism," but it the more widespread themes of identity, corruption, and reverse discrimination are also explored. ATUK is the novel immediately preceding COCKSURE, and it shows: In ATUK Richler satirizes political correctness and reverse discrimination almost as much as he does in COCKSURE. For that reason you don't have to be Canadian to enjoy this book. Also, if you know that Canadians don't all live in igloos and eat "reindeer knuckle," it's hilarious to read a work by a Canadian author who plays with such misconceptions. ATUK may be Richler's most overtly Canadian novel, but I think it's a book everone would be able to enjoy.

The Atuk Curse.......2001-09-04

Trying to order this! This is the book the "Atuk Curse" is based on. Supposedly this book was made into a script and was offered through out the years to several comedians who later died after reading the script- John Belushi, Sam Kinison, John Candy and Chris Farley...

Incredibly funny.......1999-07-02

I first read this book when I was 13 and I must have read it 20 times since...on a plane with "A Confederacy of Dunces"!

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THE INCOMPARABLE ATUK
Mordecai (introduction by Malcolm Ross) Richler
Manufacturer: McCelland and Stewart - New Canadian Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J61KLS

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The Incomparable Atuk

Manufacturer: McClelland & Stewart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GYYJGQ

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The incomparable Atuk.
Mordecai Richler
Manufacturer: Andre Duetsch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0000CLWLV

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THE INCOMPARABLE ATUK
Mordecai Richler
Manufacturer: Mayflower Dell Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GVYBG2

Book Description

It's armored action at its best as Iron Man faces Ultimo; the Mandarin; the Titanium Man, the ever-popular communist menace; and more! Guest-starring S.H.I.E.L.D., the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk! Includes the first run of Iron Man's solo series! Collecting Tales of Suspense #73-99, Tales to Astonish #82, Iron Man & Sub-Mariner #1 and Iron Man #1-11.

Customer Reviews:

Essential Iron Man, Volume 1.......2007-05-09

This comicbook story is good. The stories in the Iron Man Volume 1 (Marvel Essentials) appeals to children and adults. The artwork in Essential Iron Man, Volume 1 (Marvel Essentials) is excellent. I RECCOMMEND Essential Iron Man, Volume 1 (Marvel Essentials) to children and adults.

the invincibile iron man stricks again.......2006-10-14

an great comic one of the most essentials of the essentials containing the iron heroes early missions containing villains such as the manderin,the black kight, mr doll and titanium man

Unfortunately, one of the weaker Silver Age Marvel.......2006-06-25

Returning to these stores after 40 years, I have to say I found them rather disappointing. The Iron Man idea was great, but many of the early stories are quite weak and not much thought seems to have been given to fleshing out the character or giving him a supporting cast. An indication that Stan Lee and company didn't much know what to do with the character is the story reprinted from Tales of Suspense 44 in which Iron Man goes back in time to save Cleopatra from an evil pharoh. This was obviously an attempt to cash in on the publicity surrounding the film Cleopatra that was released that year. The result was a story that makes little or no sense. Not until TOS 45 did they bother to provide Iron Man with any supporting cast -- the not very memorable or interesting Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan. For those getting back into Silver Age Marvels -- or encountering them for the first time -- I would recommend either the Fantastic Four or Spiderman. Those stories have aged much better than these Iron Man stories.

The stuff legends were made of!.......2006-04-11

This volume captures the very best writing and the very best artwork in the long history of Iron Man. Re-reading this material was just so entertaining! Reading the modern version is such a let down to me because the work of Gene Colan, Johnny Craig and George Tuska in these stories is just so good. This is what Iron Man should look like.

I kept thinking that Hollywood would be well advised to mine this volume for good story material for the Iron Man movie. At this writing, multiple drafts for the movie have been rejected and the project is just about dead. But what if some of Stan Lee's great PRIME silver-age Iron Man material was adapted for the screen? There is plenty of action, drama, romance, suspense and science-fiction integral to Iron Man. Any of the multi-story arcs would work. The characters are rich and fully developed. Word to the wise of Hollywood if you are reading this.

Thanks for re-printing it all. I'm still hoping for the Marvel Masterworks version in full color.

The Metal Man is here to stay!.......2006-03-12

Compiling a plethora of classic stories & great art from Marvel's early days, this 2nd volume continues the soaring adventures of Marvel's tin Avenger & is a must own for any comics fan. The golden age of super heroes never looked better in 2006. Highly recommended!

Book Description

Christ's Crucifixion is one of the most recognized images in Western culture, and it has come to stand as a universal symbol of both suffering and salvation. But often overlooked is the fact that ultimately the Crucifixion is a scene of capital punishment. Mitchell Merback reconstructs the religious, legal, and historical context of the Crucifixion and of other images of public torture. The result is a fascinating account of a time when criminal justice and religion were entirely interrelated and punishment was a visual spectacle devoured by a popular audience.

Merback compares the images of Christ's Crucifixion with those of the two thieves who met their fate beside Jesus. In paintings by well-known Northern European masters and provincial painters alike, Merback finds the two thieves subjected to incredible cruelty, cruelty that artists could not depict in their scenes of Christ's Crucifixion because of theological requirements. Through these representations Merback explores the ways audiences in early modern Europe understood images of physical suffering and execution. The frequently shocking works also provide a perspective from which Merback examines the live spectacle of public torture and execution and how audiences were encouraged by the Church and the State to react to the experience. Throughout, Merback traces the intricate and extraordinary connections among religious art, devotional practice, bodily pain, punishment, and judicial spectatorship.

Keenly aware of the difficulties involved in discussing images of atrocious violence but determined to make them historically comprehensible, Merback has written an informed and provocative study that reveals the rituals of medieval criminal justice and the visual experiences they engendered.

Customer Reviews:

Not an easy read, erudite, but fascinating.......2005-10-04

This is not an easy read, but it is definitely worth the effort. It takes the development and representations of the crucifix in Medieval, early renaissance art - taking in the late 15th early 16th century and how the the public may have viewed it.

Given that executions were public in this period, the language of teh pictures, the symbolism and the emotions these pictures evoked would have different to how we see it now. Death is not a public spectacle.

The image of the crucifixion is also removed from our language in that we have less of an association with religion itself. It was a powerful centre society in this time.

I found the language of the book to more like that of an academic treatise rather than one of the readably approachable non-fiction books which are around now. It is a fairly difficult subject, I think, in a lesser fashion. The language of religious history and art necessarily needs to be accurately described.

The amazing thing about this book is that it really is a unique subject. Art history - the depiction of the crucifiction, the angesl, the symbolism, perspective and motif are examined alongside the representations of Pain itself. The function and language of religion are described along with the renderings of the understandings of society.

In the conclusion the artist asked about how, in our society today, we would render our own executions in art if we were to be made public. It really struck me in this conclusion, just how powerful his language was. I would not recommend this to everyone, but it is really worth the effort if you are interested in trying something that is completely different, erudite and interesting.

I was quite interested to see the author himself has written a review which is probably below this one somewhere and recommend you read that before you buy this book.

Theology, Art, Medieval Studies & Criminal Justice converge.......2000-12-19

This book is learned yet readable, of interest to scholars in a range of fields and disciplines. As one whose interest is death in Christian religious reflection and devotion, I found it fascinating to learn the connections between capital punishments as people actually witnessed them ("witnessed" is the right word- these were religious events as well as legal ones!) and the way the 2 thieves were portrayed in art intended to enhance devotional practice and imagination. Where is the viewer in the scenes of Calvary? The author answers this and many other questions, relating these to penitential practice, and the way bodies in pain were compassionately experienced during the heyday of pre-Reformation Europe. I recommend this book highly to scholars, but it makes grisly reading and leads us to question our own sensibilities and tolerance for different kinds of bodily display.

A few words from the author.......2000-09-13

Why are the doors of America's prisons suddenly swinging open and catering to our most base, voyeuristic impulses? How soon will it be before television cameras are allowed to move freely through the facilities of our nation's death-houses and bring us, live, into the death-chambers themselves? Will the current uncertainties about the "fairness" of capital punishment bring a halt to this process, or will America's proclivity to have "rough justice" done soon translate into a desire to SEE justice done, done before our eyes and in our living rooms? Will we soon see a new form of public execution--the criminal's death as media spectacle?

As an art historian who has always felt restless asking purely art-historical questions, I have long been fascinated by the notion that vision itself has a history, and that our capacities for visual experience are opened--but also disciplined--by the kinds of sights available to us. This book is about one kind of sight, the sight of violent death, seen and experienced within the context of the rituals of criminal justice in the Middle Ages. The visual material I've drawn together for this book is not, however, the same as that traditionally used by criminologists and legal historians to "illustrate" the history of capital punishment. Rather, my principle subject is the iconography of the Passion of Christ and its centrepiece, the scene of the Crucifixion. In the later Middle Ages (roughly 1300 until the German Reformation), northern European painters expanded the scenography of the Crucifixion with a riotous cast of characters, some with biblical credentials, others as pure invention. Somewhere between these two extremes were the figures of the Good Thief, Dysmas, and the Bad Thief, Gestas, who hang in hideous abjection, crucified, on either side of Christ. While both suffer horrible tortures--their limbs are often shattered and twisted around the cross-beams--one is redeemed, to join Jesus in Paradise, the other is damned eternally (see Luke 23). And painters visualized this difference in a stunning variety of ways (to see for yourself, go to the "See Larger Photo" cue next to the book's cover above, point and click).

Throughout the book I ask the question: what kind of sight did the spectacle of each antithetical character's death constitute for medieval viewers? Was this all just gratuitous violence, used only to attract the curiosity of people with a penchant for violence? Or did it serve another purpose, one commensurate with the larger purposes of religious imagery and indoctrination at this time?

As you can easily guess, I opt for the latter, and more complex, explanation--but I match it with another question, one that relates the experience of looking at the pain and suffering of another person in the fictionalized space of the religious image, and the lived experience of the seeing the same kind of sight in the public theatre of criminal justice. Rituals of punishment in the Middle Ages were carefully staged spectacles, one in which the authorities and the spectators, the executioner, the confessor and the victim all had special parts to play. Authorities hoped to impress upon spectators the majesty of the law; the church drew from the lamentable end of this "poor sinner" lessons about proper moral conduct; spectators hoped to see the criminal die a "good" (that is, confessed and shriven) Christian death; and the executioner did his tremulous best to carry out the sentence skillfully, or risk the fury of the populace, who saw mistakes and mishaps as ill-omens to be avenged. In its heydey (the later fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries), the medieval paradigm of criminal justice provided an opportunity for witnessing good and bad deaths, simple hangings, ceremonial decapitations, and the most horrific of all penalties, breaking with the wheel.

At the center of my book is the observation that many later medieval artists used the crucifixion of the Good Thief and the Bad Thief as a kind of screen, upon which they might project something of their experience as spectators in the theatre of public punishments. In particular, I find some shocking similarities between the bodily distortions imposed upon the Two Thieves in Passion imagery, and the medieval procedure for breaking with the wheel. Thus my title. There is a little discussion in the book about the procedures for both the medieval punishments and their ancient counterparts (archaeologists have a pretty clear picture of how the Romans must have crucified Jesus). But I hoped to make this book something more than an exercise in ghoulish antiquarianism, in stomaching the atrocious imagery of ages past or tracking obscure motifs through 1000 years of Christian art. Rather, by studying systems of punishment, to paraphrase the sociologist Emile Durkheim, we gain a privileged access into the deep structure of a society, and come to grasp its hidden, sometimes terrifying logic. How the history of visuality has played into the rise and fall of our own civilization's systems of punishment, and thus its regimes of domination, is my real subject. At the end of the book you'll see why.

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Subtle and Subversive

Great book in the style of Jurassic Park

A Captivating Thriller

Chrismas Story Redux -- Semi-Spoiler

Enthralling Idea: The Jesus Thief by J. R. Lankford

The Jesus Thief
J. R. Lankford
Manufacturer: Great Reads Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Cloning Christ: A Challenge of Science and Faith

My Angel

A Night to Remember

The Politics of Love (Noire Fever)

In His Image (Book One of The Christ Clone Trilogy)

ASIN: 0971869413

Book Description

The Jesus Thief is the suspenseful story of a momentous undertaking-an attempt to clone Jesus Christ. At its center is wealthy New York microbiologist Dr. Felix Rossi who burns with unspoken questions as he leads a scientific investigation of the Shroud of Turin. Do the linen threads contain the blood of Christ? Is the DNA still intact? With all the chills of high adventure, The Jesus Thief tells of lost family ties and a lost heritage, of a devout man's search for God, a powerful man's fear of God, and a poor woman's yearning to be special. In the swirl of events, an unexpected love story unfolds.

Customer Reviews:

Subtle and Subversive.......2007-04-12

Someone passed a dog-eared copy of this on to me and I admit that I wasn't much interested. Religion
isn't my thing and science fiction even less so. But I was looking for a way to avoid reading my book
club's selection, so I gave it a try.
It turns out that underneathe the pell-mell flood of action, there's a very subtle deconstruction of
how we believe what we believe. You could read this just for the great plotline and the suspense,
but you'd be missing something.

Great book in the style of Jurassic Park.......2006-03-18

This book explores the political, and social ramifications of a successful bid to clone Jesus Christ. It's far more than just a thriller trying to get in on the cloning fad, it's a deeply felt study of what would this really mean. A great book and one I can heartily recommend.

A Captivating Thriller.......2004-06-11

From the "hook" to the "ending," what an incredibly wonderful and entertaining read. The kind of book one doesn't want to put down. Indepth character development. The reader truly gets to feel and visualize all of the characters and reader empathy for the characters flows throughout. Praise to Ms. Lankford for gradually building the feeling of suspense in the story and for keeping the scientific technicalities to a level that most readers can easily negotiate.

Chrismas Story Redux -- Semi-Spoiler.......2004-06-08

The cloning of Christ has seen many resurrections in recent popular fiction ranging from the purely suspenseful with John Case's Genesis Code to the apocalyptic with Beauseigneur's Christ Clone Trilogy. The "Jesus Thief" crosses the thriller boundary with a predictable story line where the emphasis is on faith and sacrifice rather than dodging the bullets created by a temporarily mad scientist's desire to vanquish the guilt of the Jews with regard to the killing of Christ.

Felix Rossi is the angst-ridden microbiologist and member of a team of international scientists commissioned to study the Shroud of Turin. When he discovers that his late beloved parents were actually Jews who had renounced their heritage to escape Hitler's Europe, Felix runs emotionally amok. Although, he debates the ethical consequences of his actions, he, nevertheless, steals threads from the Shroud, harvests the DNA from dried blood and implants it within the willing body of his loyal yet out-spoken New York maid.

In this regard, Lankford seems to know her stuff, and if all the details are simply imagined, she does a thorough job of specifying procedures and examinations, so much so that I found myself wincing and cringing more than once. However, if Lankford intended her story to be primarily a thriller, this necessity for technical perfection, at times muddles the pace of the book, as do the exacting manifestations of the devout faith all the main characters possess. Felix, his sister and cohort, Frances and Maggie, the modern-day Mary enviably begin each activity however mundane with communications with the Almighty, causing me to wonder whether the story line was meant to convey the power of such simple yet perfect faith rather than masquerade as a vehicle that has possibilities of becoming a feature film or a television movie.

If so, the real strength of Lankford's power as a storyteller does not lie in recreating a Christmas story for the 21st century with themes of racial acceptance (Maggie as an African American contributes a percentage of her gene material to the holy clone), identity crisis (Felix's uncomfortable feelings about his unknown heritage) and scientific ethics (the cloning question is looked at from a variety of aspects in general), but in her uncanny ability to demonstrate love between two unlikely people. The scenes between Sam, the Irish doorman, and Maggie sparkle with honesty, affection and mutual respect yet are infused with so much sexual heat, their passion glows from the page into the reader's soul as if by magic. Brava and encore, Ms. Lankford!

Because the story does border on perfection in these instances, the reader is ultimately let down by the events of the story, revolving around the sacrifice necessary to preserve the life of the great experiment at the expense of all four of the main characters. Instead of triggering an uplifting sense of the future where the knowledge of Christ's 'second coming' should exact some jubilation, the reader empathizes with the resigned attitudes of all the major players. A feeling of doom presages a repeat performance of the first coming 2000 years earlier, as augured by the symbolic usage of the thorns and dogwood cited in the very last paragraph.

The novel's villain, a King Herod-wannabe outwitted by Joseph (Sam the doorman) and guided by a magi of his own fears the birth of the child foretold in an astrological chart, remains a viable threat. Although trounced, he seems ready play a big part in a sequel perhaps currently in the workings where further confrontations with the growing child will prove challenging in a sort of reverse Omen type trilogy.

Recommended to all those who love a retelling of the Nativity story. Subtract a star if you dislike too many pages devoted to medical how-to or if you are a romantic at heart and would have liked a happier ending involving two of the most deserving characters.

Enthralling Idea: The Jesus Thief by J. R. Lankford.......2003-12-13

Dr. Felix Rossi is a devout Catholic and as this amazing novel opens, about to examine the holy Shroud of Turin. While science has been unable to prove that the ancient burial cloth wrapped his body at death, Dr. Rossi has always believed that it covered the body of Jesus Christ. He has contemplated trying to take a sample from the cloth and using his experience and skills, attempting to clone Jesus Christ. Theoretically it is possible and as he stares at the burial cloth he knows that given the opportunity he would be successful. With the knowledge of a painful family secret having just been revealed to him moments earlier, he makes the impetus move to steal two blood stained threads from the holy cloth.

While he is successful with the theft, he soon discovers that the theft was the easy part. Not only does he have to culture the DNA to the point where he can use it, he also must begin a search for his very own Virgin Mary. At the same time, he must fend off a nosy reporter who suspects the truth from the beginning and deal with powerful forces here and abroad that want to put a stop to his cloning efforts. Along the tumultuous journey, he must also confront his own belief system as well as the repercussion his action set into motion as it shatters those closest to him.

Following up on her novel "The Crowning Circle," J. R. Lankford brings another novel where deeply intense character development moves the work forward. This is an intellectual novel which will bore those looking for a quick read. This is an intriguing novel that repeatedly raises questions of faith and humanity while providing suspense and complicated plotting. How does one define God, the point that life begins, cloning, and what it means to be human are just a few of the many questions raised with no easy answers. There are numerous themes and parallel storylines running throughout the work, which leads to a remarkable ending. This is not a simple work and not easily put down or dismissed after reading it.

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one more vision

Want to know about the end of the world?

As a Thief in the Night: The Mormon Quest for Millennial Deliverance
Dan Erickson
Manufacturer: Signature Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mormonism | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Eschatology | Theology | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1560851007

Customer Reviews:

one more vision.......2005-12-14

Visions of future events - great tribulation, the holy remnant only saved - this has been the stuff of religious literature for (and about) millenia. This book supplies a good overview of LDS take o this theme. It is surpising to me that even a group like LDS, with very concrete and practical efforts at doing good, has these visions

Want to know about the end of the world?.......2001-04-06

If you want to know what LDS view is of the end of the world and the events leading up to it (a lot of them have been fulfilled) then this is the book to read. I already knew a lot about what was going to happen by reading Revelations, Isaiah, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants, but this book explains in detail what will happen in the coming years. For example, find out what happens to some of the major cities in the world, find out why the Prophet has been telling us to build up our food supply, find out about a major war that will kill around 2 billion people. These are some of the things I now know from reading this great book. Words don't describe how much this book means to me. So go and find out why I love this book so much and buy your copy today!

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The First Thief

Manufacturer: (no publ. listed)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000I3XOI4

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The Jesus Thief
J. R. Lankford
Manufacturer: Great Reads Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LC85VI

Saved Soul, Wasted Life : Life Lessons from the Thief Next to Jesus

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Saved Soul, Wasted Life : Life Lessons from the Thief Next to Jesus
Mike Smalley
Manufacturer: Excel Digital Press, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000U64JWE

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The thief
Archie Joscelyn
Manufacturer: Augustana Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007ECDPY

The thief who was sorry: Luke 23:32-43 for children (Arch books)

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The thief who was sorry: Luke 23:32-43 for children (Arch books)
Anne Atkins
Manufacturer: Concordia Pub. House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0570061547

Jesus, remember me: There's a connection between the good thief's plea and "Do this in memory of me.".: An article from: U.S. Catholic

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Jesus, remember me: There's a connection between the good thief's plea and "Do this in memory of me.".: An article from: U.S. Catholic
Alice Camille
Manufacturer: Claretian Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from U.S. Catholic, published by Claretian Publications on November 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1975 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: Jesus, remember me: There's a connection between the good thief's plea and "Do this in memory of me.".
Author: Alice Camille
Publication: U.S. Catholic (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2001
Publisher: Claretian Publications
Volume: 66 Issue: 11 Page: 46(3)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

Jesus For You For Sure.......2004-08-13

Those of us who experienced Dr. Nagel in the classroom and Sem Chapel pulpit rejoice to hear him again in this fine collection of sermons, over 90 of them spanning a preaching period of 1949-1999.

They cover an entire Lectionary Year and then some Minor Festivals and Special Occasions.

An exquisite wordsmith with the English language, these sermons exhibit his special ability to process great chunks of Scripture and then speak them in short, precise and well reasoned out "Jesus For Your Sins For Sure" sermons. That was his passion, to communicate the whole Jesus for sure for sins.

Having now read about one-third of them, here is one snippet of this gifted man of God, a sermon on Gal. 1:1-10 "No one admits to adjusting Christ. 'It's the Gospel we're working on.' The apostle won't let them get away witih that. Adjusted Gospel is adjusted Christ. And for an adjusted Gospel, you don't really finally need Christ."

This cheers the hearts of all who loved sitting at the feet of this kind, and brilliant eccentric Biblical scholar and preacher. Must have for Lutherans.

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