God, Mt. Fuji, and Sweet Tea


Book Description

A TRUE STORY OF FAITH, LOVE, AND FORGIVENESS JANET BECOMES DISILLUSIONED WITH MARRIAGE while living on Mark, her husband's, family farm in rural Georgia with their three children. Trapped in a dying marriage and desperate to save her family from divorce, Janet prays that God will save her marriage. An unexpected encounter with a Department of Defense school recruiter and two job offers to teach children on a navy base result in Janet and her family's move to Japan. There she faces new challenges-a son deployed to Iraq, a rebellious teenager who hangs out in Tokyo, a five-year-old who doesn't understand why they left their home, and a homesick husband. Come with Janet on her journey, spanning a war zone and two continents, as she learns to trust God with her marriage.




Views of Mt. Fuji


Book Description

Kasushika Hokusai was among the foremost ukiyo-e artists of his generation, and his Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji ranks among the best-known series of Japanese woodblock prints. This edition presents a full-color reprint of that enduring masterpiece, plus the artist's later black-and-white series, One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji. A must for all lovers of Japanese art.




Noticing God


Book Description

Where is God? How do we encounter God? How do we know it is God we encounter and not some figment of our imagination? Is it possible to know God in some sort of relational way? Richard Peace believes it is. But it requires a certain level of awareness, a certain discipline of the heart. Peace calls it the "spiritual discipline of noticing God." In this book he unpacks what it means to make a conscious practice noticing God in daily life. He explores the various ways people experience and recognize God's presence, including mystical encounters, ordinary daily life, within our hearts, through other people, through Scripture, nature and the church. Throughout he returns to the question of discernment, helping you understand how you can know that it is indeed God you are meeting in each of these places, not just some fanciful figment of the imagination. God is deeply present in our world, and you can actually encounter him. Here's how.




God: A User's Guide


Book Description

Jesus spent decades in India. - Ethiopians, not Jews, are the real chosen people. - A religion in Iran predicted the Virgin Birth, hundreds of years before Christ. - Abraham was an Iraqi. - Lenin was a Saint. - Worms have souls. - There’s no such thing as the Holy Trinity. - All religions are the same. These are not conspiracy theories – but the genuine beliefs of the some of the world’s major religions. In God: A Users’ Guide, broadcaster Sean Moncrieff takes us through the history and development of the twenty largest religions in the world – in the process demonstrating that the truth is far more compelling than the fictional accounts. In the name of religion, millions have been killed, and millions have been saved. Political dynasties have been built on the back of religious belief, or been destroyed because of them. The history of religion is one of tyranny, betrayal, sacrifice, generosity and faith: where the same ‘facts’ have often brought believers to dramatically different conclusions. From religions which have a multiplicity of Gods, to religions which have no God at all, God: A Users’ Guide demonstrates how the vast majority of the world’s religions did not develop in isolation, but were influenced by already existing belief systems. We have far more in common than you might think.




J-Boys


Book Description

Kazuo Nakamoto's life in inner-city Tokyo is one of tea and tofu, of American TV and rock 'n' roll. Kazuo is nine. It is the mid-1960s, just after the Japan Olympics, and Kazuo dreams of being a track star. He hangs out with his buddies, goes to school, and helps with household chores. But Kazuo's world is changing. This bittersweet novel is a deft portrait of a year in a boy's life in a land and time far away, filled with universal concerns about fitting in, escaping the past (in this case World War II's lingering devastation), and growing up. J-Boys author Shogo Oketani is a writer and novelist who grew up in Tokyo in the mid-1960s.




Confessions of a Once Fashionable Mum


Book Description

Successful hubbie? Tick. Facebook-worthy baby? Tick. Bikini-body six weeks after giving birth? Um ... not so much. Fashion PR exec Ally Bloom got her happy ending. Okay, her marriage might be showing the odd crack, her battleaxe mother-in-law might have come to stay, and she might not be the yummy mummy she'd imagined, but it's nothing a decent night's sleep and a firm commitment to a no-carb diet won't fix. But when Ally returns to work and finds she'll be reporting to a 22-year-old airhead, she decides to turn her back on life as a professional fashionista and embrace her inner earth mama instead. So it's out with the Louboutins and champagne and in with the sensible flats and coffee mornings with the Mummy Mafia. From attending her first grown-up dinner party only to discover that placenta is top of the menu to controlling her monster crush on local playgroup hottie Cameron, Ally must find her feet in the brave new world of the stay-at-home mum. ‘Sharp and funny, Madden’s novel captures the realities of new-mummyhood. The perfect nap-time read, and by nap I mean wine.’ —Meg Mason, author of Say It Again in a Nice Voice ‘[A] hilarious satire about modern motherhood’ —Practical Parenting ‘Nothing wrong with extreme exaggeration in pursuit of a good laugh. I'd love to see Madden doing stand-up.’ —Country Style ‘Slick, smart and skilful’ —Debbish ‘Confessions of a Once Fashionable Mum is a highly enjoyable read that reads like The Devil Wears Prada, but with dirty nappies and Happy Mummies groupies and the odd piece of fashion advice. 4⁄5 stars.’ —Never Ending Bookshelf ‘Every now and then I read a book and I think, “Damn, I wish I wrote that!” That’s totally how I feel about Confessions of a Once Fashionable Mum. I’m only half way through, but her novel is already so witty, entertaining and ... relatable ... it’s so nice to read a funny book that chronicles the joys of motherhood in such a humorous and honest way.’ —Summer Land ‘Confessions of a Once Fashionable Mum will make you giggle as you fly through the pages. I enjoyed it so much, I binge read it and knocked it over in a day.’ —Woogsworld ‘If you are looking for a book to escape into under some bubbles, either in the bath or the champagne variety, this is a good one as it is easy to read, actually funny and allows you to voyeuristically follow the misadventures of someone far more disorganised and vague than yourself.’ —Wellington Times Georgia Madden is an interiors journalist and a frequent contributor to a range of home and lifestyle magazines in Australia and the UK. She lives in Sydney.




Our Cursed Love


Book Description

Julie Abe's OUR CURSED LOVE is a magical 50 FIRST DATES meets LOVE AND GELATO set in Tokyo, Japan—about destiny, the impact of the choices we make, and the magic of true love. Six days to remember. Love or lose him forever. Remy Kobata has always wished she was destined to be with her best friend, Cam Yasuda. All the way from being neighbors from birth to mixing up magical prank potions together to their “just friends” homecoming date during their senior year in high school, nothing’s a secret between Remy and Cam—except for how much she is in love with him. Remy is trying to work up the courage to confess her feelings during their winter break trip to Japan, when she gets selected for a mystical tea leaves reading and it reveals that they’re not meant to be together. After they stumble upon a secret magical apothecary in the back alleys of Tokyo, Remy and Cam are offered an ancient soulmate elixir, created before all love potions were banned by the magical government. They each have their reasons for wanting to take it, but what could go wrong with finding your soulmate a little earlier? Except, after they drink up, their senior year trip flips into the worst vacation ever: Cam has forgotten who Remy is. If she can't help Cam remember her by midnight New Year’s Eve, they’ll both be cursed to forget each other. To unravel their past and rewrite the future, Remy and Cam must travel through Tokyo to rediscover Cam’s memories and make new ones—and maybe even fall in love all over again.




Early Modern Japanese Literature


Book Description

This abridged edition of Haruo Shirane's popular anthology, Early Modern Japanese Literature, retains the essential texts that have made the original volume such a valuable resource. The book introduces English-speaking readers to prose fiction genres, including dangibon, kibyoshi (satiric picture books), sharebon (books of wit and fashion), yomihon, kokkeibon (books of humor), gokan (bound books), and ninjobon (books of romance and sentiment). It also features poetic genres such as waka, haiku, senryu, and kyoka, and plays ranging from Chikamatsu's puppet plays to nineteenth-century kabuki. Readers will continue to benefit from the anthology's selection of significant essays, treatises, literary criticism, folk stories, and other noncanonical works, as well as the numerous prints that accompanied these works. They will also find Shirane's introductions and critical commentary, which guide the reader through the allusive and often elliptical nature of these incredible selections.




Politics


Book Description

An analysis of American politics from the presidency of Johnson to the present is arranged in such themes as campaigns, the media, and wars, in a volume that draws on the author's work as a winner of the National Magazine Award for General Excellence to illuminate particular events in modern history. Reprint.