The Heights


Book Description

Henry liked to imagine his life began that cold rainy day in San Francisco when Mr. Earnshaw found him shivering by the side of the road. That was the day Henry met Catherine. For Henry, Catherine is like a precious gift. She pushes away his angry thoughts and makes him feel safe and calm. And though Mr. Earnshaw, a widow, raises the orphan and Catherine as brother and sister, their love for each other goes much deeper. They vow to always be together. But everything changes when Mr. Earnshaw dies suddenly and Hindley, Mr. Earnshaw's own son, gains control of the family finances. Furiously jealous, Hindley never accepted Henry as a true member of the family. He works to sever Henry's relationship with Catherine and the violent rage Henry has harbored since he was a child bubbles to the surface. . . . Contemporizing the classic novel, Wuthering Heights, notable YA author, Brian James delives into the dark nature of obsessive love, the social injustices of class, and the self-destructive power of revenge in this emotionally raw unforgettable offering.




New Mexico Magazine


Book Description




I Never Knew There Was a Word For It


Book Description

From 'shotclog', a Yorkshire term for a companion only tolerated because he is paying for the drinks, to Albanian having 29 words to describe different kinds of eyebrows, the languages of the world are full of amazing, amusing and illuminating words and expressions that will improve absolutely everybody's quality of life. All they need is this book! This bumper volume gathers all three of Adam Jacot de Boinod's acclaimed books about language - The Wonder of Whiffling, The Meaning of Tingo and Toujours Tingo (their fans include everyone from Stephen Fry to Michael Palin) - into one highly entertaining, keenly priced compendium. As Mariella Frostup said 'You'll never be lost for words again!'




We Carry Kevan


Book Description

A story about friendships and commitment to one another so incredible you wouldn't believe it if it wasn't true. Kevan is just one of the guys. It's impossible to know him and not become a little more excited about life. He is an inspiring man permeated by joy, unafraid of sorrow, full of vitality and life! His sense of humor is infectious and so is his story. He grew up, he says, at "belt-buckle level" and stayed there until Kevan's beloved posse decided to leave his wheelchair at the Atlanta airport, board a plane for France, and have his friends carry him around Europe to accomplish their dream to see the world together! Kevan's beloved posse traveled to Paris, England, and Ireland where, in the climax of their adventure, they scale 600 feet up to the 1,400-year-old monastic fortress of Skellig Michael. In We Carry Kevan the reader sits with Kevan, one head-level above everyone else for the first time in his life and enjoys camaraderie unlike anything most people ever experience. Along the way they encounter the curiosity and beauty of strangers, the human family disarmed by grace, and the constant love of God so rich and beautiful in the company of good friends. We Carry Kevan displays the profound power of friendship and self-sacrifice.




The Artist's Guide to GIMP


Book Description

As a full-featured, free alternative to Adobe Photoshop, GIMP is one of the world's most popular open source projects. The latest version of GIMP (2.8) brings long-awaited improvements and powerful new tools to make graphic design and photo manipulation even easier—but it's still a notoriously challenging program to use. The Artist's Guide to GIMP teaches you how to use GIMP without a tedious list of menu paths and options. Instead, as you follow along with Michael J. Hammel's step-by-step instructions, you'll learn to produce professional-looking advertisements, apply impressive photographic effects, and design cool logos and text effects. These extensively illustrated tutorials are perfect for hands-on learning or as templates for your own artistic experiments. After a crash course in GIMP's core tools like brushes, patterns, selections, layers, modes, and masks, you'll learn: Photographic techniques to clean up blemishes and dust, create sepia-toned antique images, swap colors, produce motion blurs, alter depth of field, simulate a tilt-shift, and fix rips in an old photo Web design techniques to create navigation tabs, icons, fancy buttons, backgrounds, and borders Type effects to create depth, perspective shadows, metallic and distressed text, and neon and graffiti lettering Advertising effects to produce movie posters and package designs; simulate clouds, cracks, cloth, and underwater effects; and create specialized lighting Whether you're new to GIMP or you've been playing with this powerful software for years, you'll be inspired by the original art, creative photo manipulations, and numerous tips for designers. Covers GIMP 2.8




The Illustrated Book of Sayings


Book Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of Lost in Translation and Eating the Sun, a charming illustrated collection of more than fifty expressions from around the globe that explores the nuances of language From the hilarious and romantic to the philosophical and literal, the idioms, proverbs, and adages in this illustrated collection address the nuances of language in the form of sayings from around the world. From the French idiom “to pedal in the sauerkraut” (meaning, “to spin your wheels”), to the Japanese idiom “even monkeys fall from trees” (meaning, “even experts can be wrong”), The Illustrated Book of Sayings reveals the remarkable diversity, humor, and poignancy of the world’s languages and cultures.




Field and Stream


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Toujours Tingo


Book Description

Why would Germans accuse you of being like the donkey getting cross with a rabbit? Who would a Spaniard tell to go and fry asparagus? And when might the French claim they are without a radish? Furthering your knowledge of the world’s unusual idioms, Toujours Tingo will also explain how ordering ‘lamb’ in Ethiopia may see a cow delivered to your table, and how politicians in Sweden may be encouraged occasionally to göra en hel Pudel (‘do a full poodle’) with some humble apologising. Covering such wide-ranging linguistic necessities as arguing, raising children, working and dining out, and filling all those gaps that English leaves thoughtlessly unplugged, this book’s charm would – for Russians at least – be ežiku ponjatno (obvious even to a hedgehog).




Island of the World


Book Description

Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was a political prisoner of the Communist regime in Vietnam for thirteen years, nine of which he spent in solitary confinement. His remarkable faith sustained him during those long years when he would celebrate mass in secret with three drops of wine in the palm of his hand and the host smuggled inside a flashlight by his faithful. His spiritual writings, penned on the back of old calendars, have spread throughout the world inspiring millions. Road of Hope: The Spiritual Journey of Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan is an original Salt and Light documentary exploring the man and his message. This powerful film traces the history of Thuan from his privileged upbringing in a powerful political family to decades of war, betrayal and suffering - all experiences which helped form his singular conviction that "Love Conquers All." Featuring interviews with those who knew him best, never before seen family videos, and rare archival footage of Thuan sharing his most revealing insights, Road of Hope offers an unprecedented glimpse into the life of a modern day martyr and saint.




The Chaneysville Incident


Book Description

Winner of the PEN/Faulkner: “Rivals Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon as the best novel about the black experience in America since Ellison’s Invisible Man” (The Christian Science Monitor). Brilliant but troubled historian John Washington has left Philadelphia, where he is employed by a major university, to return to his hometown just north of the Mason–Dixon Line. He is there to care for Old Jack, one of the men who helped raise him when he was growing up on the Hill, an old black neighborhood in the little Pennsylvania town—but he also wants to learn more about the death of his father. What John discovers is that his father, Moses Washington, left behind extensive notes on a mystery he was researching: why thirteen escaped slaves reached freedom in Chaneysville only to die there, for reasons forgotten or never known at all. Based on meticulous historical research, The Chaneysville Incident explores the power of our pasts, and paints a vivid portrait of realities such as the Underground Railroad’s activity in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and the phenomenon of enslaved people committing suicide to escape their fate. This extraordinary novel, a finalist for the National Book Award, was described by the Los Angeles Times as “perhaps the most significant work by a new black male author since James Baldwin dazzled in the early ’60s with his fine fury,” and placed David Bradley in the front ranks of contemporary American authors.