Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 44 pages
File Size : 22,76 MB
Release : 2007-10-23
Category : Juvenile Fiction
ISBN : 1416910263
Story about a snowman who receives the most perfect gifts of all.
Author : Bob Eckstein
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 48,18 MB
Release : 2007-10-30
Category : History
ISBN : 1416951121
Who made the first snowman? Who first came up with the idea of placing snowballs on top of each other, and who decided they would use a carrot for a nose? Most puzzling of all: How can this mystery ever be solved, with all the evidence long since melted? The snowman appears everywhere on practically everything -- from knickknacks to greeting cards to seasonal sweaters we plan to return. Whenever we see big snowballs our first impulse is to deck them out with a top hat. Humorist and writer Bob Eckstein has long been fascinated by this ubiquitous symbol of wintertime fun -- and finally, for the first time, one of the world's most popular icons gets his due. A thoroughly entertaining exploration, The History of the Snowman travels back in time to shed light on the snowman's enigmatic past -- from the present day, in which the snowman reigns as the King of Kitsch, to the Dark Ages, with the creation of the very first snowman. Eckstein's curiosity began playfully enough, but soon snowballed into a (mostly) earnest quest of chasing Frosty around the world, into museums and libraries, and seeking out the advice of leading historians and scholars. The result is a riveting history that reaches back through centuries and across cultures -- sweeping from fifteenth-century Italian snowballs to eighteenth-century Russian ice sculptures to the regrettable "white-trash years" (1975-2000). The snowman is not just part of our childhood memories, but is an integral part of our world culture, appearing -- much like a frozen Forrest Gump -- alongside dignitaries and celebrities during momentous events. Again and again, the snowman pops up in rare prints, paintings, early movies, advertising and, over the past century, in every art form imaginable. And the jolly snowman -- ostensibly as pure as the driven snow -- also harbors a dark past full of political intrigue, sex, and violence. With more than two hundred illustrations and a special section of the best snowman cartoons, The History of the Snowman is a truly original winter classic -- smart, surprisingly enlightening, and quite simply the coolest book ever.
Author : Susan Kelly
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 159 pages
File Size : 39,19 MB
Release : 2011-09-01
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 1681770156
A grieving mother finds solace from her son’s death in a relationship that quickly blurs the line between friendship and intimacy. By Accident portrays a year in the life of a woman after the accidental death of her teenage son. Laura Lucas is numbed by the loss, a loss that is paralleled in the spate of upscale construction—and attendant destruction—in her starter-home neighborhood. It’s about Laura's relationship with a young tree surgeon who slowly becomes a replacement for her son—but also an object of desire. The story reveals the delicate nexus where solace becomes sex; the role of men and women as unmarried friends; and examines grief in a marriage. It portrays the pain of change and the poignancy of acceptance through Laura's eyes, and occasionally, through the quirky outlook of her ten-year-old daughter. And before the story ends, another brutal, random accident will redefine Laura's life once again.
Author : Clifton D. Bryant
Publisher : SAGE
Page : 1146 pages
File Size : 50,58 MB
Release : 2003
Category : Death
ISBN : 0761925147
Review: "More than 100 scholars contributed to this carefully researched, well-organized, informative, and multi-disciplinary source on death studies. Volume 1, "The Presence of Death," examines the cultural, historical, and societal frameworks of death, such as the universal fear of death, spirituality and varioius religions, the legal definition of death, suicide, and capital punishment. Volume 2, "The Response to Death," covers such topics as rites and ceremonies, grief and bereavement, and legal matters after death."--"The Top 20 Reference Titles of the Year," American Libraries, May 2004.
Author : Jamie Reno
Publisher : ReadHowYouWant.com
Page : 182 pages
File Size : 27,93 MB
Release : 2010-10
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1458715833
The story is told solely from the perspective of 10 year-old Tyler Paulson, whose mother has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. When her cancer recurs, she explains to Tyler that she has chosen a treatment, called radio-immunotherapy(RIT), that is just starting to help people.The author, who credits RIT with saving his own life ten years ago, doesn't discount the impact of the mother's treatment choices on her son. In fact, Tyler feels more in control when he researches RIT on the internet for himself and realizes that his mother's situation is quite hopeful
Author : Raymond Briggs
Publisher :
Page : 64 pages
File Size : 22,20 MB
Release : 1995-01-01
Category : English language
ISBN : 9780194220255
Ideal for the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Author : Antti Tuomainen
Publisher : Orenda Books
Page : 298 pages
File Size : 49,61 MB
Release : 2017-10-10
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 1495628175
DIVWhen Finnish mushroom entrepreneur Jaakko discovers that he has been slowly poisoned, he sets out to find his would-be murderer ... with dark and hilarious results. The critically acclaimed standalone thriller from the King of Helsinki Noir... ***Shortlisted for the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year*** ***Shortlisted for the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award*** 'Right up there with the best' Times Literary Supplement 'Deftly plotted, poignant and perceptive in its wry reflections on mortality and very funny' Irish Times 'Told in a darkly funny, deadpan style ... The result is a rollercoaster read in which the farce has some serious and surprisingly philosophical underpinnings' Guardian ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– A successful entrepreneur in the mushroom industry, Jaakko Kaunismaa is a man in his prime. At just thirty-seven years of age, he is shocked when his doctor tells him that he's dying. What's more, the cause is discovered to be prolonged exposure to toxins; in other words, someone has slowly but surely been poisoning him. Determined to find out who wants him dead, Jaakko embarks on a suspenseful rollercoaster journey full of unusual characters, bizarre situations and unexpected twists. With a nod to Fargo and the best elements of the Scandinavian noir tradition, The Man Who Died is a page-turning thriller brimming with the blackest comedy surrounding life and death, and love and betrayal, marking a stunning new departure for the King of Helsinki Noir. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 'The deadpan icy sensibility of Nordic noir is combined here with warm-blooded, often surreal, humour. Like the death cap mushroom, Tuomainen's dark story manages to be as delicious as it is toxic' Sunday Express 'An offbeat jewel ... relentlessly funny' Don Crinklaw, Publishers Weekly 'A bizarre, twisty, darkly comic novel about a man investigating his own murder ... a tightly paced Scandinavian thriller with a wicked sense of humour' Foreword Reviews 'Smart, sensitive, and engaging, and guaranteed to be unlike anything else in your crime fiction library ... the perfect blend of thrills, investigation, character development, and comedy' Crime by the Book 'Hugely entertaining and satisfying ... like Carl Hiassen transported to Finland. It's full of black comedy and has an unlikely hero in Jaakko, who you'll root for to the very end' Kevin Wignall, author of A Death in Sweden 'A delightful mad caper of a story, which will make readers snort out loud with laughter and would have made an excellent 1930s screwball comedy directed by Frank Capra' Crime Fiction Lover 'Combines a startlingly clever opening, a neat line in dark humour and a unique Scandinavian sensibility. A fresh and witty read' Chris Ewan, author of Safe House 'Dark and thrilling, funny and intelligent, this Fargo-like novel contains lethal doses of humour ... and mushrooms' Sofi Oksanen, author of Purge ‘A book I will never forget’ Matt Wesolowski ‘This one is a winner right from the first sentence’ Booklist ‘Antti Tuomainen is a wonderful writer, whose characters, plots and atmosphere are masterfully drawn’ Yrsa Sigurðardóttir ‘An original and darkly funny thriller with a Coen Brothers-esque feel & tremendous style’ Eva Dolan/div
Author : Cindy Gabrielle
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 23,51 MB
Release : 2015-06-18
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1443879762
Though New Zealand author Janet Frame (1924–2004) lived at a time of growing dissatisfaction with European cultural models, and though her (auto-)biography, fiction and letters all testify to the fact that a direct encounter between herself and Buddhism occurred, her work has, so far, never been examined from the vantage point of its indebtedness to Buddhism. It is of the utmost significance, however, that a Buddhist navigation of Frame’s texts should shed fresh light on large segments of the Framean corpus which have tended to remain obdurately mysterious. This includes passages centering on such themes as the existence of a non-dual world or a character’s sudden embrace of a non-ego-like self. Of equal significance is the conclusion one then draws that this unharnessed world which human beings are often unable to embrace has always been right under their nose, for, whenever the aspect of the intellect that filters perceptions into mutually excluding categories fails to function, he or she finds a place of subjective arrival in, and sees, this supposedly unknowable ‘beyond’. Thus, possibly against the grain of mainstream criticism, this study argues that Janet Frame constantly seeks ways through which the infinite and the Other can be approached, though not corrupted, by the perceiving self, and that she found in the Buddhist epistemology a pathway towards evoking such alterity.
Author : Alex G. Malloy
Publisher :
Page : 844 pages
File Size : 21,5 MB
Release : 2003-03
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN : 9780873495738
Comics book collectors turn to this valuable resource every year for the most comprehensive information available. This updated edition gives collectors everything they've come to expect and more. Packed with more than 100,000 listings and more than 1,000 illustrations of classic and contemporary comics.
Author : Markus Zusak
Publisher : Knopf Books for Young Readers
Page : 578 pages
File Size : 46,64 MB
Release : 2007-12-18
Category : Young Adult Fiction
ISBN : 0307433846
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME The extraordinary, beloved novel about the ability of books to feed the soul even in the darkest of times. When Death has a story to tell, you listen. It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time. “The kind of book that can be life-changing.” —The New York Times “Deserves a place on the same shelf with The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.” —USA Today DON’T MISS BRIDGE OF CLAY, MARKUS ZUSAK’S FIRST NOVEL SINCE THE BOOK THIEF.
