Book Description
It was 1733 when the poet and philosopher Voltaire met Emilie du Châtelet, a beguiling—and married—aristocrat who would one day popularize Newton’s arcane ideas and pave the way for Einstein’s theories. In an era when women were rarely permitted any serious schooling, this twenty-seven-year-old’s nimble conversation and unusual brilliance led Voltaire, then in his late thirties, to wonder, “Why did you only reach me so late?” They fell immediately and passionately in love.
Through the prism of their tumultuous fifteen-year relationship we see the crumbling of an ancient social order and the birth of the Enlightenment. Together the two lovers rebuilt a dilapidated and isolated rural chateau at Cirey where they conducted scientific experiments, entertained many of the leading thinkers of the burgeoning scientific revolution, and developed radical ideas about the monarchy, the nature of free will, the subordination of women, and the separation of church and state.
But their time together was filled with far more than reading and intellectual conversation. There were frantic gallopings across France, sword fights in front of besieged German fortresses, and a deadly burning of Voltaire’s books by the public executioner at the base of the grand stairwell of the Palais de Justice in Paris. The pair survived court intrigues at Versailles, narrow escapes from agents of the king, a covert mission to the idyllic lakeside retreat of Frederick the Great of Prussia, forays to the royal gambling tables (where Emilie put her mathematical acumen to lucrative use), and intense affairs that bent but did not break their bond.
Along with its riveting portrait of Voltaire as a vulnerable romantic, Passionate Minds at last does justice to the supremely unconventional life and remarkable achievements of Emilie du Châtelet—including her work on the science of fire and the nature of light. Long overlooked, her story tells us much about women’s lives at the time of the Enlightenment. Equally important, it demonstrates how this graceful, quick-witted, and attractive woman worked out the concepts that would lead directly to the “squared” part of Einstein’s revolutionary equation: E=mc2.
Based on a rich array of personal letters, as well as writings from houseguests, neighbors, scientists, and even police reports,
Passionate Minds is both panoramic and intimate in feeling. It is an unforgettable love story and a vivid rendering of the birth of modern ideas.
Customer Reviews:
Passionate Minds, Dull Book.......2007-08-03
This reader did not venture upon Passionate Minds with unreasonable expectations: a good yarn featuring an enlightened cast was all. Sadly, the effort was not worth the result. A middling tale, a tabloid history, and that most hideous of affectations, aspirations to wit on the part of the author. Claims to be liberating du Chatelet from the chauvinist past revealed less about her intellectual work than the descriptions of her appearance did of her [...]. Voltaire may well have been a hypochondriacal social climber, but he deserves better than lit crit 101 reviews of his work. The author seems extremely uncomfortable with the period: kings must be stupid & useless, aristocrats are not much better, merchants are hard working, peasants are earthy. When claiming that Voltaire's relationship with his niece was fine, because those things were more acceptable in such debauched times, Bodanis overlooks that minor inconvenience known as canon law. He also, presumably for reasons of humour, refers to Madame de Pompadour as Ms Poisson, combining historical innacuracy with silliness - this is not feminism, it is just plain wrong. The period and people covered by this book are fascinating in so many ways, yet the end result is shallow and dull.
Great History.......2007-07-24
This book gave me a fascinating piece of history that I was completly uninformed on. It is fascinating learning the details regarding life in a period that is completly foreign to our culture. It is also fascinating to find out the contributions that women made in science at a time when it was believed that women were completly ignorant, and every effort was made to keep them so.
"You are a delight/You are tender/What pleasure I find in your arms." Immortal verse?.......2007-04-18
I must thoroughly agree with the Publisher's Weekly reviewer of this book. Although it promises to deliver sensational events such as hot love affairs and outrageous behavior in addition to enlightening us about the brilliance of Voltaire and the genius of Emilie du Chatelet, this writer cannot live up to his own book's expectations or his clear attempt to pen a bestseller. What I felt I was getting was the diary entries of a peeping Tom who was busy sticking his nose into the sordid soap opera that was the "great love affair of the Enlightenment." I never had a sense that I was in the presence of a brilliant woman. Rather, Emilie comes off as a hedonistic and conflicted female, fatally insecure, and overshadowed by the even more insecure and narcissistic Voltaire. Although lots of information is imparted between the covers of this book, it never seems to gel into a cohesive or gripping whole, and I was left feeling flat, not only about the featured on-again, off-again eighteenth-century rock-star couple, but about eighteenth-century France altogether. No one seemed worth reading about. The lot of these folks apparently were stuck in their petty, class conscious, foolish ways, fawning over the court, slapping around the general population who weren't upper class, and generally being idiots. Perhaps the best I can say about this work is that it redeems science and rational thinking as well as the integrity of the individual, but only in a backhanded way. I'm afraid most readers will give up on this endless recounting of flaming passions and pettifoggery before getting halfway through. Lucky would they be too because they would happily miss the glaring and unforgivable fragment on p. 163: "But not only was the water cleaner in Cirey. There was also something more to Emilie's innovation." Editor please!
History comes alive........2007-04-05
In writing history for the masses, the author can take a major or a minor role. In the former, the history is more important than entertaining and the author has to pull the narrative along with great effort and undergo great travails to make the story interesting to the reader. In the latter, the history is so compelling and so entertaining that it defies logic, all the author has to do is tell the tale without much ornamentation nor effort.
David Bodanis, much to his credit, combined the best of both situations. The history is remarkbable to begin with, AND he put forth a valiant effort in research and sheer completeness. The story of Emilie Du Chatelet is so amazing and so very interesting that I wondered why I had not heard about her before this book. I think that it is because the story lay so deep and domant within the history of the French revolution and Voltaire's biographical details that no one lese had bothered to look it up and comprehend the importance and fun of her story.
Since the history involves two people who were lovers and partners, it is inevitable that we compare the two in terms of intellect, temperament, achievement, and personality. In my humble opinion, Voltaire came out the worse for wear on that account. Perhaps this was Bodanis' intent, perhaps it is just the charm of Emilie Du Chatelet. If I had my wish, I would much rather have an audience with her than with him, but not by much. Her achievements were astounding, she was, a natural philosopher in the finest sense of the phrase. Given the discriminatory stance of the scientific establishment at the time, her achievements were remarkable.
Far beyond that, it seems she was also the better diplomat, realist, politician, and intellect of the pair. This is not to denigrate Voltiare's prowess as playwright or provocateur extraordinaire, but his intellect seem less impressive by comparison.
The added incentive to read the book comes from the swashbuckling episodes in their lives together that was worthy of a cinematic presentation. Bodanis does an excellent job of building the suspense while also keeping the story line flowing through his fine skills. I guess the best compliment I can pay him is to say that I had to check the book cover numeorus times to ascertain that I was, indeed, reading non-fiction rather than fiction.
a casual but entertaining biography.......2007-02-10
I became interested in Emilie du Chatelet after reading a review of Judith Zinsser's biography on her. However, I ended up picking up Bodanis's book instead because it was written in a more welcoming style than Zinsser's drier account.
Emilie du Chatelet is a fascinating woman whose story needs little embelishment to be an entertaining read, but Bodanis's sense of humor and intimate approach to writing her biography do make it more intersting and readable. While he often goes out on a limb making assumptions about people's thoughts and actions that surely weren't documented, I don't think he was too unrealistic or uncalled for in doing so.
Bodanis also does a fine job intertwining the biography of Voltaire into Emilie's story, bringing to light Voltaire's little-known in science. He elegantly ties their lives into the climate of the Enlightenment and the events leading up to the French Revolution. In doing so, he introduces a tapestry of characters that played a key role in history as well as in Emilie and Voltaire's lives.
Absent from this book is anything more than a glossing-over of Emilie's scientific and mathematical contributions. Yet I can understand why this was done-- the light narrative of the book would have been bogged down by in-depth calculations and explainations that some readers may not be interested in or understand. Nevertheless, as a woman who loves math and science I was disappointed that Bodanis didn't go into greater detail here.
It's not often that I read more than one book on a particular person or subject (there are just too many interesting things to learn in this world), but now I'm eager to read more about Emile du Chatelet and will be picking up Judith Zinsser's more serious and detailed book soon. A quick and engaging read, Passionate Minds is an excellent introduction to this amazing lady.
Book Description
Lori Wick’s bestselling Tucker Mills trilogy concludes with Leave a Candle Burning about a widowed physician, Dannan MacKay, who creates a new life for his daughter but longs for the faith to love again.
Customer Reviews:
Good Book.......2007-07-22
This was a good book. But I isn't as good as most of her other books I've read.
Leave a Candle Burning.......2007-06-27
I know this the last book of the Tucker Mills Trilogy. I have read the whole series, and enjoyed it a great deal.
I would recommend this trilogy to all.
Conclusion in the Tucker Mills trilogy.......2007-01-23
Reviewed by Kelli Glesige for Reader Views (1/07)
Dannan MacKay is the young physician who has come to town to take over his uncle's former practice. Doc MacKay was thought of highly by all the townsfolk before his retirement, and Dannan is warmly welcomed by the town, the church family, and by all those he treats. Dannan is comfortable and confident of his new life until he is accidentally smacked in the face with a shovel by the lovely Scottie Peterson. Dannan is quite taken by Scottie and believes he may be in love until he learns Scottie is married and the wife of the bedridden Eli Peterson.
Dannan struggles with his feelings for the happily married Scottie and tries to quiet his heart. To keep his mind focused, Dannan puts all his efforts into treating his beloved patients, until a tragedy occurs and Dannan soon finds himself trying to be a surrogate father to a lovable but frightened three-year old named Corina, daughter of his cousin Grant. How can a single physician meet all the needs of an orphaned child? Dannan seeks the help and support of the town he now calls home. Corina instantly wins the hearts of all who meet her, except for Scottie Peterson who desperately tries to keep her distance and remain at arms' length. To find solace and guidance, Dannan turns to seeking God's will and to conversing with Eli, even when he lies on his deathbed.
"Leave a Candle Burning" is about trusting God and accepting His will for our lives. It is about knowing God is in control and has a perfect plan for each of us. It reveals the joy that comes to those who obey and believe. "Leave a Candle Burning" will pull at your heart.
I have enjoyed almost everything I have ever read by Lori Wick, and I was not disappointed with "Leave a Candle Burning." It is of the similar high quality I have come to expect from this proven author. And even though I have not read the other books in this particular trilogy, I had no problem following the story. If you too enjoy Christian Romance, I recommend this current selection without reservation. If you are a fan of Lori Wick, this is a must read. This book is appropriate for all ages and genders.
Very annoying and predictable.......2007-01-06
This was the worst Lori Wick book I've read. I was very disappointed with the writing style and the predictability of the plot. It was extremely annoying that EVERY time Dannon walks in on Scottie playing or reading with the little girl, he says "Now this looks fun." This phrase becomes very awkward and stilted from overuse. There are many other ways he could've broken into their conversation without saying the same thing over and over again. I would recommend Ms. Wick's older novels, The Kensington Chronicles and The Princess over this newer series.
A nice story.......2006-09-25
I liked the plot line of this book more than I did the others in this trilogy; it appealed to me more. I really really liked Dannon and how, when he is faced with having feelings for a woman who is unavailable, he confesses them to God and asks for help in overcoming them. His cousin's little girl, who he adopts when she becomes orpahned, is really sweet.
What I didn't like was how the author kept jumping around to other characters in the town. It was a bit confusing to me and I felt that they detracted from the main story a bit. While mentioning what went on in Scottie's hosehold was understandable, I really did not need to or want to know about what was going on in everyone else's households and how they all felt over someone's broken arm.
I also felt that the ending was way too rushed and I did not care for the epiolouge at all. I didn't feel that it was really necessary to the story; it just seemed to add characters who either had nothing to do with the story or very little to do with it.
Book Description
“This isn't just a book for couples who want to have hot sex and intimacy all year long - it's for those who want it for the rest of their lives.” --Violet Blue, senior book reviewer, Good Vibrations, San Francisco
THE HONEYMOON CAN LAST FOREVER!
From the author of three international bestsellers comes a sexual playbook for both men and women that goes a scintillating step further. If her other books were about seduction, The Great Lover Playbook is about keeping the sizzle alive in a relationship 365 days a year, whether you've been together four weeks or forty years. With one tip or technique for each day of the year, Lou provides refreshing perspectives on a variety of subjects, including:
* Uncovering the link between healthy relationships and a healthy sex life
* Building and maintaining an attitude towards sex that's open and curious and committed to passion--forever
* Revealing what men and women really want on a day to day basis to keep the sexual energy alive
* Lou's most popular techniques for hot foreplay, and pleasing your partner in various positions
* A section devoted to exploring and fulfilling your sexual fantasies, role playing, and how to use all sorts of toys
* Frequently asked questions, facts, and information to help you explore your individual sexuality
With step-by-step instructional drawings to enhance the techniques, and Lou's signature style that combines frankness with a keen sense of humor, The Great Lover Playbook will inspire you to sustain the passion in your relationships, and keep that sense of seduction alive for the long term.
"The Great Lover Playbook is a handbook of tried and true ideas that people in long term committed relationships (and in new relationships) around the world can use to enhance their sensual and sexual relationships. Sex no longer has to be boring and routine." --Dr. Beverly Whipple, Ph.D., co-author of the international best-seller, The G Spot and Other Recent Discoveries About Human Sexuality
“Lou Paget is one of our savviest sex educators. She hands over invaluable tried and true secrets and sparks that great lovers use daily in their attitudes, behaviors, fantasies and techniques to reignite their home fires and keep them burning and committed.”--Eli Coleman, Ph.D. Professor and Director Program in Human Sexuality University of Minnesota Medical School
Customer Reviews:
Great book in excellent condition.......2005-07-05
The person I gifted the Lou Paget's book to was very happy to receive it. She said the book is written with brilliance and is highly effective for anyone who reads it. My friend would know because she is a professional book editor.
Book Description
In her boldest and most darkly humorous novel yet, award-winning, critically acclaimed and bestselling novelist Louise Erdrich tells the intimate and powerful stories of five Great Plains women whose lives are connected through one man.
Stranded in a North Dakota blizzard, Jack Mauser's former wives huddle for warmth and pass the endless night by remembering the stories of how each came to love, marry and ultimately move beyond Jack. At times painful, at times heartbreaking and often times comic, their tales become the adhesive that holds them together in their love for Jack and in their lives as women.
Erdrich, with her characteristic powers of observation and luminescent prose, brings these women's unforgettable stories to life with astonishing candor and warmth. Filled with keen perceptions about the apparatus for survival, the force of passion and the necessity of hope, Tales of Burning Love is a tour de force from one of the most formidable American writers at work today.
Customer Reviews:
Loved it! .......2005-09-26
I think I found this book by Louise Erdrich possibly the most consistently interesting book in the series, all of which I enjoyed. There's never a dull passage, and honestly the characters are easier to understand, if not always relate to, than a memorable but so "strange" (for lack of a better word) character than Fleur Pillager. I didn't like Jack Mauser one bit, though, but maybe I wasn't supposed to like him. And I'm glad I didn't read the Publisher's Weekly review before reading this, either, considering all the spoilers.
Another good book to read.......2002-04-08
Excellent book, jumps around a bit, but really wonderful.
Too many brushes with death.......2002-03-27
How many times can the characters almost freeze to death? This story still has Erdich's excellenct characterizations, but the storyline is full of too many people and too much cold. I got tired of the Jack [messing] up everything over and over. Read The Beet Queen if you want a good book by her. Skip this one.
A blizzard in all of us.......2002-01-03
Having read some of Erdrich's novels, including Love Medicine or The Beet Queen, I was expecting an 'Indianesque' novel again. However, the only thing that reminded me of the other novels was her way of emphasizing the importance of stories, that is 'Tales of Burning Love' for our lives. In this case it is the tales that literally help the women survive. Let me start at the beginning:
We get to know Jack Mauser who, yes, is a womanizer, but (we have to admit) a very fascinating and challenging persona. At least this comes to show why five women were once married to him. Now they get together at his burial (only to find out at the end that he isn't dead after all) and get stuck in a blizzard. Their only way of surving the snowstorm is by each of the respective women telling her story with Jack. What grabs the reader is that each of the women has an individual voice which shows in her way of telling the story. Although Jack is the centre of the stories, he's also at the margin, because the stories are about themselves, too. Somehow the telling revives and warms them and at the same time soothes the wounds Jack has caused. Finally they are rescued and resume their lives with renewed strength. Once again Erdrich succeeded in creating such an intense atmosphere that I had problems putting the book down. I hope she will forever go on telling us tales...
A Great Read!.......2001-07-18
I read this my first Erdrich novel after a writer whose opinion I respect recommended her. This is the tale of Jack Mauser and his many wives-- maybe five altogether. The plot has as many twists and turns as a blizzard in North Dakota where much of the action occurs. Watch for what Ms. Erdrich does with the title near the end of the book. She's always ahead of us.
At times I thought that Jack isn't worth all the attention he gets from his women. He is after all a drunk, a womanizer and a cheater in business, truly one of the types that George and Tammy sang about. But his women often get the upper hand, sometimes quite literally. One of them in order to show Jack that "it hurts to be a girl," ties him up and plucks out most of his facial hair in what has to be one of the funniest scenes I've read in a long time.
The story, sometimes outlandish, probably wouldn't have worked with someone with less talent. But these characters with all their warts breathe. I never doubted for a moment their humanity. Erdrich is wonderful at describing a character with few words -- or with many if the occasion calls for it.
Finally, don't you have to love a writer who says that "no blue is ordinary. Blue is the stuff of the soul"?
Book Description
Butterfly Burning brings the brilliantly poetic voice of Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera to American readers for the first time. Set in Makokoba, a black township, in the late l940s, the novel is an intensely bittersweet love story. When Fumbatha, a construction worker, meets the much younger Phephelaphi, he"wants her like the land beneath his feet from which birth had severed him." He in turn fills her "with hope larger than memory." But Phephelaphi is not satisfied with their "one-room" love alone. The qualities that drew Fumbatha to her, her sense of independence and freedom, end up separating them. And the closely woven fabric of township life, where everyone knows everyone else, has a mesh too tight and too intricate to allow her to escape her circumstances on her own.
Vera exploits language to peel away the skin of public and private lives. In Butterfly Burning she captures the ebullience and the bitterness of township life, as well as the strength and courage of her unforgettable heroine.
Customer Reviews:
Not your average novel, but poetry.......2003-07-15
The Booker Tea Reading Group (Wash., D.C.) read this title for our June discussion. While all of us agreed that Vera was a powerful and skilled writer, many also concluded that her writing style was so dense and poetry-like that it made it a challenge to read. This is not a put-down-pick-up-where-you-left-off book. The book does not have a plot. Rather, you are painted a picture of Southern Rhodesia that is both brutal and compelling for the reader and the characters drawn by Vera. The author gives space to the love story in glimpses between images of racial violence, back-breaking labor, rootless children, lost women and desperate men. Some scenes were so vivid it made me wriggle about in discomfort. We recently read "Austerlitz" by Sebald. If you were a patient enough reader for that, and enjoyed it, you'll like Vera. Also reminiscent of the beautiful and complex works of Toni Morrison.
POWERFUL WRITING THAT SPEAKS TO THE UNIVERSAL HEART.......2003-07-08
Yvonne Vera's talent is amazing - she is gifted with the ability to relate stories set in her native Zimbabwe with stunning literary grace and beauty, opening the lives of her characters to the readers' eyes and hearts, laying bare the lovely and depraved and everything in between. That she does all of this and additionally illuminates and brings forth the universal aspects in each and every instance bears witness to the fact that, while she may be an African writer, writing about African people and events, she deserves to be recognized, admired and honored by the world at large - and the world at large owes it to itself to discover her talents.
BUTTERFLY BURNING is set in a Rhodesian township in the late 1940s - long before Independence from British rule. The black citizens (who, in reality, weren't recognized as citizens in their own country) were reviled by most of the whites, looked upon as a source of cheap labor and criminal activity. They weren't even allowed to walk on the sidewalks with the 'imported' white citizens. The heroine of Vera's novel is a young woman named Phephelaphi - orphaned as a young girl and raised by a close friend of her mother, she is filled with a burning need to always become more, to see her life expand without limits. This longing became widespread in the hearts of women in the West many years later with the rise of feminism - women sick of being relegated to cooking and cleaning, aching for more of an education and more of a chance to find their place in the world. Phephelaphi's yearnings lead her ever forward - emotionally, socially, and with respect to a potential career. When her path crosses with that of Fumbatha - an older man with a kind heart and a bruised and battered past (as many in Rhodesia were) - she finds love and security, and, for a while, satisfaction and fulfillment. With all of the love he can offer her, however, Fumbatha cannot fulfill all of Phephelaphi's needs - and her search to meet these needs brings her both joy and sorrow. The joys she experiences will raise your heart to the heavens - and her sorrows will break it.
As in her newest novel, THE STONE VIRGINS, Vera breathes palpable life into her characters - they are immediately acceptable and accessible to the reader. The physical settings - both the natural world and the world of the township and city - spring to life as well through the careful brush-strokes of the author's words. All of it blends together into a style that entertains on one level, certainly - but this writing will affect the reader on many, many levels. There is a depth and beauty here - and a natural grace - that is a rare thing in writing. Vera's novels are short (two of them, WITHOUT A NAME and UNDER THE TONGUE, are contained in one volume), but don't be deceived - once begun, they expand exponentially, and they will resonate within you for years to come.
An Exquisite Find.......2003-02-08
I found this book while browsing my local library shelves.
The story of a young woman's longing for selfhood in an Arfrican township during the 1940's speaks volumes to all of us who have felt, at one time or another, trapped in the seeming bleakness of our surroundings.
The writing is startlingly beautiful in its imagery, rich and full of bittersweetness like chocolate. The words come in floods and tides, you are literally overwhelmed by her words. They, alone, give their own experience.
The story of Phephelaphi is visceral: you do not merely read about her life, but feel it through her pain. Vera writes with the African closeness to nature and being; it is not an easy read, but one that will stay with you long after the last page is turned.
An Exquisite Find.......2003-02-08
I found this book while browsing my local library shelves.
The story of a young woman's longing for selfhood in an Arfrican township during the 1940's speaks volumes to all of us who have felt, at one time or another, trapped in the seeming bleakness of our surroundings.
The writing is startlingly beautiful in its imagery, rich and full of bittersweetness like chocolate. The words come in floods and tides, you are literally overwhelmed by her words. They, alone, give their own experience.
The story of Phephelaphi is visceral: you do not merely read about her life, but feel it through her pain. Vera writes with the African closeness to nature and being; it is not an easy read, but one that will stay with you long after the last page is turned.
Customer Reviews:
A surprisingly deep read..........2007-08-22
Nan Ryan's Burning Love is a fantastic story of adventure, risk and love, set in the Sahara desert. Not as obviously sappy as most romance novels, this one has a whopping measure of Bedouin culture and danger thrown in. If it wasn't for the stereotypical cover, I'm sure a few men might be fooled into reading it, and probably enjoying it!
The characters are thoroughly realistic, and have many facets which most romances lack. The disappointment I felt when the book ended surprised me, and I didn't want to leave the characters' lives.
Lust-fest. If that's what you want, then you might like it, otherwise...........2006-05-09
From the back cover:
He made her his prisoner...then she made him her own.
Ravishing, impulsive, and far too wealthy and independent for any gentleman to claim, Temple Longworth travels to the Arabian desert seeking adventure. And she finds it when she is captured by bandits and imprisoned in the lush oasis belonging to Sheik Sharif Aziz Hamid, also known as El Siif, The Sword.
Who is this dark prince who speaks perfect English and draws her with a power and a passion that defies logic or reason? She hates him. She desires him. She will resist him, unaware that he, too, is a captive--of the incomparable woman who has stolen his heart.
And my review:
Well, here we go again! I want to read about people falling in love, not just falling into bed. This book reads like a cheap "adult" movie. If that's what you're looking for, well, then maybe you'll like it. Myself, I prefer to read about people who are together for more real reasons than flying hormones and overwhelming lust. That's not enough of a reason for me to cheer for them to get together, because lust is not enough to build a real relationship on.
I guess you could like this, but it depends on what you want from your romance read. If you want tons of sex on not much real love between the characters, this book will give it to you. But if you want a true love that's based on something real, you won't find it here.
Hot Love Scenes.......2001-01-12
If you are looking for steamy love scenes, this book has it! It was a good story and I could not put it down. She is a wealthy American heartbreaker who is abducted by an wealthy Arab Sheik who was born an Englishman. He plans to use her to stop her family's munitions manufacturer from selling to the hated Turk's. He is very powerful and in control, until he falls for her. She is very stuborn and has always been in control, until she falls for him.
STEAMY! SENSUAL! LOVE IN THE DESERT!.......2000-05-14
Excellent story! Perhaps I find it so because it's the first romance I ever read!
A desert sheik finds his deepest love in the daughter of his sworn enemy! What's an honorable man to do but seek vengence - by carrying her away to his desert paradise while she's touring his country! Is she to be his love slave? Or his heart's desire?
The couple overcome jealousy, evil rulers and eventually past hurts to fall madly in love. Sigh.
Book Description
The heart of the Christian faith is a direct encounter with God so profound that it can be referred to as union. It is an experience that cannot be described in words, but it can be glimpsedâin the radiant lives of the men and women called mystics. Here James Harpur presents the stories of some of the most influential Christian mystics from the past two thousand years. He provides their historical and ecclesiastical contexts, as well as appreciations of the unique contributions of each of them to the ongoing articulation of the way of love and union. Love Burning in the Soul is a comprehensive and highly readable survey of the great Christian mystical tradition for everyone. Included are: Clement of Alexandria * Gregory of Nyssa * John Scotus Eriugena * Bernard of Clairvaux * Hildegard of Bingen * Francis of Assisi * Mechtild of Magdeburg * Meister Eckhart * John Tauler * Jan van Ruysbroeck * Gregory Palamas * Richard Rolle * Julian of Norwich * Catherine of Siena * Jacob Boehme * George Fox * Teresa of Ãvila * François Fénelon * Jean Pierre de Caussade * William Blake * Pierre Teilhard de Chardin * Thomas Merton * Many others
Customer Reviews:
The Power of the Mystical Insight.......2007-03-05
Psychologists, philosophers and the clergy have all had their own views and definitions of the mystical experience. Is it no more than a dissociative experience in which the boundaries of the ego dissolve like so much fairy gold? Is it another word for a form psychotic breakdown? Is it a profound sense of empathy with all living things? Is it a state in which we can unlock the most profound secrets of the universe? Or is it a God-given state of ultimate Union?
In this fascinating book, James Harpur focuses on the last of these possibilities. He defines the mystic as someone who has a direct and intimate experience of God from within. As implied in the title, his focus is on the two thousand year old tradition of Christian mysticism. He takes both an historical and ecclesiastical approach beginning first with the mystical experiences revealed through the writers of the Gospels, before going on to cover some of the personal accounts of a few of the better known saints, religious and spiritual leaders, as well as some of the English Romantic poets.
This book provides some extraordinary insights into the path of the human soul toward union with God, through the lives of and recorded words of Jesus, Meister Eckhart, Jacob Boehme, Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint John of the Cross, William Blake and Teilhard de Chardin and many others.
Though some of this material is available elsewhere, James Harpur provides us with many new insights. But it is in the epilogue that the book really shines. Here he brings Christian mystical spirituality into the present, with a discussion of some of the grass root and retreat movements that not only tap into these mystical traditions but also use them to inform a movement toward a belief in the interconnectedness of all life and its moral consequences: ecology, justice and peace. Harpur discusses many examples of such communities, including those in Iona in Scotland, Taize in France, and the Creation Spirituality movement founded by the former Dominican monk Matthew Fox.
Whether or not you follow a Christian path, if you are interested in the application of spiritual principles to your life and to some of the problems in our world, this book is well worth your time.
Highly recommended.
Good overview, broad coverage, historical perspective.......2006-09-04
In the preface to this book, the author states that, "This book is intended as a short introduction to the tradition of Christian mysticism over the last two thousand years. It is not aimed at theologians or other specialists but at those who have little or no knowledge of the subject matter and who wish to dip their toes into the vast ocean of mysticism." Further, "The approach I have taken is a historical one." James Harpur delivers on both of these objectives. In the introduction, he discusses the terms mystic/mysticism and contemplative/contemplation. His coverage is broad: He starts with New Testament Times and ends with The Modern Age, and he addresses 49 mystics (from Jesus Chris to Thomas Merton; Therese de Lisieux is a notable exclusion). The information he presents provides a good overview of each mystic's approach to Christian spirituality. In addition, he describes the historical times and context in which they lived (providing a history, albeit a very short one, of Christianity). In the epilogue, the author briefly addresses the future of both Christianity and mysticism, as well as some of the more recent Christian spiritual movements, e.g., Taize. This book is a great introduction to this subject and a good reference source.
Book Description
The nation's savviest sex educator delivers a daily dose of passionate advice for lovers.
Lou Paget's sophisticated yet sizzling approach to sexuality has made her books and workshops phenomenally popular around the world. Whereas her other books were about seduction, 365 Days of Sensational Sex is about sustaining passion in a relationship. She provides both men and women with refreshing essays on:
* Creating a sexual atmosphere in your relationship, from turning your bedroom into a sanctuary for sex to letting your partner know you find him or her irresistible and turning almost anyplace into a venue for a sexual encounter
* The link between healthy relationships and a healthy sex life
* Secrets and advice on maintaining an attitude toward sex that is open and curious and committed to passion-forever
* A collection of Lou's "classics"-her most popular techniques for hot foreplay, pleasing each other in various positions, and trying something new
* The most popular types of sexual fantasies and how to ask for one you want
* Frequently asked questions, Lou's best research, and unknown sexual tidbits
Over seventy-five instructional line drawings enhance the pages, and the book's one-a-day format makes it perfect for every couple seeking to stay energized years after the thrill of that initial seduction. A complete treat, 365 Days of Sensational Sex will inspire great lovers for the long term.
Customer Reviews:
A fun read.......2003-11-27
SOOOOO glad I purchased this book (and so is my hubby!)
Anxiously Awaited Book for Couples.......2003-11-13
I have read all of Lou Paget's books, and have waited anxiously for this release. As usual, Ms. Paget presents her ideas with taste and tact, combined with her signature sense of humor and savvy. My husband and I can't wait to try each and every one of her ideas....and keep OUR fires burning all year long!
Book Description
52 ways to relight the desire.
When the roaring fire of a relationship has been reduced to a smolder, Re-Energize Your Relationship helps couples recapture the magic. From finding time to be together to rediscovering what makes each other tick, the inspiring ideas in this lively guide range from the basic to the bold and brazen:
- Idea #2: Search for the hero
- Idea #11: Scentsational
- Idea #18: Bewitched, bothered and bewildered
- Idea #24: Reach out and touch
- Idea #29: Unbreak my heart
- Idea #48: Domestic detox
Average customer rating:
- the people, the people!!
- Beautiful, Complex Look at Growing Up
|
Burning City
Ariel Dorfman , and
Joaquin Dorfman
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Action & Adventure | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0375832041
Release Date: 2006-05-23 |
Book Description
It is the simmering summer of 2001 in New York City. Heller is the youngest employee of Soft Tidings, a messenger service whose motto is “news with a personal touch.” At Soft Tidings, a message is not handed over but told to the recipient. And the messages, as a rule, are not especially good news. Heller prefers his bike to the mandatory Rollerblades, and he gets away with his maniacal bike riding because he is, hands down, the best deliverer of bad news. This summer will be memorable for Heller as he finds himself drawn into the lives of a wildly diverse cast of characters, accidentally falling in love, and relating to people in a whole new way.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
the people, the people!!.......2005-12-22
i was given an advanced copy of this book and i didn't want to read it. i hate 'sports' books. i never even picked this up until after it was already in the library and cataloged and on the shelf. man was i an idiot:)
this book is great! wait, it's better than great:) the characters are amazing (and really, they make this book). every distinct, vivid, realistic, snarky, wonderful person in this story rocked.
heller meets people over and over in manhatten rather conviniently, and the story line is a little on the, shall we say, unrealistic side. however, these flaws are totally easy to overlook when the dialog happens. (besides, when was the last time i saw a movie with a realistic story line???)
absolutely unique.
Beautiful, Complex Look at Growing Up.......2005-06-04
New York City, summer before 9/11. Heller Highland works for Soft Tidings, a messenger service that delivers "news with a personal touch," meaning that the message is spoken to the recipient instead of written. Heller is known as the "Angel of Death" at the office for his innate skill at delivering bad news. During the week following his sixteenth birthday, he encounters a colorful cast of characters, including a Turkish bookseller who becomes his best friend and a pretty coffeeshop worker that he falls in love with.
Burning City is very fast-paced, thanks mainly to the snappy, clever dialogue and scenes describing Heller's bike riding skills. Heller is also a fascinating and incredibly likable character. There was a certain innocence about him that I miss in most teen novels. He wasn't blind, just hopeful. His developing relationships unfold with such compassion and complexity that I was blown away. More than anything, this novel is about relationships and what it means to really care about people. When I put the novel down, I felt like I understood the world around me just a little bit better.
Please read this book!
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