Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories

Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories
Author: Joan Silber
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2005-05-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0393070727

Shortlisted for the National Book Award: "Joan Silber writes with wisdom, humor, grace, and wry intelligence. Her characters bear welcome news of how we will survive."—Andrea Barrett Intense in subject yet restrained in tone, these stories are about longings—often held for years—and the ways in which sex and religion can become parallel forms of dedication and comfort. Though the stories stand alone, a minor element in one becomes major in the next. In "My Shape", a woman is taunted by her dance coach, who later suffers his own heartache. A Venetian poet of the 1500s, another storyteller, is introduced to a modern traveler reading Rilke. His story precedes a mesmerizing narrative of missionaries in China. In the final story, Giles, born to a priesthood family, leans toward Buddhism after a grievous loss, and in time falls in love with the dancer of the first story. So deft and subtle is Joan Silber with these various perspectives that we come full circle surprised and enchanted by her myriad worlds. National Book Award finalist. Reading group guide included.

The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven

The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven
Author: Rick Moody
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2015-11-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1504027698

A spirited collection of stories revealing the extremes of the human experience from the author of The Ice Storm In his first story collection, Rick Moody provides readers with a poignant, brazenly honest glimpse into the lives of a wide array of characters, from a paranoid husband obsessively listening in on his wife’s phone calls to the junkies and sex addicts of New York City’s underworld. Whether they’re grasping for connection or struggling to survive in a dismal and indifferent environment, these individuals’ haunting voices and the evocative worlds they inhabit make for a diverse and powerful volume. Experimenting with form—one story is told as a term paper, another as an annotated bibliography—Moody demonstrates the vast range of his fascinations and talents, as well as his arresting command of language. Candid depictions of contemporary society and the inner-workings of distinctive characters’ minds bring these inquisitive, heartrending, and at times undeniably funny accounts to life. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Rick Moody including rare images from the author’s personal collection.

The Size of the World

The Size of the World
Author: Joan Silber
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2008
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780393059090

An engineer in Vietnam is shaken when he discovers why his company's planes are getting lost, a marriage between a Thai Muslim and an American woman sparks a terrible family fight, and a young woman in 1920s Siam experiences her brother's colonial stance.

Heaven Is Waiting

Heaven Is Waiting
Author: Wayne Triplett
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2012-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1469787784

Heaven Is Waiting is about heaven, but it is much more. It is about our longing for heaven, our innate instinct for it. It is about eternity in our hearts and how the hope of heaven inspires and sustains us. We groan inside as we resist death and cry for something more beyond the grave. What we call life is a journey to death; what we call death is the gateway to life. Using biblical principles, Triplett paints a refreshing picture of heaven and provides proof that heaven is a real place. He challenges many preconceived ideas of what heaven will be like while answering the questions that you may not have had the courage to ask. He has collaborated with noted clergymen who share their insights about the heaven that can become your final forwarding address. This book will either affirm your belief in heaven or challenge your plan for getting there. Heaven is a permanent residence, a city without a cemetery, a place where we unpack our bags-memories-and stay forever. Are you excited and ready for a great adventure? Are you anticipating what awaits you beyond death's door? Prepare for the time of your life-heaven is waiting.

Fools

Fools
Author: Joan Silber
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2022-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781838956615

Household Words: A Novel

Household Words: A Novel
Author: Joan Silber
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2005-11-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0393070719

Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award "Unqualified praise goes to this rarity: an extraordinary novel about ordinary people." —Chicago Tribune The year is 1940, and Rhoda Taber is pregnant with her first child. Satisfied with her comfortable house in a New Jersey suburb and her reliable husband, Leonard, she expects that her life will be predictable and secure. Surprised by an untimely death, an unexpected illness, and the contrary natures of her two daughters, Rhoda finds that fate undermines her sense of entitlement and security. Shrewd, wry, and sometimes bitter, Rhoda reveals herself to be a wonderfully flawed and achingly real woman caught up in the unexpectedness of her own life.

Sweet Lamb of Heaven: A Novel

Sweet Lamb of Heaven: A Novel
Author: Lydia Millet
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2016-05-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0393285553

Longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction: Blending domestic thriller and psychological horror, this compelling page-turner follows a mother fleeing her estranged husband. Lydia Millet’s previous work has been shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Likewise greeted with rapturous praise, Sweet Lamb of Heaven is a first-person account of a young mother, Anna, fleeing her cold and unfaithful husband, a businessman who’s just launched his first campaign for political office. When Ned chases Anna and their six-year-old daughter from Alaska to Maine, the two go into hiding in a run-down motel on the coast. But the longer they stay, the less the guests in the dingy motel look like typical tourists—and the less Ned resembles a typical candidate. As his pursuit of Anna and their child moves from threatening to criminal, Ned begins to alter his wife’s world in ways she never could have imagined. A double-edged and satisfying story with a strong female protagonist, a thrilling plot, and a creeping sense of the apocalyptic, Sweet Lamb of Heaven builds to a shattering ending with profound implications for its characters—and for all of us.

Lessons from the Light

Lessons from the Light
Author: Kenneth Ring
Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2024-07-08
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1637480180

"No other researcher has been able to transmit to the rest of us the true meaning and impact of near-death phenomena for the planet." --Bruce Greyson, MD, bestselling author of After "A major contribution that offers a wealth of case materials together with balanced and insightful commentary." --Raymond A. Moody, PhD, bestselling author of Life After Life While providing many remarkable accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs), Lessons from the Light is much more than an inspiring collection of NDEs. In clear language, the practical lessons for living and dying are to be found from the study of these experiences. Written by one of the foremost authorities on NDEs, Lessons from the Light is a book for those looking to gain knowledge and wisdom to enhance their own lives by incorporating the insights stemming from what many people have come to believe is the ultimate spiritual experience. Although Lessons from the Light recounts many moving stories of NDEs, it is not just another book filled with inspiring testimonies--it includes helpful guidance and practical exercises concerning how readers can make use of this knowledge to live with greater self-insight, self-compassion and concern for others, as well as be better prepared for death, dying, and bereavement. Readers can easily apply what they have learned to their own lives and absorb and internalize these lessons from the Light in such a way as to lead to deep personal and spiritual transformation. This edition replaces the previous edition (ISBN 978-1-930491-11-3) and contains a new postscript by the author.

Dropped from Heaven

Dropped from Heaven
Author: Sophie Judah
Publisher: Random House Digital, Inc.
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2007
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

The 19 stories in Judah's debut explore the little known Jewish community of Bene Israel in India over the course of more than a century. Though Judah touches on a wide array of topics in these vignette-like stories of life in the fictional town of Jwalangart̮he fusion of Jewish and Indian (both Hindi and Muslim) customs, the India-Pakistan partition, the birth of Israelt̮he most prevalent theme is the underappreciated strength and wisdom of the community's women.

Ideas of Heaven

Ideas of Heaven
Author: Joan Silber
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2004
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780393059083

Supple and precise, these stories cover lifetimes, much in the manner of Alice Munro and William Trevor. Set in France, Italy, New York, and China, in the past and present, they are about longings--about how sex and religion become parallel forms of dedication and comfort.