Ordinary Love and Good Will

Ordinary Love and Good Will
Author: Jane Smiley
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2011-01-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307787486

These exquisite twin novellas chronicle the difficult choices that reshape the lives of two very different families. In Ordinary Love, Smiley focuses on a woman’s infidelity and the lasting, indelible effects it leaves on her children long after her departure. Good Will portrays a father who realizes how his son has been affected by his decision to lead a counterculture life and move his family to a farm. As both stories unfold, Smiley gracefully raises the questions that confront all families with the characteristic style and insight that has marked all of her work.

No Ordinary Love

No Ordinary Love
Author: J.J. Murray
Publisher: Kensington Books
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2016-02-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617734837

Nurse Trina Woods never really expected to make the reality-show cut for Rich Man, Lucky Lady. She's used to losing in love, and past believing in fairy tales. So she's sure the handsome plain-talking man she encounters on her lunch break is just a shy eccentric...Until he turns out to be reclusive award-winning musician “Art E.” Soon his unique sensitivity and gentle ways are inspiring her to stand up for herself, take risks, and try one last time for her happy ending. Tony Santangelo's special way of seeing the world helps him make connections others don't—and turn them into mega-hit songs. But he never realized how lonely he was until he got a glimpse of Trina's honesty and caring nature—and went way out of his comfort zone to find her. Suddenly they’re the media's hottest new Cinderella story. And coping with his overprotective brother and overwhelming celebrity means he and Trina must face trouble head on, insist on their dreams, and write their own one-of-a-kind forever-after song...

Good Faith

Good Faith
Author: Jane Smiley
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2003-04-22
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1400040655

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres comes a “smashing...fascinating” novel (The New York Times Book Review) that conjures all the American obsessions of the 1980s: sex, greed, envy, real estate, and the American dream. In her subversively funny and genuinely moving new novel, Jane Smiley nails down several American preoccupations with the expertise of a master carpenter. Forthright, likable Joe Stratford is the kind of local businessman everybody trusts, for good reason. But it’s 1982, and even in Joe’s small town, values are in upheaval: not just property values, either. Enter Marcus Burns, a would-be master of the universe whose years with the IRS have taught him which rules are meant to be broken. Before long he and Joe are new best friends—and partners in an investment venture so complex that no one may ever understand it. Add to this Joe’s roller coaster affair with his mentor’s married daughter. The result is as suspenseful and entertaining as any of Jane Smiley’s fiction.

Love Does

Love Does
Author: Bob Goff
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2012
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1400203759

Now a New York Times Bestseller As a college student he spent 16 days in the Pacific Ocean with five guys and a crate of canned meat. As a father he took his kids on a world tour to eat ice cream with heads of state. He made friends in Uganda, and they liked him so much he became the Ugandan consul. He pursued his wife for three years before she agreed to date him. His grades weren't good enough to get into law school, so he sat on a bench outside the Dean's office for seven days until they finally let him enroll. Bob Goff has become something of a legend, and his friends consider him the world's best-kept secret. Those same friends have long insisted he write a book. What follows are paradigm shifts, musings, and stories from one of the world's most delightfully engaging and winsome people. What fuels his impact? Love. But it's not the kind of love that stops at thoughts and feelings. Bob's love takes action. Bob believes Love Does. When Love Does, life gets interesting. Each day turns into a hilarious, whimsical, meaningful chance that makes faith simple and real. Each chapter is a story that forms a book, a life. And this is one life you don't want to miss. Light and fun, unique and profound, the lessons drawn from Bob's life and attitude just might inspire you to be secretly incredible, too. Endorsements: "If this book does not make your heart beat faster, book the next flight to Mayo Clinic " --Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church, Chairman, Willow Creek Association "Bob Goff is a one-man tsunami of grace, a hurricane of love. He doesn't just talk about change, he really is change, as Love Does chronicles in such a vivid way. Yet, Love Does doesn't leave you feeling like you want to celebrate its author, it awakens a sense deep within that you, too, have an outrageous role to play in God's unfolding story or rescue and repair." --Louie Giglio, Passion Conferences/Passion City Church "An interesting and compelling story (with Young Life roots) that ends with a practical challenge and punch: 'love does' and God can use you to do it " --Denny Rydberg, President, Young Life "Every once in a while someone like Bob Goff shows up to remind us that some things matter a lot more than others. Love Does has a kind of 'north star' effect that will push you to refocus your life and energy on what is most significant. It doesn't just invite you to respond with your God-given potential, it invites you to become a part of what God can do beyond your potential." --Reggie Joiner, Founder and CEO of Orange "We liked the book a lot. Mostly, the balloons on the cover. The rest was pretty good too. Lots of stories about how God helps us." --Aedan, Asher and Skye Peterson ages 13, 12 and 9 "This may look like a book. It's not. It is an invitation to enter into the greatest adventure you have ever known--your life as it was meant to be lived. Hang on " --Michael Hyatt, Author, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, MichaelHyatt.com "Bob's ability to love people brings contagious hope and inspiration wherever he goes. The power of love showcased in this book will surely touch the hearts and souls of many people. Read Love Does and find a friend in one the world's best hidden secrets, a person who shows how love can create connection and make a difference--even across oceans." --George Tsereteli, Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia (former Russian Republic)

Understanding Jane Smiley

Understanding Jane Smiley
Author: Neil Nakadate
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 1999
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781570032516

In this comprehensive study of Jane Smiley's fiction, Neil Nakadate offers insight into the strikingly imaginative and intellectual range of a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer best known for A Thousand Acres. He provides close readings - from the early Barn Blind to The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton - and presents the first extended account of the connections between her life and her work.

Ordinary Love

Ordinary Love
Author: Jane Smiley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2002
Genre: Domestic fiction
ISBN: 9781740307178

Ordinary Love tells the story of a woman who tells her grown children about the affair that ended her marriage, In Good Will, a man discovers that even the right choices can have unexpected consequences. These two novellas by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Jane Smiley, reveal the intricate, sometimes heartbreaking, inner workings of families.

Mother Jones Magazine

Mother Jones Magazine
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 60
Release: 1989-12
Genre:
ISBN:

Mother Jones is an award-winning national magazine widely respected for its groundbreaking investigative reporting and coverage of sustainability and environmental issues.

The American Midwest

The American Midwest
Author: Andrew R. L. Cayton
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 1918
Release: 2006-11-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0253003490

This first-ever encyclopedia of the Midwest seeks to embrace this large and diverse area, to give it voice, and help define its distinctive character. Organized by topic, it encourages readers to reflect upon the region as a whole. Each section moves from the general to the specific, covering broad themes in longer introductory essays, filling in the details in the shorter entries that follow. There are portraits of each of the region's twelve states, followed by entries on society and culture, community and social life, economy and technology, and public life. The book offers a wealth of information about the region's surprising ethnic diversity -- a vast array of foods, languages, styles, religions, and customs -- plus well-informed essays on the region's history, culture and values, and conflicts. A site of ideas and innovations, reforms and revivals, and social and physical extremes, the Midwest emerges as a place of great complexity, signal importance, and continual fascination.

Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres

Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres
Author: Susan Elizabeth Farrell
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2001-09-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780826452351

Continuum Contemporaries will be a wonderful source of ideas and inspiration for members of book clubs and readings groups, as well as for literature students.The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to 30 of the most popular, most acclaimed, and most influential novels of recent years. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question. The books in the series will all follow the same structure:a biography of the novelist, including other works, influences, and, in some cases, an interview; a full-length study of the novel, drawing out the most important themes and ideas; a summary of how the novel was received upon publication; a summary of how the novel has performed since publication, including film or TV adaptations, literary prizes, etc.; a wide range of suggestions for further reading, including websites and discussion forums; and a list of questions for reading groups to discuss.

Ordinary Love

Ordinary Love
Author: Jane Smiley
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 197
Release: 1990
Genre:
ISBN: 9780002236010

The first of two thematically linked novellas, each investigating the dream of the perfect family. It gives voice to a mother, loving but unsure of her love's value. In forfeiting her powerful husband, she fears that she has done her children irrevocable harm. The second novella is Good Will.