American Ghost Roses

American Ghost Roses
Author: Kevin Stein
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 106
Release: 2010-10-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0252092562

In his first book as the poet laureate of Illinois, Kevin Stein shoulders an array of poetic forms, blending pathos, humor, and social commentary. These poems--ranging from meditative narratives to improvisational lyrics--explore art's capacity to embody as well as express contemporary culture. Stein embraces subjects as various as his father's death, magazine sex surveys, Kandinsky's theory of art, the dangling modifier, Jimi Hendrix's flaming guitar, racial bigotry, and a teacher's comments on a botched poem. Presiding over this miscellany are ghosts of a peculiarly American garden of dreamers and beloved misfits, those redeemed and those left fingering the locked gate.

The Ghosts of Rose Hill

The Ghosts of Rose Hill
Author: R. M. Romero
Publisher: Holiday House
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2022-05-10
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1682633381

"A must-read for lost souls everywhere." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review With spellbinding verse prose, R.M. Romero channels the spirit of myth into a brilliantly original tale, inspired by her experiences restoring Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe. Magic will burn you up. Sent to stay with her aunt in Prague and witness the humble life of an artist, Ilana Lopez—a biracial Jewish girl—finds herself torn between her dream of becoming a violinist and her immigrant parents’ desire for her to pursue a more stable career. When she discovers a forgotten Jewish cemetery behind her aunt’s cottage, she meets the ghost of a kindhearted boy named Benjamin, who died over a century ago. As Ilana restores Benjamin’s grave, he introduces her to the enchanted side of Prague, where ghosts walk the streets and their kisses have warmth. But Benjamin isn't the only one interested in Ilana. Rudolph Wassermann, a man with no shadow, has become fascinated with her and the music she plays. He offers to share his magic, so Ilana can be with Benjamin and pursue her passion for violin. But after Ilana discovers the truth about Wassermann and how Benjamin became bound to the city, she resolves to save the boy she loves, even if it means losing him—forever. A love letter to Latin American and Jewish diasporas, based on the author's experiences working to maintain Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe. The Ghosts of Rose Hill is a tender and empowering read that you will devour in one sitting. Steeped in history and the experiences of immigrant families, especially Jewish families, each carefully-chosen word of this magical verse novel casts a spell. A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year An Indie Next Pick!

The Cherokee Rose

The Cherokee Rose
Author: Tiya Miles
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2023-06-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0593596420

Three women uncover the secrets of a Georgia plantation that embodies the intertwined histories of Indigenous and enslaved Black communities—the fascinating debut novel, inspired by a true story, of the National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of All That She Carried, now featuring a new introduction and discussion guide. “The Cherokee Rose is a mic drop—an instant classic. An invitation to listen to the urgent, sweet choruses of past and present.”—Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST Conducting research for her weekly history column, Jinx, a free-spirited Muscogee (Creek) historian, travels to Hold House, a Georgia plantation originally owned by Cherokee chief James Hold, to uncover the mystery of what happened to a tribal member who stayed behind after Indian removal, when Native Americans were forcibly displaced from their ancestral homelands in the nineteenth century. At Hold House, she meets Ruth, a magazine writer visiting on assignment, and Cheyenne, a Southern Black debutante seeking to purchase the estate. Hovering above them all is the spirit of Mary Ann Battis, the young Indigenous woman who remained in Georgia more than a century earlier. When they discover a diary left on the property that reveals even more about the house’s dark history, the three women’s connections to the place grow deeper. Over a long holiday weekend, Cheyenne is forced to reconsider the property’s rightful ownership, Jinx reexamines assumptions about her tribe’s racial history, and Ruth confronts her own family’s past traumas before surprising herself by falling into a new romance. Imbued with a nuanced understanding of history, The Cherokee Rose brings the past to life as Jinx, Ruth, and Cheyenne unravel mysteries with powerful consequences for them all.

Orwell's Roses

Orwell's Roses
Author: Rebecca Solnit
Publisher: Granta Books
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-10-21
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1783785535

Roses, pleasure and politics: a fresh take on Orwell as an avid gardener, whose political writing was grounded in his passion for the natural world. 'I loved this book... An exhilarating romp through Orwell's life and times' Margaret Atwood 'Expansive and thought-provoking' Independent Outside my work the thing I care most about is gardening - George Orwell Inspired by her encounter with the surviving roses that Orwell is said to have planted in his cottage in Hertfordshire, Rebecca Solnit explores how his involvement with plants, particularly flowers, illuminates his other commitments as a writer and antifascist, and the intertwined politics of nature and power. Following his journey from the coal mines of England to taking up arms in the Spanish Civil War; from his prescient critique of Stalin to his analysis of the relationship between lies and authoritarianism, Solnit finds a more hopeful Orwell, whose love of nature pulses through his work and actions. And in her dialogue with the author, she makes fascinating forays into colonial legacies in the flower garden, discovers photographer Tina Modotti's roses, reveals Stalin's obsession with growing lemons in impossibly cold conditions, and exposes the brutal rose industry in Colombia. A fresh reading of a towering figure of the 20th century which finds solace and solutions for the political and environmental challenges we face today, Orwell's Roses is a remarkable reflection on pleasure, beauty, and joy as acts of resistance. 'Luminous...It is efflorescent, a study that seeds and blooms, propagates thoughts, and tends to historical associations' New Statesman 'A genuinely extraordinary mind, whose curiosity, intelligence and willingness to learn seem unbounded' Irish Times

Sparrow Hill Road

Sparrow Hill Road
Author: Seanan McGuire
Publisher: Astra Publishing House
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2014-05-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0698145828

Rose Marshall died in 1952 in Buckley Township, Michigan, run off the road by a man named Bobby Cross—a man who had sold his soul to live forever, and intended to use her death to pay the price of his immortality. Trouble was, he didn’t ask Rose what she thought of the idea. It’s been more than sixty years since that night, and she’s still sixteen, and she’s still running. They have names for her all over the country: the Girl in the Diner. The Phantom Prom Date. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown. Mostly she just goes by “Rose,” a hitchhiking ghost girl with her thumb out and her eyes fixed on the horizon, trying to outrace a man who never sleeps, never stops, and never gives up on the idea of claiming what’s his. She’s the angel of the overpass, she’s the darling of the truck stops, and she’s going to figure out a way to win her freedom. After all, it’s not like it can kill her. You can’t kill what’s already dead.

American Ghost

American Ghost
Author: Janis Owens
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2013-03-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1451674651

"A compelling, deeply rewarding novel from a unique southern storyteller, American Ghost is Janis Owens' richly woven story about how unresolved family history and the racial tensions of the past threaten a love affair between two young Floridians"--

Angel of the Overpass

Angel of the Overpass
Author: Seanan McGuire
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2021-05-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0756416892

"Rose Marshall died when she was sixteen years old and on her way to her high school prom. She hasn't been resting easy since then; Bobby Cross, the man who killed her, got away clean after running her off the road ... She's been looking for a way to stop him ... But things have changed in the twilight world where the spirits of the restless dead continue their lives. The crossroads have been destroyed, and Bobby's protections are gone. For the first time, it might be possible for Rose to defeat him"--

Sufficiency of the Actual

Sufficiency of the Actual
Author: Kevin Stein
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 102
Release: 2009
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 0252076001

Poems reflecting the rich panoply of personal and public life in modern America, from the Poet Laureate of Illinois

The Fairy Rose in America

The Fairy Rose in America
Author: A. Fortin
Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2019-10-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1633388832

In the first book, The Magic Fairy Rose, it started in Scotland with Thomas MacGregor and Eleanor Heart. This book was a love story. However, it was much more. Thomas had to find out what happen to his brothers. His oldest brother had told Thomas someone was trying to stop him. His name was Marcos, and he was evil. Learn why this man went after Thomas’s family. You would have to read the first volume to know what he did. Thomas’s father had asked him to bring his mother a rosebush home. It was a tradition that the MacGregor men always brought a rose home for her. Discover what happened with the rosebush that he found. In 1850, the Scottish were leaving the Highlands. Many of them were kicked off their lands with no place to go. They got on a ship heading to America. Learn how they brought three rosebushes to America without carrying them. Tonight, there would be two ghosts visiting Alexander MacGregor and Neil Heart. It took a hundred years before the magic rose was brought to America. Garret Heart made a promise. He said that one of his family members would always be there to protect a MacGregor. Why, you say? Meghalaya, the storyteller, she told Thomas that an evil man would be coming after the next Thomas and Eleanor. Their mothers would call them Tom and Ellen. Discover why their fathers became Navy SEALs. Why was Tom and Ellen sent to a school in the Highlands of Scotland? Discover the mystery why their memories were messed with. Who ordered one of their fathers to take their names from them then to be put in a school that changed their names? So Tom became Mic, and Ellen became Angel. Remember, there would be a family member of Garret’s to watch over them. Don’t miss the twist at the end of the story. See what is next in volume 3.

American Ghost

American Ghost
Author: Paul Guernsey
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2020-10-20
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1473231574

Thumb Rivera is in a bind. A college dropout, aspiring writer, smalltime marijuana grower, and biker club hang-around, Thumb finds himself confined to his rural ranch house in the desolate Maine countryside, helpless to do anything but watch as his former friends and housemates scheme behind his back, conspire to steal his girlfriend, and make inroads with the Blood Eagles, a dangerous biker gang. Thumb is also dead. A ghost forced to haunt his survivors and reflect back on the circumstances that led to his unsolved murder, Thumb discovers he has one channel through which he can communicate with the living world: Ben, an unemployed ghost hunter. Ben soon convinces local curmudgeon Fred Muttkowski, failed novelist turned pig farmer, to turn Ben's Ouija-board conversations with Thumb into an actual book. Thumb has two things on his mind: To solve, and then avenge, the mystery of his own violent death, and also to tell his story. That story is American Ghost-as told to Ben, then fictionalized by Fred. It's at once a clever tale of the afterlife, a poignant examination of the ephemeral nature of life, and a celebration of writing and the written word.