Stick Fly

by Lydia R. Diamond    (Find this book)

How well do you know your family? Your social class? Your race? Sensitive "Spoon" LeVay and his brother "Flip" see their weekend at the family home on Martha's Vineyard as a perfect opportunity to introduce their girlfriends to their upper class African American parents. Instead they stumble into a domestic powder keg that exposes secrets of prejudice, hypocrisy and adultery. This fantastic new play comes from the pen of one of the country's most provocative new playwrights!

Bus Stop ( L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collections )

by William Inge    (Find this book)

Upon hitting Broadway in 1955 Bus Stop was an immediate commercial & critical success. During a winter storm a busload of weary travelers are forced to shack up at a roadside diner until morning. Inge was renowned for his in-depth character studies, Bus Stop is no exception and offers a warm play about the intersecting lives of eight ordinary people. A full-cast production featuring: Megan Anderson, Terrence Currier, Rachel Miner, Anson Mount, Kyle Prue, Lynnie Raybuck, Jefferson A. Russell, Gary Sloan.

Always Looking: Essays on Art

by John Updike    (Find this book)

The previously uncollected art writings of the prolific and award-winning novelist and critic Updike, who died in 2009, are compiled in this handsome volume. The essays explore works by artists including Monet, Klimt, Degas, Miro, Magritte; the major movements of Impressionism, Surrealism, Pop art, and Minimalism; and the habits and tastes of the collectors who shape our understanding of fine art's place in American culture. The reviews, most of which appeared in the New York Review of Books and the New Republic, continue the analytical approach employed in the celebrated collections Just Looking (1989) and Still Looking (2005) by unspooling like narrations of a museum ramble with Updike at your side. Through Updike's lens of novelistic psychology, some of the best-known biographies of 19th and 20th century art history take on a wholly original cast. Our guide is eternally curious; informal but well-informed; adept at describing color, line, or brushstroke without falling back on jargon or metaphor. Whether he's transported by a Monet landscape or thrown off-balance by Richard Serra's torqued elliptical sculptures, Updike is always honest about how he is personally affected by the artwork. As the final document of Updike's sensitive and passionate approach to art, this book reinforces the late writer's great lesson: that we should always be looking. Illus. Agent: The Wylie Agency. (Nov.) Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information. -- Publishers Weekly

Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury

by Sam Weller    (Find this book)

"What do you imagine when you hear the name" . . . Bradbury?

You might see rockets to Mars. Or bizarre circuses where otherworldly acts whirl in the center ring. Perhaps you travel to a dystopian future, where books are set ablaze . . . or to an out-of-the-way sideshow, where animated illustrations crawl across human skin. Or maybe, suddenly, you're returned to a simpler time in small-town America, where summer perfumes the air and life is almost perfect . . . "almost."

Ray Bradbury--peerless storyteller, poet of the impossible, and one of America's most beloved authors--is a literary giant whose remarkable career has spanned seven decades. Now twenty-six of today's most diverse and celebrated authors offer new short works in honor of the master; stories of heart, intelligence, and dark wonder from a remarkable range of creative artists. -- Publisher Marketing

The Rocks Don't Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah's Flood

by David R Montgomery    (Find this book)

In Tibet, geologist David R. Montgomery heard a local story about a great flood that bore a striking similarity to Noah's Flood. Intrigued, Montgomery began investigating the world's flood stories and--drawing from historic works by theologians, natural philosophers, and scientists--discovered the counterintuitive role Noah's Flood played in the development of both geology and creationism. Steno, the grandfather of geology, even invoked the Flood in laying geology's founding principles based on his observations of northern Italian landscapes. Centuries later, the founders of modern creationism based their irrational view of a global flood on a perceptive critique of geology. With an explorer's eye and a refreshing approach to both faith and science, Montgomery takes readers on a journey across landscapes and cultures. In the process we discover the illusive nature of truth, whether viewed through the lens of science or religion, and how it changed through history and continues changing, even today. -- Publisher Marketing

In Search of the Good: A Life in Bioethics

by Daniel Callahan    (Find this book)

Daniel Callahan helped invent the field of bioethics more than forty years ago when he decided to use his training in philosophy to grapple with ethical problems in biology and medicine. Disenchanted with academic philosophy because of its analytical bent and distance from the concerns of real life, Callahan found the ethical issues raised by the rapid medical advances of the 1960s--which included the birth control pill, heart transplants, and new capacities to keep very sick people alive--to be philosophical questions with immediate real-world relevance. In this memoir, Callahan describes his part in the founding of bioethics and traces his thinking on critical issues including embryonic stem cell research, market-driven health care, and medical rationing. He identifies the major challenges facing bioethics today and ruminates on its future. Callahan writes about founding the Hastings Center--the first bioethics research institution--with the author and psychiatrist Willard Gaylin in 1969, and recounts the challenges of running a think tank while keeping up a prolific flow of influential books and articles. Editor of the famous liberal Catholic magazine "Commonweal" in the 1960s, Callahan describes his now-secular approach to issues of illness and mortality. He questions the idea of endless medical "progress" and interventionist end-of-life care that seems to blur the boundary between living and dying. It is the role of bioethics, he argues, to be a loyal dissenter in the onward march of medical progress. The most important challenge for bioethics now is to help rethink the very goals of medicine. -- Publisher Marketing

Thornton Wilder: A Life

by Penelope Niven    (Find this book)

Art is confession; art is the secret told. . . . But art is not only the desire to tell one's secret; it is the desire to tell it and hide it at the same time. And the secret is nothing more than the whole drama of the inner life. --Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder: A Life, the first biography of the playwright and novelist since 1983, is also the first to be based on thousands of pages of letters, journals, manuscripts, and other documentary evidence of Wilder's life, work, and times. For more than a decade, biographer Penelope Niven has worked with unprecedented access to Wilder's papers, including his family's private journals and records, searching for the secrets that illuminate Wilder's public life and work, as well as the hidden inner self sometimes concealed and sometimes revealed in his art and in his papers.

Thornton Wilder was a multifaceted man: a teacher, novelist, playwright, lecturer, actor, musician, soldier, man of letters, outspoken citizen, and international public figure. He was also an enigmatic, intensely private man. He belonged to a close-knit, complicated family--two brilliant parents, four gifted siblings, and the specter of his twin brother lost at birth. His biography is also a compelling family saga, starring Thornton Wilder, with strong supporting roles played by his father, mother, brother, and sisters.

He was a gypsy, wandering the world, writing, he said, for and about everybody--a fact international audiences still embrace. The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Eighth Day, and his other novels are still read in the United States and abroad. His plays, especially the iconic Our Town and the revolutionary Skin of Our Teeth, are still performed on stages around the globe.

Yet despite the international fame and visibility of Wilder the writer, far too little has been known or understood about Wilder the man--until now. Comprehensively researched and richly detailed, Thornton Wilder: A Life brings the private man center stage and sheds new light on his published and unpublished work. -- Publisher Marketing

The Chronicles of Downton Abbey: A New Era

by Jessica Fellowes    (Find this book)

The Great War has ended, but Downton Abbey is far from peaceful... "Americans can't get enough of 'Downton Abbey, '" said "The Boston Globe. "As Season 3 of the award-winning TV series opens, it is 1920 and Downton Abbey is waking up to a world changed forever by World War I. New characters arrive and new intrigues thrive as the old social order is challenged by new expectations.
In this new era, different family members abound (including Cora's American mother, played by Shirley MacLaine) and changed dynamics need to be resolved: Which branch of the family tree will Lord Grantham's first grandchild belong to? What will become of the servants, both old and new? "The Chronicles of Downton Abbey," carefully pieced together at the heart and hearth of the ancestral home of the Crawleys, takes us deeper into the story of every important member of the Downton estate.This lavish, entirely new book focuses on each character individually, examining their motivations, their actions, and the inspirations behind them. An evocative combination of story, history, and behind-the-scenes drama, it will bring fans even closer to the secret, beating heart of the house.  -- Publisher Marketing

Walking the Amazon: 860 Days. One Step at a Time.

by Ed Stafford    (Find this book)

As seen on "Discovery Channel" and for readers of Bill Bryson, Jon Krakauer, and David Grann, a riveting, adventurous account of one man's history-making journey along the entire length of the Amazon--and through the most bio-diverse habitat on Earth. Fans of "Turn Right at Machu Piccu" will revel in Ed Stafford's extraordinary prose and lush descriptions.
In April 2008, Ed Stafford set off to become the first man ever to walk the entire length of the Amazon. He started on the Pacific coast of Peru, crossed the Andes Mountain range to find the official source of the river. His journey lead on through parts of Colombia and right across Brazil; all while outwitting dangerous animals, machete wielding indigenous people as well as negotiating injuries, weather and his own fears and doubts. Yet, Stafford was undeterred. On his grueling 860-day, 4,000-plus mile journey, Stafford witnessed the devastation of deforestation firsthand, the pressure on tribes due to loss of habitats as well as nature in its true-raw form. Jaw-dropping from start to finish, "Walking the Amazon" is the unforgettable and gripping story of an unprecedented adventure.  -- Publisher Marketing

Reader's Digest Book of North American Birds: An Illustrated Guide to More Than 600 Species

by Reader's Digest    (Find this book)

More than any other kind of wildlife, birds have an almost magical hold on the human imagination. They are beautiful, vibrantly alive, and seen everywhere. They open our eyes to the world of nature and enrich our spirits with their color, their music, and their wondrous gift of flight. The BOOK OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS celebrates the hundreds of species that spend at least part of the year in the United States or Canada. It includes some 600 species in all and the 8 chapters are organized by type and habitat. Each page features a full-color painting, usually of a male in breeding plumage, since the male is more colorful than the female, accompanied by a brief narrative focusing on key aspects of the bird in the wild. At the bottom of each page is information for quick reference, with details on identification, habitat, nesting, and food. In addition, a drawing highlights a particular point of interest about the species, and a color-coded range map showing where it can be found. There is a Special Collection of more than 100 species that are rare or have limited ranges in North America and a Traveler's Guide arranged alphabetically by state and province, describing more than 350 prime locations for seeing America's birds at their best. Praise from Roger Tory Peterson highlights the back cover of this volume. The illustrations and paintings are from some of the most renowned wildlife artists in the field, such as H. Douglas Pratt, Ray Harris-Ching, and Albert Earl Gilbert. Fun to read, easy to use, informative, and lovely to look at--here is the perfect book for anyone who loves nature.

Facebook for Seniors Quicksteps

by Carole Matthews    (Find this book)

A full-color, visual guide to using Facebook--written "by" a senior, "for" seniors. "Facebook for Seniors QuickSteps" provides hands-on guidance to seniors who want to enjoy the social interaction offered by the world's most popular social network. The book addresses seniors in a voice that is their own--written by a senior talking to other seniors about how take advantage of the full spectrum of Facebook apps and tools while sharing only with your intended audience. Color screenshots with explanations show exactly what you'll see on your computer screen while you're doing a task. A new and fresh design makes your reading experience even more productive and fun, using a crisp and colorful interface.
"Facebook for Seniors QuickSteps"
Printed in full-color with larger type and new design features "Quick Quotes" share personal experiences and advice from other seniors Approaches specific tasks with steps you can duplicate easily: for example, "To create a photo album on Facebook..." or "To search for a long-lost friend on Facebook...." Step-by-step instructions on signing up for Facebook, choosing privacy settings, posting, friending, sending and receiving messages, sharing photos and video, using a mobile phone to get and post updates, and much more Covers the newest core features, such as the Timeline and revised security techniques. Reveals security techniques to use to avoid sharing data with unwanted third parties. Explains how to use apps such as games. Shows how to organize friends into lists and groups so that communications can be more easily tracked and managed. Explains how to create a special Facebook Page for your business and advertise to the greater Facebook audience.  --  Publisher Marketing

Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys, an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Country Work

by Jeanne Marie Laskas    (Find this book)

Five hundred feet underground, Jeanne Marie Laskas asked a coal miner named Smitty, "Do you think it's weird that people know so little about you?" He replied, "I don't think people know too much about the way the whole damn country works."
Hidden America intends to fix that. Like John McPhee and Susan Orlean, Laskas dives deep into her subjects and emerges with character-driven narratives that are gripping, funny, and revelatory. In Hidden America, the stories are about the people who make our lives run every day--and yet we barely think of them.
Laskas spent weeks in an Ohio coal mine and on an Alaskan oil rig; in a Maine migrant labor camp, a Texas beef ranch, the air traffic control tower at New York's LaGuardia Airport, a California landfill, an Arizona gun shop, the cab of a long-haul truck in Iowa, and the stadium of the Cincinnati Ben-Gals cheerleaders. Cheerleaders? Yes. They, too, are hidden America, and you will be amazed by what Laskas tells you about them: hidden no longer. -- Publisher Marketing

You Can Buy Happiness (and It's Cheap): How One Woman Radically Simplified Her Life and How You Can Too

by Tammy Strobel    (Find this book)

This cheerful handbook offers the emotional and practical lessons. Strobel learned while radically downsizing her living space, disposing of most of her possessions, and simplifying her lifestyle. Through her RowdyKittens blog, Strobel and her husband have shared their transition from a generous two-bedroom apartment in 2004 to the TV-free, refrigerator-free, 128-square-foot house-on-wheels parked in a corner of a friend's Portland, Ore., yard. She makes a persuasive argument for simplification and is careful to offer advice not only to Small Living movement radicals but to anyone looking to right-size their life. Social relationships, she argues, should be both the core of personal satisfaction and a way to share resources. Additionally, Strobel urges budgeting for experiences rather than objects and finding ways to spend less time commuting and working just to pay for unnecessary goods. A list of micro-actions that anyone can do like the 100 Thing Challenge or the one in, one out rule is offered to aid in re-evaluating one's relationship with space and ownership. Although her personal choices may seem extreme, the environmental politics and magnitude of change Strobel asks of her reader is distinctly moderate, making this a practical book even for those who only want to live a little bit lighter. (Sept.) Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information. -- Publisher's Weekly