Thomas Frank Books

there's a new bizzrro legend in West Virginia and his name is Frank K Thomas. While ostensibly about flying airplanes, It is This Way With Men Who Fly certainly doesn't limit itself to that subject. Frank (can I call you Frank?)is more than happy to give you his opinion of just about anything you would care to know. Though he waxes philosophical at times, Antoine De Saint-Exupery he is most definitely not. This earthy witty little book is a gleeful romp inside the life and head of one of those colorful individuals that make America truly and gloriously the weirdest country I've ever had the luck to be from.

The recent indictment of Barry Bonds on charges of being involved with performance-enhancing drugs put a major stain on major league baseball. It is some consolation that Bonds has never really looked up to as a hero, his sullen personality and questionable behavior has largely made him an anti-hero. Two true baseball heroes and genuinely good people are profiled in this book.
Ken Griffey Jr. (Junior) and Frank Thomas (The Big Hurt) are not only two of the greatest players of their era, they are also nice people. It was a rare occasion when I met anyone who uttered even the slightest negative comment about them. They were also very talented, had Junior not suffered those serious injuries, he most likely would also have challenged for the all-time record in career home runs. Thomas has also suffered from severe injuries, and without those problems, he too might have challenged the record.
True heroes and decent men throughout, Junior and The Big Hurt are two men who are true stars of baseball that deserve all the accolades they receive. In this book, they are profiled in a manner in which children can understand and appreciate their accomplishments. I recommend it as joyful reading for all young baseball fans.

This book was a gift from my sister after visiting Wright's Falling Water in Ohiopyle, PA. I've always been interested in some of Wright's work...not so much the architecture, but the detail he put into his work. I'm trying to incorporate some of his Mission-type look into rugs for personal use, and was looking in this book for examples. No close-ups of detail disappointed me, as well as the lack of biographical information and more detail on specific methods used in some of the more well-known homes, as well as impact he had on architecture over-all.

This is a great coffee-table book, and I enjoyed the smallness of the book overall which allowed me to take it to bed to read. Brilliant photographs through the whole book, but I wish they had shown more sides or views of the homes.

Karen Sadler

The content is well done. Where I was quiet surprised was the printing quality of the book. Some letter can hardly be seen.

Thomas' book is an insightful look at the path to spiritual growth and development. He clearly articulates the nature of conflict within congregations (although his model is applicable to any organization) and provides critical thinking about how to address such conflicts in a way that is meaningful and courageous. I found his discussion about people who function as victims and saviors by doing a dance of immaturity to be very provocative. His call for principle-based leadership, while not new, is very refreshing in a congregational context and challenges those of us who have congregations centered around charismatic leadership to abandon our cults of personality.

This book will be most helpful to congregations that have not fully understood or articulated their mission, vision and values. It will provide a very capable framework and guidelines to begin those discussions so that ministry can go forth as a "healing modality" in our broken society.

The author approaches a universal dilema, the future of rural America, in a micro way - focusing on the plight of several small towns in Kansas. His empathy for his subject and his seemingly tireless research humanizes and enlightens. His wonderful photos - and humor lend another happy aspect to an important book on an important problem.

First, the disclaimer: the comments in this review pertain to Volume 1 of this two-volume publication. I haven't read Volume 2 yet. Also, full disclosure: I am a contributor to Volume 1, but I will refrain from commenting on my own chapter ("'Man does as he is when he may do as he wishes': The Perennial Modernity of Free Will").

That being said, Tolkien and Modernity 1 is an interesting and generally well-rounded collection of essays in which the various contributors work to come to terms with the titular subject. Some essays argue that Tolkien is representative, to one degree or another, of modern elements, while other essays say just the opposite. Also, the editors, Thomas Honegger and Frank Weinreich have, as they say in their introduction, taken a "light editorial hand" to the contributions, which really allows the voices of the individual authors to come through (sometimes a little too much, in my view, especially in the cases of authors whose first language is not English). I think this is a laudable approach, and the editors have done a fine job with the collection.

Some comments on specifics essays in the collection ...

Anna Vaninskaya's "Tolkien: A Man of His Time?" offers a generally very good survey of how Tolkien is situated among his contemporaries in the burgeoning development of modernism. I was a little surprised to see the omission of James Joyce in the discussion (though Vaninskaya's comments about George Orwell are quite insightful -- and there is a chapter in Volume 2, by one of the book's editors, that discusses Joyce), but one simply can't cover everything in a single chapter. The essay also takes the less common approach of examining Tolkien through "analogues rather than sources", with generally very solid results.

Maria Raffaella Benvenuto's essay "Against Stereotype: Éowyn and Lúthien as 20th-Century Women" isn't particularly ground-breaking -- we feel as if we've heard this argument before, with its inevitable nod to Freud -- but it is well argued and worth reading nonetheless.

Like the preceding chapter, Laura Michel's "Politically Incorrect: Tolkien, Women, and Feminism" covers a lot of already well-paved ground, discussing the charge of sexism all too often made against Tolkien. The chapter is made stronger by Michel's discussion of the lesser known tale of Aldarion and Erendis ("Unfinished Tales"), but for my taste, it would have been stronger still without the section on the Peter Jackson film adaptation, which struck me as more or less irrelevant to the central question.

Shifting gears, the next essay in the collection is Bertrand Alliot's "J.R.R. Tolkien: A Simplicity Between the 'Truly Earthy' and the 'Absolutely Modern'". Here we have a rather ambitious, if generally somewhat vague, argument -- but one that, in the end, fails to convince. I would raise objections, in fact, as to the validity of some of Alliot's assumptions (upon which premises he bases much of his argument) -- for instance, that the "ancient way of being-in-the-world" was substantially 'simpler' than in Tolkien's day. This, of course, depends entirely on what one means by 'simplicity'.

Jessica Burke & Anthony Burdge's chapter, "The Maker's Will ... Fulfilled?", poses many an interesting question, and generally answers them all, or suggests directions for further inquiry. I think that, for my own taste, they relied a little too often on very lengthy block quotations -- I would have rather heard more from *them*. But the essay tackles the complexities of sub-creation effectively -- though, once again, I could have done without the asides on the film adaptation.

Finishing up, I would observe that the quality of the physical book itself could have been better. It was produced by a Print On Demand shop, and it rather looks it. The blinding white paper is somewhat difficult on the eyes, and the font choices left room for improvement. The cover could have used an illustration of some sort (although all the Walking Tree titles look like this), or at least, some color. Also, the index (a welcome inclusion) could have been more attractive; it looks rather like something dashed off with a Microsoft Word macro (and it may well have been). Still, much better to have an index than not to, and from my spot-checking, it appears to be accurate -- the most important quality in any index.

In the end, I feel this is definitely a volume worth putting on your bookshelf, even if it may not be the most attractive one there. The cover is, or should be, the least important quality in any book, and it's really the contents that count.

This book has a great amount of wisdom within it's pages. It really unveils the Serenity prayer from a Christian viewpoint. Each devotional focuses on one of the key words in the Serenity Prayer (God, Grant, Serenity, Accept, etc) and has a discussion topic around that word. The words are cycled throughout the year. Why is this book out of print - I don't know!?!?!

PS- The only negative point is a lack of a good subject index.

Solid collection of good short stories pertaining to the (mostly 20th century) American West. I bought it thinking it was a ghost encounters type of book, not realizing it was short stories. But am pleased with it still.

Best was "Maggie Blue Eyes"... something that you would expect from Larry McMurty. Also good was Custer's Ghost.

If you are thinking of buying this book because you like Peretti's other books, DON'T. It sounds nothing like Peretti. I thought the writing was, to use another reviewer's word, dreadful. The story made no sense. The characters were unlikable and unreal. The Christianity tacked on at the end was likewise unreal. It sounded like my favorite type of book, a supernatural Christian thriller, but it is one of the worst books I have ever read.

This book is a great one!!! It was my first book by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti. It was full of action, suspense, and adventure that kept me glued to the book the whole time I was reading it. I especially enjoyed the ending of the book! I TOTALLY reccomend this book for Ted Dekker or Frank Peretti fans!!!

There are times when I find myself reading a book, and thinking to myself, "What kind of movie would this make?". I experienced this throughout much of "House," and I must say, as a movie, this book would be almost unfilmable.

The book itself, in many instances, is almost unreadable. It has a decent-enough (if very cliched) setup, taking us to a secluded house run by a trio of Texas Chainsaw rejects, where two couples have arrived after running into pre-calculated car trouble. Next thing you know, a sinister man shows up with a set of rules for a twisted game of killing, the couples go running through a labyrinthian basement, people fight, shoot guns, etc.

The primary pothole that plagues "House" is its frenetic pacing and rotation of various plot threads. The amount of storylines and characters the authors juggle becomes problematic; the absurd nature of the plot itself only adds to the book's many issues. The characters themselves range from shallow to self-centered, leaving very little for readers to connect with. It's not for a lack of effort on the part of the authors; they seem intent to describe every single internal detail of these characters' thoughts, so much that it becomes a burden to the pacing of the story.

In addition to an ending that deserves a better story, but has been done before and far better, everything about "House" stinks of wasted potential. With a few less characters and less preposterous plot twists, this could have been a very involving read.

I have tried to read a few of Mr. Perettis books and just don't get them. His books go directly against Phillipians which tells us to think on those things which are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. I couldn't get past the second chapter, it repulsed me. If you are a Christian, don't waste your money or time. Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind!

This book has left me really irritated. About halfway through, I thought it was the greatest mystery/horror story ever. Great characters, imagery, compelling story, etc... Then the authors started all this religious craziness disguised as a metaphor. First, the victimized characters in the book are not evil and the idea that they are and are responsible for "creating" this situation is just stupid. And when they started yelling, "Son of Man, Son of Man, Have Mercy on me, blah, blah, blah.." I was just so disappointed because I felt like a truly brilliant novel was obliterated by the authors' need to turn it into a morality tale. Great writers tell stories. Sermons are for preachers. Going into this, I had never read "Christian Fiction," a term I thought was redundant. If you are religious, you'll probably like this, but why bother? There is plenty of great fiction in the Bible.