Passion The Books

The Passion-Seven Last Words by John T. Standifer is a small book, fifty pages, and can be read quickly. It is too rich in meaning to quickly pass through. This little book would make an excellent resource for personal study or a Small Group study.

Last words are important and most Christians are familiar with the seven last words of Jesus Christ as he was dying on the cross. Standifer examines each of the last words as recorded in the Gospels and analyzes the meaning for Jesus' contemporaries. He adds greater depth by examining their history, going back to creation and God's meaning for humanity. Step by step he leads the reader to recognize that we are the cause of separation. Through our choice we have brought harm to ourselves, our neighbors and to God's creation.

Through the last words we are led to see that as we recognize our predicament and ask forgiveness, we have an absolute guarantee that God will save us.

This is one of those books that you will want to read again and again. It would make a nice "hostess gift" or a gift for someone who enjoys the study of Scripture.

This translation of a classic of French literature captures in a hundred pages the essence of French Cuisine. Chapter 4 gets to the heart of what August Escoffier once said, "The simple foods are the best." If this book doesn't make you want to drop everything and visit France, nothing will.

If I was stranded on a deserted island and somehow was given the choice of three books that I could have with me, I think I would pick the Bible, "The Complete Plays of Shakespeare" and "The Collected Short Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer". This collection is an excellent example of the quality and diversity of Singer's talent. There are stories from the present and from the past all containing marvelous characters that amuze, intrigue, and/or mystify the reader. Among the best are "The Admirer", "Sabbath in Portugal", "Three Encounters", "The Adventure", and "Passios". "The Admirer" is a tale about a meeting with a fan of his that turns into a comical nightmare. "Sabbath in Portugal" is a tale of a lonely visit to an alien country where the author encounters a faith that survived the inquisition and an encounter with someone he thought was lost forever. "Three Encounters" is the tale of a young man's innocent suggestion to a young bride and the sucessive corruption that results. "The Adventure" tells of an unusual request and the challenge of if and how to respond. Finally, "Passions" tells of the ability of a simple man to overcome the impossible with the proper amount of focussed passion. All the stories are worth reading. The world's greatest short story writer has produced another example of why he is so revered.

Holmes makes a paradoxical defense of a simple argument, that freedom requires rules, for instance, a constitution is not a straitjacket but the double yellow lines that keep traffic flowing. But what is the alternative? The only thinkable alternative is anarchy, and surely no one would defend that. Conservatives often attack the desiccation of substantive democracy by procedural democracy, but according to Holmes procedural democracy is the grease on the skids of substantive democracy. But if the only alternative to Holmes arguement is the formlose Formende of Schmittian soccer-stadium democracy, then he makes a trivial argument to discredit a non-sensical one. He seems to find endless fascination in the paradox of a freedom engendered by rules and the paradoxes of self-binding, but more interesting and paradoxical is the fact that rules often take on a life of their own and encumber the very freedom they were instituted to safeguard, like the alarm clock which rings on Saturday morning. The argument is a stalking horse because he is not defending procedural democracy, which no one would attack (who loves the constitution more than conservatives?), but rather the regulatory and welfare state, which is not bound by rules but in fact conceals bureaucratic authoritarianism under the guise of democratic proceduralism.

"Passions and Impressions" brings together more than 100 short prose writings by the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. The collection has been edited by Matilde Neruda and Miguel Otero Silva. The pieces have been translated from Spanish into a wonderfully inviting English by Margaret Sayers Peden.

These essays and prose poems cover many topics: Chilean politics, history, and geography; the work of other creative minds, such as poet Walt Whitman, sculptor Alberto Sanchez, and painter Nemesio Antunez; and the art of poetry itself. Many of the selections are important historical documents of Neruda's own political struggles in Chile. Also included is his 1971 Nobel address, "Poetry Shall Not Have Sung in Vain."

I was particularly interested in Neruda's words of praise for other Latin American writers, such as Gabriela Mistral, the "magical" Julio Cortazar, and the "extraordinary" Mario Vargas Llosa. I was moved by his reflection on the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. And I was delighted by such personal memories as a feast of onion dishes on the island of Capri, or an emotional poetry reading in Temuco. There are also moments of humor, such as a priceless anecdote about Federico Garcia Lorca (in the essay "Latorre, Prado, and My Own Shadow").

In the essay "It Is Worthwhile to Have Lived, Because I Have Love" (included in this volume), Neruda declares, "Poetry will water the fields and give bread to the hungry." The writings of Pablo Neruda, both poetry and prose, have been both bread and water to the souls of people all over the world. His expansive vision truly embraced what he called the "universal struggle" of all women and men. He is an enduring poet/prophet, and "Passions and Impressions" is a magnificent testament.

Isaac Singer is a genius. You wonder what does a Yiddish collection of short stories lose in the translation? These are wonderful stories with vivid characterizations, lush imagery, and plots rich with emotion and imagination. My favorite is Passions: a meditation on how man becomes obsessed with something--to the extent of transforming one's life--anything can become a passion. I've read this collection probably four times over the years, and the mark of a great story is how rich and complex it remains upon a second or third reading.

I am inspired by the book Passions and Tears vol 1.It's amazing how someone with all obsacles surrounding them like being in the center of a pit of snakes, watching each one attempting to take a bite at you yet you remain un bitten.
I love how the author explains the real emotion of the story. He describes the story where you feel as if you were right there, experiencing the same heart ache,violent, confused, misunderstood misheaps of life that we all face in similar ways. I recommand this book to anyone, like James Russell Ward we,ve all been in the center of the pit with snakes attempting to take a bite of us. The objective is to get out,without losing our selves in the process.Thanks to this book I have a clear understanding on how to tame the snakes!

Sincerely,

SKW

Dallas, TX

Of course, I am bias, because I have known Nannette since I was 12. Amazing and wonderful works. Congratulations!

Osherson is a sensitive storyteller with a realistic account of both the rewarding and the more awkward moments of fatherhood. As a daugther searching to learn more about my own's father's memories of our togetherness, Osherson has inspired me to believe that these precious moments meant as much to him as to me

From back cover:

"In this extraordinary celebration of the erotic and its myriad forms of expression, Dr. Stuart Sovatsky introduces us to a Tantric form of celibay that is both passionate and spiritual. He explains how periods of celibacy can enhance our awareness of the erotic impulse and discusses some of the reasons that one might choose to be celibate for a time -- including the need to redirect sexual energy toward friendship, deepen a life partnership, heal the emotional scars of sexual abuse, devote full energy to an important project, take a break from contraceptives, practice safe sex, or explore the relationship between spirituality and sexuality.

Exercises based on yoga, kundalini, and chakra meditation -- along with a chapter on fertility cycles and conscious conception -- make this a practical guide to the power of celibacy, whether you are exploring on your own, with a partner, as a teener, or even as a family. Far from the stereotype of repressive sexual abstinence, Tantric celibacy moves beyond conventional sexuality, liberating and transforming our relationships while deepening and expanding the experience of Eros."