Play Groups Books

This book is a reminder that living with the truth is more satisfying, and ultimately more rewarding than trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the innocent, or scracificing one's integrity in order to surpass the competion. Although we hear so much of the shoddy and corrupt in the business world, it is good to know that honest service still thrives and prevails. In this book is the easy list to make this happen in your company.

So nice to find a book that has timeless advice. "Play Nice, Make Money" has some good principles and provides encourgement and support for those who try to stay ethical in a profit-driven world. McKibben is forthright that "some guys will end up last...but the vast majority will not. And even when good guys fail, they will at least be able to look at themselves in the mirror and look their children in the eye." This book, which was published this summer, is a nice companion to "Ethical Ambition" by Derrick Bell. Best of all, McKibben's book includes examples of "The Good Guys that Made the Cut" and stats on professional surveys that prove that good corporate citizenship brings social and economic benefits to everyone.

"The two men eyed each other warily over the white linen tablecloth. A thick report lay on the table between them. Tom Huntington sat on the edge of his chair, leaning slightly forward, both hands palm down. The immaculate cut of his clothes and his posture hinted a military background. His broad, craggy face held the certain assurance of one in command, and his square face was set. Staring at the younger man through steel-grey eyes, he remained silent."

"Tony Angelletti scowled as he looked hard at the report....With a look of determination verging on defiance, he drew a deep breath and said 'I can't do it, Tom. I won't do it. Whatever was said before, whatever you or the others may have thought about my position on this project, I won't go along with it.'"

"Tony Angelletti had no idea what his refusal would bring to his life. What he did know was that the report laying before him held phony data. Southwest Energy Corporation was way out of line on its Greenleaf Project and sponsoring it would be the end of his political career."

"Yet, his 'no' vote as a Public Utility Commissioner would anger not only Tom Huntington, who sat before him, but also the most influential men in the state. Tom had put him in office and could take him out in a heartbeat. But his decision was made, he would not vote to go forward with a utility plant that would overburden the taxpayers of Oklahoma."

With this scene, Jonathan Neff's debut novel sets into motion more trouble than the citizens of Tulsa and Angelletti could ever imagine.

The members of a sinister alliance, formed to push a questionable deal, would stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

When Angelletti realizes he is in over his head, he calls on his longtime friend, Sam Littlehawk, a prominent attorney, for help and protection.

Together they unravel a twisted chain of lies and corruption that could cost them their lives.

Katrina Petrovna, a Russian ballerina who is a friend of both Littlehawk and Angelletti, also is mixed up in the intrigue.

She panics at the arrival of Antoly Karmakov - a brooding, world-class musician who is known and feared in the deadly world of the Russian Mafia.

Kartina asks Tony and Sam to help her escape Karmakov's clutches.

Unknown to these three is that Karmakov and Huntington are in league on the Greenleaf Project.

As this intricate plot races forward, Katrina, Sam and Tony find themselves fugitives, and Sam is framed for attempted murder. Then, into the mix comes a group of Afghan terrorists with agendas all their own.

Readers will recognize many Tulsa landmarks as the story unfolds.

Neff's blend of edge-of-your-seat suspense and credible plot twists serve the story well. The background used for Sam Littlehawk captured my love of Native American history.

Neff has written a courageous tour de force that I highly recommend to all readers.

As I turned the pages faster and faster, I found myself thinking, "This could happen - it really could happen - right here in Tulsa, Oklahoma."

Neff, a world-traveler, lawyer, writer, businessman, entrepreneur, pilot and conservationist, has written one of the most topical and realistic thrillers I've read all year.

Although Neff has lived in New York and California, he makes his home near Tulsa.

Power Play is a suspenseful novel of danger, intrigue, and globe-spanning corruption. When a gutsy public utility commissioner who dares to take a stand against the controversial Greenleaf Project gets in over his head, he turns to his life-long friend and expert lawyer for help and protection. But the two of them are just beginning to scratch the surface of a lethal conspiracy between greedy corporate executives, the Russian Mafia, and Afghani terrorists. Struggling to defend themselves against attacks on their lives, an attempted murder charge, and a sinister plot that endangers thousands of lives - including that of a Russian ballerina desperate to escape the clutches of brooding master musician and Russian Mafia figurehead. An exciting thrill ride, packed with sudden twists and turns to the very end.

Ridiculous Theatre : Scourge of Human Folly : The Essays and Opinions of Charles Ludlam is a true treasure for anyone ridiculous enough to consider a career as an artist. Ludlam, the actor/director/writer/artistic director of the Ridiculous Theatre, knows a lot about creating art and as a result of his experience, has some very strong opinions on the subject. Ludlam writes about what he knows and what he loves -- the theatre. The essays included in this anthology are extremenly insightful and thought-provoking as Ludlam proffers his opinions on every subject from critics to drag to opera (and everything in between). In the end, the reader comes to an understanding of the utter ridiculousness (in a truly wonderful way) of a theatrical life.

Charles Ludlam was, hands down, one of the most brilliant innovators in postmodern theatre. At a time when many radical theatre-types were resting on their laurels (or regurgitating works they created decades earlier), Ludlam and his constant collaborator/companion, Everett Quinton, were experimenting with new forms, keeping things fresh. Unfortunately (or perhaps not), he's been pidgeonholed by theatre historians as working exclusively in gay theatre; in point of fact, though, while his audience was largely "downtown" and therefore predominantly gay, his influence was felt throughout theatre community.

That's not, however, to say he was a benevolent gay genius. On the contrary: secondhand stories about his professional habits and beliefs are enough to curl the toes of even the cruelest tyrant. That, of course, is why this book is SO enjoyable--and important. Part autobiography, part manifesto, it explains Ludlam's ideas about art, life, and theatre in his own words. And while it's certainly polemic at times, it's very enlightening and always entertaining.

Tragic that Meagher will never finish his planned longer work of this type; he died in 2003. Nevertheless, this is a valuable and enlightening approach to Shakespeare's works. Full of terrific insights and revelations, it is of value to anyone interested in a deeper appreciation of the plays. Directors would do well to study and adopt Meagher's method. Though his analysis is necessarily limited to a handful of works, his theories and commentaries shed new light on all the plays and bring out the richest nuances. Should be part of any Shakespeare fan's library. Highly recommended.

Meagher's approach to analyzing seven of Shakespeare's plays (he claims this is the introduction to a larger work he is planning that will examine the entire canon) is a terrific new way of examining Shakespeare. In much the same way as a theatrical director would, Meagher searches the text for clues as to the original performance, explaining many of the inconsistencies and editorial confusions that have abounded since the 17th century. Quite readably, this book examines Shakespeare's treatment of place and time, his approach to his sources, and most interestingly - his use of the common theatrical practice of role-doubling to have fewer actors play many parts. Reading this book with a good facsimile of Shakespeare's First Folio (the first collected works of Shakespeare, published in 1623) is helpful, but not necessary. I highly recommend this to any student or teacher who thinks they understand Shakespeare.

One of the most comprehensive books on the phenomenon of role playing games as they emerged in the 80's, it explores the social psychological implications of playing these games, the personalities attracted to the games and the structure of the games themselves. I used it as a primary reference for my thesis 11 years ago and I believe it is still relevant now, even with the preponderance of computer role playing games. Although, the interactive, cooperative element of sharing fantasy around a tabletop may have faded...the same sharing takes place across continents through cyberspace.

One of the most comprehensive books on the phenomenon of role playing games as they emerged in the 80's, it explores the social psychological implications of playing these games, the personalities attracted to the games and the structure of the games themselves. I used it as a primary reference for my thesis 11 years ago and I believe it is still relevant now, even with the preponderance of computer role playing games. Although, the interactive, cooperative element of sharing fantasy around a tabletop may have faded...the same sharing takes place across continents through cyberspace.

the site is fantastic and i am really found it trust worthy and logically created

Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To thee I send this written embassage,
To witness duty, not to show my wit.
(Sonnet 26.)

How to do justice to the legacy of literary history's greatest mind -- moreover in such a limited review? Forget Goethe's "universal genius" and his rebel contemporary Schiller; forget the 19th century masters; forget contemporary literature: with the possible (!) exception of three Greek gentlemen named Aischylos, Sophocles and Euripides, a certain Frenchman called Poquelin (a/k/a Moliere), and that infamous Irishman Oscar Wilde, there's more wit in a single line of Shakespeare's than in an entire page of most other, even great, authors' works. And I'm not saying this in ignorance of, or in order to slight any other writer: it's precisely my admiration of the world's literary giants, past and present, that makes me appreciate Shakespeare even more -- and that although I'm aware that he repeatedly borrowed from pre-existing material and that even the (sole) authorship of the works published under his name isn't established beyond doubt. For ultimately, the only thing that matters to me is the brilliance of those works themselves; and quite honestly, the mysteries continuing to enshroud his person, to me, only enhance his larger-than-life stature.

The precise dating of Shakespeare's sonnets -- like other poets', a response to the 1591 publication of Sir Philip Sidney's "Astrophil and Stella" -- is an even greater guessing game than that of his plays: although #138 and #144 (slightly modified) appeared in 1599's "Passionate Pilgrim," most were probably circulated privately, and written years before their first -- unauthorized, though still authoritative -- 1609 publication; possibly beginning in 1592-1593.

Format-wise, they adopt the Elizabethan fourteen-line-structure of three quatrains of iambic pentameters expressing a series of increasingly intense ideas, resolved in a closing couplet; with an abab-cdcd-efef-gg rhyme form. (Sole exceptions: #99 -- first quatrain amplified by one line -- #126 -- six couplets & only twelve lines total -- #145 -- written in tetrameter -- and #146 -- omission of the second line's beginning; the subject of a lasting debate.) Their order is thematic rather than chronological, although beyond the fact that the first 126 are addressed to a young man -- maybe the Earl of Pembroke or Southampton, maybe Sir Robert Dudley, the natural son of Queen Elizabeth's "Sweet Robin," the Earl of Leicester -- (the first seventeen, possibly commissioned by the addressee's family, pressing his marriage and production of an heir), and ##127-152 (or 127-133 and 147-152) to an exotic woman of questionable virtues only known as "The Dark Lady," even in that respect much remains unclear; including the nature of Shakespeare's relationship with the two main addressees, regarding which the sonnets' often ambiguous metaphors invoke much speculation. #145 is probably addressed to Shakespeare's wife; the closing couplet plays on her maiden name ("['I hate' from] hate away she threw And saved my life, [saying 'not you']:" "Hathaway -- Anne saved my life"), several others contain puns on the name Will and its double meaning(s) (exactly fourteen in the naughty #135: "Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will;" and seven in the similarly mischievous #136), and the last two draw on the then-popular Cupid theme. Sometimes, placement seems linked to contents, e.g., in #8 (music: an octave has eight notes), #12 and #60 (time: twelve hours to both day and night; sixty minutes to an hour); and in the famous #55, which praises poetry's everlasting power and as whose never-expressly-named subject Shakespeare himself emerges in a comparison with Horace's Ode 3.30 -- in turn written in first person singular and thus, denoting its own author as the builder of its "monument more lasting than bronze" ("Exegi monumentum aere perennius") -- as well as through the number "5"'s optical similarity to the letter "S," making the sonnet's number a shorthand reference for "5hake5peare" or "5hakespeare's 5onnets," echoed by numerous words containing an "S" in the text.

Of indescribable linguistic beauty, elegance and complexity, Shakespeare's sonnets owe their timeless appeal to their supreme compositional values, the universality of their themes, and their keen insights into the human heart and soul; as much as their transcendence of the era's poetic conventions which, following Petrarch, heavily idealized the addressee's qualities: a form new and exciting twohundred years earlier, but encrusted in cliche in the late 1500s. Indeed, Shakespeare's "Dark Lady" Sonnet #130 owes its particular fame to its clever puns on that very style, which went overboard with references to its golden-haired, starry- (beamy-, sparkling, sunny-) eyed, cherry- (strawberry-, vermilion-, coral-) lipped, rosy- (crimson-, purple-, dawn-) cheeked, ivory- (lily-, carnation-, crystal-, silver-, snowy-, swan-white) skinned, pearl-teethed, honey- (nectar-, music-) tongued, goddess-like objects. "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;" the Bard countered, proceeded to describe her breasts as "dun," her hair as "black wires," and her breath as "reek[ing]," and denied her any divine or angelic attributes. "And yet," he concluded: "by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare."

Arguably, Shakespeare's very choice of addressees (a young man -- also the subject of the famously romantic #18: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day;" the first of several sonnets promising his immortalization in poetry -- as well as the "Dark Lady," in turn introduced under the notion "black is beautiful" in #127) itself suggests a break with tradition; and compared to his contemporaries' poetry, even the equally-famous #116's on its face rather conventional praise of love's constancy ("Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments"), echoed in the poet's vow to vanquish time in #123, sounds fairly restrained. But ultimately, Shakespeare's sonnets -- like his entire work -- simply defy categorization. They are, as rival Ben Jonson acknowledged, written "for all time," just as the Bard himself immodestly claimed:

'Gainst death and all oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
(Sonnet 55.)

this book is marvelously written, great story line, Chip Hilton is a great character and a role model, he is kind and giving and he doesn't let be a sports hero and fantastic go to his head. Great book for any sports fan. Definatly worth the money.

mavrlously written, great story line, Chip is kind and helping, and being a star never goes to his head

This book, a compilation of many short works, is truly one of Kushner's gems. And though, certainly, none of these pieces attains the truly unique, Kushnerian glory of "Angels" (but Good God, does *anything*?) they are most definitely not to be put aside too hastily.

His essays are enlightening, witty and thought-provoking, reminiscent of his drama. And though there are a few that I, admittedly, skip over periodically, most of them are fun, if slightly heavy, short reads.

"Slavs!" is not one of Kushner's best plays, but I must recommend spending some time with it. Like "Angels" and "Bright Room" (and indeed, everything he writes or says), "Slavs!" is dense with political theory, history and humanity. And while it may seem forgettable at first glance (and even second... I acted in it a few months ago, and trust me, it takes a few readings to truly appreciate it) it proves its worth.

Now I come to my favorite parts of the book: Kushner's poems. "An Epithalimion" holds a place (in my mind, at least) among his best writings. This poem is absolutely *alive* with imagery, both visual and emotional. To risk sounding like the cheesiest person ever, reading it just makes me happy; I can't recommend it highly enough. "Second Month of Mourning," too, is beautiful, but in exactly the opposite way: it's truly heart-breaking.

Kushner's prayer that concludes the compilation is one of my favorite pieces ever, ever. It thrills me to read it. It, like all the other works in this book, fits Kushner's mold perfectly: it is joyful and heart-breaking, political and scientific, historical and philosophical. It is the perfect end to this collection.

I have recommended this book to all of my friends, whether or not they are fans of Kushner (though everyone should be a fan of Kushner), and do the same to you. Buy it, read it, love it.

Kushner (perhaps the greatest poetic/playwright genius of our time) has assembled some of his more marginal works (though few of his works actually are marginal) and some of his most brilliant in this collection of "essays, a play, two poems and a prayer." having read all of his plays, including his Tony Award Winning "Angels in America" two part masterpiece, i have to say that SLAVS, while it present a brilliant message, isnt the best of his works. Sometimes, also, these essays can be repetitive. however, some are brilliant, spiced with new meaning and metaphor, different ways of viewing the evils of capitalism and our society. They concern sex and life (as one? as a duality?), love, politics and food. (can we live without any of the above. the answer is never presented, but it must be a resounding no). best of all is Kushner's prayer, at the end of the book, which was delivered on the national prayer for aids day. full of anger and grace, compliance and vengence, this prayer eloquently asks and reasks the questions within all of us, directly to "God." this book provides one of the most provocative and brilliant commentaries that i have seen in recent years.

This book is awesome. It basically gives you a game/song/activity that's appropriate for infants & toddlers on each page. It gives a scripture verse that's referenced in the game and ways to make the game work for kids above or below the game's intended level. It gives a list of needed supplies (usually nothing, although occasionally there's an item or two needed to play a game) and it also gives tidbits about child development along the way.

This is a GREAT resource for those who recognize that even the youngest infants can be introduced to scripture and God's love while realizing that an elaborate, over-done program is likely wasted energy for kids so young. You could totally play the games in this book during church services straight through and (since kids grow up and move on to the next class), start all over again with the new group! Gentle, fun, faithful guide for telling babies about God!

I had a hard time finding good books for our Christian Center. We have children ages 6 weeks through age 5 and this was a big help in our toddlers and 2's program...Lots of good ideas and helpful pointers...

Lisa Kron tells of her childhood and expresses her feeling in a way that will also touch your heart. She brought back many bitter-sweet memories for me and I am very excited about her work.