Barton Books

I got this book for a literature class. It has a great collection of stories but was very hard to get around. The lack of orginization made it difficult to enjoy.

This book has some great poetry in it as well as some really good plays and short stories. I definitely reccomend it as a good addition to any bookshelf.

The book is like most other literature books, this one was meant more for college. Containing mainly poems, plays, and short stories written by some well known writers that some of you could probably feel familiar with more or less. The book mainly delievers what it is about and therefore its satisfactory. The book also talks about the author such as dates and the other books in their collection of written material. However, I was hoping there would be more than simply this, like going in depth and explaining the literature. Finding written work is easy, finding a review that explains it when needed is a lot harder. But I guess with this, they can't really ask us many of the questions there. Maybe they should have an answer key.

I didnt really understand the connection made in this book. Whitman wrote about Lincoln, apparently only met him briefly twice so the writing by that poet was always from a distance. I thought this book was going to be more of the connect made between the two men in their lifetimes and it didnt show that.

Barton is an excellent biographer and this is a unique exploration between a poet and a president. Rich with detail, it is a real treat for any junkie of American history.

Read this, and you can save the price of this book: sometimes Irish actors played stereotypical Irish characters when they made movies in Britain or America. And sometimes they didn't. That's the astonishing revelation that's stretched into a book, which includes profiles of George Brent and Maureen O'Sullivan (who happened to be Irish but always played Brits or Americans). There's also a survey of the career of Pierce Brosnan, who sometimes plays Irishmen but--according to the author--plays them badly. However, if you're interested in reading a book ostensibly about Irish identity that manages to incorporate every trendy theory in cinema studies (feminist and racial identity, semiotics, the "male voyeuristic gaze," etc.) this may be just the ticket. I myself was feeling pretty disappointed that the author (a professor at University College, Dublin) hadn't found an excuse to use the word "synecdoche" in the book, but then it appeared on the very last page! This alone should be enough to get her tenure... .

I thought this book was excellent. It gives you the background of each Irish actor and how they were treated by the studios because of their ethnic heritage. The book discusses the changes from the "early" days to now and the "games" played by the studios. I recommend this book for anyone interested in becoming an actor or anyone of Irish descent.

Four romantic stories come together in "The Bouquet," a novel of love begun at a wedding celebration where the bride accidentally tosses her bouquet into the ceiling fan where it is chopped into four pieces and thrown to exactly the people who need it most.

****"Flowers By Felicity" is Janet Lee Barton's tale of the florist who created the notorious bouquet. David, the bride's brother, was photographing the event for the local paper. Now he has published the photos that may damage Felicity's business. Will he be able to make it up to his sister's friend? Especially since he is learning to love her.

***Diann Hunt's "Petals of Promise" finds Konni, a widow who is afraid to lose love again, holding a few petals from the demolished bouquet. She literally runs into Rick, a new man in town, who is a confirmed bachelor. He refuses to wed because he thinks he will be a terrible husband due to the lack of a positive role model in his life. Can these two get over their past hurts and find romance with each other?

***"Rose In Bloom" is Sandra Petit's story of Rose, the caterer friend of the bride who made the wedding cake and the best man, Lucas, the one who (through a comical circumstance) wound up smashing the cake and dislocating Rose's shoulder. He's ready for a relationship, but she's trying to start her business. Can love and forgiveness take root in this charming tale?

****"Flowers for a Friend" by Gail Stattler tells of the flowers that landed on Geoff's head. He innocently gives them to a little girl he knows - how can that cause romantic entanglements he doesn't want? But Jenni has a big sister, Clarissa. Will their relationship grow? Or will they deny what they both feel for each other?

It's always been my belief that whoever catches the wedding bouquet is the next to be married. Not necessarily so. Here it symbolizes a hope that love will sail into the life of the person catching it. At Abby's wedding, her nosegay bouquet gets thrown up into the ceiling fan and is torn apart into four pieces. They sail far across the throng of husband-hungry women guests and the four chosen by fate to have a piece don't exactly believe in love for themselves, only others. Love is the last thing they are looking or wishing for; but, who knows where the spirling numbers will fly or where they will land.

Into each life, love of some form does happen. It may not be the love of your life or the person you could love with all your heart. Oftimes we have to settle for second best and feel angry and unfulfilled for the rest of our lives. Sometimes, if fate is good, we will find the real love again before we die, but not usually. Konnie was a broken hearted widow who had vowed never to love again. After all, love hurts; and when you lose a loved one by death, it is twice fold. She didn't think she could ever go through that again. But fate steps in, and magic occurs.

Geoff is embarrassed when a piece of the bouquet lands in his hand and he quickly gives it to an admiring little girl. After all, he is the handsomest man at the wedding which is not his, and all glances are his way because of his good looks and charming ways. The girl who is too small to have a crush on the nice man hands it to her big sister who has loved him from afar for a long time. He has to acquiese since, after all, he did give the magic to her on a platter.

Rosie had baked the wedding cake and a clumsy groomsman, not Geoff, had crushed it to her despair. It did not damper the love and good wishes in the group of well-wishers for the now wedded couple. She now has a chance at love, which has eluded her for so long. She was standing in the right place at the right time. Lucky Rosie.

Felicity, on the other hand, is the florist who had designed the bouquet of gardenias, babies breath, and white roses and dismayed to see it torn apart and flown to the wind, so to speak. She is love-worn, watching others get married and she is never the lovely bride. Is it true that all brides are beautiful? That's what I was told by Christine when she married my son Geoff. Felicity finds that she indeed has a chance at love, at last.

Is it true that God can use fragmented flowers to plant seeds of love in 'fallow' hearts? I have a shirt with the words "Come Grow With Me" with a blue watering can and tulips with daises. Another says, "Grow Where You Are Planted." God has a plan for all of us, not to be alone and disspirited by a live without love. We may not always get the one we love the most, but please don't just love the one you're with. That is self-defeating.

This combined book used FLOWERS BY FELICITY by Janet Lee Barton, FLOWERS FOR A FRIEND by Gail Sattler, PETALS OF PROMISE by Diann Hunt, and ROSE IN BLOOM by Sandra Petit -- all combined to make this unusual love story about an unlikely occurrence at any wedding. Wish it had happened at mine; I had only one person to throw my gardenia to, the bridesmaid, as I had a small wedding. I lost touch with Colleen, so I don't know whether it worked or not as I had moved far away to Troy, Alabama, for a year after June 4, only to return 40 years later to a strange homeland where no one knows me. I met a woman on the bus who moved away to Queens, New York, to return and have the same fate -- no one knows or cares about the young you anymore. It's as if you were in an alien land, and not your hometown.

Fate plays tricks on all of us, whether we want it to or not. I was sure I would find my first love when I returned. He had other plans -- never to return, and it simply broke my heart.

I was seduced by the title and wanted to know more. It seemed just the right book -- short, to get me acquainted with the author. I'd never read anything by Steiner before and was always curious.

This brings me to my experiences with the Lyndon Larouche's literature peddled away by enthusiastic young people at the corner of my local library. The pamphlets they hand out, for a modest "donation", always bear catchy titles that arouse my interest. And so it is that I eventually sucombed to the overwhelming urge to know what great mystery could be uncovered within the pages of those briefs exposes.

So, what does all this have to do with Steiner's "How do I find the Christ?" Well, for one, as for Larouche's brochures, I couldn't find anywhere in the text the answer to the question on the cover. And for two, after reading a few pages of both Steiner and Larouche, I found myself wondering if I was the only one who couldn't make absolutely any sense whatsoever of what they were saying. My Larouche's booklet ended up in the recycling bin. As for the little book by Rudolph Steiner, I returned it to Amazon for a refund.

In order to understand Steiner, it is necessary to connect with yourself and the world around you on a deeper level. One cannot simply skim read or even read with ordinary logic.
That is not to say that Steiner does not rely on logic when writing. However, the purpose of his writing seems more to awaken than convince or to create something like an academic treatise. The language itself, it seems to me, is designed to connect you with higher faculties within yourself. If you wish to learn more about Steiner's ideas in an academic sense, it is better to read something by an intellectual who wrote about Steiner and who summarized his ideas in a concise manner. Steiner didn't express himself within the constraints of conventional Western language, but often evokes his ideas in a more circular manner before getting to the point. I personally found that approach extemely powerful after getting used to it.
Steiner is not for everyone, but I found Steiner's ideas to be extremely insightful. Truly powerful works like this one can affect us on more than one level. Not only intellectually, but it seems that something like spiritual acupuncture is at work. That the mind opens up to facets of itself which were previously dormant.
What I found particularly insightful was how Steiner succeeded adding a new spiritual dimension to what many people are aware of only on a political or sociological level. That not only are political agendas at work, but behind them much deeper spiritual aims. As for myself, this book helped me to reconcile my spiritual ideals with material necessities. It also helped me to place in a more European spiritual and philosophical framework siimlar conscepts I had encountered in an Eastern context such as yin yang balance.

Written in a tight, well paced manner, which should keep young readers enthralled. Matsen does a nice job of keeping the dramatic turn of events moving while adding interesting factual aspects. No - not every detail is included - but I don't think its necessary to get too bogged down in all the facts in a book for this age level. The main intention is to galvanize a young reader's imagination and I think Matsen had done this admirably. I also appreciate his including the female scientists' achievements in the follow-up section for young girls who might be interested and inspired by the subject matter. A fine book for young readers.

This is a juvenile work which allegedly deals with the underwater explorations of William Beebe and Otis Barton. Of the thirty-nine pages of text, however, almost a quarter relates to post-bathysphere explorations. This includes not only the exploits of the Picards and the Trieste (at pp. 36-40), but also accounts of Cindy Lee Van Dover and Sylvia Earle (at pp. 34-35). The latter two are included under the rationale that Beebe and Barton inspired them, but there seems little doubt that their sex played a major role in their appearance here, as neither is stated to have been involved in a record-setting deep sea dive. Perhaps another clue to this grab-bag approach is the publisher website's statement that the series is aimed to appeal to "reluctant readers" (see http://www.enslow.com/catalogue.asp?Exact=true&SeriesID=135 (visited Oct. 19, 2004)), but the lack of focus is shown in the dearth of background given by Matsen for both Beebe and Barton (at p. 7), and the fact that Barton's subsequent explorations of the depths are not considered.

"Aquanaut" does not mean "deep water voyager" as stated at page seven, but merely refers to someone who travels in the water. Similarly, while round-offs are allowable in metric computations, 4.5 feet is given both as 1.4 m (at p. 9) and as 1.5 m (at p. 24). Some of the Fun Facts (at p. 25) could have been made more interesting; Matsen does not note, for instance, that the bait used to attract fish was a live lobster who survived the descent, or that Otis Barton was involved in filming Titans of the Deep. We are not told who broke the Beebe-Barton descent record in 1948 (at p. 28), while the Challenger Deep is said to be named "after a famous British ship" (at 38-39), with no reference to the vessel's importance for oceanographic exploration.

Books which are listed in the chapter notes do not appear in Further Reading, nor is Barton's book listed in either section. Finally, while the ephemeral nature of internet websites is noted (at p. 2), the site reference for Chapter 5, fn. 2 pulls up a useless screen.

If you are beginnig to play fallout or are stuck somewere in the game it's the book for you. On the other hand, I bought this book because I had conquered every level in the game and I wanted to see if there was something else that I hadn't come by in Fallout, unfortunatly there wasn't so I was quite dissapointed in that and also they talked about fancy weapons you can have but they don't tell you where they are. I still enjoyed reading about the best game on the computer right now even though it was a little too official and not very oppiniated.

I thought that the book was organized nicely, the fact that there was three levels of information given for each area helped you get the hint you needed without getting too much information and spoiling some of the fun. The first section lists all the areas and important people to talk to, the second gives you hints as to what you should be trying to accomplish in that area, and the last section gives detailed instructions. There are also sections on enemies and equiptment. I thought that they needed to add more detail when giving the most detailed hints though. Lines like "If your speech skill is high enough..." Why not just say that you need a 45 in speech? My main problem though, was simply inaccuracy. About five times a main point is incorrect, such as needing to go to junktown for a SMG or a disarming key being on the Lt. in the Glow. In summation, good design, most of the info you need, but some irritating inaccuracy. By: Travis Blinkenberg

I've been teaching Erdrich's fiction for a few years, and often have wished I could check my own sense of genealogy and character relationships. This guide does a good job of that, though it was published before THE LAST REPORT was published; we need an update to include that and subsequent works.

In an attempt to "solve" readers' problems, Beidler and Barton have simplified the structure of Louise Erdrich's interlocking series of narratives (Tracks, Bingo Palace, Tales of Burning Love, Love Medicine)-- almost to a fault. In a painstaking but somehow wrong-headed exercise, they have straightened out the intricate and mysterious convolutions of Native American ancestry in these novels and recharted them as Western pedigrees. With similar de-mystifying intent, they have dogged each major and minor character through the entire series of novels and then collected every scrap of information in all the books under single headings bearing that chracter's name. While the authors should be complimented on their tenacity, the linear vision that permeates their "guide" is likely to send readers of Erdrich and other Native American storytellers in the wrong direction. This reductive study obscures rather than illuminates the magical power of Erdrich's asynchornous narrative fragments that loop and twist out of the reach of clock time into the realm of spirit.

Using case studies, current events, and surveys from ministers, the authors identify the questions, issues, joys, and dangers related to pastors' sexuality and their professional role. A very clearly written book that helps frame the questions and point us toward the answers. Key points include (1) the power differential between pastor and congregant, which makes consent usually impossible; and (2) the cultural background that supports sexism, relationship addictions, and heterosexism and makes this more than simply a question of the pastor's personal responsibility. An excellent and interesting read.

Don't be fooled by the title that includes the word "Parish." This book looks at sexual issues from a secular / liberal perspective. The writer uses no theological or biblical basis for her conclusions. If you are looking for a standard liberal book on sexual issues in the work place base (and the work place just happens to be the church), this is your book. If you are looking for a deeper theological perspective, this is not your book.

There really was good bits to this book. Unfortunately, her accusation against Bible translators as being male and therefore biased against passages that dealt with women seemed terribly harsh if not arrogant. The basic line of reason goes as follows: "All Bible translators are bigots and have gotten this passage wrong. 'Authority' in the this Biblical passage really doesn't mean 'authority'in the greek." What does it mean? Hubcap?

I loved this book so much that after I read a borrowed copy, I decided to buy my own. I meet with a group of female graduate students and we were all feeling frustrated by the constraints that we felt were being put upon our spiritual callings in the church and in the larger world. Fortunately, one of the women had read this book and lent it to me. Ruth Haley Barton does a great job of staying true to Scripture and in doing so, helping women stay true to themselves rather than standards that are set by others. There are chapters about sex and marriage, but also about vocation and other things that aren't usually found in Christian women's literature. She is a true scholar, but very readable at the same time. This was the perfect balance for me and I hope that it is for others as well.