Stone Books

This beautiful volume of elegant photography can be viewed on several levels; a book of art, a fresh exploration into a society that continues to amaze, or - importantly - a tribute to perhaps the cornerstone to the cradle of civilization. A fantastic book which will need a coffee table of its own for years to come.

BEAUTIFULL , Simple , Fine work.

Thank You your works Herve Champollion

I, being an avid Egyptophile, own dozens of illustrated volumes on the subject of Egyptian art and architecture. But this book, Egypt, Stones of Light, is truly the best among them. Never before has the sublime and elegant stone of Egypt been displayed in such a gorgeous format, in their natural light. Diane Sarofim Harle's scholarly captions are very insightful and accurate, and compliment the images greatly. Everything about this book, the captions, the elegant photography, the accompanying text and descriptions, even the index, is done with great care and perfection. I cannot think of one negative comment that could possibly made about this wonderful volume. I particularly like how the photographer, Herve Champollion, tends to zoom in to charming and breathtaking details of the statues and reliefs, rather than taking generic photos of the whole work of art as most photographers do. Also the photographs showing the symbology of the columns and statues are quite exquisite. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys beautiful ancient art and astounding architecture. Bravo! Flipping through the dark, glossy pages of this volume, one can easily get lost, dreaming of Egypt.

Richard Exley's first-person accounts of these Bible characters are extremely creative. The reader is given great insight into what it must have been like to encounter Jesus Christ face to face. As I read this book, I was transported to the first century and experienced the emotions and feelings of these people, some of whom would have remained rather obscure because the Bible doesn't tell us much about them. But Encounters with Christ brings them to life in fascinating detail. I highly recommend this book.

Sometimes in life, I feel like I am losing touch with the love of God. Not that I doubt, I just forget. The first chapter alone washed away that stale feeling, and brought a renewed understanding of God, Abba, Father. You must read this book.

I always disliked history until an excellent teacher made the people seem real and brought the past events to life in ways that allowed me to relate to them. This is what Richard Exley does in his book, "Encounters with Christ". The Bible stories that you have heard and read hundreds of times are viewed from a new perspective; one that is more heartfelt and open. I found myself reading this book through in one setting, then going back to read it again more slowly. There are little nuggets of gold that continue to jump out at me. This is a wonderful book and would be a meaningful gift for anyone who struggles to relate to the God of love.

A nice insightful look into the life of a working class umarried mother of the late victorian period who copes with her misfortune of falling in with the WRONG PERSON and struggles to rise from the situation towards her self redemption. Everyone can identify with this main character.

It is cold and unsentimental. Very Victorian in its writing and very very real in its view. Absolutely unflinching in its view.

I got this novel to give me insights into the period. I found more than I was looking for and am very very well pleased as will anybody who cares to sit down and read this delightful novel.

Good look for the student of history interested in Victorian England. A joy for anyone interested in the life of women. And a very good moral novel that anyone will enjoy reading.

George Moore was an Irish landowner who received his indoctrination into the world of art and literature in France. His encounter there with the realist movement led to the first three truly realistic (defined as against the prevailing moralism and/or melodrama of Victorian fiction) novels in English literature proper: A Modern Lover, A Mummer's Wife and Esther Waters.

Of the three, Esther Waters is the most fully developed and it is certainly the most engaging for a modern reader. In it, a woman has a child out of wedlock, and not only survives (through a variety of trials that are dispassionately but unflinchingly depicted) but in a manner of speaking prospers (Compare this for example with Elizabeth Gaskell's *Ruth*, written some 40+ years earlier).

A great read. An important milestone in the transition from moralism to realism in English fiction. An Irish writer who played an important role in the Irish literary renaissance in the early years of the 19th century.

Well worth the read.

An unsentimental (nearly unemotional) survey of poverty’s crushing dehumanization. Born impoverished, the title character is nonetheless raised with a carefully defined sense of morality and self-respect. This is wrung out of her over years of economic exploitation and casual sadism by the moneyed class. By the end of the novel she’s accepting the most degrading misfortune as almost a birthright.

The Victorian writing requires careful reading. The paragraph where Esther has premarital sex is so opaque that it’s uncertain what exactly happened until later when the pregnancy is revealed. And certainly the word ‘pregnancy’ isn’t used (“Yes Ma’am, I’m 7 months gone”).

Finally a pet peeve about phonetically spelling dialects. Reading dialogue like " ‘e went ‘ome to see ‘is wife, but she locked ‘im out o’ the ‘ouse. " gets mighty tiresome.

In photographs and words, Lucy Zeh captures the often beautiful monuments and sometimes the very simple graves of Thoroughbreds, some who are immortal & others who have been forgotten with the passage of many years.

There should be a special link between the breeder/owner of the racers who give so much in the oftentimes difficult life at the track. How the champions - and a runner did not have to be a graded stakes winner for the accolade - are treated in death speaks volumes about their handlers.

Etched In Stone reminds each reader that the Thoroughbred should be treated well in life and with dignity at death.

I just got my copy of Etched In Stone and thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful book. It is not the slightest bit morbid but rather a fond look back at those equines who have made an impact on racing. Seeing the graves and reading about (for many) forgotten Thoroughbreds brings these long-ago champions back to life. I hope to some day be able to visit these memorials myself. This is a must have book for the racing or horse fan!

This book, paying tribute to some of our nation's greatest athletes, has been long awaited and greatly overdue! Thoroughbreds, especially those from Kentucky (the horse capitol of the nation) have always been admired by all and this book only makes their legends live on more vivedly. With it's pictures and stories of the headstones and the great athletes that lie beneath, the author takes a vivid look at these magnificent beasts. I cannot wait to explore the graves highlighted!

There are some books which stay with you after long you are done reading them and Shono's "Evening Clouds" is one of them. With haiku-like prose, and an almost Zen like approach, Shono narrates the day to day happenings in the life of Oura, a guy who moves to a new house on the top of a hill with his wife and 3 kids. The beauty of the book lies in the fact that while nothing really "happens", the reader can really connect with the family and feel life's rhythms in the written word.
This book is meant to be read slowly and savored without rush and haste.
Also, somehow after reading the book I felt that it gave me the same vibes as "My neighbor Totoro" by Miyazaki. I think that is because both are about families moving to a new house set among trees, wind and babbling brooks. And because both touch you in the same way, with the warm fuzzy feeling that I cannot begin to describe.

This is one of the most uneventful novels I've ever read. No drama, no storyline per se, no extraordinary characters, no deep symbolism to speak of, and devoid both of extreme emotional impact and pseudo-sophisticated postmodern detachment. Sounds boring, right? Wrong, strange to say. "Evening Clouds" consists of a number of loosely-related episodes that focus on the little day-to-day happenings in the life of a fairly ordinary family (okay, the father is a self-employed writer, so not exactly representative per se) narrated in a manner that, while straightforward and deceptively plain, is quiet, thoughtful, and engaging. At first the episodes and images seem random and disorganized, though with a little attention one catches on that most of them in some way or another suggest the family's transplantation to a new location and its gradual maturation there. Shono unfolds this theme according to organic rather than strictly linear organizing principles, and does so with an eye for detail and a knack for making the quotidian suggestive in a warm-hearted though unsentimental fashion, all of which slowly grows on the reader. It is almost as if Shono has taken the old abandoned prewar "I-novel" with its autobiographical fixation and confessional tone, subtracted out the weak points and hackneyed aspects (such as the impulse to drag oneself through the dirt), and refined it anew into a concoction of his own that actually is a joy to read and savor.

Lammers' translation is top-notch, catching the casual tones of the novel nicely, and the secondary materials he has appended to the work are short and to the point, doing a fine job of introducing this fine author and his novel to the English reader without impeding the novel from speaking for itself.

Evening Clouds is an incredible book that should be read slowly. This is not the kind of book to stay up all night with; the tranquility and closeness of the Oura family should be enjoyed over a week or two. Once reconciled to the idea that nothing "exciting" is going to happen, the reader can sit back and savor the beauty that may or may not exist in his own life. A person leading a particularly stressful existence would benefit from a few weeks mentally on top of a windy mountain in Tokyo with a loving wife, three adorable children and ample time to work in the garden. The only threats to peace are that developers are encroaching on the surrounding hillside and the children are growing up; this hint of sadness in an otherwise happy novel makes it a perfect reading experience.

A superb collection of readings about how new religious movements predict TEOTWAWKI (The end of the world as we know it) and how they recover from the inevitable failed prophecy.

A fascinating and well-researched work about failed prophecies and millennialism. Includes psychological and sociological perspectives. Excellent!

A fascinating and well-researched work about failed prophecies and millennialism. Includes psychological and sociological perspectives. Excellent!

I read a lot of books (compared to people I know) ... probably 4 or so a month. This is one of the few that continues to stick out in my memory. I am still looking to read more by this author.

It is an excellent read! Very fascinating! A good romance as well as a thriller!

And on a final note, it helped open my mind to the middle east culture that as an American I don't really understand.

John Briley has certainly outdone himself with this suspense novel which is so timely. I was on the edge of my seat at all times while reading this book in record time: One day without stopping! He used an artist's pallette and paintbrush rather than a typewriter to paint the scenery. He certainly did a lot of research in this project. It surpasses his screenplay for "Gandhi" and will make for a great movie. A most timely novel, I recommend it to all readers of good books

The First Stone is a brilliantly written suspensful novel focued on a young man and woman who are devoted and dedicated to their cultural, religious, political and romantic belief systems. Together they bond and together they deceive, and continually they grow to learn the differences between the American and Arab world. Are they ever able to accept the reality of each other as their lives become exposed? Once you begin, you won't be able to put this novel down. The First Stone is not easily found in bookstores and if you are able to get your hands on a copy through Amazon DO IT!

Debbie Blue's latest book is both intellectual and personal, down to earth and yet also extremely deep. Debbie is a pastor at House of Mercy and "emerging" church in the Twin Cities. This book is not so much a linear argument, but rather a series of examples of how to read the Bible as a living document that confounds our idolatrous systems of doctrines and easy answers. In fact, I get the impression that the chapters in this book could have been written as sermons for her church, in that each one of them not only stands alone, but the each also take a particular text of scripture and reflect on how it confounds our expectations about God and tears down the idols of our day to day lives.

If there is any overarching theme of the book it is idolatry, which as Debbie defines it, is pretty much anything that we use to tame life, control the uncertainty of existence, and bring stability to the chaos. Blue shows us how even our many religious conceptions about the Bible and the God of the Bible are themselves idols if we use them to try to contain and control and tame God. She seems to be advocating that faith that is more about simply living in the wildness and mystery and confusion of life, than about trying to use faith to bring stability and certainty to life. This is a message that is at the same time both liberating and frightening. Liberating in that I don't have to try to explain away all the messiness anymore, or make excuses for God. But frightening too, in that I like my idols: my revolutionary ideals, my hope in what I think is God's plan for the future (both personally and globally), my picture of who Jesus is and what he was about. And Debbie herself shares many of these ideals. And yet at the same time she is relentless about mocking and smashing even her own idols.

In their place she recommends only love, but not in a sappy, generic, overused way. Rather she presents love as itself an almost undefinable mystery that confounds our attempts to idolize it. Love as unconditional acceptance even to the point of undermining our sense of justice (think Jesus with the tax collectors). In so doing she opens up the Bible in new ways, asks new questions, forces us to sympathize with characters (the Pharisees for instance) that we were comfortable relegating to the idolatrous category of "villain".

This is a way of reading scripture that I am slowly learning - to read it not as a source of mere ideas or ideals, but as a living conversation, whose point is to tear down my conceptual idols, not build them up. People will often hold up the contradictions and difficult parts of the Bible as evidence of its worthlessness as scripture - if God's will isn't clearly spelled out in black and white, what good is it? But according to Blue, those difficulties and contradictions may be the whole point. What if God's main concern is not to give us a book that will answer all our questions and bring us stability in a chaotic world, but rather, is to give us a book that will shake us up, that will leave us with more questions than when we started, so that we will be forced to wrestle through them and search together in community for how to live with love in this crazy, messy, chaotic world? What if the point of the Bible is not information, but transformation? What if it's supposed to be not propositional, but provocative? What if it is in itself a challenge to idolatrous faith, including idolatrous Bible-based faith? Blue's book does a good job of demonstrating how the Bible is exactly that.

The author has obviously been plotting this book for many years. She worries that many Christians see the Bible as an idol rather than as a testament to the living God. In other words they worship the Bible not the living God. The Bible as she thinks about it is a testament to a the living God not an idol.

She will come to this point over and over from different directions. It's like she's not going to give up until we get it. She also takes several key scripture passages and chews them up and finds some good stuff!

Her writing is very good and will get your attenion - her style is earthy,gutzy and maybe a little "in your face". She draws illustrations from her life as a pastor, a writer, a mother and a wife many of them pretty funny! I particlarly liked her pointing out that it's easy to think you love and idol in her case Bob Dylan (briefly) because you don't know them. Read this book you'll love it

While the title to this review might be a bit sarcastic, I suggest that anyone who has grown up in traditional Evangelical circles give this book an open and fair try.

Debbie Blue's second book, From Stone to Living Word: Letting the Bible Live Again, is a work that has been years in the making. Anybody who follows Blue's sermons at the House of Mercy will recognize that she has pieced together many of the ideas, phrases and in some cases, entire messages to form this book. For those of you that think this is a problem... think again.

While the ideas that Blue presents are far from new, it is refreshing to see that somebody is willing to come forward and write a book that hardly recognizes itself for being "trendy" or "revolutionary". She covers a variety of topics that we have taken for granted, and by presenting new views of these subjects, she forces the reader to grapple with their own beliefs.

"From Stone to Living Word" reads a lot like a segment or interview on NPR. It isn't flashy, but it doesn't need to be. It conveys its message in an engaging manner, but still manages to draw the reader in with lush, full language. Amidst best lives that can be lived now and irresistible revolutions, it is a shame that this book isn't receiving more attention. Unfortunately, the very reason that the book is so good--the thorough treatment of the ideas and the lack of flare--might be the reason that many people are turned off by it.

I would definitely suggest this book to anyone with a desire to critically think past simple solutions and "radical" gimmicks; Blue indulges neither.

This book is excellent for revealing what is going on in the mind of a child who has learning issues. It's not just behavior (although it is always present, but never an excuse to associate as the cause for learning problems),there are valid medical tests that prove such. We are seeing more and more of these children with learning difficulities and we best be prepared with resource materials and an instructor who knows how to work with these children. Thanks Shari for sharing your life with us.

FROM STUMBLING BLOCKS TO STEPPING STONES by Shari Rusch Furnstahl was an
excellent well written book to give hope to young people and their parents who might be suffering from dyslexia, etc....and know that
you do not need to be discouraged...With determination you can succeed
and do well in life....This is a true story (and I personally know the
author)...

This author is authentic and the REAL DEAL, I was there. But what she did not know was that I was also ,and still am a medically 'special needs' individual whose life was made more brave by being a part of hers. This is a MUST READ handbook for any family with a child with 'less visible' or learning disabilities.

You know what? My daughter, 23 months, LOVES this book. Gargoyle (or rather, "ga-goyle") has become one of her favorite words. She asks for this book by name frequently, and excitedly points out gargoyles she sees on local buildings in Chicago. This is a pleasant change of pace from the usual childhood fare.

"Gargoyles: Monsters in Stone" is a fine educational book by young readers. Jennifer Dussling's text is accompanied by Peter Church's charming full-color illustrations. Together, these collaborators explain the story behind the stone gargoyles that can be seen high up on many buildings.

The book explains the practical function of the gargoyles (to drain water from buildings). The book also explains how a stone carver creates a gargoyle, and illustrates various types of gargoyles. The illustrations are particularly pleasing, as are the Celtic-looking design borders that are used on the pages. A must-have for kids with an interest in the topic.

Children will walk away from this easy reader with a wealth of knowledge about gargoyles! The illustrations complement the rich and accessible text by giving a medieval feel! A great read aloud! A great independent read!