Book Description
Jessica Ronky Haddad
Style Weekly
Transports readers directly to the wild and forgotten mountains of North Carolina and to the secret, hopeful places in a young man?s heart.
From the author of Gap Creek?the international bestseller and winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award for fiction?comes the gripping story of two brothers struggling against each other and the confines of their 1920s Appalachian Mountain world. Muir and Moody Powell are as different as Jacob and Esau. Muir is an innocent, shy young man with big dreams and not the slightest idea of what to do about them. Moody, the older, wilder brother, takes to moonshine and gambling and turns his anger on his brother. Through it all, their mother, Ginny, tries to steer them right, while dealing with her own losses: her husband, her youth, and the fiery sense of God that had once ordered her world. When Muir discovers his purpose in life, the consequences are far-reaching and irrevocable: a community threatens to tear itself apart and his family is forever changed.
This Rock is the most ambitious and accomplished novel yet from an author whose sentences ?at their finest . . . burn with the raw, lonesome pathos of Hank Williams?s best songs? (The New York Times Book Review).
?Homespun pleasure.? ?Nelson Taylor, Providence Journal
?Hell-bent and excellent . . . I can?t shake the first scene. . . . resonant . . .
moving.? ?Katherine Whittemore, The New York Times Book Review
?Morgan?s prose is sharp and saturated with details . . . [imbued] . . . with a sort of lyrical sheen . . . both moving and spiritual.? ?Michael Paulson, Bookpage
Robert Morgan, the author of the award-winning novel Gap Creek, is a native of the North Carolina mountains, where he was raised on land settled by his Welsh ancestors.
Customer Reviews:
Morgan Revives 1920s Appalachia.......2005-02-17
I knowed this be a gud book (English teachers cringing, the bad American English and spelling is intentional). Robert Morgan, author of the bestseller "Gap Creek," transports us to a 1920s Appalachian Mountain town in "This Rock."
The story takes place over a three-year period and focuses on the polar-opposite Powell brothers, Muir and Moody. Muir is ambitious and quiet. Moody is an appropriately named, unstable character that runs moonshine and gambles.
Morgan uses the perspective of Muir and Ginny Powell, the brothers' widowed mother, to narrate the brothers' conflicts. Remarkable details are laid out for the reader to behold and enjoy like gems. Morgan paints the beautiful landscape of the mountains, a feast for the mind's eye. The drama echoes stronger due to Morgan's inclusion of mountain dialect. It's as if the author time-traveled to the locale and used the Edison gramophone to record the hillbilly speech.
The story builds nicely as Muir's decision to build a church atop the mountain has ripple effects throughout the community, most notably his brother Moody. "This Rock" is a page-turner illustrating the common and difficult aspects of 1920s Appalachia life. In fact, I bet after you've reached the last page, the cool morning dew will be lingering on your hands.
Bohdan Kot
Sequel??.......2004-06-12
I really enjoy Robert Morgan's work. But I read The Truest Pleasure first. I was very disappointed that they skipped over a lot in this second book. Don't read this if you haven't read either book...
When did Jewel die? This really bothered me. Also when did U.G. become Muir and Moody's cousin- Florrie's son, did she adopt U.G. when he was older? This is the only thing that would make sense since U.G. was older than Muir. The last we knew, Ginny was the only one who had children, at least according to the first book. There was a huge gap in between books, that didn't explain enough. However, I did like how they brought the characters from Gap Creek into this book. Hank and his wife and Annie their daughter who now Muir likes... but it didn't really finish their story (Muir and Annie).
A hard life in the outback of the South........2004-01-27
This fascinating story is my introduction to Robert Morgan, a New York Times Bestseller, writer of six earlier novels, lots and lots of poetry and even a textbook on poetry.
The first half follows the disparity between the two young brothers, so different and yet so much alike, and all the despair of growing up poor in the 1920's.
Mainly, though, it is the account of the younger, Muir who breaks out of the farmlife of rural North Carolina. "For once in my life, I was going to do what I wanted, what I had to do."
On his trek northward, he drives his model T through the Cumberland Gap from Tennessee to Kentucky and ponders on the Civil War battle there where his Confederate grandfather died. He uses poetry to describe his feelings of "driving through history to the future."
However, he's not sophisticated enough to endure the harshness of the weather and the Northerners. He is the son with the conscience, so he returns the car and takes the train on another adventure. A year after his experiences on the Tar River, he sets out to work on his major project, which turned into a memorial for his brother Moody. A mountaintop feels closer to Heaven, just as I felt the first time I went to Oneida, TN.
Morgan is poetical in his descriptions of the wonders along the way, but I wish he knew grammar a little better. He is a good storyteller and teaches life's lessons well. This volume is worth reading, even if you do cry at the ending.
Takes you to the mountains.......2003-11-13
As you read this book you will be transported to the mountains. The vivid descriptions and colloquial dialogue caused me to care about the characters and their outcomes. I also love the way Morgan switches perspective. Some chapters are from the point of view of Muir. He is one of two brothers and the "Abel" character in a kind of Cain and Abel allegory. Moody is the "Cain" character, but the book doesn't exactly parallel the bible story. Other chapters are from the point of view of their mother, Ginny. I really felt for Muir and wanted him to succeed. One even begins to root for Moody toward the end. The last chapter concluded and tied together the many journeys the reader takes with the various characters in a poignant and satisfying way. The EPILOGUE, however, ends with a strange twist that was a downer for me. That's why I only gave 4 stars. I was hoping for a different ending, and a little confused by what Morgan wrote on the last few pages. Perhaps what makes it good fiction is that I'm still thinking about it. Our church is using this for a churchwide Book Club. There are many life lessons here concerning work ethic, confidence, being true to yourself and your family, and finding your true calling.
vivid and poignant tale......................2003-07-17
Robert Morgan recreates the tough life of the 1920's in the Carolina mountains. This is a tale of two brothers searching for the meaning and purpose in their lives. One brother Muir tries many different things, from preaching, to hunting, to building. Moody the older brother appears to be a callous, uncaring young man with a penchant for alcohol and trouble. Their mother attempts to let them lead their own lives but the clashes that are the result are heartbreaking for her. This is a great story of family and faith. Robert Morgan delivers the unique dialogue that breathes life into this tale of a poor mountain family. A delightful surprise is the appearance the main characters from his novel Gap Creek, which brings the feeling of familiarity to the story for those who have had the pleasure of reading that novel. Robert Morgan is a gifted Southern writer who spins a vivid and poignant narration of life for Ginny and her sons, Moody and Muir.
Book Description
It's different "over there." Everybody east of Washington, Oregon, and California knows it. But defining the West Coast as "not like the East Coast" leaves way too much of the story untold. No, far better to turn to Adrian Raeside's This Is Your First Rock Garden, Isn't It?, perhaps one of the most informative-and certainly funniest-explanations to ever depict the westernmost portion of our country.
Raeside represents the perfect comic commentator on what makes "Other Coasters" tick. He was born a Kiwi, lived in England, and now resides in British Columbia-close enough for a good view without having to get mixed up in the muddle that passes for the West Coast lifestyle and its many subcultures. Instead, the cartoonist accurately sheds light and humor on residents who put their own unique spin on everything from cars and coffee to extreme sports and the latest out-there technology.
This Is Your First Rock Garden, Isn't it?, Raeside's second Other Coast collection, captures all the quirks and comical traits that give these occasionally odd occupants their confidence, panache, and ability to ignore the rest of the country. Eccentric, fashionable, political, hysterical-This Is Your First Rock Garden, Isn't It? has it all.
Customer Reviews:
Relax and Laugh.......2006-11-07
Toulouse is flawed as we all are, but his flaws seem to be so much funnier than mine. Take a few minutes out of your day to relax and enjoy someone else's troubles. You'll feel better for it. We all need to relax and laugh more. Life is short........like Toulouse
Average customer rating:
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Upon This Rock: A Novel of Simon Peter
Frank G. Slaughter
Manufacturer: Arrow (A Division of Random House Group)
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0091115000 |
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The Savage Dragon #3 : Rock This Town (Image Comics)
Erik Larsen
Manufacturer: Image Comics
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: B000T6MDVY |
Customer Reviews:
The One True Master.......2007-06-01
Jack Finney is simply amazing. His short stories are poignant, prophetic, intelligent, and scary. He accomplishes all this in sometimes only a handful of pages. "I'm Scared" is still to this day more unnerving than most horror films. I still get goose-bumps reading it and pondering the reality of that small story.
Every story is great, yet each seems better than the last. The simple fact is that the more often you re-read them the more depth they tend to have.
I find his stories to be some of the most important sci-fi I have ever read. He is indispensable to any fan of the genre. he is also a must read for anyone who longs for the past.
TIME TRAVEL BY A MASTER.......2006-06-26
Jack Finney is one of the great writers of time travel stories. His stories were used often on "Twilight Zone" (the original)series. His style of writing is very easy to read but has so much depth and life to them. One story in the book is about some unusual citizens who have "modern" inventions that baffle their new neighbors. A lot of the stories have characters that hunger for more "nostalgic" times and remain wistful in nature. I highly recommend this book.
Fun stories.......2006-01-30
The story stories are fun and sometimes cute, it is a relaxing book to read.
A collection of clever stories.......2003-08-23
The twelve stories in this collection by the author of Invasion of the Body Snatchers were originally published in 1957 and 1962. The stories are similar to Finney's classic novel Time and Again--in which the book's protagonist travels back to late 19th-century New York--both because nearly all of them have to do with time travel ("Lunch-Hour Magic" and "Home Alone" are exceptions) and because many of the characters express their dissatisfaction with the modern world and wish to escape from it. Usually this flight from modernity is to be achieved by time travel, but it can also take the form of interplanetary migration ("Of Missing Persons") or balloon flight ("Home Alone").
Time travel in these stories is achieved almost effortlessly, when the "thousand invisible chains" that keep us in the present--modern coins and manufactured items, apartment buildings--are, for a moment, loosed. If there's nothing on you that wouldn't belong in the world fifty or sixty or seventy years ago, and if you're in a place that hasn't been altered much in all that time, and if you're in the right frame of mind, you can slip into the past, easy as can be. Just so, the car-obsessed college student of Finney's "Second Chance," while driving along an old highway in his restored Jordan Playboy, finds himself sharing the road with Model T's. His brief presence in the past has the effect of altering history in a way that will influence his own future.
Al and his wife Nell of Finney's "Such Intersting Neighbors" find the Hellenbeks, who have just moved into their California neighborhood, strange but pleasant. Ted Hellenbek is an inventor, an intelligent guy who was born and raised in the U.S., and yet he fumbles with his money, unable to count it out himself, when he has to pay the driver of his cab upon his arrival in town. Alfred Pullen buys a paper with a 1958 Wilson dime in "The Coin Collector" and finds himself at once in an alternative universe where such coins exist--and where he has married a different woman. In "Where the Cluetts Are" an architect helps a couple build a house following blueprints that belonged to his grandfather. The house, with its peaked roof and many gables, is an anachronism, and it has a curious effect on its inhabitants. In "Lunch-Hour Magic" an advertising agency employee buys a pair of glasses that allow him to see through women's clothes:
"I kept the glasses on nearly all afternoon, wandering around the office with a sheaf of papers in my hand, and strangely it was Mrs. Humphrey, our middle-aged overweight bookkeeper, that I stared at longest. Last year, I knew, she'd celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of her marriage to her husband, Harvey. But there, unmistakably, tattooed on her left hip, was a four-inch high red heart inside which, in a slanted blue script, was inscribed Ralph, and I wondered if she'd had the fearsome job of hiding it from Harvey for a quarter of a century."
Finney writes well--that "fearsome job" is quite good--and his stories are clever. If they are not quite as well done as his novels, this collection nevertheless makes a pleasant and easy read.
Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece
Quiet, nice stories . . . and that's okay sometimes.......2003-06-10
Finney is sort of the Clifford Simak of time travel, as best expressed in his classic novel, _Time and Again_. The shorter pieces in this volume originally appeared in _The Third Level_ and _I Love Galesburg in the Springtime,_ and have been reprinted many times elsewhere, as well, but they're still perfect reading for that warm summer Sunday afternoon in the hammock. The "furniture" in these stories -- the social commentary, the cultural backdrop of the 1950s -- may seem rather dated, but all of them share a wistfulness that transcends the period in which they were written. In "The Coin Collector" (also published as "The Woodrow Wilson Dime"), a man finds an odd bit of coinage in his pocket change, an artifact of a closely parallel world, in which he married a different girl and took a different job, and in which Mark Twain wrote another Huck Finn novel. He finds it all very exciting -- for a while. "Of Missing Persons" is about the opportunity to *really* get away from it all, and how to blow your only chance. "The Third Level" is about being able to catch a train back into a quieter, happier past. One definitely gets the impression that Finney would rather have been anywhere else than the mid-20th century -- a feeling most of us probably share from time to time, but we forget that the "Good Old Days" never really happened. So these stories might be considered naive -- but still, they're very pleasant reading.
Book Description
Whether your cycle is regular or random, you prefer chocolate or chips, you break out or stay zit-free, your period is an indelible fact of life....
Finally, a book that forgets "Aunt Flow" and "the curse" and deals with that time of the month head-on. In twelve stirring fictional narratives, celebrated authors including Han Nolan and David Lubar explore with spirit and strength everything from boyfriends buying tampons, to embarrassing encounters in white, to heart-wrenching pregnancy scares. This is a must-have collection for young women everywhere!
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Anthology.......2004-04-12
I may not be the target audience for this book (I'm an adult male, I suspect most of its readers will be adolescent females), but I thought this was a terrific anthology, and a great way to get a discussion started about "that time of month." For girls, it gives some perspective, and for boys (if you could get them to read it), it would go a long way toward demystifying the ways of women (!). I especially liked Dianne Ochiltree's "The Woman's House," and David Lubar's very funny "The Heroic Quest of Douglas McGawain" (a teenage boy goes out to buy tampons for his girlfriend!).
"The Women's House" in Don't Cramp My Style.......2004-03-29
I just read the new book Don't Cramp My Style. The story "The Women's House" in it is awesome! Wow! I cried at the end. I became totally immersed in the story and felt that I was right there observing the young girl and her family. The story involves the behaviors and customs of young Native Americans girls as they reach puberty and begin their first blood. It was written through the eyes of Sparrow Song, a young Native American girl, which made it very realistic and extremely touching.
Female Rites of Passage.......2004-03-09
Of all the possible themes for a collection of short stories, this has to be one of the most unlikely...menstruation. While the topic may appear a bit unseemly, it ultimately works to create a wonderful celebration of womanhood. The book is a series of biological coming-of-age stories; it portrays
menstruation as both celebration and curse, as something welcomed and dreaded. Most of all, it shows that `periods' bond all women across time and culture.
Several stories look at menstruation in a modern vein. Losing It is a wrenching look at losing one's virginity; an antidote to the Hollywood romanticism of the "first time." The Uterus Fairy is a cross-generational look at, well, uteruses. The mother is mourning an impending hysterectomy; her daughter is worrying about a possible pregnancy. The Heroic Quest of Douglas McGawain is one of the few comic tales and the only one told from a male's point of view (this "knight's" quest involves
tampons!)
Several stories look at menstruation from different cultural or historical perspectives. Getting one's period as a noblewoman in pre-revolutionary Russia meant being eligible for marriage to a politically-correct man. Instead, The Czarevna of Muscovy longs to be one of the dancing peasants she spies in the village courtyard; her pining has drastic consequences. Ritual Purity is a fascinating look at the Othrodox Jewish tradition of mikveh (monthly cleansing bath) and a troubled teen who seeks meaning in tradition and family. Moon Time Child is a look at a slave girl's dread of her "moon time" knowing that it will mark her as a "breeder" and mean a further loss of freedom.
Several stories transcend time and place. Sleeping Beauty is a musing on fairytales and menarche. Transfusion is a dramatic story of a mentally-ill woman's blood infusing another woman's life with meaning and strength. In a second powerful story, Maroon, a young girl worships her older, `hipper' cousin only to discover that her "hero" has done the unforgivable: become pregnant out of wedlock.
Some of the stories have violent themes although not graphically portrayed. There is also some adult language and sexual situations --again, not graphic. The very theme of the collection will be off-putting for some, titillating for others. The attractive cover and breezy fly ("Whether your cycle is regular or random, you prefer chocolate or chips, you break out or remain zit-free, you period is an indelible fact of life...") makes this book appear to be light-weight reading. But those who pick it up will be rewarded with uniformly high-quality writing. A great addition to high school collections,
middle school (with caveats) and certainly a women's studies course.
Book Description
Teenagers who have entered this new millennium with visions of what their lives will be like in years to come will be intrigued by these 10 imaginative stories collected and edited by author and editor Donald R. Gallo. Award-winning authors explore a different decade of the 20th century through the eyes of teens with concerns and emotions similar to those of young adults today.
Gallo’s introduction to each piece will give readers a sense of the many technological advances, as well as the political and cultural changes, that came with each new decade and story. How did young adults cope with so much change, so many opportunities? The stories will inspire teenagers as they experience changes in their own daily lives.
From the Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews:
Appropriate for some, not others.......2005-08-28
This collection of short stories offers a nice trip through the last 100 years. As the middle school teacher at a christian school, I have found that some of the material is inappropriate for my classes, as there are references to drug use and a few other issues. I did, however, enjoy the book myself.
Excellent book!.......2003-03-06
This is a superb book I happened to pick up at the library because of its striking cover design.
Each short story is introduced with a short but insightful capsule of what was prominent about that decade, and what was invented in that decade, giving a "feel" of the spirit of each decade. The tone is very appealing -- just the right amount of detail, oriented toward teens. The short stories are very good in themselves -- appealing plots (often with a twist), multidimensional characters, grand themes, and relevant to the lifestyle of the decade. Following each short story is a description of that story's author, attractively describing the author's other works, and inviting further reading.
In light of the previous review, I re-scanned the "60's" and "70's" stories. What profanity there was, was scarce, in context and not worse than I've seen in upper elementary assigned fiction. Regional standards may vary, of course.
The "60's" story is of Benny Woods, a small-town high school football star who is facing a conflict with his coach over his long hair: cut it, or don't play. The stakes are high, as not playing means losing a potential college scholarship. Benny's relationship with his grandmother is a fascinating side story both personally to Benny, and as it relates to the way our society treats seniors.
The "70's" story makes light of drug use, but it's told in the style of an obvious fantasy: the protagonist's parents SO want to be "hip" that they send marijuana brownies and psychedelics to school in their son's lunchbox, while he wants nothing more than to be square.
The only weak and inappropriate story, in my opinion, is the "80's" story. Mathias Rust, of course, was the 19-year-old who flew a Cessna, undetected, into the heart of Russia and landed in the center of Moscow for the cause of peace in 1987. In the "80's" story, his supposed brother, Ingo, comes to the US as an exchange student. Ingo pretends to be Mathias in order to be popular with the girls at an all-night under-age drinking party. The drinking party is portrayed as an inevitable and even beneficial teen activity. The quality of the writing is poor, and the connection with grand themes is missing.
In sum, this is an excellent book, except for the "80's" story!
Captivating Read for Teens.......2000-01-09
I just finished this new collection, and I am pleased with the content. I teach middle school language arts, and I am planning on using this book as the centerpiece of a study about the different decades. Some stories are better than others, but teenagers would love the pace and characters in this book. My only disappointment is the treatment of the sixties and seventies. Along with unnecessary profanity, the stories seem to perpetuate stereotypes about those eras. Because of the language and adult references, I will have to find alternative selections for those time periods. This does not mean that this would not be welcomed leisure reading for modern teens. The questionable content is nothing that they haven't heard at the movies. The introduction and factual information about the decades is a great way to make history come alive. A creative and informative short story collection.
Books:
- Those Bones Are Not My Child: A novel
- Tomato Red
- Turkey--Bright Sun, Strong Tea: On the Road with a Travel Writer
- Watercolor: The Complete Course
- We Shared The Peeled Orange: The Letters of "Papa Louis" from the Thai-Cambodian Border Refugee Camps 1981-1993
- Welcome to Junior's! Remembering Brooklyn With Recipes and Memories from Its Favorite Restaurant
- World Enough and Time: The Life of Andrew Marvell
- Yanomami: The Fierce Controversy and What We Can Learn from It (California Series in Public Anthropology)
- A Just Defense of the Natural Freedom of Slaves: All Slaves Should Be Free (1682) by Epifanio De Moirans, a Critical Edition and Translation of Servi Liberi Seu Naturalis Mancipiorum Libertatis Iusta
- A Painter of Our Time
Books Index
Books Home
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- High Seas Confederate: The Life and Times of John Newland Maffitt
The Truest Pleasure
The Hinterlands: A Mountain Tale in Three Parts
Gap Creek (Oprah book of the month)
Brave Enemies: A Novel of the American Revolution
The Balm of Gilead Tree: New & Selected Stories
