User Profile

Part memoir, part how-to manual for being poor, it shows just how beautifully human and amazing we ALL are, even those that the media and the educational system and the judicial system have taught people with with degrees and jobs (like myself) to mistrust and to disdain. Criminal of Poverty shares the horrors, heartache, and occasional sanity saving humor of life in poverty and one family's journey transcending it. It's a miracle that this book exists. I'd ask high school teachers to consider assigning this to their students.

A harrowing nightmare tale with heart told through the memories of the narrator as he sits by the ocean at the end of the lane near his childhood home. I loved being with the Hempstocks and I recognize them/her from earlier tales and ages. The cosmology is enchanting; I'd enjoy spending more time in this world. At the end, though, the book lifts up notions of worth and being "good enough" that made the story even more meaningful for me ... and perhaps also for you.

What a treasure. A Japanese professor of literature takes compares American Transcendentalism to Zen Buddhism, highlighting the interplay and interchange of ideas across the Pacific.

Fantastic introduction and survey of transcendentalism. Buell's introductions are more than summaries of the various sections, but thoughtful and historical snapshots of the times. This book covers the multifaceted aspects of the transcendentalists, from their take on religion, their own spiritual practices, their attempts at social change, their social activism, and their poetry. This book's a keeper.