Abby Wahl
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
From Amazon:
"Ernest Hemingway said, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn". One hundred years after its author’s death, this classic remains remarkably modern and poignantly relevant. In this brand new edition, Elijah Wood reads Huck in a youthful voice that may be the closest interpretation to Twain’s original intent. His performance captures the excitement and confusion of adolescence and adventure. Best of all, the immediacy of Wood’s energetic reading sweeps listeners up and makes them feel as though they’re along for the ride, as Huck and Jim push their raft toward freedom."
More info →Hallowed Be This House: Finding Signs of Heaven in Your Home
Thomas Howard shows us that every room of your house--the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, and even the bathroom--is a holy place where God's grace awaits you, if only you know how to recognize His presence there. With a rich awareness of God's all-encompassing love, Howard takes you on a spiritual tour through your own home and shows you how everything in it can lead you closer to God.In each room, Howard shows you the surprising ways you can meet God there. With wonderful insights, he reveals how, even in your daily activities you can meet the same God who came to Israel in the terror, smoke and fire in the Tabernacle, and the God who died for us on Cross. But they're by no means confined to a lofty spiritual plane: Howard sees chances to love and serve God, and sees His gentle hand, in the most seemingly dull and ordinary of places and actions.So take up this book to find out how cooking and cleaning, having family dinners together, and all the other commonplace actions that make up the fabric of your daily life can actually disclose God's presence to you. Your daily life as well as your devotional life will be forever transformed by this unusual look at how lovingly God awaits us even in the smallest things.
More info →King Lear
King Lear is considered one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. King Lear decides to step down and divide his kingdom between his three daughters. When his youngest and favorite daughter refuses to compete and perform her love for him, he is enraged and disowns her. She remains loyal to him, however, though he slides into madness and his other children betray him.
More info →The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade
From Amazon:
"In her earlier work, The History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer wrote of the rise of kingship based on might. But in the years between the fourth and twelfth centuries, rulers had to find new justification for their power, and they turned to divine truth or grace to justify political and military action. Right began to replace might as the engine of empire.
Not just Christianity and Islam but also the religions of the Persians, the Germans, and the Mayas were pressed into the service of the state. Even Buddhism and Confucianism became tools for nation building. This phenomenon―stretching from the Americas all the way to Japan―changed religion, but it also changed the state.
The History of the Medieval World is a true world history, linking the great conflicts of Europe to the titanic struggles for power in India and Asia. In its pages, El Cid and Guanggaeto, Julian the Apostate and the Brilliant Emperor, Charles the Hammer and Krum the Bulgarian stand side by side. From the schism between Rome and Constantinople to the rise of the Song Dynasty, from the mission of Muhammad to the crowning of Charlemagne, from the sacred wars of India to the establishment of the Knights Templar, this erudite book tells the fascinating, often violent story of kings, generals, and the peoples they ruled."
More info →Kristin Lavransdatter
In her great historical epic Kristin Lavransdatter, set in fourteenth-century Norway, Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset tells the life story of one passionate and headstrong woman. Painting a richly detailed backdrop, Undset immerses readers in the day-to-day life, social conventions, and political and religious undercurrents of the period. Now in one volume, Tiina Nunnally’s award-winning definitive translation brings this remarkable work to life with clarity and lyrical beauty.
As a young girl, Kristin is deeply devoted to her father, a kind and courageous man. But when as a student in a convent school she meets the charming and impetuous Erlend Nikulaussøn, she defies her parents in pursuit of her own desires. Her saga continues through her marriage to Erlend, their tumultuous life together raising seven sons as Erlend seeks to strengthen his political influence, and finally their estrangement as the world around them tumbles into uncertainty.
With its captivating heroine and emotional potency, Kristin Lavransdatter is the masterwork of Norway’s most beloved author—one of the twentieth century’s most prodigious and engaged literary minds—and, in Nunnally’s exquisite translation, a story that continues to enthrall.
King Richard II
This richly annotated edition takes a fresh look at the first part of Shakespeare's second tetralogy of history plays, showing how it relates to the other plays in the sequence. Forker places the play in its political context, discussing its relation to competing theories of monarchy, looking at how it faced censorship because of possible comparisons between Richard II and Elizabeth I, and how Bolingbroke's rebellion could be compared to the Essex rising of the time. This edition also reconsiders Shakespeare's use of sources, asking why he chose to emphasise one approach over another. Forker also looks at the play's rich afterlife, and the many interpretations that actors and directors have taken. Finally, the edition looks closely at the aesthetic relationship between language, character, structure and political import.
More info →Painting As a Pastime
The perfect antidote to his 'Black Dog', a depression that blighted his working life, Churchill took to painting with gusto. Picking up a paintbrush for the first time at the age of forty, Winston Churchill found in painting a passion that was to remain his constant companion. This glorious essay exudes his compulsion for a hobby that allowed him peace during his dark days, and richly rewarded a nation with a treasure trove of work.
More info →The Abolition of Man
From Amazon: "In the classic The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis, the most important Christian writer of the 20th century, sets out to persuade his audience of the importance and relevance of universal values such as courage and honor in contemporary society. Both astonishing and prophetic, The Abolition of Man is one of the most debated of Lewis's extraordinary works. National Review chose it as number seven on their 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Twentieth Century."
More info →On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (The Wingfeather Saga)
Janner Igiby, his brother, Tink, and their disabled sister, Leeli, are gifted children as all children are, loved well by a noble mother and ex-pirate grandfather. But they will need all their gifts and all that they love to survive the evil pursuit of the venomous Fangs of Dang, who have crossed the dark sea to rule the land with malice. The Igibys hold the secret to the lost legend and jewels of good King Wingfeather of the Shining Isle of Anniera.
Full of characters rich in heart, smarts, and courage, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness is a tale children of all ages will cherish, families can read aloud, and readers' groups are sure to enjoy discussing for its many layers of meaning.
More info →A New Natural Philosophy: Recovering a Natural Science and Christian Pedagogy
Aristotle said that philosophy (the love of wisdom) always begins in wonder―wonder that often is kindled as we gaze upon the astonishing world around us. Yet today our science classes too often neglect the wonder evoked by the natural world and instead occlude and stifle it. How, then, can our science classes reconnect wonder to nature, wonder that will lead to wisdom, work, and worship? This book seeks to answer that question by helping recover the “natural” in natural science, the wisdom in “philosophy,” and the worship that flows from wonder.
Applying C. S. Lewis’s vision of “a new Natural Philosophy” and the deep insights of Christian thought to the understanding and pedagogy of natural science, the authors suggest a new paradigm that reveals God’s hand and purposes in the foundations and methods of science and allows students to see its sources, ideas, and conflicts more clearly. This book addresses a holistic curriculum, an incarnational pedagogy, and an interdisciplinary approach to teaching natural science in K–12 classrooms. It describes how three teachers have effectively implemented these ideas at two different schools. The authors share lessons for teachers on subjects ranging from gardening to biology to physics and for age ranges from pre-K to high school or even early college. Addressing big-picture discussions as well as supplying practical items, such as lesson plans, curriculum outlines, and book lists, this book will both challenge and reward those who have wondered how to think more deeply about Christian faith and natural science.
More info →The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase
From classic poetry to pop lyrics, from Charles Dickens to Dolly Parton, even from Jesus to James Bond, Mark Forsyth explains the secrets that make a phrase—such as “O Captain! My Captain!” or “To be or not to be”—memorable.
More info →The Last of the Mohicans
It is 1757. Across north-eastern America the armies of Britain and France struggle for ascendancy. Their conflict, however, overlays older struggles between nations of native Americans for possession of the same lands and between the native peoples and white colonisers. Through these layers of conflict Cooper threads a thrilling narrative, in which Cora and Alice Munro, daughters of a British commander on the front line of the colonial war, attempt to join their father. Thwarted by Magua, the sinister 'Indian runner', they find help in the person of Hawk-eye, the white woodsman, and his companions, the Mohican Chingachgook and Uncas, his son, the last of his tribe.
Cooper's novel is full of vivid incident- pursuits through wild terrain, skirmishes, treachery and brutality- but reflects also on the interaction between the colonists and the native peoples. Through the character of Hawkeye, Cooper raises lasting questions about the practises of the American frontier and the eclipse of the indigenous cultures.