Rantings of an Insomniac : or I Wish Jesus Hadn't Said That

Rantings of an Insomniac : or I Wish Jesus Hadn't Said That

Author: Stephen H. Smith M.D.

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2009-05-19

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 1462802567

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Book summary Rantings Of An Insomniac was meant to be a lever that would take your chair and tip it back to the point where it almost tips over but not quite. Its cautiously dangerous at examining our persistent flawed thinking as a culture that inevitably ends with two wheels mired in the mud. And we keep doing it over and over. How absolutely entertaining can one era be? It started with my personal experience with the events in the spring of 2008 that involved the FLDS in El Dorado, Texas and went from there. Its quite possible that if too many people in my hometown read this, my family and I will have to pack up and leave.


I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die

I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die

Author: Sarah J. Robinson

Publisher: WaterBrook

Published: 2021-05-11

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0593193539

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A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.


Doomed

Doomed

Author: Chuck Palahniuk

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2013-10-08

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 0385533152

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Madison Spencer, the liveliest and snarkiest dead girl in the universe, continues the afterlife adventure begun in Chuck Palahniuk’s bestseller Damned. Just as that novel brought us a brilliant Hell that only he could imagine, Doomed is a dark and twisted apocalyptic vision from this provocative storyteller. The bestselling Damned chronicled Madison’s journey across the unspeakable (and really gross) landscape of the afterlife to confront the Devil himself. But her story isn’t over yet. In a series of electronic dispatches from the Great Beyond, Doomed describes the ultimate showdown between Good and Evil. After a Halloween ritual gone awry, Madison finds herself trapped in Purgatory—or, as mortals like you and I know it, Earth. She can see and hear every detail of the world she left behind, yet she’s invisible to everyone who’s still alive. Not only do people look right through her, they walk right through her as well. The upside is that, no longer subject to physical limitations, she can pass through doors and walls. Her first stop is her parents’ luxurious apartment, where she encounters the ghost of her long-deceased grandmother. For Madison, the encounter triggers memories of the awful summer she spent upstate with Nana Minnie and her grandfather, Papadaddy. As she revisits the painful truth of what transpired over those months (including a disturbing and finally fatal meeting in a rest stop’s fetid men’s room, in which . . . well, never mind), her saga of eternal damnation takes on a new and sinister meaning. Satan has had Madison in his sights from the very beginning: through her and her narcissistic celebrity parents, he plans to engineer an era of eternal damnation. For everyone. Once again, our unconventional but plucky heroine must face her fears and gather her wits for the battle of a lifetime. Dante Alighieri, watch your back; Chuck Palahniuk is gaining on you.


Hating God

Hating God

Author: Bernard Schweizer

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2010-11-04

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0199781346

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While atheists such as Richard Dawkins have now become public figures, there is another and perhaps darker strain of religious rebellion that has remained out of sight--people who hate God. In this revealing book, Bernard Schweizer looks at men and women who do not question God's existence, but deny that He is merciful, competent, or good. Sifting through a wide range of literary and historical works, Schweizer finds that people hate God for a variety of reasons. Some are motivated by social injustice, human suffering, or natural catastrophes that God does not prevent. Some blame God for their personal tragedies. Schweizer concludes that, despite their blasphemous thoughts, these people tend to be creative and moral individuals, and include such literary lights as Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, Zora Neale Hurston, Rebecca West, Elie Wiesel, and Philip Pullman. Schweizer shows that literature is a fertile ground for God haters. Many authors, who dare not voice their negative attitude to God openly, turn to fiction to give vent to it. Indeed, Schweizer provides many new and startling readings of literary masterpieces, highlighting the undercurrent of hatred for God. Moreover, by probing the deeper mainsprings that cause sensible, rational, and moral beings to turn against God, Schweizer offers answers to some of the most vexing questions that beset human relationships with the divine.


Smokepit Fairytales

Smokepit Fairytales

Author: Tripp Ainsworth

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2016-11-04

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 9781539758488

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An adventure tale for our times, the author combines real world events and supernatural elements in the style of a classical epic to tell a sometimes snarky, sometimes uproarious, and very poignant modern tale. Meet Hank Allensworth and Wilson Evans in a modern reflection of the Epic of Gilgamesh. An epic bromance between a Marine and his corpsman running around Oceanside, California . Degenerate Lance Corporals who have recently returned from Afghanistan, spending most of their time drunk at The Purple Church. One night while they're out drinking they are called back to base and the battalion is put on stand by because during the conflict with ISIS, the Islamic Republic of Iran decided to end the proxy war and get involved themselves. Soon after, Hank and Doc go with the regiment to keep the Iranians from crossing the Euphrates. The war kicks off and the Marines push across Iraq and into Iran. Hank and Doc both are wounded and sent home. The rest of the story they deal with survivor's guilt, alcoholism, PTSD, covering up for a murder, and trying to manage deteriorating love lives. I don't know if I could say there's any deeper meaning than gratuitous sex and violence, but I can guarantee you that if you've spent more than three days in an infantry battalion you will love this book.


A Good Man

A Good Man

Author: Mark K. Shriver

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2012-06-05

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 0805095322

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In this intimate portrait of an extraordinary father-son relationship, Mark K. Shriver discovers the moral principles that guided his legendary father and applies them to his own life When Sargent "Sarge" Shriver—founder of the Peace Corps and architect of President Johnson's War on Poverty—died in 2011 after a valiant fight with Alzheimer's, thousands of tributes poured in from friends and strangers worldwide. These tributes, which extolled the daily kindness and humanity of "a good man," moved his son Mark far more than those who lauded Sarge for his big-stage, headline-making accomplishments. After a lifetime searching for the path to his father's success in the public arena, Mark instead turns to a search for the secret of his father's joy, his devotion to others, and his sense of purpose. Mark discovers notes and letters from Sarge; hears personal stories from friends and family that zero in on the three guiding principles of Sarge's life—faith, hope, and love—and recounts moments with Sarge that now take on new value and poignancy. In the process, Mark discovers much about himself, as a father, as a husband, and as a social justice advocate. A Good Man is an inspirational and deeply personal story about a son discovering the true meaning of his father's legacy.


Different Seasons

Different Seasons

Author: Stephen King

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-01-01

Total Pages: 608

ISBN-13: 1501141171

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Includes the stories “The Body” and “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”—set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine A “hypnotic” (The New York Times Book Review) collection of four novellas—including the inspirations behind the films Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption—from Stephen King, bound together by the changing of seasons, each taking on the theme of a journey with strikingly different tones and characters. This gripping collection begins with “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,” in which an unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge—the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award-nominee The Shawshank Redemption. Next is “Apt Pupil,” the inspiration for the film of the same name about top high school student Todd Bowden and his obsession with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town. In “The Body,” four rambunctious young boys plunge through the façade of a small town and come face-to-face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. This novella became the movie Stand By Me. Finally, a disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death in “The Breathing Method.” “The wondrous readability of his work, as well as the instant sense of communication with his characters, are what make Stephen King the consummate storyteller that he is,” hailed the Houston Chronicle about Different Seasons.


Bitter Heat

Bitter Heat

Author: Mia Knight

Publisher: Mia Knight

Published: 2019-03-29

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1090359705

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She was the wood. He was the flame. After this, they would be ash. A cruel twist of fate leaves Jasmine Hennessy stranded in a remote cabin with her worst nightmare—her ex-husband, James Roth, who she hasn’t seen in five years. He isn’t acting like the man she married, but did she ever really know him? One night together kicks off a series of events that threatens her freedom as Roth seeks vengeance on those who ruined him seven years ago. He’s determined to bring her back into the world she left behind where money is king, reputation is everything, and people will kill to keep their secrets. Author's Note: This is a dark romance novel with triggers and mature themes that may make some readers uncomfortable.


Love You Wild

Love You Wild

Author: Becka Mack

Publisher: Nielsen

Published: 2021-06-24

Total Pages: 572

ISBN-13: 9781801161022

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Shattered. That's the best way to describe Claire Thompson after the ultimate betrayal. When her long-term boyfriend cheats on her, Claire decides she's done with men. Maybe forever. Healing the pieces of her broken heart seems like too impossible a task. Rumor has it the best way to get over someone is to get under someone new, but a rebound is the last thing she wants or needs, and she's definitely not letting her guard down for anyone, especially not for charming, sexy-as-sin, multi-millionaire playboy Avery Beck. Avery Beck, womanizer extraordinaire, prefers his women with no strings attached. Until he sets his eyes on Claire. As fiery and feisty as her hair, with stubbornness and tenacity to match, he's sure he's never worked harder for anything. Avery is determined to tear her walls down one piercing gaze, one lingering touch, one sweeping kiss at a time. He's never given up before, and he doesn't plan on starting now. Will Avery's wild heart finally be tamed? Or will this be the one time the relentless millionaire doesn't get what he wants?


Garden of Stones

Garden of Stones

Author: Sophie Littlefield

Publisher: Harlequin

Published: 2013-02-26

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 1460300300

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“Suspense, mystery, and love” fill a multigenerational “moving drama of women in a Japanese American family. . . . The shocking revelation is unforgettable” (Booklist). In the dark days of World War II, a mother makes the ultimate sacrifice Lucy Takeda is just fourteen years old, living in Los Angeles, when the bombs rain down on Pearl Harbor. Within weeks, she and her mother, Miyako, are ripped from their home, rounded up—along with thousands of other innocent Japanese-Americans—and taken to the Manzanar prison camp. Buffeted by blistering heat and choking dust, Lucy and Miyako must endure the harsh living conditions of the camp. Corruption and abuse creep into every corner of Manzanar, eventually ensnaring beautiful, vulnerable Miyako. Ruined and unwilling to surrender her daughter to the same fate, Miyako soon breaks. Her final act of desperation will stay with Lucy forever . . . and spur her to sins of her own. Bestselling author Sophie Littlefield weaves a powerful tale of stolen innocence and survival that echoes through generations, reverberating between mothers and daughters. It is a moving chronicle of injustice, triumph and the unspeakable acts we commit in the name of love. “Littlefield . . . makes her tale resonant and universal . . . gripping.” —Publishers Weekly “Littlefield shows considerable skills for delving into the depths of her characters and complex plotting as she disarms the reader.” —South Florida Sun-Sentinel