Poetry is Music, Poetry is Art and Poetry is Life. This collection is inspired by experience, by observation, by a heart and soul which seeks expression. It is about Life, Love, Struggle, Heartache, Beauty, Nature and ultimate Victory. Anchored in a deeply personal Faith in God this work overflows into a love for people and a call for protection of the creation. It explores the ways in which life has its own purpose and is a great teacher of lessons which sometimes are hard to learn. It is also a reminder that life is transitory, an encouragement to walk our way to our best ability each day, to seek humility and wisdom and to keep one eye on Eternity.
A cultural “biography” of Robert Frost’s beloved poem, arguably the most popular piece of literature written by an American “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood . . .” One hundred years after its first publication in August 1915, Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” is so ubiquitous that it’s easy to forget that it is, in fact, a poem. Yet poetry it is, and Frost’s immortal lines remain unbelievably popular. And yet in spite of this devotion, almost everyone gets the poem hopelessly wrong. David Orr’s The Road Not Taken dives directly into the controversy, illuminating the poem’s enduring greatness while revealing its mystifying contradictions. Widely admired as the poetry columnist for The New York Times Book Review, Orr is the perfect guide for lay readers and experts alike. Orr offers a lively look at the poem’s cultural influence, its artistic complexity, and its historical journey from the margins of the First World War all the way to its canonical place today as a true masterpiece of American literature. “The Road Not Taken” seems straightforward: a nameless traveler is faced with a choice: two paths forward, with only one to walk. And everyone remembers the traveler taking “the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.” But for a century readers and critics have fought bitterly over what the poem really says. Is it a paean to triumphant self-assertion, where an individual boldly chooses to live outside conformity? Or a biting commentary on human self-deception, where a person chooses between identical roads and yet later romanticizes the decision as life altering? What Orr artfully reveals is that the poem speaks to both of these impulses, and all the possibilities that lie between them. The poem gives us a portrait of choice without making a decision itself. And in this, “The Road Not Taken” is distinctively American, for the United States is the country of choice in all its ambiguous splendor. Published for the poem’s centennial—along with a new Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of Frost’s poems, edited and introduced by Orr himself—The Road Not Taken is a treasure for all readers, a triumph of artistic exploration and cultural investigation that sings with its own unforgettably poetic voice.
Although this book does not attempt to revive the image of Frost as a benign, white-haired sage, it does present him in a strikingly different light than did Lawrance Thompson's controversial three-volume biography. William H. Pritchard sees Frost whole, demonstrating the complex interaction between the poet's life and work. Based not only on the poetry, but on letters, notebooks, recorded interviews, and public appearances as well, 'Frost: A Literary Life Reconsidered' examines the most interesting and significant aspects of Frost's life and poetry and offers an attentive, sensitive portrait of an artist whose critical reputation continues to grow.
Essential reading for scholars, poetry lovers, and anyone with an interest in Rainer Maria Rilke, German poetry, or the creative impulse, these ten letters of correspondence between Rilke and a young aspiring poet reveal elements from the inner workings of his own poetic identity. The letters coincided with an important stage of his artistic development and readers can trace many of the themes that later emerge in his best works to these messages—Rilke himself stated these letters contained part of his creative genius.
Second chance romance please! Sometimes the only place left to go is home. Kara Martinson always thought her high school crush was out of her league, but they did share one night she’s never been able to forget. Nearly three decades after being disowned by her parents and forced to raise her son on her own, Kara’s made it—her art is being toasted at a gallery opening. Even better, she and her son are finally on stable ground. Until Mr. One-Night Stand himself crashes her party. Harry Canton always knew Kara would make it as an artist. Almost thirty years after high school, he still considers her the one that got away. But the surprise reunion doesn’t quite go to plan when Harry discovers he left her with more than just memories when he went away to college. Desperate to connect with the family he never knew existed, Harry convinces his son to move cross country for a fresh start with his father—and pleads with Kara to come home, too. Kara hasn’t stepped foot in their hometown since the day she was sent away. But her son desperately wants the father he never had and denying him that may cost her everything. Can love heal old heartaches so Harry and Kara can have a second chance at the future they were robbed of so long ago? Or will the pain of the past be too much to face? The Road Leads Back can be read as a standalone which is part of an overarching six book Stonehill Series. It is a sweet, second chance, small town romance from your new favorite author Marci Bolden. If a charming, sweet second chance romance story that reconnects hero and heroine after years and years apart sounds like your idea of a good time . . . this book is for you! Guaranteed HEA & No Cheating. What readers are saying about The Road Leads Back: “This is a heartfelt tale of second, and third, chances. Kara and Harry liked each other when they were in school together, but were both too shy to approach or tell one another. They spent one night together that irrevocably changed Kara's life. Instead of college, she was homeless and sent to a community for unwed mothers. She learned to survive and raise her son, Phil. Twenty-seven years later, Harry reunites with Kara and is floored by the news he missed his son's life. Harry wants to reconnect and convinces Kara and Phil to return to her hometown. The hometown she never returned to after being forced away and hurt by those adults in whom she should have had support. Everyone has much to be angry about and no one can seem to keep their tempers. Read this journey through the pain, anger, and maybe enough forgiveness for those third chances.” (5/5) – Coral Mitchell “The Road Leads Back is the first book I've read from this author and most certainly won't be the last. I absolutely LOVED. THIS. BOOK! The book … hooks you fast. It was nothing that I expected it to be. I loved it because it was unique… and very believable…There were so many twists that it kept me engaged throughout the whole book. … This book stayed with me long after I finished.” (5/5) – Itsy Bitsy Book Bits of ItsyBitsyBookBits.com “[Marci’s] writing talent shines with her sweet romance The Road Leads Back. This all-too-true storyline evolves through vivid description and masterly written character development. The Road Leads Back gives us an in-depth view of the joys of love and what it really takes to find happiness. I recommend this book, even if you aren’t a romance reader.” (5/5) – Sloane Taylor of SloanTaylor.com (Author of French Tart, French Twist, French Delight, and 28 other works.)
There are two paths in life: Should & Must. We arrive at this crossroads over and over again, and every day. And we get to choose. Starting out or starting over, making a career change or making a life change, the most life-affirming thing you can do is to honor the voice inside that says your have something special to give, and then heed the call and act. Many have traveled this road before. Here’s how you can, too. #choosemust An inspirational gift book for every recent graduate, every artist, every seeker, and every career change.
“An intense snapshot of the chain reaction caused by pulling a trigger.” —Booklist (starred review) “Astonishing.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A tour de force.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A Newbery Honor Book A Coretta Scott King Honor Book A Printz Honor Book A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner for Young Adult Literature Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award An Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017 A Vulture Best YA Book of 2017 A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017 An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds’s electrifying novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother. A cannon. A strap. A piece. A biscuit. A burner. A heater. A chopper. A gat. A hammer A tool for RULE Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES. And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if Will gets off that elevator. Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • Frank and April Wheeler are a bright, beautiful, talented couple in the 1950s whose perfect suburban life is about to crumble in this "moving and absorbing story” (The Atlantic Monthly) from one of the most acclaimed writers of the twentieth century. "The Great Gatsby of my time...one of the best books by a member of my generation." —Kurt Vonnegut, acclaimed author of Slaughterhouse-Five Perhaps Frank and April Wheeler married too young and started a family too early. Maybe Frank's job is dull. And April never saw herself as a housewife. Yet they have always lived on the assumption that greatness is only just around the corner. But now that certainty is about to unravel. With heartbreaking compassion and remorseless clarity, Richard Yates shows how Frank and April mortgage their spiritual birthright, betraying not only each other, but their best selves. In his introduction to this edition, novelist Richard Ford pays homage to the lasting influence and enduring power of Revolutionary Road.
