Takao Kasuga is a bookworm. And his favorite book right now is Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil. While the young man may often be seen lost in thought as he rabidly consumes page after page, Takao is not much of a student. Actually when we are first introduced to the middle school teen, we find him sneaking some reading as he receives and F on a recent language exam. Nakagawa is known as the class bully. When she is not receiving zeros she is usually muttering profanities to those around her. While she doesn't care for books or their readers, she does have a thing for troublemakers. Takao may not be one, but having read over his shoulder a few times, she knows he is not very innocent. If anything he is bored and aware of it. Together, by chance, they shake up their entire rural community as Takao tries to break out of his shell in a random moment of passion and affection...not directed towards Nakamura. And contrary to Takao's predictions, the girl he was falling for, Nanako Saeki, responds by eventually accepting the bibliophile for who he is. Or at least, who she thinks he is.

In the seventh volume of the Flowers of Evil readers are sent to a completely new time and locale. Takao and Sawa have been forcibly separated. Takao is now living in suburbs of the big city. His parents have new lives in a small apartment and their past for the most part has been forgotten. Now and then little cracks appear in that facade but for the most part they are playing their roles to become a normal happy family. Takao is in a new school; your average model student. And while he is just as awkward, Takao has made some friends and is even occasionally being asked to be social as a new high school student. Even more intriguing is the fact that Takao might have already found himself someone to open up to. Like Sawa this person can see that there is more to Takao than meets the eye. But in this case it is her who reintroduces him to literature.

After the climactic incident during the festival, we are sent to a completely new locale, 3 years later. Takao and Nakamura have been forcibly separated. Takao is now living with his parents in the suburbs of the big city, and they mostly act like a normal, happy family. Takao is in a new school, and a typical middling student. And while he’s as awkward as ever, he’s made some friends. Even more intriguingly—Takao may have found a girl to open up to. As with Nakamura, this girl can see there’s more to Takao than meets the eye. But this time, she’s the one who reintroduces him to literature...

"Systematic Theology" in 3 volumes is one of the best-known works by the American Baptist minister and theologian Augustus Hopkins Strong. Excerpt: "Under the influence of Ritschl and his Kantian relativism, many of our teachers and preachers have swung off into a practical denial of Christ's deity and of his atonement. We seem upon the verge of a second Unitarian defection that will break up churches and compel secessions, in a worse manner than did that of Channing and Ware a century ago. American Christianity recovered from that disaster only by vigorously asserting the authority of Christ and the inspiration of the Scriptures. We need a new vision of the Savior like that which Paul saw on the way to Damascus and John saw on the isle of Patmos, to convince us that Jesus is lifted above space and time, that his existence antedated creation, that he conducted the march of Hebrew history, that he was born of a virgin, suffered on the cross, rose from the dead, and now lives forevermore, the Lord of the universe, the only God with whom we have to do, our Savior here and our Judge hereafter. Without a revival of this faith our churches will become secularized, mission enterprise will die out, and the candlestick will be removed out of its place as it was with the seven churches of Asia, and as it has been with the apostate churches of New England." Contents: Idea of Theology Method of Theology The Existence of God Origin of Our Idea of God's Existence Corroborative Evidences of God's Existence The Scriptures A Revelation from God The Nature, Decrees, and Works of God The Attributes of God Doctrine of the Trinity The Decrees of God The Works of God Anthropology, Or the Doctrine of Man: The Original State of Man Sin, Or Man's State Of Apostasy Soteriology Christology The Reconciliation of Man to God Ecclesiology, Or the Doctrine of the Church Eschatology...

Focusing on the arcades of 19th-century Paris--glass-roofed rows of shops that were early centers of consumerism--Benjamin presents a montage of quotations from, and reflections on, hundreds of published sources. 46 illustrations.

Concise and illuminating articles explore Oscar Wilde's life and work in the context of the turbulent landscape of his time.