An illustrated holiday tale for nearly all denominations. Jasper "Kat" Petty has a case of Grinchitis. Most folks suffer a Scrooge-moment now and then, but for Kat, it's a virulent strain that has hung on for sixteen years. In high school, young Petty had the dream of being a novelist tucked into one pocket and a national writing award stashed in the other. But that was before his dad died, leaving the family in financial chaos. Forced to give up college and take a blue-collar job, he now watches his friends start families while he struggles through a string of "Caroles" who love him and leave him in short order-nearly always at Christmas. Enter: Chi, a comic devil who may or may not be God himself. The silver-haired eccentric with the wisecracking mouth and cockeyed view of living and loving shows Kat how to drop his prickly barriers and take one last shot at fulfilling his dreams-with of all things? Another Carole.

This anthology is a collection of some sixty-six short stories written in English by Filipino authors within the forty years following the introduction of English in the Philippines.

Providing a fresh, timely reflection every week can be a daunting task. So when time or inspiration is flagging and you need the jump-start of creative ideas, the Preaching Workbook from CSS is just what the doctor ordered! Prominent pastor, former seminary president, and prolific author Jerry Schmalenberger draws upon the experiences of a lifetime in the ministry to help readers effectively share God's word with crisply written insights. This outstanding set of practical aids explores many homiletical approaches and is sure to help preachers prepare more vital, incisive sermons. Each chapter includes: - a listing of and commentary on selected scripture texts - a theme for the day's service - suggestions on preaching possibilities - an outline of possible sermon moves - additional illustrations to help flesh out the message Recently retired as the president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California, Jerry L. Schmalenberger served some of the largest Lutheran congregations in the United States during 29 years as a parish pastor. A graduate of Wittenberg University and Hamma School of Theology in Springfield, Ohio (where he received his D.Min. degree), Schmalenberger is the recipient of an honorary D.Div. degree from Wittenberg. He now preaches and teaches throughout the world as a Global Mission Volunteer for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, appearing in such varied locations as Germany, Jamaica, Argentina, Uruguay, Suriname, Liberia, Indonesia, and China. Schmalenberger also serves as Visiting Professor of Practical Theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong.

Margaret Atwood called Ernest Buckler “one of the pathbreakers for the modern Canadian novel,” yet he has slipped into relative obscurity. This new book by Marta Dvořák, Ernest Buckler: Rediscovery and Reassessment breaks new ground in Canadian literary studies by analyzing some of Buckler’s works that have remained unknown or unexplored by critics, and by addressing the formalistic innovations of these texts. It allows a general readership to discover — and an international specialized readership to reassess — the wide, even eclectic scope of an author best known for his first novel, The Mountain and the Valley. Marta Dvořák situates Buckler firmly within his cultural and intellectual environment. She argues the importance of his connections with Emerson and the American transcendental milieu, and demonstrates his links with Romantics such as Schopenhauer and Shelley and modernists like Joyce, Faulkner, and Mansfield, as well as intellectuals from Aristotle to Aquinas. She explores his philosophical vision and his complex, adventurous relationship with language. Extracts from Buckler’s published and unpublished material juxtaposed with those from a wide range of writers (from Henry James to Foucault) offer new illuminating perspectives. The progressive structure of the book will draw readers in to discussions on shared concerns: the nostalgia for a vanished past, the relationship between family and community, the rural and the urban, or the questioning of, and coming to terms with, ethics and the social fabric of today’s rapidly changing technological horizon in which traditional values are eroding.

Another Address is Catherine Ott's life story-a delightful romp through 80 years of history from the Great Depression through World War II and beyond. She relates what it was like to live on Broad Channel, to visit the boardwalk and amusement park at Coney Island, the 1939 New York World's Fair, the Horn and Hardart Automat and the shows at Radio City Music Hall. She describes the beautiful foothills of the Catskill Mountains, how she lived for a while in primitive conditions and later stayed at Obercliffe, an estate overlooking the Hudson River, and lived with her Uncle George on the California desert. One Sunday, when she was a young girl, the family piled into the car and took a trip out to Montauk Point at the end of Long Island. On the way back a tire blew out. Luckily, her Grandpa Biland had fifty cents and they were able to purchase a used tire to get back to the city. Catherine published her story so that her friends and family would have something to remember her by. But others will just find it a sheer pleasure to read.

The idea for Dropped Threads: What We Aren't Told came up between Carol Shields and longtime friend Marjorie Anderson over lunch. It appeared that after decades of feminism, the “women's network” still wasn't able to prevent women being caught off-guard by life. There remained subjects women just didn't talk about, or felt they couldn't talk about. Holes existed in the fabric of women's discourse, and they needed examining. They asked thirty-four women to write about moments in life that had taken them by surprise or experiences that received too little discussion, and then they compiled these pieces into a book. It became an instant number one bestseller, a book clubs' favourite and a runaway success. Dropped Threads, says Anderson, "tapped into a powerful need to share personal stories about life's defining moments of surprise and silence." Readers recognized themselves in these honest and intimate stories; there was something universal in these deeply personal accounts. Other stories and suggestions poured in. Dropped Threads would clearly be an ongoing project. Like the first volume, Dropped Threads 2 features stories by well-known novelists and journalists such as Jane Urquhart, Susan Swan and Shelagh Rogers, but also many excellent new writers including teachers, mothers, a civil servant, a therapist. This triumphant follow-up received a starred first review in Quill and Quire magazine, which called it “compassionate and unflinching.” The book deals with such difficult topics as loss, depression, disease, widowhood, violence, and coming to terms with death. Several stories address some of the darker sides of motherhood: - A mother describes how, while sleep-deprived and in a miserable marriage, she is shocked to find infanticide crossing her mind. - Another woman recounts a memory of her alcoholic mother demanding the children prove their loyalty in a terrifying way. - A woman desperate for children refers to the bleak truth as: "Another Christmas of feeling barren." Narrating the fertility treatment she undergoes, the hopes dashed, she is amusing in retrospect and yet brutally honest. While they deal with loss and trauma, the pieces show the path to some kind of acceptance, showing the authors’ determination to learn from pain and pass on the wisdom gained. The volume also covers the rewards of learning to be a parent, choosing to remain single, or fitting in as a lesbian parent. It explores how women feel when something is missing in a friendship, how they experience discrimination, relationship challenges, and other emotions less easily defined but just as close to the bone: - Alison Wearing in “My Life as a Shadow” subtly describes allowing her personality to be subsumed by her boyfriend's. - Pamela Mala Sinha tells how, after suffering a brutal attack, she felt self-hatred and a longing for retribution. - Dana McNairn talks of her uncomfortable marriage to a man from a different social background: "I wanted to fit in with this strange, wondrous family who never raised their voices, never swore and never threw things at one another." Humour, a confiding tone, and beautiful writing elevate and enliven even the darkest stories. Details bring scenes vividly to life, so we feel we are in the room with Barbara Defago when the doctor tells her she has breast cancer, coolly dividing her life into a 'before and after.' Lucid, reflective and poignant, Dropped Threads 2 is for anyone interested in women's true stories.