When faced with life-changing events, sixteen artists and seers (whose stories I tell in ARTISTS OF THE SPIRIT, New Prophets in Art and Mysticism) reacted creatively and also altruistically to put their new insights at the service of others. They are models of highly aware persons who act as scouts for the rest of us. Their stories suggest that in the contemporary phase of human evolution, it is our creative imagination that continues to expand, leading us upward toward what Teilhard de Chardin called "the Omega point," where spirit will illuminate mind.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book about Bandelier. If you are interested in Bandelier or history it's a great read.

Years ago Lee Stratton made a terrible mistake -- he betrayed a great friend named Penny. She was the one person who understood him, the girl who excited him, yet she frightened him since he wasn't used to feeling such strong emotions. When young Lee made a bet with the guys that he could get Penny to kiss him, his buddies watched and cheered as he won the bet, then turned and walked away. Devastated to learn Lee was a traitor, Penny, who later decides to use her real name, Meredith, heals her broken heart by loving and giving to others. Lee, the Iceman, spends years trying to convince himself that he doesn't need love, that it isn't necessary like food or water in life. When he finds Meredith and her daughter staying at his family's home where his father accepts them more than he feels close to his son, Lee is bitter. Not for long, though. His glacial cool melts as flames of desire rage inside him each time he sees Meredith. At Sand Castle, his home near the Gulf, he learns to love while she learns to forgive. The Friendship Oak -- once a place of pain and betrayal -- becomes the solid foundation for their bright future together.

Lorraine Carroll writes from the heart and the characters in BEAUTY AND THE GROOM reflect this. BEAUTY AND THE GROOM is a wonderful story that makes readers go away smiling long after they've turned the last page and closed the book.

During the past year, I've had occasion to read several books on theological education. This book is by far the most interesting and suggestive of the lot. Repeated visits by the four co-authors to two campuses and careful observation of how students are shaped by the all the dimensions of campus life (included but most certainly not limited to classes)yields a compelling picture both of what actually happens at a theological school and of the role of such schools in religious communities. For anyone with even a passing interest in theological education.

Like many of the old Carole Lombard movies, BLACK LACE AND LINEN is about financially well-situated people where someone is pretending to be something she isn't. Think of it as screwball comedy brought up to date for the 90s.

Laura Stuart, a children's book writer and illustrator, pays a visit to her identical twin sister, Chelsey. When Laura arrives at the hotel where her madcap sister is staying, she discovers that Chelsey, a high-profile personality who recently met scandal in the tabloids, has been impersonating her. Chelsey explains she has fallen for a younger man and his uncle, Adam Barnhart, opposes the match. Chelsey has been pretending to be Laura because she believes a children's book author would go over better than a photographer of male nudes and asks Laura to carry on the masquerade. Laura reluctantly agrees, but finds Adam too provocative to resist.

Laura is always in the hot seat as she tries to live up to Chelsey's uninhibited behavior and racy fashion preferences. When they have a chance encounter with Xavier Storm, whose divorce suit cited Chelsey as an extramarital partner, Laura finds herself in a position where, as Chelsey, she needs to do a nude male shoot herself. To her exasperation, the real Chelsey can't be located and Adam volunteers to be her subject.

This 1994 novel can bring about some serious argument about how realistically it portrays twins. Studies have shown that twins--especially identical--tend to bond stronger than any other type of relationship. Even when they've been separated at birth, researchers have found they still share similar interests and traits that have led them to wonder if environment is really as influential as genetics. None of this research or a twins' "psychic connection" is evident in this story. Even as sisters, they aren't considered close.

Be that argument as it may, the crafting of this story is nonetheless remarkably well done. Susan Carroll provides consistent, credible characters striving for definite goals in a tactile world. The humor is well-timed and the sexual tension ignites from Laura and Adam's introduction.

BLACK LACE AND LINEN is a fun, contemporary romance. It brings screwball comedy back to life.

Jim Carroll should win The Nobel Prize for christ's sakes. The Book of Nods definitely prooves that. Jim Carroll his a poet no one else could ever be, lets say he's a Ted Berrigan mixed with a Allen Ginsberg. Nods refer to him and his drug induced states which he wrote most of these in. This is a creative and largely intensive book! READ IT!

To bad it's out of print because it is a great book about old fort TICONDEROGA. The story of two teenagers who get caught up in the Revolutionary war is one of the very best historical fiction books I've seen in a long time.

I hear it is being made into a movie. Great! I can't wait to see it.

I've read several books in the past couple of years about bridging the gap between the different generations, and I have to say that this one is the most useful. It's written from an objective point of view, and so gives powerful "snapshots" of different types of congregations and how they are dealing with the generation gaps---some successfully, some not.

Instead of reading about someone else's cookie-cutter "fix-it program," I got a lot of ideas and insights that might work in my own congregation. I highly recommend this book.

In separate, but harmonious, voices, eleven writers describe layered art as an expression of a holistic perspective. Each chapter addresses a theme, illustrated in color with artworks related to: alchemy, the spirit, earth metaphors, cosmic forces, healing, archaic traces and the millennium. Layered art reflects the forward edge of syncretic thinking, the recognition that the universe is held within a matrix of shared consciousness. Everything is connected with everything else.