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Jayber Crow
The questions who and what and how and why are no doubt useful and occasionally even noble in their place. But for Wendell Berry, whose spare and elegant prose has long testified to the rural American values of thrift and frugality, four interrogatives must seem a waste, when one will do. Where is the ultimate qualifier, the sine qua non, for both the author and his characters. Place shapes them and defines them; the winding Kentucky River and the gentle curves of the Kentucky hills find an echo in their lilting speech and brusque affections. Jayber Crow is another story of the Port William membership, the community whose life--and lives--Berry has unfurled over the course of a half dozen novels. Jayber himself is an orphan, lately returned to the town. And his status as barber and bachelor places him simultaneously at its center and on its margins. A born observer, he hears much, watches carefully, and spends 50 years learning its citizens by heart. They were rememberers, carrying in their living thoughts all the history that such places as Port William ever have. I listened to them with all my ears, and have tried to remember what they said, though from remembering what I remember I know that much is lost. Things went to the grave with them that will never be known again. Jayber tells the town's stories tenderly. Gently elegiac, the novel charts the tension between an urge to isolation and an impulse to connectivity, writ both small and large. As the 20th century moves inexorably forward, swallowing in great mechanized gulps rural towns governed by agricultural rhythms, Port William turns in upon itself. And as Jayber admits quietly, "Once a fabric is torn, it is apt to keep tearing. It was coming apart. The old integrity had been broken." Integrity, both whole and shattered, is key to the stories of Burley Coulter, Cecelia Overhold, Troy Chatham, and above all, Athey Keith and his daughter Mattie, to whom Jayber pledges his undying and unrequited love. Berry's prose, so carefully tuned that you never know it is there, carries us into the very heart of the land itself; his exquisitely constructed sentences suggesting the cyclic rhythms of his agrarian world. Jayber Crow resonates with variations played on themes of change, looping transitions from war into peace, winter into spring, browning flood destruction into greening fields, absence into presence, lost into found. --Kelly Flynn.
Price: $6.38
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Boone: A Biography
This commanding biography from New York Times bestselling author Robert Morgan transforms a mythic American hero—a legend in his own time—into a flesh-and-blood man.Morgan's sweeping biography of Daniel Boone is the story of America—its ideals, its promise, its romance, and its destiny It is the most comprehensive book ever written about the man who was the largest spirit of his time. Hunter, explorer, settler, he was a trailblazer and a revolutionary—an American icon for more than two hundred years. Born in 1734, Boone participated in the colonization of North America, the settling of the Middle Plain, the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, the election of his friend as the first president of the United States, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Westward Expansion. Unlike others of his time, he had a reverence for the Indians, who taught him how to hunt, navigate, and survive in the impenetrable wilderness. He accomplished feat after impossible feat yet was also accused of treason, fraud, hypocrisy; was court-martialed; and was sued for debt again and again. By the end of his life, most of his land claims had been lost to lawyers, politicians, and better businessmen than he. Extensive endnotes, fascinating cultural and historical background material, maps, illustrations, and an index underscore the scope of this distinguished and immensely entertaining work by a writer who, like novelist-turned- historian Shelby Foote, has the talent and the knowledge to make this legendary American come vividly to life..
Price: $15.99
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Water Car - How to Turn Water Into Hydrogen Fuel!
This is the first book ever written about the 200-year suppressed history of turning WATER into combustible hydrogen-oxygen fuel! The book was researched and written by James A. Robey, curator of the world's first Water Fuel Museum, in Lexington, KY. Although the book is not intended to be an exhaustive manual of how to build a water-powered car, in learning the history of the technology from these pages and the accompanying FREE DVD and FREE CD, you will also learn how to do it yourself, inexpensively! Think of the impact this information can have on our world: water fuel produces no carbon pollution, and can actually release excess oxygen to the atmosphere! It could even REVERSE global warming!The 154-page book comes with a free DVD of interviews with water fuel device inventors You'll be amazed at what you didn't know!.
Price: $21.85
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Weird Kentucky: Your Travel Guide to Kentucky's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (Weird)
"Best Travel Series of the Year 2006!"—Booklist What’s weird around here? That’s a question Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman have enjoyed asking for years—and their offbeat sense of curiosity led them to create the bestselling phenomenon, Weird N.J. Now the weirdness has spread throughout key locales in the U.S. Each fun and intriguing volume offers more than 250 illustrated pages of places where tourists usually don’t venture—it’s chock-full of oddball curiosities, ghostly places, local legends, crazy characters, cursed roads, and peculiar roadside attractions. What’s NOT shockingly odd here: that every previously published Weird book has become a bestseller in its region. .
Price: $12.00
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Your Home A Living Canvas: Create Stunning Faux Finishes & Murals with Paint
Uncover the glory in your home! Use paint to create inspired living spaces that reflect your style and your home's character Once upon a time, there was a sad little Victorian house on the corner, abandoned by its previous owners and abused by time. Your Home, A Living Canvas is the Cinderella story of that house and its transformation into a charming, historic home, thanks to the loving care of acclaimed decorative artisan, Curtis L. Heuser. From the grand staircase to the cozy third-floor master suite, this book takes you along on the complete floor-to-ceiling, room-by-room makeover. You'll learn about the design concepts and inspirations for each space, along with real-world how-to's behind the wall treatments, ceiling features, architectural highlights, and other exquisite details. - A series of 25+ step-by-step demonstrations show how Heuser used murals, trompe l'oeil and faux finishes to blend old with new, reclaiming the spirit of the house's former glory, while incorporating unique personal touches.
- Covers a range of decorative styles, from the exotic crackle-finish bookcases in the study, to the Italian country villa-inspired kitchen, to a sophisticated dining room that embodies the Old World ambiance of classic European interiors.
- Offers a wealth of expert decorating advice on using color to evoke mood, displaying your collections, mixing and matching eclectic furnishings, and more.
Whether you're interested in a simple faux finish technique or are dedicated to preserving the architecture and charm of your own historic dwelling, this book will help you create a living environment rich in color, texture and atmosphere ... a place called "home.".
Price: $11.84
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Hannah Coulter: A Novel
"Ignorant boys, killing each other," is just about all Nathan Coulter would tell his wife, friends, and family about the Battle of Okinawa in the spring of 1945. Life carried on for the community of Port William, Kentucky, as some boys returned from the war and the lives of others were mourned. In her seventies, Nathan's wife, Hannah, has time now to tell of the years since the war. In Wendell Berry's unforgettable prose, we learn of the Coulter's children, of the Feltners and Branches, and how survivors "live right on." .
Price: $8.00
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