Product Description
In this provocative essay, David Adams Richards brings together his ideas about writing -- how great works of literature are created, the writer's essential position as an outsider, and the difficulties writers experience in the pursuit of personal truth. The quest for truth always comes with a price, says Richards, but it also results in freedom for writers and their characters, and sometimes results in great works of literature. Says Richards, "What I say to young writers is never fear that you too will be evaluated most harshly in your life for telling the truth. That the truth, not as others see it, but as you do, can only be told by you . . . The most important gift you can give the world is to write how you feel . . . There are no guarantees if you do this, but there is no hope if you do not." Playing the Inside Out is the Second Antonine Maillet-Northrop Frye Lecture, sponsored by the Université de Moncton. It was presented on April 28, 2007 in Moncton, New Brunswick, at the 2007 Frye Festival. ... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 3591. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Born Free Charity Book
This book is not out of print- check out the publisher's website [...]

Proceeds from this wonderful collection of short stories for adults about wild animals goes to The Born Free Foundation. It features a new story by Watership Down author Richard Adams and foreword by Virginia McKenna- as seen on UK TV!

What is refreshing about these stories are they told from the viewpoint of the animal and these are wild animals not cute talking animals. It's a real pleasure to have read this book and I hope people look for it.

Also supported by Queen guitarist Brian May. Check out what he has to say on his website [...]

Help animals by buying this book- such talented writers! ... Read more

Product Description
General Richard Henry Pratt, best known as the founder and longtime superintendent of the influential Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, profoundly shaped Indian education and federal Indian policy at the turn of the twentieth century.Pratt's long and active military career included eight years of service as an army field officer on the western frontier.During that time he participated in some of the signal conflicts with Indians of the southern plains, including the Washita campaign of 1868-1869 and the Red River War of 1874-1875.He then served as jailor for many of the Indians who surrendered.His experiences led him to dedicate himself to Indian education, and from 1879 to 1904, still on active military duty, he directed the Carlisle school, believing that the only way to save Indians from extinction was to remove Indian youth to nonreservation settings and there inculcate in them what he considered civilized ways.

Pratt's memoirs, edited by Robert M. Utley and with a new foreword by David Wallace Adams, offer insight into and understanding of what are now highly controversial turn-of-the-century Indian education policies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

SO>SO.
This is an alright book i suppose. I had to read it for english class so you can understand my disgust with it. I found it very confusing and hard to understand....... Give it a go though for your own. I hate reading most books. Sad to say I find manuals more interesting thatn reading novels....Laugh as you may..o well

bob ... Read more

Product Description
Estranged from her husband, Carol Robbins and her young son transform a mansion into the Christmas Inn bed and breakfast, before learning of the bizarre, unsolved double murder of the mansion's former owners. A first novel." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Great reading.
I stayed in the Inn that this book is based on which is where I heard about it. After purchasing it from Amazon, I couldn't put it down. If you like mystery novels, I would certainly recommend it.

What's wrong with these people?
I just finished this book and loved it!I really enjoyed the weaving of the past with the present.Also, I thought I knew who was responisble for the murder, but I was surprised.I think the book was an excellent read!I have to wonder what is wrong with the people who gave it a one and tossed it before they could finish.I can't imagine that we read the same book.

Good
I liked this one. It's the story of an old house that has a history of brutal murder and suicide. Seventy years later a young couple purchases it with plans to restore both it and their marriage. The town, however, is not very receptive to their new neighbours and the search for the truth of the house's history begins.
Great characters make the book enjoyable and entertaining. The ending could have used a little bit more but overall it was a good read, with a little comedy but little spook.

Shallow and Uninspiring
I wanted to like this book. I really did. I appreciated the attempt at intertwining two mysteries, separated by nearly one hundred years, into a single conclusion. Unfortunately, each character that I was introduced to, both present and past, rang hollow and flat and incapable of holding my attention. Each were little more than cliches that evoked neither care or concern from me. The "special" child, the uncaring & absentee father, the strong yet naive mother, the attractive yet emotionally stunted handyman. None of the characters ever swam in waters deeper than a desert stream.

I had hoped to be shocked, frightened or at least concerned while reading this book. Unfortunately, bored was as far as I got.

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT
I loved, loved, loved, loved, love, loved it! It's a story that takes place in two different times. Each chapter is either in the present or in the past and the way time slides back and forth is just way,way, way cool.It's perfect for a nice summer read or even for rainy days. Kept me turningpage after page after page. But I recommend you do not read it at night.Although it doesn't seem scary as you read it...you get absolutely spookedout when night comes... ... Read more

Product Description
Janie McCleary runs one of the first movie theatres in New Brunswick. A successful woman in a world of men, she is ostracized, a victim of double-dealing and overt violence. She trusts no one outside her family. Spanning generations, "River of the Broken-Hearted" explores the life of this formidable woman, a pioneer before the age of feminism, and her legacy as it unfolds tragically in the lives of her son and grandchildren. Written with aching compassion and masterful sophistication, "River of the Broken-Hearted" muses on the tyranny of memory and history, and peers into the hearts of these extraordinary characters. There Richards finds an alchemy of venality and goodwill, of deceit and brotherliness, of cruelty and love. Once again, David Adams Richards has brought us a work of astonishing grace, rooted on the great Miramichi River of New Brunswick, but universal in scope. 'A contemporary masterpiece that, in the tradition of Tolstoy, Camus and Melville, reminds us that redemption is to be found in the suffering of innocents.' - "Washington Post" (a Best Book of 2002). 'An incomparable voyage into humanity's flawed heart' - "The Scotsman".'David Adams Richards' characters achieve redemption through affliction, but the reader does not feel afflicted. The unique style, the humour and narrative drive of "Mercy Among the Children" carry you along to a magnificent conclusion that is somehow both heartbreaking and uplifting.' - Wayne Johnston, author of "The Navigator of New York". 'David Adams Richards is perhaps the greatest Canadian writer alive...Although "Mercy Among the Children" is unrelentingly tragic, as with most tragedies the undertone is one of boundless hope' - "Vancouver Sun". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Two short stories
This book consists of two short stories, "Carmichael's Dog" and "The Christmas Tree." In the first, two boys find a puppy in the snow and decide, not entirely selflessly, to give the puppy to their mother as a Christmas gift. After all, their dog Lucky died recently, so the boys' mother would surely like another dog. On the way home, though, another child sees the boys carrying the dog and, knowing that Mr. Carmichael is looking for a lost dog, decides to tell on the boys.

In the second story, a quest for a Christmas tree does not go quite as planned. I really cannot say much more than that without divulging too much of the story.

These stories, especially "Carmichael's Dog," are good for children, but adults should also enjoy them. I thought "The Christmas Tree" the better of the two, but I suspect younger readers would find "Carmichael's Dog" more to their liking. Either way, both stories are well crafted and well written, capturing children's love of Christmas from the perspective of an adult narrator who has not entirely grown up himself and cannot help but include a bit of nostalgia in the stories. ... Read more