Product Description
When, more than twenty years ago, Kathleen Norris began attending her grandmother's small-town church on the Great Plains, she was a transplanted poet with more doubt than faith.Still, the strong pulls of tradition, family history, and community found her week after week at Sunday-morning services.In returning to church, Norris' greatest struggle was with the language of the Christian religion.She found she had to wrestle with it, grapple with its meaning and make it her own before she could embrace its blessings and grace.

Kathleen Norris is an award-winning poet and the author of THE CLOISTER WALK and DAKOTA: A SPIRITUAL GEOGRAPHY.Her most recent book of poetry is LITTLE GIRLS IN CHURCH.She lives in South Dakota.

"...a book whose hospitality extends not just to Christians or religious seekers, but to anyone drawn by what its author celebrates as 'the living word'."(The New York Times)Amazon.com Review
"Our ridiculously fallible language becomes a lesson inhow God's grace works despite and even through our human frailty. Wewill never get the words exactly right. There will always be room forimperfection, for struggle, growth and change. And this is as itshould be." With observations like this one, Kathleen Norris,author of Dakota and The Cloister Walk,has again provided a salutary corrective for contemporary Christiansin Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith. The book is about howshe learned to use religious words, such as "incarnation,""idolatry," and "evangelism." Norris is afeminist, a theological conservative, a sophisticate, and a countrybumpkin. And she's one of the few living Christian writers who can bedescribed as truly great. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (73)

New Insights
I had this book before and accidentally left it in a motel while traveling. It is well written and although I don't always agree with the author's viewpoint, I think each chapter is thought provoking and presents another way of looking at and understanding common religious terms. While this isn't a book of poetry, I think the writings have a certain poetic feel about them without being sentimental.

Worth the read
As readers know, words can hurt and words can heal. Words contain a tremendous amount of power.

In this beautifully written book, the author simply and eloquently breaks the book into chapters that focus on a word used in Christian religion, specifically those that tend to scare, alienate or distance.

AMAZING GRACE
I have bought two copies of AMAZING GRACE through the years. Both have been given away. The first copy I read probably fifty times. It is perfect for keeping on the bedside table. One can open it anywhere and read a short essay on a thought-provoking topic about how a person who wears the name of Jesus should act. The one I always remember is about when she became a Christian. Before the ceremony in the church, she met with some members of the congregation. One of them was a man she could barely stand. She was reminded, whether inwardly or by somebody i don't remember, but she was reminded that she must LOVE this man, her new brother. This is a command, not a suggestion. She writes about every single important topic thoughtful Christians think about and some they probably don't even know. It is a wonderful book.

Marge Wood

Amazing Grace by Kathleen Norris
I ordered four books for a small group study I participate in.The advantage of free shipping and fast service was a great incentive. I have always been pleased with my Amazon purchases.

How sweet the sound of Norris's writing
I loved Kathleen Norris's earlier books, "The Cloister Walk" and "Dakota".She's an odd mix--a poet, feminist, theological conservative, and country bumpkin.But I guess it's the poet I relate so strongly to.Her prose is lyrical, and I find myself thinking about something she has said at odd moments for some time after I've put her books down.Her words resonate, and her descriptions and stories convey a vocabulary of faith.She has the courage to ponder the tough questions and deal with doubt and possibility while sharing her inspiring observations. ... Read more

Product Description
The celebrated author of the New York Times bestseller Dakota: A Spiritual Geography turns here to the monastery as her spiritual landscape. She explores monastic life and its meaning with respect to our daily lives. With insight and lyrical grace, she takes us through a liturgical year in a Benedictene monastery. Simultaneous hardcover release from Riverhead. 2 cassettes.Amazon.com Review
In the tradition of Thomas Merton,Kathleen Norris gives us an intimate look at how religious life fillsa gap in the soul. Her poetic sensibilities internalize the monasteryas a symbol of spirituality, with its sanctity and humor, questioningand uncertainty, rhythm and vigor. Beyond moral precepts and Biblestories, Cloister Walk is a very personal account of religionlived fully. It depicts a depth and beauty of spirituality in monasticlife that has survived the vicissitudes of Roman Catholic politics andpomp. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (68)

steps along ancient paths
Norris' book keeps guiding people year after year, step by step along ancient paths of Benedictine spirituality. One of the qualities of Norris' writing which connect with us as readers is her edgy, skeptical, downtoearth sense of the mystery of God as unveiled within a Benedictine monastery. One of the reasons Cloister Walk has such longevity is that Norris spent months and months walking/praying/struggling in a Benedictine monastery, not as a novice nun like Karen Armstrong, but as a non-Catholic, non-male, non-monastic married protestant woman. She meanders her way around the cloister life, exploring here, poking her head into there, tiptoeing about behind over there, and pulling back the curtain up here, inviting us into the strange world, yet not so very strange ordinary spirituality of Benedictine monks. Norris is a Benedictine oblate, someone who promises to live according to Benedictine spiritual principles as much as possible according to our station in life. I too, along with about 25,000 others around the world, share Norris life as an oblate, and appreciate her way of welcoming us into the cloistered life. For another recently published book on Benedictine spirituality for nonmonastics, take a look at Ancient Paths: Discover Christian Formation the Benedictine Way.

What the . . . ?
After reading this book, a very supernatural thing happened to me. . .I started praying non-stop!And this pray basically went, "Lord, forget all about that other crap I asked for, just help me get my money back from buying that aweful book, "The Cloister Walk".It was a rambling, uninsightful book which talked at great length about being a poet and surprisingly little about the process involved in choosing the cloistered walk, which was more of what I was expecting.I love writing and poetry, but it should not dominate the discussion in such a book.I almost cried as I forced myself to finish the book, with my Grandma's words "Waste not, want not" at the forefront of my mind.

Not what I thought
I was pretty disappointed with this book. I tried to stay with it, thinking it might get better but ended up putting it down after about half way.

The author focuses more on her personal, anecdotal stories then her actual time spent in the monastery living among the vowed. Absent was any insights or conversion gained by her experiences with the religious, which was more what I was looking for.

Anyone wanting to understand more about the depths of faith gained from religious life should spend their time and money reading some of the saints instead.

Meditation on life and religion
When I think of cloisters, I associate them with gardens and labyrinth.I picked out the book because of its title and strong personal desire to learn how other find their pease in today's busy world.Ketheleen Norris has written a book that touches up on many aspects of religious life that many individuals apply knowingly or unknowingly in their everyday life.

Ms. Norristakes moments from her personal life and applies them to her persoanl experience as oblate in Catholic order of Benedictine monks.This order of monks and nuns practices religion by prayer, work and meditation.She talks in this book about female saints and martyrs; celibacy, virginity and sanctity of marriage; importance of tradition and rituals.She is objective in her portrayals of monks and nuns she meets over the years and it is amazing to notice her transformation of sceptic into a person who finds her peace in prayer and church.

This is beautifully written book and it is pleasure to read amongst people no matter what their religion (or lack of it) is.

Good quality hard cover book.Well written and very much worth reading.
A great book, that anyone could benefit by reading.For anyone suffering from depression or disappointment in life, this book is a must.Goes into great detail about what in life leads to loss of interest and lack of passion.Good common sense solutions.A very honest and transparent autobiographical account of a journey through the dark times of life and how to emerge from them in one piece emotionally and spiritually.Kathleen Norris is doing a lot of good with her writing. ... Read more

Product Description
One of the greatest novels ever written is presented in a brilliant new translation. 4 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (121)

Not easy, but richly rewarding.
A note on the copy by Everyman's Library: It's hardbound, it's durable, it's got a classy dust jacket, and I love the built-in ribbon bookmark. It's very convenient for a book of this size.

Dostoevsky's not easy to read the way a conventionally skilled author would be. He is often heavy handed with drama, we must trust him to find his way out of the many paths he leads us down, and he just doesn't operate the way Tolstoy does, presenting an easily identifiable portrait of life. This unconventional quality is what makes him so appealing to we who enjoy a trip into the extreme. And in this book Dostoevsky fires on all cannons: the most significant issue in the book is the varying experiences (pros and cons, if you will) of Dostoevsky's three basic archetypes of men: the intellectual, the romantic, and the pious. This is an extremely strong foundation for a book such as this, and would certainly be deprived of a great deal without it, because Dostoevsky meanders frequently down paths we don't as readers see as logical or pertinent at first.

Yet everything logically and thematically holds up very well, and we were deprived of a great deal by the absence of the intended two sequels to this book by Dostoevsky's death two months after he published it. It's obvious that he poured his very soul into its pages. Whereas many authors can be called impressionists or realists depicting the world around them to mimic life itself, Dostoevsky is a true romantic as every character comes crashing through the thin fabric of reality with bold, unrealistic actions, yet they are extreme in a way that comments on humanity like few other authors have. Dostoevsky deals in drama, not real life, so read this book if you appreciate bold, forceful characters and a healthy jostling of the neatly rearranged innards of your psyche. I promise you'll find plenty of both.

severely abridged edition
I wish it had been made clear upfront that this is a severely abridged edition of this novel.In other words, most of the words are not here.Not what I expected or wanted.

Translations
Greetings to all
I am not going to review this book other than to say it is one of the best I have ever had the pleasure to read.My point is in the translations.There were a couple of translations recommended.I cannot comment on those because I have not read them.I can contribute the translations of Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.I have read reviews from Russian speaking ladies and gentleman and they all by far recommend the translations I mentioned.Just a few lines to try and make the reading as enjoyable as possible..

Great book with 2 comments
I can't add much to what was written about this great book. However I have 2 points to bring up. First of all this is a terrible edition. The introduction reminds me of a High School essay and the layout is horrible with small font and tiny margins. The other point is that this book is very (too much for my taste) heavy on Christian philosophy, redemption etc...

Greatest Translation of "The Brothers Karamazov" Ever!!!
I have read the Constance Garnett translation of "The Brothers Karamazov" three times since I was a sophomore in high school, and it is still far superior to the latest translation that I read recently. I know Constance Garnett has had her detractors (i.e. Vladimir Nabokov & Joseph Brodsky), but the passion and poetry of language seems much more unaffected in Ms. Garnett's translation.

Enough though about translations, when I read "The Brothers Karamazov" as a 15 year old, it changed my life. I could hardly hold onto the book with the adrenaline coursing through to nearly bursting my finger tips upon consuming pages of epiphany after epiphany.

Perhaps generations since are raised assuming their right to the freedom of questioning and pursuing an independent investigation of truth, but in the late '60s this was not necessarily understood by a good dogmatically religious boy in Chicago. I was so fortunate that this right was inured in me through my steadfast scrutiny of the 800 pages of "The Brothers Karamazov". And still to this day, some 40 years later, I feel it is the greatest novel ever written. Through the years it is the closest that I have ever had of the meaning of life and grace confided to me. ... Read more

Product Description
It is 1998, the year in which America is whipped into a frenzy of prurience by the impeachment of a president, and in a small New England town, an aging classics professor, Coleman Silk, is forced to retire when his colleagues decree that he is a racist. The charge is a lie, but the real truth about Silk would have astonished his most virulent accuser. Coleman Silk has kept a secret for fifty years: from his wife, his four children, his colleagues, and his friends, including the writer Nathan Zuckerman, who sets out to reconstruct the biography of this eminent, upright man, and to understand how his ingeniously contrived life came unraveled. Brilliantly narrated by actors Arliss Howard and Debra Winger, THE HUMAN STAIN concludes Philip Roth's eloquent trilogy of post-war American lives.Amazon.com Review
Athena College was snoozing complacently in the Berkshires until ColemanSilk--formerly "Silky Silk," undefeated welterweight pro boxer--strode inand shook the place awake. This faculty dean sacked the deadwood, made lotsof hot new hires, including Yale-spawned literary-theory wunderkindDelphine Roux, and pissed off so many people for so many decades that now,in 1998, they've all turned on him. Silk's character assassination ispartly owing to what the novel's narrator, Nathan Zuckerman, calls "theDevil of the Little Place--the gossip, the jealousy, the acrimony, theboredom, the lies."

But shocking, intensely dramatized events precipitate Silk's crisis. Heremarks of two students who never showed up for class, "Do they exist orare they spooks?" They turn out to be black, and lodge a bogus charge ofracism exploited by his enemies. Then, at 71, Viagra catapults Silk into"the perpetual state of emergency that is sexual intoxication," and heignites an affair with an illiterate janitor, Faunia Farley, 34. She's gota sharp sensibility, "the laugh of a barmaid who keeps a baseball bat ather feet in case of trouble," and a melancholy voluptuousness. "I'm back inthe tornado," Silk exults. His campus persecutors burn him for it--and hismain betrayer is Delphine Roux.

In a short space, it's tough to convey the gale-force quality of Silk'srants, or the odd effect of Zuckerman's narration, alternatelyretrospective and torrentially in the moment. The flashbacks to Silk'syouth in New Jersey are just as important as his turbulent forcedretirement, because it turns out that for his entire adult life, Silk hasbeen covering up the fact that he is a black man. (If this seemsimplausible, consider that the famous New York Times book criticAnatole Broyard did the same thing.) Young Silk rejects both the racismthat bars him from Woolworth's counter and the Negro solidarity of HowardUniversity. "Neither the they of Woolworth's nor the we of Howard" is forColeman Silk. "Instead the raw I with all its agility.Self-discovery--that was the punch to the labonz.... Self-knowledge but concealed. What is as powerful as that?"

Silk's contradictions power a great Philip Roth novel, but he's not theonly character who packs a punch. Faunia, brutally abused by her Vietnam vethusband (a sketchy guy who seems to have wandered in from a lesser RussellBanks novel), scarred by the death of her kids, is one of Roth's bestfemale characters ever. The self-serving Delphine Roux is intriguingly (andconvincingly) nutty, and any number of minor characters pop in, mouth off,kick ass, and vanish, leaving a vivid sense of human passion and perversitybehind. You might call it a stain. --Tim Appelo ... Read more

Customer Reviews (205)

Roth Rules
It all started with American Pastoral. I was introduced to this great author who really is, to me, one of the last living great writers around. After American Pastoral, I read some of his newer books like Indignation, but did not like them. I thought that after writing American Pastoral, maybe that was all he had in him as far as greatness. Not so. I gave Human Stain a go, and it amazed me even more than American Pastoral. I really cannot fathom who a writer is capable of writing both American Pastoral and The Human Stain. How is a writer capable of that many rich, but altogether different characters and plot lines? I was simply amazed all throughout the Human Stain and liked it even better than American Pastoral. And it surprises me that Roth is not a bigger name in the mainstream. They know their stepehen kings and danielle steele's but not philip roths. That is sad, but also what makes these books a little more precious to those who revere such great works of art.

American Tragedies
You have to love a book that begins with a scathing rant on the Monica Lewinsky affair and then slips smoothly into a narrative that covers the waterfront of Western culture from Greek mythology to Shakespeare to Mahler to the American transcendentalists. The story of classics scholar and dean Coleman Silk as narrated by reclusive Jewish novelist Nathan Zuckerman, The Human Stain investigates, applauds, denounces, and second-guesses individualism and self-invention as practiced within the confines of American mob morality. In Roth's America, the only thing worse than the ethical and intellectual bankruptcy of fitting in is the punishment awaiting those living outside the lines, whether by choice or trauma. Beyond the American scene, Human Stain stages a massive frontal assault on the current state of Western culture and thought carried out through memorable characters whose tragedies are so profound as to be nearly unfathomable. Animating every word is Roth's own restless, inconsolable discontent. It's not just that he's angry. Roth transforms anger into awareness, whether he's equating the rage of Achilles to that of a violently traumatized Vietnam vet or skewering academic culture (especially the French variety). Besides bearing witness to the struggles of his characters, Roth's refusal to go along with whatever comes along suggests that a negotiated but intact self can truly be wrestled from the seemingly contradictory ambitions of individual freedom and social cohesion.

Lily White Eloquence
The guy who used to write masturbation stories of jew boys grows up.
This is a wonderful book about America, about the internal politics of the society and its workings and ultimately about the effects of the human spirit in twenty first century on the world it inhabits. The human stain is the ultimate corruptibility we bring to everything we touch, the reverse-midas of mankind.
A brilliant book.

The Destructive Power of Isms
I was once a big fan of Roth (The Great American Novel being among my all-time favorites), but haven't read much other than The Plot Against America lately.It's 1998 and the nation is slavering over President Bill Clinton's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.Familiar voice Nathan Zuckerman (The Ghost Writer, Zuckerman Unbound) narrates the story of his friend Coleman Silk, a classics professor at Athena College in Massachusetts.Silk's successful career as a professor and dean at the college has been turned upside down (actually ended) by a spurious charge of racism, after which Silk, now in his early 70s, begins an affair with a cleaning woman at the college in her 30s.

Racism, ageism, sexism, religious bigotry, academic jealousy, PTSD, and political correctness - all elements of the human stain of the title - weigh on Silk as he attempts to live life on his own terms.A primarily noble figure, Silk's independent streak forces him to live with the fallout of hard choices he's made along the way.

Roth's technique in telling Silk's tale is masterful as he moves back and forth in time, revealing salient events and details about Silk's life at the most unexpected times.The story focuses on Silk, but other characters, particularly his girlfriend Faunia Farley and her ex-husband Lester Farley, are well drawn.My only quibble is with the character of Silk's academic nemesis, Delphine Roux, who as a paradox of Machiavellian incompetence, seems a little over the top.

On the whole, Roth shines light on the prejudices people have about one another, and reminds us of the devastating effect they can have.Four strong stars for both adult readers and mature younger readers, who will benefit from Roth's insight as they make choices that will affect both their lives and the lives of others.I plan to follow up by reading Roth's American Pastoral.

P.S.This was my first Amazon Kindle book.I enjoyed the reading experience and look forward to reading many other books on this handy device.

A Masterpiece
The HUMAN STAIN is one of the most rewarding novels of our time.It represents the verybest of contemporay fiction. I cannot add to all of the excllent commentaries, except to urge you to read the novel. ... Read more

Product Description
PUBLICATION DATE SHOWN IS COPYRIGHT DATE SHOWN ON SHEET MUSIC -- FROM THE PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRODUCTION OF AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN STARRING RICHARD GERE - DEBRA WINGER - DAVID KEITH AND LOUIS GOSSETT JR -- RECORDED BY JOE COCKER AND JENNIFER WARNES ON ISLAND RECORDS -- WORDS BY WILL JENNINGS -- MUSIC BY BUFFY SAINTE MARIE AND JACK NITZSCHE HAS CHORDS WITH CHARTS -- INCLUDES A PROFESSIONAL FAKE BOOK ARRANGEMENT -- TRI FOLD FORMAT -- ... Read more

Product Description
It was quite by accident I discovered this incredible invasion of
Earth by lifeforms from another planet. As yet, I haven't done
anything about it; I can't think of anything to do. I wrote to the
Government, and they sent back a pamphlet on the repair and
maintenance of frame houses. Anyhow, the whole thing is
known; I'm not the first to discover it. Maybe it's even under control. ... Read more

Product Description
It was quite by accident I discovered this incredible invasion of Earth by lifeforms from another planet. As yet, I haven't done anything about it; I can't think of anything to do. I wrote to the Government, and they sent back a pamphlet on the repair and maintenance of frame houses. Anyhow, the whole thing is known; I'm not the first to discover it. Maybe it's even under control. ... Read more

Product Description
Sir Pierre Morlaix, Chevalier of the Angevin Empire, Knight of the Golden Leopard, and secretary-in-private to my lord, the Count D'Evreux, pushed back the lace at his cuff for a glance at his wrist watch--three minutes of seven. ... Read more

Product Description
Sir Pierre Morlaix, Chevalier of the Angevin Empire, Knight of the Golden Leopard, and secretary-in-private to my lord, the Count D'Evreux, pushed back the lace at his cuff for a glance at his wrist watch--three minutes of seven.

... Read more

Product Description
Sir Pierre Morlaix, Chevalier of the Angevin Empire, Knight of the Golden Leopard, and secretary-in-private to my lord, the Count D'Evreux, pushed back the lace at his cuff for a glance at his wrist watch--three minutes of seven.
... Read more