Best of
Words

2013

Two Prospectors: The Letters of Sam Shepard and Johnny Dark


Sam Shepard - 2013
    Winner of a Pulitzer Prize, he has written more than forty-five plays, including True West, Fool for Love, and Buried Child. Shepard has also appeared in more than fifty films, beginning with Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in The Right Stuff. Despite the publicity his work and life have attracted, however, Shepard remains a strongly private man who has said many times that he will never write a memoir. But he has written intensively about his inner life and creative work to his former father-in-law and housemate, Johnny Dark, who has been Shepard's closest friend, surrogate brother (they're nearly the same age), and even artistic muse for forty-five years and counting.Two Prospectors gathers nearly forty years of correspondence and transcribed conversations between Shepard and Dark. In these gripping, sometimes gut-wrenching letters, the men open themselves to each other with amazing honesty. Shepard's letters give us the deepest look we may ever get into his personal philosophy and creative process, while in Dark's letters we discover insights into Shepard's character that only an intimate friend could provide. The writers also reflect on the books and authors that stimulate their thinking, their relationships with women (including Shepard's anguished decision to leave his wife and son--Dark's stepdaughter and grandson--for actress Jessica Lange), personal struggles, and accumulating years. Illustrated with Dark's candid, revealing photographs of Shepard and their mutual family across many years, as well as facsimiles of numerous letters, Two Prospectors is a compelling portrait of a complex friendship that has anchored both lives for decades, a friendship also poignantly captured in Treva Wurmfeld's film, Shepard & Dark.

The Very Inappropriate Word


Jim Tobin - 2013
    Then one day, he picks up a new word. A bad word. An inappropriate word. At least, that’s what his friend says. But Michael kind of likes the word. He thinks he might try it out.At school.Bad idea.

Do One Thing Every Day That Scares You: A Journal


Dian G. Smith - 2013
    This journal contains a year's worth of fear-facing prompts and mottoes of encouragement. It provides space to jot down daily examples of your own courage--the small steps that culminate in one bold year. Jotting down one thing a day, especially on fortifying subjects like gratitude and happiness, is an enormously popular journaling practice (one that is recommended by nearly every best-selling self-help author). Bravery is another key ingredient of self-actualization, so why not make a daily habit of thinking courageously? This journal is perfect for recent graduates, milestone birthdays, or as a year-end holiday gift to kick off "New Year, New You" projects.

Grammar Without Tears


Tabitha Ormiston-Smith - 2013
    Learn while you laugh, laugh while you learn, with this short guide to the most egregious errors commonly made in English.

The Price of Dawn


John Green - 2013
    THE PRICE OF DAWN is the novelization of a video game starring Staff Sergeant Max Mayhem. That’s right, it’s a fictional novel based on a fictional video game, all of which exists inside John Green’s bestselling work of fiction, The Fault in Our Stars. But now it’s REAL and it will be sent to you as a downloadable PDF.

Big Book of English Words


Mairi Mackinnon - 2013
    There are lots of things to spot and talk about in this large format board book, that is perfect for poring over together. With characterful and slightly nostalgic illustrations by Kate Hindley.

Susie Dent's Weird Words


Susie Dent - 2013
    SUSIE DENT'S WEIRD WORDS takes children on a rip-roaring tour through some of the most astonishing and sometimes quite revolting origins of English words. As Susie Dent knows, even the most ordinary-sounding word can have the most extraordinary story behind it.

The Boring Book


Vasanti Unka - 2013
    The world will never be the same again. The words jump into street signs, they leap onto shop signs, they decorate pathways and roadways and ponds. But one day they go too far...

My First Book of Japanese Words: An ABC Rhyming Book


Michelle Haney Brown - 2013
    Organized in a familiar ABC structure, everyday words and expressions-as well as words that have special significance in Japanese culture-offer even very young children an enticing glimpse into Japanese daily life. This delightfully illustrated preschool book shows each word in Kanji and Hiragana as well as in Romanized form. Teachers and parents-bilingual and English-speaking only alike-will appreciate the book's cultural and linguistic notes, while Kenji and his friends encourage young readers to join the fun!

The Bible in Shakespeare


Hannibal Hamlin - 2013
    The Bible in Shakespeare addresses this serious deficiency. Early chapters describe the post-Reformation explosion of Bible translation and the development of English biblical culture, compare the Church and the theater as cultural institutions (particularly in terms of the audience's auditory experience), and describe in general terms Shakespeare's allusive practice. Later chapters are devoted to interpreting Shakespeare's use of biblical allusion in a wide variety of plays, across the spectrum of genres: King Lear and Job, Macbeth and Revelation, the Crucifixion in the Roman Histories, Falstaff's anarchic biblical allusions, and variations on Adam, Eve, and the Fall throughout Shakespeare's dramatic career, from Romeo and Juliet to The Winter's Tale.The Bible in Shakespeare offers a significant new perspective on Shakespeare's plays, and reveals how the culture of early modern England was both dependent upon and fashioned out of a deep engagement with the interpreted Bible. The book's wide-ranging and interdisciplinary nature will interest scholars in a variety of fields: Shakespeare and English literature, allusion and intertextuality, theater studies, history, religious culture, and biblical interpretation. With growing scholarly interest in the impact of religion on early modern culture, the time is ripe for such a publication.