Product Description
Best-selling author Karen Kingsbury weaves another dramatic story of tragedy and redemption!

Mary Madison was a child of unspeakable horrors, a young woman society wanted to forget. Now a divine power has set Mary free to bring life-changing hope and love to battered and abused women living in the shadow of the nation's capital.

Mary is educated and redeemed, a powerful voice in Washington, D.C.—both to the politically elite and to other women like her. But she also has a past that shamed polite society. Her experiences created in her paralyzing fear, faithlessness, addiction, and promiscuity. At the crossroads of her life, only one power set Mary free and gave her a lifetime of love and hope. A power that could only be divine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (49)

TOO INTENSE FOR A CHRISTIAN BOOK
Though I know the author meant well, it is too intense of a story for christians AND especially for victims of sexual abuse!

Not my Favorite, but not Unlikeable either
I really love Kingsbury's books.The Baxter series, the Take 1-4 love them.This one was okay, and even peaked my interest, but it took until chapter 3 to gain some interest, then right towards the end, eh.I still read the whole thing, but I just not my total fav.

well written, but not exactly what I want to fill my mind with
This book is well written, but I would suggest Between Sunday's instead, if you're looking for a book to while away your time. Yes, it is sad and true that stuff like childhood sexual abuse happens to kids. It's something that we need to be smart about protecting kids from, including knowing the signs, but being informed and reading a several hundred page book for entertainment purposes are different things. The nature of the topic is such that it forces the reader to dwell on things that aren't lovely, or pure in a graphic way. I know that characters have to go through a journey in a book and "transform" some way, but the payoff doesn't seem to compensate for the hundred of pages of muck you have to trek though.

Spoiler warning:

The story starts off with the story of a little girl being dragged around by her prostitute mother, who soon dies leaving her daughter vulnerable to the sexual predators that surround her. She behaves in a typical fashion after she is freed from sex slavery, using sex as a weapon at the juvenile prison she ends up at and trying to entice a godly man (who is something of a love interest) at the shelter she ends up living at. True to life, but yuck. She ends up in a relationship with a man tied to the mafia, commits her life to Christ, tries to run away and is shot...but somehow survives.

The climax of this scene is when she has a vision of Jesus standing up from his throne for her, just as he did for Stephen, the first Martyr. In a way it shows that no matter what she's gone through or done, Christ sees her without a spot, as beloved child.

She goes on to work with women with her same background and the book implies that she will probably never marry.

Interwoven in all this is the concurrent story of a woman in abusive relationship who is considering suicide, but the main character is tellingher the story in an attempt to persuade her to live.

Opened my eyes
God is awesome and Karen portrays that in this book. You can't stop crying as you see God's work in this amazing story.

Couldn't put it down
My only warning...be prepared to read for a while, because once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down!Incredibly well written and hits on the real world issues that Christian writers often won't deal with. ... Read more

Product Description
CD edition of a contemporary, fresh version of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Includes a newly released song I Am A Voice sung by Trish Short, Michael Bethea, and Crystal Yates. Format: Audio CDRun Time: 27 minutes ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

great old fashoined VHS
I love having the chaplet to use for prayer whenever I want.I love that its a VHS that I can play on my old fashioned in-the-tv VHS player.It arrived quickly and in great condioin!

excellent CD
This is a beautiful, musical rendition of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.It will appeal to a wide variety of individuals.I highly recommend this CD.

Divine music with Divine Mercy Chaplet
I love this CD. Beautifully done, spiritual, just beautiful way of saying/singing the Divine Mercy Chaplet,

Excellent!
Absolutely beautiful! Have recommended it to several people. Sing along with it for a truly awesome experience!

play this every night
I bought the book and this CD - I play this CD on repeat every night as I sleep. GREAT PRAYER-this prayer was a gift from Jesus. ... Read more

Product Description
Shannon Parker has finally come to terms with life in the mythical world of Partholon. She loves her centaur husband, her connection to the goddess Epona and the pampering that comes with both! She's almost forgotten her old life on Earth—especially when she discovers she's pregnant….

Then a sudden burst of power sends her back to Oklahoma. Without magic, Shannon can't return to Partholon—and so she needs to find help. Trouble is, it might take the form of a man as tempting as her husband. And along the way she'll discover that being divine by mistake is a lot easier than being divine by choice…. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Divine by Choice
I had trouble with this book.I couldn't really get into it.I had always had trouble with the main character, she just didn't grab me.The place in which she lives also wasn't something I could visualize.It was a slow read and almost seemed a chore for me to read it.I didn't really enjoy this book and I was upset with P.C. Cast.She ahs always been one of my favorites, but I feel she messed this one up.

ROMANCE MYTHOLOGICAL
I LIKE HOW THE CHARACTERS ARE INTERTWINED FROM DIFFERENT TIMELINES AND HOW THE CHARACTERS DISCOVER WHO THEY ARE, WHAT THEY WANT TO BE, AND HOW THEY GET TO DO THAT. PC CAST IS A FEMALE WRITER DEFINETLY KNOWS HOW TO WRITE TO KEEP THE FEMALE READER ENGROSSED IN THE MATTER AT HAND. SHE IS A WRITER TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR.

In Love With Shannon's Story
I really enjoyed the first book in the series, Divine By Mistake. So I was excited to start Divine by Choice. My hopes for it were that it had the same writing style that captured me in to first the story and that the main character would be justas enjoyable. I got all that, plus an unbelievably exciting plot! This book wasn't as long as the first one, but it held just as much action as the first.

In the beginning, Shannon is enjoying her new life with her centaur husband and ready to start a family. Then she is pulled back into her old life in Oklahoma. I enjoyed seeing more of Shannon's life before Partholon. I love the concept Cast has created of mirror twins. Shannon has only the help of her husband ClanFintan's mirror, a man named Clint. But he isn't just an ordinary man, he is a shaman in our world. At first, I hated Clint. Only because I loved Clanfintan so much in the first book. How dare this new guy come along! But once I got over that, I could see Shannon's dilemma. It would be a hard and confusing thing for any girl to be around your husband's mirror image, especially if you are afraid you may never get to see your husband again. I think the die hard romance fans will become upset at Shannon in some points, but for me Clint added a very exciting element into the story.

I was glad to have all my questions answered about Rhinannon. It was nice to know how Shannon and Rhinannon became such different people. I still think that Rhinannon is a horrible person that does some evil things, but hearing about her past, I couldn't help but sympathize with her. Parts of her past were very intense to read about, to the point that I was peaking through my fingers while reading it. This book is definitely for adult readers.

The same monster Shannon has to fight in the story is back, except it is now in our world. Shannon has to stop it before it harms her family. I felt so bad for Shannon, she had to go through so much emotionally in this book. Yes, I really sympathized with her, because that is how emotionally invested I have become in this character. When Shannon was going through something, it felt like I was going through it. I love how Cast can make the characters feel that real to you. Even though Shannon goes through hard times, she still had the same great sense of humor and snarky side that I loved in the first book.

The ending had me crying and was tearing me up a little inside. But the last few pages made me hopeful Shannon might be able to gain back and keep her happily ever after. I am excited to jump in to the next book and see the conclusion in Shannon's story. Divine by Choice was a fantastic sequel. I usually don't enjoy a sequel more than the first book, but I did here. I have high hopes for Divine by Blood!

Funny, Beautiful, and Dark
Shannon Parker is officially one of my new all-time favorite characters.P.C. Cast has created a beautiful world, a funny and quirky set of characters, and an amazing story only made better by the second installment in her Goddess of Partholon series, DIVINE BY CHOICE.For me, Shannon is what really made this story sparkle.

Tossed into a mythological world where centaurs exist and evil has the potential to roam the lands, Shannon Parker has enough trouble trying to manage without toilet paper, let alone attempting to be the Goddess Incarnate of Epona she is supposed to be in this new world.In DIVINE BY CHOICE we get to follow the cute woman as she finds herself unexpectedly thrown one surprise after another.It's difficult to talk about the storyline in this installment without giving away too much of the story; just know that Shannon is going to be tested like never before - spiritually, physically, and romantically.

Why is Shannon such a fantastic character?Honestly, I hope to someday ask that of Ms. Cast.However she developed Shannon; whatever love she put into her; whatever crazy dreams inspired the author to create Shannon Parker, ex-teacher and new Goddess Incarnate, has to be magic.I've ready many books where I felt connected to the lead character, but rarely do I feel like I miss that character after the story is done.With DIVINE BY MISTAKE I honestly feel like a good friend has departed and I have to sit and anxiously wait for her return.Perhaps it's the humor Shannon is imbued with and the funny way she views life.She is a sparkling character with a strong personality that makes her very relatable.She's the girl you want to be; not the processed Barbie doll of pristine beauty, but the real-life woman of humor and optimism.

Seriously, I just love reading about her.

Now that I've got that out of my system, how about we visit some other great aspects of the book?If Ms. Cast's lead character wasn't so dang cute, the story would most likely still be fantastic.There is a nice support system of strong characters.In DIVINE BY MISTAKE we see the introduction of Clint and let me just tell you now, be prepared for some serious heart pounding!Whether it's from anticipation, anger, anguish, joy, or fear, Clint throws us through some serious emotions.I rarely get truly vested in a story, instead, enjoying the surface emotions during the book and then allowing them to release once it's over.Otherwise, I think I'd mope around for days each time I finished a book.With this one however, there is no way not to get invested.Clin, and the part he plays in the story, digs down deep into the heart and sits there, waiting until you're least expecting it to pop up and get those emotions rolling.

Nothing says "I just finished a good book" like getting caught staring at the wall, daydreaming while your popcorn burns in the microwave.I was so looking forward to that popcorn too.

Ms. Cast's scenery and the way she describes her world is truly what makes the story come to life.This was true in Divine by Mistake but is even more evident in DIVINE BY CHOICE.It's very easy to see and feel the world around you which only aids the author in pulling us down into the story.At one point while reading a particularly cold scene, I was amazed to walk outside and find it rather warm.I had expecting it to be frigid out.When an author can influence not only your emotions, but what you expect in the world, that's the sign that he or she has got you hooked.

Like the first book, there were a few times that the pace seemed to pick up and leave me a little behind.I wouldn't say that it was too distracting and overall didn't effect the story that much.

Fair warning time: There are adult scenes and themes within the pages of DIVINE BY CHOICE.

It was ridiculously easy to get engrossed in DIVINE BY MISTAKE and I am quite anxious to start Divine by Blood next.This is the third book in the series and by the excerpt of it found at the end of book two, it promises to be even better than the first ones.If you haven't given this series a try, I recommend it.The stories are magical, funny, full of action, and filled with color.They are the perfect escape on a rainy day anytime you just want to go somewhere filled fantasy for a bit.

great continuation of a series
I have enjoyed the series and so far the book has been up to the same standards of the previous books in the series. I enjoy P.C. Cast writing and would read more from her. ... Read more

Product Description
The Divine Comedy (Italian: La Divina Commedia) is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature. The poem's imaginative and allegorical vision of the Christian afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church. It helped establish the Tuscan dialect in which it is written as the Italian standard. It is divided into three parts, the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.On the surface the poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven; but at a deeper level it represents allegorically the soul's journey towards God. At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially the teachings of Thomas Aquinas. At the surface level, the poem is understood to be fictional. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (63)

Even if the book is not a "comedy" the reviews are hilarious!
I got on Amazon to see what had been said about the recent translations of the *The Divine Comedy," owning a copy of this translation and having read most of it. I am also aware of the status of this work in world literature, and have a lot of education in literature and have read quite a bit.Fortunately, my experience made the errors in the other "reviews" of the book quite clear. It would likely be helpful if reviewers had some basis for the things that they say on here before they say it.No, this book is not funny.It's not that kind of comedy.It's an older form of poetry so the meter is not what one would expect in a limerick.It would probably be a good idea if people read some commercial reviews of a book before they by it, and if people did not post customer service complaints as reviews.

A very poor printing and editing of the book.
Since this is a well known novel I won't review it. You may find a review somewhere else. This edition of the book is absolutely horrible. The text is not centered as you may expect from a book, making it impossible to read. I would recommend reading the book, just not this edition.

Dante as faithfully translated... the best available!
Dante is part of my "Life Curriculum," books that I read and reread throughout my years, inorder to establish a good basis for thinking and believing. They are supposed to help me live a "good" life, a moral and faithful life. This translation by Mendelbaum is exceptional. It adheres to the poetic spirit of the epic, as well as the intended meaning. In this edition, the notes at the back of the book are helpful in understanding the contemporary politics that Dante is often referring to, as well as little known personalities. This edition is a pleasure to hold in your hands, beautiful format and font. It also has copies of older artistic engravings that actually help in understanding the story. If you are looking for a one volume translation of Dante's Comedy, buy this one.

Cheaply made edition, many mistakes, poor quality
I am sorry I bought this: I wanted all three portions of the Comedy in one book.I got taken in by the slick cover design.When the book arrived it was cheaply made, and there is no introduction and no endnotes to the text.There isn't even anywhere that tells you who did the translation.These might seem like little things, but once you are reading and Dante starts mentioning the different Popes of the time, or different Italian noblemen by name, I personally need some footnotes to help me figure out who these people are and why he's talking about them.Some of the reviews here are of the content, which is of course a literary classic.This printing was cheaply done and isn't worth the price, even though it is pretty cheap.

WARNING
The book with ISBN 1449557848, The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso --- with the red and black cover, and the flames --- is absolutely one of the strangest and worst books I have ever seen. Published by some outfit called "Classic Books International," it has an ANONYMOUS translation.Stranger than that, this anonymous translation seems to have been a verse translation but is printed here as PROSE -- but there's more!The initial letters of the verse lines have a Capital Letter which Has Been preserved, so reading the text is a little Bit like reading a ransom Note.There is no preface, no introduction.There are no notes.If I had to guess, I would guess that someone took a free text off the Web and did a slap-dash job of printing it out on paper.

The cover is very pretty, which reminds me of that old saying...

I just ordered the Mandelbaum translation from Amazon UK.This one is going in the trash.

---- Note ------

The Mandelbaum translation The Divine Comedy (Everyman's Library Classics) has arrived, and it is superb. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (71)

Divine Nine the Movie
I think this book would make an excellent Feature Film and/or Mini Series! I would like to know how to reach the author/publiser to obtain the rights.

A gift for my daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My daughter wanted info because she is pledging soon. What a great and informative book.

Adequate history lesson, but falls short in some areas...
my husbanded gave me "The Divine Nine..." as an x-mas gift and I couldn't wait to read it.As a member of the D9 I was looking towards the historical aspects of each organization and I also wanted more insight on those that weren't on my campus (SGRho and Iota).

While I received a thorough history lesson on Alpha Phi Alpha, I felt equal emphasis should have been placed on all of the fraternal organizations.

As for the sororities - let me first say that the AKA hymn is INCORRECT.I also feel some biasedness/sensationalization towards some organizations founding.

Let's keep all of the information on EACH organization on an even keel. Or could this be based on the amount of information provided by each National Organization???

I give it a B+ or the effort and a C- for the overall content...

History
This book is recommended to members and anyone who is interested in joining a African American Greek Letter Organization.It gives a good history on the fraternities and sororities.

The book is kind of old, but the history is there.

It's A Good Book
I don't think this book is written in the best format possible, but the information it contains is good. Buy it if you are really interested in the content and can deal with a little nonsense in the formatting. ... Read more

Product Description
The present fray had turn'd my thoughts to muse Upon old Aesop's fable, where he told What fate unto the mouse and frog befell. For language hath not sounds more like in sense, Than are these chances, if the origin And end of each be heedfully compar'd. And as one thought bursts from another forth, So afterward from that another sprang, Which added doubly to my former fear.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Medieval vision of the afterlife
This was required reading for a graduate course in medieval history.Norton edition has great articles to help explain the work and is a great translation.The other great translation is by Mark Musa."The Divine Comedy" describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso), guided first by the Roman epic poet Virgil and then by Beatrice, the subject of his love and another of his works, "La Vita Nuova." While the vision of Hell, the Inferno, is vivid for modern readers, the theological niceties presented in the other books require a certain amount of patience and scholarship to understand.Purgatorio, the most lyrical and human of the three, also has the most poets in it; Paradiso, the most heavily theological, has the most beautiful and ecstatic mystic passages in which Dante tries to describe what he confesses he is unable to convey (e.g., when Dante looks into the face of God: "all'alta fantasia qui mancò possa" - "at this high moment, ability failed my capacity to describe," Paradiso, XXXIII, 142).

Dante wrote the Comedy in his regional dialect.By creating a poem of epic structure and philosophic purpose, he established that the Italian language was suitable for the highest sort of expression, and simultaneously established the Tuscan dialect as the standard for Italian. In French, Italian is nicknamed la langue de Dante.Publishing in the vernacular language marked Dante as one of the first (among others such as Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio) to break from standards of publishing in only Latin or Greek (the languages of Church and antiquity).This break allowed more literature to be published for a wider audience - setting the stage for greater levels of literacy in the future.

Readers often cannot understand how such a serious work may be called a "comedy".In Dante's time, all serious scholarly works were written in Latin (a tradition that would persist for several hundred years more, until the waning years of the Enlightenment) and works written in any other language were assumed to be comedic in nature.Furthermore, the word "comedy," in the classical sense, refers to works which reflect belief in an ordered universe, in which events not only tended towards a happy or "amusing" ending, but an ending influenced by a Providential will that orders all things to an ultimate good.By this meaning of the word, the progression of Dante's pilgrim from Hell to Paradise is the paradigmatic expression of comedy, since the work begins with the pilgrim's moral confusion and ends with the vision of God.

The Divine Comedy can be described simply as an allegory: Each canto, and the episodes therein, can contain many alternate meanings.Dante's allegory, however, is more complex, and, in explaining how to read the poem (see the "Letter to Can Grande della Scala"), he outlines other levels of meaning besides the allegory (the historical, the moral, the literal, and the anagogical).The structure of the poem, likewise, is quite complex, with mathematical and numerological patterns arching throughout the work, particularly threes and nines.The poem is often lauded for its particularly human qualities: Dante's skillful delineation of the characters he encounters in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise; his bitter denunciations of Florentine and Italian politics; and his powerful poetic imagination.Dante's use of real characters, according to Dorothy Sayers in her introduction to her translation of "L'Inferno", allows Dante the freedom of not having to involve the reader in description, and allows him to "[make] room in his poem for the discussion of a great many subjects of the utmost importance, thus widening its range and increasing its variety."

Dante called the poem "Comedy" (the adjective "Divine" added later in the 16th century) because poems in the ancient world were classified as High ("Tragedy") or Low ("Comedy"). Low poems had happy endings and were of everyday or vulgar subjects, while High poems were for more serious matters. Dante was one of the first in the Middle Ages to write of a serious subject, the Redemption of man, in the low and vulgar Italian language and not the Latin language as one might expect for such a serious topic.

Paradiso
After an initial ascension (Canto I), Beatrice guides Dante through the nine spheres of Heaven. These are concentric and spherical, similar to Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmology.Dante admits that the vision of heaven he receives is the one that his human eyes permit him to see. Thus, the vision of heaven found in the Cantos is Dante's own personal vision, ambiguous in its true construction.The addition of a moral dimension means that a soul that has reached Paradise stops at the level applicable to it.Souls are allotted to the point of heaven that fits with their human ability to love God.Thus, there is a heavenly hierarchy. All parts of heaven are accessible to the heavenly soul.That is to say all experience God but there is a hierarchy in the sense that some souls are more spiritually developed than others.This is not determined by time or learning as such but by their proximity to God (how much they allow themselves to experience him above other things).It must be remembered in Dante's schema that all souls in Heaven are on some level always in contact with God.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in literature and medieval history.
... Read more

Product Description
Astounded, to the guardian of my steps I turn'd me, like the chill, who always runs Thither for succour, where he trusteth most, And she was like the mother, who her son Beholding pale and breathless, with her voice Soothes him, and he is cheer'd; for thus she spake, Soothing me:
... Read more

Product Description

What does a Hip-Hop artist, Waffle House waitress, tire salesman, and disabled girl have to do with discovering spiritual truth? What if embracing authentic Christianity is a journey of unlearning? Welcome to Jim Palmer's world!

Don Miller meets Anne Lamott meets Brian McLaren in this tale of shedding religion and plunging into uncharted depths of knowing God. Jim Palmer, emergent pastor, shares his compelling off-road spiritual journey and the unsuspecting people who became his guides.

"Perhaps God's reason for wanting me," writes Palmer, "is much better than my reason for wanting him. Maybe God's idea of my salvation trumps the version I am too willing to settle for. Seeing I needed a little help to get this, God sent a variety pack of characters to awaken me." For all those hoping there's more to God and Christianity than what they've heard or experienced, each chapter of Divine Nobodies gives the reader permission and freedom to discover it for themselves. Sometimes comical, other times tragic, at times shocking, always honest; Jim Palmer's story offers an inspiring and profound glimpse into life with God beyond institutional church and conventional religion.

"I am tempted to say that Jim Palmer could well be the next Donald Miller, but what they have in common, along with an honest spirituality and extraordinary skill as storytellers, is a unique voice . . . Divine Nobodies is a delight to read, and it was good for my soul to read it."
-BRIAN MCLAREN
Author of The Secret Message of Jesus

"You hold in your hands an amazing story of a broken man finding freedom in all the right places-in God's work in the lives of some extraordinarily ordinary people around him.You will thrill to this delightful blend of gut-wrenching honesty and laugh-out-loud hilarity, and in the end you'll find God much closer, the body of Christ far bigger and your own journey far clearer than you ever dreamed."
-WAYNE JACOBSEN
Author of Authentic Relationships

Customer Reviews (51)

Good Book
This a good book, it really gives cause to thought about religion as usual... read it..

A rewarding and well written story
I started this book with the usual optimism I have when reading any spriritual literature. I wanted to take something away from the story that would help me become a better person. Whether it would be some gifted words of advice or a tip or trick I could use to find more happiness or peace in my life, I looked at all these books as kind of building blocks to help me become a better person. I wanted to be special and needed someone to tell me how to do it. Defining my personal relationship with Jesus was never in the forefront of this thought process. Funny how my understanding about my personal relationship with Jesus is the only way to begin the process of being "happy" or "peaceful." I had long since abandoned the idea of finding Jesus or thinking God was the answer to my search. I had experienced church, and found myself feeling like I was missing some special part of me that connected me with the spirit. I would go the through the motions of mass and feel guilty about not expereincing what I thought church was supposed to bring. I thought I was just inadequate in the spirit, and it was a lack of character that prohibited me from finding happiness in religion. So I started trying to become a person of character - or what I thought character meant. I now understand that my personal relationship with Jesus is really what was missing from my life. My character depends on how I let Jesus help me. I have a sense of quiet calmness now that I never had before. It is like a feeling of certainess - an understanding of how much joy and goodness my life will have because I now accept my relationship with Jesus. Jim Palmer takes the reader along on his journey and in the process allows the reader to experience this quiet calm or certainness of joy that developing a relationship with Jesus will bring.This is a wonderful book. I can't say enough.

freaking awesome book, real Chistianity... in the works
This book is right on. Jim gives it like it is and does not pull any punches with himself. He learned some hard lessons and came out a much more real and authentic christian for it.
He tells of him background and heart breaking childhood, but doews not make himself a victim, No excuses..
This book is funny, real and aught to be required reading for all stuffy people everywhere.
Thanks Jim for opening your heart wide.

Ordinary People
My heart was blessed by the stories of ordinary people - some like me - whom God used in extraordinary ways.Each story was short and to the point.I've shared it with several friends already.

Blew my socks off!
I have been a Christian for a long time,and burned out on the "church" and all the legalism long time ago.I have found my way back ,but not through the church.I am going to buy several copies of this book for anyone I know to read.It was awesome!I purposely read it slow(I am a very fast reader)so I could digest every thing he wrote about.Thanks Jim!It was a huge breath of spirit filled air! ... Read more

Product Description
SO were mine eyes inebriate with view Of the vast multitude, whom various wounds Disfigur'd, that they long'd to stay and weep.

But Virgil rous'd me: "What yet gazest on? Wherefore doth fasten yet thy sight below Among the maim'd and miserable shades? Thou hast not shewn in any chasm beside This weakness. Know, if thou wouldst number them That two and twenty miles the valley winds Its circuit, and already is the moon Beneath our feet: the time permitted now Is short, and more not seen remains to see."
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Medieval vision of the afterlife
This was required reading for a graduate course in medieval history.Norton edition has great articles to help explain the work and is a great translation.The other great translation is by Mark Musa."The Divine Comedy" describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso), guided first by the Roman epic poet Virgil and then by Beatrice, the subject of his love and another of his works, "La Vita Nuova." While the vision of Hell, the Inferno, is vivid for modern readers, the theological niceties presented in the other books require a certain amount of patience and scholarship to understand.Purgatorio, the most lyrical and human of the three, also has the most poets in it; Paradiso, the most heavily theological, has the most beautiful and ecstatic mystic passages in which Dante tries to describe what he confesses he is unable to convey (e.g., when Dante looks into the face of God: "all'alta fantasia qui mancò possa" - "at this high moment, ability failed my capacity to describe," Paradiso, XXXIII, 142).

Dante wrote the Comedy in his regional dialect.By creating a poem of epic structure and philosophic purpose, he established that the Italian language was suitable for the highest sort of expression, and simultaneously established the Tuscan dialect as the standard for Italian. In French, Italian is nicknamed la langue de Dante.Publishing in the vernacular language marked Dante as one of the first (among others such as Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio) to break from standards of publishing in only Latin or Greek (the languages of Church and antiquity).This break allowed more literature to be published for a wider audience - setting the stage for greater levels of literacy in the future.

Readers often cannot understand how such a serious work may be called a "comedy".In Dante's time, all serious scholarly works were written in Latin (a tradition that would persist for several hundred years more, until the waning years of the Enlightenment) and works written in any other language were assumed to be comedic in nature.Furthermore, the word "comedy," in the classical sense, refers to works which reflect belief in an ordered universe, in which events not only tended towards a happy or "amusing" ending, but an ending influenced by a Providential will that orders all things to an ultimate good.By this meaning of the word, the progression of Dante's pilgrim from Hell to Paradise is the paradigmatic expression of comedy, since the work begins with the pilgrim's moral confusion and ends with the vision of God.

The Divine Comedy can be described simply as an allegory: Each canto, and the episodes therein, can contain many alternate meanings.Dante's allegory, however, is more complex, and, in explaining how to read the poem (see the "Letter to Can Grande della Scala"), he outlines other levels of meaning besides the allegory (the historical, the moral, the literal, and the anagogical).The structure of the poem, likewise, is quite complex, with mathematical and numerological patterns arching throughout the work, particularly threes and nines.The poem is often lauded for its particularly human qualities: Dante's skillful delineation of the characters he encounters in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise; his bitter denunciations of Florentine and Italian politics; and his powerful poetic imagination.Dante's use of real characters, according to Dorothy Sayers in her introduction to her translation of "L'Inferno", allows Dante the freedom of not having to involve the reader in description, and allows him to "[make] room in his poem for the discussion of a great many subjects of the utmost importance, thus widening its range and increasing its variety."

Dante called the poem "Comedy" (the adjective "Divine" added later in the 16th century) because poems in the ancient world were classified as High ("Tragedy") or Low ("Comedy"). Low poems had happy endings and were of everyday or vulgar subjects, while High poems were for more serious matters. Dante was one of the first in the Middle Ages to write of a serious subject, the Redemption of man, in the low and vulgar Italian language and not the Latin language as one might expect for such a serious topic.

Paradiso
After an initial ascension (Canto I), Beatrice guides Dante through the nine spheres of Heaven. These are concentric and spherical, similar to Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmology.Dante admits that the vision of heaven he receives is the one that his human eyes permit him to see. Thus, the vision of heaven found in the Cantos is Dante's own personal vision, ambiguous in its true construction.The addition of a moral dimension means that a soul that has reached Paradise stops at the level applicable to it.Souls are allotted to the point of heaven that fits with their human ability to love God.Thus, there is a heavenly hierarchy. All parts of heaven are accessible to the heavenly soul.That is to say all experience God but there is a hierarchy in the sense that some souls are more spiritually developed than others.This is not determined by time or learning as such but by their proximity to God (how much they allow themselves to experience him above other things).It must be remembered in Dante's schema that all souls in Heaven are on some level always in contact with God.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in literature and medieval history.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

The Final Step
Fr. Thomas Keating does a masterful job of expanding the meaning of the tradtional 12 step program by incorporating the practiceof centering prayer (meditation)into each step.The result is a truly spiritual 12 step journey which anyone, not just addicts or alcoholics,can benefit from.We can all use this 12 step spiritualized practice to assist us in our spiritual evolution.

Excellent for a Recovery Framework!
This book gave me a great framework for understanding HOW the Steps relate to spirituality and prayer and meditation.I had been looking for something just like that, as a global kind of thinker.It isn't enough for me just to do the next thing without a look at the whole picture.
Although simply presented, the material is weighty and the material presented allowed me to spin off in the directions I need to go to move forward.
I would recommend this book to anyone at all.If it resonates........all the better.

Addiction issue or not....everyone needs to read this book
I agree with the other reviewers on all points and have found this information to be life-changing.It fully connects the strategic and tactical methodologies for finding happiness by transcending disappointing, frustrating and even tragic events in our lives. It gives meaning to the "misuse of will" Bill W. speaks of in the 12 & 12.It also provide powerful tools to achieve the oft-illusive acceptance sought by so many in 12 step programs.

This is done in an interview format with an A.A. guy asking questions/making observations as Father Keating (a Cistercian/Trappist Monk) shares his divine wisdom and insight.While the interviewer can get a little annoying (almost pompous) at times, it cannot overshadow the critically important information and answers provided by the the interviewee (Fr. Keating).

Stop reading this review and BUY THE BOOK!You won't be sorry.

A.A. as a spiritual path
In the 12 and 12 Bill W. suggests that the problem is that we are trying to achieve happiness by satisfying our instincts, and then goes on with the rest of the book without really telling us what to do about it.This book gives us a solution, a prayer method that is very easy and surprizingly effective.

A wonderful guide
This is one of the best books I have ever read on the connection between a Higher Power and the Twelve Steps.Whatever your addiction, and even if life is your addiction, this is the guidebook that will never fail you! ... Read more

Product Description
When Phyllis Tickle's marvelous devotional trilogy The Divine HoursTM appeared, readers responded with gratitude, praise, and a great many requests for an edition of hourly prayers that they could easily carry with them--an edition that would make this ancient form of Christian worship compatible with the pace and mobility of modern life.
Now, in The Divine Hours Pocket EditionTM, Tickle has gathered one full week of fixed-hour prayers, providing an ideal companion for travelers, office-workers, people on retreat or pilgrimage, as well as newcomers to this age-old spiritual practice. As Tickle writes in her introduction, "prayer is always a place as well as an action, and the daily offices are like small chapels or wayside stations within the day's courses." Seven of these daily offices are offered for each day of the week, and each office contains the Call to Prayer, the Request for Presence, the Greeting, the Reading, the Gloria, the Psalm, the Small Verse, the Lord's Prayer, the Petition, and the Final Thanksgiving. Tickle draws her texts primarily from the Book of Common Prayer and the writings of the Church Fathers, and includes memorable devotional and meditative poems by Cleland McAfee, Charles Wesley, and others. Tickle also provides a chapter of "Traditional, Seasonal, and Occasional Prayers" in order to accommodate special dates like Advent, Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving; major life-changes such as marriage, birth, death, and illness; and moments of special petition or thanksgiving.
For all those who want to carry a "small chapel" of prayers with them, The Divine Hours Pocket EditionTM offers a convenient, easy-to-use, and deeply spiritual guide to a devotional practice that extends all the way back to Christ and the twelve Apostles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

A Good Guide
Really enjoying this prayer book. It has been a great help in guiding me in my prayers. Most of the book is scripture that you are praying back to God. Recommend highly!

Great Beginners Book
I had read about fixed-hour prayer for years and had wanted to try it but when I'd tried previously, the manuals, like the Book of Common Prayer, seemed overly complicated. When I saw this little book however, it didn't seem so intimidating. One week's worth of prayer and all laid out for you without having to know what liturgical week it was or flipping back and forth in the book, it was perfect! If you're looking to get your feet wet but perhaps feel it's too much, start here.

I found it easy to get into a daily rhythm by setting an alarm for each time I should pray on my iPod Touch. I had always had a hard time with praying daily but now I feel much closer to God and can talk to him more freely. You may want to adjust the suggested times to say the prayers to better fit your schedule and don't worry about saying all seven offices, start with one or two and go from there.

One negative thing about the book is that it instructs you to say The Gloria and The Our Father but doesn't give you the words to them at all. While finding the words was relatively easy, it seems like a no-brainer to include them for the uninitiated.

Daily Meditaion
This is great 'little' book for daily meditation.It works well for busy people to add a quiet time several times daily.Have ordered it severa times as gifts.

May Make a Wonderful Introduction to Praying the Hours
Unlike other reviewers of The Divine Hours: Pocket Edition, I did not come to this book from the larger, three volume set of The Divine Hours. I was unaware of those when I ran across this in a book store and just had a feeling that it might provide something I was needing. So, I'm not sure how this compares to the larger set, but I can certainly say that I have had a wonderful experience with it. It's a tremendous collection that's helped to revitalize my prayer life, and I suspect that this pocket edition might be a good way for people who've never prayed the hours (like myself before this book) to be introduced to that way of approaching prayer.

I do think that Phyllis Tickle has done an outstanding job of adapting traditional prayers and biblical passages into each set of fixed-hour prayers. Even after having prayed through the book for months, I'm consistently surprised by the beauty of the words and selections and am challenged by them each day.

Since I think that this is a good introduction to praying the hours, I would also add a note for those who come to the book from traditions who practice less formal, more extemporaneous prayer. I came from such a tradition, and I certainly see and know the necessity of such creatively engaged prayer in many situations. The value I find is such formal expression of prayer, as in this book, is in the way it decenters the individual's agency in prayer; God becomes the agent. As you find yourself adapting to the rhythms of the language and to the rhythms of the day, I think you can find yourself moved toward a very different attitude--of humility, listening rather than speaking, being shaped rather than trying to change everything. I recommend The Divine Hours as a way to add variety to prayer life and as a way to further develop that attitude of openness and humility.

Excellent Spiritual Assist
I bought this to take with me when I travel and keep it in my briefcase to pick up during breaks at work.It provides wonderful inspiration/consolation/guidance and peace in the space of 10 minutes.I recommend it for anyone who is trying to develop and maintain a prayer life or would like some spiritual assist. ... Read more

Product Description
This vigorous translation of the poet's journey through the circles of hell re-creates for the modern reader the rich meanings that Dante's poem had for his contemporaries. Musa's introduction and commentaries on each of the cantos brilliantly illuminate the text.

Translated with Notes and an Introduction by Mark Musa ... Read more

Customer Reviews (33)

Don't buy the Kindle edition!
After reading many favourable reviews about this translation of Dante's Inferno, including reference to the notes and glossary, I decided to buy the Kindle edition of this book. One other thing that made me buy it was that, in the description of the book, it says that this is a bilingual edition. Once I had paid for and download the book I realised this is ONLY the translation of the verses. There are no notes, glossaries or Italian text. I felt cheated and robbed.

The Divne Comedy
I chose this translation because the translator had an Italian name, but found it unsatisfactory. It doesn't have the tone of the original. Unfortunately, I haven't found a translation that does.

Review of this edition
I am incredibly impressed with this rendition of Dante.The author abandons rhyme but writes the work in variations of iambic pentameter.This preserves the dramatic/poetic elements of the work without the rhyme-forced word choice so often associated with the other editions available.The commentary and background notes are excellent.All around, this is my favorite edition of Dante.Incredibly, it bears reading aloud, which many of the rhymed editions do not.

This is NOT MUSA's translation
Note,

This is Longfellow's translation, as it says at the title of this item, NOT MUSA's, which is the translation reviewed. I have nothing against Longfellow's translation, but I alredy bought that in Kindle version, and I was interested to see how Kindle would deal with Musa's side by side translation. So, now I know. It doesn't. It isn't musa, this is a false, misleading, mistaken set of reviews.

The best translation of Dante's Commedia
This translation is faithful and modern at the same time. I know Italian and have read the italian poem, but I am also interested in translation, and have found that Musa's work is far superior to others. He explains his criteria in the translator's note: use of modern words, exclusion of rhyme and fidelity to the semantic content. Solutions like the verse: "And, everywhere I looked, the beast was there" (Inf. I, 34) which translates "e non mi si partia dinanzi al volto" fascinate me. This is a search for clarity and fidelity at the same time, dealing with a language that does not simplify things for a translator.
Very recommendable. ... Read more

Product Description
"AH me! O Satan! Satan!" loud exclaim'd Plutus, in accent hoarse of wild alarm: And the kind sage, whom no event surpris'd, To comfort me thus spake: "Let not thy fear Harm thee, for power in him, be sure, is none To hinder down this rock thy safe descent." Then to that sworn lip turning, "Peace!" he cried, ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Medieval vision of the afterlife
This was required reading for a graduate course in medieval history.Norton edition has great articles to help explain the work and is a great translation.The other great translation is by Mark Musa."The Divine Comedy" describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso), guided first by the Roman epic poet Virgil and then by Beatrice, the subject of his love and another of his works, "La Vita Nuova." While the vision of Hell, the Inferno, is vivid for modern readers, the theological niceties presented in the other books require a certain amount of patience and scholarship to understand.Purgatorio, the most lyrical and human of the three, also has the most poets in it; Paradiso, the most heavily theological, has the most beautiful and ecstatic mystic passages in which Dante tries to describe what he confesses he is unable to convey (e.g., when Dante looks into the face of God: "all'alta fantasia qui mancò possa" - "at this high moment, ability failed my capacity to describe," Paradiso, XXXIII, 142).

Dante wrote the Comedy in his regional dialect.By creating a poem of epic structure and philosophic purpose, he established that the Italian language was suitable for the highest sort of expression, and simultaneously established the Tuscan dialect as the standard for Italian. In French, Italian is nicknamed la langue de Dante.Publishing in the vernacular language marked Dante as one of the first (among others such as Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio) to break from standards of publishing in only Latin or Greek (the languages of Church and antiquity).This break allowed more literature to be published for a wider audience - setting the stage for greater levels of literacy in the future.

Readers often cannot understand how such a serious work may be called a "comedy".In Dante's time, all serious scholarly works were written in Latin (a tradition that would persist for several hundred years more, until the waning years of the Enlightenment) and works written in any other language were assumed to be comedic in nature.Furthermore, the word "comedy," in the classical sense, refers to works which reflect belief in an ordered universe, in which events not only tended towards a happy or "amusing" ending, but an ending influenced by a Providential will that orders all things to an ultimate good.By this meaning of the word, the progression of Dante's pilgrim from Hell to Paradise is the paradigmatic expression of comedy, since the work begins with the pilgrim's moral confusion and ends with the vision of God.

The Divine Comedy can be described simply as an allegory: Each canto, and the episodes therein, can contain many alternate meanings.Dante's allegory, however, is more complex, and, in explaining how to read the poem (see the "Letter to Can Grande della Scala"), he outlines other levels of meaning besides the allegory (the historical, the moral, the literal, and the anagogical).The structure of the poem, likewise, is quite complex, with mathematical and numerological patterns arching throughout the work, particularly threes and nines.The poem is often lauded for its particularly human qualities: Dante's skillful delineation of the characters he encounters in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise; his bitter denunciations of Florentine and Italian politics; and his powerful poetic imagination.Dante's use of real characters, according to Dorothy Sayers in her introduction to her translation of "L'Inferno", allows Dante the freedom of not having to involve the reader in description, and allows him to "[make] room in his poem for the discussion of a great many subjects of the utmost importance, thus widening its range and increasing its variety."

Dante called the poem "Comedy" (the adjective "Divine" added later in the 16th century) because poems in the ancient world were classified as High ("Tragedy") or Low ("Comedy"). Low poems had happy endings and were of everyday or vulgar subjects, while High poems were for more serious matters. Dante was one of the first in the Middle Ages to write of a serious subject, the Redemption of man, in the low and vulgar Italian language and not the Latin language as one might expect for such a serious topic.

Paradiso
After an initial ascension (Canto I), Beatrice guides Dante through the nine spheres of Heaven. These are concentric and spherical, similar to Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmology.Dante admits that the vision of heaven he receives is the one that his human eyes permit him to see. Thus, the vision of heaven found in the Cantos is Dante's own personal vision, ambiguous in its true construction.The addition of a moral dimension means that a soul that has reached Paradise stops at the level applicable to it.Souls are allotted to the point of heaven that fits with their human ability to love God.Thus, there is a heavenly hierarchy. All parts of heaven are accessible to the heavenly soul.That is to say all experience God but there is a hierarchy in the sense that some souls are more spiritually developed than others.This is not determined by time or learning as such but by their proximity to God (how much they allow themselves to experience him above other things).It must be remembered in Dante's schema that all souls in Heaven are on some level always in contact with God.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in literature and medieval history.
... Read more

Product Description
After thirty nights of experiencing the depths of hell, Mary Baxter was shown the realms of heaven. Included are her descriptions of the order of heaven, what happens to children, and the throne of God. These breathtaking glimpses of heaven will turn your heart toward the beauty and joy that await every believer in Christ. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (65)

a beautiful book
I loved this book by mary k she is a very good author and very good with the spirtual world. It was so many amazing things abt heaven and what all goes on up there that I didnt know before. The part on children is so breath taken and how she is shown different parts of heaven its a must read, as well as other books.

Painfully Bad Read!
I finally had to put this book aside and it will be in the trash before the day is over. The writing is horrible and the message is plainly false. Please don't believe what this person writes. When reading this type of book, trust the feeling you get in your heart. This book made me feel dirty.

Well worth the read...
This was a very good read. I read her, "Divine Revelation of Hell" a few weeks prior to this and believe me...it's a must. Some will argue about it's authenticity, but I'd rather believe it than not. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It's definitely a conversation piece. I hope you receive it into your hearts and mind. God bless us all.

Insight into the Heavenlies
What can I say? I first heard about Mary Baxter's book "A Divine Revelation of Hell" about 10 years ago.I read it with awe. So, of course I had to get ALL of the books in this series.Never have I read a book with such detail and clarity about what goes on in the spirit realm.You'll be amazed!

A Divine Revelation of Heaven
I am very pleased with the book. It was in mint condition.I would order from Texas Cowboy again. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review
Product Description
The "left-handed designer," Seymour Chwast has been putting his unparalleled take—and influence—on the world of illustration and design for the last half century. In his version of Dante's Divine Comedy, Chwast's first graphic novel, Dante and his guide Virgil don fedoras and wander through noir-ish realms of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, finding both the wicked and the wondrous on their way.

Dante Alighieri wrote his epic poem The Divine Comedy from 1308 to 1321 while in exile from his native Florence. In the work's three parts (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise), Dante chronicles his travels through the afterlife, cataloging a multitude of sinners and saints—many of them real people to whom Dante tellingly assigned either horrible punishment or indescribable pleasure—and eventually meeting both God and Lucifer face-to-face.

In his adaptation of this skewering satire, Chwast creates a visual fantasia that fascinates on every page: From the multifarious torments of the Inferno to the host of delights in Paradise, his inventive illustrations capture the delirious complexity of this classic of the Western canon.

A Look Inside Dante's Divine Comedy: A Graphic Adaptation
(Click on Images to Enlarge)

Second circle of Hell	Sins of the flesh
The three furies	Sixth circle of Hell

... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Clarity without Beauty
This is a very clear graphic art depiction of the barebones of the comedy. For no obvious reason (link of Italians to mobsters? ) Dante and Vergil look vaguely 1930s (Dante in trench coat etc.) and a few other characters suggest that era but most are straightforward.The pictures are clear but lack the artistic impact of Dore. I can imagine that graphic artists with more gift for detail such as Herge or Brunhoff might have done more justice to the horror of hell or the beauty of heaven.
This may be useful as a kind of visual guide to the basics of the text for uninformed students-- I have used it successfully in world history for that purpose -- but Ithink considered simply as graphic art it does not deserve the fulsome praise in the blurbs on the cover.

A Whirlwind Tour of Dante's Commedy
I enjoyed every minute of Chwast's take on Dante's Divine Comedy. He managed to adapt and distill a masterpiece without exploiting or dumbing it down.

At 128 pages, this whirlwind tour that takes you through a Canto or two per page. Even so, the drama doesn't feel rushed. In fact, if you're planning on reading the original it would be worthwhile to leave this volume open beside it to keep you grounded in the flow of the narrative.

There were many opportunities for a graphic artist to exploit the imagery. I mean, where else do you read about people swimming in pools of excrement as poop rains down from the sky? Chwast's economic style fairly evoked the imagery without degenerating into crassness. (I can only imagine what would have happened if Crumb tried to do this!)

This was my first encounter with Seymour Chwast's art. It will not be my last.

Disclaimer: A review copy of this book was provided at no cost through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer's program.

Graphic Comedìa
Seymour Chwast's graphic novel is a thoroughly enjoyable companion piece to Dante's Comedìa. It's the literary geek's equivalent to action figures, only with delicious irony and style and demanding fewer explanations for one's spouse. Chwast has given us a Divine Comic. [Pre-recorded groans go here.]

[Disclaimer: I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.]

Slightly fun, but kind of pointless.
I felt like the story wasn't particularly well represented in this book. The whole draw was the art which was good but suffered from a lacking of adequate detail. Kind of felt like a 'Where's Wally' book without the colour, set in a vague pretext of Dante's Divine comedy.

I found it fun
I enjoyed Seymour Chwast's graphic novel of the Divine Comedy. It makes no effort to be poetic, it's essentially a "Cliff's Notes" with drawings. But the interpretation of the illustrations and the way that the text is summarized is honestly entertaining. As with many works of literature, one needs an annotation to explain what was happening culturally and politically at the time of writing in order to understand the text, and the Divine Comedy especially so because of the many levels of meaning. However, it's also a good story all on its own and Chwast's graphic novel portrays it in a creative fashion. ... Read more

Product Description
His glory, by whose might all things are mov'd, Pierces the universe, and in one part Sheds more resplendence, elsewhere less. In heav'n, That largeliest of his light partakes, was I, Witness of things, which to relate again Surpasseth power of him who comes from thence; For that, so near approaching its desire Our intellect is to such depth absorb'd, That memory cannot follow. Nathless all, That in my thoughts I of that sacred realm Could store, shall now be matter of my song.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Medieval vision of the afterlife
This was required reading for a graduate course in medieval history.Norton edition has great articles to help explain the work and is a great translation.The other great translation is by Mark Musa."The Divine Comedy" describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso), guided first by the Roman epic poet Virgil and then by Beatrice, the subject of his love and another of his works, "La Vita Nuova." While the vision of Hell, the Inferno, is vivid for modern readers, the theological niceties presented in the other books require a certain amount of patience and scholarship to understand.Purgatorio, the most lyrical and human of the three, also has the most poets in it; Paradiso, the most heavily theological, has the most beautiful and ecstatic mystic passages in which Dante tries to describe what he confesses he is unable to convey (e.g., when Dante looks into the face of God: "all'alta fantasia qui mancò possa" - "at this high moment, ability failed my capacity to describe," Paradiso, XXXIII, 142).

Dante wrote the Comedy in his regional dialect.By creating a poem of epic structure and philosophic purpose, he established that the Italian language was suitable for the highest sort of expression, and simultaneously established the Tuscan dialect as the standard for Italian. In French, Italian is nicknamed la langue de Dante.Publishing in the vernacular language marked Dante as one of the first (among others such as Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio) to break from standards of publishing in only Latin or Greek (the languages of Church and antiquity).This break allowed more literature to be published for a wider audience - setting the stage for greater levels of literacy in the future.

Readers often cannot understand how such a serious work may be called a "comedy".In Dante's time, all serious scholarly works were written in Latin (a tradition that would persist for several hundred years more, until the waning years of the Enlightenment) and works written in any other language were assumed to be comedic in nature.Furthermore, the word "comedy," in the classical sense, refers to works which reflect belief in an ordered universe, in which events not only tended towards a happy or "amusing" ending, but an ending influenced by a Providential will that orders all things to an ultimate good.By this meaning of the word, the progression of Dante's pilgrim from Hell to Paradise is the paradigmatic expression of comedy, since the work begins with the pilgrim's moral confusion and ends with the vision of God.

The Divine Comedy can be described simply as an allegory: Each canto, and the episodes therein, can contain many alternate meanings.Dante's allegory, however, is more complex, and, in explaining how to read the poem (see the "Letter to Can Grande della Scala"), he outlines other levels of meaning besides the allegory (the historical, the moral, the literal, and the anagogical).The structure of the poem, likewise, is quite complex, with mathematical and numerological patterns arching throughout the work, particularly threes and nines.The poem is often lauded for its particularly human qualities: Dante's skillful delineation of the characters he encounters in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise; his bitter denunciations of Florentine and Italian politics; and his powerful poetic imagination.Dante's use of real characters, according to Dorothy Sayers in her introduction to her translation of "L'Inferno", allows Dante the freedom of not having to involve the reader in description, and allows him to "[make] room in his poem for the discussion of a great many subjects of the utmost importance, thus widening its range and increasing its variety."

Dante called the poem "Comedy" (the adjective "Divine" added later in the 16th century) because poems in the ancient world were classified as High ("Tragedy") or Low ("Comedy"). Low poems had happy endings and were of everyday or vulgar subjects, while High poems were for more serious matters. Dante was one of the first in the Middle Ages to write of a serious subject, the Redemption of man, in the low and vulgar Italian language and not the Latin language as one might expect for such a serious topic.

Paradiso
After an initial ascension (Canto I), Beatrice guides Dante through the nine spheres of Heaven. These are concentric and spherical, similar to Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmology.Dante admits that the vision of heaven he receives is the one that his human eyes permit him to see. Thus, the vision of heaven found in the Cantos is Dante's own personal vision, ambiguous in its true construction.The addition of a moral dimension means that a soul that has reached Paradise stops at the level applicable to it.Souls are allotted to the point of heaven that fits with their human ability to love God.Thus, there is a heavenly hierarchy. All parts of heaven are accessible to the heavenly soul.That is to say all experience God but there is a hierarchy in the sense that some souls are more spiritually developed than others.This is not determined by time or learning as such but by their proximity to God (how much they allow themselves to experience him above other things).It must be remembered in Dante's schema that all souls in Heaven are on some level always in contact with God.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in literature and medieval history.
... Read more

Product Description
FROM the first circle I descended thus Down to the second, which, a lesser space Embracing, so much more of grief contains Provoking bitter moans. There, Minos stands Grinning with ghastly feature: he, of all Who enter, strict examining the crimes.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Medieval vision of the afterlife
This was required reading for a graduate course in medieval history.Norton edition has great articles to help explain the work and is a great translation.The other great translation is by Mark Musa."The Divine Comedy" describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso), guided first by the Roman epic poet Virgil and then by Beatrice, the subject of his love and another of his works, "La Vita Nuova." While the vision of Hell, the Inferno, is vivid for modern readers, the theological niceties presented in the other books require a certain amount of patience and scholarship to understand.Purgatorio, the most lyrical and human of the three, also has the most poets in it; Paradiso, the most heavily theological, has the most beautiful and ecstatic mystic passages in which Dante tries to describe what he confesses he is unable to convey (e.g., when Dante looks into the face of God: "all'alta fantasia qui mancò possa" - "at this high moment, ability failed my capacity to describe," Paradiso, XXXIII, 142).

Dante wrote the Comedy in his regional dialect.By creating a poem of epic structure and philosophic purpose, he established that the Italian language was suitable for the highest sort of expression, and simultaneously established the Tuscan dialect as the standard for Italian. In French, Italian is nicknamed la langue de Dante.Publishing in the vernacular language marked Dante as one of the first (among others such as Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio) to break from standards of publishing in only Latin or Greek (the languages of Church and antiquity).This break allowed more literature to be published for a wider audience - setting the stage for greater levels of literacy in the future.

Readers often cannot understand how such a serious work may be called a "comedy".In Dante's time, all serious scholarly works were written in Latin (a tradition that would persist for several hundred years more, until the waning years of the Enlightenment) and works written in any other language were assumed to be comedic in nature.Furthermore, the word "comedy," in the classical sense, refers to works which reflect belief in an ordered universe, in which events not only tended towards a happy or "amusing" ending, but an ending influenced by a Providential will that orders all things to an ultimate good.By this meaning of the word, the progression of Dante's pilgrim from Hell to Paradise is the paradigmatic expression of comedy, since the work begins with the pilgrim's moral confusion and ends with the vision of God.

The Divine Comedy can be described simply as an allegory: Each canto, and the episodes therein, can contain many alternate meanings.Dante's allegory, however, is more complex, and, in explaining how to read the poem (see the "Letter to Can Grande della Scala"), he outlines other levels of meaning besides the allegory (the historical, the moral, the literal, and the anagogical).The structure of the poem, likewise, is quite complex, with mathematical and numerological patterns arching throughout the work, particularly threes and nines.The poem is often lauded for its particularly human qualities: Dante's skillful delineation of the characters he encounters in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise; his bitter denunciations of Florentine and Italian politics; and his powerful poetic imagination.Dante's use of real characters, according to Dorothy Sayers in her introduction to her translation of "L'Inferno", allows Dante the freedom of not having to involve the reader in description, and allows him to "[make] room in his poem for the discussion of a great many subjects of the utmost importance, thus widening its range and increasing its variety."

Dante called the poem "Comedy" (the adjective "Divine" added later in the 16th century) because poems in the ancient world were classified as High ("Tragedy") or Low ("Comedy"). Low poems had happy endings and were of everyday or vulgar subjects, while High poems were for more serious matters. Dante was one of the first in the Middle Ages to write of a serious subject, the Redemption of man, in the low and vulgar Italian language and not the Latin language as one might expect for such a serious topic.

Paradiso
After an initial ascension (Canto I), Beatrice guides Dante through the nine spheres of Heaven. These are concentric and spherical, similar to Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmology.Dante admits that the vision of heaven he receives is the one that his human eyes permit him to see. Thus, the vision of heaven found in the Cantos is Dante's own personal vision, ambiguous in its true construction.The addition of a moral dimension means that a soul that has reached Paradise stops at the level applicable to it.Souls are allotted to the point of heaven that fits with their human ability to love God.Thus, there is a heavenly hierarchy. All parts of heaven are accessible to the heavenly soul.That is to say all experience God but there is a hierarchy in the sense that some souls are more spiritually developed than others.This is not determined by time or learning as such but by their proximity to God (how much they allow themselves to experience him above other things).It must be remembered in Dante's schema that all souls in Heaven are on some level always in contact with God.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in literature and medieval history.
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Product Description
fantastic and grotesque scenes depict the passion and grandeur of one of Dante’s most highly regarded works—from the depths of hell onto the mountain of purgatory and up to the empyrean realms of paradise. Includes plates produced for The Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise. Illustrations accompanied by appropriate lines from the Longfellow translation.
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Customer Reviews (19)

Vultures and spiders and Hell - o my!
Although just a man, the prolific career of Gustove Dore really has some divine inspiration. Perhaps that's one reason the church needed him so much - perhaps something really did reach out and whisper his name and someone listened. (Personally I hope that thing was Cthulhu and the dreams were bad, but that's just me)

As far as this book goes, it is one of the easiest to gain entry into a very exciting world. I like the way the rendering are set to tell the story, too, allowing the reader to walk through some frightening gates and look into some of the terrible things that are described in a language that sometimes does seem heavy (Personal opinion and I don't mean offense by it).

When I look at this, it reminds me of the journey that I took as a young adult while learning about all those names and faces that I didn't know. It also reminds me of everything from people with their bodies buried in the ground to one poor soul writhing as a half spider/half woman appeared on the ground. Dore is that kind of influence and I'm glad that someone granted me entry into this world because, if they hadn't, I would have missed out on so much. So, brielf, I have to say that this is well worth the price of admission and it is well worth obtaining so you can look at the detail and marvel at the tools being utilized.

also, look into the other books. The bible, the mad; Dore was inspired by everything. And that is inspiring, to say the least.

Excellent
Excellent book. This is a must-have for fans of Dore's work. I'm almost tempted to buy a second copy to frame a few pages.

Classic and Classical
The work by Dore is what you think of when you imagine Dante's Divine Comedy.The comments of some should be completely disregarded and the work seen for what it is; Classic work, on Classical themes, done very well.

Dore Illustrations
Book arrived in promised condition, and in a timely fashion.I would buy from this seller again.

An Excellent book for the Doré or Dante lover
The quality of this book - along with an amazingly affordable price tag - quickly persuaded me to pick up a copy. Its really everything you could ask for in an art book;

The pictures are all very big, but not overwhelming; Its easy to see minute detail, and the overall scope of the image. I actually blew up some of the prints in photoshop and printed them on huge poster paper for my room, while not sacrificing a drop of detail.

Also, I had to put quite a good deal of pressure onto the spine of the book in order to get a good scan from them, and im happy to say that doing so didn't even leave an annoying "bookmark" crease in the book, and the spine didn't even crease. Dover books really did produce a fine quality book, and the note on the back really is true: This book IS permanent.

If you have read or are reading the divine comedy this book is a great reference to glance at every now and again to truly suck you into Dante's epic poem, and bring you to the Heights of Heaven, The Depths of Hell, or the pain of purgatory in a way you could never have imagened.

The woodcuts done here by dore are so elaborate and vivid you could spend a good portion of a day just gazing into the faces of cursed souls writhing in hell, or the beauty of millions of angels soaring in the highest heaven. Dore illustrates every picture so full of movement and depth its the next best thing to a movie. ... Read more

Product Description
A journey through 20,000 years of history and myth in search of the answer to a single question: Do animals have souls?
 
Anyone who has ever mourned the loss of a cherished pet has wondered about the animal soul. Do animals survive the death of the body, or are they doomed to disappear completely when they leave this world behind? Both scientists and religious authorities have long scoffed at the idea of animals in heaven. Yet the question endures. In this wise, immensely readable book, Ptolemy Tompkins embarks on a quest for the answer—taking us on a top-speed tour of the history of the animal soul.
 
Equally at home with mainstream and alternative spiritual philosophies, Tompkins takes us from the savannas of Africa to the earth’s first cities to the early days of the great faith traditions of both East and West. Along the way, he shows that, despite what many of us have been taught, the world’s various spiritual traditions all have profoundly meaningful things to say about the animal soul, if we simply know where to look. Rescuing these ancient insights and blending them with vivid stories about animals today—from a dwarf rabbit named Angus to a manatee named Moose to a black bear named Little Bit—The Divine Life of Animals paints a gloriously inclusive picture of the cosmos as a place made up of both matter and spirit, in which animals are every bit as important, spiritually speaking, as the humans with whom they share the world. Though it is startlingly original, The Divine Life of Animals also feels strangely and instantly familiar, for it reveals truths that many of us have held in our hearts already, waiting only for someone to give fresh voice to one of the oldest and most trustworthy intuitions we possess.
 
The Divine Life of Animals offers a compelling and timeless vision of the relationship between humans and animals that will have you looking at the animals in your life with new eyes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Not what I expected
I was expecting sweet anecdotal stories about animals but the book was mostly a complicated metaphysical analysis of something I couldn't figure out.

Human animal Bond
In the ever growing market for K-9, and cat,relationships Is is one book all animal lovers should read. Well rewritten, and a pager turn turner. Authors did a great job!

The Divine Life of Animals by Ptolemy Tomkins
Wonderful book!For me, it confirmed what I already knew about my spiritual path and that of the animals I have loved and cared about on my journey.Highly recommended!

Not an Easy Read but Worthwhile
Anyone who's lost a beloved pet knows the pain, emptiness, even despair of the loss of an animal friend and companion. One suffering such a loss is wrought with feelings of guilt, disbelief, and uncertainty. In my case, questions of animal mortality or immortality came to mind so I wanted to read a book confirming my belief or rather hope that dogs too possess a spirit or soul that survives the body. Thus I decided to read "The Divine Life of Animals" looking for answers, support, confirmation, and perhaps some uplifting stories.

Reading this extensively researched book is like taking a long trip, a specific destination in mind, but delayed with what one at first perceives to be excessive detours, wrong turns, and dead ends. After reading the first of five sections, a laborious read exploring ancient religious beliefs, Mayans, Eastern religions, primitive man, and early and pre-Biblical Jewish beliefs I was ready to call it quits. My wife, who had read the book before me, suggested I persist because the book would soon take a turn for the better.

I'm glad I followed her advice. Once the author arrives in the present time with modern day anecdotes and current thought, my interest and enjoyment of the book heightened. In the last few chapters all the esoteric and the exotic and the mysterious came into alignment, into a merger of what I could even call enlightenment.The ending brings a satisfaction that makes the long, sometimes-arduous journey worthwhile. I may even pursue my newfound interest in the otherworldly topics brought up by Tompkins with further reading.

Overall the Tompkins does a masterful job with impressive research and background though the book's beginning reads more like a scholarly research paper or textbook than I would have liked.

Do animals go to heaven? An exploration of the spiritual lives of animals
In his book latest book, The Divine Life of Animals, One Man's Quest to Discover Whether the Souls of Animals Live on, acclaimed author Ptolemy Tompkins (son of Peter Tompkins, author of The Secret Life of Plants) seeks to answer the question, do animals go to heaven? His search for the truth leads the reader down an intricate and fascinating path that explores not only whether animals have souls, but also the question of what a soul is, as it's been perceived through time and across cultures.

In his pursuit of understanding how the soul pertains to animals, Tomkins examines beliefs about the human soul, highlighting eastern and western religion, ancient philosophies and practices of prehistoric people. The story of the human soul is inextricably intertwined with man's relationship to the physical world and nature, and it is here where Tompkins reveals to the reader how the wisdom of the ages lives on in modern life. Woven through the narrative are the stories of Penny, a neglected dog, Angus, Tompkins' own pet rabbit, Moose the Manatee, and a bear named Little Bit, all of whom through their own distintiveness in both `animality' and personality touched human lives in a profound way and who illustrate the surprising reason why people and animals need each other now more than ever.

Beautifully written and thoroughly captivating, you'll want to read this book - even if you think you already know the answer to this question.

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Amazon.com Review
Artist and veteran Pixar animator Sanjay Patel lends a lush, whimsical illustration style and lighthearted voice to one of Hindu mythology's best-loved and most enduring tales. Teeming with powerful deities, love-struck monsters, flying monkey gods, magic weapons, demon armies, and divine love, Ramayana tells the story of Rama, a god-turned-prince, and his quest to rescue his wife Sita after she is kidnapped by a demon king. This illustrated tale features over 100 colorful full-spread illustrations, a detailed pictorial glossary of the cast of characters who make up the epic tale, and sketches of the work in progress. From princesses in peril to gripping battles, scheming royals, and hordes of bloodthirsty demons, Ramayana is the ultimate adventure story presented with an unforgettably modern touch.

Customer Reviews (14)

Spectacular Book for all ages
This is an excellent retelling of the ancient epic. The illustrations are beautiful and insightful and it makes the story line easy to follow. I especially love the family tree at the very end.

Stunning!
This book is filled with really gorgeous eye candy. A beautifully designed book. Well done Sanjay. I look forward to your future publications!

Beautifully Drawn, Great story
A friend had this book in his graphic design library and I loved it so much I ordered one. I have another book by Sanjay Patel called Hindu Gods and Goddesses. I love the illustrations, color and design. I'd buy more books from this author when/if he creates anything new. One of my prized-possessions as it has a lot of meaning to me.

Breathtakingly beautiful storytelling
I just purchased Sanjay Patel's re-telling of the Ramayana, a tale I vaguely knew about from movies, but did not know intimately.The illustrations are simply breathtaking...the gorgeous colors and strong lines convey the mood and place of the story exceptionally well.I also loved Sanjay's personal voice as a storyteller... it may not be a traditional telling of the myth, but I felt like Sanjay was a native storyteller, sitting down in front of the fire with a rapt audience absorbing every word.It was simple, but heartfelt.I came away better appreciating the hindi culture and religion, but also satisfied with a well-told tale.It was quite a feat for Sanjay to accomplish both, and I applaud his efforts.And we are the lucky recipients of his hard work.

Well Done!
I bought this Epic for my daughter.I read it first - amazing!All the details were correct and the art is fantastic!A must have. ... Read more