“You’ll never look at the region the same way again after reading about the tunnel from hell, toe-tugging spirits, and the curse of the mummy.” —The Boston Globe Before it became a haven for arts and culture, the Berkshires was a rugged, sparsely populated frontier. From the early days of Revolutionary fervor and industrial enterprise to today’s tourism, many chilling stories remain. A lost girl haunts a cemetery in Washington, and mysterious spirits still perform at Tanglewood. From the ghostly halls of the Houghton Mansion to the eerie events at the Hoosac Tunnel, residents and visitors alike have felt fear and awe in these hills, telling tales of shadow figures, disembodied voices and spectral trains. Author Robert Oakes, who has given ghost tours at The Mount in Lenox for more than a decade, leads this spirited journey through history. “The rich history of this region—spanning more than two centuries—includes spine-tingling tales from almost every town in the county. Oakes culled many of them for his book, which touches on myriad metaphysicals, including ‘The Undead Hessian of Egremont,’ ‘Highwood’s Ghost at Tanglewood,’ and ‘The Ghostly Guest in 301: The Red Lion Inn’—each of which will inspire readers to ‘peer into the shadows beyond the beam of [their] flashlight.’” —The Berkshire Edge
Among the rolling hills, picturesque farms and lush highlands of Northwestern New Jersey lurk haunting mysteries and unexplained apparitions. A historic recluse who practiced witchcraft generations ago is said to be still spinning misdeeds as the Sussex Sorcerer on Sunrise Mountain. The ghost of Reverend O'Malley walks the woods around Mount Allamuchy as the Purple Bishop, seeking vengeance against those who betrayed him. The sinisterly named Shades of Death Road along the sod farms and meadows of the Pequest River Valley has a bloody reputation of bandit killings, Lenape massacres and supernatural encounters. Author Robert Oakes leads readers on a spirited journey through the historic ghost lore of Northwestern New Jersey.
If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for."—Thomas Merton Some of today's most popular spiritual writers—including Rev. James Martin, S.J.; Bishop Robert Barron; Robert Ellsberg; Rev. Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M.; and Kaya Oakes—explore the meaning of life and what we live for using Thomas Merton's life and writings as a guide. In his address before the US Congress, Pope Francis praised Merton as one of four exemplary Americans. This was no surprise to the thousands who already know and appreciate the twentieth-century monk, but there were many listening that day who still have no idea who Merton is. What I Am Living For offers readers new to Merton, as well as longtime enthusiasts, an opportunity to see how the influential twentieth-century monk and writer continues to encourage the awakening of faith in the twenty-first century. The book is in two parts. Each contributor to part one focuses on an aspect of the spiritual life that is of vital importance today and on which Merton made a profound impact. These include: Martin—Finding who God intends you to be Ellsberg—The spiritual need for solitude and stability Oakes—The importance of coming to terms with our sexuality, whether married, single, or celibate Horan—The importance of dialogue with God, culture, society, and people of other faiths Part two features shorter, often more personal reflections on the future of faith, the life and teachings of Merton, and what he still says to anyone who seeks a relationship with God. Contributors include such well-known writers as Barron; Sue Monk Kidd; Pico Iyer; Paula Huston; Ilia Delio, O.F.M.; Paul Quenon, O.C.S.O.; and Sylvia Boorstein.
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“A funny and exceptionally well-wrought romance that starts in disaster, ends in tragedy, and never loses sight of the manic and surreal in life” (Kirkus Reviews). Struggling writer Daniel Linnell is a charming, though hapless, young Londoner until he meets Laura, an unsettlingly feisty American who likes to go skydiving on weekends. In no time at all, Daniel finds himself falling for her. At the same time, he finds a new job as an obituarist, where his editor, Whittington, initiates him into the pecking order of journalists; the annual ritual of the drunken Obituaries Outing; and the secret cache of unexpurgated obits of the less-than-angelic, obits that will never see print—which Whittington keeps in a hollowed-out book in his office. With his editor’s encouragement, Daniel begins to write a Who’s Who in Hell—a mammoth compendium of the evil and damned. Begun for his own amusement, the book takes on a momentum of its own and garners him a publisher’s advance. Meanwhile things with Laura are going so well that he’s accompanying her to Kansas to meet her parents. His life is going swimmingly . . . until it takes a dive. “Thoroughly engaging, delightful and very funny . . . A coming-of-age story set in a post-Thatcherite world.” —The New York Times Book Review
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