Chris Addison

Bringing together some of the best of Judith Viorst’s witty and perceptive poetry—and featuring the illustrations from the original edition by John Alcorn—Viorst explores the all-too-true ironies and absurdities of being a woman in the modern world. Whether she’s finding herself or finding a sitter, contemplating her sex life as she rubs hormone night cream on her face, or wrestling with the contradiction of falling in love with a man her parents would actually approve of, Viorst transforms the familiar events of daily life into poems that make you laugh with recognition. Here is the young single girl leaving her parents’ home for life in the big city (“No I do not believe in free love/And yes I will be home for Sunday dinners”). Here is the aspiring bohemian with an expensive liberal arts education, getting coffee and taking dictation, “Hoping that someday someone will be impressed/With all I know.” Here is that married woman, coping with motherhood (“The tricycles are cluttering my foyer/The Pop Tart crumbs are sprinkled on my soul”) and fantasy affairs (“I could imagine cryptic conversations, clandestine martinis...and me explaining that long kisses clog my sinuses”) and all-too-real family reunions (“Four aunts in pain taking pills/One cousin in analysis taking notes”). And here she is at mid-life, wondering whether a woman who used to wear a “Ban the Bomb” button can find happiness being a person with a set of fondue forks, a fish poacher, and a wok. Every step of the way, It’s Hard to be Hip Over Thirty and Other Tragedies of Married Life demonstrates once and for all that no one understands American women coming of age like Judith Viorst. *It’s Hard to be Hip Over Thirty and Other Tragedies of Married Life is a reissue of the previous collection originally titled When Did I Stop Being Twenty and Other Injustices.

Reissued with a new preface by the author on the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 journey to the moon The years that have passed since Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins piloted the Apollo 11 spacecraft to the moon in July 1969 have done nothing to alter the fundamental wonder of the event: man reaching the moon remains one of the great events―technical and spiritual―of our lifetime. In Carrying the Fire, Collins conveys, in a very personal way, the drama, beauty, and humor of that adventure. He also traces his development from his first flight experiences in the Air Force, through his days as a test pilot, to his Apollo 11 space walk, presenting an evocative picture of the joys of flight as well as a new perspective on time, light, and movement from someone who has seen the fragile earth from the other side of the moon.

A writer investigates her family’s secret history, uncovering a story that spans a century, two World Wars, and three generations. Hadley Freeman knew her grandmother Sara lived in France just as Hitler started to gain power, but rarely did anyone in her family talk about it. Long after her grandmother’s death, she found a shoebox tucked in the closet containing photographs of her grandmother with a mysterious stranger, a cryptic telegram from the Red Cross, and a drawing signed by Picasso. This discovery sent Freeman on a decade-long quest to uncover the significance of these keepsakes, taking her from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island to Auschwitz. Freeman pieces together the puzzle of her family’s past, discovering more about the lives of her grandmother and her three brothers, Jacques, Henri, and Alex. Their stories sometimes typical, sometimes astonishing—reveal the broad range of experiences of Eastern European Jews during Holocaust. This thrilling family saga is filled with extraordinary twists, vivid characters, and famous cameos, illuminating the Jewish and immigrant experience in the World War II era. Addressing themes of assimilation, identity, and home, this powerful story about the past echoes issues that remain relevant today.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39In his groundbreaking book, The Politically Homeless Christian, Aaron Schafer explores what the Bible says about how we are called to engage with the world politically, what we are instructed to look for in leaders, and how we can bring the love of God to a broken and fallen world through the way we approach politics. How can Christians live out God's greatest two commandments through our approach to politics? What type of political discourse could bring people to Jesus? How do we balance the person we are voting for and the platform they represent? What issues did Jesus spend the vast majority of his time teaching on? How can we base our political beliefs on a foundation of grace and love? As followers of Jesus, we were never meant to find our home in a single political party. Our identity should be rooted firmly in Christ alone. We should be politically homeless. "From the first page of The Politically Homeless Christian, I was hooked. Aaron Schafer's words both resonated with and challenged me to renew my wholehearted commitment to King Jesus and the eternal priorities of His Kingdom. It's time for us to strip ourselves of the false identities we've wrapped ourselves in as American Evangelicals, and to reclaim the true identity God created us for as a people conformed to the image of His humble, self-sacrificial Son. We, the Church, must sow peace, unity, and the hope of Christ in a polarized and increasingly cynical, angry, and despairing culture. The Politically Homeless Christian can lead us there. I would encourage every thoughtful, serious Christian to read this book!" -Anne Cody, Director of Groups at Trinity Church "Far too often our political leanings get in the way of Christians bringing the love of Jesus to the world. The Politically Homeless Christian reminds us that we already have a ruler and we are to represent God’s kingdom here on Earth. Being politically homeless is exactly where God wants us, so that we are not conformed to this age, but transformed by the renewing of our minds. An amazing book that comes at a perfect time for this country. This was brought into my life for a reason. I highly recommend it." -Matt Emmorey, Best Selling Author of Where the Rubber Meets the Road: The Art of Giving Up the Things That Don't Serve You

In the Blink of an Eye is celebrated film editor Walter Murch's vivid, multifaceted, thought -- provoking essay on film editing. Starting with what might be the most basic editing question -- Why do cuts work? -- Murch treats the reader to a wonderful ride through the aesthetics and practical concerns of cutting film. Along the way, he offers his unique insights on such subjects as continuity and discontinuity in editing, dreaming, and reality; criteria for a good cut; the blink of the eye as an emotional cue; digital editing; and much more. In this second edition, Murch reconsiders and completely revises his popular first edition's lengthy meditation on digital editing (which accounts for a third of the book's pages) in light of the technological changes that have taken place in the six years since its publication.