Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in All Categories

For more than 10 years, thoroughly Protestant Kathleen Norris had been an oblate at a Benedictine monastery. In The Cloister Life, the celebrated author turns to the priory as her spiritual landscape, as she takes us through a liturgical year, inspiring us to evaluate our own lives and values. Norris provides tremendous insight into the languages, customs, ceremonies, and sexuality of the men and women who have chosen the cloistered life.

From its first appearance in the late 1970s to the remarkable treatment methods that are now keeping millions alive, AIDS has been a headlining topic for decades. Master storyteller Dominique Lapierre—renowned for his best sellers Is Paris Burning? and The City of Joy—has created his most extraordinary epic of human endeavor. In this dramatic, inspiring, and tender work, the author recounts the worldwide efforts to identify, control, and eventually eliminate the AIDS virus.

She was the most outlandish, outrageous, in-your-face symbol of the age—and suddenly, shockingly, she was gone. In life her antics, adventures, and behavior kept a nation riveted; in death she stunned a world gripped by the surprise and swiftness of her unexpected passing. The woman was, of course, Anna Nicole Smith.

There are two types of entities: the Hunter and the Hunted—and revenge, guilt, lust, and desperation drive all of them. Darkness falls quickly when you're being stalked—but it is always dark when you' re the stalker. From shadowy city streets and Amazon jungles to deep-South swamps, this collection of eight stories involving elements of mystery, science fiction, and horror is sure to entertain.

Beginning in 1982, The Adam's Round Table—a group of America's most talented and successful mystery writers—convened every month in New York to discuss their craft. When agent and author Bill Adler suggested they each write a short story located in a different section of Manhattan, their enthusiastic response resulted in Murder in Manhattan.

Acclaimed Agatha Award-winning author Nancy Pickard presents this anthology of original mystery stories by some of the most distinguished mystery writers of the 20th century, including Dorothy Cannell and Sharyn McCrumb.

Master storyteller H.H. Munro—better known by the pen name "Saki"—is famous for his witty, mischievous, and macabre stories of suspense. Saki specialized in impudent practical jokes, devilish trickery, and incredible yarns, and his writing became popular in the early 1900s for its witty and satirical look at the pretensions and ignorance of bourgeois English society.

A banker with a smile that conceals a devilish impulse, a literary agent who is quick to anger, a mechanic with a desperate need to be liked, and a psychologist who keeps all their secrets—as well as his own—meet every week in the dingy back room of a New York City bar. These men have one thing in common: They all suffer the sting of a broken heart. Soon, anger turns to hate, and the Broken Hearts Club spins violently out of control, exploding into murderous acts of vengeance. Detective Conrad Voort is assigned the case, determined to catch an elusive killer who is always one death ahead.

"One night I dreamed a dream. I was walking along the beach with my Lord." So begins "Footprints," a poem written in 1964 by a young woman named Margaret Fishback, who was searching for direction at the crossroads of her life.

Intrigue, crime, and murder create suspense in this edge-of-your-seat collection of cat mystery stories whose plots are all centered on a beloved feline, written by some of the finest, best-selling mystery writers of all time.

Washington Irving's tales of romance, travel, biographical discourse, and literary musing introduced such classic fictional figures as Rip Van Winkle, Ichabod Crane, and the Headless Horsemen of Sleepy Hollow. A sage, storyteller, and wit, Irving earned his preeminence in early American literature with these masterpieces in miniature.

Explore the secrets of the universe with selections from the works of three of the greatest scientific minds of our lifetime. Widely regarded as the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein, Stephen W. Hawking has delved into today's most important scientific ideas about the cosmos, expanded upon the rich history of scientific thought, and reveled in the complexities of the universe in which we live.

Academy Award-winning actor and author Alan Arkin tells a brilliant tale in this young-adult novel, The Lemming Condition. The story is an allegory on conformity, as Bubber, a lemming, is faced with following his entire race to self-induced extinction. Bubber struggles to decide if he should participate in what appears to be an insane death walk, only to constantly be told by family and friends that this is just the way things are. The story provides a superb lesson on conformity, free thinking and personal accountability.

In Wonderful Marriage, Lilo and Gerard Leeds share the essentials that all great relationships, including their own 50+year marriage, have in common. From sex to communication, the Leeds discuss all aspects of marriage, offering profound insight and thoughtful advice to help couples improve and maintain their relationships. The Leeds focus on what they term "the Big Six"—Religion, Money, Sex, Children, Recreation, and Acceptable Behavior—covering each topic thoroughly with simple, common-sense dialogue.

Jacob Ericson, a shy, enigmatic, and somewhat inept ranch hand learns that his hands possess the mysterious gift of healing: a gift he uses to cure animals and Sharon, the woman he adores. His gift is quickly exploited and the boundaries of his charm and naïveté begin to stretch. Following Sharon to Los Angeles, Jacob offers his healing powers for free at a church in Los Angeles, and then at a seedy stage show where his beloved Sharon also works.

When Dave Barry goes mano a mano with the Information Superhighway, it's guaranteed to be a rip-roaring adventure. This self-proclaimed computer geek and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist starts with the motto, "Never read the instructions," and slides from there into the world of hardware, software, Windows 95, and the critical issue of RAM ("the bottom line is, if you're a guy, you cannot have enough RAM").

Ronald Reagan carried a conservative vision of America to the White House, where his administration gave it life. Peggy Noonan followed Reagan to Washington as his speechwriter— and gave his vision voice. As speech writer for George Bush during his Presidential campaign, Noonan dispelled her candidate's "wimpy" image and replaced it with one of quiet strength by coining such eloquent phrases as "a thousand points of light" and "a kinder, gentler nation."

Rear Admiral Jake Grafton, the hero of Flight of the Intruder, returns as the United States and Cuba engage in a terrifying game of brinkmanship, a gamble that could break the last military taboo and destroy both countries. In Cuba, an ailing Fidel Castro lies dying. Across the Straits of Florida, an anxious U.S. awaits the inevitable power struggle, determined to have a say in who controls this strategically invaluable island.

In vignettes both comic and sexy, the owner of a coffee shop recalls the day his first wife seemed to achieve a moment of simple perfection, while she remembers the women's softball game during which she was stricken by the beauty of the shortstop. A young couple spends hours at the coffee shop fueling the idea of their fierce love. A professor of philosophy, stopping by for a cup of coffee, makes a valiant attempt to explain what he knows to be the inexplicable workings of the human heart.

Born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth, the Honorable Diana Frances Spencer attained wealth, power, and title with her marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales. But her ultimate triumph owed nothing to those circumstances and everything to her inner qualities: to an innate ability to understand and connect with ordinary people, especially the desperately sick, the rejected, the "unloved."