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When I started this, people called me crazy. Collect web pages? Who’d want to read a book on a screen? For 21 years, we’ve backed up the Web, so if government data or entire newspapers disappear, we can say: We Got This. We’re dedicated to reader privacy. We never accept ads. But we still need to pay for servers and staff. If you find our site useful, please chip in. —Brewster Kahle, Founder, Internet Archive. Donor challenge: A generous supporter will match your donation 3-to-1 right now. Your $5 becomes $20! Dear Internet Archive Supporter: Time is Running Out! I ask only once a year: please help the Internet Archive today. We’re an independent, non-profit website that the entire world depends on. Our work is powered by donations averaging about $41. If everyone chips in $5, we can keep this going for free. For the cost of a used paperback, we can share a book online forever. When I started this, people called me crazy. Collect web pages? Who’d want to read a book on a screen? 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Costumed fans take photos after buying a copy of J. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and The Cursed Child” a little after midnight on July 31in London. (Rob Stothard/Getty Images) Harry dies. Just kidding. But consider this our dark mark in the sky: If you’re looking to read about “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” without any spoilers,. The book, which is branded as the official eighth story in the “Harry Potter” series, was published Sunday to all the midnight-release and nerds-dressing-in-cloaks fanfare of yesteryear. The “book” is actually the script of a two-part play, which officially opened Saturday in London. Rowling was there, and she confirmed what many fans suspected about this unusual addendum to her masterful seven-part series. ![]() “[Harry] goes on a very big journey during these two plays and then, yeah, I think we’re done. This is the next generation, you know,” she. “I’m thrilled to see it realized so beautifully but, no, Harry is done now.” Harry is done now. So for the generation of children who grew up with Harry, Ron and Hermione intertwined in their lives like the most dependable of friends, what happens in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” matters. “Was it good?” our moms will ask. “Should I read it?” the muggles will say. [] Any decision to continue the franchise would have been decried as a blatant money-grab by many, but Rowling knows most of her fans would read anything her fingers touched. She could put her grocery lists on Twitter. ![]() An actual eighth book? Unexpected, but we’d take it. Daniel Radcliffe’s aging well, let’s do it. Written by Rowling and? And then you’ll give us the script? Well, there’s an idea. (Here’s where we’ll choose not to bore you with a quote from a fan who thinks this will ruin her childhood and another who defends Rowling’s right to do whatever she wants with the characters she created.) Think pieces abounded, but come midnight, bookstores around the world were packed. We forked over $30 and readied our reading lamps, preparing to spend a long night poring over the pages, trying to capture that feeling of being back in a familiar world. Give us the play! The Complete Harry Potter. Buy a Kindle Kindle eBooks Kindle Unlimited Prime Reading Advanced Search Best Sellers & More Kindle Book. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Search metadata Search full text of books Search TV captions Search archived web sites. Complete Harry Potter series Identifier Book5TheOrderOfThePhoenix. Give us our Magic back! But here’s what we forgot to remember about play scripts. They’re written like this: “ Harry wakes suddenly. Breathing deeply in the night. He waits a moment. Calming himself. And then he feels intense pain in his forehead. Around him, Dark Magic moves. GINNY: Harry... HARRY: It’s fine. Go back to sleep. GINNY: Lumos... HARRY: Yes.” On stage, perhaps, this would be a delight. To see how J.K. Rowling envisioned Harry as a 37-year-old man, to see magic turned real by invisible theater tricks. Reviews of the play all seemed to think so. “Quite simply, spellbinding,”. ![]() ![]() A “thrilling theatrical spectacle,”. But as a mere script, where everything besides dialogue is written as bland stage commands ( “ALBUS is sleeping in a pew. GINNY is watching him carefully. ![]() HARRY is looking out the opposite window”), it feels nothing like the detailed-filled paragraphs of the Rowling we love. It’s more like sneaking a peek at her unfinished notes or finding a fetching piece of fan fiction. The magic is stunted. Wait 1 second to continue. The gist of everything you want to know about what becomes of Harry, Ron and Hermione is revealed in the beginning pages. Harry is Head of Magical Law Enforcement for the Ministry of Magic. Ron runs his brothers’ joke shop. Hermione is the Minister of Magic. (Good work on the girl power, J.K.) From there, the story is woven around one of Harry’s sons, Albus, who, after being sorted into Slytherin, is miserable being a child of the famous Harry Potter. His best friend is Scorpius Malfoy, son of Draco Malfoy, who is also awash in teenage angst because of the rumors that he is really the son of Voldemort. As they get into very typical Potter trouble with the help of a time-turner, a question hangs over the story: Is Voldemort, who Harry vanquished in the seventh book, really gone for good? The plot itself is quite compelling. You can see how the play would be mightily impressive. Maybe we should all fly to London and see it together. Except that it’s sold out. But wait: Sometime before or after she uttered the words “Harry is done now,” Rowling said at the premiere that they “really hope to take this play as many places as it’s feasible to take it. So I hope a lot of [fans] will get to see this play in due course.” [] Maybe there will be magic left in it when “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” makes its way to Broadway. Or Minneapolis. Or your cousin’s community theater. Until then, of course, there’s the upcoming film spin-off, “ due out in theaters this November. You could go to the Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios in Florida. Or the one in. Or the You could play “,” when the “Pokemon Go” creators want to strike it rich again. Gotta catch the Magic. Really, you go ahead. I’m just going to hang back and read the old books again. Mod How to download Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Enhanced Edition) by J.K. Rowling DOWNLOAD LINK: DOWNLOAD HERE: BOOK PREVIEW: 'Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go.' ' When the Knight Bus crashes through the darkness and screeches to a halt in front of him, it's the start of another far from ordinary year at Hogwarts for Harry Potter. Sirius Black, escaped mass-murderer and follower of Lord Voldemort, is on the run - and they say he is coming after Harry. In his first ever Divination class, Professor Trelawney sees an omen of death in Harry's tea leaves. But perhaps most terrifying of all are the Dementors patrolling the school grounds, with their soul-sucking kiss. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is currently the featured read in Pottermore’s Wizarding World Book Club. Sign up and join weekly Twitter discussions at WW Book Club. Tags: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Enhanced Edition) J.K. Rowling kf8 download Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Enhanced Edition) J.K. Rowling PDF Download Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Enhanced Edition) J.K. 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The only content we will consider removing is spam, slanderous attacks on other members, or extremely offensive content (eg. Pornography, pro-Nazi, child abuse, etc). We will not remove any content for bad language alone, or being critical of a particular book. ![]() ![]() ![]() Read Victoria by Knut Hamsun with Rakuten Kobo. When it first appeared in 1898, this fourth novel by celebrated Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun captured instant acclaim. Knut Hamsun 3 ePub eBooks Collection. Knut Hamsun - Hunger (tr Sverre Lyngstad).epub Knut Hamsun - Mysteries.epub Knut Hamsun - Victoria (tr Sverre Lyngstad).epub. When it first appeared in 1898, this fourth novel by celebrated Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun captured instant acclaim for its poetic. Buy the Victoria ebook. Victoria eBook: Knut Hamsun: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store. About Victoria When it first appeared in 1898, this fourth novel by celebrated Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun captured instant acclaim for its poetic, psychologically intense portrayal of love’s predicament in a class-bound society. Set in a coastal village of late nineteenth-century Norway, Victoria follows two doomed lovers through their thwarted lifelong romance. Johannes, the son of a miller, finds inspiration for his writing in his passionate devotion to Victoria, an impoverished aristocrat constrained by family loyalty. Separated by class barriers and social pressure, the fated pair parts ways, only to realize—too late—the grave misfortune of their lost opportunity. Elegantly rendered in this brand-new translation by Sverre Lyngstad, Victoria’s haunting lyricism and emotional depth remain as timeless as ever. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. About Victoria When it first appeared in 1898, this fourth novel by celebrated Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun captured instant acclaim for its poetic, psychologically intense portrayal of love’s predicament in a class-bound society. Set in a coastal village of late nineteenth-century Norway, Victoria follows two doomed lovers through their thwarted lifelong romance. Johannes, the son of a miller, finds inspiration for his writing in his passionate devotion to Victoria, an impoverished aristocrat constrained by family loyalty. Separated by class barriers and social pressure, the fated pair parts ways, only to realize—too late—the grave misfortune of their lost opportunity. Elegantly rendered in this brand-new translation by Sverre Lyngstad, Victoria’s haunting lyricism and emotional depth remain as timeless as ever. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. ![]() ![]() With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. From the Trade Paperback edition. You would think i would have sopped this thing up with a hunk of bread: doomed lovers, the impossibility of communication, the way we hurt the ones we love? That should have karen's stamp of approval all over it. But it's like hamsun took a great idea for literary exploration and then constructed this wooden fence all around the emotional appeal and said 'you are not coming in!' And i'm like, 'dude, come on - just let me care about the characters a little bit'. And hamsun's all 'no way, jose'. S you would think i would have sopped this thing up with a hunk of bread: doomed lovers, the impossibility of communication, the way we hurt the ones we love? That should have karen's stamp of approval all over it. But it's like hamsun took a great idea for literary exploration and then constructed this wooden fence all around the emotional appeal and said 'you are not coming in!' And i'm like, 'dude, come on - just let me care about the characters a little bit'. And hamsun's all 'no way, jose'. So i shrugged and went away. I only read this because it is used in one of the most emotionally wrenching scenes in the kjaerstad trilogy, so you would think this would also drip with melancholy goo. It's good, it is just more restrained in its writing than what i usually go for in this type of narrative. And i have read two other books by him, it's not like i was expecting heaving bosoms and passionate speeches, but i just couldn't find anything to grab onto. They all kind of act like bratty teenagers, whose emotions flail up and down and then end in eye-pokings. It would be comical if it wasn't also so sad. But the bottom line, and this is the bottom line in many books by my beloved thomas hardy as well: why don't you just talk to each other? Without lying?? It would just make everyone happier in the end. That is my lesson to characters everywhere, and it is my advice to you on the internet. ‘ Love became the world’s beginning and the world’s ruler; but all its ways are full of flowers and blood, flowers and blood.’ The passions and desires of young love, and the frustration of love torn apart by society, is a source of considerable energy that has been harnessed by writers through all of history. Nobel laureate Knut Hamsun’s 1898 novella, Victoria, draws on this energy to fuel his unextinguishable prose and return to the theme of doomed love, a theme characteristic of his impressive ‘ Love became the world’s beginning and the world’s ruler; but all its ways are full of flowers and blood, flowers and blood.’ The passions and desires of young love, and the frustration of love torn apart by society, is a source of considerable energy that has been harnessed by writers through all of history. Nobel laureate Knut Hamsun’s 1898 novella, Victoria, draws on this energy to fuel his unextinguishable prose and return to the theme of doomed love, a theme characteristic of his impressive oeuvre. Although this theme was the heart of, Victoria takes a different approach stylistically, poetically, and most of all, in the behavior of the protagonist. Within this tragic tale of two star-crossed lovers, Hamsun explores the complexities, hopes and inevitable destruction of love in a world ordered through social class as he weaves a multi-layered metafictive prose that marks the dawn of a bright new era for his novels. Published only 4 years after, a tragic tale of failed love set in the northern wilderness, Victoria evinced a period of major artistic growth and maturity in Hamsun’s already potent literary pen. According to the excellent introduction provided by translator Sverre Lyngstad, Hamsun wrote in a letter during this period between novels that he had ‘ tired of the novel, [and] always despised the drama,’ so he had taken up writing verse, which he considered ‘ the only literature that is not both pretentious and insignificant, but only insignificant’. The time spent harnessing the power of poetry is immediately apparent from the first page. Having become tighter and slimmed down to near-poetic verse, the prose simply blossoms upon the page. The striking variance in style between his early, gritty, psychologically intense works including and, and later novels such as (a crucial work that, as well as being heralded as his ‘masterpiece’, was cited by the Nobel committee as a primary impetus for awarding him their prestigious prize) seems to meet up and pivot upon this novella. Victoria retained his early themes of doomed love, obsession and focal character with manic dispositions - which still continued throughout his body of work, becoming used more for the traits of supporting characters and secondary plotlines – while striking out into different narrative styles and the more streamlined storytelling that shone best in Growth. Hamsun began to keep dialogue to the bare minimum, a strong departure from the loquacious ravings of Nagel in Mysteries, choosing to supply the gist of conversations and leaving the particulars to be filled in through the creative impulses of the reader. Hamsun was a master of revealing only what was absolutely necessary, which helped to drive his novels forward and give him total narrative control. Even a good deal of the action is revealed after the fact, recounted by the characters in a way that gives rise to suspicions of absolute validity. ‘ Asked what love is, some will say it is nothing but a wind whispering among the roses and then dying down. But often it is like an unbreakable seal that holds for a lifetime, until death. God created it in so many different kinds and has seen it endure or perish’. Doomed love was a favorite theme of Hamsun’s and appears in some for in almost every one of his books and short stories (the short stories in particular show Hamsun sharpening his skills and insight into this topic). In Victoria, the reader watches the doomed dance of two lovers as they waltz through a series of ups and downs. The novella bounces gracefully between intense amorous excitement and disheartened grief and sorrow, as both the imagery and Johannes’ mood is victim to the whims of his beloved. When love is on his side, love is compared to ‘ a summer night with stars in the sky and fragrance on earth’ and Johannes harnesses his joy into frantic writing and singing to the heavens, the latter much to the chagrin of his neighbors, creating an opportunity for Hamsun to allow Johannes to tell of his off-stage escapades in artistically expressive and exaggerative language. In these manic, feverish states, he can live, eat and drink off the feasts of love, ‘ coatless, he looks out on the world like a half-clothed madman who has gotten drunk on happiness during the night’. However, when love is withheld, the world around him is bleak and love is only as pleasant as ‘ ugly toadstools’. When Victoria implies that social class and social expectations make any union of their hearts impossible, revoking any possibilities of a future between them after days before having pledged her love to him, Hamsun sets Johannes off down a dingy street lined with impoverishment to highlight these social conditions. Unlike the protagonists in Hamsun’s previous novels, Johannes has a steadier grip of his faculties and does not lash out irrationally despite dipping, or elevating, himself into feverish moods. In fact, the central scene of the novel displays Johannes in a calm, sociable demeanor during a party, a scene in other novels where disaster and outlandish behavior was certain to erupt. Johannes takes compliments and aggression with class and dignity, being the one who comes out smelling of roses. Perhaps this reflects upon the character of Hamsun. There is a strong autobiographical aspect to many of his novels, and his early works which document the rise and fall of irrational moods and behavior may have been a method through which Hamsun was able to step back and observe himself from an outsider’s vantage point in an attempt to gain some insight into his own character. Having aged in experience and wisdom, such irregular nuances may have dulled leading to a more composed and collected protagonist. Little hope for a sustainable happiness is to be found from the story of Johannes and Victoria as Hamsun further emphasizes his jaded desire to watch love burn in flames than shine with the stars. ‘ That’s the way things are,’ lectures an old poet, ‘ naturally, you don’t get the women you should have’. Yet, somewhere in this bitter fate, there is a bittersweet sense of beauty. In the burden of never obtaining the one we really love, we can forever desire them and remain in the emotionally intense and radiant infatuation stage forever. However, true love is only reached through accepting and wholly embracing the good and bad of a person, making the ‘love’ more obsession than actual love. Either way, this book is a great example of how many of our problems are of our own doing. So many times does the object of desire lay itself at a characters doorstep, only to be turned away to satisfy some inner angst and pride that will be regretted later. When two individuals become a pair, one inevitably seeks the affections of another, newer infatuation. Hamsun displays quite a bit of pessimism towards young love. The author was quite the wanderer in the younger half of his life, much like most of his protagonists, and was very popular with women. As this was how he understood life, his protagonists are always graced with the same attractive force, even when they are as famished and foul as Hunger’s narrator. The brief and many affairs he may have encountered or observed in his travels must have given him this outlook, and the apparent heart-breaker status of his that can be read between the lines of his books may be the driving force of creating so many characters just to watch their hearts crumble. The passion and the devastation of his tragic romances are sure to ring true in the hearts of an empathetic reader. Through the use of what describes as ‘free indirect narration’ in, Hamsun skillfully threads the non-participatory narration with Johannes participatory observations and opinions, dipping in an out of his head with a clever word choice, exclamatory phrase within the larger sentence or brief interjection of perspective. Take, for example: ‘ The starlings were chattering from the branches above their head. Well and good. God grant them a long life He had made a speech for her at dinner and torn his heart out; it had cost him dearly to correct and cover up her impertinent interruption, and she hadn’t even thanked him. She had picked up picked up her glass and taken a draft. Look at me, see how prettily I drink[sic]’ Johannes and the narrative voice are threaded so tightly you can pass over the seams without even noticing Hamsun has gone back and forth between third and first person perspectives. It is especially difficult to readily deduce as Johannes is a poet and author, and what the reader may first attribute to Hamsun as a poetic turn of phrase or choice of word really belongs to Johannes. This affords the novella its vast prose and poetical form and allows lenience and forgiveness for turning to such exaggerated flowery language. The metafictive duality of the novel is served through the technique as well. We have Hamsun, a writer creating a novel with traces of autobiography about a writer with similar traits who takes the loves and losses from his own life and molds it into his own poetry and novels. Through the small but exquisite samples of Johannes own work, we see Hamsun writing poetry in full-fledged Norwegian romantic-style that retells the recent events of Johannes life, contained within a novel that serves as a poetical literary concoction of events from Hamsun’s life. The meta-language of Victoria comes in many, many layers. Sverre Lyngstad seems to be one of the better, if not the best, english translators of Hamsun's work. After sampling a few other translations through reading several other Hamsun novels, Lyngstad seems to enact the best balance of flow, prose, and accessible syntax. As an added bonus, his introductions are always stuffed with excellent biographical knowledge and viewpoints on the novel. However, the reader should be warned that the 'introduction' would better serve as an 'afterword' as they are rampant with spoilers and other various plot points that could really ruin the book. While this book did not strike me quite as powerfully as his others, notably Pan, with which is it best compared to, Victoria shows the Norwegian novelist at a crucial turning point in his career and is a short, sharp and intense work that highlights and amplifies many of the themes from its predecessors. While Pan offered more of the emotionally charged and ambiguous behavior that bound Hamsun’s novels forever to my heart, mind and soul, Victoria provides an impressive poetic depiction of the emptiness felt when love, which had previously swelled and burst free from the heart, is denied, covered up, or gift-wrapped and given to someone detestable. This book invokes true, uncomfortable feelings, yet delivers them so exquisitely that we can only be comforted and left desiring more. 3.75/5 I would recommend starting with. When he grew up he wanted to be a diver. That was a sure thing. Then he would go down into the ocean from the deck a ship and come to strange lands, to kingdoms with swaying forests, vast and mysterious, and with a coral palace on the ocean floor. And the princess waves to him from a window and says, Come in! Johannes is a bright young boy with a vivid imagination growing up in a poor household near the sea. His dreams alternate between adventure and romance, fueled by the passing ships and by When he grew up he wanted to be a diver. That was a sure thing. Then he would go down into the ocean from the deck a ship and come to strange lands, to kingdoms with swaying forests, vast and mysterious, and with a coral palace on the ocean floor. And the princess waves to him from a window and says, Come in! Johannes is a bright young boy with a vivid imagination growing up in a poor household near the sea. His dreams alternate between adventure and romance, fueled by the passing ships and by the beautiful daughter of the local gentry, living in the 'Castle' as the fishermen and peasants call the town manor. At the end of the nineteen century social norms ensued the two young people could not even think about the possibility of love between so wide apart backgrounds. Yet love is ruled by emotion and not logic. If she just knew how completely, beyond words, he was hers every minute of his life! He would be her servant and slave, sweeping a path before her with his shoulders. And he would kiss her tiny shoes and pull her carriage and lay the fire for her on cold days. He would lay her fire with gilded wood. Ah, Victoria! Nineteen years old Johannes is so eloquent in his internal monologues, and so shy when it comes to actually woo his young princess. The years pass and Victoria remains as inaccessible as the mermaid princess of his childhood dreams. Yet Johannes escapes the confines of century old hard work and goes to study in the capital, becoming a poet and novelist, his sensibility and imagination breaking the social barriers that held him down in the past. But can he put his popularity and his skill with the written word in the service of his quest for Victoria? What was love? A wind whispering among the roses, no, a yellow phosphorescence in the blood. Love was a hot devil's music that set even the hearts of old men dancing. It was like the marguerite, which opens wide as night comes on, and it was like the anemone, which closes at a breath and dies at a touch. Such was love. Past misunderstandings, family pressure and their own timidity drive the passion of these two young people over the cliff and into tragedy. Love is pain, seems to be the major theme of Knut Hamsun's delicate and moving evocation of young love, yet for me this first foray into his work was a thing of beauty, a gem of a story that I would gladly add to my growing list of romantic novellas about youth and love (Dostoyevsky's 'White Nights', Turgheniev's 'First Love', Conrad's 'Youth', Mishima's 'Sound of the Waves' and so on) His heart is full, and his brain is like an unharvested wild garden in which vapors are rising from the earth. In some mysterious way he has come to a deep, deserted valley where no living thing can be found. In the distance, alone and abandoned, an organ is playing. He walks closer, he examines it; the organ is bleeding, blood flows from its sides as it plays. The odds were that I wouldn't like this book. It had many of the features I found fault with in the contemporary bestseller 'One Day' by David Nicholls: a frustrating main character who falls deeply and irrevocably in love with someone clearly unsuitable who doesn't initially return his regard; many occasions when the pair might have come together but were prevented by misunderstandings and other frustrating circumstances; in short, too much melodrama right up to the very end. So why did I like The odds were that I wouldn't like this book. It had many of the features I found fault with in the contemporary bestseller 'One Day' by David Nicholls: a frustrating main character who falls deeply and irrevocably in love with someone clearly unsuitable who doesn't initially return his regard; many occasions when the pair might have come together but were prevented by misunderstandings and other frustrating circumstances; in short, too much melodrama right up to the very end. So why did I like it so much? The simplicity of the style, the poetic quality of the writing and the intensity of the hero's emotional life. I will definitely read more of Hamsun's work. A small share in my positive response must go to the fine presentation of this Condor Book, the full colour reproduction of 'Moonlight' by Edvard Munch on the cover, the high quality paper, the bold font and the broad margins which reduce the words per page and make the reading experience very pleasant indeed. Imagine love in its complicated state, love as a psychological battle: dreamlike and disappointing; love that never materializes into a relationship, never fully processed; love poured into the literary art as a parallel to love that cannot be. For this isn't simply air-brushed romance, this has melancholy imbued. Oh Johannes, he who initially exists in his semi-delirious happy frame of mind, in his dream world of love proclamation. She loves him? She loves him not? Victoria lives in a castle and Imagine love in its complicated state, love as a psychological battle: dreamlike and disappointing; love that never materializes into a relationship, never fully processed; love poured into the literary art as a parallel to love that cannot be. For this isn't simply air-brushed romance, this has melancholy imbued. Oh Johannes, he who initially exists in his semi-delirious happy frame of mind, in his dream world of love proclamation. She loves him? She loves him not? Victoria lives in a castle and he is the neighborhood kid who helps with errands. She must marry someone who can provide for her, who can buy and maintain her father's castle. But he doesn't know this. Or maybe he does and chooses to ignore this major hurdle - dreamer he is and all. She loves me not? What was love? A wind whispering among the roses, no, a yellow phosphorescence in the blood. Love was a hot devil's music that set even the hearts of old men dancing. It was like the marguerite, which opens wide as night comes on, and it was like the anemone, which closes at a breath and dies at a touch. Johannes writes at night, when the world is asleep and the train's whistle is his alarm clock. He could not become a part of Victoria's world based on his lineage, but he could infuse himself and his thoughts into that world through the written word. Soon, he becomes the poet to be celebrated. The man who once ran errands soon becomes a guest at the elaborate dinner parties. But what happens when your heart's desire is simply unattainable? A love for the style Hamsun employs in this piece is one that could be debatable. Before he wrote Victoria and after he wrote Pan, Hamsun expressed in a letter how he was tired of the novel and wanted to write verse. This book, some argue, was his attempt to do just that: Alas, love turns the human heart into a mildewed garden, a lush and shameless garden in which grow mysterious, obscene toadstools. I wonder if I should have been introduced to Hamsun through his breakthrough novel, instead. Yet there is something to be said about starting with a writer's body of work that is somewhat an elegy on love. Victoria at times is a muddle of past and present tense, those slight parallelism annoyances that occur in the midst of sentences and paragraphs, but its best moments are when it captures love through a meandering mosaic, albeit clipped at times. The streets are alive through Johannes's observations, when those minute details the average observer misses suddenly become lucid. Hamsun's scholar makes a good point about this read when he writes: 'The point here is.to show, by indirection, the phases of Johannes's consciousness as he struggles to recover from his grievous disappointment.' Suppose you met someone when you were young, and something happened that convinced you beyond reasonable doubt that they loved you, and you loved them. And then, suppose that there were all sorts of practical problems, and that, on the rare occasions when you did meet them, you said the wrong thing, or they said the wrong thing, and people were hurt, or lost their tempers, and you started to wonder if you'd just hallucinated it all. And that this continued for your whole life. Well, if you've eve Suppose you met someone when you were young, and something happened that convinced you beyond reasonable doubt that they loved you, and you loved them. And then, suppose that there were all sorts of practical problems, and that, on the rare occasions when you did meet them, you said the wrong thing, or they said the wrong thing, and people were hurt, or lost their tempers, and you started to wonder if you'd just hallucinated it all. And that this continued for your whole life. Well, if you've ever had that kind of experience, you might like Victoria, a long, elegantly written prose-poem which pretty much does for hopeless love what Hunger does for being hungry. Wrap it up with a red bow, and give it to a carefully selected person as an unusual Valentine. I read this novel in the Eighties. Victoria is one of the most beautiful short novels in Literature. Though titled Victoria, the protagonist is Johannes, the miller's son. He is a boy who wants to work in a match factory because, “he could get sulphur on his hands so that nobody would dare to shake hands with him”. Later, as a man, he spends his nights writing epic poetry, capping a productive session with loud singing that wakes his neighbours. Johannes is proud to know the stones and the stream I read this novel in the Eighties. Victoria is one of the most beautiful short novels in Literature. Though titled Victoria, the protagonist is Johannes, the miller's son. He is a boy who wants to work in a match factory because, “he could get sulphur on his hands so that nobody would dare to shake hands with him”. Later, as a man, he spends his nights writing epic poetry, capping a productive session with loud singing that wakes his neighbours. Johannes is proud to know the stones and the streams; he looks after birds and trees and scares himself into believing there is an ogre in a nearby cave. As a child he befriends Ditlef and Victoria, son and daughter of the socially aristocratic but economically destitute Lord of the village. He loves Victoria the way a tree loves the sun – eternally, its branches outstretched not to touch but to bask in the radiance of the light. Victoria, however, is forced into marriage with Otto, an upstart aristocrat with a poorer lineage but a great deal of money. Johannes loves from afar, and Victoria – does she love him at all? Early on, as Johannes stretches his poetic wings, he muses that love is “like the anemone which closes at a breath and dies at a touch”. The novel utilises this concept again and again as first Johannes, and then Victoria, engage in a series of miscommunications, missed opportunities, and harsh words. When Johannes love is in the ascendancy, Victoria brushes him off. Later, she is contrite and declares her affection, but he is hurt and acts cold. The characters are of such a piece that they could love no other, but their equally vast capacity for stubborn indignation ensures they will remain apart. For Hamsun, love – or even the true essence of a character's personality – is something that exists in bursting spasms of exertion and then fades to cold metal. A character may go months, or even years, being sullen and vindictive, only to suddenly shine with frenzied emotion. What is more, the psychology of a character is something personal and private – their rich inner life is shown to others as a series of grunts and rejection. Johannes and Victoria both share these qualities, and are drawn to the other because of this. To the outside world both seem aloof and cold. Emotion lies dormant until it flares into life, but even then these flares are often hidden from everyone except the individual themselves. Johannes, for example, gloats that he has written Victoria's name on the ceiling of his room, so that he can stare at it and love her from afar. But, he is quick to tell her, he wrote the name so small that not even the cleaning lady can tell it is there. For Johannes it is enough that he knows, his secret a bludgeon to strike the outside world with, only they do not know it. Victoria is much the same, revealing to Johannes when they are much older that she used to walk home the long way every day simply because she knew it was the way he liked to walk, only she never told anyone, not even him. What can we make of these acts of devotion that are hidden from everyone? Hamsun asks that we make everything of it, but that we keep it to ourselves. Toward the end of this short work, a story is told in miniature of a couple that have loved one another their entire lives. When the husband is struck ill and becomes sickly, he demands his wife leave him, because he has become hideous. In response she hacks away at her 'golden' hair, making herself as ugly as he. Later, when she is sick, she demands the same, but he instead goes to the bathroom and splashes acid on his face, ruining his features so that they can remain together, uniquely one. This short story is the larger work written again, as Victoria and Johannes hurt first the other, and then themselves, again and again throughout their lives. They can never be happy, but their happiness comes from the secret love they – not share, because sharing would ruin it – but possess. Victoria is a short novel, but its themes are large. As much as the novel is a story of obsession and possession thwarted, it also manages to include much on the then-relevant issue of love between different classes. Johannes, though he becomes a celebrated poet, will never be the social equal of Victoria, and both know it. This adds poignancy to their love, and a valuable (to the characters) sense that they will never truly be together. The characters are written sharply, which renders their love quarrels painful to the reader. It is clear from the first few pages that happiness is not possible for either of them. Victoria muses at one stage that Johannes must be doing alright because he mentions that he is dealing with only 'the small sorrows'. That she expects a person must always live with any sorrow at all suggests much about her character, and that Johannes is, in his way, content with these 'small' sorrows suggests just as much about his. They are lovers in a sense, but lovers who can never consummate physically what they so fervently express in secret to themselves. There are some books that have a lasting impact on one’s life, books that leave an indelible mark on one’s deepest emotions. For me there are a number, but Victoria by Knut Hamsun occupies a special place as the most captivating and heart-breaking love story ever written. I read it in my mid-teens, in the full flood of my most romantic period. It’s a short novel; I finished it in less than two hours in a single sitting, overwhelmed by the poetic intensity of the prose, overwhelmed by the story o There are some books that have a lasting impact on one’s life, books that leave an indelible mark on one’s deepest emotions. For me there are a number, but Victoria by Knut Hamsun occupies a special place as the most captivating and heart-breaking love story ever written. I read it in my mid-teens, in the full flood of my most romantic period. It’s a short novel; I finished it in less than two hours in a single sitting, overwhelmed by the poetic intensity of the prose, overwhelmed by the story of Victoria and Johannes, two people put on earth to love one another. They do, but there is no happy ending; events, social class, expectations, a sense of duty and circumstances all get in the way. It’s a story of love only fully declared in death, only fully revealed in an ending that absolutely numbed me, reduced me to uncontrollable tears. I’ve now read it again, though I never thought I would; the first time was painful enough. But it came up in a discussion recently, so I decided to take the risk, if risk is the right word, with the aim of refreshing my memory and adding this appreciation. I did not recapture the same raw emotions, knowing what was to happen, knowing the course planned by fate and the writer. Besides, I’m older, a little more controlled, not quite so ready to give over to same teenage passions. Wellthat’s not entirely true. There may not have been the same quantity of tears, but there were tears, terrible sadness over beautiful and frustrated love. If you know Hamsun’s work you will know just how wonderfully he writes, how lyrical and poetic his prose. There are some passages that just leap out, memorable and brief. Here are a few of my favourites; The days came and went: mild, lovely days filled with the bliss of solitude and with sweet memories of childhood – a renewed call to the earth and the sky, the air and the hills. If she only knew that all his poems had been written to her and no one else, every single one, even the one to Night, even the one to the Spirit of the Swamp. But that was something she would never know. What, then, is love? A wind whispering among the roses – no, a yellow phosphorescence in the blood. A danse macabre in which even the oldest and frailest hearts are obliged to join. It is like the marguerite which opens wide as night draws on, and like the anemone which closes at a breath and dies at a touch. Such is love. It is strange to think that all I’ve ever managed to do was to come in to the world and love you and now say goodbye to life. Their days came and went; they came close, but they never managed to blend; there is too much misunderstanding, too many things left unsaid. So, yes, you’ve probably been here before, you will know the mood – it’s a story of unrequited love, Norwegian echoes of Romeo and Juliet, of Heathcliff and Cathy. In its directness and simplicity Victoria is a peerless story of an imperfectly perfect love, one that will remain with me forever. This is a very slim novel, and it tells a story that had been told a great many times over the years – the story of young lovers from different classes, pulled together by love but pulled in different directions by life – but it is so well told and so distinctive the I found it irresistible. Vitoria and Johannes had always known each other. She was daughter of a wealthy landowner, he was the son of a miller, and their paths crossed whenever Victoria’s family visited their country estate. Johannes This is a very slim novel, and it tells a story that had been told a great many times over the years – the story of young lovers from different classes, pulled together by love but pulled in different directions by life – but it is so well told and so distinctive the I found it irresistible. Vitoria and Johannes had always known each other. She was daughter of a wealthy landowner, he was the son of a miller, and their paths crossed whenever Victoria’s family visited their country estate. Johannes would always be called to row the children of the family to the island where they could run, explore, do whatever they wanted. Johannes wanted to join in their adventures. There were so many things that he could show them in the country side that he loved and knew so well. But they didn’t want him; he was only there to row and to mind the boat. He tried, but every time he tried the boys knocked him back, and so he began to write stories in his head; stories where he was the hero, he saved them from disaster, he won the heart of Victoria. He knew that Victoria wanted him to be part of the group but that she had to give way to the boys. She didn’t say anything, of course she couldn’t say anything, but he could see it in her eyes and in her demeanour. Johannes was sent to school in the city and then he only saw Victoria when he came home in the summer, but his love for her never faded. He loved her, but he could never be sure that she loved him. He continued to write to express his feelings, and in time he would become a very successful author. Johannes and Victoria met again, and when they spoke they learned that they loved each other. But their situation was complicated. Victoria’s family’s fortune had faded, and her parent’s future depended on her making an advantageous match. Would there be a happy ending. Sometimes I thought yes, and sometimes I thought no. The love story is beautifully wrought; it rises and it falls and it catches every emotion of these star-crossed lovers quite beautifully. There were times when it felt a little like a fairy story but there were times when it felt wonderfully and painfully real. I saw the influence of older stories in some lovely touches, and there were also touches that made me think of much more modern stories. The stories that Johannes wrote caught his emotions, and there were times when I wondered which was the story and which – if any – was the reality. In the end there could be no doubt. For a moment the story faltered, but the ending found the magic that had illuminated this little book again. I don’t know about the author to put this book into context. I can just say that it is a very readable book, that what is distilled into this novel many authors would have made into a much bigger book, and that I liked it very much. Other than a vivid drowning rescue and some sadsack suggestions about true love, this is simply flat. Sucky compared to his better known novels -- a dull, poorly characterized (can't picture these characters other than Johannes and his tan wrists), muddy novella at best. One character's head is blown to bits and I didn't care since he made almost no impression. There's an immolation scene too that leads to an inferno but it happens too quickly and reads like bad Gothic lit. Can't believe he wrot Other than a vivid drowning rescue and some sadsack suggestions about true love, this is simply flat. Sucky compared to his better known novels -- a dull, poorly characterized (can't picture these characters other than Johannes and his tan wrists), muddy novella at best. One character's head is blown to bits and I didn't care since he made almost no impression. There's an immolation scene too that leads to an inferno but it happens too quickly and reads like bad Gothic lit. Can't believe he wrote it after 'Pan' and 'Hunger.' Seemed like a rushed, imbalanced first draft. Phoned-in descriptions. I'll read 'Mysteries' but probably won't search out his lesser known stuff if it's like this one. The first time I read Victoria I was 11. Ok, I know, a little young for this type of novel. I remember being able to appreciate the prose, the fluidity of it (at least in Norwegian), but I also remember being irritated at both Johannes and Victoria, not understanding their love or their actions. An 11-year old hasn't typically had the life experience to be able to understand or appreciate this type of work, or at least I certainly hadn't. Not having reread it since, I happened on it as I was or The first time I read Victoria I was 11. Ok, I know, a little young for this type of novel. I remember being able to appreciate the prose, the fluidity of it (at least in Norwegian), but I also remember being irritated at both Johannes and Victoria, not understanding their love or their actions. An 11-year old hasn't typically had the life experience to be able to understand or appreciate this type of work, or at least I certainly hadn't. Not having reread it since, I happened on it as I was organizing my bookcase. I love Hunger/Sult by Hamsun, but was a little wary, thinking Victoria would be too light, somewhat insubstantial. And of course it wasn't. Hamsun isn't the easiest of authors, but that shouldn't stop those of you that have been daunted by his other work (Hunger or Growth of the Soil). This is a beautifully rendered love story, with class differences and poverty at its centre. Just give it a try, and see Manny's review below. Says it all really. A short simple and profound love story which captures the intensity, passion and hopelessness of love; especially young love. The two protagonists Johannes and Victoria fall in love in early teenage and the story develops over a period of years. They manage to hurt each other, be shy, clumsy and avoid sharing their feelings. The language of this book is poetic and lyrical. Reading this as an adult; it was moving, but I wonder how I would have felt about it as a teenager; it may have had a more p A short simple and profound love story which captures the intensity, passion and hopelessness of love; especially young love. The two protagonists Johannes and Victoria fall in love in early teenage and the story develops over a period of years. They manage to hurt each other, be shy, clumsy and avoid sharing their feelings. The language of this book is poetic and lyrical. Reading this as an adult; it was moving, but I wonder how I would have felt about it as a teenager; it may have had a more profound effect. These days I prefer growing old with someone rather than because of someone. I believe this is one of the best love stories in literature and it can easily be read in one sitting. On December 18, 1975, a young family of five moved into their new home, complete with finished basement, swimming pool, and boathouse. Twenty-eight days later, they fled in terror, leaving most of their belongings behind. — The fantastic story of their experiences was widely publicized on network television, newspapers, and national magazines. But the Lutz family never dis On December 18, 1975, a young family of five moved into their new home, complete with finished basement, swimming pool, and boathouse. Twenty-eight days later, they fled in terror, leaving most of their belongings behind. — The fantastic story of their experiences was widely publicized on network television, newspapers, and national magazines. But the Lutz family never disclosed the full details to the media. Now, their own carefully-reconstructed memories -- and independent interviews with local clergy and police -- reveal their entire harrowing story. George and Kathleen Lutz were aware that the house had been the scene of a mass murder -- Ronnie DeFeo, 23, was convicted of shooting his parents, brothers, and sisters. But it seemed an ideal home for them and their three children, and the price was right. On the day they moved in, a priest invited to bless the house was told by an unseen voice to 'Get out!' At his rectory, he began to suffer a series of inexplicable afflictions. Meanwhile, alone in their new home, the Lutz family were embarking on the most terrifying experience of their lives. It began when their five-year-old daughter boasted of her new playmate, someone -- or something -- named 'Jodie.' THE AMITYVILLE HORROR is an unforgettable book with all the shocks and gripping suspense of THE EXORCIST, THE OMEN, or ROSEMARY'S BABY -- but with one vital difference! As the author reports, 'To the extent that I can verify them, all the events in this book are true.' Technically there are only two film adaptations of this book; Stuart Rosenberg's 1979 'The Amityville Horror' and Andrew Douglas' 2005 remake of the Technically there are only two film adaptations of this book; Stuart Rosenberg's 1979 'The Amityville Horror' and Andrew Douglas' 2005 remake of the same name. Both are highly embellished, but the 1979 version is considerably closer to the book (the 2005 film only really resembles it in concept). The Amityville Horror A True Story By: Jay Anson. User: alsevp13. A real possessed house. Download free ebook here in pdf epub mobi for free full. Download Ebook: amityville horror part 1 in PDF Format. Also available for mobile reader. There are many more films based on the idea of this particular house being haunted, however. In addition to the two official adaptations, there are numerous unofficial sequels and spinoffs: Damiano Damiani's 'Amityville II: The Possession' - 1982, based on the book 'Murder in Amityville' by Hans Holzer Richard Fleischer's 'Amityville 3-D' - 1983, an original screenplay Sandor Stern's 'Amityville: The Evil Escapes' - 1989, credited as an adaptation of the John G. OK, folks, for the last time, here's the real story. On 13 November 1974, a murder occurred in the home known as 'High Hopes,' located at what was then 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, New York. The victims of the crime were the DeFeo family: Ronald Sr., Louise, and four of their five children; Dawn, Allison, Mark and John. Ronald 'Butch' DeFeo, Jr., eldest son of the DeFeo family, burst into a local bar in town that night around 6:30PM, asking for help. Butch DeFeo was later tried for and OK, folks, for the last time, here's the real story. On 13 November 1974, a murder occurred in the home known as 'High Hopes,' located at what was then 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, New York. ![]() The victims of the crime were the DeFeo family: Ronald Sr., Louise, and four of their five children; Dawn, Allison, Mark and John. Ronald 'Butch' DeFeo, Jr., eldest son of the DeFeo family, burst into a local bar in town that night around 6:30PM, asking for help. Butch DeFeo was later tried for and found guilty of the murders of his family, and was sentenced to the Green Haven Penitentiary. Every attempt DeFeo has made to be granted parole has been rejected, he is serving consecutive life sentences. DeFeo turns 56 years old next week (09/26/07). The house was resold following the murders and probate. Among the owners since the murders were a couple named George and Kathy Lutz, who occupied the house in late 1975. The Lutzes later collaborated with an author to write this 'true account' of their stay in the house. Lutz has since passed away from cancer. No other owner of the property has complained of psychic disturbance, hauntings, paranormal activity, or any other issues with the house. The novels which followed this one claim the house is located on a Native American burial ground. ![]() ![]() No local tribe has substantiated this claim. Due to unwanted publicity, the house has been painted and the number changed to avoid onlookers. The murders happened, folks. They're real, they were tragic. ![]() There are some odd inconsistencies about them. But that is IT. There is NOTHING to substantiate any possession, haunting, demonology, incest, or anything else suggested in this book. It is a work of fiction, which the Lutz's lawyer later suggested they dreamed up after a night of drinking. If you want a book about a haunting, go find a good telling of the story of the Bell Witch (verified by a President of the United States) or read the 'Weird' series, edited by Mark Moran. This is just nonsense. There is no basement door to hell in a quiet Long Island suburb. Sorry to disappoint everyone.:: steps off soapbox:: End of Rant. Let's pause for a minute and laugh out loud at the fact that this stupid book was in the nonfiction section of my library. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHA HAAAAAA HAHAHA HA. HAAAAAA OK, I think that's good. HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA OH MAN! That's not why it gets one lousy star anyway. It gets one star because I think it was written by a twelve year old. The writing was so bad that it distracted me from the absolutely ridiculous story. ![]() There was just no life in the story at all. I mean, the gho Let's pause for a minute and laugh out loud at the fact that this stupid book was in the nonfiction section of my library. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHA HAAAAAA HAHAHA HA. HAAAAAA OK, I think that's good. HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA OH MAN! That's not why it gets one lousy star anyway. It gets one star because I think it was written by a twelve year old. The writing was so bad that it distracted me from the absolutely ridiculous story. There was just no life in the story at all. I mean, the ghosts described in the book were more alive than this tired, boring (fake, yeah I said it) story. My God, man, at least use a few adjectives here and there. Give me some description of who these people are and why I should care. If this is supposed to be horrifying, why does it feel like you just learned how to write a paragraph? First, people moved into a house. Second, weird things happened to them. After that, they were scared to live there. Finally, you won't believe what happened next! End of chapter cliffhanger and oh my goodness can you believe what's happening? I can't either because it didn't! And even if this was in the fiction section it wouldn't be worth your time because it feels like a story a bunch of Boy Scouts tell each other around a campfire, not something to actually read. That's the gist of the story with minor embellishments. Perhaps if someone else wrote this book, I may have cared a little more. I don't know. I don't care. Happy Halloween everyone! Pick a different book to scare you this year. This 'true' story is about as scary as a Ke$ha/Charlie Sheen lovechild. It's terrifying. But it's not the baby's fault. It was created out of a union of glitter-vomit and Tiger Blood. Mama SLutz is an attention whore just in it for the money and notoriety, and Daddy is a talentless hack who just spouts random words emphatically and claims they make sense. It's like it was written by a 12 year old with ADD and then edited by someone who speaks English as a 2nd language. And started taking the This 'true' story is about as scary as a Ke$ha/Charlie Sheen lovechild. It's terrifying. But it's not the baby's fault. It was created out of a union of glitter-vomit and Tiger Blood. Mama SLutz is an attention whore just in it for the money and notoriety, and Daddy is a talentless hack who just spouts random words emphatically and claims they make sense. It's like it was written by a 12 year old with ADD and then edited by someone who speaks English as a 2nd language. And started taking the classes just yesterday! Exclamation point! But hey, they did something right, because I just read this pile of steaming poo! Exclamation point! So let me tell you about the book, m'kay? There's this family called the sLutzes. They moved into this house on the 18th of December - no the 23rd of December - no the 18th of December because when they moved out on January 14th that was 28 days and Jay Anson can count, yayyyy! Exclamation point! So the Putzes SLutzes - Wait. Did we meet Father Frank yet? Father Frank has a BAD FEELING. And then he gets sick with the flu a lot and that makes him feel bad! So then the SLutzes move in on the 18th-23rd-18th of December and then weird stuff starts happening in their house like the windows opening and it being cold. They have money problems and can't afford their boat or their wardrobe but never go to work. Also Officer Gionfriddo is the most badass ninja policeman! Exclamation point! He can drive down the street and totally not see that guy going into the WITCHES' BREW until 50 feet after he passes him, and then recognize his beard, the way he walks, and the shape of his body! Crouching Gionfriddo, Hidden Ninja! Multiple Exclamation Points!! Father Frank had blisters on his hands. Then there was a lion. Then George was all like 'LET MY PEOPLE GO!' And then Gionfriddo sat quietly in his police car with the lights off watching in a non-creeper way while George acted all 'like a lunatic' but later Gionfriddo said it was OK because they were closing the windows so he drove away with his lights off. Totally not like a creeper, I said! Jodie says he's an angel but he's really a BEAST! Then there is a storm and they are TRAPPED IN THE HOUSE except for when they got in the car to go to the doctor's office for some band-aids and baby tylenol. Also, call Father Frank. Then they moved out and then the story was over except when they levitated some more and then moved to California where levitation is illegal. You've now read The Amityville Horror. 'Do you think it's haunted?' 'No way, I don't believe in ghosts.” It seems the reading world is clearly divided about this book. The common question obviously being: is this actually true? I would like to add another question to the equation: does it actually matter? To some extent, it does. The extent to which this novel will scare you correlates directly to (a)whether you believe the events depicted here are true and (b) your religious orientation. Personally, I’m still reserving judgement on jus 'Do you think it's haunted?' 'No way, I don't believe in ghosts.” It seems the reading world is clearly divided about this book. The common question obviously being: is this actually true? I would like to add another question to the equation: does it actually matter? To some extent, it does. The extent to which this novel will scare you correlates directly to (a)whether you believe the events depicted here are true and (b) your religious orientation. Personally, I’m still reserving judgement on just how “true” everything in here may or may not be. The spine classification says “non-fiction” but we’ve long since learnt not to believe everything we read. The book did create a storm of controversy, and I’d be very surprised if it hadn’t. It’s just that kind of book. Something that did occur to me while reading this was the old adage: “Where there’s smoke” 'I'm worried about what could happen next. Why don't you just get out of that house for a while?' Then again: take a step back and look at the book from a different point of view. How many other similar stories have you read, which you absolutely knew was fiction, and it still scared the living daylights out of you? It needn’t be a wasted opportunity – you have an imagination, don’t you? I will say this for the subject matter: if stories like and scared you, this book will too. Of that I don’t have much doubt. If the events depicted here are in fact true, this book’s creep-factor skyrockets through the roof. ”There's something in our room!' I enjoyed the book well enough. From a literary point of view, however, the writing is very workmanlike and matter-of-factual and, frankly, just a bit bland. It adds to the feeling of realism, but a few dramatic flourishes would have made the whole thing a bit more enjoyable! And let’s be honest, there are scenes that come across as a bit hokey. Still – it’s a fairly solid three stars. ”We’re trapped. It’s not going to let us go.” In closing. If you are one of those people who would normally skip the Foreword and Afterword of a book, it is important in the case of The Amityville Horror to actually read it, just to get some perspective. Yes, even if you think it’s hogwash. The Amityville Horror is a book whose reviews are all over the place. On my friends list I have ratings from 1 to 5 stars all across the board. I wasn't sure where I would fall in relation to my GR buddies. I listened to this one on audio as it was one of the 3 books that appealed to me and was available through OverDrive. It was a quick listen and I really enjoyed the narration. I watched the movie in my teens and there have been so many of them made I really don’t know which one I watched or h The Amityville Horror is a book whose reviews are all over the place. On my friends list I have ratings from 1 to 5 stars all across the board. I wasn't sure where I would fall in relation to my GR buddies. I listened to this one on audio as it was one of the 3 books that appealed to me and was available through OverDrive. It was a quick listen and I really enjoyed the narration. I watched the movie in my teens and there have been so many of them made I really don’t know which one I watched or how good of an interpretation it was. To be honest, I don’t remember a whole lot. I remember the basement opening up to Hell and a little girl standing on the top of the roof. Other than that? Not a whole heck of a lot. Clearly it left a lasting impression.;) I liked the way the narrative was broken up. You get the story from a few different sources. There is the interview with the family who experienced it. There is the view of the investigator taking their statement. And there is the view of the priest that was afflicted with flu-like symptoms after trying to rid the house of evil spirits. It was a unique story and one that has probably been called into question since it was told. The history of the house and the mystery behind what actually happened there is part of the allure of THIS book. And I could see why others might think they made it all up. Sometimes there are things that are beyond explanation. There are things that cannot be explained. There are things that make us question the higher powers of the universe; they make us question our own beliefs. I did enjoy the book and especially the narration. I still haven't made up my own mind as to what I believe and what I don’t. But this is a book that will resonate with me. The weird part of me is that reading a book like this knowing it is a real place makes me want to go buy the house and see what happens. Jeff, what do you think? Time for a change of scenery? I hear the basement down there is something forespecial! I don’t even know where to begin. I fear this may be a long, chaotic mess of thoughts, so please bear with me, or skim, or totally ignore. I’ve always been fascinated with the occult. The Exorcist (both the book and the movie, RIP Mr. Blatty) scared the hell out of me, pardon the pun. It still does. And I love being scared. I love horror movies, haunted houses, Ouija boards (even though my husband forbids them), and Halloween. I love Halloween so much it’s my wedding 5 stars. I don’t even know where to begin. I fear this may be a long, chaotic mess of thoughts, so please bear with me, or skim, or totally ignore. I’ve always been fascinated with the occult. The Exorcist (both the book and the movie, RIP Mr. Blatty) scared the hell out of me, pardon the pun. It still does. And I love being scared. I love horror movies, haunted houses, Ouija boards (even though my husband forbids them), and Halloween. I love Halloween so much it’s my wedding anniversary. My freshman year of college, I was a moron. I had an English Lit class where I had to write a basic research paper on anything I wanted. I chose exorcism. Fascination is one thing; belief is another. I didn’t actually believe all this stuff; I just liked reading about it. All my research during that semester long assignment pointed to one book,. I was nineteen. This was before the internet and Amazon. I actually had to check books out of physical buildings called libraries. I had to find Hostage to the Deviland I couldn’t. It had mysteriously vanished from every library within 100 miles of my college. My dad happened to find a copy in some little secondhand bookstore, and when he told the bookseller who it was for and why, the guy actually tried to convince him not to buy it. But I’m stubborn, and my dad knew, one way or another, I'd find it. He bought it anyway. At the risk of unintentionally reviewing Hostage too, I’ll just sayI kind of wish he would have listened. That book messed me up. I didn’t sleep for weeks. I was on edge. Things happened in my college apartment I couldn’t explain. I managed to turn in an incomplete paper, and my professor took pity on me. He gave me a “B” and told me to get some sleep. Why am I telling you this? I have absolutely no idea. I guess because it’s been on my mind lately, reading this book, and then yesterday with the death of and on Father Martin. For at least a decade after that taxing English Lit class, I wouldn’t go near this stuff. But time has a way of minimizing even the most frightening memories, and looking back, I’m convinced I was just sleep deprived and hormonal. So here we are. I read Amityville, finally. Not just any Amityville, but a used battered paperback that looks like it holds its own demons. Was it scary? Not particularly—at least not when compared to. Plus, to be able to read the faded print, I had the room lit up like noon in August. And for someone interested in the occult, it is, in fact, fascinating. If you look at the reviews, it seems the people who believe the Lutz's account rate it much higher than the people who don’t. I went into this thinking I'd be impartial; I’d just rate it as a work of fiction and leave it at that. Easier said than done, because the entire way through, I questioned everything. Did this stuff really happen? If they were lying, what was their motive? How do you explain the testimony of respected corroborating witnesses like Father Mancuso and the local police force? It was impossible for me to read this simply as a work of fiction, and to review it, I had to look at it from all angles. The writing, the storytelling. The phenomenon, the controversy, the legacy. As a whole, it's kind of brilliant. Should you read it? If you’re into this kind of stuff? I wanted to go big, thus the creepy looking paperback, but if you really want to be scaredread the e-book version. Alone at night. With the lights out. Oh, and sweet dreams. This is bad in so many ways. First, it is fiction masquerading as fact. The story of this hoax is out there enough so I don't have to repeat it but the evidence should convince all but the most ardent true believer that this 'true story', with the exception of the original DeFeo murder, was totally fabricated. Second, it is really terrible fiction. I am convinced that Mr. Anson had some kind of encyclopedia on hauntings and as he flipped through it he said, 'Swarm of flies? I'll put that on page This is bad in so many ways. First, it is fiction masquerading as fact. The story of this hoax is out there enough so I don't have to repeat it but the evidence should convince all but the most ardent true believer that this 'true story', with the exception of the original DeFeo murder, was totally fabricated. Second, it is really terrible fiction. I am convinced that Mr. Anson had some kind of encyclopedia on hauntings and as he flipped through it he said, 'Swarm of flies? I'll put that on page twenty-two. Page eleven.' It is so sloppily put together and badly written that I'm sure Mr. Anson realized it would be no more than a bottom shelf remainder unless there was some juicy 'real' paranormal tie-in. Please don't waste your time with this. There are some perfectly good books out there on paranormal sightings and lots of great haunted house novels like Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House or Richard Matheson's Hell HousE that will thrill you. And just for the record, all of those Amityville movies suck too. Don't ask me why I bothered to watch them after hating the book so much. I guess I'm a masochist. Ignore the overshadowing debate about whether or not it actually happened, and you're left with one of the most finely crafted haunted house stories ever written. The narrative is so solid, so matter-of-fact, that one cannot argue with it. This is how it happened, the book says, and what happened was horrifying. The feel is perfect, the book carries an ominous feeling from the first to the last page, much like the house on Ocean Avenue itself. Forget any of the cash-in novels or films, this is a Ignore the overshadowing debate about whether or not it actually happened, and you're left with one of the most finely crafted haunted house stories ever written. The narrative is so solid, so matter-of-fact, that one cannot argue with it. This is how it happened, the book says, and what happened was horrifying. The feel is perfect, the book carries an ominous feeling from the first to the last page, much like the house on Ocean Avenue itself. Forget any of the cash-in novels or films, this is a powerful, frightening masterpiece of horror. It takes a second place only to Jack Ketchum's 'The Girl Next Door' as the scariest book I have ever read. A family, who I shall call the Lootz family (for the sake of their privacy), moves into a house in Amityville, Long Island, where the terrible murders of the previous owners took place. Some twenty-eight days later the Lutz – er, Lootz, family flees in terror. Horrific things happened there. Blood dripped from walls; people floated about in mid air over their beds, there were flies everywhere. Worst of all, a marching band paraded through their living room at three a.m. All these horrors were or A family, who I shall call the Lootz family (for the sake of their privacy), moves into a house in Amityville, Long Island, where the terrible murders of the previous owners took place. Some twenty-eight days later the Lutz – er, Lootz, family flees in terror. Horrific things happened there. Blood dripped from walls; people floated about in mid air over their beds, there were flies everywhere. Worst of all, a marching band paraded through their living room at three a.m. All these horrors were orchestrated by a pig demon named Josie (name changed to protect the pig demon’s identity). In order to calm their nerves and find some closure, the family set down their true story with the help of a journalist friend. This book became a major bestseller and was turned into a popular movie starring Margot Kidder. Other Amityville Horror movies, albeit fictional, followed in a sort of Amityville feeding frenzy (do remember that the setting for “Jaws”, Amity, was based on Amityville), and the original was even remade with Melissa George playing Margot Kidder, er, Mrs. There is probably tons of other tie-in merchandise spawned from the book that I’m not aware of. Amityville House Coffee Mugs (“Good to the very last drop of blood”), for example. Or Jody the Pig Demon rocking chairs – oops, I mean Josie the Pig Demon rocking chairs. There must have been beach towels and beach balls, floating action figures, and T-shirts, too. I’m sure someone marketed Amityville Horror Fly Swatters and Li’l Ghoulie Marching Band toys. As a postscript: the family moved far, far away from Amityville to Arizona where, they said, the demons and ghosts followed and haunted them. Sad to say, though, the supernatural entities lost lots of their powers in the move. There was no book to bear witness to the burden these people bore, so subsequently no movies or merchandise. Josie couldn’t even get the cost of the new home returned. The poor Lootz family had to muddle through with just the licensing and residual fees off the back of the first book. This book is actually for a group challenge in April, but since I've sworn off re-reads for 2012, I decided to knock it out early. I first read this back when the movie came out. The first movie. So I was pretty young, maybe 11 or 12. I remember liking it pretty well. Unfortunately, on this re-read I suspected the author might also have been 11 or 12 when he wrote it. The story is excellent and very creepy. Whether a true story or a hoax, it's very compelling. The flaw in the story telling almost This book is actually for a group challenge in April, but since I've sworn off re-reads for 2012, I decided to knock it out early. I first read this back when the movie came out. The first movie. So I was pretty young, maybe 11 or 12. I remember liking it pretty well. Unfortunately, on this re-read I suspected the author might also have been 11 or 12 when he wrote it. The story is excellent and very creepy. Whether a true story or a hoax, it's very compelling. The flaw in the story telling almost cost me an otherwise enjoyable read. The narrative is choppy and schizophrenic. Not for effect, but from what seems to be a lack of skill. The tense changes constantly and without warning, as does the point of view. I can see why the author shifted tenses and POV's as he did, but it could have been done more smoothly. It's rather jarring as it is. The dialogue is even worse - people don't talk like they do in this book. Maybe in an episode of Scooby Doo, but not in real life. Those points aside, I still rate this at 3-stars. The story itself is awesome and had to be told. I can only imagine what this story would have been like if written by a true master of the genre, say a Stephen King. ETA: I had to rethink this. I felt wrong giving something this poorly written a rating of 3-stars when I've been so harsh on several other books. I've given 1 and 2 star ratings to books that were much better written than this thing. So I'm dropping it to 2. The writing should be at a 1-star, but I'll stand by liking the story well enough to say 'it's ok' on the final rating. Please note that I gave this book 3.5 stars, but rounded it up to 4 stars on Goodreads. The facts are these: On November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. Shot and killed six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue, situated in a suburban neighborhood in Amityville, on the south shore of Long Island, New York. He was convicted of second-degree murder in November 1975. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into the house. After 28 days, the Lutzes left the house, claimi Please note that I gave this book 3.5 stars, but rounded it up to 4 stars on Goodreads. The facts are these: On November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. Shot and killed six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue, situated in a suburban neighborhood in Amityville, on the south shore of Long Island, New York. He was convicted of second-degree murder in November 1975. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into the house. After 28 days, the Lutzes left the house, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there Jay Anson then wrote a book about the Lutzes experiences they had and what ultimately caused them to flee the house. First off, if this was a fiction book I would have given it 5 stars. Parts of the book you start to think of as too outlandish to be true (I will get to that later), but Anson takes a deft look at George and Kathy and manages to make you feel everything that they experienced. The story is broken up between these two and a priest that came to bless the house who reportedly became ill shortly after visiting, and felt as if he was being spiritually attacked by a presence from the house. The reason why I gave this 3.5 stars is what I found out after i finished this book. I did not really like George Lutz most of the book. It didn't make a lot of sense what was going on with him. I think that Anson also unwittingly revealed an angle for why the Lutzes would lie about something like this too based on a couple of things that George was upset about (IRS audit, paying a lot of money for the home, etc.). Kathy I felt detached from a lot in the book because we don't really get a sense of her until things progress further along. I had a lot of questions about her first marriage, how she met George, and her family. The two of them felt very cut off from me as a reader. The priest in the story didn't come off well at all (he pretty much leaves the Lutzes to their fate) and that whole aspect didn't really make a lot of sense. Plus I was curious how Anson would go and interview someone and get them to admit that they pretty much didn't care about an innocent family, he just wanted to be safe from harm. The writing definitely sets the mood and you keep waiting for something more terrible to happen to the Lutzes. Part of you starts to wonder if they are not just feeling things because they moved into a home where several people were murdered. The flow at times gets a lot choppy because a lot of things really didn't make sense here or there (the pig named Jodie) and the book at times would have an event happen but the family would ignore it. Anson brought in some details about the home (there are drawings included), but not much about the neighborhood or even the founding of Amitville. George Lutz makes an outrageous claim about a former owner and an Indian burial ground (isn't there always one) and it doesn't appear that Anson fact checked him at all. [ Now onto why I only gave this book 3.5 stars. After I completed this I of course found out that it is more than likely (99 percent true) that the Lutzes in league with a defense attorney of Ronald DeFeo Jr. Fabricated this whole story in order to make money. The Lutzes were in trouble with the iRS, they had spent too much on the home. At one point a brother in law comes over and his money is misplaced and the Lutzes heavily imply the spirits must have done it (yeah my bet is they stole it). The Lutzes went and sued a host of people (just Google) and the trial showed that the book was fiction. ] I am honestly wishing I had read another book for this square, oh well. I do say that since it is a classic horror novel (I read this not only for bingo, but also for my Horror 2016 book list) that is recommended to horror readers, I am glad that I finally read this. Well.I can finally say I've read Amityville Horror. 4 stars because it was entertaining and it is supposedly a true story. I took a star off because it wasn't scary. If you are unfamiliar with the Amityville Horror, this story is about the Lutz family. On December 18, 1975, George and Kathy Lutz moved into a very large colonial house at 112 Ocean Ave. They lived there for 28 days before they fled. Backstory, this is said to be a true story. As in, these people are real. They actual Well.I can finally say I've read Amityville Horror. 4 stars because it was entertaining and it is supposedly a true story. I took a star off because it wasn't scary. If you are unfamiliar with the Amityville Horror, this story is about the Lutz family. On December 18, 1975, George and Kathy Lutz moved into a very large colonial house at 112 Ocean Ave. They lived there for 28 days before they fled. Backstory, this is said to be a true story. As in, these people are real. They actually lived at Amityville house. What could be a fabrication, is their account of the 28 days they lived in their new home. George and Kathy, along with their 3 children Chris, Danny and Missy were very excited about this new and very spacious house. They knew, prior to purchasing the home, that the Dafoe family was murdered in the house. They even went as far as purchasing the dead families furniture. ---Let's take a moment to consider this sentence. George and Kathy knew a family was murdered in the house a year before. That the family was killed in the very bedrooms they planned on sleeping in. They even went as far as buying the very beds the children died in. I don't understand. That right there is asking for paranormal backlash. Okay, so for 28 days the family experienced horrifying unexplained phenomena and continued to stay there against the advice of the mother in law, a priest, a friends girl-friend, even the realtor was iffy selling the house. After the first incident I would have fled.maybe;) What I found interesting is that George never once became violent. He was obsessed with warming the house up. He was obsessed with checking the boat house. But he never wanted to kill his family like it's shown in the movie. I have only seen the most recent movie from 2005. Why do directors create violence when there isn't any? In the book George is a very loving man. Concerned about his family and their well being. At times he is in a trance like state, but isn't homicidal. That always irritates me, when movies change the tone or personality of a main character. Bottom line, this was a fun and entertaining book. More so, if everything is 100% true. Maybe even if it's only 50% true. In my biased opinion, nothing is scarier than The Shining. I stand by that answer for a long time to come. Find me a scary book! To those that read this review. Help me search for a really horrifying read:D. The 1970s seems to have been the decade for the horror genre, especially ones focusing on demonic possessions. Mix horror genre with true crime and you'll end up in a gray area that includes The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson. The book reads like a novel and the Wikipedia entry calls it a novel but the Library of Congress categorizes it as non-fiction, specifically demonology (case-studies) and parapsychology (New York) and it's call number is BF1517.U6 A57. So what are facts? In December 1975 t The 1970s seems to have been the decade for the horror genre, especially ones focusing on demonic possessions. Mix horror genre with true crime and you'll end up in a gray area that includes The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson. The book reads like a novel and the Wikipedia entry calls it a novel but the Library of Congress categorizes it as non-fiction, specifically demonology (case-studies) and parapsychology (New York) and it's call number is BF1517.U6 A57. So what are facts? In December 1975 the Lutz family moved into a 1924 farm house in Amityville that had been the scene of a grisly murder. In January of 1976 they moved out the house citing demonic activity as the reason for their short stay. Over the course of the book Jay Anson lists out a number of clues that point at paranormal and perhaps even demonic activity. Except for the white hooded figure at the end which may very well have been invented to prove a point the rest of the book's events seem pretty common place. The house still exists, by the way, though the front facade has been changed as has the address. It even has it's own wiki entry. Like the Lutz's, my family and I are living in a fixer upper. We've had our own series of strange events in our home but we've managed to stay nearly five years. Since my home shares a lot of things in common, I thought I'd make a check list to see if my house is haunted. Signs your house might be haunted: 1. Fly infestation even in winter? Strange cold spots? Strange sounds at night? Waking up at the same time each night? A pet who likes to sleep all day? A crucifix turning itself upside down? Strange hidey holes under the stairs? The smell of excrement? We have a diaper pail) 9. Misbehaving toilets? A broken banister? Random and bizarre damage to doors and windows? Other things randomly breaking? Other strange smells? Yes Twelve out of thirteen signs, I guess my house is haunted. Or it could just be old and not well maintained. How about your house? How does it hold up against the Amityville test? I read this a couple years ago during the summer. It only took a day or two. It wasn't so much scary as morbidly fascinating as I read it. However, after reading it, I simply could not get certain images out of my head. A white entity coming down the stairs, red eyes staring at me through a window in the dark, etc. I am forever scarred by that second image. I simply can not deal with open blinds at night. The other image. Well, that summer was a hot one and my room downstairs doesn't get hit w I read this a couple years ago during the summer. It only took a day or two. It wasn't so much scary as morbidly fascinating as I read it. However, after reading it, I simply could not get certain images out of my head. A white entity coming down the stairs, red eyes staring at me through a window in the dark, etc. I am forever scarred by that second image. I simply can not deal with open blinds at night. The other image. Well, that summer was a hot one and my room downstairs doesn't get hit with cool air from our AC, so I tended to come up into our living room and sleep on the couch right under the AC fan. The problem was there is a staircase right in that room and for months when I would come up to sleep there I would close my eyes and be too terrified to open them for fear of seeing some white demon ghost thing coming to get me. So I'd lay there with my eyes closed too afraid to open them, yet too afraid to fall asleep. The scary thing about the book is how things happen so slowly and gradually that as a reader you are caught in the same delusion as the family living in the house. Thinking that things will go away or that they aren't bad enough to worry about, until all of a sudden you're smack dab in the middle of the scariest crap you've ever read/experienced, with children levitating in their beds and evil pigs named Jodie coming to get you. Needless to say, I will not be naming any of my children Jodie and they will not be allowed to have any imaginary friends. Heh funny note: seems like the only people giving this book poor reviews are either the horror enthusiasts who are too cool and unimpressed to admit they actually like ANYTHING, or people with a stick up their butts because they don't agree with this being presented as a true story. The Amityville Horror is said to be a work of non-fiction as it is the story of the Lutz family and the 28 days they spent in what was supposed to be their dream home. The house on 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York already had a bad name when the DeFeo family was murdered there by the oldest son, Ronald “Butch” DeFeo, Jr. In his defense he claimed to have heard voices telling him to kill his family but he was instead diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder and sentenced to The Amityville Horror is said to be a work of non-fiction as it is the story of the Lutz family and the 28 days they spent in what was supposed to be their dream home. The house on 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York already had a bad name when the DeFeo family was murdered there by the oldest son, Ronald “Butch” DeFeo, Jr. In his defense he claimed to have heard voices telling him to kill his family but he was instead diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder and sentenced to six consecutive life sentences. He remains in prison to this day. There was never anything mentioned about paranormal activity, just a horrifying mass murder. Whether the act of the murders is what caused the issues the Lutz’s experienced is entirely up for debate. When the Lutz’s moved into the house on Ocean Avenue in late 1975, their troubles began immediately. George Lutz constantly suffered from a chill and spent the majority of his time feeding the fire. Kathleen Lutz felt a presence in the kitchen which laid an innocuous hand on her shoulder only to feel that presence again later which squeezed the air out of her so much that she passed out. The two state that their emotions would often get the best of them for no apparent reason which led them both beating their children which had never happened before. But that was only the first few days of their stay. This is the second read for my scary book month of 2015 and I’m beginning to think the fear part of my brain is broken. Or maybe this just wasn’t that scary? Either way, this is always on the list of classic horror novels and has always been one I’ve wanted to read. But the strange occurrences that happened in the house would have been more terrifying to have actually lived it, to have felt the wrongness of the house, and that’s simply something that couldn’t have been conveyed through the page. The odd things that were actually visible (the strange, tiny red room or the weird ghosty pig) weren’t actually terrifying. Even the green goop that ran down the walls failed to horrify but what did horrify me was when George actually stuck his finger in it and proceeded to taste it. Because that’s what normal people do. Taste random shit running down their walls. For fucks sake. I did make the mistake of reading this in bed, in the middle of the night, only stopping at a part where a character woke in the middle of the night to find some ghosty child touching her foot trying to wake her up. Suffice it to say I felt little fingers touching my feet all night. Other than freaking myself out by being a dumb dumb and reading it at night, I didn’t find this terrifying. It would have helped, maybe, if Anson had eased up on his use of the exclamation points whenever something ominous happened in order to be taken more seriously. While I’m not completely sold on whether or not this is indeed factual, it was still an entertaining story that makes you wonder about the history of your home and what could have possibly taken place within its walls. Next up, I’ll be watching the classic movie. I just did this with Psycho (the not ) and enjoyed the hell out of it. I may even have to watch the newer Amityville as well because 1. The trailer actually does look pretty damn terrifying and 2. Other, various reasons. I have never seen so much disdain and anger directed towards a BOOK as I do in some of these reviews for The Amityville Horror. If you in no way, shape or form believe in this event or the supernatural, why did you read this book? And I love how people that have never set foot in the house claim to KNOW it's all made up. I mean, knowing things you've never seen would mean that you have the very supernatural type powers you so vehemently claim aren't real. I'm not saying all the things in this bo I have never seen so much disdain and anger directed towards a BOOK as I do in some of these reviews for The Amityville Horror. If you in no way, shape or form believe in this event or the supernatural, why did you read this book? And I love how people that have never set foot in the house claim to KNOW it's all made up. I mean, knowing things you've never seen would mean that you have the very supernatural type powers you so vehemently claim aren't real. I'm not saying all the things in this book happened. I'm saying the only people that KNOW is the Lutz family. But as far as the book is concerned, the actual story I read? Well, I'll say this, whether it's all true, partially true or none of it's true.it was a fun ghost story to read. Having grown up in the 70's I remember when this story was at it's peak. And all the hoopla surrounding it. So it's kinda a walk down memory lane. My only advice is, if you don't have a taste for the supernatural. Or at the least an open mind. Basically anything of this nature.maybe those are books you should avoid. And if you don't like a book, just say it wasn't your cup o' tea or you just don't believe it to be true. There is no reason to try to destroy it for others with a lecture in your review. Or to talk about others like they're idiots for feeling compelled to believe the story. All the hateful reviews are uncalled for. This was a very enjoyable ghost story, true or not. Initial thoughts: The creepy factor here was decent. Review to come. Review: Actual rating: 3 I-Wanted-To-Be-Terrified stars. The creepiness was here. It had potential to be scary. But the execution failed to make it so to me. I've seen the movie, the original. It's one of my favorite horror movies. It scares me. I know what's going to happen. Hell, I can probably quote at least half the movie. And it still scares me. I thought the book would too Initial thoughts: The creepy factor here was decent. Review to come. Review: Actual rating: 3 I-Wanted-To-Be-Terrified stars. The creepiness was here. It had potential to be scary. But the execution failed to make it so to me. I've seen the movie, the original. It's one of my favorite horror movies. It scares me. I know what's going to happen. Hell, I can probably quote at least half the movie. And it still scares me. I thought the book would too. I know what happens, but it should still have been scary. The writing was blah. The basis of the story is perfect. I don't know and I don't even care. It doesn't matter if it's based on a true story or not, the premise is freaky. I wish the writing would've been better. Listened to in audio format. The Amityville Horror is a true story about the Lutz family. In November 1975 a man called Ronald DeFeo shot and killed his Mum, Dad and Siblings at their home in Amityville, Long Island. A year later George and Kathy Lutz brought the property at a bargain price. George, Kathy and their 3 children lived in the house for 28 days before leaving the house claiming it was haunted. There has been a lot of debate about the Amityville Horror over the years. I believe in ghost Listened to in audio format. The Amityville Horror is a true story about the Lutz family. In November 1975 a man called Ronald DeFeo shot and killed his Mum, Dad and Siblings at their home in Amityville, Long Island. A year later George and Kathy Lutz brought the property at a bargain price. George, Kathy and their 3 children lived in the house for 28 days before leaving the house claiming it was haunted. There has been a lot of debate about the Amityville Horror over the years. I believe in ghosts and the paranormal in general, but I don't think you should believe every story at face value. There are certain aspects of this book I believe, such as the attacks on Father Mancuso, and the red welts found on Kathy's chest but I think some events were certainly embellished for this book. I don't believe a talking pig called Jodie with red eyes, visited Missy the Lutz's young daughter. I also don't believe a trail of green slime went up the stairs when the Lutz's ran away to Kathy's mothers house. Whether you believe the story to be true or false it is certainly spine chilling. This book was hands down AMAZING!! The Amityville Horror is not something annnnnyone would ever want to go through. For those believers out there you will definitely agree, if you go into a house and 'things' start to occur, strange things - GET OUT! I think Eddie Murphy said it best in his stand-up film Delirious: 'In the Amityville horror the ghost told them to get out of the house. White people stayed in there. Now that's a hint and a half for your ass. A ghost say get the fuck out, I would This book was hands down AMAZING!! The Amityville Horror is not something annnnnyone would ever want to go through. For those believers out there you will definitely agree, if you go into a house and 'things' start to occur, strange things - GET OUT! I think Eddie Murphy said it best in his stand-up film Delirious: 'In the Amityville horror the ghost told them to get out of the house. White people stayed in there. Now that's a hint and a half for your ass. A ghost say get the fuck out, I would just tip the fuck out the door! Lou Walker looked in the toilet bowl, the're was blood in the toilet and said, 'That's peculiar.' I would 've been in the house saying:'Oh baby this is beautiful.We got a chandelier hanging up here, kids outside playing. Its a beautiful neighbourhood. We ain't got nuttin to worry, I really love it this is really nice.' 'Too bad we can't stay, baby!' -> I think that pretty much sums up what should be done regarding 112 Ocean Avenue, The Amityville house. My two cents anyway. This book was so many things. It brought back memories of my childhood. My parents took us to see this, It came out in 1979. We saw in strangely enough in a drive in theater in a van that reminds me of the one in the movie and the book. I remember picking out this movie, it was my choice that night. And here I am reading the book and all those memories come back. My father even had the same beard and hair like George Lutz and Josh This book was so many things. It brought back memories of my childhood. My parents took us to see this, It came out in 1979. We saw in strangely enough in a drive in theater in a van that reminds me of the one in the movie and the book. I remember picking out this movie, it was my choice that night. And here I am reading the book and all those memories come back. My father even had the same beard and hair like George Lutz and Josh Brolin. But then.it was 1979. I am not sure how to rate this or talk about it as a novel. It is plainly written, it is like sitting down around the kitchen table and being told a story. There was something comforting in that. But the subject matter and story are scary.It touch's upon that archaic primal fear we humans carry; whether we have religious belief or not. The kitchen scenes in the book were the most.not freaky. Yes even with Kathy smoking at the table while the kids ate breakfast. It was so normal. Again guys, it was 1979. My dad smoked while we ate breakfast. And strangely comforting while reading about all the freakish things that happened to this family. I found this, not in the 'horror novel' section of the used book store, but the paranormal, real life story section. You may decide it is a bunch of crap. That is your right as a reader. I don't think it is. I have no idea what it was, but I don't doubt them. Something happened. As a simple book I have awarded 4 stars. It is not witty, there are not beautiful sentences, blah, blah. It was just a good plainly told story, no glitter, no glam. Basic in a good way. And it is scary. I don't know if it's because I've seen both movie versions of the story, and have read a bunch of 'fact of fiction' type stuff - including the various evidences that it was a hoax - or if it was the horrible docu-drama style writing (which is, apparently, a product of its time and not just a marker of bad writing) - or a combination of all of the above, but, damn, this book is boring. I'm giving it a 1-star on the goodreads' scale for 'didn't like it' as opposed to 'worthless piece of crap' - tho I don't know if it's because I've seen both movie versions of the story, and have read a bunch of 'fact of fiction' type stuff - including the various evidences that it was a hoax - or if it was the horrible docu-drama style writing (which is, apparently, a product of its time and not just a marker of bad writing) - or a combination of all of the above, but, damn, this book is boring. I'm giving it a 1-star on the goodreads' scale for 'didn't like it' as opposed to 'worthless piece of crap' - though, hell, it might work for that, too. I mean - I like horror stories. I'll admit - I even believe in the possibilities of ghosts and hauntings, but this. The way it's written - the aforementioned docu-drama style - is, I suppose, meant to give it a level of credence, but, for me, it killed the story. (Of course, the various inconsistencies peppered throughout the book didn't help, either. I mean, you barely need fact-finders proving the hoax when the book, itself, can't seem to keep everything straight.) In the end, there was no real suspense, no emotional investment, no, well, anything. But, then, like I said, it might just be my familiarity with the story already. One thing I will say. Reading this book actually makes me think of the movies in a more favorable light. The movie did improve on the story in some important ways - like making Jodie a little girl ghost instead of the pig-angel from the book, for one thing. And for that alone, if nothing else, the movies trump the book. Jay Anson (November 4, 1921 – March 12, 1980) was an American author whose most famous work was The Amityville Horror. After the runaway success of that novel, he wrote 666, which also dealt with a haunted house. He died in 1980. His work, The Amityville Horror, was sold as 'a true story', and it was based on the reported experiences of George Lutz and Kathleen Lutz at 112 Ocean Avenue in December Jay Anson (November 4, 1921 – March 12, 1980) was an American author whose most famous work was The Amityville Horror. After the runaway success of that novel, he wrote 666, which also dealt with a haunted house. He died in 1980. His work, The Amityville Horror, was sold as 'a true story', and it was based on the reported experiences of George Lutz and Kathleen Lutz at 112 Ocean Avenue in December 1975. The Lutzes had sold the rights to the book to Anson, who had added to and adapted some of the Lutz's original claims. A film was later made of the book, which exemplified these additions. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz along with their three children move into an elegant Long Island house. What they don't know is that the house was the site of a horrific mass murder a year before. They decide to keep the house and attempt to keep the horror in the past, but are now haunted by a murderous presence. This is until, George starts to behave weirdly and their daughter, Chelsea starts to see people. What follows is 28 days of sheer, unbridled terror for the family with demonic visions of the dead. Based on the true story of George and Kathy Lutz, The Amityville Horror remains one of the most horrifying haunted house stories ever told - because it actually happened. I really loved this remake, it had all the elements of the original but contained equally creepy scenes. The pig eyes from the first flick would have been a nice touch. As far as acting, I think they did terrific. The fact that Ryan Reynolds was in it was enough for me. The man has amazing comedic timing even for a horror flick. I never would have thought the two guys and a girl star would be where he is now. Melissa George, has proved herself to be naturally talented, and matured from the alias bad-guy image. The storyline was well written along with dead on consistency, and beautiful cinematography. A break from the routine of LA and NY. ![]() The Future of Consumerist Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy. Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit to read the latest consumer news. 7.20.09 2:02 PM EST By cwalters So you’ve got a Kindle, and you have books on it, and you want to keep those books—no matter what decides you deserve in the future. Your legal options are limited, but you do have some. First of all, don’t believe the old fogeys who pour haterade all over ebooks whenever Amazon does something stupid with the Kindle. Yes, Amazon just flipped a giant, cloud-computed middle finger at its customers, and wiped away any sense of trust that the company either knows what it’s doing or respects the privacy of customers—but that doesn’t mean ebooks are a bad idea. The ability to carry a virtual library of titles in a single book-sized device (or on a phone or netbook) carries all sorts of benefits that traditional print does not. The Kindle, however, is proving to be a rotten deal for customers. Not only do you lose the right of first sale, but it turns out even the idea that your license gives you the promised “permanent” access is false. Last week’s Orwell stunt by Amazon is almost certainly not the last time the company will swoop in and manipulate your content, regardless of any promises it churns out in an attempt at damage control. Here, then, is the best and easiest way to get non-Amazon, public domain ebooks on your Kindle: Feedbooks: the open source alternative to the Amazon Kindle Store If you don’t already use Feedbooks, you’re denying yourself access to what amounts to the free, open-source version of the Amazon Kindle store. On the down side, it won’t have the Twilight books; but on the plus side, it won’t have those Twilight books. To participate, go to Feedbooks () and download the Kindle-formatted catalogue. You do this directly on the device via the built-in browser or you can download it to your PC and copy it over via USB cable. Now you’re ready to “shop” for free, legal copies of ebooks. Make sure your wireless is turned on, then open the catalog like you would any ebook and browse through the available titles. ![]() When you find something you want, select it; you’ll be taken to a download page on the device’s built-in browser, and if you accept the download, the book will automatically be loaded onto your Kindle. It’s just like using the Amazon store, only free! A lot of public domain works are also available on the Amazon Store, some even offered by Amazon for free. But when you download from Feedbooks you get a copy that will always be yours. When you download those books from Amazon you’re just purchasing a license that can (obviously) be revoked without warning. We recommend you use Feedbooks. ![]() If you can’t find it on Feedbooks, try Project Gutenberg (). Any file offered in MOBI or Plain Text is a perfect format for the Kindle; other formats—HTML, for example—will require conversion first (see below). Unfortunately, unlike Feedbooks you’ll have to download the files first to your PC and then copy them over to the Kindle via USB cable. (As a bonus, you can read books from these sites on pretty much any device, including mobile phones and netbooks.) Converting incompatible formats to Kindle-friendly formats What if you have digital copies of books that you want to read on the Kindle, but they won’t display in their current format? Try installing Calibre () or Stanza () on your PC/Mac. Calibre is the golden child right now, but I’ve also had success with conversions using the desktop version of Stanza in the past. You should know, however, that Amazon now owns Stanza—so if you’re looking to go Amazon-free stick with Calibre, which remains independent as of July 2009. Futureproofing your purchases “But what about the books I bought from Amazon?” you ask. How To Load Up Your Kindle With Non-Amazon Ebooks. Public domain ebooks on your Kindle. You’re denying yourself access to what amounts to the free. ![]() “How do I make sure Amazon doesn’t remove any in the future?” Technically, you can’t. You don’t have the rights to protect yourself under Amazon’s licensing agreement, congratulations. Speaking practically, though, you’ve got two options. The first is an illegal hack to remove DRM. The second option is this: 1. Every time you buy a book from Amazon, download it to your PC and save it as a backup copy. You’re allowed to do this. You should also be backing up the text file on your device that stores all of your notes and highlights, just in case. Now if Amazon removes a title in the future, you still have a backup copy. You should always do this with anything stored in the cloud anyway. You can’t seriously believe that cloud storage is a secure, permanent solution for your backup needs—it isn’t, and it will come back to haunt you if you don’t protect yourself with your own backups in multiple locations. Keep your Kindle’s wireless connection turned off unless you need it. This will somewhat reduce your participation in Amazon’s cloud storage system, and increase the odds that should Amazon do something stupid in the future, you’ll have some advance warning from other users’ tweets and posts if not from Amazon itself. Remember, though, that thanks to Amazon’s DRM implementation, any backup copy will only work on that single Kindle device. When you stop using that particular device, you lose access to that file too if it’s no longer stored on Amazon’s servers. Your only route at that point will be to resort to something illegal, or to start over and buy a new license. Is it really likely that Amazon is going to go all 1984 on other books in your Kindle library? No, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look beyond Amazon for your ebook fix. Over the past few months, Amazon has shown an increasing inability or unwillingness to have a transparent, fair licensing agreement for the ebooks it sells licenses to. If you’ve already invested money in a Kindle and want to make good use of the device, these are some ideas for look beyond Amazon when building your digital library. RELATED (Photo: ). The War of The Worlds by H.G. Wells is perhaps one of the most well known science fiction novels about alien contact, but certainly not the only one. Even before mankind has set foot in outer space, writers have been speculating about what might be waiting there for us. Some envisioned benevolent aliens who welcome humanity or are interested in offering assistance while others, like Wells, pictured them to be slightly less friendly. It is a topic that fascinates science fiction authors to this day, but you don’t need to buy a new book to read about alien encounters. How to design a book in InDesign. By The Book Designers. Computer Arts Follow these top tips to create and lay out a book using InDesign. 22 free ebooks for. A Step-by-step guide to create an Interactive eBook. With the use of Folio Overlays Panel in Indesign. You can create a more reader engaging content with the. Design a Paperback Book Cover in InDesign: Tutorial • March 4, 2016 In this simple-to-follow tutorial you’ll learn how to create a full paperback book cover in Adobe InDesign, and take away a template for using with other cover projects. As an example, we’ll redesign a paperback cover for War & Peace, and give it a distinctively modern design. 1. Before We Begin Before we delve into designing our paperback cover for War & Peace, here are a few top tips for creating book covers in Adobe InDesign: • It’s always best to design the front of your cover only first, before you create a full cover, with spine and back. This will allow you to visualise the arrangement of type and images, and judge how well elements are centered on the page. • Duplicate the front page, and keep the original as a stand-alone front cover—this will be useful for online promo shots, and eBook covers. • You should expand the duplicate page using the Page Tool, and expand it to the full width of the cover, including both front and back cover widths and a spine width (we’ll look at this in more detail below). In this tutorial we’ll look at giving Leo Tolstoy’s War & Peace a modern makeover. I’ve tried to recreate the mood and theme of the book, with collage-style silhouettes of St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow—one filled with an image of floral-printed china, to represent peace and domesticity; and the other filled with a military-style map of Prussia, to represent war. Redesigning covers for classic novels is becoming increasingly common in publishing design; allowing publishers to market vintage classics to new, younger audiences. You’ll learn how to set up a paperback (softcover) version of the full cover in Adobe InDesign and create a collage effect with the help of Adobe Illustrator. We’ll bring in a bit of stylish typography too, to give the cover a modern design. This design style can be adapted to all sorts of book covers—just switch up the silhouette and inside image! Ready to create your cover? Let’s get started. 2. Set up the Cover Template in Adobe InDesign Step 1 Open up Adobe InDesign. Go to File > New > Document, and set the Intent of the document to Print. Increase the Number of Pages to 2 and deselect Facing Pages. ![]() ![]() ![]() From the Page Size menu choose Custom. Name the custom size Paperback Book and set the Width to 132 mm and Height to 197 mm. Click Add and then OK to return to the New Document window. Step 2 Set the Margins on all sides to 11 mm and the Bleed to 5 mm. ![]() Click OK to create the new document. We’ll work on the front cover design on Page 1—it’s always much easier to work on the front cover design alone at first. Then, a bit later, we’ll expand Page 2 of the document into the full cover, complete with spine and reverse, with the help of the Page Tool. Step 3 With the rulers visible (View > Show Rulers) click and drag a guide out from the left-hand ruler and drop it onto Page 1 at X position 66 mm, which marks the center point of the page. 3. Give the Cover a Colored Background Step 1 Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and drag onto Page 1, across the whole page, extending up to the edges of the bleed on the top, right and bottom edges of the page. On the left edge, just extend to the edge of the page, not all the way to the bleed. Step 2 Expand or open the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches). Create a new CMYK Process swatch, C=100 M=97 Y=48 K=56. Click Add and OK. From the Swatches panel’s drop-down menu choose New Gradient Swatch. Name the swatch Blue Gradient and set the Type to Radial. Move down to the Gradient Ramp and click on the left-hand stop to be able to edit it. Choose CMYK for the Stop Color and set the levels to C=89 M=49 Y=62 K=62. Click on the right-hand stop and adjust the Stop Color to Swatches. Choose your new swatch, C=100 M=97 Y=48 K=56 from the list below. Step 3 Apply the Blue Gradient swatch to the Fill Color of the rectangle shape. This will apply a lovely subtle gradient to the background of our front cover. 4. Create Collage-Style Graphics Step 1 Expand or open the Layers panel (Window > Layers) and double-click on the default Layer 1 name. Rename the layer as Background Color and click OK. Click on the Create New Layer button at the bottom right of the Layers panel to create a new layer. Double-click, and rename the layer as Graphics. Lock the bottom layer, Background Color by clicking in the blank space to the right of the eye icon, next to the name of the layer in the panel. Step 2 Now we’re ready to start working on our cathedral graphic! File > Save As your InDesign document, and minimize InDesign. Open up Adobe Illustrator and create a new document. To make our collage-style cathedral, we need to first create a basic vector silhouette of the cathedral, and then, a bit later, we’ll fill it with a photo image. You can download a ready-made vector image of St.Basil’s Cathedral. Step 3 Making sure your silhouette has only a simple black fill and no stroke color, select it, and then go up to Edit > Copy in Illustrator. ![]() Return to your InDesign document and Edit > Paste the vector onto Page 1 of your document. Hold Shift to adjust the scale of the pasted vector. From the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches), set the Fill Color of the vector to [None] to get rid of the [Black] fill. Step 4 Next up, you need to choose an image to ‘fill’ the cathedral silhouette. I’ve chosen a commons image of an antique map of Prussia, which you can download. Download the image and return to your InDesign document. With the vector selected go to File > Place and choose the map image. Click on the Fill Frame Proportionally button in the top control panel to size the image to the frame. Double-click inside the vector frame to manually adjust the scale of the image, holding Shift while you do so, to make sure you’re happy with the effect. Make sure the image extends across the whole of the silhouette. Step 5 Select the vector and Edit > Copy, Edit > Paste. Ctrl-Click (Mac) or Right-Click (Windows) > Transform > Flip Vertical. Position this flipped cathedral at the top of the page, and go to File > Place. Choose a different image to fill this vector with—to represent ‘Peace’—I’ve gone for a photo of a vintage china plate, which you can download. 5. Add in Typography Step 1 Create a new CMYK Process swatch, C=3 M=0 Y=19 K=0, and rename it Cream. Step 2 Unlock the Typography layer and use the Type Tool (T) to create a series of text frames on Page 1. Here I’ve used the typeface for most of the text, with the central ampersand set in. Set individual characters in separate text frames to be able to have more freedom with how you place the type on the page. Set some of the text in [Paper] and some in your new swatch, Cream. 6. Expand Your Design into a Full Paperback Cover Step 1 Unlock all the layers in the Layers panel, then drag across Page 1 to select everything on the page. Edit > Copy, then scroll down to Page 2 of your document. Edit > Paste in Place to make a copy of the front cover on the page. Now we need to work out the width of the full length of the cover. This will depend on the width of the spine, which in turn will depend on the number of pages inside the book. You can find calculators online for working out the width of a spine depending on the page number and paper weight (gsm), such as the. Using this I’ve worked out that to accommodate for 1456 pages (the length of War & Peace—yup, it’s a long one!) printed on white offset 80 gsm paper, we will need to have a 73.7 mm spine width. The equation for the full width of the cover is this: Front Cover Width (x) + Spine Width (y) + Back Cover Width (x) = Total Width (x + x + y) So, for our War & Peace cover it’s going to be 132 mm + 73.7 mm + 132 mm = 337.7 mm Total Width Step 2 Select the Page Tool (Shift + P) and, holding down Option (Windows) or Alt (Mac), drag the left-hand edge of the page out to the left, increasing the page width to the full 337.7 mm. When you let go, the page width will remain at its new width. If you’re struggling to get the width exactly right as you drag, you can simply type in the correct width in the box at the top-left corner of the workspace. Step 3 From the left-hand ruler pull out a guide to X position 137 mm, to mark out the left edge of the spine. Pull out a second guide to 168.85 mm, which marks out the center point of the spine. Finally, pull out a third guide to 68.5 mm, to mark out the center of the back cover. Step 4 Return to the Layers panel and lock all layers except the Background Color layer. From the Swatches panel, click on the Blue Gradient swatch to select it, then click on the New Swatch button to duplicate it. Double-click on the duplicate swatch to open up the Swatch Options window. Rename the swatch Blue Gradient Spine. Keep everything as it is, just move the right-hand stop on the Gradient Ramp to the left, until you reach about 46%. Click OK to save your edits. Use the Rectangle Tool (M) to create a shape that extends across the spine, and up to the bleed on the top and bottom (73.7 mm in Width). Set the Fill Color to Blue Gradient Spine. The gradient on this is a bit tighter, so the lighter tone will not extend too far away from the central part of the spine. Create a second shape using the Rectangle Tool (M), extending it over the whole of the back cover, up to the left edge of the spine, and up to the bleed on the top, left and bottom edges of the page. Set the Fill to Blue Gradient. Step 5 Return to the Layers panel and lock the Background Color layer. Unlock the next layer up, Graphics. Copy and Paste the cathedral vectors on the front cover, onto the back cover, and arrange them as shown below. You can switch up the fill image of the vectors too, if you like. Paste a couple of vectors onto the spine too—here, I’ve removed the image fill, and given them a pale blue Color Fill, C=57 M=12 Y=21 K=0. Step 6 Lock the Graphics layer and unlock the top layer, Typography. Zoom into the spine and create a few rows of text frames using the Type Tool (T). Type in the title, allowing one text frame for each line of the title, and mimic the typography formatting used on the front cover but at a smaller Font Size. Set all the text to Align Center and make sure the frames are perfectly centered along the center guide. Use the Ellipse Tool (L), and hold down Shift, to create a circle on the center of the back cover. Select the Type Tool (T) and click into the circle to transform it into a text frame. Add a blurb to the back cover, aligning the text centrally. Here, I’ve set the Font to Columna Solid, Size 10.5 pt, Leading 13 pt. Use the swatch colors we created earlier to add a touch of color to the typography. 7. Export Your Finished Cover The artwork for your paperback cover is finished, fantastic work! All that’s left to do now is to export it ready for printing. Of course, you can also export Page 1 of your document as an eBook cover (check the file format requirements of the eBook store before you upload it), but here I’ll walk you through the steps of exporting this as a print-ready file, which is suitable for sending to a professional book-printer. Step 1 Go to File > Export. Choose Adobe PDF (Print) from the Format drop-down menu. In the Export Adobe PDF window, choose [Press Quality] from the Adobe PDF Preset drop-down menu, and adjust the page range from All to Range: 2, just to export your full cover. From the left-hand menu in the window, click on Marks and Bleeds. Check All Printer’s Marks and, under Bleed and Slug, Use Document Bleed Settings. Click Export to create your print-ready cover. In this tutorial you’ve learned how to give a classic book a modern makeover, and set up the full paperback cover in Adobe InDesign. Awesome work! Continue Reading. Ever wanted to easily convert your InDesign layouts to eBooks? With the right know-how, it’s super-simple to do. In this tutorial we’ll look at three different ways you can quickly turn your designs into interactive PDFs or EPUBs, ready for sharing or selling online. How to Create an eBook in Adobe InDesign There are a few different eBook formats to suit different purposes. An interactive PDF is not strictly an EPUB format, but it can be shared easily with others and includes interactive elements that differentiate it from a standard EPUB. Interactive PDFs can be read on most (but not all) eReaders, tablets, laptops, phones, and computers. However, if you’re looking to sell your eBook via one of the mainstream online stores, such as the Amazon Kindle Store or, these marketplaces often require you to provide the eBook in EPUB (‘electronic publication’) format. There are two forms of EPUB—reflowable and fixed layout, the former of which we’ll look at creating in section 2 of the tutorial, below. First, let’s take a look at how you can export your InDesign document as an Interactive PDF. I’m going to be using the free Tuts+ Business eBook,, to demonstrate the exporting process. It’s based on the lessons from this tutorial: •. Laura Spencer Whether you have created a long book document in InDesign or a short multi-page document like this one, the process will be largely the same, with some small variations depending on the version of InDesign software you are using (here I am using InDesign CS6). You’ll also find a selection of on to help you get started if you’re new to ePublishing. How to Export Your InDesign Document as an Interactive PDF eBook I’m a big fan of Interactive PDFs—they allow you to retain the original layout of your InDesign document, along with your choice of fonts, text formatting, and master content. You can also add a dash of interactivity, such as hyperlinks, cross-references to other pages, movies, and page transition effects. Let’s walk through the steps of adding one example of interactivity to your InDesign document, before we go ahead and export. Step 1 On this page (Page 6), I want to add a clickable cross-reference link, which will take the reader straight over to Page 10 of the eBook. I’ve already added a simple hyperlink to a couple of text phrases above (see highlighted in orange in the image below) by Right-Clicking (Windows) or Control-Clicking (Mac) and choosing Interactive > New Hyperlink. We can use a similar process to apply a cross-reference. Highlight the text you want to use as your cross-reference link. You may want to pull this out in a different color (Window > Color > Swatches) to make it clear to the reader that this is clickable text. With the text still highlighted, Right-Click (Windows) or Control-Click (Mac) > Interactive > New Hyperlink Destination. In the window that opens, choose Page from the Type menu at the top. Under Page, choose the page you would like the eBook to skip forward to, in this case 10. You can also specify the zoom settings of the destination page. Fixed is usually a sensible pick, but you can adapt the zoom specifically depending on your preference. Click OK to apply the cross-reference and return to the InDesign document. Step 2 Once you’ve prepared your interactive elements, like hyperlinks and cross-references, you’re ready to export your document as an interactive PDF. Head up to File > Export. Give your eBook a suitable name and save to a folder you can easily find. From the Format menu, choose Adobe PDF (Interactive) and click Save. Step 3 In the Export to Interactive PDF window that opens, ensure that Pages is set to All (unless you want to export only a selection of pages from your document). If your document is set up to single-page spreads, as is my Inbox Zero eBook, you can check Pages. If you’ve created a document made up of facing pages, like a conventional print book, you have the option of choosing whether to export the document as pairs of facing Spreads, retaining the look of your original design. This can look very nice, but note that smaller devices like eReaders, tablets and phones will make the layout appear even smaller, which can make for an uncomfortable reading experience. Check View After Exporting to preview your design after export. You also have the option to Open in Full Screen Mode, which allows the focus to be completely on your eBook. Note that this can be inconvenient for users of multi-media devices like laptops and computers, who may want to browse other things and open other programs while the eBook is open. It’s often worth turning on Create Tagged PDF if you’re planning to allow readers to copy and paste sections of your book’s text perfectly. By doing this, your eBook will tell the PDF viewer that sections of text are arranged as a paragraph or whole word, and not simply units of disorganized text, so when text is pasted from your PDF it will retain its original structure. In the Image Handling section you can adjust the quality of images in your PDF, to either maximize image quality for a polished result or compress image quality to save on file size. For eBooks to be circulated online, a High JPEG Quality and 72 ppi Resolution should be sufficient, but you can increase either or both of these if you want to minimize blurring or pixelation. Step 4 You can also add optional security settings to your eBook. This won’t be appropriate for all scenarios, but can be useful if you’re sharing your eBook with a limited pool of people or wish to retain confidentiality. Click on the Security button at the bottom-left of the window to set a password for opening the document, or a password to restrict editing (a handy little feature if you want to share a draft document with others). Click OK to exit the Security window. Finally, click OK to create your eBook. Your interactive PDF will open up in Adobe Acrobat with your interactivity settings preserved. Make sure to test your hyperlinks and cross-references to make sure everything has been set up correctly, before sharing your eBook with others. How to Export Your InDesign Document as a Reflowable EPUB Reflowable EPUBs are just that—the text isn’t fixed to the page, allowing the content to adapt to different devices. The reader also has the flexibility of enlarging font size to improve legibility, as well as being able to highlight and copy sections of text and insert bookmarks. If you’ve set up your book as a standard text-only layout, this will be easily adapted to EPUB format. If, like my Inbox Zero book, your layout is more detailed, with images, irregular text-flow, columns and color, the final EPUB result will be more predictable if you take the time to simplify your book design. Another option is to export your book as a fixed layout EPUB. I won’t cover how to do that in this tutorial, as it’s an ever-changing process at the moment. Adobe InDesign CC has capabilities to export to fixed layout, but the results can be a bit unpredictable. If you want to preserve the formatting of your design-heavy book, I would recommend exporting your design as an interactive PDF or investing in an InDesign plug-in or specialist fixed layout conversion app. There are more of these appearing on the market, and they’re improving all the time, so that’s well worth looking into if you want to create an EPUB file with the design benefits of a PDF. For now, let’s look at how we can adapt a mixed media book, like the Inbox Zero layout, to a simpler design that’s perfectly prepped for exporting to a reflowable EPUB format. Step 1 I’m going to redesign the Inbox Zero document to make it suitable for EPUB export. If you’ve created a simple book design with text only, the only thing you need to make sure to do is apply Paragraph Styles (which we’ll look at in more detail in Step 2, below) to all of your text, and set up a ToC (Table of Contents), which we cover in Step 4. Let’s start by creating a new InDesign document for our eBook redesign. In InDesign, go to File > New > Document. In the window that opens, set the Intent to Digital Publishing (or Web if your InDesign version doesn’t have DP available). Deselect Facing Pages to create a single-page layout. For the Page Size, set the Width to 612 px (8.5 in) and Height to 792 px (11 in). Different devices will require slight variations in size, but this 8.5 by 11 inch setup is a pretty failsafe option. Click OK to create your new document. Step 2 Now we can start moving some of the original book’s text over into our new layout. EPUBs are designed to be flexible, with readers able to set their own font choices if they wish. So don’t worry about preserving the perfect text formatting in your design. What’s more important is to retain a sense of hierarchy in your text, with headers, subheadings and body text differentiated in size and/or weight. It will make your life much easier if you define these different portions of text as Paragraph Styles, allowing you to create a ToC without a headache. Highlight or place your cursor into a paragraph you want to define as the body text style, and then head up to Window > Styles > Paragraph Styles. Click on the Create New Style button at the bottom of the panel, and double-click on the new style to open the Options window. Name the style ‘Body Text’, and click OK. Repeat the process for sub-heading text, creating a new Paragraph Style and naming this ‘Sub-heading’. Do the same for the headers in your document, creating a new style and naming it ‘Header’. Ensure that all the text in your book has a Paragraph Style applied to it—you can do this by highlighting text and clicking once on the style name in the Paragraph Styles panel. Step 3 If you want to insert images into your layout, you will need to ensure they are anchored in place on the page. If, for example, you want to sandwich an image between two paragraphs of text, you will have to fix the image to this spot to avoid InDesign pushing the image to the end of the section by default when the EPUB is exported. Place your Type Tool (T) cursor between two paragraphs where you would like the image to be anchored. Then go to File > Place, choose your image, and Open it. InDesign will drop the image into the text frame and anchor it in the process, symbolized by a small anchor symbol at the top right of the image. You can shuffle the text around the image to give it some breathing space and adjust the image size without affecting the position of the image in the final EPUB. Step 4 You will need to set up a ToC for your book, even if you have already created a contents page. The EPUB will navigate through your document using a Style-based ToC. Go to Layout > Table of Contents. In the window that opens, you can set the Title of your ToC. Here I’ve used the default ‘Contents’ name. You can also set the Style of your title; here I’ve opted for the Header style I use throughout the book. You want the ToC to automatically create a full list of contents based on the headers in your book. So click on Header in the Other Styles list and click Add to drag it into the Include Paragraph Styles list. You can also adjust the settings for the Entry Style. Here I’ve chosen my Body Text Paragraph Style to keep the text sizing consistent throughout the book. When you click OK, InDesign will load your cursor with the prepared table of contents. Create a blank page at the start of your document using the Pages panel (Window > Pages) and click once onto the page to drop the ToC onto the page. If you want to update your contents page after this, you can do this easily by going to Layout > Update Table of Contents. Step 5 You’re now ready to export your document as an EPUB. Go to File > Export, name your eBook, and choose EPUB from the Format menu. Step 6 In the Export Options window, you can set the EPUB Version from the top of the General section. EPUB 2.0.1 is suitable for older eReaders and devices, while EPUB 3.0 is the more recent version (this is also the version now preferred by most large eBook stores). You can also choose a Cover for your EPUB under the Setup options. Choose to rasterize an image from your first page, or click on Choose Image to add a separate cover image file. • How to Design an Effective eBook Cover Using Adobe InDesign. Step 7 You’ll find more options for your EPUB under the Image and Advanced tabs in the left-hand menu. You can adjust the Resolution of your images. Pulling them down to 72 ppi will help to reduce the size of your EPUB and will be perfectly fine for most reading devices. When you’ve tweaked the options, go ahead and click OK. If you checked the View EPUB after Exporting button, the EPUB will open in a default program (as I use a Mac, it opens in iBooks). Otherwise, you can navigate to the folder where the EPUB is saved and open it from there. You might want to test the settings you have specified on an eReader or tablet before uploading the file to an eBook store. Conclusion You can now kick back and admire your shiny new eBook. Awesome work! Perhaps you’ve opted for an interactive PDF to maintain the layout of your original book design, or a reflowable EPUB format to adapt to current eBook selling standards. Either way, you’ll have a file that’s perfectly tuned for viewing on digital devices. If you want to check your work against the original, check out the free ThemeKeeper Tuts+ eBook,. EBooks are a great way to get your content out to a wide audience quickly and cheaply, and the process of designing, exporting and selling can be really fun. In this tutorial we’ve looked at two main ways of creating an eBook using InDesign. Let’s take a quick recap: • Interactive PDF—this format preserves the layout of your original design, which makes it great for books with non-traditional designs, like handbooks, picture books, portfolios or magazines. You can also insert interactive elements, like cross-referencing and hyperlinks, to add a special touch to your design. • EPUB—here we’ve looked at how you can create a reflowable EPUB, which is suitable for eReaders and tablets. Readers have the flexibility to enlarge text, bookmark pages and highlight text, which makes it a sought-after format for avid eBook readers. Looking for a little more help with your eBook designs? Check out these tips for creating your own digital magazines and books: • 10 Top Tips for Creating Your Own EPUBs and eMagazines. Subhash Browser & RSS Feed Reader for Android Hello! Try my free app! It is the most advanced browser app there is for Android. The UI is available in Malayalam, Tamizh, Kannada, Hindi, Urdu, and the default English. Special features include JPEG web page screenshots, browser disguises, one-click toolbar buttons (for scrolling, toggling images/JavaScript, etc.,), User JS/CSS, integrated RSS/ATOM feed reader, read-only file explorer, 25 customizable search engines, and many more. Latest free PRO version: YouTube demo: Development blog: Press Kit: Older Google Play version: The toolbar can be hidden simply by shaking the device. 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We thank you for your patronage and are working closely with Sainsbury’s to make this transition as smooth as possible. ![]() Sincerely, The NOOK Team. ![]() DOWNLOAD 30 PAGES PREVIEW FOR FREE! Ebook Details Title: Organophosphorus ChemistryLanguage: EnglishYear: 2002Author(s): D W Allen, J C Tebby, B J Walker, C Dennis Hall, Robert SlinnPublisher: Royal Society of ChemistryIdentifier:,347Extension: pdfFilesize: 32.0MPages: 278Edition: 1st Edition.Volume: 32Series: Specialist Periodical Reports Volume 32 Table Of Contents OG347-FX001.pdfPage 1OG347-FP001.pdfPage 3OG347-FP005.pdfPage 7OG347-FP007.pdfPage 9OG347-FP010.pdfPage 12OG347-00001.pdfPage 13OG347-00074.pdfPage 86OG347-00091.pdfPage 103OG347-00120.pdfPage []. Ebook Details Title: Synthesis of carbon-phosphorus bondsLanguage: EnglishYear: 2004Author(s): Robert EngelPublisher: CRS PressIdentifier:,173Format: pdfFilesize: 5.2MPages: 187Edition: 2nd ed Ebook Description Synthesis of Carbon-Phosphorus Bonds, Second Edition is a working guide for the laboratory, incorporating classical approaches with the recent developments of carbon-phosphorus (C-P) bond formation. These advances include the preparation of phosphoranes — specifically []. ![]() ![]() This book has so closely matched the requirements of its readership over the years that it has become the first choice for chemists all over the world. Heterocyclic chemistry comprises at least half of all organic chemistry research worldwide. In particular, the vast majority of organic work done in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries is heterocyclic chemistry. T This book has so closely matched the requirements of its readership over the years that it has become the first choice for chemists all over the world. Heterocyclic chemistry comprises at least half of all organic chemistry research worldwide. In particular, the vast majority of organic work done in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries is heterocyclic chemistry. ![]() The fourth edition of Heterocyclic Chemistry retains its original aims and flavour, thus maintaining the principal objective of earlier editions - to teach the fundamentals of heterocyclic reactivity and synthesis in a way that is understandable to second- and third-year undergraduate chemistry students. In recognition of the level at which much heterocyclic chemistry is now normally taught, the authors have included more advanced material, making the book appropriate both for postgraduate taught courses and to postgraduate students. It is important to emphasise that the more advanced sections of the book make it an important reference work for chemists at all levels who are working with heterocyclic compounds in industry. The preparation of the fourth edition has allowed the authors to review thoroughly the material included in earlier editions, to amend it in the light of new knowledge, and to include much recent work. For example, new sections deal with heterocyclic aspects of combinatorial chemistry, bioprocessing, and conducting polymers. In its more advanced sections, the book emphasises modern methods for the synthesis and chemical manipulation of heterocyclic compounds. Essential teaching material in the early chapters aims to capture the essence of heterocyclic reactivity in concise resumes suitable either as introductions, or as revisions/summaries for examination preparation. These early chapters are followed by detailed, systematic discussions of the chemical reactivity of particular heterocyclic systems. Original references and references to reviews are given throughout the text. These are essential for postgraduate teaching and to research workers, but do not interfere with the readability of the text for undergraduate students. Problems, divided into straightforward revision exercises, and more challenging questions (with solutions as an Appendix), help the reader to understand and apply the principles of heterocyclic reactivity and synthesis. ![]() ![]() Buy Advances in Heterocyclic Chemistry: Read Books Reviews - Amazon.com. Heterocyclic Chemistry eBook: John A. And we'll send you a link to download the free. On organometallic heterocyclic chemistry, heterocyclic natural. Importance in contemporary heterocyclic chemistry. He has been working in Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds. Get Top Trending Free Books in Your Inbox. Click to expand.I've hashed this out with others in this forum already. I read the book a couple of years ago so can't remember the details; I wasn't taking notes. I liked his challenge to American's lifestyle choices. ![]() But I become concerned at people who are solely proponents of supporting 'native missionaries,' which is an oxymoron anyway. They have their place, what I would more accurately call 'indigenous evangelists.' But there are people who believe that 'western' missionaries are of no use anymore, and that sending them is a waste of money. With this I cannot agree. Firstly, these indigenous evangelists aren't any more prepared to go to the unreached people groups than westerners. Some will say that they have fewer cultural barriers to overcome. And while that may be true, it's likely they will have other barries more engrained to overcome that foreigners won't (see November/December issue). It's interesting that this issue, native vs western evangelists, can be so polarizing. I think we as Christians need to be very careful in this regard. And most of the discussion I've had about it here has been good. Lastly, I didn't really agree with the strength of KP's assertion that those in the Church proper who are blessed are supposed to support those who are less so. I know he cited Scripture backing this up, but I don't think he was reading the verse correctly. As I see it, it's unhealthy for churches abroad to rely on wealthier counterparts for most or all of their funding. (I do think it's good for the more blessed to give the less blessed, but not in the manner he seemed to be proposing.) We have the idea that every church needs a full-time pastor, here in America. This is not Biblical, as nice as it may be. We have the idea that you need a building and Awana and this isn't Biblical either. ![]() ![]() ![]() Gospel for Asia (GFA). Find encouragement in free downloadable books and mp3s by K.P. Download compelling for presentations and videos from Asia. ![]() I'll close by describing the model that my childhood church has set forth. After getting burned, frankly, by supporting a native mission organization. They didn't give up and pull out completely. Now they are training lay people to be pastors, in India. And upon graduating them, send them out, and support their church-planting work for x years (I think it's 3 years). This way they have time to get the congregation going, and the church should be able to support him--even if it isn't full-time--after set time. And even if it isn't at a western level. I think this model, as I've briefly described it, is very good. Click the image to download your free copy. When We Have Failed – What Next? By: Chapter 1: There is Hope Robert Robinson lived in the 18th century. Converted through George Whitefield’s preaching, he himself went on to become the Methodist minister who wrote the famous hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” You probably remember the lines: Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise. In his latter years, Robinson wandered from the faith to pursue the pleasures of this world. While riding on a stagecoach during this time, he sat by a woman deeply fascinated by a book she was reading. When she came across a lyric she considered especially beautiful, she turned to Robinson and said, “I am reading something wonderful. What do you think about it?” This is what she read: Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.2 She had no idea she was sitting next to the very man who had penned those words years earlier. Upon remembering the song and the man he once was, Robinson broke down. With tears he replied, “Madam, I am the poor, unhappy man who composed that hymn many years ago. I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.” Through this encounter, Robinson was brought back into the outstretched arms of his loving God. This story of restoration at the end of sin’s winding road is neither the first, nor will it be the last. From the beginning of time, history has demonstrated that there is hope for the one who has fallen. The fact that you picked up this booklet shows that you too are seeking for that reassuring hope. I want you to know there is hope. Our failures are no surprise to God. He knows, with greater understanding than we, the creation He made. And this One, who sees our sins, also knows His purposes for us. History Reveals In the Bible, God left us the complete stories of spiritual giants through whom He worked—Moses, Elijah, David and many more—just as they were, flaws and all. He did not touch up the negatives or use Photoshop to present them in a better light. There was no cover-up. Look at Moses. What an incredible life story is his—forsaken at birth and then rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter. He was raised in a powerful family of influence. As an adult, Moses’ heart was burdened for his people, and he spoke out against the cruel slavery inflicted upon the children of Israel. Unfortunately, he “ruined” what he felt God had called him to do by killing a man and subsequently spent 40 years hiding in the desert. Remember that Moses was a real human being with the same feelings as you and I. Forty years is a long time to contemplate failure. When the Lord eventually came to offer him hope and unfold His rescue plan, Moses responded that God was making a mistake and that He should look for someone else (see Exodus 4:10, 13). Elijah—the great prophet of God—was one who, in a time of terrible discouragement, simply said, “I want to die” (see 1 Kings 19:4). Talk about singing the blues! David is another classic example. This shepherd boy turned king seemed to take the worst fall of them all. This national hero who began so well, anointed by God and considered a man after His own heart, fell into adultery and then murdered the woman’s husband to cover it up (see 2 Samuel 11). Does it get much worse than that? Why does God show us the failures of these great leaders? Could it be He wants us to know that in spite of our fiascoes, He can still make something glorious out of our lives? The list of names in Hebrews 11 underscores this truth. In this passage, men and women of great faith are noted—ones whom God Almighty approved. One might be shocked, however, to discover how many of them were restored spiritually following failures such as deception, drunkenness, adultery, idolatry and murder. Consider Jacob. What a saga his life story is. From birth, God gave him a remarkable promise that he would be blessed and his older brother would serve him. With this kind of divine assurance, it would seem like Jacob would turn out to be the perfect saint. Instead, he became a crook who lied to his own father, stole his blessing and lived a life full of deceit. Jacob ended up wasting 20 precious years of his life. I consider his biography one of the most interesting of them all. Here is why: Numerous times throughout the Bible, God reminds His people that He is “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:15). In fact, in this same verse, God says, “This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” Toward the end of Jacob’s journey, God changed his name, which means “deceiver,” to Israel, meaning “Prince of God.” So, why doesn’t He say, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and... How come He associates His name with a cheat who wasted two decades trying to do things his own way? Through His name, His very identity, God wants to say to you and me, “I am still the God who makes failures into princes of God. I remain the God who takes broken lives— people with multiple divorces, sick in body because of sin, in prison for decades, labeled as losers, crazy folk nobody wants, outcasts with no hope—and turns them into something beautiful.” Beauty for Ashes The nation of Israel was betrothed to God. Yet she cast her beauty before every possible lover she could find, forsaking her true suitor. As we read through Psalm 78, we see time and again God’s faithfulness displayed in contrast to Israel’s unfaithfulness. In spite of her vulgar idolatry and the terrible offering of human sacrifices, God did not cut Israel off forever. What does God say about her? “ ‘You have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me,’ says the LORD” (Jeremiah 3:1, NKJV). Instead of deserting Israel because of her countless sins, He declares that there is hope, saying, “I will win her back once again. I will lead her out into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope” (Hosea 2:14–15, NLT). These are gracious words from the living God about His adulterous people. Today there is a gateway of hope. God is the original and ultimate rescuer. And for all who want to be rescued, He is able. There is no sin too great, God cannot forgive it. There is no loss, He cannot restore. There is no scar, He cannot heal. There is no distance you can go, His grace cannot reach. There is nothing—absolutely nothing— to stop His love and mercy for you. If there is breath in your being, there is hope. There is hope.3 The thief on the cross confessed that he failed miserably and admitted he deserved the horrible death he was dying. It was all over for him—hell waited, its mouth open to devour him. At least that was what he believed. Yet because of his confession and the marvelous grace of God, he made it into paradise that very day with the Son of God (see Luke 23:43). It is never too late. God is not mad at you. He is, in fact, for you. Don’t give up. Mighty to save and faithful to love is He (see Zephaniah 3:17–19). It is to the very ones who know the pain of personal failure that He comes and extends hope: He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,... To comfort all who mourn,... To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor (Isaiah 61:1–3, emphasis mine). Maybe you are like Robert Robinson who wandered away from the God he once loved. Perhaps you revisited a sin from the past you thought you were through with. You may be living with painful memories of what once was or simply shaking your head at a sin that seems to surface too regularly. In any case, whatever letdown you are facing, whether considerable or minor, my sincere prayer is that in Robinson’s words, you will experience God’s “streams of mercy, never ceasing.” Another line from this same hymn I have been quoting reads: And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home.4 Is that your hope? Then let today mark a new beginning for you. You can read Chapter 2 next week. © 2006 by, the president and founder of Gospel for Asia. It was written with the intention of encouraging and edifying the Body of Christ. To learn more about Gospel for Asia or to receive additional, visit Gospel for Asia’s. This entry was posted in and tagged,,, on. Click the image to download your free copy. Our opportunities are unlimited. Beyond the challenge to spread the Gospel into developing nations, something else is far more pressing: We are totally dependent on God. If we do not look to Him but rather to ourselves to meet our needs, only disaster can result. Something wonderful happens, on the other hand, when we regard ourselves as helplessly dependent on the Lord. In our hearts and attitudes, we must remain as children before Him. If we are enabled to accomplish anything, it is because of the Lord and His grace. The secret of His blessing on any work, large or small, is that all the glory goes to Him. But we are self-willed individuals who live in flesh-and-blood bodies and strive naturally for personal praise. How can we regard ourselves as helplessly dependent on the Lord and give Him all the glory? Look at Psalm 103:14: “He knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” This verse assures me that the Lord knows the stuff I am made of. The question is, Am I able to remember it? Will I daily recognize that all I am made of is a little handful of dust? The Lord rescues us repeatedly from our tendency to stop depending on Him and start depending on ourselves. He often keeps us from doing things in our own flesh instead of in His strength. Sometimes, in His mercy, He even causes those things to fail. Because when all is said and done, when history is sealed up and time runs out, God will make sure that nothing that is a product of the flesh will last for eternity. He has never accepted a work of our flesh and He never will, however good it might look to us. Nothing, not preaching thousands of sermons, not even seeming to turn the world upside-down, will enter eternity if it has been a product of our flesh. Anything lasting for eternity will have been done by Him and Him alone. We must heed the warning of God to the children of Israel as they were about to pass over the Jordan River into the Promised Land: When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.... Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God.... You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” Deuteronomy 8:10, 12–14, 17 We are no different than the children of Israel. Take a look around you at the people and ministries you know God has called to do His heart’s desire. Often flesh gets in the way. People become arrogant and take the glory for themselves. When the Lord uses people for His purposes, He often has to strip away dependence on intelligence, education, abilities, strengths. He has to make them nothing before He can build them back up again for His service. It is refreshing to see how God carries along a person or ministry that acknowledges dependence on Him. Some things we plan never take place. Other things we never expect may happen in a mighty way. This helps us know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has accomplished these things. Excerpt from Chapter 12 of (ISBN 402) © 2014 by, the president and founder of. This entry was posted in and tagged,,,,,,,,, on. Click the image to download your free copy. Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to “a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45–46). What does it mean to give up everything for the pearl of great price? I want to convey that your choice to live for Jesus is not just a means to escape hell. It is not just to have your sins forgiven or to have a nice, comfortable life here on earth with good fellowship and a free ride to heaven. Life for Jesus is a spiritual battleground. Like it or not, we are in the enemy’s territory. Jesus Himself was harassed continually by the powers of darkness and the enemies of the Gospel. He had no nice place to lay His head. He was misunderstood and rejected. He was often left alone, particularly at the hour of His greatest need. He died daily, and on the cross in great agony. Paul and the other apostles followed in His footsteps. Am I saying you are more spiritual if you walk around in rags and alienate yourself from society? And I do not want you to assume from what I am writing that giving up “rights” or comforts is all there is to life in Christ. Every truth in this world stretched beyond its limits will become a false doctrine. But when you commit yourself to live for Jesus, you cannot live just like everyone else. You must follow the Lord closely day by day. Only He can provide the balance you need. This is why we are told in the Word of God that “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14). As we walk through this life, we can choose to be led by the Spirit, or we can choose to be led by our own logic, by other people’s opinions or by our own flesh. Our flesh will do a lot of good-looking things—a lot of praying, a lot of fasting, a lot of giving up. But the Word of God says, “If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3). If we are not controlled and led by love for God, all the “right” outward behavior amounts to nothing. Since love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, we must be filled continually with the Holy Spirit and led daily by Him. “What is your life?” asks James 4:14. “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” Since your life is short, what will you leave behind? A few pieces of jewelry, a house, some cars, land, investments, money in the bank? Or will you leave more than that? What about a son or daughter who is serving the Lord somewhere in the world? What about the memory that you lived for Jesus with all your heart—that you gave Him all you had and all you were to gain His kingdom? What about the knowledge that you gave all you could to reach the lost and dying souls of the world? Jesus told His disciples the cost of the pearl of great price: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). May you find the willingness in your heart to sell all you have for the pearl. Excerpt from Chapter 12 of (ISBN 402) © 2014 by, the president and founder of. This entry was posted in and tagged,,,,,,,, on. Click the image to download your free copy. One of the strongest attacks of the enemy against believers is tempting us to forget our need to exercise faith in God. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” There are times in our lives when we have more questions than answers. Our emotions are dry and cold. Nothing gives us reason to get excited or happy about serving God. What do we do? Times like these are part of the battle. They are when “the righteous will live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). In every battle we face, we need to keep in mind that faith is the key that helps us overcome the world and the enemy. “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4). After spying out the land of Canaan, Joshua and Caleb said, “Let’s go!” Caleb in particular was a radical revolutionary who told Moses and the people of Israel, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (Numbers 13:30). What did the other 10 spies say? “This is impossible! We can’t do it. We saw giants in the land, and we ourselves are grasshoppers in comparison” (see Numbers 13:33). Forty-five years later, when it was finally time for Israel to enter the land of Canaan, Caleb at age 85 was still ready to go and possess his inheritance: “I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day.... The Lord helping me, I will drive [the Anakites] out just as he said.” Joshua 14:11–12 Caleb lived his whole life following the Lord. When he saw the land of Canaan, he had no doubt that the children of Israel could possess it—not because he was confident in their might, but because he was confident in God’s ability to go beyond any weakness or frailty. God honored Caleb’s faith and gave him a special inheritance in the Promised Land because, as Moses told him, “You have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly” (Joshua 14:9). If you know anything about faith, you know there is something innate in us that works against faith, even in the most knowledgeable theologian or the most powerful preacher. “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him” (1 Corinthians 2:14). No matter how much we read and memorize the Bible, our natural mind always comes up with some argument against God’s way of doing things. This is why exercising faith is so important. The Lord makes a clear distinction between His thoughts and ours: Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:7–9 An important part of spiritual warfare involves dealing with our natural thoughts, those that work against faith. Paul exhorted the believers in Corinth—and us today as well: For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3–5 When you pray for an unsaved loved one, for revival in your church, for the unsaved to be reached with the Gospel, remember what Jesus said: “Believe that you have received it.” When God told Abraham he would have a son, Abraham not only believed it but began to thank God. Later on he received his son. I encourage you to exercise your faith actively in what God is able to do. Go beyond your natural thoughts and reactions. Trust Him, in obedience to what His Word says, for miracles far greater than what your mind could ever imagine. Excerpt from Chapter 8 of (ISBN 402) © 2014 by, the president and founder of. This entry was posted in and tagged,,,,,,,, on. Click the image to download your free copy. Throughout the Bible human beings are compared to sheep. Do you remember what one of the predominant characteristics of sheep is? They stray quite a bit. If left to our own devices and if we do not watch our hearts diligently, we, too, will always head the wrong way. It may take months or even years, but eventually our actions will follow the direction of our hearts. We will find every reason under the sun to justify our actions and choices until finally we are out of the battle, no longer serving or even following the Lord. It does not matter how powerful and influential you are, how much education you have, how self-controlled or holy you consider yourself—your heart, if you do not guard it, will break down. I have seen this principle played out too often in individuals’ lives and in the Church at large. Many churches have drifted from the heart of the One they call Lord and Master. Now, instead of making it a priority to rescue the lost millions of the world from a Christless eternity, their programs revolve around themselves. They put their own agenda—whether buildings or staff or special programs—as first priority in their budgets. Missions falls somewhere down the list. Proverbs 24:11–12 warns us: Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done? Our tendency as horizontally oriented humans is to forget the war going on behind the scenes and interpret everything in our lives through the filter of our five senses—what we see, hear, smell, touch and taste. Anything that has to do with these senses is our first approach to solving problems. Circumstances dictate how we feel and what we do. And we think in terms of ourselves rather than in terms of the purpose God has given us as believers. We have strayed from the focus of our hearts. But we are not created for time. We are created for eternity. Our lives right now are little classrooms in which we are learning to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). And why did Jesus come into this world? What did He live for? “To seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). Everything else in life becomes incidental when we gain this focus. Clothes, food, hairstyle, makeup, bank account, education, degrees, plans, ambition, spouse, children—none of these can possibly be the most important thing in life. The more we become like Christ, the more we, like Him, will make world evangelism the top priority in our lives. I urge you to examine your own heart. Look at the things you do and the activities you are involved in for the sake of the Lord. Ask yourself honestly, Why am I doing this? Search your heart. Be real with yourself. In the normal course of human nature, things never improve. We begin to take the things of the Lord casually. We find all sorts of reasons why our thinking is correct and why we should justify ourselves and our behavior. And unless we allow the Holy Spirit to renew our hearts and minds continually, deterioration will set in. It is like putting sand into the gears of a machine. They still crank, but the grinding noise is constant, and the machine must work harder for anything to happen. With the many needs and opportunities on the mission field, please do not let your involvement stop with “I’m doing the best I can.” As followers of Jesus, the things we do—whether praying, giving, sending or going—determine to a great extent what happens on the other side of the world. So I encourage you to search your heart. Is the passion still there? Is your heart broken? No one can restore that freshness or passion for you. You must come before the Lord and allow Him to renew the focus of your heart. Excerpt from Chapter 12 of (ISBN 402) © 2014 by, the president and founder of. This entry was posted in and tagged,,,,,,,, on. Click the image to download your free copy. It is easy to get out of touch with God and try to live the Christian life on our own. We all fall into it. But when we realize what has gone wrong, how do we go about mending it? In Revelation we read Jesus’ message to the church in Ephesus—an incredible passage that can turn your stomach inside-out! If you remember the story of the Ephesians from Acts 19, you know that when Paul preached the Gospel to them, a great number believed. They brought their sorcery books, worth 50,000 pieces of silver, and burned them publicly. They took a stand against darkness and committed themselves to Christ, separating themselves from their former ways of living. Paul wrote that the Ephesians were blessed with “every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3) and prayed for them for “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” (verse 17). But now Jesus told them: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Revelation 2:2–5 There is a fascinating paradox in this passage. First Jesus is positive: “You are doing many good things.” Then He says, “Repent and do the same things.” At first it sounds confusing, doesn’t it? But Jesus was saying something was missing in the Ephesians’ lives. They were laboring the same as always, but their inner motivation had changed. It was no longer “labor prompted by love” (1 Thessalonians 1:3). They had forsaken their first love. When you find yourself in a situation like this, the Lord wants you to come to Him and say something like this: “Lord, I’m still doing all these things, but now it’s only mechanical. The spring is wound and things keep going, but my heart for You is no longer involved. I don’t have the same love for the lost; I do these things because I have to do them. It’s been a long time, Lord, since I cried over the lost world. My concerns have turned to myself and my own problems. Please, Lord, give me that genuine heart motivation once again.” I encourage you to take this first step of repentance. Excerpt from Chapter 6 of (ISBN 402) © 2014 by, the president and founder of. This entry was posted in and tagged,,,,,,,, on. Click the image to download your free copy. Strangely enough, the person who has lost authentic vertical motivation from the Lord falls into legalism. The love of Christ no longer constrains him. He works for the sake of the work alone, whereas true motivation in working for the kingdom of God is love. Love is the oil that keeps the machinery running smoothly. With this motivation there is no murmuring, no complaining, no grouchiness. People motivated by the love of God can serve Him 24 hours a day and be the happiest people in the world. They cannot do enough for the Lord because they love Him so much. When you lose that vertical motivation, you are doing things for the Lord because you have to. When a person loses the love motive of his heart, he sees the Father as mean and unfair. He begins to compare service records. In the story of the prodigal son, the older brother compared his work with that of his younger brother, who wasted and destroyed everything his father had given him. The father, weeping and rejoicing over his younger son, pleaded with his elder son to come in. But the son refused. His unyielding, headstrong disposition is a clear indication that he was not motivated by love for his father. He refused to go in because he felt sorry for himself. He was bitter about his situation. And he was discouraged. But self-pity, bitterness and discouragement have nothing to do with genuine vertical motivation. The older brother had little feeling for his father or brother. His feelings had festered so long that he could think only about himself. A person not motivated by love for the Lord will experience jealousy over others’ blessings and the desire for honor and position. He may want to be noticed by others, looking for opportunities to tell them what he has done. He may be dissatisfied with second place. Or he may secretly expect appreciation or approval. When our hearts are not motivated by love, our relationships with others are strained. The older brother had apparently been content working in the fields day after day. But when his brother came home, he became jealous. Now that this brother of mine has returned, he thought, look at the hugs, the ring, the shoes, the new clothes. Look at the feast, the dancing, the celebration. All the attention I’ve gotten, all the benefits I’ve received, all my father’s love, will now be turned to him. It is a sign of true godliness to desire nothing but the Lord Himself. It is no simple thing to take second place and let someone else get the honor. It can be done only by someone who loves God. Excerpt from Chapter 6 of (ISBN 402) © 2014 by, the president and founder of. This entry was posted in and tagged,,,,,,,, on. Click the image to download your free copy. The man stopped hoeing and straightened up, wiping sweat and grime from his forehead. He thought he had heard unusual sounds coming from the house. Strains of music drifted across the field and, he thought, shouts and laughter as well. What was going on? Well, it was way past quitting time anyway. He swung the hoe over his shoulder and trudged over the freshly turned-up field toward the house. As he drew nearer, the music grew louder. He could tell the wine must be flowing freely; the dancing and merriment were in full swing. Father must have a real reason for celebration, he thought. Just then a servant came scurrying out. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Your brother has come home!” the servant replied. “Your father has killed the fatted calf, and we are all rejoicing because your brother is safe and sound. Please, your father wants you to join the celebration—come!” The man’s face darkened. So this was what they were celebrating—his brother’s return? His irresponsible, wild, loose-living, inheritance-wasting brother? How dare he return after all the years of grief and uncertainty he had caused! A storehouse of angry memories flooded him. “I will have no part of this celebration!” he spat at the servant. “You can tell my father I will not go in!” And he turned on his heel. We are all familiar with the story in Luke 15 of the man and his two sons. We know the younger brother as the Prodigal Son, but the story is really about the love of his father. Jesus had been criticized by the Pharisees and scribes because He chose to eat with the publicans and sinners. “Look at this man,” they whispered to each other. “He says He’s God, but look who He eats with!” Jesus’ dinner companions were indeed reputed to be the worst members of society. But the Pharisees misunderstood God’s holiness to mean He would have nothing to do with sinners. So Jesus told them the story of the man and his sons to show them the heart of the Father. He was saying to them, “God has everything to do with sinners, because He loves them.” It is plain to see that the younger son represents the sinner, the outcast. But let’s take a closer look at the older son. The older son is a picture of the believer, someone who knows the Lord and is within the fold of believers. What was he doing when the younger son finally returned? Working out in the fields. He was committed to his father and to his work. In appearance, anyhow, he loved his father more than his brother did. He never left home or gambled his money away. The older brother is a classic illustration of the individual who seems to be doing a lot of good and whose life is full of activity but who may be motivated horizontally, not vertically. The motivation keeping the older brother going was not genuine love for his father. When his brother returned and adverse circumstances bore down on him, the truth came out. The older brother was “perfect.” He sacrificed and worked long hours. He gave money faithfully for missions every month. He cut back on his lifestyle and lived more simply. He prayed an hour every day. He was active in his church. He always went the extra mile. Am I talking about you and me? But as we are in the midst of good activity, sometimes things begin to go wrong. We say to ourselves. I didn’t realize I would ever face rejection for doing the right thing. I thought everyone would appreciate my hard work. I thought I’d get a few rewards, a little recognition... When external pressures bear upon us and jolt the jar, whatever is inside comes out. This jolting is orchestrated by the Lord, who wants us to see what is really in our hearts. Why did the older son act the way he did? He felt taken for granted, and was angry with his father for receiving his younger brother back, who had done wrong while he had done right. If we look carefully at Luke 15, we can see signs that something was missing in the older brother. He had lost the genuine motivation of his heart—his love for his father. Excerpt from Chapter 6 of (ISBN 402) © 2014 by, the president and founder of. This entry was posted in and tagged,,,,,,,, on. Click the image to download your free copy. Tozer wrote in his book The Root of the Righteous: We can prove our faith by our committal to it, and in no other way. Any faith that does not command the one who holds it is not a real belief; it is a pseudo belief only. And it might shock some of us profoundly if we were brought suddenly face to face with our beliefs and forced to test them in the fires of practical living. Many of us Christians have become extremely skillful in arranging our lives so as to admit the truth of Christianity without being embarrassed by its implications. So wide is the gulf that separates theory from practice in the church that an inquiring stranger who chances upon both would scarcely dream that there was any relation between them. An intelligent observer of our human scene who heard the Sunday morning sermon, and later watched the Sunday afternoon conduct of those who had heard it, would conclude that he had been examining two distinct and contrary religions. Christians habitually weep and pray over beautiful truth, only to draw back from that same truth when it comes to the difficult job of putting it in practice. When we hear the New Testament with willing, open hearts, the Gospel will penetrate our very lives and break them open, energizing our eyes, our ears, our hands, our legs—every part of us. And when we allow the Gospel to energize us, we become vessels in the Lord’s hands, pouring out our prayers, finances, reputation, lifestyle—and ultimately our very lives. Do we have to be “somebody” to hear the call of God and make a difference? In my own life I have seen time and again how God uses “nobodies.” Sometimes I feel insecure. At other times I feel overwhelmed with all that I know needs to be done. Again and again I struggle and fail. Where do I go when this happens? To the cross! How many times? Many times a day, if needed. The cross is the place where I can go and say, “Lord, I am Yours, along with all my weaknesses. But Your grace alone is what I need to serve You.” Perhaps you feel you are useless to the Lord, that you are not good enough, or that you have already wasted your life. But you are still in His hand. Don’t you know that every day with Jesus is a new beginning? The Lord never condemns you or says, “Sorry, you didn’t make it.” His mercies, He tells us, are new every morning (see Lamentations 3:22–23). Whether you have lost 7 days or 70 years, the Lord says to you, “Return to me with all your heart.... I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten” (Joel 2:12, 25). The Lord does not ask you to be a success or a superstar. In fact, if you truly desire to be a world-changer give your weaknesses to God so He can use you. All He requires is a weak, brokenhearted child who will surrender at the foot of the cross. Excerpt from Chapter 3 of (ISBN 402) © 2014 by, the president and founder of. This entry was posted in and tagged,,,,,,,, on. Click the image to download your free copy. Once your life is given over completely to the Lord, you will no longer be intimidated by circumstances or swayed by what others think. Paul said, “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God” (1 Corinthians 3:21–23). Paul also said, “No matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20). When we understand who Christ is and surrender our lives to Him, we recognize that He is not a tyrant who sits on a high and mighty throne, shaking His finger at us and saying, “No!” Paul tells us that in Jesus all the promises of God are “Yes!” When the Lord calls you to consecrate your life to Him, He is looking for a living, breathing, moving sacrifice. He wants a total surrender of your will, your intellect, your mind, your five senses, your emotions, your actions. This, then, is the ultimate secret: We hear and respond to the call of God when we surrender ourselves to Him. Each of us has been given one life and the choice as to how we will live it. The apostle Paul pleads with us: I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—which is your spiritual worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1–2 What will you do with your self? Many men and women are still in darkness, trying to figure out the meaning and purpose of life. But no matter what you try to do with your self—whether you deny it, obliterate it, annihilate it, accept it or express it—believe me, it is still alive and kicking. Jesus tells us what to do with the self: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). But questions remain: How do we follow Him? How do we hear God and implement the power of the Gospel in our lives? This can happen only through an all-out surrender of ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. It means acknowledging the Lordship of Christ in our lives, not just in theory but in practice. Jesus asks us to love Him supremely, more than anything or anyone else, and to let Him live in us and through us. Paul expressed it beautifully: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). When I let Jesus live in and through me, my self is no longer the one that directs and dictates to me. Now it is Christ, His will and desires, living and acting through me. This is why the habit of compartmentalizing our lives must end. All of me, all that I am, belongs to Christ. It is a daily practice to learn this principle and live it out in our lives. The choices we make are ultimately not collective ones that we make as a church, a family or even a couple. They are choices we make as individuals. I pray that you will take a closer look at who you are. From now on you can live your life for a different purpose than for this world alone. I pray that you will hear the call of God and begin to consider eternity as your perspective. But I must also warn you: If this is your decision, know that you have chosen to walk a narrow road. When Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, He set some conditions before them. The choice you make to follow Christ involves a cost. There will be inconveniences, difficulties, pain and counterattack by Satan. But praise the Lord, whether you are standing or have fallen, you can rejoice because you have surrendered your self to Him. When everything has been said and done, and the earth as we know it is only a memory, Jesus will say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” And His approval is all that matters. Excerpt from Chapter 4 of (ISBN 402) © 2014 by, the president and founder of. This entry was posted in and tagged,,,,,,,,, on. Post navigation. |
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