Friendship

Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom offers an exploration of the secret universe we all carry inside us, the connections we forge with the worlds of our friends and loved ones, and the products of our worlds reflected in the things we create outside of ourselves. Anam Cara, Gaelic for "soul friend," is an ancient journey down a nearly forgotten path of wisdom into what it means to be human. Drawing on this age-old perspective, John O'Donohue helps us to see ourselves as the Celts did: we're more than just flesh, blood, and bone; we comprise individual worlds. The comprehension of the sublime architecture of the worlds we are born with will engender a new appreciation for the outside world and the way we contribute to its evolution.

Discover the Celtic Circle of Belonging

John O'Donohue, poet, philosopher, and scholar, guides you through the spiritual landscape of the Irish imagination. In Anam Cara, Gaelic for "soul friend," the ancient teachings, stories, and blessings of Celtic wisdom provide such profound insights on the universal themes of friendship, solitude, love, and death as:

• Light is generous

• The human heart is never completely born

• Love as ancient recognition

• The body is the angel of the soul

• Solitude is luminous

• Beauty likes neglected places

• The passionate heart never ages

• To benatural is to be holy

• Silence is the sister of the divine

• Death as an invitation to freedom

An Hour to Live, an Hour to Love: The True Story of the Best Gift Ever Given

Friends to the End: The True Value of Friendship

Friends and life. Life and friends. The two are so tightly interwoven it's impossible to imagine one being remotely worthwhile without the other. As Bradley Trevor Greive points out, "There are very few truly solitary creatures on this planet. And most of them have serious personal hygiene issues." What makes friends so special? What does our choice of friends say about us? What sparks the best friendships and keeps them burning? In Friends to the End: The True Value of Friendship, BTG uses his trademark witty narrative illustrated with irresistible animal photos to explore the daily magic we experience through our friends. Best described as a cross between his famously successful Dear Mom and The Blue Day Book, Friends to the End examines themes such as why we can't live without friends, how great friendships grow from humble beginnings, how to identify different types of friendship, what to do when good friends turn bad, and why it's all so worthwhile.

"When I think back to all the really great or the horrendously bad times in my life," says BTG, "I can't help but think about how my friends made the former all the more enjoyable and the latter at least survivable. I want this book to help people appreciate friendship for all it is and all it can be."Friends to the End promises to have the same cultural impact achieved by his previous books. His modern classics The Blue Day Book and Dear Mom have been New York Times best-sellers and made the author a household name in more than 35 countries. BTG's seven previous volumes have sold more than seven million copies worldwide.

The Friendship Factor: How to Get Closer to the People You Care for

At the heart of each relationship, says McGinnis, is the friendship factor--the essential ingredient of warmth and caring. With captivating case histories and anecdotes about such famous people as George Burns, Howard Hughes, and C.S. Lewis, McGinnis shares the secret of how to love and be loved.

Friends of the Heart

If Teacups Could Talk: Sharing a Cup of Kindness with Treasured Friends

In 1994 the gift book market welcomed If Teacups Could Talk, and thousands of women discovered the warm hospitality of Emilie Barnes and the gracious spirit of artist Sandy Lynam Clough. Now with a fresh new cover, this bestseller (more than 260,000 copies sold) will inspire even more people to savor the blessings of teatime traditions.

In chapters overflowing with ideas for gracious living, Emilie encourages readers to embrace and pass on to others the gifts of friendship, tradition, comfort, celebration, and imagination...all with a cup of tea.

Those who have already made this beautiful book a part of their teatime traditions will now be eager to introduce this dear old friend to others in their lives.

Comrades : Brothers, Fathers, Heroes, Sons, Pals

This tender book about male friendship will probably surprise those readers who know Stephen Ambrose best for his histories of World War II and biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Born in 1936, Ambrose acknowledges in the introduction to his memoir that men of his generation do not speak or write easily about their feelings. Yet male bonding is a strong theme in all of his work, as selections from previous writings on Lewis and Clark, Richard Nixon, Crazy Horse, and General Custer that are included in Comrades prove. What is more interesting, however, is the more personal material on Ambrose's two brothers (their youthful competitiveness mellowed into mature devotion), fellow historian Gordon Mueller ("my dearest and closest friend"), and several college buddies. After losing touch with each other during the harried years of career building and child rearing, these men rediscovered intimacy in middle age. Most moving of all is the closing chapter on Ambrose's father, an old-fashioned authority figure and disciplinarian quick to criticize his sons, but always available to sustain and guide them. The warming of that rather stern relationship is clearly one of the great joys of his son's adult life. It makes a fitting finale to a dignified but strikingly sweet memoir. --Wendy Smith

From the author of Undaunted Courage and D-Day comes this celebration of male friendship, taken both from the pages of history and from Ambrose's own life.

Acclaimed historian Stephen Ambrose begins his examination with a glance inward -- he starts this book with his brothers, his first and forever friends, and the shared experiences that join them for a lifetime, overcoming distance and misunderstandings. He writes of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had a golden gift for friendship and who shared a perfect trust with his younger brother Milton in spite of their apparently unequal stations. With great feeling, Ambrose brings to life the relationships of the young soldiers of Easy Company who fought and died together from Normandy to Germany, and he describes with admiration three who fought in different armies on different sides in that war and became friends later. He recounts the friendships of Lewis and Clark and of Crazy Horse and He Dog, and he tells the story of the Custer brothers who died together at the Little Big Horn.

Comrades concludes with the author's moving recollection of his own friendship with his father. "He was my first and always most important friend. I didn't learn that until the end, when he taught me the most important thing, that the love of father-son-father-son is a continuum, just as love and friendship are expansive."

Eminent historian Stephen Ambrose pays tribute to the friends of his lifetime and reflects on what they have meant to him.

Simple Acts of Friendship: Heartwarming Stories of One Friend Blessing Another

Following the popularity of Simple Acts of Faith comes the second gathering of Norman Rockwell’s beloved art blended with Margaret Feinberg’s inspirational tales.

This ideal gift invites friends to enter Rockwell’s charming Americana scenes and visit stories of friendship that illustrate how lives are enriched when hearts connect.

• Faith sparks a friendship between literary greats J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis
• Childhood pen pals create a legacy of international friendship for generations
• Laura is coaxed by a friend to meet a young man who turns out to be her future husband and President of the United States—George Bush.

This is sure to be a treasured collection among Rockwell fans and everyone who celebrates a kindred spirit.

Chicken Soup for the Girlfriend's Soul: Celebrating the Friends Who Cheer Us Up, Cheer Us On and Make Our Lives Complete (Chicken Soup for the Soul)

An inspiring and humorous celebration of the special bond of friendship.

She championed you through your years wearing braces and you calmed her nerves before her walk down the aisle. She advised you on what to wear to land your perfect job and you taught her how to get her newborn to sleep during a midnight phone call. Together you've dug through your backyard looking for pirate's treasure and dug through bargain bins during shopping outings; you’ve shared your secrets, doubts and dreams; and you look forward to conquering hot flashes together.

You may have met her in kindergarten or at work, in a playgroup or on the Internet—but if she’s cheered you up, cheered you on or lifted your spirit, Chicken Soup for the Girlfriend’s Soul is the perfect tribute to that special friend. Whether she's your lunch companion, your sounding board, your confidant, or all of the above, she anchors you during life's storms and helps you revel in life's joys.

With tales of finding friends in unexpected places, of strength during life's toughest challenges, and of forging lifelong bonds and memories, this book will tug at your heart and hers as you celebrate the unique spirit of female friendship.

Practicing the Presence of People: How We Learn to Love

In the deepest part of our hearts and souls is the desire to love well. Yet in our struggle to do so, we learn that, as Mike Mason puts it, "We are not born with love; it is something we must learn." Now, in Practicing the Presence of People, he helps us launch that learning process. Mason points the way to fresh knowledge and fresh experience, showing how we can discover new things about those we love, understand them from the inside out, tenderly identify with their weaknesses, and celebrate that they too were lovingly made by the hand of God.