But they are also books where a spirited beginner might usefully begin.
If you stroll down to the Richard Rodgers Theater, where the spirited musical "In the Heights" opened on Sunday night, you'll discover a singular new sensation, Lin-Manuel Miranda, commanding the spotlight as if he were born in the wings.
One of the best, least celebrated of Scandinavian movies of the past few years, We Shall Overcome (2006) was set in 1969 in a conventional Danish town where a spirited 13-year-old schoolboy, a radical follower of Martin Luther King, takes on the uphill task of confronting a reactionary headmaster, a sadistic bully whose role as pillar of the community no one dare challenge.
The Manion nomination was sent without a recommendation to the Senate, where a spirited floor fight is expected, perhaps next week.
The four-part series will take a closer look at Harborside Health Center in Oakland, Calif., where a spirited cast of characters -- including Steve DeAngelo, the center's pigtailed co-founder and executive director -- will offer viewers an inside look at the considerable struggles and day-to-day routines of operating the dispensary.
Make it a blue-and-gold holiday at the Cal Student Store, where school-spirited gifts include ornaments, clothing, toys and games, plus household items like coasters and wine glasses.
Pedicab headquarters is like the second-class deck of the Titanic, a dimly lit haven where free-spirited tattooed servicemen party their blue collars off to loud music, an abundance of cheap beer, and liberally available recreational drugs.
It leads to countless situations where mean-spirited men like Nienstedt demand blind, irrational obedience and say "take it or leave it" -- and more people are now following their consciences and walking away.
Only those with blinders on saw it as just a rock concert; it was a statement, a line drawn in the sand, a glimpse of a pure utopia -- crime-free -- where free-spirited people came to love one another -- and perhaps score some good weed.
