![]() ![]() Roser is carrying the child of Guillem, Victor’s brother. He’d like to finish his training as a doctor, but as the war ends, it becomes a fight for survival, with Republicans fleeing across the border to France to avoid slaughter.Īmong the refugees is Roser, a promising musician who lived with Victor’s family. He learns so much in the harsh reality of battlefield surgery and makes a name for himself by restarting a young soldier’s heart who has been left for dead. It is mostly the story of Victor Dalmau, a medic on the Republican (Communist) side, glad he doesn’t have to fire a gun. Isabel Allende’s new novel, A Long Petal of the Sea, gave me a lot more insight, I am happy to say. ![]() I certainly didn’t know quite how brutal it was. Then there was Pablo Picasso’s Guernica which I remember studying at one time. I thought I already knew about the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), thanks to all those English and American writers who went there to fight and wrote about it later. ![]()
0 Comments
![]() ![]() The members of a well-drawn, if spare, cast play supporting roles-Marjani, Daniel’s overworked caregiver Travis, his lifelong best friend, who's “like a stoner Ichabod Crane” Jennifer, the grad student who is “suddenly the matriarch of this weird little family”-but the story belongs to Daniel. After she's reported missing, he posts what he saw on Reddit and begins an email exchange with someone claiming to be the car’s driver. ![]() ![]() ![]() One morning Daniel sees a familiar young woman climb into a tan Camaro. He can still move his left hand, which he uses to operate his wheelchair and type on an iPad that interfaces with his voice speaker and allows him to work on social media for a commuter airline. Unlike most of them, however, Daniel has spinal muscular atrophy, a progressive genetic disorder that attacks the body from the core out. Like most residents of Athens, Georgia, 26-year-old Daniel looks forward to the escape of Game Week, when the University of Georgia plays football at home. The lone witness to an abduction tries to get skeptical police-and a skeptical society-to see past his wheelchair. ![]() ![]() ![]() The play which links the first five stories, the group I’ll call here the ‘mythos stories,’ is said to drive mad anyone who reads it it’s not clear if it has ever been performed. The sixth story is a set of brief prose poems, while the final four stories are basically mimetic and seem to have nothing to do on a plot level with the first five - though they have certain motifs and themes in common. The first five tales mention the play to varying extents, and all have other fantastic elements, as well as a horrific or weird tone. The book’s made up of ten short stories, plus a poem supposedly extracted from a play called The King in Yellow. ![]() Lovecraft, who used some of the book’s ideas in his Cthulhu mythos in fact, the book’s inspired a mythos of its own, complete with a wiki site, as well as any amount of further fiction, music, and games. Published in 1895, it was celebrated by H.P. Chambers’s collection of linked short stories, The King in Yellow. ![]() Today, I want to look at one of the founding classics of the weird, Robert W. October draws to a close and so it’s time to turn to horror and the supernatural, to the weird tale and the things that cannot be known. ![]() ![]() ![]() “I’ve waited with baited breath for the latest instalment of Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co novels. ![]() “A dashing teenage hero, a ghostly cult leader and a girl gravedigger with serious personal hygiene issues are just some of the delights that lie in wait in The Whispering Skull, Jonathan Stroud’s second book in the Lockwood & Co. Dive into the first book of this frightfully fun series and join the ghost-hunting gang as they defend our world from the most fearsome phantoms A sinister. "A delicious mixture of bone-dry wit and spooky shocks." He’s terrific at mixing the macabre with high-school-level repartee.” “With the same sophisticated imagination that made his Bartimaeus series such a success, Stroud’s writing is assured and nimble. "Fantastic characters, fast-paced action, and truly alarming in places." ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() A sweeping novel, a commentary on marriagewhy it works, why it fails. But this book is pretty incredible in structure. Set in many parts of the West, Angle of Repose is a story of discovery – personal, historical, and geographical – that endures as Wallace Stegner’s masterwork: an illumination of yesterday’s reality that speaks to today’s. I nearly included this in the Summer Reading Guide but decided maybe not too many of you would be interested in a 672 page book published in 1971. ![]() The result is a deeply moving novel that, through the prism of one family, illuminates the American present against the fascinating background of its past. Like other great quests in literature, Lyman Ward’s investigation leads him deep into the dark shadows of his own life. Through a combination of research, memory, and exaggeration, Ward voices ideas concerning the relationship between history and the present, art and life, parents and children, and husbands and wives. Wallace Stegner’s uniquely American classic centers on Lyman Ward, a noted historian who relates a fictionalized biography of his pioneer grandparents at a time when he has become estranged from his own family. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize when it was first published in 1971, Angle of Repose has also been selected by the editorial board of the Modern Library as one of the hundred best novels of the 20th century. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The plot is a thinly-veiled disguise for the sexual descriptions.Īnd on that matter - why is everyone so obsessed with penises? They are hanging out everywhere. I don't buy into the whole "it has so much more than romance! politics and royal scandals!" No, it doesn't. Really, did we read the same book?įirstly, this book is erotica with some snoozeworthy politics and battles thrown in. All my friends seem to love it (5 stars kind of loving), even those who are the toughest romance critics. I quite liked (but didn't love) the first book I had some issues but I pushed them to the back of my mind because I was so happy to have both a M/M romance in fantasy AND for it to be slow burn. Because I am literally starting to feel like I read a completely different book from everyone else. ![]() ![]() I would probably pull some of the same dumb things. She certainly has her dumb moments, but you can't really blame her. Poor guy.I'm happy to see that he really does like Madison and cares for her safety. Even in the paranormal world politics runs rampant. Poor Madison! I get that she is a newbie, but I feel bad about how rudely everyone is treating her. It could be read as a standalone, but I do encourage reading the first book first. ![]() Trapped doing cleanup amid mobs of holiday shoppers, Madison watches from the sidelines as dubious allies insinuate themselves in her region.Īs suspicions kindle and the mysterious evil gains strength, Madison must determine who she can trust-and whose rules to follow-before her region and career go up in flames. Neighboring regions report an uncharacteristic flare-up of evil, fire-breathing salamanders blaze unchecked across the city, and Black Friday looms. ![]() In fact, there’s a lot her boss has been closemouthed about, including the dark secret haunting his past.īut Madison’s problems are just igniting. Pitt, was impressed, he hasn’t told Madison. Madison Fox survived her first week as California’s newest illuminant enforcer, defending her region against imps, vervet, hounds, and one lascivious demon. ![]() Where I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion) Title: A Fistful of Fire (Madison Fox, Illuminant Enforcer #2) ![]() ![]() ![]() The novella tells us a lot about the gender roles typical for late 19th-century America.Ī scientist was the symbol of the era of breakthroughs. At the time, the female part of the population still had neither the right to vote nor the right to be independent financially. ![]() The short story was published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. It’s impossible to analyze the novella without addressing The Yellow Wallpaper’s historical context. However, this is something more than a personal story. It even made her condition worse, leading her to a nervous breakdown. Just like the novella’s narrator, Gilman was prescribed the “ rest cure.” She followed all the instructions of her physicians, avoiding any physical and mental activities. The state only worsened with the presence of her baby and husband. In her biography, Gilman described her “unbearable inner misery”. In 1886, soon after her daughter was born, she was stricken by severe depression. It was inspired by the so-called “rest cure” that the doctors applied to treat Gilman’s postpartum melancholy. In 1913, the article “ Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper” was published. ![]() □ The Yellow Wallpaper: Historical Context Mental Illness, Freedom of Expression, Gender & Family When does The Yellow Wallpaper take place? Where does The Yellow Wallpaper take place? ![]() ![]() Each cover is foil-stamped with a cleverly illustrated letterform that reveals an element of the story. Paul Buckley and Jessica Hische's fresh approach to the literary classics reduces the design down to typography and color. Why buy these particular classics when there are less expensive, even free editions of "Great Expectations"? Because they're beautiful objects. ![]() Bonus points for the heartening gender balance of the initial selections." -Maria Popova, "Brain Pickings" "The Penguin Drop Caps series is a great example of the power of design. Winner of the 2012 Fifty Books/Fifty Covers show, organized by Design Observer in association with AIGA and Designers & BooksPraise for Kristin Lavransdatter: "A master.writing in a prose as vigorous, articulate and naturalistic as the novel it re-creates, Tiina Nunnally brilliantly captures a world both remote and strangely familiar." -PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize citationPraise for Penguin Drop Caps: "Vibrant, minimalist new typographic covers. ![]() ![]() ![]() Henson, and many more, Jenifer cemented her status as the "Mother of Black Hollywood." Her movie Jackie's Back became a cult favorite, and as the "Mama" to characters portrayed by Whitney Houston, Tupac Shakur, Taraji P. ![]() In the audaciously honest voice that her fans adore, Jenifer describes her transition to Hollywood, with guest roles on hits like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Friends. This multitalented "force of nature" landed her first Broadway role within eleven days of her graduation from college and later earned the title "Reigning Queen of High-Camp Cabaret." With candor and warmth, Jenifer Lewis reveals the heart of a woman who lives life to the fullest. This "Mega Diva" and costar of the hit sitcom black-ish bares her soul in this touching and poignant-and at times side-splittingly hilarious-memoir of a Midwestern girl with a dream, whose journey took her from poverty to the big screen, and along the way earned her many accolades. National Book Club Conference 'Book of the Year' Award Winnerįrom her more than three hundred appearances for film and television, stage and cabaret, performing comedy or drama, as an unforgettable lead or a scene stealing supporting character, Jenifer Lewis has established herself as one of the most respected, admired, talented, and versatile entertainers working today. ![]() |