5/10/2023 0 Comments Legenda david gemmellIn the not so distant past blogs were a vibrant platform, the blogosphere was the place were books were made or broken. I count several of them among my best reading experiences.īut the past is, as L.P Hartley reminds us, a foreign country - they do things differently there. I went on to read a whole bunch of his books and hugely enjoyed them. My copy is from 1987, so it's actually 36 years since I first and last read it. Legend, David Gemmel's debut novel, was published in 1984. I've broken these things up into sections as it turns out that I went on at length! I am, however, going to talk about reading it twice with ~40 years between the reads, leading into the whole business of seeing things with new (or older) eyes, and wandering into the territory of tribalism, identity, and the emotional bonds we form with books. Relax, I am not going to attack this novel! The 5* from my original review can stand. For me it's a big milestone along my fantasy journey!īelow is my rewritten review - the original one was from memory of reading it back in the 80's. Astonishingly this is the 22nd hit when you type "Legend" into the search engine.
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As their secrets get darker and their scandals turn deadly, A is poised to ruin their perfect little lives forever. Could there be more to Alison's death than anyone realizes? Now someone named A, someone who seems to know everything, is pointing the finger at one of them for Ali's murder. And when Alison's body was later discovered in her own backyard, the girls were forced to unearth some ugly memories of their old friend, too. Perfect (Pretty Little Liars, Book 3) Hardcover Septemby Sara Shepard (Author) 631 ratings 4.0 on Goodreads 66,287 ratings Book 3 of 16: Pretty Little Liars Kindle 11.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook 0.00 Free with your Audible trial Hardcover 7.98 53 Used from 0.28 5 New from 14.27 1 Collectible from 60. So when Alison mysteriously vanished one night, Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna's grief was tinged with. They were the girls everyone loved but secretly hated- especially Alison. The Pretty Little Liars book series by Sara Shepard includes books Pretty Little Liars, Flawless, Perfect, and several more. Since then, her father, Byron, moved in with his girlfriend, Meredith, and the relationship between Aria and her mother has been strained. A also told her that Aria had known about the affair. They clicked through the halls in their Miu Miu flats, tanned in their matching Pucci bikinis, and laughed behind their freshly manicured fingernails. A told her mother about the affair between her husband and a student at his college. Three years ago, Spencer, Aria, Emily, Hanna, and their best friend Alison were the girls at Rosewood Day School. In a town where gossip thrives like the ivy that clings to its mansions, where mysteries lie behind manicured hedges and skeletons hide in every walk-in closet, four perfect-looking girls aren't nearly as perfect as they seem. 5/9/2023 0 Comments Blackfish city bookUltimately, Blackfish is a book about power structures and the way that privilege is built on the backs of the disenfranchised wrapped in an action-packed science fiction. Still, the novel is surprisingly heartwarming. By banding together to save their city before it crumbles under the weight of its own decay, they will learn shocking truths about themselves.īlackfish City is a remarkably urgent-and ultimately very hopeful-novel about political corruption, organized crime, technology run amok, the consequences of climate change, gender identity, and the unifying power of human connection. Blackfish City is a remarkably urgentand ultimately very hopefulnovel about political corruption, organized crime, technology run amok, the consequences of climate change, gender identity, and the unifying power of human connection. Miller has an overall rating of Positive based on 8 book reviews. The "orcamancer," as she's known, very subtly brings together four people-each living on the periphery-to stage unprecedented acts of resistance. When a strange new visitor arrives-a woman riding an orca, with a polar bear at her side-the city is entranced. The city's denizens have become accustomed to a roughshod new way of living, however, the city is starting to fray along the edges-crime and corruption have set in, the contradictions of incredible wealth alongside direst poverty are spawning unrest, and a new disease called "the breaks" is ravaging the population. "Simmers with menace and heartache, suspense and wonder." -Ann LeckieĪfter the climate wars, a floating city is constructed in the Arctic Circle, a remarkable feat of mechanical and social engineering, complete with geothermal heating and sustainable energy. "One of the most intriguing future cities in years." -Charlie Jane Anders 5/9/2023 0 Comments The black swan theory bookThese houses present a central ideal of Holl’s ‘Black Swan Theory’, which entails working from the specific to the universal – in a field that does mainly the opposite. The houses presented in the book are spread worldwide, erected in locations as beaming with life as they are isolating. Each photograph is different, as is every angle from which we observe space. Change your position from the object, and the whole process repeats. Otherwise, we risk missing subtleties that are finally exposed when, at the right angle, or light, the perfectly focused image appears. Like a camera lens, it feels necessary to zoom our field of perception in and out. Identifying an architect’s philosophy embedded in their materials takes a closer or broader perspective. Unlike contemporaries like Zaha Hadid, his designs are rarely self-similar. Steven Holl is a well-known name in the architecture world. Other than saying, here, look at this isn’t this amazing? It has to involve them other than as spectators interactively…it has to engage them as creators.”- Lebbeus Woods. “If there’s going to be another movement, another direction in architecture, it has to engage people differently. 5/9/2023 0 Comments Catherine karen cushmanHer father wants only to see her married off, and profitably. Corpus bones, what a torture.Spent two hours embroidering a cloth for the church and three hours picking out the stitches after my mother saw it.Picked off twenty-nine fleas today.Catherine's mother wants to teach her the skills of the lady of the manor and to prepare her to be a gentle and patient wife. I am bit by fleas and plagued by family.Tangled my spinning again. Karen Cushman's Newbery Honor-winning book tells the story of a medieval girl who works to avoid the marriage her father has arranged for her during her 14th year.Contained in this program is Catherine's diary - Catherine, called Little Bird or Birdy, daughter of Rollo and the lady Aislinn, sister to Thomas, Edward, and the abominable Robert.Begun this 12th day of September in the year of Our Lord 1290.I am commanded to write an account of my days. 5/9/2023 0 Comments 1944 anya seton novelMiranda is so bedazzled by her cousin that she makes excuses for his dark moods, the harsh way he treats his tenant farmers, and his impatience with his family. Nicholas is both a kind benefactor, providing Miranda a beautiful new wardrobe, and a capricious host, ignoring the fact that his wife and guests consider her nothing but a servant. Nicholas’ wife is an unhappy woman interested only in sweets (not that there’s anything wrong with that, unless you devour the wrong cake), who immediately resents Miranda, and little Katrine is a stolid child, happier in the kitchen than in the classroom. She is swept away up the Hudson to Dragonwyck, and awestruck when she first beholds it – a gothic and foreboding mansion that hides dark secrets. From the moment Miranda lays eyes on her kinsman, Nicholas Van Ryn, she is captivated by his Tall Dark Stranger looks and charismatic demeanor. And I loved the family aspect of it, all four kids. Axel and his children are sort of a mess after the death of his wife, so there’s a hurt/comfort element of the story too as Jens comes in and has to tread carefully, and yet he ultimately brings so much healing to this family. I loved that Axel and Jens are basically soul mates who met when the time was not right, and later find each other again. And Axel very quickly has to convince Jens he’s not going to mess with his head again, that he wants to try for a real relationship It turns out Jens has been in love with Axel all these years. The widower, Axel, decides he must reconnect with his old friend. They’d been the closest of best friends until a kiss caused awkwardness between them. When Axel runs across a photo of Jens on a blog post, he realizes it’s a guy he knew in college. The romance is set in Oslo and it’s between a professor of poetry, Axel, who lost his wife a year ago and is struggling to get through every day with this four children, and a male midwife/nurse, Jens, who is single. I’m happy to give it my rave review as well! I’d never heard of the author, but based on the blurb and enthusiastic recommendations, I decided to try it. Her friend Jonah, a gifted musician, stops playing the guitar and becomes an engineer. Jules Jacobson, an aspiring comic actress, eventually resigns herself to a more practical occupation and lifestyle. The kind of creativity that is rewarded at age fifteen is not always enough to propel someone through life at age thirty not everyone can sustain, in adulthood, what seemed so special in adolescence. In The Interestings, Wolitzer follows these characters from the height of youth through middle age, as their talents, fortunes, and degrees of satisfaction diverge. Decades later the bond remains powerful, but so much else has changed. The summer that Nixon resigns, six teenagers at a summer camp for the arts become inseparable. The Interestings explores the meaning of talent the nature of envy the roles of class, art, money, and power and how all of it can shift and tilt precipitously over the course of a friendship and a life. This is a story about love, family and determination that leaves the reader excited for the next volume. As her search continues, she is forced to consider who she truly is. Unlike her kingdom, Shaerdan allows “channelers” to practice their magical abilities, and Britta finds herself intrigued by their magical ways. Her journey takes her through the border into Shaerdan, the enemy kingdom. When Britta’s father is murdered, she must bring the culprit, Cohen, to justice. Seventeen-year-old Britta Flannery and her only friend, Cohen Mckay, are trained by Britta’s father, the king’s bounty hunter, to track, hide and hunt. With masterful world building, Summerill takes the reader on a journey to another time, where two kingdoms are on the verge of war. Sword fighting, magic, romance and political upheaval come together in Erin Summerill’s debut novel "Ever the Hunted," the first in the Clash of Kingdoms series. " EVER THE HUNTED ," by Erin Summerill, HMH Books for Young Readers, $17.99, 392 pages (f) (14 and up) 5/8/2023 0 Comments Credence by Penelope DouglasSent to live with him and his two sons, Noah and Kaleb, in the mountains of Colorado, Tiernan soon learns that these men now have a say in what she chooses to care and not care about anymore.Īs the three of them take her under their wing, teach her to work and survive in the remote woods far away from the rest of the world, she slowly finds her place among them. Jake Van der Berg, her father’s stepbrother and her only living relative, assumes guardianship of Tiernan who is still two months shy of 18. But has anything really changed? She’s always been alone, hasn’t she? The shadow of her parents’ fame followed her everywhere.Īnd when they suddenly pass away, she knows she should be devastated. Shipped off to boarding schools from an early age, it was still impossible to escape the loneliness and carve out a life of her own. The only child of a film producer and his starlet wife, she’s grown up with wealth and privilege but not love or guidance. Tiernan de Haas doesn’t care about anything anymore. Three of them, one of her, and a remote cabin in the woods. From New York Times best-selling author, Penelope Douglas, comes a new stand-alone! |