![]() ![]() There isn't really much of a 'plot', per se - more like an examination of a few months in the life of protagonist David a 43-year-old ne'er-do-well, who is forced to relocate to a seedier neighborhood after two years of nursing his hurt over being left by his lover of 15 years for an older, richer man.ĭavid becomes involved with a series of friends and lovers, and although the sexual encounters are presented unapologetically and somewhat graphically, it never descends to the pornographic. But it is nonetheless an intriguing and fast=paced glimpse into the NY gay underworld, circa 1960. ![]() This falls somewhere in between the two, and is definitely more on the pulpy side of literature (as one can tell from the lurid cover illustration on the original 75 cent paperback edition. I only came across it after reading the same author's infamous Quatrefoil (which I wasn't overly impressed by), and his virtually unknown play Game of Fools: A Play, which I found amazing. ![]() From the dearth of ratings and the sole other review here, this is a novel that not many know about or have read. ![]()
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![]() The aliens encountered in Blindsight suffer no such malady of consciousness. Can intelligence exist without consciousness, without self-awareness, and without the baggage that self-awareness carries? Watts’ thesis, backed by copious references at the back of the book, seems to say that human progress has been stunted by our consciousness and our continued struggle with self-doubt, second-guessing, and yearning for validation in nearly every endeavor we undertake or decision we make. Under the layers, it’s a treatise on the effects of consciousness, intelligence and instinct on the human condition, and those differences in the aliens we encounter. ![]() At its basic level, it’s a tale of humanity’s first contact with alien life, while at the same time aspiring to be so much more. It’s been an age since I’ve written a book review or any review for that matter, but as I’ve just finished Blindsight by Peter Watts it has compelled me to dust off the keyboard and pound fingers to plastic for a few hundred words. ![]() ![]() Blīndsīt / noun / the ability to respond to visual stimuli without consciously perceiving them. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() This includes standing up to her imprisoner (one of them, anyways), Kovit, who is a Zannie and will willingly feed off any pain she feels. This translates to a strong sense of self-preservation, where she'll do pretty much anything to get herself out alive. Later when Nita is taken to the Death Market, she sees herself as the highest priority, and is quite willing to put others at risk because of that. She worries about Fabricio when her mom brings him in, and she worries about her dad and where he is. Initially she is seen as a sympathetic character who is only doing things to survive. Even though others tell her that revenge will bring her nothing but trouble, Nita opts for torture instead of forgiveness. Nita also has what she describes as an "almost dissecting fetish", as dissecting people calms and soothes her based on her upbringing. She has murdered over a hundred people in self-defense, and lightly talks of killing others. Nita is a morally complex character who struggles with who she is and what she is to become. ![]() ![]() ![]() Princess Brianna of Tullymullagh issues a challenge to the sons of the man that conquered her father's castle: whichever brother went forth and found a gift to make her laugh would win her hand. Subscribe to her monthly newsletter to keep up to date and receive special offers: In October and November 2009, she was the writer in residence for the Toronto Public Library, the first time that the library has hosted a residency focused on the romance genre. ![]() She is an avid reader of medieval vernacular literature, fairy tales and fantasy novels.įor books written under the pseudonym, Claire Cross, see:įor books written under Claire's own name, Deborah Cooke, please see: She has an honours degree in history, with a focus on medieval studies. ![]() Since then, she has published over sixty romance novels and novellas, and has also been published under the names Claire Cross and Deborah Cooke. New York Times bestselling author Claire Delacroix sold her first book in 1992, an historical romance called ROMANCE OF THE ROSE. ![]() ![]() ![]() “Blessed are the silent”: As Offred notes, this phrase was added by an Aunt or someone more powerful to teach the Handmaids that silence and submission are valued. “Blessed are the meek”: Aunt Lydia quotes from Matthew 5:5 but eliminates the subsequent “the meek…shall inherit the earth.” Offred points out this omission while taking a bath ahead of a Ceremony with the Commander and his wife. Handmaids are present at birth to encourage labor through repeated breathing chants. One passage from her opus: “Do not mistake a woman’s meekness for weakness.”īirthmobile: A small van that transports Handmaids to a fellow Handmaid’s birthing at her Commander’s house. They are responsible for teaching the Handmaids and grooming them for their duties under the respective houses of the Commanders.Ī Woman’s Place : The book written by Serena Joy prior to Gilead detailing her conservative beliefs. ![]() ![]() Angels: Considered heroes in Gilead, the high-ranking army of soldiers fights against various enemies and keeps guard of significant locations.Īunts: A class of typically older women who are “true believers” of the totalitarian ways of Gilead. ![]() ![]() ![]() 'I came across The New Physics For the Twenty-First Century about a year ago, and it struck me how appropriate it is for ‘Survey of Real Physics’ courses of this sort. ![]() 'The message of The New Physics for the Twenty-first Century is that the most fundamental problems remain elusive, but the magnificent tools that have been developed during the past decade have opened up new vistas on subjects once thought to be familiar.' ‘… accessible to a general readership … presents topics that can be usefully pondered by those with little background in physics … written at a level that can be digested by eager undergraduates but will also be instructive to experienced physicists … several physicist colleagues have passed on unsolicited praise of the level of presentation.’ Source: The Times Higher Education Supplement ![]() ‘It is beautifully presented and, given the contributor list, authoritative … I wholeheartedly recommend it to researchers, postgraduate students and perhaps advanced undergraduates in the sciences.’ ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() By the age of 8, however, she was joining them in protesting against the LGBTQ community and being rewarded for spewing vile slogans. She was surrounded by caring, intelligent and passionate adults who adored her. Phelps-Roper’s childhood was idyllic in many ways. One of the most surprising aspects of this remarkable book is how loving the Westboro Baptist Church was-at least to its members in good standing. In Unfollow, Megan Phelps-Roper chooses the second approach to explain why she left the notorious Westboro Baptist Church. You can begin at the exact moment the cresting waters rupture the wall and surge toward freedom-or you can start long before that, with the first drops of rain that eventually overrun the embankments. There are two ways to write about a dam bursting. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In real life, the author had tried to save a pig-and failed. In Charlotte's Web, a spider saves a pig from slaughter. I've watched you all day and I like you." ![]() You can imagine Wilbur's surprise when, out of the darkness, came a small voice he had never heard before. Soon there were only shadows and the noises of the sheep chewing their cuds, and occasionally the rattle of a cow-chain up overhead. ![]() Likewise, though Wilbur expresses deep emotions, he is still a pig who likes to lie in the mud and breathe in the warm smell of manure.ĭarkness settled over everything. Despite Charlotte's sophisticated vocabulary, she is still a spider who traps flies in her web and sucks their blood. For Charlotte's Web the research was close to home-at White's own farm in Maine.Īs a result, the barnyard of Charlotte's Web seems real in every detail, and so do the habits of its animals. White researched every detail that went into his three books for children: Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte's Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970). But you may not know that the book's author, E. Spotlight on the popular children's book by Holly Hartman Related LinksĬharlotte's Web-the best-selling children's paperback of all time-was described by its author as "a story of friendship and salvation on a farm." If you've already read the book, you know about the friendship that grows between Wilbur, a runty pig, and Charlotte, a heroic spider. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Dragons in their natural form fly and have treasure hordes. Dragons are indeed dragons in their natural physical form. So, even though I’m usually quite hesitant about spoilers, here goes: Seraphina’s secret is quickly revealed (and guessed at) as a matter of fact, the book trailer gives it away, as do other reviews. The Good: Seraphina is an intricately constructed world and I fell for several things in this book: Seraphina Seraphina’s world the dragons and the royal family. This secret may help solve the mystery of Prince Rufus’s murder and may help preserve the fragile peace. ![]() He is wrong, though, about Seraphina’s relationship with Orma. It’s true that Orma has given her insight into the truth about dragons: that they are as complex as humans, just different. Lucian is right that Seraphina has feelings for Orma that she doesn’t share the knee-jerk dislike of so many humans. ![]() Plus, who can forget their true form, or the pre-peace years when dragons hunted humans? They don’t understand human emotion, are overly logical, cold and calculating. Even when dragons assume human form, one can always tell there is something not quite right about them. The idea of human-dragon relationships disgusts many. Prince Lucian, nephew of the murdered prince, is perceptive enough to guess it’s about Orma, Seraphina’s dragon tutor who has lived cloaked as a human for years. ![]() ![]() ![]() Trapped as a teenager in a sexually and emotionally dysfunctional marriage to a man she barely knew, the tension between Deborah's desires and her responsibilities as a good Satmar girl grew more explosive until she gave birth at nineteen and realized that, regardless of the obstacles, she would have to forge a path-for herself and her son-to happiness and freedom. Cover for Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots. ![]() ![]() Yet in spite of her repressive upbringing, Deborah grew into an independent-minded young woman whose stolen moments reading about the empowered literary characters of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott helped her to imagine an alternative way of life among the skyscrapers of Manhattan. Buy a cheap copy of Unorthodox book by Deborah Feldman. As a member of the strictly religious Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism, Deborah Feldman grew up under a code of relentlessly enforced customs governing everything from what she could wear and to whom she could speak to what she was allowed to read. Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots .uk 7.99 SHOP NOW In the series, Esty’s father has a dependency on alcohol and her mother left her at a young age to flee to. ![]() |