5/13/2023 0 Comments David goliath malcolm gladwell![]() ![]() This feeling of Gladwell déjà vu isn’t helped by the fact that his books’ designs are so monotonous - white cover, stark type, single iconic image, same trim size. I’ve read his books and his writing in the New Yorker for years, which has resulted in a creeping intolerance for Gladwell’s approaches to framing ideas and his style of writing. Not only had I read “The Sports Gene,” which to me did a much better job of exploring the 10,000-hour rule Gladwell wrote about in “Outliers,” but I was channeling the Gladwell fatigue emanating from many quarters, and which I suffered from a bit myself. I had reservations about delving back into a Gladwell book. ![]() “David and Goliath” by Malcolm Gladwell moldered on my nightstand for many months before I recently picked it up. David and Goliath, a colour lithograph by Osmar Schindler (c. ![]()
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![]() But before she can explain that fact to him, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. When big, brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it's an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and former rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. ![]() So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits-someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom. ![]() Romantic partners, whatever their gender, are a distraction at best and a drain at worst. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. USA Today bestselling author Talia Hibbert returns with another charming romantic comedy about a young woman who agrees to fake date her friend after a video of him "rescuing" her from their office building goes viral.ĭanika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. ![]() One of Oprah Magazine's 21 Romance Novels That Are Set to Be the Best of 2020 ![]() 5/13/2023 0 Comments Hakaimono shadow of the fox![]() ![]() On one hand, I expected to love to love this book, but on the other, did I set my expectations too high? I’m so conflicted, because nothing makes sense anymore. I have finally made it through book 2 and I really don’t know how to feel about it. This review contains spoilers for Shadow of the FoxĪfter rereading Shadow of the Fox and very determined in reading the rest of the series. Links: Amazon/ Book Depository/ Goodreads Publication Date: June 18th, 2019 Publisher: Inkyard Press Series: Shadow of the Fox #2 Rating: As the paths of Yumeko and the possessed Tatsumi cross once again, the entire empire will be thrown into chaos. To overthrow the empire and cover the land in darkness, they need one thing: the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers. Hakaimono has done the unthinkable and joined forces with the Master of Demons in order to break the curse of the sword and set himself free. The demon Hakaimono, who for centuries was trapped in a cursed sword, has escaped and possessed the boy she thought would protect her, Kage Tatsumi of the Shadow Clan. ![]() Kitsune shapeshifter Yumeko has one task: to take her piece of the ancient and powerful scroll to the Steel Feather temple in order to prevent the summoning of the Harbinger of Change, the great Kami Dragon who will grant one wish to whomever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers. ![]() It had one task: to seal away the powerful demon Hakaimono. Synopsis: One thousand years ago, a wish was made to the Harbinger of Change and a sword of rage and lightning was forged. ![]() 5/13/2023 0 Comments Vast linda nagata![]() ![]() ![]() This takes some getting used to (I think that people who have read William Gibson, will have an easier time with this), but I have already bought Tech Heaven by Nagata and I think that I will enjoy this book more that I did Bohr Maker, as I've already gotten a feel for her universe and writing style. This makes the world of Nagatas Bohr Maker very strange - a lot stranger than the world of Nivens Ringworld, even though we never leave the solar system and never meet a life form of non-human descendance. The basis for the book is interesting enough - it takes place in a world where nanomachines, bio-engineering and neuralcomputer interfaces are highly developed and in widespread use. This is the first book that I have read by Linda Nagata and I'm not quite sure what I feel about it. The Bohr Maker is a science fiction novel by the writer Linda Nagata. ![]() 5/13/2023 0 Comments The all souls books![]() ![]() This smart, sophisticated story will draw you in as you thirst to find out what becomes of Diana, Matthew and the book of life. He becomes her confidant and protector as other creatures come after Diana, but intimacy is forbidden across species. In comes Matthew Clairmont, a centuries old vampire geneticist who wants to get his hands on that book, but more than just research happens between Diana and Matthew. It is the key to all creatures on this earth–witches, vampires and daemons–and everyone now knows Diana was able to access it. ![]() Little does she know that is the book of life that was previously thought to be lost for centuries. The All Souls Series follows the story of Diana Bishop, a historian and reluctant witch, as she solves the mystery of Ashmole 782, falls in love with a mysterious vampire named Matthew Clairmont, and learns how powerful it can be to accept who you are. ![]() Diana Bishop is a young scholar studying at Oxford when she recalls an alchemical manuscript from the stacks of the Bodleian that postiviely oozes magic.Ĭoming from a long line of witches herself, Diana immediately recognizes the magic, but she denies that part of herself after what happened to her parents many years ago, so she sends it back to the stacks. Let’s talk a little bit about the premise of the first book. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() What did most people say about Proserpina's disappearance? They heard the rattling of chariot wheels. What does the old women say about Proserpina's disappearance? She heard a scream. Why doesn't Proserpina eat anything? Then she will have to stay with Pluto forever What does the fisherman say about Proserpina disappearance? He saw her footprints in the sand What does the rustic (redneck) say about Proserpina's disappearance? He saw her gathering flowers. ![]() What kind of chariot does Pluto drive/ who drives it? Golden chariot driven by 4 black horses How is Pluto described? Handsome, but sullen with a crown of diamonds What mountain do they pass on the way to Pluto's palace? Mount Aetna Where does Proserpina live with her mom? Vale (valley) of Enna What falls from Proserpina's apron? Flowers What is the 3 head dog with a dragon's tail? Cerberus What does the River Lethe do? Make you forget you memories. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Pushed beyond their limits, the girls at last run away and the adults must work together to find them. The children's and adults' lives are complicated by various betrayals: Mae abuses Ramona's credit Ramona's boyfriend, Tyrone, finds comfort with another woman (while Ramona pines for Tyrone's father) and Mae's favorite cousin sexually assaults Shern. When an old criminal conviction denies custody of the girls to the aunts and uncles, the children are placed in a nightmarish foster home run by compulsive gambler Mae and her adult daughter, Ramona. Already fragile, Clarise is hospitalized with a breakdown. ![]() Soon, three beautiful daughters-Shern, Victoria and Bliss-complete their vision of bourgeois happiness, but the repeal of Jim Crow laws lures their best customers away to white catering chains, and Finch dies in a last-ditch effort to save his faltering business. Raised by her affectionate, idiosyncratic aunts and uncles after her mother's death, middle-class Clarise elopes with a poor but talented cook named Finch, and together they open their own successful catering business. With overreaching prose and overwhelming family tangles, McKinney-Whetstone's return to black Philadelphia, this time in the 1960s, never quite lives up to the promise of her debut, Tumbling. ![]() 5/12/2023 0 Comments Gallipoli by Alan Moorehead![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The Allied commanders were ignorant of the terrain, and seriously underestimated the Turkish army which had been bolstered by their German allies. From the very beginning of the first landings, however, the campaign went awry, and countless casualties. The brainchild of Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, following Turkey's entry into the war on the German side, its ultimate objective was to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in western Turkey, thus allowing the Allies to take control of the eastern Mediterranean and increase pressure on the Central Powers to drain manpower from the vital Western Front. Ī century has now gone by, yet the Gallipoli campaign of 1915-16 is still infamous as arguably the most ill conceived, badly led and pointless campaign of the entire First World War. The brainchild of Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, following Turkey's entry into the war on the German side, its ultimate objective was to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in western Turkey, thus allowing the Allies to take control of the eastern Mediterranean and increase pressure on the Central Powers to drain manpower from. A century has now gone by, yet the Gallipoli campaign of 1915-16 is still infamous as arguably the most ill conceived, badly led and pointless campaign of the entire First World War. ![]() ![]() ![]() And for some reason, my brain connected that the fact that I was so excited that I chose my own excitement over whatever safekeeping measures that I could have had I kept - I mean, it's - you know, saying it out loud, it seems ridiculous. And then when I looked back, that's when it exploded. And I was looking forward to it so much, that when it started the ascension, I looked away. For some reason watching the shuttle explode, one of the things that I did was I was so excited by it. SIMON: Help us understand an episode in your life you write about, which I don't know might be an early sign of what you were going to wind up contending with, like, a lot of other school children, really around the world that day in the 1980s. ![]() And in order for me to just sort of get through my day without having to worry about worrying them, I'm OK is the easy and accessible answer. I'm hyperaware, especially now, that the people in my life are very worried about me. As open as I am about where I am with my emotional and mental health, I still think that the easy answer of I'm OK helps alleviate any guilt or pressure for other people to try and make me feel better. Did you have to tell that to survive? Do you still have to say it now? SIMON: I want to begin with another arresting phrase early in the book, the lie I tell the most is I'm OK. ![]() BASSEY IKPI: Thank you so much for having me. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() This novel is full of the emotional and intellectual vigour of the best historical fiction. With Briefly, A Delicious Life, Stevens’ first attempt at fiction, she does not disappoint. Gaskell and Me / The Victorian and the Romantic (2018) winning multiple awards. Stevens is a prominent memoirist, with her memoirs Bleaker House (2017), Mrs. Blanca quickly becomes an unseen part of the family’s life, and the novel unfolds against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mallorca. ![]() The novel narrates Blanca’s desire and devotion to George, as well as George’s writerly and motherly struggles in the present and in the past. When George Sand (1804-1876), a nineteenth century French author famous for both her novels and her penchant for wearing men’s clothes, arrives at the monastery with her two children and her lover, composer Frédéric Chopin, for an extended stay in Mallorca, Blanca falls instantly in love with George, although George has no idea Blanca exists. After dying in childbirth in a hilltop monastery in Mallorca in 1473, Blanca spends her (after)life watching over the monastery and haunting those who harm others. The novel is told from the perspective of Blanca, a ghost who has been fourteen for hundreds of years by the time the novel begins in the 1830s. Nell Stevens’s debut novel, Briefly, A Delicious Life (2022), is a stunning historical novel about a centuries-old ghost who falls in love with one of history’s most infamous writers. ![]() |