![]() ![]() I'm not sure why Du Maurier is held in such high regard. I was never hooked like I am with horror writers waiting in expectation for the next story. ![]() For some reason, I guess because none of the stories were really gripping, it took me a long time to finish the entire book. I hated the ending.ĭu Maurier's writing style and the stories' vocabulary and metaphor seemed somewhat dumbed down to appeal to a larger audience than a more literary style would have appealed to. Monte Verita was really long and just average as a story goes. Once you figured out the schtick (and you will, quickly) it was just boring and overlong. Blue Lenses, one of Du Maurier's more celebrated stories, I thought was pretty weak. Split Second and Kiss Me Again, Stranger were both very good with the latter having a great twist at the end. The plot is so hackneyed I knew what the ending would be when the "mysterious" ship appeared. I liked the more ambiguous ending better. I thought that The Birds was better, more menacing, than the Hitchcock film of the same name. ![]() Don't Look Now and The Birds were pretty good but having seen the films many times certainly took much away some of the suspense. ![]() I wasn't overly impressed with this collection of stories. ![]()
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![]() And where on Earth are these kids getting bottles of wine every night?) Who knows, maybe too much eye-rolling made me miss all those jump-scares, but after five episodes, I'm passing on the rest. ![]() A hospice where a teen is left to die in a deserted ward completely alone. ![]() And while their personal stories and issues lend themselves to some touching moments, the series is held back by its highly implausible premise and plot holes (terminally ill kids spending their last months living in a dorm where parents only show up once-a-whatever on Family Day, a grand total of two adults in the entire hospice, neither of whom apparently supervising or checking in on these medically fragile teens at night. my first legitimate jump wasn't until episode 3 or 4, and even that was mild.) Some of the stories the characters tell at their club meetings are good enough. He is an executive producer on the Netflix original horror series, The Midnight Club, and the author behind the novel that the series is based on. Not a bad series, some creepy "ghost" moments, but don't buy its boast of "most jump scares in a single episode" (that being the first episode, where I actually found myself saying, "oh, enough already". Kevin Christopher McFadden, known by his pen name of Christopher Pike, is an American author. ![]() ![]() ![]() So I think there are moments when it does enter us in a kind of personal way. I had to get up and take a walk to deal with it. The casual cruelty of that was emotionally overwhelming for me. Here we have 17 people listed as property - between a Brussell carpet and 10 yards of flax. I remember being almost overwhelmed in that moment as I read. Their ages, their names and what they did. ![]() It goes on for pages, I mean there are hundreds and hundreds of items in it and toward the end, I read through these harpsichord’s and piece of chairs and tables and I came across the names of 17 slaves. They did a legal appraisal and somehow I got a hold of this and I was reading through it. I did have a moment this is just occurring to me, I was given an inventory of everything that was in the Grimke house at the time when their father died. Once I began to really look at their lives, it wasn’t the slavery that shocked me, it was that they overcame or transcended those views. I had to find out about them by going to New York from Charleston. That someone from a slave holding family could be one of the first female abolitionist agents in America was an amazing revelation. ![]() ![]() A: The big surprise was that I didn’t know about them. ![]() ![]() The Rediscovery of Man collects all of Cordwainer Smith's short science fiction. His is not usually a world of Blake’s “dark Satanic mills” but his layered, Edenic cities are equally dystopian. He invented future technologies that seem almost magical, but he ultimately rejects them as evolutionary dead ends. He is more interested in recasting myths like Heloise and Abelard and Joan of Arc than he is in engineering. Smith throws years around in the thousands without a care. Just listen to some of his titles: “The Lady Who Sailed the Soul,” “Think Blue, Count Two,” “Golden the Ship Was-Oh! Oh! Oh!” “The Dead Lady of Clown Town,” “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard,” and “The Ballad of Lost C’mel.” I am always amused when someone tries to make a coherent future history from his Rediscovery of Man stories. Consider this opening to “When the People Fell” that inspired the cove of one of Smith’s collections: “Can you imagine a rain of people through an acid fog?” His underpeople and robots seem made to order for cosplay. Like Blake, he created an elaborate grand myth epic that may have been transferring his fantasies and eidetic visions to print. It is not far off to call him science fiction’s William Blake. ![]() ![]() ![]() In a 2013 centennial assessment Cordwainer Smith, The Atlantic called him the “loosest cannon of all” in science fiction. ![]() ![]() ![]() It turns out that it was noticed that Olivia was in the presence of a young man and her family intervened to have her charity assignment changed. Olivia is then moved to a new family to deliver food too. ![]() And oh how Lyon wants to do more beneath Olivia’s skirts but he is a gentleman so he does not. Our two finally have their kiss and it is electrifying. Olivia was ecstatic to see him and immediately gave him a miniature of herself as an apology for not being more thankful for the gloves. Lyon cannot help thinking about this event while in London and eventually cuts his trip short by a week. ![]() Olivia quickly leaves and Lyon is flummoxed. How will I explain how I came to have them? What were you thinking?” ![]() I can’t do anything at all with you in public. What am I to do with these? I can’t wear them in public. Olivia though was a thinker and did not accept them with joy. Before he left, he tried to give Olivia a pair of gloves she had mentioned admiring at Postlewaite’s. Things came to head when Lyon was due to go to London to give a proposal to the Mercury Club. No secret kissing, not wild proclamations, just a boy and girl meeting and getting to know each other better. Their courtship mainly consisted of Lyon meeting Olivia on her way to the Duffy family every Tuesday as was her assignment by the Society for the Sussex Poor. He was unaware she was an Eversea and even after he found out, it did not matter. Lyon took one look at Olivia and promptly stole her from her next partner. Olivia Eversea and Lyon Redmond met at a local Sussex ball. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() They’re there to prove the trolls-including a fellow contestant and their dad-wrong, and falling in love was never part of the plan.Īs London and Dahlia get closer, reality starts to fall away. Still, she's focused on winning, until she meets someone she might want a future with more than she needs the prize money.Īfter announcing their pronouns on national television, London Parker has enough on their mind without worrying about the klutzy competitor stationed in front of them. Too bad the first memorable move she makes is falling flat on her face, sending fish tacos flying-not quite the fresh start she was hoping for. Recently divorced and on the verge of bankruptcy, Dahlia Woodson is ready to reinvent herself on the popular reality competition show Chef’s Special. The first openly nonbinary contestant on America’s favorite cooking show falls for their clumsy competitor in this delicious romantic comedy debut that USA Today hailed as “an essential read.” ![]() ![]() ![]() German prosecutors are leading the operation, with Scotland Yard detectives also in attendance. ![]() Roads to Barragem do Arade, a man-made dam about 30 miles from Praia da Luz, were sealed off on Monday ahead of the search. The British girl was three when she vanished from Portuguese resort Praia da Luz. This will be the first major search for Madeleine for nine years. He is believed to have lived there for a time in a motorhome. READ MORE: Police looking for Madeleine McCann to begin search of remote Portugal reservoir ![]() German paedophile Christian Brueckner, 45 – the prime suspect in the case – described the reservoir, Barragem do Arade, as his "little paradise". Police search teams are due to begin scouring the site in Portugal on Tuesday, The Mirror reports. Detectives think a remote reservoir could hold the key to solving the mystery of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance in May 2007. ![]() ![]() ![]() The book is notable for its emphasis on the importance of morale and the need for strong leadership, as well as the role of communication and intelligence in military operations. He also provides an honest assessment of his own mistakes and the difficulties he faced as a commander, including the harsh terrain and climate, the limited resources, and the constant threat of disease and injury. Slim’s narrative is characterized by a deep sense of humility and respect for his troops, and he gives credit to the bravery and perseverance of the soldiers under his command. ![]() The book provides a detailed account of the military operations and the challenges faced by the British forces in Southeast Asia, as well as the strategic decisions and tactics that led to the eventual victory. “Defeat into Victory” is a memoir written by British Field Marshal William Slim, who served as the commander of the 14th Army during the Burma Campaign of World War II. ![]() ![]() ![]() It includes several of Coolidge's greatest speeches, more than a dozen photographs, a timeline of Coolidge's life, and other new material. This handsome new edition is the first to appear in nearly fifteen years. Shlaes and coeditor Matthew Denhart, president of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, underscore those lessons in an enlightening introduction and annotations to Coolidge's text. Calvin Coolidge's leadership provides urgent lessons for our age of exploding debt and government power. ![]() The autobiography offers great insight into the man and his philosophy. The Coolidge who emerges in these pages is a model of character, principle, and humility-rare qualities in Washington. The New York Times called him "the most literary man who has occupied the White House since 1865." One biographer wrote that Coolidge's autobiography "displays a literary grace that is lacking in most such books by former presidents." The man caricatured as "Silent Cal" was a gifted writer. The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge is as unjustly neglected as Calvin Coolidge himself. ![]() Now she presents an expanded and annotated edition of that president's masterful memoir. Amity Shlaes reclaimed a misunderstood president with her bestselling biography Coolidge. ![]() ![]() ![]() Lauren Kate, New York Times bestselling author of Fallen 'Dangerous, sexy, romantic and intense. ![]() "Addictive, intense, and oozing with romance. Juliette has never fought for herself before but when she's reunited with the one person who ever cared about her, the depth of the emotion and the power within her become explosive. ![]() But not only is she a threat, she is potentially the most powerful weapon they could have. A touch from her can kill - one touch is all it takes. Juliette is a threat to The Reestablishment's power. Locked in a cell by The Reestablishment - a harsh dictatorship in charge of a crumbling world. A fragile young teenage girl is held captive. Stranger Things meets Shadow and Bone in this first instalment of an epic and romantic YA fantasy series - perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Sarah J. ![]() |