![]() ![]() The part that kept me up is what’s keeping the book from getting an A.Īlessandra Cecchi is the daughter of a prominent fabric merchant in Florence at the end of Lorenzo d’Medici’s political dynasty during the 15th century Renaissance. I finished it last night – and then, it kept me up. I got sucked in, to the point where I finished the rest of the book in a nonstop readathon where I carried that book everywhere, even reading parts of it aloud to my son while he had his bottle. I rarely tell someone I didn’t like a book they let me borrow. ![]() In fact, I put another book in my bag, thinking I would give this one back to its owner with a “Thanks – it was good.” I didn’t think I’d ever get into this book, despite a bookmark placed three-quarters of an inch into the text. ![]()
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![]() ![]() All of them tell of being followed by a tall, silent woman in black, bearing an unforgettable message. Agitated and enthralled, he tells her he has come into possession of a mysterious old manuscript, filled with personal testimonies that take them from 17th-century England to wartime Czechoslovakia, the tropical streets of Manila, and 1920s Turkey. moving and terribly beautiful' Sam Guglani Oh my friend, won't you take my hand - I've been so lonely! One winter night in Prague, Helen Franklin meets her friend Karel on the street. exquisitely balanced' Francis Spufford 'Packs a punch of atmosphere, creepiness, fear and melancholy' Susan Hill 'Mythic, ominous and sensitively human' Frances Hardinge 'Richly atmospheric, daring and surprising' Melissa Harrison 'Striking and brave. ![]() ![]() Perry's masterly piece of postmodern gothic is one of the great achievements of our century' The Observer SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE OBSERVER FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 'Beautiful, devastating, brilliant' Marian Keyes 'Astonishingly dark. 'Hugely readable and profoundly important. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() They’re whimsical tales set in a magical land, but there are many characters and sequences that are downright dark, and there's a lot of dark political symbolism also embedded into the tales. ![]() They find Dorothy and her Yellow Brick Road Gang meeting strange foes and strange friends alike on their road to Oz, chapter by chapter, book by book. Frank Baum, who wrote them in the early 1900s. The original Wizard of Oz stories were told through a series of 14 episodic novels by L. The kinds of lessons weaved throughout the movie are also present in the original Wizard of Ozbooks, on which the film is loosely based, but in the original stories there are so many limbs being lost in any given chapter that the heartfelt message gets a little buried. The popularity of the movie has, for decades, spawned all manner of spinoffs, merchandise, and even a creepy Wizard of Oz theme park. Everyone remembers 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, starring young Judy Garland the classic tale that teaches you that there is no place like home, that the greatest weapon is water, and that we all have what we seek within ourselves. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It fascinates me to see how technology, games, and science fiction are all intertwined in a creative vortex that generates faster progress in each of these disciplines.Īnd next week, our own conference about the metaverse (you can sign up here) takes place, inspired by books like Cline’s as well as Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel Snow Crash and William Gibson’s 1984 book Neuromancer, which defined the metaverse-like experience as a “consensual hallucination.” But amid the bleak reality of the pandemic, I enjoyed reading how Cline envisioned the evolution of technology and the eventual creation of the metaverse, or the Oasis, the universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected. Critics panned it, and I understand this sequel isn’t as innovative as the first book. And so when the sequel novel Ready Player Two came out in December, I was all over it. I was a fanboy for Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One book and the 2018 Steven Spielberg movie based on it. Connect with top gaming leaders in Los Angeles at GamesBeat Summit 2023 this May 22-23. ![]() ![]() One fine morning, she finds herself tied spread-eagle to the bed, gagged with a washcloth, and under guard by Bobby, Cindy, and their friends. ![]() Barbara is hired to work as a babysitter and caretaker of the Adams’ house and their two children, Bobby and Cindy, while they spend a week away. Let’s Go Play At The Adams’ begins with a very simple premise. It earns every word that’s ever been said about it. It’s a book that has a profound effect on people, one that keeps horror fans looking for it almost as much as it makes them breathe a sigh of relief that it remained (until recently released as part of the Paperbacks From Hell collection of reprints) incredibly scarce. ![]() No fewer than two people have written “sequels” giving it a much happier ending, restoring some optimism to the gruesomely bleak final moments. Reviewers have talked about burning their copies after reading it, of throwing the book away, of removing it from their presence the moment they finished reading it. It’s been referred to as the most disturbing book some people have ever read. ![]() It’s been called vile, evil, and harrowing. Johnson’s Let’s Go Play At The Adams’ has a reputation. The book discussed below carries trigger warnings for rape, kidnapping, imprisonment, torture, abuse, and murder. ![]() ![]() She lives in Salt Lake City with her husband, Bill Dunford, who is also a writer. Jennifer works some evenings at her local independent bookstore, The King’s English, to feed her book habit. She currently works as a consulting editor for Sounds True, developing their children’s line. She has 20 years’ experience as a book editor, including at Gibbs Smith and Quirk Books. Jennifer graduated from the University of Washington. Her titles also include books for adults, including Y is for Yorick, a slightly irreverent look at Shakespeare, and Remarkably Jane, notable quotations on Jane Austen. Jennifer’s picture books for children, Edgar Gets Ready for Bed, Edgar and the Tattle-Tale Heart and Edgar and the Tree House of Usher are inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven.” She also has two new picture books forthcoming from HarperCollins. ![]() She is the author of another series of board books, My Little Cities. Her bestselling BabyLit board books (published by Gibbs Smith) introduce small children to the world of classic literature and have sold 1.5 million copies. ![]() ![]() Jennifer Adams is the author of more than forty books. ![]() Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. ![]() ![]() In this fully illustrated, deeply researched, and totally entertaining collection, Jason Porath offers 100 women too uncompromising, too untoward, or too uncomfortable to fit the modern princess mold. Rejected Princesses is here to provide an alternative to that. In place of complex, real-life heroines, we get sparkly, doe-eyed animated damsels who dominate children’s minds everywhere. ![]() This is just the list of women we know about. And even when we learn about a true legend – say, Harriet Tubman – we get half the story (and it’s usually not the half about her as a plantation-torching Union spy-master). Let’s face it: the list of historical women we learn about in school is lacking. I chimed in by saying they could hold off deciding for a few days, because it was coming home with me! Then again, pretty much any book that comes into the store screaming “female badassery” comes home with me before too long! Tales of History’s Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Hereticsīack in October, when this beautiful tome arrived at the bookstore, my coworkers were debating where it should be shelved. ![]() ![]() ![]() The book itself says it's for ages up to 4 but I think the bilingual edition is great for any age.Īnyone who reads a lot of Eric Carle's books cannot fail to notice that there is a hierarchy of things that turn Carle on:ġ. Personally I found this to be a valuable tool for learning, for both myself and my kids, and I plan on buying a copy for my grandson to add to his collection. For instance "Claro que sí" is a phrase that roughly means "Of course", not "I can do it", which is what the English version says. ![]() I will also note, it is not a verbatim translation. Even with my intermediate knowledge of Spanish, I didn't know some of the words-mostly the verbs and a few body parts-and some of the phrases were worded differently than I'd expect. ![]() ![]() Without a decent amount of Spanish vocabulary, it would be difficult to read this, so it's best read by someone who knows the language well enough to know proper pronunciation. I will say that it's not for Spanish beginners though. Another gem from Eric Carle, the bilingual edition is really good if you want to learn a lot of Spanish words and phrases common to native speakers, but might not get taught in class. This book is about animals and parts of the body. ![]() ![]() “Movement and color are aspects of the world a young brain requires to stimulate connections and learning.” 4. That’s really important for brain development for younger kids,” Myra Mendez, Ph.D., LMFT, explained to Scholastic Parents in 2019. When asked how he decided on Clifford’s signature color, Bridwell admitted that “it was red because I happened to have red paint on the drawing table that night.” The color may be one reason kids love Clifford: “He’s a bright color with a lot of movement. “And she went back to her childhood and took the name of an imaginary friend, Clifford, and gave it to the dog.” 3. “Norma said, ‘Well, that’s a stupid name for a dog like that,’” Bridwell told NPR in 2012. Initially, Bridwell called his giant dog Tiny-but his wife, Norma, didn’t think that was right. ![]() Clifford is named after an imaginary friend. But Scholastic called just three weeks after he sent in the manuscript and ended up publishing Clifford the Big Red Dog in February 1963. After all, he’d never written anything before. ![]() “I never thought the book would see the light of day,” he told Boston magazine in 2012. ![]() One editor finally suggested that Bridwell create a story to go with his drawings of a little girl with pony-like dog (as a kid, Bridwell had wanted a dog he could ride).īridwell wrote the story in three days in 1962. Norman Bridwell was told over and over again that he was never going to make it as an illustrator his art just wasn’t good enough. Bridwell at the Clifford The Big Red Dog 50th Anniversary Celebration. ![]() ![]() This story crescendos in two typical family events, decades apart. Low-key drama is a hallmark of Tyler’s writing. Dialogue, as much as description, carries the loose plot. ![]() ![]() While highlighting unique, quirky characters, the author conveys universal experiences, such as faulty family communication, sibling conflict, establishing autonomy and the tenacity of family bonds. Having lived in the city for over 50 years, the author takes her readers on familiar tours of its neighborhoods, noting changes throughout the decades Ordinary people living in Baltimore have been the subject of all of Tyler’s novels. Individual family members are presented every decade between 19. From Robin and Mercy in their eighties, to Ben, their toddler great-grandson, we glimpse the intergenerational impact of family patterns. ![]() In her 24th novel Anne Tyler introduces us to the Garrett family. Resident Ellyn Loy will review French Braid: A Novel by Anne Tyler on Tuesday, Jat 7 PM in the Auditorium. ![]() |