5/13/2023 0 Comments Mine till midnight![]() ![]() Gathering her courage, Amelia blurted out, “I want your ring. “Hummingbird,” he whispered, “you don’t have to be nervous with me.” And touched his foot to her rapidly tapping one. "Very sensible.” Cam took her shaking hand in his, pressed it between his warm palms. And then you won’t have to be embarrassed about having so much money, because it will flow out nearly as fast as it comes in." You should marry into a family with very, very bad luck. ![]() “I’ve been thinking about your problem.” “What problem?” Cam played lightly with the folds of her skirts, watching her face alertly. You see-” She paused to clear her throat. “I have a proposition for you,” she said, trying for a businesslike tone. The clean, salty, evergreen scent of him drifted to her nostrils. “Amelia stopped before him, her skirts crowded between his parted knees. ![]()
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5/13/2023 0 Comments The willows blackwood![]() ![]() ![]() Still, the main character is about as annoying as I have ever read and there's no rationalizing I can do to make up for that fact to properly enjoy the events of the story.Thank God it was a short story. I completely understand that that was the author's intent- to show how one might realistically react that is, when a "rational" mind encounters the MOST irrational of circumstances. He constantly makes excuses for what he is seeing and anytime he can do something wrong, HE DOES. It takes away from the story itself quite a bit.Besides the terrible audio qulity, the POV character is one of the more annoying characters I have ever encountered. The sound ebbs and flows in a way it gets loud then quiet from one word to the next almost throughout the story. The biggest issue is the terrible quality of the recording itself. The story is entertaining BUT I had a few issues. ![]() ![]() ![]() The dualistic conception of nature has been a necessary phase in the evolution in human thought." Recognizing the need for dualism in the history of humanity, Carus sought to promote the principles of Monism in the West, believing it could lead to a universal worldview capable of uniting East and West. There is light and shade, there is heat and cold, there is good and evil, there is God and the Devil. ![]() ![]() "This world of ours is a world of opposites. Credited with bridging the gap between Eastern and Western beliefs, Carus believed that the dualism rampant in the West could be replaced in order to establish a more equitable world where difference and diversity would be accepted and nurtured, rather than suppressed. A lifelong Monist, Carus sought to apply a scientific analysis to the principles of humanity's religions. The History of the Devil (1900) is a philosophical study by Paul Carus. ![]() 5/13/2023 0 Comments The Wars by Timothy Findley![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Like so much of what I seem to be reading lately, it's a slim volume very carefully constructed, spare really, but each part necessary to the telling of the story, nothing superfluous. The Wars is a story of a young Canadian soldier who volunteers to fight in World War I. Everything seemed important was the problem. I began by taking notes but soon had to abandon this as I didn't want to stop and write out what seemed important. My copy is dog eared and pencil-marked from all the many parts that resonated with me or that felt especially important in the building up of the story. I'd been thinking about the story all weekend wondering what I was going to share about it when I finally got around to reading the introduction. In his introduction to Timothy Findley's The Wars, author Guy Vanderhaeghe has put into words some of what I have been feeling about the book but have been unable to articulate adequately. Alternative History/Dystopian Fiction (7). ![]() 5/12/2023 0 Comments Rob harrell books![]() ![]() And to top it off, there’s a new crop of bullies afoot, too: anonymous kids who create and spread terrible memes throughout the middle school, dubbing Ross the “cancer cowboy.” Instead of hanging with best buds Abby and Isaac, avoiding a bully and crushing on the school’s prettiest and coolest girl, he’ll be transformed into a goofy hat-wearing, hair-losing, goopy ointment-covered sideshow with a perpetual wink. Ross is getting his first of forty-five proton radiation zaps that will steal away any hopes of navigating seventh grade normally. ![]() It seems that he has a rare cancer there that popped up out of the blue. He’s only got one eye to share.Īs his story starts out, 12-year-old Ross is strapped to a steel table with a giant ray gun contraption aimed at his offending right eye. But Ross Maloy can’t give you that point of view. They say a good story will let you see things through the eyes of its central characters. ![]() 5/12/2023 0 Comments Jitterbug perfume audible![]() ![]() ![]() “Jessica was the perfect voice for my books, and I knew it the moment I heard her audition. ![]() She’s organised, but easy to work with and always delivers on time. As a classically trained actor who has performed on the stage in plays and musicals, television and in movies, she loves being directed, and prides herself on finding the truth in each character and scene, while producing a quality listening experience.Ī lot of love and care go into each book. Jessica Elisa works with best selling authors and publishers in the US and UK. Her classical British accent, combined with great versatility mean performing multiple characters with different voices & genders are her speciality. Whether your characters are preparing for a Regency coming-out, on a journey to the stars, undercover in a foreign land, or have just fallen in love with the wrong person, she can bring their, and your, story to listening life. Jessica Elisa Boyd is a hugely experienced audiobook producer and narrator, with her own studio, with numerous audiobook titles available on and many other platforms. ![]() 5/12/2023 0 Comments Commonwealth patchett review![]() First, I had a difficult time remembering which children were born to which parents and where they ranked in birth order. That said, I’ve been able to narrow down the reasons for my inability to connect with this book to three things, and hopefully my issues will not be yours. ![]() ![]() ![]() This was disappointing because I generally love Patchett’s novels and went into this one with the expectation that I would love it, as well, particularly with the rave reviews it was receiving (it’s at the top of several Best of 2016 lists). Even when I found myself getting into the story, I never had that moment where I knew that I cared about the characters’ well-being or futures. It’s not that I don’t understand the underlying complexities within both stories, nor that I don’t appreciate the writing, but rather that I had a complete inability to connect with the characters.Ĭommonwealth started out promising but was never able to hook me. In years past it has been The Book Thief, Fates and Furies, and The Luminaries, and this year it’s The Vegetarian by Han Kang and Commonwealth by Ann Patchett. ![]() Buy the book: Amazon/Audible (this post includes affiliate links)Įvery year there’s a bestselling novel that I can’t get onboard with. ![]() 5/12/2023 0 Comments Impostors series scott westerfeld![]() “Pinkies out,” Norika murmurs, even though mine are already. Pull your dress wider, like gently opening a fan. Take the corners of your dress between the thumb and first two fingers of each hand. This is how you curtsy: Slide your right foot back. ![]() When Daddy’s in the room, I always stare at the floor. I learned how to bow last month-in case business ever takes us to Japan. In her reminders that the First Family Ball is next week, and that Dad expects me to be as perfect a hostess as my mother would’ve been. In her crisp instructions to repeat my moves again and again. Sensei Noriko would never say so out loud, but I can see it in her pursed lips. Frey was created as a body double, bait for kidnappers and assassins who would strike at Rafia, the first daughter of Shreve. ![]() If you haven’t read Impostors, some quick background: Frey and Rafi are identical twins, but only Rafi is known to the public. This story takes place about six years before the time period of the novel, when the two girls are nine. It’s from the POV of Rafi, Frey’s sister in Impostors. This is a short story set in the extended Uglies universe. ![]() ![]() ![]() That we are much more than the physical, material world we see around us. Join us as we take you on a wondrous journey through 200 of the most exceptional Near-Death Experiences on record, in search of a deeper, more expansive understanding of what the NDE is trying to communicate to us all. What they also found, to their surprise - that it is often in what we don’t see in an NDE that we gain the greatest insight. And it is here they found a treasure-trove of clues and qualities that reveal much more of the contours, depth and messaging found within a Near-Death Experience. ![]() You must go back.” In Crossover Experience, our trio of researchers focus on the fine details that are often overshadowed by these events. Most who have learned of the Near-Death Experience are familiar with the “main events” - from the out-of-body experience to being told, “It is not your time. Crossover Experience takes a unique approach in trying to better understand the phenomenon of the Near-Death Experience. ![]() 5/11/2023 0 Comments Books by claire keegan![]() ![]() ![]() With no other social-welfare system and no oversight of the religious orders that ran the Laundries, the women consigned thereto experienced everything from deprivation to abuse and death. Over more than two centuries, the Laundries took in more than bedsheets and dish towels they accepted women and girls often labeled prostitutes, though their purported sins more often encompassed unwed motherhood, petty theft or simply a failure to fit in. The horrors of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries have been documented in countless books, films and even a Joni Mitchell song - and now in a short, powerful novel, “ Small Things Like These.” But as they remain lesser-known among the evil institutions of recent history - there’s a lot of competition - a primer might be in order on these Catholic state-sanctioned homes for “fallen women.” If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores. ![]() |