6/28/2023 0 Comments The gown by jennifer robsonMore than half a century later, Heather Mackenzie seeks to unravel the mystery of a set of embroidered flowers, a legacy from her late grandmother. Together they forge an unlikely friendship, but their nascent hopes for a brighter future are tested when they are chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime honor: taking part in the creation of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown. “Millions will welcome this joyous event as a flash of color on the long road we have to travel." - Sir Winston Churchill on the news of Princess Elizabeth’s forthcoming weddingīesieged by the harshest winter in living memory burdened by onerous shortages and rationing, the people of postwar Britain are enduring lives of quiet desperation despite their nation’s recent victory.Īmong them are Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell. An enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the twentieth century-Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown-and the fascinating women who made it.
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6/28/2023 0 Comments The locked tomb book 4When the Locked Tomb series left off, our protagonists Gideon (sweet jock) and Harrow (goth princess) were in separate places, both in ambiguous states of aliveness. More Catholicism than you might expect! Two lesbian princes facing off. A found family trying to get their sweet problem child to eat. A 13-year-old named Hot Sauce who’s the best cool girl gang leader you could expect to meet on any planet. Notable vibes of Nona the Ninth: Dogs being good. Instead, I wade peacefully into every volume with the knowledge that I am going to experience some lesbian necromancers in space, and otherwise I exist in a blissful state of “head empty, just vibes.” At this point, with the third volume Nona the Ninth in my hands and its predecessors Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth on my shelves, I have made up my mind not to try. I have never fully understood the plot of any of the books in Tamsyn Muir’s gutsy, gory, glorious Locked Tomb series. 6/28/2023 0 Comments Interference sue burkebeautiful.”- Publishers Weekly, starred review "Burke’s world building is exceptional, and her ability to combine the intricacies of colonization with the science of botany and theories of mutualism and predation is astounding." - Booklist “A clever, fascinating, fun and unique debut.”- Kirkus Semiosis unfolds the old science fiction idea of first contact in ways that are both traditional and subversive.”- The Christian Science Monitor “This first-contact tale is extraordinary.”- Library Journal (starred review) “A magnetic meditation on biochemistry and humanity.”- Locus Online Le Guin: science fiction at its most fascinating and most humane.“- Thrillist Like Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice, Sue Burke elevated a good story with a great idea.”- SFRevu “Interference is as good as Semiosis, which is no small feat for the sequel of a book whose strength lay in its thought-provoking concepts. 6/28/2023 0 Comments The diamond age stephensonHe is, in some ways, the founding father of the phyle. If you're not a member of any phyle, you're known as a thete.Ī leading member of the Neo-Victorian phyle is Lord Alexander Finkle-McGraw. Then there are other, lesser, phyles: the Armenians, the Jesuits, the Senderos, the Drummers, the Ashantis, and so on. There is also the phyle of the Celestial Kingdom, which more or less follows the moral code of Confucius. The dominant phyle is the Neo-Victorians (or 'Vickys') of New Atlantis, who are masters in engineering, and who follow the stiff moral code of the Victorians. Each individual can choose what phyle they belong to, and therefore what moral code they will be expected to adhere to. The book is set 100 years in the future, when society is divided into various cultures, or phyles. I've just read Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age for the second time. Gudgion (‘Geoff’) grew up with his nose in a book, often one featuring knights in armour. Is she angel or demon, priestess or witch?Īdelais must summon all her courage and all her memories of the old gods’ magic as the noose tightens around her and a thunderous final reckoning approaches. And even disguised as a boy, Adelais draws attention wherever she goes. Nowhere is safe-in city or chateau, on the road or in the wilds. Their pursuers, desperate to possess it, will crush any who stand in their way. The knights carry a secret treasure, precious and powerful enough to shape kingdoms. Her new companions are the last of the Guardians-once a powerful holy order, now ragged fugitives, hunted almost to extinction. She aids an attack to free the prisoner and joins the raiders as they flee into the night. When inquisitors arrive with plans to torture an innocent man, Adelais cannot stand by. Now, she is locked in a convent far from home, forced to kneel to a foreign god. And as blade meets blade, she starts to sing…Īdelais was raised in the far north, learning stories of the old gods and the skill of weaving runes into magic. A young woman with forbidden magic joins their final stand. No retreat.” With twenty enemy swords at their backs and a broken bridge ahead, the last knights of an outlaw order turn to fight. 6/28/2023 0 Comments Holier than thou jackie hillHow can the same God praised for his kindness seem so cruel? Whenever God judges like this, we’re tempted to react like David, who was angry “because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah” (2 Sam. Sproul once observed, “Uzzah assumed that his hand was less polluted than the earth.” In any event, his loss of awe, paired with his failure to do as God’s law prescribed, necessitated God’s justice. Maybe the ark, having resided in his father’s home for two decades, had become too common, an ornament of sorts. Maybe he thought he was holy enough to touch something he shouldn’t. We feel sorry for Uzzah, don’t we? From our perspective, he was simply a man with good intentions. The ark-that precious symbol of God’s holy, holy, holy presence-started tilting over.Īs it did, a man named Uzzah extended his hand to grab the ark and prevent it from touching the ground, and “The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God” (2 Sam. Upon reaching the threshing floor, the oxen forgot its legs and started to dip near the ground. But instead of referring to God’s Word for how to handle God’s stuff, the people took their cues from the Philistines. According to the law, the ark was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites with poles. A deadly mistake that would cost a man his life. When it came time, after retaking the ark of the covenant from the Philistines, to return it to Jerusalem, the Israelites set it on a cart. “Wise advice on how to reflect and slow down.” - Elle TolkienĪ multimillion-copy bestselling book of spiritual wisdom about the importance of slowing down in our fast-paced world, by the Buddhist author of Love for Imperfect Things Lewis George Orwell Mary Pope Osborne LeUyen Pham Dav Pilkey Roger Priddy Rick Riordan J. By AUTHOR Jane Austen Eric Carle Lewis Carroll Roald Dahl Charles Dickens Sydney Hanson C. Indestructubles Little Golden Books Magic School Bus Magic Tree House Pete the Cat Step Into Reading Book The Hunger Games
6/27/2023 0 Comments Casino royale novelOverall, racial descriptors have been significantly reduced. The novels were also littered with well known racial slurs for Black people, which have been changed in the new editions to “black person” or “black man” where relevant. Fleming wrote that the man and woman spoke in an accent that was “straight Harlem-Deep South with a lot of New York thrown in.” One such instance is Bond’s assertion that suspected African criminals are “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much,” which has now been shortened to “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought.”Īnother passage that has been completely removed sees Bond witnessing a couple arguing in Harlem in New York City. What racist content has been removed from Fleming’s novels?Īccording to The Telegraph, most of the revisions pertain to the way Black people are described. As the publishing industry faces increased scrutiny for revising texts, here’s what to know about changes to the James Bond novels. Intrigued? Watched it and want more Sor Juana? Here is a reading list for old and new fans alike. After all, a feminist nun with suspected queer leanings was not exactly welcomed in the patriarchal arms of the Catholic Church or conservative Colonial Mexico. The luxurious sets, costumes and romantic intrigues give it some of the glitz of a typical period drama, yet the central tortured love affair is that of Sor Juana and her work. Juana Inés depicts the nun’s life from her start as the protégée of the Vicereine, to her recognition as a literary powerhouse, up to her untimely death during a plague. She later entered the convent, where she transformed into a prolific writer of poems, plays, and intellectual treaties. Sor Juana, as she is affectionately called, is one of Mexico’s literary treasures and a personal hero of mine.īorn the illegitimate child of a Spanish captain and a Mexican-born woman, she climbed the social ranks to become a lady-in-waiting at the colonial viceroy’s court where she wowed the elite with her precocious intelligence. But when I heard that there was a show devoted to Sor Juana Inés De la Cruz, I dropped everything and binge-watched the series in the span of a few days. I’ve been slow to check out Netflix’s Spanish-language offerings, mostly because my English-language queue is already out of control. Eventaully others began to learn from him and instead of him being an outcast he rises to popularity which you can imagine does not sit well with Zach as it is his year at C Average Middle School.Įach chapter is told by the different characters in the novel, not just kids but adults as well. However, no matter how many disgusting things end up in his locker, spitwads thrown in his long hair, and his shoes stolen during meditation it never bothers him. He is also a selfless person and thinks only of others which no one seems to understand. Cap eventually become the target of bullying by Zach Powers and his possey. Imagine taking a hippie straight out of the 60’s and force him into modern society when the Beatles were the number one band and duct tape fixed everything. Now Cap lives by the old hippie mottos of peace, love, and nonviolence. When Rain is injured and must temporarily remain in a treatment facility Cap is sent to leave with a social worker and her daughter. Capricorn Anderson and his grandmother, Rain, are the only two people living in a hippie commune. The second novel my students read this school year was Schooled by Gordon Korman. |