Back to Blog
Advice of Counsel by Debra Trueman5/29/2023 ![]() ![]() Samuel’s life - or death - may depend on the very neighbors he had hoped to ignore.Ī fear of being killed, dying in your own home, just because you tried to make things better. In no time, Samuel is representing neighbors on all sides in various legal matters, but when two of his neighbors hire him to revise their will to include one Landra Krally as a beneficiary, Sam smells a rat. He calls on his investigator friend to check her out, but when Samuel ends up dating the subject of his investigation, things get increasingly complicated. Young attorney Samuel Collins moves to the tranquil community of Hollywood Park, Texas, wanting nothing more than to be left alone by his neighbors. But between the 4-year-old kid from next door and the 80-year-old widow from across the street, he quickly finds himself drowning in neighborhood hospitality. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Back to Blog
The book lust5/29/2023 ![]() And that means shaking off our dependence on textbooks. In the parlance of the day schools must add value to literacy by helping their students love to read. To be the society that we want to be, we need citizens who thirst for reading and for knowledge. Literacy suggests that individuals can make out the words on a page and find some sense in them. But love of reading goes beyond literacy. We spend a lot of energy focusing on literacy. I worry, as does Steven WoIk who writes in this month's Kappan, that we are not doing enough to excite that same love of reading in our students. Very often, about 10 to 12 pages before the end of a book, I will deliberately set it aside just so I know I can return to it the next day. ![]() And when the book ends, I'm disappointed that there isn't more. I want only to immerse myself in those pages of print. I don't want anything to take me away from my beloved. From thrillers to romance to the perfect beach read, theres a book for. I don't want to eat, I don't want to fall asleep, I don't want any interruptions. Reese Witherspoon has been recommending her favorite books to readers through. When I'm in the throes of a good book, I want nothing more than to spend all of my time with that book. I long ago decided that reading a good book is a lot like falling in love. Were you one of those youngsters who had to be pried away from a book? Like me, I'll bet you have vivid memories of hiding beneath blankets with flashlights so you could read in bed at night or in cars while your family sped off to visit relatives or go on vacation. ![]()
Back to Blog
The fall of shannara5/29/2023 ![]() Fearing the worst, the High Druid dispatches a diplomatic party under the protection of the order's sworn guardian, Dar Leah, to confront the mysterious, encroaching force and discover its purpose.īut another crucial journey is being undertaken. More troubling than the carnage is the strange and wondrous power wielded by the attackers-a breed of magic unfamiliar even to the Druid order. ![]() But now, in the far north, an unknown enemy is massing. ![]() The first book of the triumphant and epic four-part conclusion to the Shannara series, from one of the all-time masters of fantasy.Īcross the Four Lands, peace has reigned for generations. ![]()
Back to Blog
Eddie glaude book on james baldwin5/29/2023 ![]() ![]() I bet your favourite book is Harry Potter too. She then adds: 'My favourite book is Harry Potter written by J.K Rowling. North Korea's new leading influencer, who reportedly grew up in London, is part of a wave of young YouTubers vlogging everyday life in Pyongyang, including trips to theme parks, water parks and even ice cream shops. Have you ever been? If you come here you will be totally surprised.' Wearing a flowery dress in her pink bedroom, with rows of books and teddy bears behind her, Song A says: 'Pyongyang, where I live, is a very beautiful and magnificent city. ![]() Speaking perfect English, one 11-year-old girl who goes by Song A, has racked up more than 30,000 subscribers, while her introductory video has been watched over half a million times. ![]() Kim Jong Un is using child 'influencers' as young as 11 to preach about their idyllic lives on social media in a bid to spread North Korean propaganda to the world.ĭespite being one of the world's most isolated nations - where the internet is banned and tourism is strictly managed - these young girls try to sell North Korea as a flourishing nation filled with endless opportunities. ![]()
Back to Blog
The dispossessed an ambiguous utopia5/29/2023 ![]() ![]() The book would go on to win the Nebula Award for Best Novel later that year, and continue to receive wide literary acclaim, a rare feat for a science fiction novel. In 1974, Le Guin publishes the acclaimed utopian science fiction novel, The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia. In Le Guin’s novels, the science fiction setting is always a vehicle to navigate the ideas. Le Guin’s body of work has been consistently praised for its exploration of themes of equality, gender politics, or xenophobia. ![]() Science Fiction is, more often than not, discredited as “light” literature. ![]() We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. ![]()
Back to Blog
![]() ![]() ![]() It's a treasure worth having even if the novel is already on the shelf. The artwork sets out to entertain rather than to horrify even the initial murder scene has a certain tranquility. Owens, and the other graveyard inhabitants are dressed in evocative period costumes and drawn in ethereal blue, while Bod's teacher and mentor Silas, about whose status the book was coy, is revealed as a vampire, with a splendid cape and a chiseled jawline. ![]() Bod's devoted adoptive parents, the ghosts Mr. The overall effect is remarkably unified, and the thread of the narrative is always crystal-clear. It also represented well the pangs and anxiety resulting from separation. The boy was content with whatever he had until a new world of education and knowledge was opened up to him by unexpected friends and acquaintances. Scott, Galen Showman, and Jill Thompson, contribute a chapter apiece. This is the story of a boy brought up by paranormal beings in a graveyard. Russell conceives the look and layout of the graveyard world inhabited by Bod (short for "Nobody"), the infant who has escaped his family's murderer six artists, including Kevin Nowlan, Stephen B. As he did with Coraline, Russell makes the recasting of Gaiman's Newbery-winning novel into graphic form look easy with this vastly entertaining adaptation, first in a two-book set (the second volume is due in late September). ![]()
Back to Blog
Black beauty by anna sewell5/29/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Through this story, I was also able to know about Black Beauty’s friends, and that most of them were ill-treated and not cared for. Why ‘Black Beauty’ was beaten and thrashed by some of his owners, and how he was able to sustain all that pain is something my mind is still intrigued about? After all, ‘Black Beauty’ was a beautiful horse with a good temper and nice paces. When the story moves a little further, it shows how ‘Black Beauty’ is shifted from one owner to another and gets treated differently each time. ![]() Set in the 1900s, the start of the story depicts him as a foal listening to his mother’s sermons to be careful of the reputation that his family enjoys and be a good horse to his owners. It is when one lays a hand on it, one realises that this is an autobiography of a horse who talks about his life as a work animal, suffering through the callous and bad treatment of some of his owners. If one does not look at the illustration given on the cover of the book ‘Black Beauty’, one would think that this is a story of a woman, who despite having unorthodox looks and colour, is beautiful. ![]()
Back to Blog
No time to spare by ursula k le guin5/28/2023 ![]() ![]() “A year ago I argued that Le Guin deserved a Nobel Prize in literature. No Time to Spare was originally published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2017. Winner of the the 2018 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay Winner of the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Related Work ![]() The collected best of Ursula’s blog, No Time to Spare presents perfectly crystallized dispatches on what mattered to her late in life, her concerns with the world, and her wonder at it: “How rich we are in knowledge, and in all that lies around us yet to learn. In her last great frontier of life, old age, she explored a new literary territory: the blog, a forum where she shined. Le Guin took readers to imaginary worlds for decades. On breakfast: “Eating an egg from the shell takes not only practice, but resolution, even courage, possibly willingness to commit crime.” On cultural perceptions of fantasy: “The direction of escape is toward freedom. Le Guin on the absurdity of denying your age: “If I’m ninety and believe I’m forty-five, I’m headed for a very bad time trying to get out of the bathtub.” ![]()
Back to Blog
Paternus by Dyrk Ashton5/28/2023 ![]() ![]() I am, as always, astounded by the amount of research that has gone into these books.Īshton’s point of view head hopping feels seamless as the most massive war ever fought rages in a mind boggling display of creativity. What could have been a droning lesson in history becomes a fantastic tale of the final battle for our earth. The lore and mythology continues on scale that is unlike any other I’ve read. ![]() It was easy to become emotionally invested in these characters and the storyline.Īshton’s skill improves in every book and the characterizations are deepened. The sheer scale of the cast is amazing and anyone who loves mythology will find hundreds of reasons to love this trilogy. ![]() Ashton’s work has managed the thrill of our favorite action movies, and combined it with a ton of mythology and magic. So much action plus a wild plot with a great redemption line makes this tale one you won’t want to put down. The fantastic characterizations which seize the reader continues on a massive scale in the final edition of the trilogy. Any reader who enjoyed the first two will get a whopping dose of more of what we loved in War of Gods. The Paternus trilogy has been an absolute blast to read from the first book to the last. ![]() The world-shattering conclusion of Paternus, a highly entertaining contemporary fantasy debut of epic proportions. ![]()
Back to Blog
Hannibal novel series5/28/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Now, six years on from his last outing, just when you thought it was safe to go back to the lake house/creepy Florentine palazzo/wartime Lithuanian castle, the doctor is, once again, in.ĬBS this week released the first trailer for Clarice, an upcoming psychological horror TV series taking place within the HLEU. He’s been played with hammy relish by Brian Cox, Anthony Hopkins, Gaspard Ulliel, and my main man Mads Mikkelsen enjoyed more Italian operas than you’ve had hot dinners and almost singlehandedly kept the Fava bean and Chianti industries afloat for the better part of three decades. To date, Thomas Harris’ murderous gourmand has featured in four novels of varying quality, four feature films of (wildly) varying quality, and one top-notch television show, making him perhaps the most prolific fictional villain of the modern era. The only bloated cash-in franchise i’m interested in is the Hannibal Lecter Expanded Universe (or HLEU, to those of us who frequent the message boards). ![]() You can keep your Avengers spin-offs and your Twilight retellings and your Star Wars origin stories. ![]() |