![]() When I got notification that I’d been approved for the netgalley arc, I did a happy dance. I’ve been waiting – along with countless others – for this book, the last in the Temeraire series. It is an offer eagerly embraced from Asia to Africa-and even by England, whose dragons have long rankled at their disrespectful treatment.īut Laurence and his faithful dragon soon discover that the wily Napoleon has one more gambit at the ready-one that that may win him the war, and the world. ![]() While the emperor regroups, the allies have an opportunity to strike first and defeat him once and for all-if internal struggles and petty squabbles don’t tear them apart.Īware of his weakened position, Napoleon has promised the dragons of every country-and the ferals, loyal only to themselves-vast new rights and powers if they fight under his banner. ![]() William Laurence and the dragon Temeraire pursue the retreating enemy through an unforgiving winter, Napoleon is raising a new force, and he’ll soon have enough men and dragons to resume the offensive. Napoleon’s invasion of Russia has been roundly thwarted. ![]()
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![]() ![]() The rest of the world are giving their attention out in 30 second chunks on twitter and tiktok. In the not so distant past blogs were a vibrant platform, the blogosphere was the place were books were made or broken. I count several of them among my best reading experiences.īut the past is, as L.P Hartley reminds us, a foreign country - they do things differently there. I went on to read a whole bunch of his books and hugely enjoyed them. My copy is from 1987, so it's actually 36 years since I first and last read it. ![]() Legend, David Gemmel's debut novel, was published in 1984. I've broken these things up into sections as it turns out that I went on at length! I am, however, going to talk about reading it twice with ~40 years between the reads, leading into the whole business of seeing things with new (or older) eyes, and wandering into the territory of tribalism, identity, and the emotional bonds we form with books. Relax, I am not going to attack this novel! The 5* from my original review can stand. For me it's a big milestone along my fantasy journey!īelow is my rewritten review - the original one was from memory of reading it back in the 80's. Astonishingly this is the 22nd hit when you type "Legend" into the search engine. ![]() ![]() ![]() I have only read God’s Battalions, but I think Triumph of Christianity is the book to start with. ![]() This is really a summary of his three previous books: God Battalions (on the Crusades), Cities of God (rise of early Christianity) and Victory of Reason (on the rise of Western culture). The Triumph of Christianity is written by Rodney Stark (historian and sociologist) specifically to counter a lot of myths and bad assumptions about Christian history. But Christian history is usually something that we leave people to learn on their own. We are getting better at teaching the importance of social ministry. We are pretty good about teaching application of Christian values and ethics and evangelism. We are pretty good at teaching bible (or at least valuing it). Summary: An essential book for debunking historical myths about Christianity.Ĭhristian history is am important, but undervalued subject for Christian education. ![]() ![]() This 1903 version contains a downbeat ending that apparently Stoker had to change when he wanted to reissue it in 1912 the revised version contains a more upbeat very ending, though apart from this scene and a very brief epilogue, there were no other changes except an omitted self-contained philosophical chapter. This was the precursor of the mummy horror films of the twentieth century. This horror novel by the author of Dracula lacks the literary quality of the more famous work, but Stoker nevertheless creates cumulatively an atmosphere of fear and tension in this story based around the apparent resurrection of the mummy of a 5,000 year old forgotten Egyptian queen. ![]() ![]() ![]() Martyn Downer joined me on the podcast to discuss key phrases in the letter that were forged before publication to make Nelson appear even more virulently opposed to the abolition of the slave trade. A letter of Nelson's written months before his death in 1805 to the infamous Jamaican slave owner Simon Taylor, was published years after his death in attempt to stop the abolition of the slave trade as the matter was before Parliament. Recently there has been considerable interest in Nelson's views on the slave trade and the plantation economy of the West Indies. He was used as a ‘powder monkey’, hauling gunpowder to the gun decks during battle. He served in the Seven Years WarĮquiano spent most of his teenage life onboard Naval ships engaged in the Seven Years War. It was nonetheless a name he would use for the rest of his life, apart from when writing his autobiography. Pascal renamed him ‘Gustavus Vassa’Įquiano was renamed Gustavus Vassa (after the 16th century Swedish King) by Pascal, against his will. Having been initially taken to Barbados, Equiano was eventually transported to the North American colony of Virginia, where he was bought by a Royal Navy lieutenant named Michael Henry Pascal. He embarked upon a long journey toward the Gold Coast, where he was eventually sold to an owner of a slave ship bound for the West Indies. ![]() Equiano was sold into slavery at the age of eleven, having been kidnapped from his local village along with his sister by local, African slave traders. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I did want to know more on what the consequences would be if an American persisted in knowing more about that day. There is mention of Tienanmen Square and how the Chinese government basically had it erased. The bubbling romance between her and Eric is one that starts off on the wrong foot, but he ends up becoming her ally while she faces Chinese relatives she never knew about. This also includes her standing up to homophobic stereotypes. The interactions with a cousin she never knew about, along with her trying to overcome stereotypes out there on Chinese characters in the movie world are very real. Gemma is curious, determined, and not afraid to search out a mystery behind her own parent's past. Readers get a glimpse into another view of China that isn't on social media. I liked Gemma's reaction when she steps off the plane in Bejing and is mistaken for a socialite. ![]() This only has Gemma curious on why her mother doesn't want her to go there. One thing though her mother insists is that Gemma never go to Bejing. ![]() Her Chinese mother pressures Gemma be more serious about her future which includes attending college. This is very realistic portrayal of what some teens do now. Gemma Huang is taking a Gap year after high school to focus on an acting career. What worked: This was a fun take on Crazy Rich Asians meets descendants of Empress Regent of China. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The ultimate Portis: for the first time in one collector's volume, the complete fiction and collected nonfiction of the author of True Grit Rediscover a comic genius and master storyteller comparable to Mark Twain "Charles Portis is one of the great pure pleasures available in American literature." -Ron Rosenbaum "Like Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Thomas Berger's Little Big Man, Charles Portis's True Grit captures the naïve elegance of the American voice." -Jonathan Lethem "No living Southern writer captures the spoken idioms of the South as artfully as Portis does." -Donna Tartt "His fiction is the funniest I know." -Roy Blount, Jr. ![]() ![]() ![]() Or maybe it is not a thing at all, nothing, something not present." This quest to understand marriage is continued in "Ordinary Love" by Rachel Kinsella, a woman in her early fifties who feels compelled finally to reveal to her grown children how her marriage broke up 20 years earlier, and why she temporarily lost custody of them. After this crisis, the husband speculates "that marriage is a small container, after all, barely large enough to hold some children, two inner lives, two lifelong meditations of whatever complexity, burst out of it and out of it, cracking, deforming. ![]() "The Age of Grief" was remarkable for its ability to delineate both the fragility and strength of marital love in the voice of a man in his mid-thirties whose wife is having an affair she hasn't admitted to. The two novellas in Ordinary Love & Good Will are even stronger than the highly praised "Age of Grief," establishing her as a master of the form. In contrast to The Greenlanders's dense historical narrative, Smiley's stories lucidly explore the complexities of contemporary sexual and domestic life. But Smiley's reputation as one of the finest younger American fiction writers is based primarily upon The Age of Grief, a collection of five stories and the title novella. $17.95 JANE SMILEY has written four novels, most recently the haunting 14th-century epic saga, The Greenlanders. ORDINARY LOVE & GOOD WILL By Jane Smiley Knopf. ![]() ![]() ![]() If you’ve always wanted to read David Baldacci but weren’t sure where to start, here’s a handy list of the Camel Club series to get you started. And as the series progresses, the club gains a few more helpful members. The other members of the Camel Club are Reuben Rhodes, a Defense Intelligence Agency employee turned war protester Caleb Shaw, an employee of the Rare Book Wing of the Library of Congress and Milton Farb, a paranoid former child prodigy. It keeps with his occupation-would you expect a guy trying to secretly uncover dangerous plots to use his real name? ![]() ![]() Stone is not his real name he chose it because of the famous director who is also into conspiracy theories. The Camel Club Series in Order (6 Books) 2, The Collectors, Oct-2006 3, Stone Cold, Nov-2007 4, Divine Justice, Nov-2008 5, Hells Corner, Nov-2010. The group is led by Oliver Stone, a former CIA-trained assassin. An interesting thing about this character is that he has a photographic memory, which works as a powerful tool against the investigations he takes. He keeps fighting until he finds out who killed his family. They formed the Camel Club to share intelligence while they try to sniff out government conspiracies. The series shows a man going through some of the most challenging times, being struck down by tragedies. See the complete The Camel Club series book list in order. The protagonists are four political watch-dogs who keep an eye on the government. by David Baldacci includes books The Camel Club, The Collectors, Stone Cold, and several more. One of his best-known and most popular series is the Camel Club series. ![]() Since the release of his first novel, Absolute Power, in 1996, Baldacci has gone on to write almost four dozen books for adults and children. It is safe to say that David Baldacci is a busy man. ![]() ![]() ![]() Alumnus, New Dramatists company member, Penumbra Theatre associate artist, Center Stage. ![]() Awards: two Audelcos, Obie, Ira Aldredge, Joseph Calloway, Kesselring Prize, NEA/TCG Pew Charitable Trust Grant Drama Desk and Evening Standard nominations. Tickets (25 - 80, subject to change) are now available at /Gem or by phone at 312.443.3800. Playwrighting: Police Boys (Center Stage, Playwrights Horizons, Pittsburgh Public), Walkers (Off-Broadway), Stones and Bones (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Who Causes the Darkness? (Penumbra). Gem of the Ocean appears January 22 - February 27 opening night is January 31. ![]() ![]() Other directing: Thunder Knocking on the Door (Guthrie, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Center Stage, Dallas Theater Center) The Coming of the Hurricane (Arena Stage) A Midsummer Night's Dream (La Jolla) Death and the King's Horseman (Syracuse Stage) East Texas Hot Links (Public Theater) TALK (Foundry Theatre) A Raisin in the Sun (Center Stage) Breath, Boom! (Playwrights Horizons) Carson McCullers (Historically Inaccurate) (Playwrights Horizons/Women's Project). Recent Center Stage: Les Blancs and Splash Hatch on the E Going Down. MARION McCLINTON has directed August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom , King Hedley II (Broadway, Tony nomination), Two Trains Running (Center Stage), Fences (Indiana Rep, Pittsburgh Public), The Piano Lesson (Penumbra Theatre), Seven Guitars (Pittsburgh Public, Center Stage), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Missouri Rep) and Jitney (Pittsburgh Public, Center Stage, Studio Arena, Geva, Goodman Theatre, Mark Taper, Second Stage and The Royal National Theatre in London). ![]() |