![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() If someone out there who’s actually versed in sci-fi writes it, give me a heads up. I’d still like to read that book, by the way. A character who is forced to choose between timelines must also decide how to value human lives - does someone living in paradise have more right to exist than someone who suffers? How does one person handle the weight of that situation, where even inaction is choice? The thing is, the blurb promises a much more complex, interesting book. And the writing? The writing is miserably pretentious. There’s nothing good going on here the plot quickly strays from its promised time-travel based moral quandary into shallow romance, a slapdash secondary conflict, and a saccharine ending. I’ve struggled for a while to review this book because, on the one hand, I detested it and I don’t want to spend extra time thinking about it - but on the other hand, it has a baffling number of high-star reviews, and honestly that annoys me. ![]()
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![]() I don’t mean to make light of this at all, because Chevalier paints a Hudson River landscape of vivid beauty for her readers. ![]() ![]() He lurks about the shabby mansion, giving attitude and generally being stereotypically upper crust and obnoxious.īut, Michael (and we) notice that the mansion’s aged caretaker, his wife, and their orphaned granddaughter all seem to love John anyway. In classic romantic tradition, John Seward is the damaged and dispossessed scion of the family whose overgrown garens Michael is hired to resurrect. Before his exile upstate, Michael had begun to dream of medical school and his experience as a physical therapist in a British field hospital both broke his spirit and focused his desire to heal. He’s also queer, and in order to avoid the law, takes a job as a gardener at an isolated estate up the Hudson River. ![]() Michael McCready is a Bowery-born Irishman, recently returned from a harrowing stint in the trenches of Europe. It transports you to the years right after World War I in New York City, and it keeps you there effortlessly, without overelaborate description or anachronism. Chevalier’s Bonds of Earth is a beautifully crafted historical romance that achieves its goal. I am a great fan of historical fiction, but only if it’s well done only if I can get lost in the created past without constantly being reminded that what I’m reading is by a contemporary hand. ![]() ![]() ![]() Since the 1960s, one indicator of a looming recession has been the New York Fed’s recession probability index breaking 30%. In the meantime, here are four signals worth paying attention to. ![]() Randy Watts, chief investment strategist at William O’Neil & Co, tells Fortune that projected S&P 500 double-digit earnings growth next year and Fed rate cuts are variables that, “if they break positively, …there’s even a chance the economy could re-accelerate.” To be sure, even those that acknowledge that there are worrisome signs aren’t necessarily predicting that a recession is imminent, or even inevitable. In fact, perpetuating trade protectionism is the “number one issue” fueling business uncertainty, says Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst. ![]() Although President Trump announced a pseudo-truce with China, experts are seeing negative implications for businesses and the economy alike. In addition to the indicators themselves, there’s a growing sense that the trade war is long from over, which is weighing on many. But one thing is indisputable: several recession warning signals are already flashing. Experts are debating whether a recession is in the cards for 2020 ( Fortune reported that 60% of economists think so), or if this expansion has room to run. ![]() ![]() ![]() It's not just a table it's a luxurious oak table with a fine gold inlay that Jeff purchased with money he won or got from investments or whatever. ![]() Grimwood feels it's necessary to describe every single thing in detail. I listened to the audio version (because that was the only version available from my library), mostly at 2.4x speed, and it still felt like too long. Grimwood's prose is so purple I'm surprised it's not gangrenous. Because when you get right down to it, Replay has a sick and amazing premise, but Ken Grimwood's writing leaves much to be desired. And then I figured I might as well finish the whole thing just to learn why Jeff keeps replaying parts of his life. Just as I was starting to lose all hope, there was a glimmer a couple of hours in that made me hang on a bit longer. For the first time in a while, I actually regret sticking out this book instead of DNF-ing it. ![]() ![]() ![]() He has stated that he signed away the story and character rights to the production company prior to the release of the first film, not realizing the critical and financial success it would be. The Cenobites are an order of former humans who have become monster who harvest human souls to torture in their sadistic experiments.īarker created the franchise and served as writer/director of the original film. It opens a gateway to the Hell-like realm of the Cenobite lifeforms. The overall plot of the franchise focuses on a puzzle box, the Lament Configuration. Based on the novella The Hellbound Heart by English author Clive Barker, the franchise centers around the Cenobites which includes the primary antagonist named Pinhead. Hellraiser is a British-American horror media franchise that consists of eleven films, as well as various comic books, and additional merchandise and media. ![]() ![]() ![]() (Fair warning, Shmoopers, there are a lot of repeat names in this book-mothers and daughters often end up with the same name, and it can get a bit confusing. Our narrator hates Ann and her whole family, especially Ann's mom (also named Ann).But our fourteen-year-old narrator doesn't know that yet, and right now she's just a big ball of jealousy. ![]() Yep, this is the same Ann Putnam from the Prologue, so we know she's about to stir up trouble. To make matters worse, the newest member of this clique is the youngest yet: twelve-year-old Ann Putnam.But even with all this rule-breaking, you can bet that Goody Bibber and our narrator feel super left out. So these girls are definitely breaking a few rules.And that brings us back to our regularly scheduled programming.) It's a common myth that the Puritans are the most prudish folks around, but that's not totally true-they were a pretty diverse group. (Brief History Detour: The Puritans were a group of Protestant Christians that had some beef with the Church of England some Puritans settled in Massachusetts, hoping to get a good dose of religious freedom. Looks like these gals aren't perfect Puritans. This clique is being pretty sneaky, and they only visit while the reverend is gone.Sarah and the narrator are watching a bunch of girls head into Reverend Parris's parsonage.Our narrator is freezing in the snow and chatting with the town gossip, Sarah Bibber. ![]() ![]() The small bookshop-library invited readers to browse through books spilling from the shelves propped against the walls, sit in one of the antique chairs scattered around a large wooden table, and study the many photographs and drawings that hung high and low. ![]() It was the first free-lending library in France, which enabled Monnier to reach people from all walks of life and turn them into readers. When the French bookshop La Maison des Amis des Livres opened its doors on November 15, 1915, at 7 rue de l’Odeon on the Left Bank in Paris, its 23-year-old owner Adrienne Monnier had the modest goal of wanting to share her love of literature with the public. ![]() ![]() ![]() Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like). Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. ![]() Why do we use it? It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. ![]() there’s a whole wide world for me to take in. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum. An ode to Black hair and Black girl joy, this joy-filled rhyming picture book invites young readers into the world of a young Black girl as she rocks her God-given beauty. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. ![]() ![]() ![]() The Greyfriar: Vampire Empire is the first book in a trilogy of high adventure and alternate history. Their dangerous relationship plays out against an approaching war to the death between humankind and the vampire clans. Her only protector is The Greyfriar, a mysterious hero who fights the vampires from deep within their territory. But her quest turns black when she becomes the target of a merciless vampire clan. ![]() She is eager for an adventure before she settles into a life of duty and political marriage to man she does not know. She is quick with her wit as well as with a sword or gun. Princess Adele is heir to the Empire of Equatoria, a remnant of the old tropical British Empire. ![]() It is now 2020 and a bloody reckoning is coming. They brought technology and a feverish drive to reestablish their shattered societies of steam and iron amid the mosques of Alexandria, the torrid quietude of Panama, or the green temples of Malaya. Human refugees fled south to the tropics because vampires could not tolerate the constant heat there. Within two years, once great cities were shrouded by the grey empire of the vampire clans. Millions more died of disease and famine due to the havoc that followed. ![]() In the year 1870, a horrible plague of vampires swept over the northern regions of the world. Liu, New York Times bestselling author of the Hunter Kiss and Dirk & Steele series. It's epic and lovely, heartbreakingly romantic (in every sense of the word) and an incredibly satisfying read, both for the characters and the richness of the world." -Marjorie M. ![]() ![]() Instead, she wrote technical articles, software reviews, and even comics for Disney. This is where she began her writing career but not via novels. ![]() While there, she began editing the Science Software Quarterly. Her science-based education led her to a job at Arizona State University working in the Center for Environmental Studies. After this, she attended Northern Arizona University to complete a Ph.D. She grew up in Flagstaff with a particular interest in animals, leading her to pursue a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Northern Arizona University.įollowing her graduation, Gabaldon continued higher education, earning a master’s degree in marine biology from the University of California in San Diego. ![]() About the Authorĭiana Gabaldon was born on January 11th, 1952 in Arizona. ![]() Outlander is her most well-known series but she has also written a plethora of other works including the spin-off Lord John Grey series that hones in on one of Outlander’s minor characters.īut before we dive into all of her works in more detail, let’s take a closer look at the author. ![]() Not only is Claire swept into a world completely unlike her own but her new Scottish life is filled to the brim with political turmoil, her agency as a woman is restricted significantly, and the societal expectations that dictate her life are suddenly flipped upside down. ![]() |