7/8/2023 0 Comments Main street by sinclair lewis![]() ![]() Mencken wrote of him, " there was ever a novelist among us with an authentic call to the trade. Lewis is respected for his strong characterizations of modern working women. His works were critical of American capitalism and materialism during the interwar period. ![]() ![]() In 1930, he became the first author from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was awarded "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters." Lewis wrote six popular novels: Main Street (1920), Babbitt (1922), Arrowsmith (1925), Elmer Gantry (1927), Dodsworth (1929), and It Can't Happen Here (1935). Harry Sinclair Lewis (Febru– January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. Grace Livingston Hegger (1914–1925) (divorced) ![]()
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![]() In other respects, ‘The Diamond as Big as the Ritz’ represents Fitzgerald’s take on the Gothic novel, and the story can be analysed as an updating of the Gothic tale, with the mysterious castle set amidst a forbidding landscape being transformed into the Washingtons’ chateau in the mountains. Indeed, the story is often analysed as a modern fairy tale, with Kismine representing the princess in the palace whom the relatively obscure (and less wealthy) hero, John, falls in love with.Ĭertainly, the idea of a castle where people mysteriously disappear echoes a number of classic fairy tales, such as in the tale of Bluebeard’s disappearing wives it’s worth bearing in mind, too, that the Washingtons’ house on the mountain is described as a ‘chateau’, from the Old French meaning ‘castle’. ![]() But in fact, the genres which Fitzgerald plundered for ‘The Diamond as Big as the Ritz’ are even more numerous than this. ![]() 7/8/2023 0 Comments Strega Nona by Paola Tomie de![]() ![]() He screwed up his little face then said, “There’s a pot and it has magic spaghetti in it. ![]() is there anything else you remember?” I asked, not hoping for much. A Befana story, maybe? But where does the baker’s son come in? “Uh. “And there’s baby Jesus and a donkey and a baker’s son.” Uh-oh. Apparently he had encountered the pilgrim problem before. What was it about? “There’s a woman with a white hat but she’s NOT a Pilgrim,” he told me thoroughly. He wanted me to find a book for him and I said I’d try. I was working the Reference Desk one day when a small blond boy knee-high to a butterfly came up to me. dePaola’s 1979 classic takes an original tale and makes it feel timeless – no small feat. But unlike Aylesworth’s book, Strega Nona focuses on humor to get its point across. Strega Nona in many ways mirrors the 4th title on this list, The Full Belly Bowl. I must have a thing for bowls that duplicate stuff. ![]() ![]() Into this state of affairs comes Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made. But now with graphic novels getting better than ever and libraries willing to buy the bloody things, the world has been made safe for cartoonists too. In the old days it was usually animators, greeting card designers, and Magic the Gathering illustrators who joined the children’s book fray. Even editorial cartoonists are getting in on the act with Pulitzer prize winner Matt Davies and his picture book Ben Rides On. How different could it be, right? As a result you’ve The Odd Squad by Michael Fry ( Over the Hedge) and Zits Chillax by Jerry Scott ( Zits). ![]() ![]() For whatever reason, in the year 2013 we are seeing droves of escapees from the comic strip pages leaping from the burning remains of the newspaper industry into the slightly less volatile world of books for kids. ![]() Call it the attack of the syndicated cartoonists. ![]() 7/7/2023 0 Comments Book haven emma donoghue![]() ![]() ![]() Kim Honey, 'How a 21st-century Feminist Inhabits the Minds and Lives of Sixth-Century Monks in Haven,' Interview by Ari Shapiro on NPR's All Things Considered, Wherever you live, PLEASE support your local indie bookstore by buying from them either directly or through an indie-friendly hub such as or .uk. My plans to return and land on Skellig Michael in 2020 were derailed by what the monks would no doubt have taken in their stride as the latest pestilence to plague humankind, so I’ve never been there, except in spirit and imagination - the one form of travel that can’t be forbidden. Haven is Donoghue’s fourteenth novel (and eighteenth book of fiction) and was a bestseller in Canada and Ireland on publication.Ī personal note: This novel was inspired by a boat trip around the Skelligs in 2016. ![]() In such a place, what will survival mean? ![]() Drifting out into the Atlantic, they find an impossibly steep, bare rock inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. In this adventure story set around the year 600, three Irishmen vow to leave the world behind and set out in a small boat to found a monastery on an island their leader has seen in a dream, with only faith to guide them. Haven (New York: Little Brown Toronto: HarperCollins Canada London: Picador, 2022). ![]() 7/7/2023 0 Comments Poul anderson genesis![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() “In the intricate and mutable space-time geometry at the black hole, in-falling matter and energy interacted with the virtualities of the vacuum in ways unknown to the flatter cosmos beyond it. By Stichling, you know - almost as sensitive a writer as Brochet.” “I was only quoting the renunciation scene in Gently Come Twilight. I did not mean it literally,” IZK-99 explained. Tunny, who was no mamma’s boy - he had worked his way through college as a whale herder and bossed construction gangs on Mars - was so appalled by the robot’s language that he could only whisper, “She did not. To be sure,” IZK-99 mused, “the relationship is not unlike that between the nun and the Diesel engine in Regret for Two Doves, but still… At any rate, if Miss Forelle has finally told you to go soak your censored head in expurgated wastes and then put the unprintable thing in an improbable place, I for one heartily approve. Ever since I looked upon my first copy of that exquisitely sensitive literary quarterly she edits, I have failed to understand what she sees in you. Yes, I believe so, thanks ot my study of the authors, poets, and critics who devote their lives to the exploration and description of Man. ![]() Hah! Do you think you do, you conceited hunk of animated tin?” “You simply do not understand the human condition,” said the robot. ![]() 7/7/2023 0 Comments Rosa at parks![]() ![]() The police were called, she was arrested and charged with breaking a segregation law. She refused, and persisted in her refusal after being hectored by the bus driver and other passengers. Parks and the other people in the first black row were asked to move and to stand in the black section. On her way home on December 1, 1955, she sat in the first row of the black section of a public bus.Ī white man got on the bus at a later stop. Rosa Parks was a seamstress at a downtown Montgomery department store. Parks did, as well as over-simplifying the complicated politics of the civil rights movement. That’s mostly myth, and it obscures all the work that Mrs. She was a simple middle-aged woman trying to get home with no fuss. The general story we’re all taught about Rosa Parks was that she was a meek and mild housewife who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in 1950s Alabama because she was just tired after a long day at work. ![]() “The Only Tired I was, was Tired of Giving In” ![]() 7/7/2023 0 Comments Birthpyre by Larry Brand![]() ![]() It's about an American archaeologist and his wife who fly out to Jerusalem once the golden tip of an ancient pyramid is somehow uncovered in the desert near the city, a pyramid that seemingly predates the Egyptian structures. ![]() It reminded me at times of both Clark Ashton Smith and early Karl Edward Wagner, due to the archaic language used throughout, as well as the elaborate imagery. Admittedly, I probably would have bought it anyway based on the cover alone, but Birthpyre was excellent pulpy weird fiction somewhat in the Lovecraftian tradition (though not a pastiche at all), and not the standard 80s midlist horror novel I was expecting. Now this is why I still take the occasional stab in the dark while out book-hunting. ![]() Alric wondered how many times their cold, bilious breath had been felt by men, how many times their purulent spirit had invaded the pores of civilization, like some virulent disease for which the body had inadequate protection. How much human suffering had been brought about in their unspoken name? How many had died? Through the centuries the screams of their victims could be heard, a low wailing against the pulse of history. Here's the not gaudy at all cover (by Terry Oakes) of my 1981 Corgi mass-market, 239 pages (285 for Avon edition).Ĭreatures of the night, of the ruins, their presence was palpable it exuded from the misshapen stone vertebrae like the rancid smell from a corpse. ![]() 7/6/2023 0 Comments The cryptonomicon![]() ![]() ![]() The primary characters (particularly the U.S. In the ’90s thread, the descendants of those WWII heroes are at work on an underground data haven to protect encrypted data and, ultimately, to prevent the horrors of the Holocaust from ever being repeated.īut that’s only partially what this expansive story is about.Īt its core, it’s a high-stakes adventure and a tale of family, both biological and found. In the WWII storyline, a determined group of cryptographers is desperate to break Germany’s enigma code without letting the Germans find out. Marine and continues to blast preconceptions and clichés for the next 900+ pages. ![]() The story opens with a haiku-writing U.S. This Dickensian novel by Neal Stephenson, the godfather of cyberpunk, weaves two timelines - one in WWII, the other in 1990s Silicon Valley - to tell a tale of adventure, intrigue, the Enigma code, technology, and the search for lost gold. ![]() 7/6/2023 0 Comments Pete the cat by eric litwin![]() ![]() Make connections between colors and the world around themĮric Litwin is a well-known children’s book author and musician known for his engaging and educational works that blend reading and music together.Explore and apply social-emotional learning concepts, such as optimism and empathy.Accept and embrace change without getting upset.The story also serves as an opportunity to teach about colors and patterns and can inspire children to tie their own shoes.Īdditionally, the book promotes social and emotional learning, helping children understand how to deal with difficult situations and embrace optimism.Ī few more things that parents, kids, and teachers can learn from this book: Lessons for children to be learned from the book include the importance of having a positive attitude, the value of contentment, and the ability to embrace change. The illustrations and catchy songs are particularly praised. ![]() ![]() Parents generally have a positive view of “Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes,” with many finding it a fun and engaging read for children of various ages. ![]() |