Novel cold comfort farm5/28/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Arriving at the farm she finds it even more chaotic than she had feared, and the inhabitants more uncouth than she could have imagined. She settles on the Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm, since, according to the novels of rural life she has read, their lives will certainly need tidying up. The plot is simple: Orphaned at 19, Flora Poste decides to go and live with her relatives and improve their lives rather than find a job. Jane Austen is the novel's presiding spirit, and Mansfield Park provides the epigraph: 'Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.' At the same time she has a good laugh at Vogue-reading London socialites, while mocking the genre in which a young orphan girl brings joy and happiness to the lives of all around her. try one), but she also pokes fun at more redoubtable figures such as D.H. ![]() The immediate inspiration for, and targets of, Gibbons's satire were the novels of Mary Webb and Sheila Kaye-Smith (which deserve it. "We are not like other folk, maybe, but there have always been Starkadders at Cold Comfort."Ī comic novel by Stella Gibbons, first published in 1932, which parodies the doom-laden rural novels of the time. ![]()
0 Comments
Skunk and badger book5/28/2023 ![]() ![]() Readers will laugh at and empathize with the introvert Badger as he learns to be more aware of how his words and actions impact those around him while enjoying Skunk’s insights about books, chickens, and cooking. As he fills the kitchen with dirty dishes (and delicious breakfast), Badger’s Rock Room with chickens (intelligent and fascinating new friends), and the Brownstone with disruptive noise (friendly laughter and interesting conversation), Badger learns that Skunks are not so bad, despite what people say about them- and that he may not be such a desirable roommate himself. ![]() Skunk is everything Badger is not: he is outgoing, friendly, thoughtful, and has all the time in the world for other people. All that changes, however, when Aunt Lula insists that Badger share his home-the Brownstone house that she allows him to live in, rent-free-with a roommate. ![]() ![]() Happy living alone and focusing on his Important Rock Work, Badger has no time for other people and their needs and feelings. With characters and settings nostalgically reminiscent of classics like Wind in the Willows and Frog and Toad, the Badger and Skunk books are stories about seeing the best, getting along with others, and finding joy in life.īadger is rude, selfish, insular, and prejudiced-he just doesn’t know it. What to Expect: Friendship, compromise, geology, inclusivity, and empathy. ![]() The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane5/28/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Chadwick Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll The Hobbit J. With acrostic spell-poems by peerless wordsmith Robert Macfarlane and hand-painted illustrations by Jackie Morris, this enchanting book captures the irreplaceable magic of language and nature for all ages. 1.3K Likes, TikTok video from Sophie (): 'BOOKS FEATURED: The Lost Spells Robert Macfarlane Anne of Green Gables L. It is a joyful celebration of the poetry of nature words and the living glory of our distinctive, British countryside. Words like Dandelion, Otter, Bramble, Acorn and Lark represent the natural world of childhood, a rich landscape of discovery and imagination that is fading from children's minds.The Lost Words stands against the disappearance of wild childhood. The words were those that children used to name the natural world around them: acorn, adder, bluebell, bramble, conker. ![]() They disappeared so quietly at first almost no one noticed fading away like water on stone. 'Once upon a time, words began to vanish from the language of children. Book Summary :From Acorn to Weasel: a gorgeous, hand-illustrated, large-format spellbook celebrating the magic and wonder of the natural worldAll over the country, there are words disappearing from children's lives. Book Review: 'The Lost Words' by Robert Macfarlane. ![]() The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie5/28/2023 ![]() ![]() Gibreel and Saladin have been chosen (by whom?) as protagonists in the eternal wrestling match between Good and Evil. So begins The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie's first novel for five years. Gibreel seems to have acquired a halo, while, to Saladin's dismay, his legs grow hairier, his feet turn into hoofs, and there are bumps burgeoning at his temples. A miracle but an ambiguous one, because it soon becomes apparent that curious changes are coming over them. Clinging to each other, singing rival songs, they plunge downward, and are finally washed up, alive, on the snow-covered sands of an English beach. ![]() Through the debris of limbs, drinks trolleys, memories, blankets and oxygen masks, two figures fall towards the sea without benefit of parachutes: Gibreel Farishta, India's legendary movie star, and Saladin Chamcha, the man of a thousand voices, self-made self and Anglophile supreme. Just before dawn one winter's morning a hijacked jumbo-jet blows apart high above the English Channel. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() A Death Long Overdue is a delightful cozy mystery with a card catalog, a discourteous former library director, a disrupted reunion, a curious cat, and a forbearing beau. The ending will have fans of the series smiling (I wish I could say more but I do not want to spoil it for you). I enjoyed the library exhibit that included a card catalog, library withdrawal cards (the card you signed when you checked out the book), and a Commodore 64 (I had a Commodore 64C). It was fun following along in the investigation and seeing how it all came together. There are a variety of suspects along with good clues and a red herring or two. I thought it was well-plotted with interesting details. I just love Lucy's adorable little apartment. I can envision the library thanks to the authors vivid word imagery. Lucy will have to get to the bottom of the crime before the killer ends her tale first. The Bodie Island Lighthouse Library is a magical place. In the latest installment of the Lighthouse Library mystery series, its summertime in North Carolinas Outer Banks when librarian Lucy Richardson finds her former director dead in the library. I like catching up with all of them even Louise Jane. ![]() The author has created a great cast of characters which includes Lucy, Connor, Bertie, Charlene, Ronald, Aunt Ellen, Josie, and Charles. It can be read as a standalone, but I recommend reading this charming series in order. ![]() A Death Long Overdue by Eva Gates is the 7th A Lighthouse Library Mystery. ![]() Codex alera book5/28/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Tavi of Calderon, now captain of his own Legion, has been fighting a bitter war for two years. Kalare has also seized valuable hostages that could mean the difference between victory and failure. Ill-equipped to face this attack, Gaius must seek support - even from the combative High Lord of Aquitaine. Power-hungry Kalare has rebelled against Alera's aging First Lord, Gaius Sextus. But he is far from safe, as trying to keep up the illusion of being a student while secretly training as one of the First Lord's spies is a dangerous game. Tavi has escaped the Calderon Valley and the mysterious attack of the Marat on his homeland. But now, Gaius Sextus, First Lord of Alera, grows old and lacks an heir. ![]() For a thousand years, the people of Alera have united against the aggressive races that inhabit the world, using their unique bond with the furies - elementals of earth, air, fire, water and metal. ![]() Doll in the garden5/28/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Consequently, at the age of thirteen, I began my first book. Although I wasn't sure I was smart enough, I decided to write and illustrate children's books when I grew up. I wanted to show how people felt, what they thought, what they said. ![]() When I was in junior high school, I developed an interest in more complex stories. My stories were usually about orphans who ran away and had the sort of exciting adventures I would have enjoyed if my mother hadn't always interfered. Instead of telling them in words, I told them in pictures. All those facts - who cared what the principal products of Chile were? To me, writing reports was almost as boring as math.ĭespite my dislike of writing, I loved to make up stories. Requirements such as outlines, perfect penmanship, and following directions killed my interest in putting words on paper. I loved to read and draw but I hated writing reports. In elementary school, I was known as the class artist. In the summer, we went on day long expeditions into forbidden territory - the woods on the other side of the train tracks, the creek that wound its way through College Park, and the experimental farm run by the University of Maryland. ![]() We spent hours outdoors playing "Kick the Can" and "Mother, May I" as well as cowboy and outlaw games that usually ended in quarrels about who shot whom. I grew up in a small shingled house down at the end of Guilford Road in College Park, Maryland. ![]() Mortal instruments books in order5/28/2023 ![]() ![]() It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. ![]() Luckily, I have The Infernal Devices trilogy waiting for me to binge-read when I’ve caught up with a couple of my review commitments, and from what I have heard TID is considered to be even better than TMI, and that excites me!Ĭity of Bones Synopsis: When 15 year old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in NYC, she hardly expects to witness a murder, much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. ![]() I read books 1-5 in this series around October 2013, and eagerly waited for the final instalment to be released… I have a lot of mixed feelings about the series, and how it ended, so I’m going to try and make this review as coherent and non-spoilery as possible! I’m in love with the Shadowhunter world that Cassandra Clare has created and I was genuinely sad to say goodbye to these characters. Genre: Young Adult/Paranormal/Urban Fantasy ![]() The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare , all books in this series are released and available for purchase. ![]() Dont let me be lonely claudia rankine5/27/2023 ![]() ![]() I’m intrigued then, by what could have made Don’t Let Me Be Lonley so palatable, enjoyable even, when it seems to follow a similar course and reach similar conclusions.Īnd immediate possibility is the visual look of the piece. ![]() In the case of Mao II, I was so exasperated by the end (because do we really need so much help merely to continue feeling bleak?) that I literally threw the book. While Mao II deals with anonymity in the context of writers and dictators, the sense of universal victimization was very similar. I found myself comparing it a lot with Don DeLillo’s Mao II. ![]() Some of this may have been due to being in a good mood generally, but I do think there was something pertinent in the work itself. our brains are controlled by drugs dispensed by evil and all-powerful pharmaceutical companies, and so on, so what is the point of even getting out of bed, much less resistance), it rarely left me in a shitty mood. This contradiction was one of the most fascinating aspects of this piece to me… that while the subject matter was not only somber, but entropically somber (ie. What a depressing book to read over the Thanksgiving holiday!Īlthough, while it was depressing, it wasn’t precisely discouraging. ![]() The iliad is set5/27/2023 ![]() ![]() In muscular, onward-rolling verse Chapman retells the story of Achilles, the great warrior, and his terrible wrath before the walls of besieged Troy, and the destruction it wreaks on both Greeks and Trojans.Ĭhapman regarded the translation of this epic, and of Homer’s Odyssey (also available from Wordsworth Editions) as his life’s work, and dedicated himself to capturing the ‘soul’ of the poem. ![]() The product of more than a decade’s continuous work (1598-1611), Chapman’s translation of Homer’s great poem of war is a magnificent testimony to the power of The Iliad. ![]() With an Introduction and Notes by Adam Roberts, Royal Holloway, University of London. ![]() |