The final pages, during which Tilly and Errol do exactly the same things they did before, reassure kiddos that changing gender won't change who a person (or bear) fundamentally is ideal for the target audience. Debut artist MacPherson's ink-and-watercolor illustrations are striking for their emotional immediacy and compositional polish, and he effortlessly moves from the poignancy of the opening pages to breezy good times." - Publishers Weekly "Walton's matter-of-fact exploration of gender doesn't get into any particulars, focusing instead on the importance of friendship and respect. This book beautifully changes the narrative of gender and gender roles, but fair warning-the hug scene might bring a tear or two." - starred review, Kirkus Reviews "The book's spirit of easygoing openness makes it a worthwhile resource. MacPherson's illustrations are sweet, with a sketchy, contemporary style. "Walton gently explains Tilly's gender, which is a small ripple in the lives of children at play, and subtly pokes at gender roles with Errol's tea parties and Ava's robot building.
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An accessible, philosophical road trip through the ethics of our time, On Being Awesome provides a new and inspiring framework for understanding friendship, success, and happiness in our everyday lives. To be cool, down, game, basic, wack, or a preference dictator are just a handful of ways we can create these openings, respond, or fail to be awesome in the office, at home, or with our friends and loved ones.Ĭan introverts be awesome? How do our expectations of awesome relate to race, gender and sexuality? And what can the invention of the high five tell us about the origins of awesome? These are just a few of the questions Riggle explores. Sucky people, by contrast, are those who foil such attempts. At the core of his work is the idea that awesome people are those who excel at creating social openings. In this original, fun, and slyly helpful investigation of a thoroughly modern condition, pro-skater-turned-philospher Nick Riggle argues that our collective interest in being awesome (and not sucking) marks a new era in American culture, one that is shaped by relatively recent social, cultural and technological shifts. Literati is excited to welcome Nick Riggle to discuss his new book On Being Awesome.Ī lively philosophical exploration of the competing pheonomena of being awesome and sucking, and why we need awesomeness now more than ever Trent is the secretive one out of all Four HotHoles. Dean’s book (Rukus) is still my favorite, but this was a great addition to the series! Trent’s book was different than I expected, but one thing that was consistent was the fact that it was captivating, sexy, and had a lot of feeling. This has been an addictive series, and this book was no exception. She wasn’t immature or too young for Trent personality wise, so the age-gap didn’t bother me one bit. Evie is young, but she’s grown up in a way that has made her older than her years. He’s called the mute for a reason, but Evie brings out a different side of him. Both of them had a lot to lose by being together, and both of them were fighting for something bigger than themselves. What I loved about this book is that both of the main characters were broken. Lovers of forbidden romance… this is the book in the series for you! Not only were these two ‘forbidden’ because Trent and Evie’s dad are business partners, but Evie is half of Trent’s age and only just legal. Scandalous is the third book in Shen’s Sinners of Saint series and can be read as a stand-alone, though I would recommend reading the first few books before this! You don’t want to miss out on the greatness of Vicious and Dean’s books! Now it's worth pointing out that there are a lot of timelines out there in which that would be that: McKeithen, the Mary Sue alternative candidate, would trounce Nixon and then proceed to have an Alternate History Wank presidency in which all the mistakes that happened in OTL are avoided.įear, Loathing and Gumbo is not like that. He's a more moderate figure than McGovern and can appeal to a wider audience, and crucially also comes from a political background that has acquainted him quite as much with dirty tricks as Nixon. In Fear, Loathing and Gumbo John Julian McKeithen, a former governor of Louisiana, decides to stand for the Democratic nomination. Then came Watergate and everything that ensued with that. McGovern was the candidate of the radical anti-Vietnam war far left, and at a time when Nixon's policies seemed to be turning the Vietnam situation around, he failed to woo moderates and the result was a landslide for Nixon. In Real Life ("Our Timeline", OTL) the 1972 American presidential election pitted incumbent Republican Richard Nixon against Democrat George McGovern. Thompson work Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, and concerns the same events. The title is obviously a reference to the famous Hunter S. An Alternate History timeline written by user "Drew" on the site. Or was it cloudy?" And yet the apprehended city floats before the reader with a limpid and oneiric grace: a self-portrait in a constantly distorting mirror. Adam drifts, benumbed and stoned, through a Madrid that sometimes fails to match the depths of his self-absorption: "I left the hotel and walked into the sun. Meursault is trapped in the sun-dazzle of the moment. Adam Gordon suffers frequently from linguistic dislocation and – permanently – from bipolarity which he self-medicates with a cocktail of prescription drugs, coffee, nicotine, booze and marijuana. The narrator, Meursault, is a French Algerian whose mother is reported dead in the famous opening sentence later, on a beach, he will murder someone – an Arab, as the song by the Cure reminded us in 1979 – for almost no reason.īen Lerner's remarkable first novel is narrated by a different kind of outsider: a young American living in Madrid on a poetry scholarship in 2004. S eventy years ago Albert Camus published the novel known in English as The Outsider: a short and vivid monologue that – I remember this from school – doubles as some kind of philosophical manifesto. There are a lot of YA contemporaries that make me feel like maybe I could actually age out of YA contemporary soon, but this series is not one of them. I got choked up at some of the advice Esha gave Finley close-ish to the end, and it had other really meaningful moments as well. But at least this was written well and didn’t feel one dimensional? I just really liked the dynamics in this and how everything developed. Even Bronwyn, who is your classic mean girl, felt well done. I also appreciated that every character felt very real. I liked seeing the “after happy ever after” kind of plot, and it made me ship Arthur and Finley way more by the end of this one than I even did by the end of the first book. Such an incredibly sweet duology! I honestly didn’t understand why it needed a sequel, because the first book was great as a standalone, but book 2 actually turned out to be worthwhile. When Venetia and Lord Damerel fall in love, however, Damerel is convinced that marriage with him would cause Venetia's social ruin and insists that it would be wrong to inflict this upon her. At first, she sensibly keeps away from him, but when Lord Damerel finds an injured Aubrey and not only takes him into his home to recover but also treats him with great kindness and strikes up a friendship with the awkward young man, she revises her first opinion of him and they soon become the best of friends. Her peace and quiet is one day disturbed by the rakish Lord Damerel, who arrives to spend time at his ancestral home next to the Lanyons' house. The beautiful Venetia Lanyon, thanks to a reclusive and over-protective father, grew up in the country, away from the world with only her younger brother Aubrey, bookish and lame, for company. Venetia is a Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer set in England in 1818. If you have an awareness or even a curiosity of words (for example do you like to read Shakespeare?) this book is for you. He got a job at a psychiatric hospital in England, where he met a nurse there. He attended Drake University but dropped out after two years and went backpacking in Europe. Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, IA in 1951. Bryson makes this not only a learning experience but lots of fun! The peculiarities of language are very very interesting. Bryson, Bill, The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. What is actually in the context of this novel? The history of English linguistic form studied by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence (about 700 A.D.) and then tracing its transmission, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages and reaching thoughtful conclusions about just why we talk in the manner which we do. A great read or if you prefer a stupendous listen to. Thus, what would have been leaden, is in fact, a most titillating and intriguing journey through etymology. Now, if that all sounds dull, well it could be but for the fact this is written by Bill Bryson. It then compares its findings to the observable and proves its conjectures as apparent from the observable. Don’t get me wrong this book is scientifically written meaning it takes data accumulates it and proposes a point concerning language and its maturation over the centuries. Bryson’s statements in the book, “anguage is more fashion than science.” That is the bottom line, or the more ethereal learning from the book. He became the archetypal back-bencher, benignly "mute" and "indifferent," his support of the Whig ministry invariably automatic. And, perhaps least productively in that same year, he was returned to the House of Commons for Liskeard, Cornwall through the intervention of his relative and patron, Edward Eliot. In late 1774, he was initiated a freemason of the Premier Grand Lodge of England. He succeeded Oliver Goldsmith at the Royal Academy as 'professor in ancient history' (honorary but prestigious). Johnson's Literary Club, and looked in from time to time on his friend Holroyd in Sussex. He took to London society quite easily, and joined the better social clubs, including Dr. By February 1773, he was writing in earnest, but not without the occasional self-imposed distraction. His father died in 1770, and after tending to the estate, which was by no means in good condition, there remained quite enough for Gibbon to settle fashionably in London at 7 Bentinck Street, independent of financial concerns. The Decline and Fall is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its open criticism of organised religion. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 17. Edward Gibbon ( – 16 January 1794) was an English historian and Member of Parliament. SO, WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES AND FANFICTION? The legality of it is in sort of a grey area, but generally, it’s legal as long as you don’t try to make money from it. To say that fanfiction is the backbone of fandom wouldn’t be an exaggeration - its it’s lifeblood. Why is that?įanfiction, for those who don’t know, is works of fiction that feature previously established characters from other pieces of media. But everyone seems reluctant to personally praise Anne Rice for her works. It’s safe to say that these works of fiction are highly regarded in the gothic literature spheres for their openly queer characters and strong, dark imagery. I finished Interview With the Vampire recently and I’m excited to move onto The Vampire Lestat. I finally picked up The Vampire Chronicles after putting it off for a few years, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Interview With the Vampire (1994) © Warner Bros. |