![]() ![]() In 1934, Joseph Stalin himself called Pasternak to scold him for trying to get a poet friend of his released, and Pasternak's friend and lover Olga Ivinskaya was sent to the gulag for three years as a punishment to the man. His artistic, bourgeois background and beliefs quickly put Pasternak at odds with the Soviets, and he spent decades in their crosshairs. He stayed and wrote, composing poetry and novellas and translating many works into Russian to support himself. Pasternak was born in Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 to a family of artists and musicians, and unlike many of his family members and friends, he didn't flee when the Communists took over his country. The book took a twisted and dangerous path to publication in a repressive state, and the government he resisted for so long prevented him from ever seeing that prize in his lifetime. ![]() ![]() Fifty-nine years ago today, Russian author Boris Pasternak, author of "Doctor Zhivago," was awarded the Nobel Prize. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Opened in September 2000, Allen Premium Outlets is a large outdoor mall owned by Simon Property Group. The shooting occurred eight days after five people had been killed in a mass shooting in Cleveland, Texas, leading to increased scrutiny of gun laws in Texas. Garcia posted hateful comments against women and Jews in the leadup to the massacre. His body was tattooed with fascist symbols including SS lightning bolts and a large swastika. The shooter, 33 year old neo-Nazi Mauricio Martinez Garcia, wore a black tactical vest embroidered with a patch reading "RWDS" ("Right Wing Death Squad"). The perpetrator was shot by a police officer already in the area on an unrelated call. ![]() ![]() Nine people, including the perpetrator, were killed during the massacre, the youngest of whom was a three-year-old boy. On May 6, 2023, a mass shooting occurred at Allen Premium Outlets, an outlet center in Allen, Texas, United States. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() “Sometimes,” we are told, Fintan “feels he can almost hear time rushing past him it is like a kind of unholy wind”. In One by One in the Darkness (1996), the domestic peace of a kitchen is torn apart by murder and in Time Present and Time Past (2013), the protagonist Fintan is moved by fear to halt an ordinary family dinner for a moment, to capture the experience of familial togetherness before it vanishes. In Hidden Symptoms (1986), Madden’s first novel, the protagonist Theresa is aware that violence - in the form of her brother Francis’s death in a sectarian attack - has dealt a fundamental blow to her sense of belonging. Her characters reflect on what home can mean, consider how the security of home can be destroyed and rebuilt, explore symbols of home and belonging. ![]() The matter of home is threaded through all of Deirdre Madden’s novels. ![]() ![]() The first English translation of the original 12 volumes (around 200 pages each) in the series was done by Tokyopop in the early 2000s (I still have them in a box somewhere), and the original translation left a lot to be desired. ![]() I've always thought it's a perfect way to introduce young girls to manga because the story is so appropriate for a younger age group, which not a lot of manga is. ![]() CCS is one of my favourites from creators Clamp as well, it's such a sweet story and the artwork is adorable too. But when Sakura opened it up, there was nothing left inside but Kero-chan, the book's cute little guardian beast, who informs Sakura that since the Clow cards seem to have escaped while he was asleep, it's now her job to capture them!Īh, Cardcaptor Sakura, one of my favourite manga, it was actually the first manga I owned in the original Japanese language (and added many more after that). 1 (1 of 4)įourth-grader Sakura Kinomoto found a strange book in her father's library - a book made by the wizard Clow to store dangerous spirits sealed within a set of magical cards. ![]() ![]() Yet he impressed those who knew him well as a kind, shy man. With his high-pitched voice and a lisp, he monopolized attention, making up stories about himself or others and reacting violently to interruptions. Occasionally he lost his temper, but never his arrogant attitude. People would stare and sometimes make fun of him. He wore large tortoise-shell-rimmed glasses and very loose clothing, like a frock coat. He changed his appearance substantially, letting his beard and hair grow. ![]() His behavior at the time showed contempt for the rational world of the bourgeoisie. ![]() He resided in old guest houses and practically never left the cafés, going out at night and sleeping during the day. When he returned to Spain a year later, he lived a bohemian life in Madrid. In 1892, before finishing his studies in law, Valle-lnclán moved to Mexico. Spanish writer Ramón Maria del Valle-lnclán was born in Villanueva de Arosa, in the northeastern region of Galicia in 1868, the same year that a liberal military rebellion overthrew Queen Isabel II. In the process, he encounters injustice, affront, and misery, his story becoming a grotesque parable of the impossibility of living in a deformed, oppressive, and absurd Spain.Įvents in History at the Time of the Play Max Estrella, a poor, blind, has-been poet, wanders through Madrid on the last night of his life. ![]() A Play set in post- World War I Madrid published in 1920 in the literary magazine España in Spanish (as Luces de bohemia) in 1924 in English in 1969. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The mice represent each one of us and the culturally universal experience of attending school for the first time. Perspective on gender/race/culture/economic ability: One of the beautiful things about the mice that Kevin Henkes so often employs in his picture books to depict normal, human emotions is that his characters come in all shapes, sizes and colors. ![]() Compassion mixed with humor work in this book to shed light on our worries without feeling like those worries are being criticized or harshly judged. Henkes’s sense of humor and compassion shine through as he explores the fear and anxiety that children so often experience in this world, especially when they face big changes, like the first day of school. Literary Elements: Wemberly Worried is a precious and humorous work of fiction in which Kevin Henkes’s famous mouse characters assume the thoughts and feelings of many young children facing change and separation. Just when you think she could not possibly worry about one more thing, she faces her biggest fear ever….the first day of school. Although her parents and laid-back grandmother try to convince her that there is nothing she needs to worry about, she is not convinced. Summary: Wemberly worries about absolutely everything….from shrinking in bathtub water to losing her parents in the middle of the night. Audience: This book will be enjoyed by all people ages 4 and up. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() As the streets turn into a bloody battleground between rebels and Romans, Esther's journey becomes one of survival. Meanwhile, the growing turmoil threatens to tear apart not only her beloved city, Jerusalem, but also her own family. Yet she is torn between her family responsibilities and her own desires she longs for the handsome Jacob, even though he treats her like a child, and is confused by her attraction to the Roman freedman Tiberius, a man who should be her sworn enemy. Always curious and eager to explore, she must accept the burden of being the dutiful daughter. Esther dreams of so much more than the marriage her parents have arranged to a prosperous silversmith. National Jewish Book Award Winner * Christy Award Finalist A young woman survives the unthinkable in this stunning and emotionally satisfying tale of family, love, and resilience, set against the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() If you stood it on end, she countered crisply, it would sink.įor the rest of her life, whenever she remembered that remark, she would flush with anguish. But Elizabeth was still stinging from the morning’s argument. If you stood it on end, it would rival the tallest buildings in the world. This had not been her first trip abroad.Įleven stories high, her father commented, seeing the look on Elizabeth’s face. It was the most beautiful ship she had ever seen, and she had seen several. ![]() It was enormous, its four huge funnels marching along the boat deck like giant soldiers on guard. The word that sprang first into Elizabeth’s mind was majestic. But the one whose maiden voyage would carry her and her parents back to New York towered over all of them. There were other, smaller ships there, too. She was still silent when they arrived at dockside shortly before eleven-thirty in the morning.īut the sullen pout left her face when she saw the great ship Titanic anchored in the harbor. During the seventy-nine-mile journey through English villages with names like Surbiton, Woking, and Basingstoke, Elizabeth remained sullenly silent. on the White Star Line boat train for Southampton. It was an argument she lost as always, and the Farr family left Waterloo Station at nine forty-five A.M. During one last argument, Elizabeth Farr tried desperately to convince her parents to allow her to stay on in London with her cousins, instead of returning to New York. ![]() ![]() Punching the Air is a book written to make readers understand the necessity for prison reform. ![]() Punching the Air will make readers think, but it will also make them feel Amal’s journey as he tries to find his way from despair back to hope. And there are some truths so important, they need to be told. Being locked up threatens to strip away his dignity and his self-worth. Feeling betrayed by the teachers who should have supported him, the lawyer who should have fought for him, and the justice system that should have believed him, Amal has to look deep inside himself to discover if there is anything left he is willing to fight for. ![]() Yusef Salaam is a powerful novel-in-verse about a teenage boy who is sent to prison for a crime he did not commit. ![]() ![]() ![]() As a result, she has been locked in her room, pending her agreement to marry Alver of the clammy hands. Silas, very unexpectedly, left all his property to her and his remaining relatives, including Aunt Malva and Cousin Alver, are incensed. For the past few years she has been keeping house for Great Uncle Silas who has recently passed away. Halla is a widow who lives in Rutger’s Howe with her deceased husband’s relatives. I gather there are earlier books set within the same universe – and certainly the later Saint of Steel books are too (I recognised Brindle the gnole here) but I have the sense that the world has much yet to explore and is as big as the real one I live in. ![]() Your humour really works for me and I enjoy the effortless diversity and acceptance of queerness in this rich world you’ve created. However, it is delightful and well worth reading. It’s partly why I ended up taking a bit of time to read this one. ![]() There are similar themes between Swordheart and Paladin’s Strength so I would recommend to readers perhaps taking a short break between reads to get the most out of it. I recently had the great pleasure of listening to Paladin’s Grace and reading Paladin’s Strength so I immediately went to your (extensive – hooray!) backlist for more goodness with Swordheart. ![]() |